Learning

Watching Dr. Erskine draw three large syringes of blood from his veins, Han Lin shook his head with a wry smile when Erskine picked up the fourth. "Doctor, even if I'm stronger than most, those three tubes are nearly 500 milliliters. Can you draw more after you've used them up?"

Dr. Erskine froze, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry. It's a scientist's obsession. I always feel that I might not be able to obtain many experimental samples in the future. I'll extract more later, then."

Han Lin pressed down on his vein and spoke cautiously. "Doctor, my mutation is related to a virus. I don't know the exact cause, but I went through tremendous pain after being infected. This virus may be lethally contagious. I call it the Blacklight Virus.

"It's best not to conduct live experiments yet. If you rashly test it on living subjects, I don't think anyone else can withstand the virus's erosion. They may end up as walking corpses!"

Han Lin gave a half-truthful explanation of the Blacklight Virus. When he had planned to inject the Super Soldier Serum, he had already considered the possibility of being treated as an experimental subject. The Blacklight Virus inside him would be discovered sooner or later, so he had no intention of hiding it.

Upon hearing that, Dr. Erskine and Howard Stark hurriedly moved the sterile test tubes away, dividing Han Lin's blood into more than a dozen tubes and storing them in a refrigerated case.

After watching the two finish, Han Lin said, "Howard, could you sell me some more shares on top of our contract? How much could these buy?"

As he spoke, Han Lin brought over the briefcase he had been carrying. When he opened it, gleaming gold bars appeared before them, while the scattered banknotes on top were merely an extra. Howard Stark's eyelids twitched as he stared at the bag of gold. Thinking back on the news, he had not heard any reports of a bank robbery.

"Where did you get all this gold?" Howard asked carefully. "You didn't rob a bank, did you?"

Han Lin grew slightly angry. "Hey, I may not be a good person, but I'm not a bad one either. I've only been in the United States for four days... I got this by robbing gangsters. You know, they were smuggling precious items from China, so I took back some of my country's money to subsidize myself! There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

"You're saying you were behind that incident at the docks two days ago?" Howard hurriedly asked. Han Lin nodded indifferently.

Howard stared at Han Lin speechlessly. He felt that if this humanoid beast decided to commit crimes, there were probably very few people in the world who could stop him.

After slowly counting the bars, they found 105 standard 100-ounce gold bars. Han Lin had carried nearly 300 kilograms of gold around in a briefcase for two days. Howard was a businessman, and with World War II breaking out, he did not have much liquid capital left. The appearance of so much gold would bring him enormous profits and allow him to make many things happen.

"At the current gold price, it's 35 dollars per ounce. I can give you a little extra—400,000 dollars in total. In exchange, you'll receive 12% of Stark Industries. What do you think?"

Han Lin nodded and smiled nonchalantly. His investment now was for enormous returns in the future. Stark Industries would become a trillion-dollar corporation one day, so holding more shares for retirement was not a bad idea...

Howard turned and left. He needed to draft the contract and deal with the gold, leaving Han Lin behind to study with Dr. Erskine.

Dr. Erskine was already intensely interested in Han Lin's blood samples. The Super Soldier Serum had been completed, and now all he needed was to wait for Han Lin's first test subject. "You can study some basic knowledge in my library first. Come find me once you can understand most of the books."

With that, he ignored everything else and carried the blood samples toward his laboratory.

Han Lin headed to Dr. Erskine's library. Seeing that the room was filled with books on genetics and biological mutation, he picked out several that looked relatively basic and began reading.

His extraordinary learning ability and memory allowed Han Lin to pour most of the knowledge into his mind. The more books he read, the clearer certain ideas in his mind became—research directions he would need to pursue after his mutation.

Five days passed quietly. Han Lin read through most of the books on biology and genetics, gradually gaining a general grasp of the direction his future research needed to take. His mutation was currently uncontrollable. This was the real world, not a game. If he became like a game protagonist, would he still be human, or merely a powerful mutated organism?

If he could make his mutation controllable, ensuring that he could still be called human in any form, then he could better control his strength. He would not become the brutal, murderous A-Bro, nor would he become James Heller, who fought killing with killing. Besides, could he really accept something as inhuman as consuming people? Han Lin shuddered. Forget it. I should go see how the doctor's research is going.

He stood and headed toward the laboratory. Looking at the refined middle-aged man's unwashed clothes after days of frenzied experimentation, Han Lin felt that if Erskine were thrown onto the street, someone would definitely toss him a few coins. Han Lin looked at the somewhat obsessed Dr. Erskine. "Doctor, how many days has it been since you last rested?"

Dr. Erskine looked up from his thoughts and roared with slight irritation, "Don't interrupt my train of thought. Fuck..."

Han Lin cut off the rest of his words and grabbed the frail doctor with both hands. "Doctor, you need rest. You haven't finished the serum experiment yet. Are you trying to work yourself to death in the laboratory?" Looking at the struggling Dr. Erskine in his hands, he called over two guards. "Take the doctor to rest. Make sure he eats something first. How long has it been since he last ate?"

One guard checked the time. "He hasn't eaten for sixteen hours. The doctor has been researching in the laboratory the entire time. When he sleeps, it's only because he gets tired and lies down for a while. Once he wakes up, he continues his research."

Han Lin nodded. "In that case, watch him eat something, then make him go back to his room and sleep. Notify me when he wakes up." The two guards supported the calmer Dr. Erskine and led him toward his quarters.

Looking over the countless formulas, algorithms, and molecular structures of various drugs on the large blackboard, Han Lin sat down and began reading Dr. Erskine's notes, extracting the key points. His enhanced brain set everything he had learned over the previous five days into motion. As he turned page after page, it was as though the notes were being scanned directly into his mind...

Once he had read everything, Han Lin understood what the doctor was doing. He was conducting an experiment to enhance Han Lin's blood cells with the Super Soldier Serum, watching Han Lin's cells beneath the microscope crave the serum.

Yes, Han Lin's cells were craving it. Like living entities, they devoured the energy within the serum. Han Lin felt an inexplicable chill. Once an organism's cells left the human body, they would generally die soon afterward. Without cultivation, they could not survive. Yet Han Lin's cells possessed an intense devouring nature, consuming anything that contained energy until nothing remained.

Han Lin could not help looking toward a glass experimental chamber containing some flesh and tissue. He could sense that it was a part of himself. Having devoured various forms of energy, it had begun rapidly dividing and multiplying...

It was like a child clone of Han Lin. He could feel that he was able to control it.

If it continued growing, it might transform into Hydra, the giant tentacled monster from Prototype. Han Lin felt that things had gone somewhat beyond his expectations.

The best option would be to humanely destroy the mass of flesh, but Han Lin sensed that the system was endlessly magnifying his desires. The system, which had been silent for so long, finally spoke. "Recover the flesh. Reabsorbing this unconscious mass of flesh into your body can improve the quality of certain skills. If it absorbs more energy before being reabsorbed, the Blacklight System will reactivate. At that time, the system will help the host grow more effectively."

Han Lin picked out two key points from those words: First, this mass of flesh is unconscious. Second, absorbing powerful energy and increasing its energy cultivation can stimulate the flesh's growth.