A New Look

"Mr. Bai..." Ryan Daling and Denny Roberts stepped off the yacht.

"Mr. Bai, this is..." He wanted to ask why the boss was here, but he did not dare, so he could only ask about Banner.

"Our future scientific consultant!" Bai Jing did not elaborate. After all, what did scientific research have to do with a gangster like Ryan?

"We actually have a yacht?" After boarding, Bai Jing looked at the enormous vessel and asked.

"Yachts aren't that expensive. This one only cost $260,000. The previous boss bought it..." Ryan said.

"Oh..." Bai Jing nodded, then asked, "Is anything happening today?"

"Yes. Professor Novara from Roxxon Corporation wants to meet you. We set it for two tomorrow afternoon!" Ryan hurriedly said. "Also, we audited the Viper Gang's assets. The total is..."

He glanced at Banner, unsure whether he should continue.

"Go on. Professor Banner isn't an outsider," Bai Jing said.

"Yes. The Viper Gang's total assets amount to $76 million, but $60 million had been earmarked for Kingpin..." Ryan continued.

"To hell with that!" Bai Jing snapped. "I just recruited a top scientist. There'll be plenty of places to spend money from now on!"

Banner gave a sheepish smile beside him. No matter how humble he was, he could not claim that experiments did not require money.

On the contrary, scientific research could never have too much funding.

"Mm!" Ryan nodded.

"What does Roxxon Corporation want with us? Looking for trouble?" Bai Jing asked again.

Roxxon Corporation supplied drugs to the Viper Gang in exchange for living people to experiment on. They were no good either.

"Not exactly. The company is currently insolvent and faces the risk of bankruptcy. They've been seeking funding everywhere..." Ryan said.

"Where would I get the money to invest in them?" Bai Jing said irritably. "Let them go under!"

"Wait!" Banner suddenly spoke from behind him. "Is it Roxxon Biotechnology, located at the intersection of Eleventh Avenue and Thirty-Third Street?"

"Yes!" Ryan looked at Banner and nodded.

"You know them?" Bai Jing asked.

"I do. That company has a P3-level biological laboratory. More importantly, they're ambitious. They bought a large tract of land in New Jersey and were planning to build a major integrated experimental base. I think that if we don't have a research institution, we could acquire this company!" Banner said. "Large tracts of land and fully licensed laboratories aren't easy to come by!"

Seeing Bai Jing's dark gaze, Banner swallowed. "So... do we already have a laboratory? Is there no need to buy another one?"

"No, no, no!" Bai Jing shook his head. "We really don't. So what's the company valued at?"

"Uh, around $5 billion!" Ryan thought for a moment before answering.

"Are you kidding me? Didn't you say they were about to go bankrupt?"

"But the company still has numerous invention patents, laboratory permits and licenses, and the land is also a valuable asset!" Ryan said. "They also hold contracts with a large number of researchers, as well as collaboration agreements with various universities..."

"Fine..." Bai Jing rubbed his forehead. Where was he supposed to find $5 billion?

"Is it urgent?" Bai Jing asked.

"Bankruptcy is a long process. Besides, while they claim they're going bankrupt, they can actually hold on for another year or so." Ryan said. "They may have come to us now because they want to find a buyer in advance!"

"Then it's fine!" Bai Jing nodded. He already had $76 million. Once he spent two months unifying Hell's Kitchen, his assets should reach $5 billion no matter what.

Then, when Tony got into trouble, he could make another investment in the stock market and turn it into $15 billion!

By then, buying a mere biotechnology company would be nothing. Once Osborn ran into trouble later, he could buy Osborn too!

"Oh, right. Fruit 3 is being released this July!" Apple's first-mover advantage had been crucial to its becoming the world's leading phone company.

But what if it was no longer the first company to change the world with a phone?

There were still six months until July. For an ordinary company, that was nowhere near enough time to develop a smartphone!

But Bai Jing had a smartphone from 2020 in his hands, along with a super scientist like Banner!

As they chatted, Bai Jing suddenly turned his head. Through the mist on the water, a ship with its headlights blazing was speeding toward them!

"It's a frigate. Military personnel!" Bai Jing cursed under his breath. "Quiet!"

They immediately fell silent. Banner watched the ship, then looked around anxiously. He might have to jump into the water and escape soon!

"They're here for you!" After listening to the sounds from the other ship for a while, Bai Jing turned to Banner.

"Uh... I should probably swim away..." Banner turned to jump overboard.

"We're two kilometers from shore. Without Hulk, how are you going to swim back?" Bai Jing asked.

"Uh..." Banner scratched his head. That was true. He had only managed to swim across the bay before because Hulk had helped.

Without Hulk, he was merely a weak scholar incapable of lifting a chicken!

"If I became extremely angry, perhaps I could widen the Pocket Dimension's passage and let a huge amount of transformation energy pour in instantly."

But with his current state of mind and self-discipline, very few things could make him angry anymore.

Hulk really had it hard with such a Buddhist-minded host.

"Actually, there's another way!" Bai Jing looked at Banner. "Do you trust me?"

Banner looked into Bai Jing's deep eyes. For some reason, the atmosphere suddenly felt serious!

"I do!" After thinking for a moment, he nodded earnestly.

"Good!" Bai Jing stretched out a hand. "I'll give you a new look!"

He raised his hand and pointed at Banner, then activated Gravitational Devouring. Wherever the gravity passed, strands of hair were severed cleanly and sucked into the black hole. In moments, Banner's messy, seawater-soaked hair had become a five-millimeter buzz cut.

"And the beard!" With another wave of his hand, gravity went straight into the follicles and pulled out the hairs on Banner's chin by the roots. Banner only felt a tingling numbness in his chin, unaware that in an instant, his beard style had gone from American to Italian.

"And those signature loser eyes of yours!" Banner's eye sockets and eyebrows drooped downward, making his face look like a giant character for misery. He gave off the impression of someone whose youth had been cut short, whose luck had failed, and whose life was full of hardship.

Bai Jing directly flattened his brow ridge and straightened his eye sockets.

Since it was Gravitational Devouring, it did not affect the nerves at all. Banner did not even feel pain.

Only Denny and Ryan, who had been watching from the side, stared wide-eyed at the scene. Right before their eyes, a living person had turned into someone else!

Straight brow ridge, sharp eyes, fair skin without a beard, and short hair!

How was this Bruce Banner? He looked exactly like a handsome movie star who had stepped out of a film!

"Did something happen to me? Why are you looking at me like that?" Banner noticed their stares and scratched his head in confusion.

"A mirror!" Bai Jing said.

"Ah, right!" Denny was a woman, and the kind who cared greatly about makeup, so naturally she carried a mirror with her.

Reluctantly, she took a small mirror dusted with who-knew-what kind of makeup powder from her bag and handed it to Banner. Banner accepted it blankly, opened it, and looked at himself in the mirror...

"Ah..." Banner's hand trembled, and the mirror flew straight off the yacht and fell into the sea.

"Ah, my Champs-Élysées Bazaar..." Denny screamed. She silently pulled out a knife, wanting to stab several holes into Banner.

But Banner was talent the boss valued, so she did not dare.

She could only silently carve a character into the rail where the mirror had fallen into the sea.

In the end, she bore everything alone.

"From now on, your name is Keanu Reeves!" Bai Jing said. "Put away that gentle aura. You're a handsome man. You're endlessly charming. You're brimming with confidence!"

"But I..." Banner hesitated. He had been timid and submissive for five years. It was hard for him to suddenly become bold!

"Think about your status in the physics world. Imagine that everyone on that ship is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering and Automation." Bai Jing continued.

Banner immediately sat up straight.

You should've said so earlier!