A New Chapter

After being busy for so long, Old Wang finally had time to properly study the Infinity Gauntlet.

Unlike an ordinary glove, the Infinity Gauntlet was enormous. Standing upright, it was a full half meter tall. It truly deserved to be called a divine artifact forged by the Dwarves.

So short.

When the Dwarf king Eitri had first forged it, had he intended to keep it for himself?

His build did seem suitable…

But Old Wang quickly discovered that it was not so simple.

When he put his hand inside, the gauntlet actually shrank automatically, becoming a perfect fit!

"Size at will…"

Old Wang was not surprised.

Even humans could enlarge or shrink certain parts of their bodies. A divine artifact should naturally be able to do the same. The Cloak of Levitation and the Crimson Magic Belt could both do it, so there was no reason the Infinity Gauntlet could not.

There were six slots on the gauntlet, each representing an Infinity Stone:

Time, Space, Power, Reality, Soul, Mind.

If all six stones were set into it, all one had to do was snap their fingers to make any wish come true:

Wipe out half the life in the universe, travel freely through time and space, alter your gender, race, or size, or even—

Return the entire universe to chaos, trigger a second Big Bang, and create an entirely new world of your choosing.

The prerequisite was possessing a soul and body powerful enough to withstand the power of all six Infinity Stones.

At this moment, six gems were set within it.

Though they were not Infinity Stones, anything that could be mounted in the Infinity Gauntlet as display pieces could not be cheap. They were unquestionably legendary items.

Each one was worth at least one gram of Azeroth Blood.

"Keeping them in there to scare people isn’t bad, either?"

Old Wang thought it over, but ultimately did not pry the gems out.

The Infinity Gauntlet was most likely made of the same material as Thor’s Hammer. Even without a single gem set in it, it was still a divine artifact in its own right, worth quite a bit and barely usable.

Unlike Iron Man’s nanotech replica in "Avengers 4."

The genuine Infinity Gauntlet was made from better materials, and Dwarven craftsmanship had granted it quite a few additional abilities. It could block part of an energy attack, for example, and it was indestructible—

At the very least, catching Thor’s Hammer and Captain America’s shield with bare hands would not be a problem.

"It’s all shiny gold. Way too eye-catching… I need Fitz to put some paint on it…" Old Wang made up his mind.

The Azeroth Laboratory was livelier than ever before.

Old Wang had not only brought back his own people and most of the spoils, but also Miss Jane, who was pretty and pleasant to listen to.

Along with Miss Jane’s teacher, Professor Erik, and her friend, assistant, and student, Miss Darcy.

"These three are the most famous astronomers in the world."

Old Wang introduced them to Skye in person, then saw Miss Jane cast Miss Darcy a strange glance.

Astronomer?

This ignorant, pretty-faced, flat-chested idiot who spent every day shopping, watching movies, eating out, buying things, and chasing celebrities, and might not even be able to finish her graduation project?

Director Wang, could you please stop insulting the word "astronomer"?

"Hmph, I am an astronomer. An-as-tro-no-mer!" Darcy refused to back down in front of the boss.

But the instant she met Miss Jane’s gaze, she wilted. "Fine, I’m at least an astronomy worker, a graduate student! At the very, very least, I’m ranked… ranked among the top hundred… thousand… ten thousand in the world, right?"

"I believe that." Miss Jane held her forehead helplessly.

There were only so many people in the world studying astronomy. There probably really were not even ten thousand graduate students.

Miss Darcy, that was all the ambition you had. Not a bit more!

She raised her middle finger, then pinched the first knuckle with her index finger. After thinking about it, she moved it up a little more, leaving only a tiny sliver of fingernail exposed.

"You saw the war a few days ago. Wormholes really exist, and they can be controlled through magic. Of course, technology can do it too, once it reaches a certain level."

Old Wang snapped his fingers, and an orange portal appeared.

On the other side was the New Mexico battlefield they had visited before.

Miss Jane looked curious and hurried forward to touch it.

Smack!

Old Wang slapped her hand away and casually threw a Frost Giant corpse through it.

It was only halfway through when the portal closed.

The upper half of the corpse was gone, and the cut was incredibly clean.

Miss Jane stared in shock.

Th-this was faster than chopping vegetables?

She had examined Frost Giant corpses before.

They were extremely hard. Even a kitchen knife could not cut through them, and bullets could not penetrate them.

Yet it had been sliced apart so easily?

"Spatial magic is among the most dangerous forms of magic in the world. Very few people can withstand the power of space. You can’t, and neither can I."

Old Wang warned her, "So don’t fool around."

Miss Jane hurriedly nodded and took the warning to heart.

"You’re astronomers, and you’re interested in wormholes, so keep researching astronomy from now on. Pay attention to spatial changes across the entire world, especially in London."

Old Wang said, "There’s a good Dark Matter and Space Astronomy Laboratory in London. I’ll have Skye acquire it and rename it the Azeroth Astronomical Laboratory. You can continue your research there in the future."

"Acquire that laboratory? I know that place. It’s one of the best astronomy laboratories in the entire United Kingdom… no, all of Europe. Buying it would cost at least a billion pounds, wouldn’t it?"

"Why London?"

"Director Wang, you’re really rich! Could I… could I borrow some money? You know my expenses have been pretty high lately. I don’t even have a boyfriend… Just ten thousand… how about five thousand dollars? I’ll pay you back!"

Miss Jane, Dr. Erik, and Miss Darcy all reacted completely differently.

Old Wang smiled. "Miss Darcy, your salary will be far more than you imagine. It’ll be enough for you. Dr. Erik, London is a very special place. Deep underground, it hides a peculiar substance."

He turned to Jane. "Miss Jane, if you need anything, you can talk to Skye."

"Mm." Miss Jane actually wanted to talk to Director Wang, but when she saw Skye’s gaze and felt her heartbeat accelerating, she instantly understood something. Her eyes dimmed.

"That’s all."

After opening a portal and seeing the three astronomers off, Old Wang looked at Skye and asked, "How’s the situation now?"

"The war in New Mexico has been suppressed. The Department of Defense claims it was a large-scale military exercise," Skye said.

A military exercise?

As expected, their usual trick…

Old Wang nodded. "It’s good that it’s been suppressed. Humanity isn’t ready to face aliens and mythology yet."

Skye continued, "Research on the Kunlun Spaceship has yielded some results. We’ve also analyzed part of the data from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Sky Carrier. Fitz is currently leading the design work on the first-generation Sky Carrier—our own Sky Carrier."

Old Wang nodded again.

Fitz was highly capable. On top of that, they had recruited talent with high salaries from all over the world, including Stark Industries and S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as the researchers Hammer Industries already had. There were more than three thousand mathematicians, physicists, and chemists alone, while related mechanical engineering talent exceeded fifty thousand.

Annual salary expenditures alone amounted to several billion dollars.

You could be poor, but you could not shortchange scientists. Otherwise, technological progress and human development would both be hindered.

The results had been excellent.

Fitz was an ambitious man. The new-generation Sky Carrier he designed would certainly be better than S.H.I.E.L.D.’s, especially with the technology obtained from the Kunlun Spaceship.

The first-generation Sky Carrier should appear before long.

"The structural frameworks of the Afterlife Base and Kunlun Base have been completed, and Azeroth Tower is more than halfway finished as well."

Skye said, "What remains is mainly the electrical systems, communication systems, fire safety systems, interior decoration, and the purchase of all kinds of equipment. Altogether, that will cost around five billion dollars… and that’s only the first batch. According to your requirements, we’ll need to invest at least another five billion dollars later on."

Huge projects burned through money like water.

Even a single 7nm chip production line required total investment of several billion dollars, much less projects of this scale.

To ensure long-term high-efficiency operation, the Shengun Bureau base, Azeroth Tower, and even the current Azeroth Laboratory all used Arc Reactors. Palladium was not cheap.

Investment in that area alone had reached several hundred million dollars.

Not to mention the Sky Carriers.

The construction cost of a single Sky Carrier would absolutely not be below ten billion dollars.

Once the Shengun Bureau expanded abroad, its demand for Sky Carriers would far exceed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s. One definitely would not be enough.

Maybe even ten would not be enough.

"Running short of money?" Old Wang rubbed his brow.

"No amount of money is ever enough." Skye still had some complaints about Old Wang pouring money into the Shengun Bureau’s construction.

This money…

We saved it one cent at a time!

It hurts me to spend it!

"Don’t be so stingy. What’s yours and mine? In the end, it’s all ours. The whole Earth is ours, and so is the Shengun Bureau. No one can take it away from us, so why worry about spending money?"

Old Wang chuckled, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "The first war against the aliens has put countries around the world on alert. The arms industry is entering a new spring. Next year, every nation’s defense budget will at least double, and purchases of Iron Soldiers will increase as well… There’ll be a huge amount of income."

In fact, during this period, he had already received several thousand calls from several hundred people, from countries all over the world.

All of them were related to procurement.

Some had even demanded technology-sharing.

There had been probing from all sides, little tricks, and outright demands.

Old Wang ignored every one of them.

He had always been immune to both threats and inducements. With his formidable strength and influence backing him, he had nothing to fear.

"It won’t be that much. I’ve received word that the Iron Soldiers purchased by various countries are basically being used for research. Our technology isn’t actually that far ahead of theirs."

Skye frowned slightly. "I asked Fitz. He said that in at most five years, governments around the world will master most of the Iron Soldier technology. Our gains in this area are limited. Within five years, they won’t exceed one hundred billion dollars."

"If they can research them, can’t we upgrade them? As technology advances, everyone will want something better—for example, ones that can fly into the sky and fight!"

Old Wang tapped the table. "Of course, we can’t rely on that alone. It’s time for ‘World of Warcraft’ to be released too!"