Chapter 131: A Leap in Progress

“Green monster? How powerful is it, and can it be controlled?” Nick Fury asked.

That was what set the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. apart from ordinary people. If an ordinary person heard the words “green monster,” they would surely be startled and ask all sorts of curious questions.

What kind of monster was it? Did it have eight heads or nine legs? Why was it green? Was its hair green too?

Nick Fury was different. He did not care what the monster looked like. What concerned him was whether S.H.I.E.L.D. could make use of it—or what sort of damage it might cause if it were left to roam freely.

Only then could they formulate a series of measures to deal with it.

Hill understood Nick Fury’s way of doing things, so as she opened the fourth file and handed it to him, she said, “There isn’t enough information yet to properly assess its combat ability. However, there are reports that the monster single-handedly broke through the encirclement of a heavy-weapons unit.”

After a brief pause, Hill added, “The information came from General Ross.”

“Ross?” Nick Fury thought for a moment before saying, “That man often exaggerates the enemy’s combat ability to cover up the incompetence of his own subordinates. Keep this information under advisement for now. It needs to be verified.”

Hill nodded to show that she understood. Then she continued answering Nick Fury’s second question.

“As for whether it can be controlled, that’s difficult to say.”

Nick Fury raised his head. “Oh? Why?”

He was genuinely curious about Hill’s answer.

“Because the green monster appears to have two personalities. The first is Bruce Banner, the exceptionally gifted man who holds seven doctorate degrees. The second is the green monster.

“The former has a mild temperament. The latter is constantly enraged and does nothing but destroy. We still haven’t determined what causes them to switch between one another.”

Like a patient suffering from dissociative identity disorder?

The thought had barely surfaced in Nick Fury’s mind before he dismissed it. If it were that simple, Hill would not have brought it up in the first place.

In other words, there was some unknown trigger governing the transition between the two personality states.

With that thought in mind, Nick Fury picked up the file and began reading it carefully.

For a time, the only sound in the office was the rustling of pages as he turned them.

...

After a long while, Nick Fury finally lowered the file and raised his head to issue an order.

“For now, place Bruce Banner under remote surveillance twenty-four hours a day. Under no circumstances are they to reveal themselves, and there must be no contact with him whatsoever. Send a few veteran agents to handle it.”

“Yes, sir!”

Hill abruptly straightened. Then she asked, “Boss, are there any specific points we should focus on during surveillance?”

“The trigger for the transformation, and whether Bruce Banner can control it of his own accord,” Nick Fury replied word by word.

At that, Hill glanced at him. Having worked alongside Nick Fury for many years, she could clearly sense from those instructions that he intended to recruit the green monster into S.H.I.E.L.D.

Whether that plan would succeed, however, depended primarily on one thing: whether the monster could be controlled voluntarily.

“Anything else?” Nick Fury set the file down and asked again.

“There is.” Hill pulled out a fifth file. “Regarding the kidnapping of George Stacy, the commissioner of the New York Police Department...”

Hill launched into a detailed account, while Nick Fury’s dark expression grew even darker without him realizing it.

I should never have come back so soon...

Nick Fury sighed inwardly.

————

A secret underground base on Ingram Street in Queens, New York.

It was seven in the evening. After four days of work, Ivan had finally completed the experimental small-scale arc reactor that Zhong Shenxiu had improved.

That was already an astonishingly fast production time.

Ivan had prior experience building one, and although altering the plasma channels was not an easy improvement to conceive, it was relatively simple to implement. That was why he had managed to complete it so quickly.

If his automated laboratory had already been finished, the process would have been at least another third faster.

Ivan gazed at the small arc reactor on the table, its beautiful azure light shining brightly. He then connected it to a variety of testing instruments, both large and small.

All that remained was to measure the data.

To be honest, Ivan felt somewhat uneasy.

Deep down, he hoped this improvement would meet his expectations and increase the arc reactor’s power-generation efficiency once again—by more than thirty percent.

Because if it did, he would be one step closer to building a laboratory aboard an aircraft carrier.

After years of poverty and spending so much time in that cramped, dilapidated laboratory, Ivan had always dreamed of one day experiencing what it felt like to build machines in the sky.

Yet as a qualified scientist, he also harbored serious doubts.

Could simply altering a plasma channel really double the rotational speed again and raise the power-generation efficiency by more than thirty percent?

However one looked at it, that hardly seemed realistic.

I hope it’s true.

Watching the fluctuating figures on the screen, Ivan began calculating the output.

As he worked, his eyes gradually widened of their own accord.

It seemed... there really was an increase!

Ivan hurriedly brought up the data from the previous small arc reactor and compared the figures line by line with painstaking care.

At last, he was certain.

There was an increase!

Exactly how much the power-generation efficiency had improved still required further calculation, so Ivan began hammering away at the keyboard with renewed vigor.

An increase was good enough. Even if it failed to reach thirty percent, raising the arc reactor’s power-generation efficiency at all—even by a single percent—would already be remarkable.

But when the actual figure was finally calculated, even Ivan was left dumbfounded.

37.3 percent!

That was far too great an improvement!

Ivan immediately recalculated everything. Yet no matter how many times he repeated the process, the result remained unchanged: the astonishing figure of 37.3 percent.

Not only had it surpassed thirty percent, it had exceeded it by another 7.3 percent.

And all this had been caused by nothing more than a simple modification to the plasma channel!

At that moment, Ivan was forced to reassess his previous opinion of Zhong Shenxiu.

“Teacher, what’s wrong?”

Peter, who had been carrying three bulging sacks filled with earth and stones on his back, noticed Ivan’s expression and walked over to ask him.

Since Ivan had begun teaching Peter electrical physics and mechanical dynamics ahead of schedule, Peter had changed the way he addressed him—from Uncle to Teacher.

“It’s nothing. I was just marveling at how extraordinary our boss really is!” Ivan said with a grin, exposing his large yellow teeth.

Peter immediately nodded in deep agreement. “Yes. Xiu really is incredible.”

Hearing that, Ivan could not help glancing at Peter’s short stature. The boy carried three sacks of earth and stones as effortlessly as if they were filled with cotton. Ivan then looked toward Wanda in the distance, where she had casually raised a hand and used her red magic to hold up the cavern, preventing it from collapsing.

You’re all incredible...

“I’m starting to feel like I’m the unnecessary one here...” Ivan muttered under his breath.