Hiring Dr. Connors

The dinner at Gwen's house was exceptionally warm. What could be better than a girlfriend who loved you, constantly refilling your plate?

However, the warm dinner had a few hiccups. George, who had been meticulously proper at the table, visibly changed his expression when Helen brought out the soup. Then, seeing his son squeeze ketchup onto his food, he bolted for the bathroom, followed by sounds of retching, leaving everyone at the table exchanging bewildered glances.

It turned out George had been involved in the cleanup after the Lizard People riot. Seeing the scattered limbs and the pulped flesh, even the self-proclaimed elite detective, George, couldn't help but throw up.

This was truly beyond the tolerance of an ordinary elite...

After dinner, Chen Changsheng kissed Gwen goodbye and returned to his Umbrella Corporation. After all, he had captured so many Lizard People during the day and still had a lot of work to handle.

Colonel Rhodes and General Ross from the military had already called countless times, urging him to deal with it. It was time to get to it.

Dr. Connors' plan to merge with lizard genes to gain incredibly powerful regenerative abilities and restore his disabled arm wasn't inherently wrong.

But due to the limitations of the era, it could never proceed as predicted.

Now, Dr. Connors had merged with lizard genes and become Dr. Lizard. The animal's instincts were severely affecting his mind every moment, threatening to turn him into a savage, bloodthirsty monster at any time.

Fortunately, the Lizard Gene Enhancement Serum had a limited duration. It wouldn't be long before Dr. Lizard reverted back to Dr. Connors.

Chen Changsheng's Umbrella Corporation had always wanted to research a gene recovery serum that could be mass-produced now and was compatible with the current technological level. Dr. Connors' lizard gene serum fit Chen Changsheng's expected results perfectly.

Chen Changsheng had plenty of ways to limit the gene recovery serum's activity after it differentiated and grew the disabled limbs, ensuring it wouldn't affect the user's normal life and would absolutely not lead to consequences like creating another Dr. Lizard.

Of course, this wasn't due to Chen Changsheng's high scientific attainment or the advanced experimental equipment at Umbrella Corporation.

It was simply because, as a composite of the Original Virus, Chen Changsheng possessed the ability to directly manipulate genetic material at the molecular level after fusing with the Blacklight Virus.

However, this ability was like someone who could skillfully use a computer without understanding how it was made. It was as natural as a normal person eating and drinking. Chen Changsheng could naturally discern the function of genes and then copy, cut, and paste them.

In the past, Chen Changsheng had tried to write some gene fragments himself. But because he could only read the purpose of gene fragments and not understand the use of individual gene particles, he couldn't create any useful gene fragments; most of them were just useless gibberish.

However, on one occasion, Chen Changsheng created a gene fragment that directly turned one of his arms into blood. If Chen Changsheng hadn't reacted quickly and amputated his arm to save himself, his entire body would have likely necrotized and turned into a pool of genetic soup.

After that incident, Chen Changsheng realized that his reckless actions could lead to unpredictable consequences, so he no longer dared to boldly attempt to write gene fragments.

The risk was simply too great. The rewards were not proportional to the risks. It was much more convenient and faster to directly copy, and more importantly, it was safe.

Gene replication was Chen Changsheng's personal ability and couldn't add any value to Umbrella Corporation. Therefore, Chen Changsheng still needed professional talents like Connors.

In a society like humanity, a single person fighting alone could never achieve great things. So, Chen Changsheng still planned to recruit various talents.

As per Chen Changsheng's instructions, the newly hired security department manager of Umbrella Corporation administered an injection of a serum filled with Life Essence to the now-conscious Connors.

Instantly, Dr. Connors' severed limbs were restored, and even his long tail grew back.

Connors, now recovered, instantly felt his back pain disappear, his legs felt strong again, and that familiar, immense power had returned.

His vertical pupils, characteristic of cold-blooded animals, scanned the room. An aura of a higher-level predator emanated from him, causing the Umbrella security department manager who came to give the injection to tremble and lose consciousness...

Seeing the security department manager collapse on the floor, paralyzed with fear, Chen Changsheng couldn't help but press his hand to his forehead, feeling greatly embarrassed.

This security department manager was someone Chen Changsheng had poached from Hammer Industries at a great cost, someone with intricate connections to the US military and high-ranking government officials.

He was a key figure in securing large military orders in the future, and Chen Changsheng couldn't have him accidentally killed by Dr. Lizard.

Ordering two Tyrants to take the security department manager to the hospital, Chen Changsheng switched to his armor state and slowly walked into the room.

Sensing footsteps outside, Dr. Lizard's head instantly turned towards the source of the sound.

The first thing he saw were two heavily armed Tyrants. Seeing the Gatling guns on their backs, Dr. Lizard's sinister expression froze for a moment.

It seemed the Gatling Tyrants cast a significant shadow over Dr. Lizard.

Seeing that the Tyrants merely carried away the incontinent human in front of them and paid him no mind, Dr. Lizard finally relaxed.

Just as Dr. Lizard relaxed, his peripheral vision caught a dark figure lurking in an inconspicuous shadow.

Dr. Lizard focused his gaze. A black exoskeleton, a straight, silent posture... In an instant, a not-so-pleasant memory flooded his mind.

The more Dr. Lizard thought about it, the angrier he became. Looking at the figure half his height, Dr. Lizard finally mustered his confidence. As far as Dr. Lizard was concerned, he simply could not accept the memory of being brutally beaten by this person before.

With the Tyrants gone, Dr. Lizard's confidence swelled exponentially.

He first paced around Chen Changsheng a few times. Seeing Chen Changsheng show no reaction, a cunning glint flashed in the lizard's vertical pupils.

Looking at Dr. Lizard's state, Chen Changsheng was completely disappointed. Strength and intelligence combined? Completely impossible. In this state, he really couldn't give Dr. Lizard too much confidence.

Circling behind Chen Changsheng, Dr. Lizard seemed to have concluded that Chen Changsheng posed no threat.

The next moment, he raised a fist the size of a sandbag and swung it at Chen Changsheng's head, seeking revenge.

I've been guarding against you for a long time, Chen Changsheng thought. With his vast combat experience, Dr. Lizard's greatly diminished intellect was truly no match for Chen Changsheng.

With a turn, Chen Changsheng caught Dr. Lizard's heavy blow. Although he was still sent flying back a considerable distance by the immense force, he managed to stand firm. Then, accelerating with his feet, he instantly rushed in front of Dr. Lizard and, with a powerful leap, delivered a heavy punch to Dr. Lizard.

This punch landed on Dr. Lizard's chin, reminiscent of a Shoryuken. By the time Dr. Lizard landed, his head had caved in, and he was motionless.

However, the Life Essence serum's effect was astonishing. Even in this state, Dr. Lizard was slowly recovering.

Chen Changsheng really wanted to teach Dr. Lizard a lesson. He walked directly to Dr. Lizard's side, placed a hand on him, and began to extract energy from his body. Both his flesh and the recently injected Life Essence were largely absorbed by Chen Changsheng.

Without the energy provided by his body, the effect of the lizard genes gradually weakened. Finally, Dr. Lizard transformed into a thin, naked man with a severed arm, collapsing powerlessly on the ground...

Looking at the naked Dr. Lizard, Chen Changsheng felt disgusted. In the end, he had security personnel find a work uniform and cover him with it.

Dr. Connors, who had just recovered, was still very weak. Looking at the empty sleeve, Dr. Connors felt a deep sense of loss.

To have it and then lose it again was truly painful.

The transformation into Lizard People, with their super-regeneration abilities, wasn't without its costs. Dr. Connors was currently extremely weak, and the phrase "feeling like my body's been hollowed out" perfectly described his current state.

The lizard gene required a massive amount of energy to sustain. Even without Chen Changsheng's intervention, Dr. Lizard wouldn't have been able to maintain his continuous internal energy regeneration for long. Chen Changsheng's actions had merely accelerated this process.

Chen Changsheng had no reason to hide anything from the newly awakened Dr. Connors. He directly stated that he had a way to help him recover his severed arm without any side effects, with the only condition being that Dr. Connors would have to work for the Umbrella Corporation.

The weakened Dr. Connors was highly skeptical upon hearing that the Umbrella Corporation could restore his arm without side effects.

After all, Dr. Connors was an expert in this field. He knew exactly how far current technology had advanced.

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However, Dr. Connors ultimately accepted the offer with a "let's give it a try" attitude.

In Dr. Connors' view, the situation was dire: "The butcher wields the knife, and I am the fish." He didn't have many other options.

Fortunately, Dr. Connors realized from Chen Changsheng's words that he still had some value to the Umbrella Corporation, which put his mind at ease.

Of course, Dr. Connors had other worries. If his actions were discovered by the authorities, he would inevitably spend the rest of his life in prison.

However, as a renowned scientist, Dr. Connors felt he might be able to secure a pardon. But who would be willing to grant one until the very end? If that happened, he would truly be selling his life to the country.

On the surface, the Lizard People incident had passed, but it left behind a considerable mess.

For instance, hundreds of ordinary people had been infected by the Lizard Gene Enhancement Serum, and these mutated Lizard People were now waiting for the government to provide an antidote.

When he created the Gene Enhancement Serum, Dr. Lizard had anticipated that he wouldn't be able to maintain his transformed state for long and had therefore increased the dosage.

Now, the situation was troublesome. Many people were still stuck in their Lizard People form and couldn't revert back.

The fact that they could revert once their internal energy was depleted was something Chen Changsheng had discovered. If Chen Changsheng hadn't revealed it, no one else would have known.

The company tasked with developing the antidote by the government was split between the Umbrella Corporation and the Osborn Group.

The former was a rising high-tech biochemical company, while the latter was an established biotechnology firm. The government was very confident that assigning the task of researching the antidote to these two companies would lead to a swift resolution.

Hundreds of infected Lizard People were sent to the Osborn Group and the Umbrella Corporation respectively. However, during transport, various factions interfered.

As a result, the Umbrella Corporation's research lab received dozens fewer Lizard People. Chen Changsheng wasn't concerned about the fate of the missing Lizard People; if some wanted to play with fire, he wouldn't stop them.

As the incident gradually subsided, Dr. Connors, the chief biologist of the Osborn Group, announced his resignation. After the Umbrella Corporation paid a considerable sum of US dollars, Dr. Connors joined them and became their chief scientist.

Without Dr. Connors, the Osborn Group completely fell behind the Umbrella Corporation in their progress on researching the antidote.

In a short period, the Umbrella Corporation developed an antidote that allowed the Lizard People to revert to their human form, earning them significant public acclaim.

In reality, Dr. Connors, the instigator of this incident, felt quite guilty. Through his round-the-clock research, he managed to quickly develop the antidote.

This incident gave Chen Changsheng new ideas. Based on Dr. Connors' Lizard Gene Enhancement Serum, he developed a timed and controllable Gene Enhancement Serum.

The principle was to inject a Gene Enhancement Serum that boosted human physique, allowing ordinary people to possess strength far exceeding that of normal individuals for a short period.

Then, before human reason was overwhelmed by animalistic instincts, an antidote would be administered to reverse the gene enhancement. This meant there would be a mass-producible human enhancement serum that didn't affect human cognition.

Extending from the Lizard Gene Enhancement Serum, Chen Changsheng even conceived the idea of researching more potent serums: offensive enhancements like the Mighty Lion Enhancement Serum, Giant Bear Enhancement, and White Tiger Enhancement Serum; speed enhancements like the White Deer Enhancement Serum and White Rabbit Enhancement Serum; and defensive enhancements like the Tortoise Enhancement Serum and Crocodile Enhancement Serum, and so on.

This was the principle of "mastering one art leads to mastery in a hundred." Chen Changsheng believed that with Dr. Connors' research, the Umbrella Corporation would possess a flagship product in addition to the Tyrant series.

As for who would conduct the research, it would undoubtedly be Dr. Connors. As the chief scientist of the Umbrella Corporation, earning a sky-high salary for his work was only reasonable, and researching dozens of enhancement serums a year was also quite plausible.

Of course, this series of products wasn't ready for release yet. The military had only placed an order for the Tyrant series, and releasing new products immediately would be disrespectful to the client and akin to digging their own grave.

During his free time, Chen Changsheng also contacted the Mother Nest deep within the ocean. The Gate's charging speed was very slow, clearly indicating that the Gate in this world required far more energy than the one in the Prototype dimension he had traversed.

To obtain more energy from other sources, Chen Changsheng thought of Tony Stark's Arc Reactor.

At this moment, Tony was likely struggling to survive in a cave in Afghanistan, and someone thousands of miles away was already coveting him.

Because of Edward Stark, Tony was a priority target for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the military.

As a crucial character in the plot, Chen Changsheng had no intention of forcefully acquiring the Arc Reactor. Purchasing it with money would, of course, incur massive expenses.

So, what other ways were there to obtain a new energy source in this world?

After careful consideration, Chen Changsheng found a solution: either the Russian nuclear energy research experts, Ivan and his son, or Dr. Otto from the Osborn Group.

Speaking of which, had Otto already begun his research into nuclear energy?

Upon learning the relevant information, Chen Changsheng discovered that Dr. Otto had indeed started his research on nuclear energy long ago. However, the Osborn Group was dedicating most of its funding to the research of gene serums, leaving Dr. Otto with very limited research funds.

With this need identified, Chen Changsheng did not hesitate to provide Dr. Otto with substantial financial support. This would also help advance the plot and lead to the early emergence of Doctor Octopus.

Of course, the most important aspect was the benefit. Doctor Octopus's research into a nuclear fusion sun was also the key to unlocking the future!

The Osborn Group had truly fallen on hard times. First, Chen Changsheng poached their gene research expert, Dr. Connors. Then, they lost their nuclear energy research expert, Dr. Otto.

One could imagine Norman Osborn's mood at this time must have been far from pleasant...

In fact, Norman Osborn's mood was currently at its absolute worst. First, the Umbrella Corporation had snatched a significant portion of his company's orders.

Then, his company suffered collateral damage during the Lizard Doctor incident. Furthermore, they fell behind in the research for the antidote.

The worst part was that Norman Osborn's health was deteriorating rapidly, and he was on the verge of death. On the brink of death, Norman Osborn began to entertain some rather desperate ideas.

Norman Osborn himself was a genius in biochemical research; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to establish the colossal Osborn Industries.

After gathering all the research data related to physical enhancement from Osborn Industries, Norman Osborn conceived a wild idea: to inject himself with the unfinished Super Soldier Enhancement Potion.

In Osborn's eyes, this was a gamble. If he won, he would survive; if he lost, it meant death.

Defeat was something Osborn didn't fear, as he would die anyway even if he didn't inject himself.

The Super Soldier Enhancement Serum researched by the Osborn Group hadn't been very successful, but it did have some effect. Norman hadn't dared to try it before, but now he couldn't afford to worry about that anymore.

After the injection, Norman Osborn barely survived, but the greatest characteristic of the Super Soldier Enhancement Serum wasn't its ability to enhance the human body; rather, it was its ability to infinitely amplify a person's personality.

Just like Captain America Steve, whose tenacious personality was amplified and turned him into the Captain America known to every American household. Similarly, when Osborn's personality was amplified, he became the Green Goblin.

Norman Osborn, now enhanced into the Green Goblin, killed the researchers who assisted him with the Super Soldier Serum injection as the first thing he did upon waking up.

And Osborn Industries, after the departure of its chief research scientist in the biology department, Dr. Connors, the cooperation between nuclear energy researcher Dr. Otto and Umbrella Corporation, and the mysterious death of a researcher in the Super Soldier research department, had suffered a severe blow.

When it rains, it pours. The stock price of the Osborn Group plummeted simultaneously, which also caused serious dissatisfaction among the capital behind the Osborn Group. Therefore, at a board meeting of the Osborn Group, a group of shareholders initiated impeachment proceedings against Norman Osborn.

At the board meeting, Norman Osborn pleaded with the board members for a little more time, assuring them that he would definitely lead Osborn Industries back to its peak.

But clearly, none of the capitalist board members believed Norman Osborn. Their indifferent expressions truly wounded Norman.

After the board members left the meeting room, Norman Osborn let out a laugh, which gradually turned into a cackle.

The last figure, clad in green armor, slid out of Osborn Tower on a high-tech glider, speeding away and disappearing into the sky.

On this very same day, several important shareholders of the Osborn Group died under bizarre circumstances.