Time to Make Money

The Abomination's monitoring room.

Hong Fei and Frank stood side-by-side, staring intently at the screens.

On the large, full-color screen with clear picture quality, the Abomination lay on its back, its protruding chest bones rising and falling with the gentle tremor of its entire body's muscles.

"He'll wake up soon, right?" Hong Fei asked uncertainly.

Frank: "I'm guessing he wasn't sedated for three days."

"What do you mean?"

Frank glanced at Hong Fei before saying, "I think, is it possible he was poisoned by you from the start, and has been continuously healing internal injuries these past few days? Otherwise, based on his previous performance, if he were truly sedated, it probably wouldn't have lasted three days."

Hong Fei's skin twitched slightly. Although he was reluctant to accept Frank's explanation, the hypothesis was clearly valid.

In terms of physique, as someone with the same origin as the Hulk, the Abomination was obviously not weak; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to withstand the frontal bombardment of nine artillery shells.

It seemed he had indeed been poisoned by Hong Fei.

Under their joint gaze, the Abomination's breathing grew increasingly heavy. As a sound like muffled thunder echoed in the confined space, the Abomination's eyes suddenly snapped open on the screen.

The next second, he flipped over and was about to take a step when his feet suddenly felt weak, and he ended up kneeling on one knee.

A guttural breath came through, and Frank gave Hong Fei a meaningful look.

Hong Fei said irritably, "What are you looking at!"

Inside, the Abomination panted as he observed his surroundings. After a moment, he sat down, his fierce eyes fixed on the ground, and spoke, "Ross, is this the cage you prepared for me?"

In the monitoring room, Frank nudged Hong Fei with his elbow. "He thinks you're someone else."

"Heh, he never noticed me following him, so of course he thinks Ross caught him."

"Then what do you plan to do next?"

Hong Fei pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Don't do anything for now, and don't acknowledge him. Since he thinks Ross captured him, he should know General Ross's methods. In the short term, he'll likely appear cooperative, so there's no need for us to reveal ourselves."

Frank nodded slightly.

"Also, if he tries to escape, don't hesitate with electric shocks or fire. Like I said, it's better to kill him than let him go."

This was said to the other subordinates in the monitoring room.

Turning back to the ground floor, he happened to see Helen Zhao's car pull up to the entrance. The manor guards were helping her unload luggage from the car.

Helen Zhao's personal matters had been settled, and the laboratory was about to begin construction. She had readily accepted Hong Fei's invitation and would be moving in starting today, making it convenient for her to oversee the laboratory's construction and make adjustments as needed.

"Mr. Hong, I may be bothering you frequently from now on, so I apologize in advance," Helen Zhao said with a smile and a bow.

"You're too kind. It's no bother at all; I couldn't be happier."

The guards carried the boxes upstairs, and Helen Zhao took a document from her bag and handed it to Hong Fei.

"Mr. Hong, this is the list I've compiled. Please take a look and sign it if everything is in order."

Gonggong Laboratory had been successfully registered, and the five hundred million yuan promised by Hong Fei had already been deposited into the laboratory's account. However, as the sole investor, he still held the final financial authority.

Before even opening it, Hong Fei knew this would be an enormous expenditure.

Flipping it open and scanning it casually, Hong Fei's heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained calm.

As expected, most of the items on the list were equipment and materials Hong Fei had never heard of. The awkward-sounding words formed sentences that were even more confusing. Flipping to the end, a long string of conspicuous numbers made Hong Fei's pupils contract.

Helen Zhao said regretfully, "Some equipment is prohibited from sale, and some only exists in the hands of companies that hold the patents. So, we'll have to lease them or directly apply for usage rights from the owners. Fortunately, there aren't many such needs, and I've already found some alternatives. With this equipment, our laboratory will be 90% complete."

Four hundred and thirty-seven million.

As an outsider, Hong Fei truly didn't know that laboratory equipment alone could cost so much.

He should have asked Obadiah or Tony for more.

With two swift and elegant strokes, Hong Fei signed his name and said casually, "Dr. Zhao, the laboratory will be in your hands from now on. You can handle the personnel yourself, or you can have Number One help you; he has a lot of experience in that regard."

Helen Zhao took the document and carefully put it away before replying, "Alright, but what's Number One's name?"

Hong Fei blinked.

He didn't know either.

"Haha, well, you can ask him yourself, but we all call him Number One, so it's fine if you address him that way too. Now, go take a look at your room. Feel free to ask for anything you need. I hope you'll be as comfortable here as you are at home."

Helen Zhao smiled warmly, "I'm sure I will be."

Hong Fei returned to his room and sat on the spacious balcony, gazing out at New York.

He was short on money again.

He still had seventy million left from his personal funds, and the five hundred million for the laboratory had vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving sixty-four million. He also had over a ton of gold in storage.

In total, nearly two hundred million. At first glance, it seemed like a lot.

But considering the experimental plan Helen Zhao had mentioned earlier, this amount of money might not even last a year.

Besides, he had other expenses to consider.

"I really should have asked for more ransom money. Or at the very least, bought some of Stark's stock."

The ransom at the time was an amount that wouldn't trouble Obadiah and could be quickly and easily laundered.

He didn't buy stocks for two reasons. Firstly, he didn't want Stark to suspect his identity through that channel. Secondly, it's better to avoid unnecessary trouble. At that time, Hong Fei genuinely felt he had enough.

Thinking about it now, the amount Stark Industries could offer Tony would definitely be substantial. If it needed to be laundered slowly, it could be done gradually. As for stocks, he could find ways to diversify his holdings, and the small amounts would add up.

In short, it was the mindset of a poor person, his vision was still too narrow.

In his previous life, he never worried about food or drink, but his savings never exceeded seven figures. Back then, he was solely focused on practicing, sparring, and challenging others. He had no interest in specifically accumulating wealth.

Frank was a jack-of-all-trades. His military knowledge and life experience far surpassed Hong Fei's. However, when it came to finances, Frank mostly relied on his past insights and connections; he wasn't particularly professional in that area himself.

With this in mind, after a moment of thought, he took out his phone and sent Frank a text: "Help me select a butler and a financial officer."

Needless to say, this was another expense that would be incurred immediately.

Acquiring money had now become Hong Fei's sole primary objective.

The next priority was naturally to quickly increase his energy limit. Otherwise, after condensing tanks later, he wouldn't be able to supply ammunition in time, nor would he have energy to replace fuel for the tanks' power. That would likely be equivalent to digging his own grave of steel, which was quite laughable.