Trouble with the Chicago Power Grid

"So, you're an educator focused on tackling campus violence."

Heli said as she opened her makeup case.

Harry spread his hands. It had only been a small favor. What Harry hadn't expected was for it to make the news the next day, with a whole host of media outlets portraying him as someone who put his opposition to campus violence into practice.

"You've gotten a lot stronger again. Have you been secretly hiding away to work out lately?"

Lying on the bed, Harry spread his hands. "I'm still growing. I grow every day. That's normal."

"Yeah, yeah. You're still young. I'm already old."

The moment he heard her tone, Harry knew something was wrong.

Seeing this, Harry pulled her back, took out a syringe, and injected her before Heli could react.

"...What is this?" Heli looked utterly confused, but in Harry's perception, she was panicked, even somewhat frightened—not because of the injection.

Harry smiled. "It's not like I'm going to take out your kidney and sell it. Do you really need to be this nervous?"

Though Osborn did sell plenty of kidneys every month now—artificial kidneys.

"An Active Enhancer that costs two million dollars per dose. It can extend your lifespan and boost cellular vitality." Harry took out a mirror. "Look. How do you feel?"

Once she realized Harry truly wasn't planning to do anything to her, Heli immediately focused on her face.

Though Heli was only twenty-four this year, her long-term irregular schedule and intense workload had still left her with quite a few problems.

The medicine took effect quickly. Before long, she felt her body becoming much lighter, while the skin on her face grew moist and radiant.

"You've gotten younger too. Look, aren't you almost the same as when you were in college?"

"This... I've never heard of the company having a project like this. Did you make it yourself?"

"Yeah. Two million dollars is only the cost price. How much do you think we should sell it for?"

The moment she heard a work-related question, Heli's mind immediately started turning. She picked up her phone and began looking things up.

"What exactly are the effects of the medicine? Is there any specific experimental data?"

"I don't know, but it should extend lifespan by at least around ten years. That metric isn't easy to record..."

"Ten years? That powerful? At that price, only the wealthy could afford it. For the wealthy, even ten million would have a huge market..."

Before Heli could finish, Harry took her phone away.

"It doesn't matter how much we sell it for. The important thing is, shouldn't you show some appreciation? I just spent another ten million on you in the blink of an eye."

In the end, although Heli did her best to remind Harry of the medicine's importance, Harry ignored all of it. They had been busy for so many days—what was wrong with taking a day off for himself?

This experiment had not only solved the Osborn family's hereditary disease, but had also saved a dose of Resurrection Secret Medicine. Harry was in an exceptionally good mood.

Young people were full of energy. They needed an outlet.

It was not until the following evening that the two finally sat down and seriously discussed the matter.

"I plan to dilute the medicine, weaken its effects, and sell it at a high price to wealthy people and politicians. Then I'll use the full-strength version to secure their political allegiance."

Harry's approach was quite similar to the Hand and Harmony Society's. The Active Enhancer was far inferior to Dragon Bone, but Harry wasn't a hunted rat like the Gang. The terms were not excessive.

With this card in hand, Norman was certain to become US President.

"...That doesn't sound bad. Are we doing it now?"

"In a few years. The presidential election just ended, so there's no point doing this now."

Besides, if everything went smoothly, becoming president would be effortless.

If they released it now, what if those people drove up the price?

"Alright. Do you want to take a look at the company's recent financial report?" Though she knew Harry would not care, Heli still asked.

"No, thanks. The company's making a profit anyway."

It was not that Harry could not understand financial reports, but they gave him a headache. They seemed endless.

He wanted Leining to process all the information like an artificial intelligence and report it to him, but reality did not seem so simple.

Leining was unbeatable in terms of hardware, but its software still needed training. Harry often trained Leining to use the internet to transmit information, but the results were not ideal.

Overall, when it came to copying things from storage devices or following wires to find things, Leining was practically invincible.

But following wireless networks was like an ordinary person learning a foreign language. It needed time.

As for Tony's artificial intelligence, its only value was as learning material for Leining. Putting it on Osborn's internal network? Not a chance.

"Alright, back to being a hands-off boss again." Heli raised an eyebrow and said it with half a complaint.

"And I want to launch a new project. I've already invited Doctor Connors to serve as consultant and director. Remember to establish the project and allocate funding for him."

Harry briefly explained the "Biological Era" plan to Heli.

"It sounds a little like... the Human Genome Project," Heli said as she took notes.

In fact, Osborn had also handled part of the Human Genome Project and earned quite a bit in funding.

"More or less, but with greater emphasis on medical applications."

"So that's a public-interest project?"

"Mm... more or less. Half public welfare, half scientific research."

Heli noted down each of these projects. As for the company's daily operations, as long as no major problems arose, Harry basically did not need to spend any energy handling them.

"That should be about it. Has anything happened at the company recently that requires my special attention?" Harry asked.

"There is one matter I may need to report to you. Max has been reporting that the power plant in Chicago has run into serious trouble."

"That civilian organization has been carrying out sabotage, and construction cannot proceed normally."

Harry froze. Sabotage? They had that much nerve? Was the city government just sitting around doing nothing? Why not arrest every last one of them?

He had previously thought it was only ordinary protests with little impact, but now it seemed that was not the case at all.

"What is that civilian organization called?" Harry became curious.

"According to Max's description, it's a hacker organization called DedSec. They seem to be accusing the government and a company called Bloom online of violating their privacy rights."

DedSec? Bloom?

Harry immediately perked up. Those two things did not seem like they should exist in the Marvel world.

Perhaps this was another anomalous project, like the Progenitor Virus.

"Looks like the situation really is rather complicated. Prepare a plane for me. I'm going to Chicago."

There was nothing going on in New York for the moment, and General Ross had gone silent again. He was probably organizing the hunt for Hulk.

He happened to have some time, so he could go see whether what was happening in Chicago was what he thought it was.

Harry got out of bed and dressed.

"A plane? You're not flying there yourself this time?"

"Yes, a plane. You seem to have gotten a lot bolder lately. Teasing your boss?"