First Pot of Gold

It took quite some time to explain things to Marcy.

Luckily, Noah had always been mysteriously conducting biological research, so he barely managed to fool her.

"That's good."

Marcy let out a sigh of relief.

She had truly been afraid that her son might have some connection to the demons of legend.

That's good?

Noah's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Although it was a good thing that Marcy had accepted it, he still felt that something was off.

Billd stood nearby and said worriedly, "Will there be any trouble?

You should have called the police instead of handling these problems yourself."

Noah gave a bitter smile.

"It's not that simple. This is Hell's Kitchen."

Hearing that, Billd fell silent and sighed.

That was right. This was Hell's Kitchen, where people died almost every day.

Before someone had been missing for forty-eight hours, the police would not easily take action unless you had a special background.

And those people clearly knew that. They had given them less than twelve hours in total.

"We should leave this place quickly. If we stay too long, we might run into trouble."

At Noah's words, their expressions turned serious as well.

"You're right. Let's get out of here."

With that, the three of them hurriedly left the abandoned vehicle scrapyard.

Not long after they left.

The black mass of the Swarm of Insects surged out once more. Once the black tide had passed, there was no trace of any corpses left in the clearing, only several pools of blood that had seeped into the soil.

After returning home and comforting the two of them into resting, Noah went down to the basement.

This was where he conducted his research.

What had happened today had exceeded his original plans, so he needed to make some changes.

He opened the system, and a simple panel appeared.

Noah Allen

Energy: 35 units

Cell Source: 80 units

Current Research Target: T-Virus

Current Research Progress: 3%

Modulatable Target: Level 0 lifeform Corpse-Eating Insects. Every 100 created requires 1 unit of energy. Time required: 3 seconds. Detailed description: None.

This was the cheat he had relied on since coming to this world.

As the name implied, the system's function was research.

The T-Virus had been drawn out using Cell Source.

The exact principles were unknown. Roughly speaking, the system could use Cell Source for exchanges, acquiring different genes from other worlds.

After activating the system, he had drawn who knew how many times, but the only thing of value had been the T-Virus.

Other than that, even the things that had some use were not particularly useful.

They were basically all ordinary biological cells.

To put it bluntly, this system could only provide him with convenience; it could not let him ascend to greatness in a single step.

It was precisely because of this that Noah could use it without worry.

If he really had a cheat that could make him ascend to greatness in one step, he would have to worry about whether it was the scheme of some big shot.

Ahem. Of course, that was just something he told himself to feel better, along with a bit of resentment.

After a while, several glossy black Corpse-Eating Insects crawled out from somewhere and placed several tiny pieces of flesh and blood before him.

Noah's expression turned solemn and indifferent.

This flesh and blood had come from those gangsters.

He held his right hand over them and silently muttered in his heart.

"Convert."

The next instant, the flesh and blood vanished.

At the same time, the number beside Cell Source had changed to 382 units.

A hint of surprise appeared on Noah's face.

Every life was a unique individual, so everyone could provide him with Cell Source.

However, because individuals of the same species did not differ much, their value was generally similar. For humans, it was normally 100 units.

He had no idea which of those guys had somehow provided 2 more units than the other two.

Unfortunately, that was destined to remain a mystery forever.

Otherwise, he might have been able to study it.

The three people who had kidnapped his parents belonged to a small gang called the Black Rat Gang.

As far as he knew, aside from the three who had acted, there were another five members.

He did not think the remaining people would have the guts to retaliate, but he had no intention of gambling his family's lives on them choosing not to take revenge.

In that case, he would strike first!

Noah closed his eyes, and countless specks of light immediately appeared in his mind.

He knew that these were the Corpse-Eating Insects he had created.

"Go. Kill every last one of those gang scum!"

The previously quiet specks of light suddenly stirred, sending out chaotic waves of thought before swiftly scattering.

Noah opened his eyes and sighed.

The Corpse-Eating Insects' intelligence was too low. Although they were absolutely loyal to him because the system had created them, making them carry out such a complicated task was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Forget it. He would go himself.

That night, Noah pulled a hood over his head and found the Black Rat Gang's hideout.

His luck was good. All five of them were there.

"Kid, get lost! This isn't somewhere you should be!"

One of them shouted at Noah with disgust.

Earlier, their boss had taken some people out to get money, but they still had not returned. They were already feeling uneasy.

Now, some blind fool had come wandering over, making him feel like killing someone.

Noah looked at the five men staring back at him and gave them a friendly smile.

He looked as harmless as the nice boy next door.

Then, a black tide surged forth.

Moments later, only several pools of poorly cleaned blood remained.

The Black Rat Gang was wiped out!

He had killed a few more people.

Perhaps because he had not done it himself, or perhaps because he had already killed one person before, Noah felt nothing at all.

Holding a small stack of cash in his hand, he curled his lip in disdain.

"Five people had less than three hundred dollars on them. What a bunch of poor bastards."

Still, this haul gave him some other ideas.

That was right, this Black Rat Gang was poor.

But they did not even count as a proper gang.

A mafia boss like Kingpin might have ties to more than half the crimes in Hell's Kitchen. Someone like that could not possibly be poor, right?

Even if Kingpin was difficult to deal with, Hell's Kitchen might not have much of anything else, but it definitely had plenty of gangs.

As he pondered, Noah felt that he had found a path to making money.

The system was too unreliable. If he relied solely on its research progress, he would only be a useless bum for the rest of his life.

But if he had a biotech company and recruited some capable talents to assist with the system's research, he would get twice the result with half the effort.

And with a company, he would have a source of income. He already had the T-Virus, too. When the time came, creating a Tyrant would give him the perfect biological weapon.

Then he would have energy, and Cell Source would be easy to obtain as well. His future would be bright.

Noah's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

How about naming the company Umbrella?

A moment later, Noah suppressed the excitement in his heart.

It was not time to get excited yet. Forget Umbrella—he could not even afford a slightly expensive piece of equipment right now.

He had to eat one bite at a time and earn money little by little.

His first pot of gold would begin with gangs!

Over the next few days, Noah wandered around Hell's Kitchen every night.

Hell's Kitchen had plenty of gangs, but not every gang could be touched.

First, the gangs connected to underworld big shots like Kingpin were beyond his reach, no matter how wealthy they were.

And those poor bastards were off-limits too.

He only wanted his first pot of gold, not to turn Hell's Kitchen upside down.

If things got too big and drew S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention, that would be bad.

Even though he acted so carefully, after only a week, Hell's Kitchen still descended into chaos.

In just a few days, no fewer than three gangs had been wiped out.

Other than bloodstains, there was not even a scrap of flesh left at the scenes. That alone was enough to make every gang worry that they might be next.

Meanwhile, a file was delivered to Phil Coulson's desk.

A sapling needs encouragement to grow into a towering tree. Please bookmark! Please vote!