New Abilities and Meeting Norman Osborn

On Sunday morning, since Harry had granted Lin Hai access, Lin Hai was now conducting an experiment alone in the laboratory.

Six potted plants stood arranged on the workbench: two pothos plants, two cacti, and two cosmos flowers. As for why he had chosen these three kinds of plants—

Pothos could purify indoor air and absorb harmful substances. They had low requirements for light and soil, adapted easily, and were common houseplants.

Cacti had leaves that had degenerated into spines to reduce water evaporation, while their stems stored large amounts of water. They could survive for months without rain in arid deserts and were typical examples of plants adapted to harsh conditions.

Cosmos flowers were remarkably adaptable. They could grow in mountains, plains, and barren soil; their seeds had high germination rates and strong reproductive ability, often forming vast seas of flowers.

"All right, let me try out my new ability!" Lin Hai took a deep breath and began with the pothos.

Ever since absorbing the energy from "Red Moon" yesterday, he had discovered that not only could he sense plants, but he also seemed able to actively alter their traits. Like a game designer writing code, he could input specific "commands" into plants through energy.

That was why he had come to the laboratory early that morning to confirm his guess.

Under his guidance, the edges of the first pothos plant's leaves gradually sharpened, while the density of its stem fibers tripled. It was somewhat like Razor Leaf.

The vines of the second pothos plant grew thicker, and the force with which they wrapped around Lin Hai's palm increased accordingly.

"The Grass-type Razor Leaf trait and Vine Whip trait from Pokémon." Lin Hai murmured to himself. He felt both excited and uneasy about the change in his abilities. This targeted modification ability far surpassed his previous simple ability to promote growth and replenish vitality.

Then came the two cacti—

Under his guidance, the first cactus became rounder but tougher. The tiny spines covering it also became finer, with some nearly disappearing from sight.

The second cactus was different. While its body became tougher, its size did not change. The greatest change was in its spines: some became thicker and sharper, while others gradually vanished, seemingly to make more room.

"The Wall-nut trait and cactus trait from Plants vs. Zombies." Lin Hai muttered again.

The different changes in these plants fully proved that his idea was correct. By channeling Life Energy into plants, he could guide them to alter their own traits to a certain extent.

Just as Lin Hai wanted to continue experimenting on the two cosmos flowers, he suddenly felt dizzy.

Lin Hai staggered and grabbed the workbench, his vision going dark. The price of overusing his new ability had come faster than expected. His body had not yet fully adapted to the intense energy consumption involved in modifying plants.

At that moment, Harry was standing outside the laboratory door. After opening it and seeing Lin Hai stumbling, he quickly rushed over.

"Lin! Are you okay? Poisoned? Or something else? Do you need a doctor?!" Harry sounded anxious, and it was obvious that he was genuinely worried.

Lin Hai waved his hand. "I'm fine. I'm just a little exhausted. I overused my ability. Let me rest for a while and I'll be fine."

"That's good. If anything is wrong, tell me immediately. I'll call the medical team right away." Seeing that Lin Hai had no abnormal reaction and was still conscious, Harry finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, right, I invited Peter over too. Since we won't be dealing with those dangerous plants today, I asked him to come help out. He has a scientist's brain, after all. He's much smarter than us."

Lin Hai nodded to show that he understood. He had no objection to Harry saying Peter was smarter than them. It was true, even though his own brain had been enhanced.

Lin Hai drank water as he observed his condition. Though weak, he could feel the energy within him balancing itself again. Even more remarkably, when he looked at the ornamental plant in the corner of the medical room, he could not only sense its condition, but, when he focused, he could also sense the path through which energy flowed within it.

Not long after, while Lin Hai was resting with his eyes closed and Harry was studying the plants Lin Hai had just altered, Peter knocked on the laboratory's glass door.

After thanking the staff member who had brought him there, Peter was greeted by Harry, who went over to open the door.

"Whoa! Harry, this laboratory is amazing! As expected of Osborn Group! Oh my god! Look at this, a cutting-edge analyzer. Oh, and this, the latest ultra-high-magnification microscope. Huh? What's that? A new variety of... cactus?"

Peter was still just a poor kid, and this was his first time seeing such an advanced laboratory. His overwhelming excitement activated his chatterbox mode.

"That was just altered by Lin..." Harry began, then stopped. He looked at Lin Hai, unsure whether he should reveal Lin Hai's ability to Peter.

Lin Hai nodded to indicate that it was fine, but Peter could no longer hold himself back. "Lin did that?! I knew his ability couldn't be that simple! How did he do it this time? He couldn't alter plant traits before!"

Harry and Lin Hai exchanged a glance. Had inviting Peter over been another mistake? Uh, why had he said another?

"Peter, do me a favor," Lin Hai suddenly said.

"What?"

"Give me your hand."

"Oh." Peter was a little confused, but he still held out his right hand. Lin Hai grasped it and tried channeling a thread of gentle Life Energy into him.

"Holy shit!" Peter jerked his hand back. "Was that static electricity just now? No, that's not right. It felt more like a warm current?"

Why had Lin Hai chosen Peter instead of Harry? It was simple. Peter was currently a frail bookworm who barely exercised, so any reaction would surely be more obvious than it would be with Harry.

Lin Hai leaned back against his chair in satisfaction. Another aspect of his new ability had been confirmed: he could also channel Life Energy into the human body.

Though he did not yet know exactly what it could accomplish, it certainly had the potential to heal others with Life Energy. If he could achieve that, many of Lin Hai's future plans would be easier to carry out.

As the saying went, a warrior who did not want to be a healer was not a good support. It never hurt to have more skills.

"Lin?" Peter interrupted his thoughts. "What are you grinning stupidly about?"

"Nothing." Lin Hai wiped the smile from his face. "I was just thinking that science and magic can sometimes be really hard to distinguish."

Peter nodded in deep agreement. "Like your 'Special Botany'? I saw those plants you modified. It's simply unbelievable."

At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and a figure in a tailored suit walked in.

The moment Lin Hai saw the man's face, his breathing caught—Norman Osborn. After what had happened with Kingpin, he had already prepared himself mentally for these "villain" characters. But when a living prototype of the Green Goblin was examining him with sharp eyes, his heart still skipped a beat.

"Lin Hai, right? Our 'plant expert.' Harry told me that you possess some... extraordinary talent." Norman's voice was gentler than Lin Hai had imagined, though it carried the authority of someone who had long occupied a position of power.

Lin Hai was not surprised. Harry telling Norman Osborn about his ability had been part of his plan.

Knowing the story, he knew that Norman Osborn was not fundamentally evil. It was only the combined effects of the Osborn family's inherited illness and the enhancement serum that had turned him into the Green Goblin behind a terrifying mask.

In the Marvel Universe, ever since Captain America's enhancement serum had been developed, enhancement serums in the Marvel Universe seemed to follow a similar idealistic rule: "the good become better, and the bad become worse."

After Steve Rogers received the serum enhancement, he transformed from a kind young man into Captain America, a hero with a heart approaching that of a saint. After Johann Schmidt was enhanced by the serum, he became Red Skull, Captain America's archenemy. Under the threat of death from his genetic illness, Norman Osborn used the enhancement drug developed by Osborn Group and became the Green Goblin, Spider-Man's archenemy.

That was why Lin Hai wanted to approach Norman Osborn more directly. Even if he could not completely cure the owner of Osborn Group later on, he could not allow this pitiful father to become the terrifying villain known as the Green Goblin.

Norman approached the three of them, took a small projector from his pocket, and projected a set of DNA charts onto the wall.

"These are the analyses we conducted over the past two days," Norman said.

"Although the special compounds contained within Red Moon have not changed, the active substances within it have vanished—and all of this happened within forty-eight hours." His eyes grew feverish. "Perhaps even less."

"Mr. Osborn." Lin Hai carefully chose his words. "Red Moon is dangerous. My body could withstand it because my constitution is somewhat special. If an ordinary person directly ingested those active substances, I'm afraid the result would not be good."

"Oh, yes, right—" Norman waved his hand, clearly not listening. "But imagine it. If this active substance could be safely applied in medicine, then cancer, aging, organ failure, and so on would no longer be problems."

Peter's eyes gleamed as he listened, completely failing to notice Lin Hai's increasingly grave expression. Only Harry seemed to sense something and looked uneasily at his father.

"Father, Lin still needs rest," Harry quietly reminded him.

Norman seemed to snap out of a trance. "Oh, oh, of course. Young man, whenever you're free, we have much more to discuss." He gave Lin Hai a look, then turned and left the laboratory.

The silence lasted several minutes. Finally, Peter could not help asking, "So this is a good thing, right? Mr. Osborn seems to think highly of you."

Lin Hai looked out the window. It was true that the energy inside Red Moon had enhanced his abilities, but the price had far exceeded his expectations. If an ordinary person directly introduced that violent Life Energy into their body, it was hard to say what they would become. But one thing was certain: the result would not be good.

"Peter, if you had the ability to save one person, but doing so might harm many more people; or if you gave up saving one person but indirectly saved many others, what would you choose?" Lin Hai asked Peter.

Peter was stumped by the classic trolley problem. "Uh... that would depend on the specific situation? If possible, of course I'd save everyone. What's wrong? Why are you suddenly asking that?"

"Nothing. It just occurred to me, and I was struck by the thought. Don't worry about it," Lin Hai finally said.

Save everyone. Indeed, if it could be done, that would be the perfect choice. But could reality truly be so perfect?

Lin Hai closed his eyes and felt the new energy flowing through his body. He raised a hand, and a strand of green radiance swirled in his palm.

Save everyone... That goal did not seem impossible. But before that, he had to fully understand this power and raise it to a level where he could save them all.

Over the next two weeks, Lin Hai digested the energy transmitted by Red Moon while absorbing Osborn Enterprises' research materials on this batch of Red Moon plants like a sponge.

Every day after school, he, Harry, and Peter met in a corner of the library. After reading through the materials Harry brought, the three of them would discuss them for a long time.