Azeroth Souvenir Shop

A day later.

After sending Robbie and Gabe to their new home, Old Wang and Skye returned to Old Wang's bachelor apartment.

"Wang, we need to start striving for our future lives!" Skye plopped down onto the sofa and declared righteously, "We're out of money, really out of money! If we don't make money soon, we'll starve and be drinking the northwest wind!"

"Gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorb the essence of sun and moon. Those who feed on qi become divine and live long lives. Drinking the northwest wind is quite good. The southeast wind is even better."

Old Wang casually pulled out a copy of the "Huainanzi" and tossed it to Skye. "Read it carefully. A calm mind naturally feels full."

"Get lost!"

Skye slapped the "Huainanzi" to the floor, then picked up a copy of the "Three Character Classic" and shook it. "I've only gotten this far. Yours is way too advanced... Besides, can reading make money? Can reading fill our stomachs? Can reading get me a husband? No! Stop messing around. Seriously, we need to make money! You owe me a lot of money!"

"In books are houses of gold, in books are thousands of bushels of grain, in books are beauties fair as jade... Spiritual food is delicious."

Seeing Skye about to throw another book at him, Old Wang hurriedly surrendered. "All right, all right, it is time to make money... Haven't I been working on it all along? Darkhold Laboratory has already been established. We're going to make big money! I'm telling you, within two years I'll get you a new ride. Forget those trendy apocalypse war machines—do you like Quinjets? If not, I'll see if I can get you S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Sky Carrier. I wonder if they've finished building it yet."

Working for someone else was impossible. It would never happen in this lifetime.

So he could only be the boss.

Darkhold Laboratory was currently just an empty shell. The new research remained at the theoretical stage, while Lucy, Eli, and the others were still studying the knowledge within.

Of course, Old Wang had not left the Darkhold with them. Instead, Skye copied down its contents and sent them over.

On one hand, he worried that greed might get the better of them and they would run off with the Darkhold. On the other, he worried that if Hydra found them, both the people and the book would be lost.

Fortunately, Skye was also on the technology side. What she saw was the same as what Lucy, Eli, and the others saw, so there was no problem.

Back then, Lucy and the others had spent a long time merely researching a few pages of its contents.

According to Lucy, the knowledge recorded in the Darkhold far exceeded current technological standards. It was simply beyond what the human brain could fully comprehend. Even just a few pages could take months or even years to understand, so they could not rush it.

It was not impossible to steal energy from Hell and "create something from nothing." However, once a connection with Hell was established, it would be easy to open a rift between the real world and Hell. If something like the Spirit of Vengeance came running out of Hell, the problem would be enormous.

Besides, creating something from nothing was not so easy. Creating a block of carbon was easy; creating a person was much harder.

The mages of Kamar-Taj believed that every spell came at a price.

The Darkhold was essentially a spellbook. Although many of its spells could be achieved through scientific means, they still came with costs and hidden dangers.

But the risks of some spells were not that great.

Old Wang was not a mage, much less a scientist. He could not understand the Darkhold at all.

But he had watched "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and knew the Darkhold could definitely accomplish a few things.

The original experiments had been terminated.

The first research project Old Wang had assigned to Lucy, Eli, and the others was the Framework.

The so-called Framework was actually an enormous virtual world, similar to the Matrix in "The Matrix." If it were fully perfected, it might even be more advanced.

Because it did not really resemble a technology-based virtual world.

It was more like a magic-based "gigantic illusion realm," even somewhat like World of Warcraft's Emerald Dream, though naturally far more rudimentary.

What could a virtual world with realism approaching 100% do?

Military training?

Virtual learning?

Entertainment and socializing?

Virtual games?

An unprecedented Mental World, humanity's second world?

Anything was possible.

Its money-making potential was unimaginable.

Of course, for someone like Old Wang, who had once stood at the pinnacle of power and wealth as a winner in life—a panda—money was like floating clouds. It was not important.

At least it was interesting, wasn't it?

"...Heh heh."

Skye had long since become immune to Old Wang. She had no interest in mocking him and said sarcastically without restraint, "A laboratory that can only trick people into paying to rent warehouses? A laboratory with only a thousand dollars in startup capital? Wang, ideals are plump, but reality is skinny. What we need to think about now is making money!"

"...All right. What do you have in mind?" Old Wang shifted into a more comfortable Ge You Tanh and looked up at Skye.

"Your Essence Wine. Sell it!"

Skye leaned close to Old Wang's face. "I'll contact the customers. After we sell it, we split it fifty-fifty... Forget it, thirty-seventy. You get seventy, I get thirty. How about it?"

"Your Chinese has gotten pretty good!"

Old Wang smiled. He thought it was actually not a bad idea.

For old wealthy men who were about to die of age or illness and desperately needed more time, one million was nothing. Even ten million, one hundred million, or one billion—if it could extend their lives, money was not a problem.

Buying gold with money, exchanging it for Well of Eternity Water Essence, then selling it for ten times or even a hundred times the price was entirely possible.

And there was no need to worry about demand.

There were plenty of rich people in this world, and even more people waiting to extend their lives.

They did not even need to worry that selling too much would drive down the price.

Marvel did not have only one planet or one civilization.

If it could not be sold on Earth, they could go to the Nine Realms!

If the Nine Realms did not want it, they could go to Marvel's three great empires, or even other miscellaneous civilized nations. How many people were there in the entire Marvel Universe?

No one could count them all.

Although some races had long lifespans, they were still finite. Kree and Skrulls did not live all that long either.

Asgardians could live relatively long lives, but only around five thousand years or so. There should be plenty nearing death from old age, right? He just did not know whether Well of Eternity Water Essence would work on Asgardians.

Besides, why sell only Well of Eternity Water Essence?

Skye's words opened up Old Wang's train of thought.

World of Warcraft might not be more advanced than the Marvel World, but it at least had specialties this world lacked. Things were precious because they were rare.

Well of Eternity Water Essence was only one of them.

Equipment could be sold;

Special metals, Warcraft hides and furs, and elemental materials could be sold;

Potions, elixirs, and flasks could be sold;

Even knowledge itself could be sold.

Azeroth Miss would definitely support it. Exchanging what each side had for what the other lacked was quite good.

So he was going to become the legendary interplanar red-cap merchant, commonly known as a "middleman"?

"Skye, how about we open a shop?"

Old Wang rolled over and pressed Skye beneath him, gazing down at her with blazing eyes. "How about opening the most awesome little shop in the entire universe?"

"...What kind of shop?" Skye felt a little tight in the chest and could barely breathe under Old Wang's weight.

Without even thinking, a very stylish name appeared in Old Wang's mind, and he blurted it out:

"Azeroth Souvenir Shop!"