laboratory.
The beam of light from the operating lamp enveloped the operating table, making it resemble a sacred altar for some kind of cult sacrifice.
"Zzz--"
The sound of a scalpel cutting through muscle.
"Perfect... Even a clay figure sculpted by God himself couldn't be more perfect..."
Professor Lazlo Valentin, the Professor Pyg, is completely absorbed in his own world.
From beneath his never-washed pig-head mask, stained with old, brown blood, came rapid, heavy breathing.
"Remove impurities... cut off weakness... cut off hesitation..."
Lazlo muttered to himself as he swayed his bulky body to the background music.
The high-pitched, passionate tenor voice echoed in the empty laboratory.
Professor Pyg treated this bloody transformation surgery like an opera stage, each incision a magnificent dance step in time with the beat.
On the operating table, lay a body.
Elektra Natchis.
She was naked, her limbs restrained by titanium alloy shackles.
Even in a deep coma, her muscle definition still displayed an astonishing tension.
"This still needs a little polishing..."
Lazlo's fingers moved with incredible dexterity, picking at a pale pink nerve bundle. "Her pain receptors are too developed; this will affect her judgment on the battlefield... Cut them off! Cut them all off!"
"Professor."
A cold voice came from the Shadow in the corner, breaking the artist's self-absorbed atmosphere.
Dr. Gustave Schmidt, the Grim Reaper, was lounging in a Louis XIV-style red velvet sofa.
His spotless white suit stood out starkly against the backdrop of the blood-stained laboratory.
He held a glass of red wine in his hand and swirled it gently.
"To allow ' Shocker ' to be reborn in this decaying world, power alone is not enough; we need fear."
"Simply killing will only invite military suppression. But if such killing becomes some kind of indescribable legend, a chilling presence in the dead of night that makes people afraid to turn back... that is true domination."
"Fear is dessert! Pain is the main course! Only these two ingredients can cook up the feast of evolution!"
Upon hearing the word "fear," Lazlo screamed with excitement.
He swung his arm, the scalpel in his hand drawing a silver arc in the air, swiftly slicing off a piece of already necrotic tissue.
That was a lingering effect of Elektra's previous resurrection ritual, and also proof of the Hand's shoddy technique.
"Look at her! Look at this body!"
Lazlo pointed at Elektra, his voice sharp and shrill from excessive excitement.
"What a beautiful physique! Her bone density is three times that of an average person! She is a work of art! She is the perfect knight!"
"She is Shocker Rider No. 2," Doctor Shinigami corrected, his tone revealing a desire for control.
He put down his wine glass, walked to the operating table, and looked down at the unfinished body.
"Furthermore, according to my design plans, 30% of her cerebral cortex must be retained as the area of autonomous consciousness. I need an assassin capable of executing complex tactical infiltration missions, not a fool like Shocker No. 1 who only knows how to charge into battle on orders."
"Only fools listen! Only fools who have had their frontal lobe removed are truly loyal!"
Lazlo grumbled, "Smart people always think, and when they think, they start to doubt, and when they doubt, they betray! Look at S.H.I.E.L.D.., look at Hydra, they were all brought down by smart people!"
Doctor Shinigami was about to retort.
"Beep--! Beep--! Beep--!"
The encrypted communication terminal in front of Doctor Shinigami, which had been in standby mode, lit up its black screen.
The red emergency indicator light was flashing wildly, at a frequency so fast it was dizzying.
"Um?"
Doctor Shinigami frowned slightly.
Is this the time to disturb?
Did S.H.I.E.L.D.. find an underwater base?
Or did Nick Fury use a nuclear weapon?
" Dr. Zola, I remember our agreement was that unless the Earth explodes, it shouldn't be during surgery—"
His words caught in his throat, and his usually expressionless face, which could remain impassive even in the face of crisis, showed a rare look of surprise.
The eerie, terrifying data face was not on the screen.
There is no green code flow.
There was also no Hydra skull symbol.
Instead, it has a pink interface.
That powder was the kind with extremely high saturation, the kind that could burn and perforate the retina—a "deathly Barbie pink."
In the center of the screen, Zola's originally dignified face, composed of pixels, was now covered with a thick filter.
A huge pink bow was forcibly photoshopped onto his head, swaying with his movements.
What's even more outrageous is that two strange blush effects were added to the sides of his cheeks.
Before he could even react, he realized what kind of new abstract art this was.
A melodious tune, almost too captivating to be real, burst forth from the speakers.
"Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo~"
The upbeat rhythm and innocent child's voice, combined with the " Zola-chan " on the screen writhing and trying to break free, create a picture of hell.
"Clang!"
At the operating table, the Professor Pyg, who was performing micron-level nerve suturing, suddenly dropped his scalpel onto the metal tray.
"What... what is this?"
The Professor Pyg looked at the screen through his eye sockets, his gaze gradually shifting from initial confusion to a dazed look, even carrying a strange admiration.
"A new lullaby? It's so rhythmic... so... so avant-garde! This repetitive syllable is practically a violent rape of the brain!"
Doctor Shinigami's face darkened completely.
The villainous boss's prestige was completely shattered by this children's song.
" Zola!" Doctor Shinigami's voice was terrifyingly deep. "Have you been underwater for too long, causing your brain to short-circuit from moisture? Or do you think this kind of lowly prank will please me?"
The " Zola-chan " on the screen heard this question.
He opened his mouth wide, trying to explain.
However, the sound he made, after being processed in real time by the virus program, turned into a duck's quack as if it were being choked.
"No! No! Gustav! Help me! Quack--!"
Moreover, every time he speaks a sentence, the damn music in the background automatically gets louder.
"Sever the physical connection! Help me trace back! I am... I am the villain Zola-chan ~ I'm going to destroy the world~ Chu~"
The final "chu mi" even had a heart-shaped effect automatically added.
Zola watched in despair as his voice system uncontrollably added shameful suffixes, a sign that his core algorithm had been completely rewritten.
As a former strategist for Hydra once struck fear into the hearts of the Allies, his dignity was shattered.
"Damn it! Vought! It's Vought International!"
Zola screamed in despair.
"Their firewall is hiding monsters! That's not human-written code! It's... it's alien technology!"
"You actually went and provoked Vought?"
"The plan I gave you didn't include any action related to Vought at all! I clearly told you, lie low until the Shocker army is fully formed! Lie low! Has your brain been soaked in seawater and rotted away?!"
"I just wanted to... teach them a lesson... and maybe get some of that compound formula..."
Zola's voice, in sync with the background music, shifted to an even more catchy tune. This mix of bleakness and absurdity made the whole scene seem utterly surreal.
"Madness."
Gustav uttered two words coldly.
He stopped looking at his ally who was making a fool of himself on the screen.
As the chief scientist of the Shocker organization, he is more skilled in bioengineering and mysticism, but that does not mean he is technologically illiterate.
He could tell the seriousness of the problem at a glance.
Please help me untie this!
"Untie?"
"If I connect, that so-called octopus will crawl over following the signal. Then it won't just be you singing nursery rhymes anymore. My and Lazlo's locations will also be exposed. Just give up. I'll let you be reborn. Remember the backup from last time?"
"What do you want? Wait! I am Hydra elder! I am Arnim Zola! You can't..."
"You're just an MP3 player that sings nursery rhymes now."
"Sizzle--"
A current struck the terminal.
The catchy and addictive melody came to an abrupt end.
The Professor Pyg picked up the scalpel.
But he didn't start working. He tilted his head, still looking unsatisfied, making grunting noises from his mouth, and his body was still moving unconsciously.
"This melody is really good... that simple repetition contains a kind of primal madness."
Lazlo looked at the unconscious Elektra, a twisted glint in his eyes.
"Maybe we could implant this into Rider No. 2's chip? So that when she wields her knife to kill, this would automatically play in her head? Just imagine... accompanied by a cheerful children's song, blood gushing, limbs flying... that would be... quite a contrasting beauty."
Doctor Shinigami was silent for two seconds.
He looked at the madman but did not refute him.
"Suit yourself." Doctor Shinigami turned and walked deeper into the laboratory, his back cold. "As long as she can kill, it doesn't matter if she kills while singing opera."
"But before that, we need to go somewhere else."
"That good-for-nothing Zola has already told Vought our house number."