Chapter 118: Shattering Howard's Worldview

Extracting item cards is a much faster process than extracting ability cards, but the restrictions on what can be extracted are increasingly stringent.

For instance, items such as sand, paper scraps, or stones cannot be extracted. However, a box of gold-bearing sand, paper featuring intricate engineering blueprints, or a stone carved by a master artisan can be categorized for extraction. The determining factor here is the inherent value of the item.

Special items such as malfunctioning warplanes, severely damaged firearms, unstable energy sources, or grenades and nuclear bombs on the verge of detonation are also ineligible for extraction. Furthermore, the foremost condition for item extraction is that the object must not be someone else’s private property.

"Hurry up."

Under Kyle’s urging, Howard, initially hesitant, steeled himself. He swiftly unbuckled his seatbelt, moved his hands and feet away from the controls, and shifted into the co-pilot's seat.

The card notification remained unchanged; it was still in an unextractable state.

"Still not working?" Kyle pondered. He stood up, leaned forward, and reached out to shut off the helicopter engine.

The helicopter gave a slight hum and shuddered before beginning to glide downward. Panic washed over Howard, his face turning pale as he gripped the interior of the fuselage tightly with both hands.

"That's it," Kyle smiled. In his vision, the [Modified Helicopter], possessing a rare green quality, had shifted from unextractable to extractable.

"What's it..." Howard was still dazed, but three seconds later, the helicopter vanished into thin air, transitioning from solid to intangible. The two men inside plummeted from several hundred meters high toward the vast ocean.

"My god, Kyle, what did you do to the helicopter—why did it disappear?"

In freefall, Howard was bewildered. His bowler hat had long since been whipped away by the gale, his mustache was blown askew, and he could only flail his limbs helplessly, accelerating toward the sea surface in a spread-eagle posture.

This phenomenon, impossible to explain through science, defied every desperate attempt his brain made to find a logical answer. The terrifying situation made it hard for Howard to maintain his gentlemanly composure, and he could not help but scream.

"Calm down. Why are you afraid when I’m here?" Beside the screaming Howard, Kyle was also falling, his expression serene. "If you want to run with me, then from this moment on, cast aside all your previous worldviews and philosophies."

"I am going to take you beyond the constraints of the well that is the current Earth and overturn everything!"

As he spoke, they were nearing the surface. Kyle suddenly reached out, grabbing Howard’s suit jacket, and his hooded leather cloak unfurled, revealing dark crimson wings.

Kyle held Howard’s body, using the gliding ability of his Venom symbiote to slow their descent. When they were five meters above the water, he pulled out an item card and dropped it, causing it to materialize into a modern speedboat.

Kyle landed slowly on the deck and released Howard, who stood on shaky legs, gripping the railing and gasping for air.

After a long while, Howard finally calmed down. Staring at Kyle in disbelief, he asked, "H-how did you do that just now?"

"It’s one of my abilities. I can store items in another dimension and extract them for use at any time," Kyle explained without concealment.

With a wave of his hand, several item cards fell onto the deck, materializing into a lounge chair, a parasol, a round table, and a bottle of red wine.

"That is not scientific at all." Watching this magical scene, which felt like a parlor trick, Howard couldn't help but offer a wry smile. Nevertheless, he sat in the lounge chair and poured himself half a glass of wine.

"I never claimed it was science. In fact, there are many things in this world that science cannot explain. In the future, you might see gods flying in the sky, magic that can draw a soul out of a body, or even travel across the universe and回溯 time." Kyle shrugged. His actions were not meant to show off, but to help Howard break the rigid conceptual framework of his era.

Howard was already one of the world's top cutting-edge engineers, and his thinking was sufficiently advanced. Yet, in Kyle’s view, the technological level and rigid dogmas of the old era were shackling this noble soul burdened by knowledge.

Spanning half a century, mastering anti-gravity suspension technology, studying the Tesseract to map out the elemental structure of new energy—such a scientific talent was not far behind Tony Stark, the future Iron Man. The only difference was that he was born in the wrong era.

Kyle wanted to help Howard overturn and shatter these old-world constraints, enabling him to become the greatest asset in providing advanced, high-tech solutions.

"This is for you." Howard drank a glass to steady his nerves, then poured one for Kyle. He looked him straight in the eye and asked seriously, "Kyle, be honest. Are you a god, or an alien?"

"I am, of course, a human who has transcended the ordinary," Kyle chuckled. He picked up his glass, took a sip of red wine, and said meaningfully, "But it’s hard to say about the future. I will become a god, standing above all other gods. Do you believe me?"

"I believe you. You are someone who constantly creates miracles, subverts imagination, and whose vision and experiences frequently catch me off guard. If there are gods, I believe they would be caught off guard by you as well," Howard laughed.

"Howard Stark." Kyle looked directly into Howard’s eyes and came straight to the point. "I can grant you a long lifespan, and my family’s influence can protect you from harm for the rest of your life. I can let you see the cities of the future, the sights of the next century, and the beauty of alien technology."

"That really sounds like the devil’s temptation from a fairy tale." Howard fell into deep thought, then asked calmly, "What price must I pay?"

Kyle smiled and uttered a sentence that left Howard unable to remain composed: "No price at all!"

"Why?" Howard frowned.

"Because the path I am walking is too lonely and long. Relying solely on manipulation isn't my style. If you can use your scientific resources to walk by my side, that alone is enough to bring me comfort," Kyle said with a shrug, sounding indifferent.

Howard was one of the few people in this world whom he could treat sincerely as a friend. He had no intention of using strong-arm tactics to erase that meaning.

Hearing this, Howard trembled. Realizing the truth, he remarked with emotion, "Kyle, I spoke out of turn just now. It was a businessman’s occupational habit to be too concerned with profit and loss."

"If you can truly achieve those things, the entire Stark Industries under my name is yours, and I wouldn't mind paying any price. As long as I can continue to research new scientific products and explore the truths of science in the future, that is enough!"

These were the heartfelt words of Howard, the scientific madman, and the lifelong dream of every scientist: to continuously unearth and seek the truths of the world’s science.