Ultron: Pay the Copyright Fee, Thanks

New York, Manhattan, Upper East Side, outside Zhao Hailun's apartment.

Leon set down the still-shaken Zhao Hailun. After she unlocked the door with her key, she turned back to look at him. "Um... I'm sorry, Mr. Leon. I got your uniform dirty."

"It's fine, Helen."

"There's something you need to understand—nothing matters more to me than you being safe."

Leon wore an infectious smile the entire time. He turned as if to fly away, but Zhao Hailun suddenly gathered her courage and called out to him.

"Why don't... you come in and sit for a while? I'll wash your uniform before you leave?"

Hearing that, Leon's lips curled slightly. When he looked back, Zhao Hailun was pursing her slightly pale lips, one delicate hand still trembling on the doorknob as she gazed at him with a fragile, pitiful look.

Hiss—

Perhaps Zhao Hailun herself had no idea just how unfairly alluring she looked right now. Leon simply could not refuse, so of course he agreed.

Three hours later.

Leon lightly kissed the forehead of Zhao Hailun, who had passed out from exhaustion, then carefully carried her from the bed into the Regeneration Cradle signed in through the system to repair the wound on her neck.

There was just one small mishap during the process.

Since Leon had never used the Regeneration Cradle before, and the system had also included a canister of human tissue fluid, he assumed all he had to do was put someone inside and activate it.

Unfortunately.

The Regeneration Cradle's factory settings repaired all tissue damage in the human body by default. Emphasis on all.

So, not only did the Regeneration Cradle perfectly heal the wound on Zhao Hailun's neck, it also restored the damage elsewhere on her body.

Upon learning this, Arcee could not help suspecting that Leon had done it on purpose.

Leon insisted that he had been wronged.

Who the hell knew the Regeneration Cradle was this powerful? It could repair anything and everything.

But.

What was done was done.

Leon could only restrain himself a little more next time—and let Zhao Hailun suffer a bit more.

The next morning.

When Leon woke up in the pink double bed in Zhao Hailun's bedroom, she had already left for work. He wondered whether she had been satisfied with the birthday night he had spent with her.

[Question: Would you like to perform today's sign-in?]

System, I have an 8 a.m. class!

[Ding! Today's sign-in has been completed. Congratulations, Host, you have obtained "Tsunade's Necklace."]

"What the hell?!"

The system notification startled Leon so badly that his PTSD flared up.

Tsunade's Necklace...

You absolutely could not wear that thing. Whoever received it died.

System, if you want me dead, just say it. There's no need to beat around the bush like this.

Grumbling to the system inwardly, Leon summoned Tsunade's Necklace from the system space. Too afraid to even touch it, he directly fired a Palm Cannon and destroyed it!

As long as I ran fast enough, Death would always be one step behind me.

Nawaki: I have something to say about that.

Seaside Villa.

The second basement level, Leon's Wonderful Workshop.

Having a clear understanding of his own intelligence, Leon handed the Vibranium, the Regeneration Cradle, and the lengthy system-provided instruction manual for the Regeneration Cradle all over to Arcee.

And he,

Was only responsible for looking cool.

"Unbelievable!"

Standing before the Regeneration Cradle, which looked like a futuristic metallic coffin, Arcee in Partner Mode, having studied the Vibranium and the Regeneration Cradle through quantum-speed reading, exclaimed:

"The atoms of this metal called 'Vibranium' are not only compatible with tissue cells, but can also bond with them completely, forming an integral whole equivalent to something one was born with."

"Isn't that only natural?"

Leon spread his hands beside her. "Why else would I go through all this trouble to get it?"

"Could it be... you want to integrate Vibranium into your own body?" Arcee guessed, only to immediately reject the idea. "Impossible!"

"The Regeneration Cradle can only print biological tissue from scratch. It has no ability to break down cellular tissue, and your body tissue is far too tough. It's even more impossib—"

Before Arcee could finish, Leon shut her up with facts.

Behold.

Leon displayed an extremely "graphic" level of control over his own cells—

The skin, muscles, and fascia on his palm receded like the tide, ultimately leaving behind nothing but a gleaming silver Adamantium palm skeleton.

This was an extension of Leon's Super Self-Regeneration ability.

Other than the one time Leon had passively used it when he first acquired it, his body had later become so tough that conventional weapons could not even break through his defenses, so it had never been triggered a second time.

Yet as time passed, Leon's control over Super Self-Regeneration had continued to improve in a very real way.

His ability to control the breakdown, reconstruction, and transfer of his own cellular tissue had gradually been acquired during that time as well.

Although he still could not achieve the terrifying precision of Muzan Kibutsuji, who could perfectly mimic a woman from the inside out.

Simply controlling his own tissue to break down into individual cells and then reconstruct was something Leon could fully accomplish.

And that was already enough to achieve Leon's current goal.

"How is that possible..."

Arcee's mouth hung open in shock, wide enough to fit in a cucumber five centimeters thick, and she even forgot to close it.

"Darling, there are far more things I can do than you imagine."

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Leon patted Partner Mode Arcee's cheek, curiously feeling the texture inside her mechanical components at the same time. But the Gold-Titanium Alloy was too hard, so he ultimately dismissed the thought in his heart.

Perhaps Universal Vibranium, which could be both hard and soft, could solve this problem.

But Leon currently had no spare Vibranium to squander. He planned to give Arcee a complete upgrade once his control over his body had improved further.

When that time came...