A Matter of Life and Death

Shen Fei had actually been working on deriving the Super Soldier Serum ever since Jason left. There had originally been two or three problems he planned to tackle slowly.

Who could have known the organization's purge would come so quickly? He had nearly squeezed his brain dry, repeatedly calculating the final problem. By the time Jason informed him,

he was already solving the last problem.

Not long after.

Shen Fei's face was pale, but his eyes shone as he looked at the flawless formula in his hand.

At that moment,

Shen Fei marveled that he had actually derived it.

Even the United States military, Hydra, and other organizations had been unable to derive it again.

Yet he had ultimately figured it out with ease.

Although Hydra had actually solved most of the problems, leaving only a tiny handful of extremely difficult ones they could not overcome.

Sometimes, though, those few steps were the most crucial.

After all these years, only he had solved them.

That was the terror of the Lord of Scientific Research. With this talent, Shen Fei believed that as long as he did not die,

he would surely climb to the peak of this universe and take a look.

"Next comes preparing the Super Soldier Serum. As long as I can make it and inject it with the machine,

if it works, getting out will be easy, and I'll have the power to protect myself."

This research facility was merely one of many groups studying the serum. It had no incomplete Super Soldiers like the Winter Soldier, nor did it have any superpowered individuals.

So even the Hydra soldiers coming to purge them were merely ordinary people, at most some experienced veterans.

A perfect Super Soldier would be enough to slaughter everyone here!

Shen Fei sealed the laboratory from within, then disabled the exterior combination lock.

It could only be opened manually from the inside.

It had originally been meant to prevent outside enemies from entering, buying time to destroy the data.

Now, it had become Shen Fei's final shield.

"The entire laboratory is made of tempered glass.

Even fully armed soldiers will need some time to get in.

That's enough time for me to inject the serum."

After locking the door, Shen Fei sprinted toward the laboratory bench.

He activated various machines as he went. Before long, he held several bottles of reagents.

The reagents mixed continuously in his hands, blue and green alternating as various crystals precipitated. After being stirred by the machines, their essence was extracted.

The soldier watching the surveillance feed in the office immediately frowned slightly. "What is that guy doing? Does he think he can solve the problem and formulate the serum in such a short time?"

The Soldier Captain sneered. "You think there'll be a miracle? The entire organization has been trying to reproduce the Super Soldier Serum, and an ordinary researcher is praying for a miracle?

He wants to inject himself with the serum and escape? What a fantasy!"

After thinking for a moment, he took out his communicator. "Team 13, proceed to Laboratory 2. Everyone else, continue hunting down the remaining researchers! Otherwise, those S.H.I.E.L.D. mad dogs will come knocking."

Inside the laboratory, Shen Fei, who was preparing the reagent, glanced at the surveillance cameras.

The endless stream of soldiers made him quicken his movements. An invisible pressure descended upon him. It would not be long before they reached him.

Soon, hurried footsteps sounded outside the laboratory. Through the transparent glass, the fully armed squad immediately spotted Shen Fei.

"Shen Fei located! He's inside the laboratory! He's activated every machine in there and seems to be making something!" the lead soldier shouted into his pager.

"Use the code!"

"The combination lock has been disabled! It can only be opened from the inside!"

"Shoot through the glass!"

The captain's voice was icy. Was this guy challenging the authority of their Cleanup Team?

The group raised their automatic rifles, and a Metal Storm immediately bombarded the glass.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Hearing the gunfire, Shen Fei broke out in a cold sweat. His hand holding the reagent moved even faster. "Just a little more, just a little more!"

Shen Fei clenched his teeth, frantically pushing his brain and arms to their limits. Fast but not chaotic, every step had to be correct. He had no room for failure.

In the office, the Soldier Captain watched Shen Fei's movements on the monitor and frowned as he muttered, "Is this guy really formulating the Super Soldier Serum?

Is he insane? If he fails, he might as well just die!"

"Has this guy been scared out of his mind?"

He had seen many volunteers participate in experiments. Some of the corpses had even been handled by his squad.

He knew exactly how agonizing it was for volunteers when their injections failed.

This was practically forcing himself into a dead end!

Yet the Soldier Captain felt uneasy. He picked up the phone. "Did something happen?"

"Sir, I have some intelligence to report to you!"

Elsewhere in the United States.

Baron Strucker was looking at a screen displaying the situation inside the research facility.

Seeing Shen Fei constantly fiddling with things in the laboratory, he shook his head and said into the phone, "Don't worry. Take it slow.

If the Super Soldier Serum that the organization has researched for so long could be developed just like that,

then everyone else would be utterly useless!"

He had just glanced at the information Shen Fei had accessed, but he did not take it seriously.

If the Super Soldier Serum were that easy to develop, what would Hydra's years of research even amount to?

In the office, hearing the unconcerned tone in his superior's voice, the Soldier Captain did not voice his worries and could only hang up.

Outside the laboratory, the relentless barrage finally made the glass creak, and a tiny crack appeared. Seeing this,

the Cleanup Team members all smiled. They had finally broken through this turtle shell.

"That was damn tough. Shit, we wasted so much effort and ammunition on one person!"

Watching Shen Fei continue fiddling with things inside, the Cleanup Squad members all sneered.

"Keep going. Once we get in, I'm going to use that guy as target practice!"

"Who knows? Maybe he'll come up with some terrifying reagent. Then we'll be good people for putting him out of his misery! Hahaha!"

Inside.

Shen Fei stopped moving and began shaking the test tube in his hand.

The colorless liquid in the test tube began to change. Before long, a sapphire-like liquid shimmered within, flowing like a work of art.

Looking at the medicine in the tube, Shen Fei let out a breath. He had finally developed it.

The Super Soldier Serum.

But the serum could not be injected directly. He needed to enter that machine.

Injecting it directly would prevent his body from being nourished by its energy. It would drain all the energy from his body and turn him into a dried corpse. Shen Fei had no desire to become one.

Seeing the glass beginning to crack apart, he hurriedly activated the machine and placed the serum inside.

Then he lay down inside the machine.

"Super Soldier, activate!"