"Welcome, welcome, Gwen. Having an outstanding student like you intern at Umbrella Corporation suddenly makes me realize that my company is already pretty impressive in the public eye."
"You're too modest, President Wang. Umbrella Corporation is already a major company worth tens of billions, with enormous potential. In my eyes, it'll definitely stand alongside Stark Industries and Osborn Industries in the future."
Gwen wore a white suit today, paired with a knee-length skirt that made her look capable and neat.
Her long blonde hair was tied into a ponytail behind her head, swaying from side to side as she walked and giving her an energetic air.
Compared with the East, Western beauties tended to mature earlier. As such, the period from sixteen to twenty was often the peak of their looks.
Gwen was exactly nineteen today, right at the height of her beauty. Her face was full of collagen, rosy and glowing, a truly pleasing sight.
After bringing Gwen into his office, Wang Khan asked whether she had any requests.
"This is my first internship, so I don't understand anything. Just assign me whatever work you think is appropriate, Boss. But if possible, I'd like to do biological research, preferably as a laboratory assistant."
"Biological research, huh? It looks like biology was your main focus in college, Gwen?"
"Yes. I once attended Doctor Connors's lectures and became very interested in the cross-species fusion he was researching. But his research has now hit a bottleneck, so I wanted to try a different field and understand biological science from another angle."
The moment Wang Khan heard Doctor Connors and cross-species fusion, he knew the plot of The Amazing Spider-Man would probably still play out, though there would be some changes.
"Gwen, since you study biology, you must be familiar with Darwin's Theory of Evolution, right? Then in your opinion, is the so-called Theory of Evolution actually correct?"
"Well... I don't think it's rigorous to answer that in terms of right or wrong. Although Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the mainstream theory, it is ultimately only a hypothesis. With today's level of technology, we can neither prove it right nor prove it wrong. That is why it remains a theory rather than truth."
Wang Khan smiled when he heard that.
"Then what do you think truth is?"
"I don't know. When I first began studying biology, I treated Darwin's Theory of Evolution as truth. But as I learned more, I discovered quite a few questions that it couldn't explain. Even in academic circles, debates about evolution have never stopped. Many entirely new theories have even emerged from Darwin's foundation, such as Evolutionism and Ecosystem Evolution Theory... They all have their own arguments, and some are quite reasonable, but I don't think any of them can be considered truth."
Wang Khan waved a hand.
"Forget it. We could talk about theoretical matters like this for a year and still not get anywhere. Let me ask from another angle. In your opinion, what creature in nature has evolved the furthest and adapted best to its environment?"
"Well..."
Gwen could not quite answer. Seeing that, Wang Khan did not make things difficult for her.
"In my view, insects are the most thoroughly evolved creatures on Earth, perhaps even perfect. Insects had their current forms hundreds of millions of years ago. After all that time, aside from changes in size, their body structures have remained almost identical. And don't you think the insect form, with a hard shell growing over the surface of the body, is the one best suited to Earth's environment?"
Gwen blinked.
"That does seem to make some sense."
"Right? Now look at mammals instead. Soft skin and muscles grow on the outside, while hard bones grow on the inside. Compared to Earth's ever-changing environment and the dangers that constantly appear in nature, that structure is terribly ill-suited. From the perspective of the Theory of Evolution, the body structure of mammals clearly does not fit the principle of survival of the fittest."
At that point, Wang Khan raised a hand to stop Gwen from speaking.
"Of course, I'm not trying to overturn the Theory of Evolution. At present, it is still the mainstream theory of biological evolution. I'm a pragmatist, and I'm not interested in theoretical matters like that. What interests me is how to use biological science to transplant the functions other creatures possess that are superior to those of humans."
"Like your Spider-Sense System?"
Gwen finally understood Wang Khan's train of thought and interjected.
Wang Khan nodded slightly, then pushed the notebook on the desk toward Gwen.
"The Spider-Sense System was created based on spiders' warning instincts. The new project Umbrella Corporation is about to launch will make use of them."
Gwen took the notebook and found that it contained a great deal of biological information on dragonflies, spiders, and even flies. She pondered briefly before quickly realizing something.
"Compound eyes?! President Wang, is the company's next project going to study the functions of insect compound eyes?"
"As expected of an outstanding student. You figured it out so quickly. That's right. Insect compound eyes possess dynamic vision far superior to human eyes. High-speed movements that humans can only see as afterimages appear to insects as slow motion approaching stop-motion animation."
"I want to use this compound-eye function to create an auxiliary targeting system. Once successful, it will greatly improve the aiming and shooting abilities of police officers and soldiers. This system will also become the core technology behind another major Umbrella Corporation business."
"Another military application?"
Gwen frowned slightly, and Wang Khan smiled.
"Little girl, don't be so naive. Many of the inventions you see today were originally created for military use. And war is the greatest driving force behind technological progress. Though that fact is both ironic and helpless, reality can sometimes be that frustrating."
"And what we can do is give back to society as much as possible after making money, helping those who need help. That way, at least our consciences will be clear."
Wang Khan spoke with great righteousness, but he did not believe a word of it himself. His purpose in creating all kinds of weapons was simply to make money and raise his social standing. As for whether they would start wars, he did not think that was any of his concern.
Even in ancient times, humans fought with stones and wooden clubs. Weapons had never truly determined war; the people wielding them did.
In any case, Gwen was drawn in by the new project Wang Khan described and joined it.
Wang Khan then told her to familiarize herself with the company environment first. Her real internship would begin tomorrow.
After sending Gwen away, Wang Khan returned to Laboratory Zero and resumed his research on Thor's blood.
After marveling at the strength of Thor's bloodline an unknown number of times, Wang Khan asked Red Queen a very practical question.
"Red Queen, use your computational power to analyze this. If I fought Thor while he held Thor's Hammer, what would my chances of winning be?"
"Guardian, based on my calculations, your probability of defeating Thor is less than ten percent."
"What the hell? Less than ten percent? Did you forget to factor in the Vibranium suit?"
"Guardian, if the Vibranium suit is excluded, your probability of winning is less than one percent."
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