Batman Incident (VIII)

Stark spent about 20 minutes carefully reading through the report, then threw the stack of papers on the table and said, "It's all nonsense."

"Anyone who has received a college degree or higher in biology can see that this is complete nonsense."

"After all, I'm a Doctor with no background in biology, and this is just an outline. What exactly to fill in is up to you brilliant scientists..."

Stark hesitated for a moment, then picked up the report again. He said, "To a layman, it might seem perfectly reasonable, but it's actually quite outrageous. However, I just thought about it, and it does seem somewhat reasonable..."

Stark, clutching the report with a troubled expression, said, "Vampire blood contains Immortality Factor that humans can utilize? That's ridiculous... Anyway, could you explain that part in more detail?"

"Dr. Connors already said that their blood contains a magical factor that science cannot decipher, so I'll name it the 'Immortality Factor.' That's not too much to ask, is it?"

"Okay, that makes some sense, since you're the only one among these people who knows magic. Besides..." Stark hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are you sure this kind of factor can really grant immortality?"

"Whether or not it can truly grant immortality is not important. What is important is whether you felt any impulse when you saw this conclusion?"

"Or rather, what were you thinking when you asked that question?"

Stark pursed his lips, lowered his eyes, and then casually put down the stack of documents, saying, "Okay, I admit, any human being would have this thought: 'How wonderful it would be if I could live forever...'"

"I'm not greedy, but I really feel that if I could have 500 years... no, just 300 years, if I could have a lifespan of 300 years, then I really could change this world..."

His Adam's apple bobbed, then he turned to look out the window and said, "You're a devil. When I saw that sentence, I even had a fleeting thought of using some uncontrollable power to capture and study these monsters..."

"No one can resist this temptation," Schiller said. "Even a saint would feel a sense of sorrow when faced with a lifespan of less than 100 years."

"This is humanity. Humans often live short but brilliant lives, and we are often proud of it."

"But if it weren't so short-lived, wouldn't you be tempted?"

Stark spread his hands and said, "Okay, so you're trying to use this method to convince Congress and the Security Council that they want to achieve immortality and then fight vampires?"

"No, I wanted to use this method to persuade you."

"Convince me? Convince me what? Isn't my resolve to fight vampires strong enough? Even without this temptation, I would still want to wipe them all out."

"The problem lies in the method of elimination. Your individual mechs are not very effective against them, but once you use large-scale armed forces, it will attract the suspicion of too many forces. But in fact, you have a better way to go."

What do you mean?

Schiller pulled a pair of headphones from his coat pocket, handed them to Stark, and said, "I have an appointment with a guest; he should be in the conference room by now."

"Thank you for granting me the highest level of security access, allowing me to invite others over as you."

"Wait! Who did you invite?" Stark put on his headphones, then Schiller shoved him out of the lab. He had a very bad feeling. Stark said, "Don't tell me you invited some important figure from Congress here, my God! I don't know how to deal with them! No! Wait... I'm not going..."

"Don't worry, it's not those politicians."

Stark stared at Schiller suspiciously, but Schiller remained silent. They stared at each other for a long time before Stark finally said, "Damn it, you fraudulent Doctor! You did this on purpose, didn't you? You tricked me out of my highest level of security clearance!"

"Don't put it so harshly, you opened it up to me yourself."

Ten minutes later, when Stark met Norman Osborn in the conference room, he covered his forehead and whispered into his headset, "I'm going to dock your paycheck! I'm not kidding!! Why did you bring this old guy here?"

"Alright, now that he's seen you, it's no use if you don't want to talk. Listen, I want you to discuss a business deal with him."

"Do business? Why would I do business with Osborn? Their technology is complete garbage..."

"That's not important. Go up to him now and shake his hand, and then I'll tell you what to do."

Stark, his face dark with reluctance as if he were going to his execution, shook hands with Norman. Norman, however, didn't seem to mind. He was a typical United States businessman, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, with some gray hair at his temples, but he looked very energetic.

Norman spoke first, saying, "Mr. Stark, this is my first time at Stark Tower. It's far more advanced than I imagined; it's truly an eye-opener..."

Stark looked up and made a "hmm" sound through his nose. Schiller said into the earpiece, "Look at him. If you were even half as good at talking as him, I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."

"I have heard that your company possesses a healing serum technology and intends to sell it."

Stark could only parrot what Schiller said into his earpiece, "That's right, but we'll talk about that later. Right now, there's a better deal in front of you. Would you like to hear about it?"

Norman's expression remained unchanged. He said, "So the cure serum technology doesn't exist. Then what did you call me here to discuss?"

"This technique certainly exists, but before we serve the main course, we should talk about the appetizers first."

"You should have heard about the incident at the Brooklyn Bridge, where hundreds or thousands of vampires attacked humans."

"That's right, the military also purchased a batch of weapons from the Osborn Group for this purpose."

Stark pulled out a proposal and handed it to Osborn, then whispered into his earpiece, "You're just going to show him that proposal? It's all nonsense. Norman has a PhD in biology too; you can't fool him."

"He's different from you. He was a businessman first, and then a scientist."

To Stark's surprise, after reading the plan, Norman did not point out the errors like a meticulous scientist would. Instead, his face began to light up, and he said, "Mr. Stark, I never expected you to be so talented in business!"

Stark said, "What? Ah, I mean... you think there's nothing wrong with this proposal?"

"A brilliant hype idea!" Norman concluded. "Medicinal value! Yes, that's it... I love that word!"

"This is a great opportunity. If we can really package parts of vampires' bodies into nutritional supplements or health products, we can definitely make a fortune."

"Think about it, raw materials are falling from the sky right now. Whether it's Congress, the military, or any other force, they will support us."

But Stark said, "I must remind you, we actually cannot crack the magical factor in their blood, and we are not even sure if it has the effect of immortality..."

"Does it matter?" Norman stared into Stark's eyes and said, "The best thing is that it can't be cracked. If something can't be cracked, we can't fully prove that it's useful, so no one can fully prove that it's useless."

Norman picked up the project proposal and flipped through it again, saying, "Immortality Factor? Indeed, the name might be a bit exaggerated, but it's not a drug, just a health supplement. The effectiveness will depend on the actual results."

"We don't need to promote it; vampires are living examples. They can all live forever and heal quickly from their injuries."

"Everything that's happening in Brooklyn District right now is the best advertisement."

"The whole world knows that there is a species that can live for hundreds or thousands of years and is fighting against humans with an extremely fast healing speed."

"Soon, the aftermath of this event will continue to unfold, and the whole world will know about the vampires' full-scale invasion of humanity. Their characteristics will be written on the front page of every newspaper."

"What is this? This is a massive, worldwide publicity campaign! What kind of advertising can match this level of reach?"

"At this point, our two companies can join forces again. You know, industrial giant Stark and pharmaceutical giant Osborn. We can work together to prove that there is a mysterious factor in vampire blood that can extend human lifespan. It's very possible, right? After all, they are immortal beings."

"This could even open up a new industry: the study of the medicinal value of non-human species." Stark echoed Schiller's words, "Not just vampires, but possibly other creatures in the future."

"What we need to do is use our scientific credibility to tell the world that these species have considerable medicinal value."

"That's right!" Norman clenched his fist and said, "That's what I think too. Once we succeed this time, everyone will believe that we have the ability to identify the research value of alien species. Indeed, just like you said, we can open up a new industry, which will bring unimaginable huge profits."

Finally, Norman stood up without hesitation and said, "I'll go and organize experts to improve this plan right now. Mr. Stark, I must say, while the idea is brilliant, your plan is not very professionally written."

Seeing Stark's face grow increasingly dark, Norman continued, "But I know that's because you want to see the sincerity of the Osborn Group, so you're doing this on purpose. I don't believe that the Stark Industries can't even find a few biological experts."

"But that's to be expected. Your idea is already worth tens of billions in profit. I didn't expect that Stark Industries and Osborn Bio would start cooperating under these circumstances."

"But I want to say that this is definitely a good start, and you will understand that Osborn is one of the few trustworthy partners in the world."

After saying that, Norman shook hands with Stark again and then hurriedly left.

Stark was still a little confused. He said, "What did he mean just now? I think he might have misunderstood something?"

"It's alright, he's not wrong anyway. It's just that the biology experts hired by Stark Industries are busy saving the world..."

"... salvation in a physical sense."