After bringing Dr. Burstein back to the Southeast Asia headquarters, Wenwu immediately ordered a dedicated laboratory built for him as quickly as possible.
In the main council hall, Wenwu looked down at Razor Fist and Ching-Lin and said calmly, "I need a top-tier hidden base with complete supporting facilities, including an independent power system, satellite shielding, materials storage, and the highest level of fortifications. Where do you think we should build it?"
Razor Fist considered the question for a moment before replying respectfully, "My lord, although we have contacts in every country here in Southeast Asia, something on that scale would inevitably attract attention and risk a leak.
"The situation in the Middle East, on the other hand, is extremely chaotic right now. Over the years, we've secretly backed and taken control of quite a few groups there, and most of the Ten Rings' main armed forces are stationed there as well. All things considered, it's the best choice."
Ching-Lin nodded in agreement.
"Good. Razor Fist, I'll leave this to you."
Wenwu gave a slight nod, his voice carrying unquestionable authority. "The location must be carefully studied. I don't care whether the base is aboveground or underground. I'm giving you full authority to mobilize all the Ten Rings' funds, personnel, top infrastructure teams, and armed forces. Spare no expense.
"In five months, I want a top-tier base, fully completed and ready to begin research immediately."
Wenwu had given an absolute order. The Ten Rings controlled numerous armed groups in the Middle East, and the harsh environment, chaotic situation, and relative lack of eyes and ears from the major powers made it ideal for establishing a hidden base and building up more armed forces.
Five months was a tight deadline, but Razor Fist was confident he could manage it in a place like the Middle East. Without a moment's hesitation, he answered firmly, "I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"
From that moment on, the entire Ten Rings organization began operating at full speed.
Vast sums of covert funds were mobilized at once, and top talent from across the Ten Rings was urgently dispatched to the Middle East.
Then batch after batch of specialized construction equipment, alloy building materials, and other supplies flowed into the Middle Eastern desert through underground channels by sea, land, and air.
In Southeast Asia, Wenwu spent all his time apart from sorting out the Ten Rings' business cultivating Chi.
Time flew, and a month passed in the blink of an eye.
With an enormous amount of resources poured into it, Wenwu's Chi had finally begun to show some results. He estimated that his progress over the past month was equivalent to five years of arduous cultivation for someone else.
Besides his own solid foundation in martial arts, the more crucial reason for his rapid progress was the abundance of resources, which allowed him to replenish his depleted life energy whenever he needed to.
Inside the cultivation chamber, Wenwu sat cross-legged in the center, his eyes closed and his breathing long and steady.
The Chi within him circulated through his meridians, continuously feeding back into and nourishing his physique.
That was right. After cultivating until now, his Chi could finally strengthen his body slightly!
Buzz-!
A faint hum suddenly rang out inside the chamber. The air around Wenwu distorted slightly, as though his whole body were giving off an astonishing heat.
Within his meridians, Chi had condensed into a surging torrent, rushing through his body and scouring and tempering every inch of flesh and blood.
Over the past month, he had learned just how difficult it was to use Chi to improve every function of his body completely. Each time he tempered all his flesh and blood, the amount consumed was enormous.
An hour later, the Chi within Wenwu was nearly exhausted, and only then did he stop tempering his body.
"My physical strength has finally improved noticeably!"
Wenwu slowly opened his eyes, which were full of delight. Although he had used up most of his Chi, he could clearly feel that he was a little stronger than before. As long as he kept this up, he would surely gain a superhuman physique.
Unfortunately, Chi was not all-powerful. Once the human body reached a certain limit, breaking through and improving further was exceedingly difficult. Wenwu could only hope that Dr. Burstein would soon develop a technique for breaking through the body's limits.
A few days later, Wenwu's Chi had recovered to its peak. Rather than deliberately tempering his flesh and blood again, he used his Chi to slowly nourish his body.
"I can finally resonate more deeply with the Ten Rings artifact!"
That day, Wenwu once again tried circulating his Chi according to the principles of tai chi to resonate with the Ten Rings, and it finally had a slight effect.
Now, looking at the Ten Rings dancing before him, he discovered a trace of gold and red mixed into the blue energy they emitted, and he was delighted.
Resonating with just a trace of a deeper level of power had increased the Ten Rings' power by at least one percent. Though the improvement was small, it had at least given him hope.
Still, no external power is dependable. Strengthening myself is the surest way!
Wenwu pondered to himself. The Ten Rings were external power in the end, and their origins were unknown. They couldn't be relied upon. Only his own strength was fundamental.
He then put away the Ten Rings and headed to the laboratory to check on Dr. Burstein's progress.
As soon as he entered the laboratory, he saw Dr. Burstein experimenting on a death-row inmate.
"Dr. Burstein, how is it going? Have you made any progress?" Wenwu asked, looking at the busy doctor.
"Mr. Wenwu, following your suggestion, I increased the dosage of the drug and the intensity of the electrical stimulation. It does indeed restructure cells enough to strengthen the human body, but halfway through the process, the test subjects can't take it anymore. In the end, their cells collapse and they die."
Dr. Burstein looked at the lifeless test subject and spoke in frustration.
His main field of research was a biochemical cell regeneration system, a branch derived from Captain America's Super Soldier Program. By immersing the body in a special biochemical solution and applying electrical stimulation, it activated the human cells' maximum capacity for repair.
Under normal conditions, it could only promote healing to a limited extent, not enough to create a body impervious to bullets and blades.
He had followed Wenwu's advice, increasing the drug dosage and applying overloaded electrical stimulation, and at first he had indeed seen results. But after experiments on several prisoner test subjects all failed and ended in their deaths, he still couldn't find a breakthrough and was nearly driven mad.
Wenwu frowned slightly. Did he really have to capture Luke Cage himself to use as a test subject? In the original show, Luke Cage's successful enhancement had been entirely accidental.
The prison guard Rackham had deliberately sabotaged the experiment, forcibly altering the machine's settings. He had intended to kill Luke outright, but the excessive drug dosage combined with the overloaded electric field fully triggered a mutative restructuring of the cells throughout his body, strengthening his skin, bones, and muscles at the same time. Only then did he gain invulnerable defenses and super strength.
"Run another experiment. Bring in someone with a stronger build."
Wenwu immediately signaled his men to bring over a new test subject.
His men understood, and before long they brought in a burly black man.
Everyone Wenwu had ordered his men to capture was a thoroughly depraved criminal who deserved to be executed several times over, and most of them were black. The black man tried to struggle, but the guards held him down firmly and strapped him to the operating table.
Dr. Burstein and his two assistants then got to work. They injected the drug, placed the subject in a specially made treatment pool, and finally switched on the overloaded electrical stimulation. A heart-rending scream immediately erupted from the test subject in the pool.
Two minutes later, the test subject died again.
"Dr. Burstein, don't lose heart. This is only the beginning. Keep refining and improving it. We have plenty of time and money, and even more test subjects to spare."
Seeing that Dr. Burstein was somewhat disheartened, Wenwu offered him some comfort.
"I will. Perhaps my drug still isn't good enough. I'll improve it some more!" Dr. Burstein nodded, his eyes burning with renewed determination.
Wenwu nodded slightly, then turned and walked out of the laboratory. At this point, they could be said to be halfway there; success was only a matter of time. If all else failed, he would use the "protagonist," Luke Cage, as a test subject.