Fresh Ingredients Taste Better

Fitz was busy. After dealing with the Winter Soldier, he immediately began designing a mechanical arm.

Although he had long since thoroughly studied the original mechanical arm, many of the materials had to be made from Secondary Adamantium. It was too expensive and couldn’t be reprocessed, so a single mechanical arm could cost tens of millions of dollars. Every aspect had to be carefully considered.

A full week passed before he sent the blueprints to Egghead and asked a top laboratory controlled by the United States government to manufacture it.

That would also take time, and Tony’s modifications to the Quinjet would take time as well.

The "world’s number one arms dealer" truly was impressive. The modification blueprints were completed in less than two days, and they were flawlessly designed—no one could find any fault with them.

The weapons systems could be taken directly from Stark Industries’ warehouses. Although the armory had long been shut down, there was still inventory, and the production lines remained. Producing a few items for personal use was no problem.

Most of the modification components were custom-made through Tony’s connections at major companies, such as Sith Company, Roxxon Corporation, and Pym Technologies. As long as the money was sufficient, efficiency was never a problem.

Even the most difficult feature, "visual cloaking," was not actually that hard. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. could cobble it together, so naturally Tony had no problem. He drew up the design in only three days, and barring surprises, it would work even better than S.H.I.E.L.D.’s—

The gap between geniuses was even greater than the gap between a genius and an ordinary person, so vast it was enough to drive one to despair.

Modifying the aircraft was a massive project, and it had to be kept secret. They could only use their own people, so the timeline would be long. No matter how anxious the Winter Soldier was, he could only wait.

After all, finding a frozen plane wreck and a person across the vast expanse of Greenland was incredibly difficult. The best method was to fly low overhead and conduct a carpet scan with high-precision, high-performance detectors.

Ordinary planes wouldn’t work, nor would helicopters. Their range and stealth were problematic, and they couldn’t alert S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, or even the local population of Greenland.

A modified Quinjet was the most suitable option.

Of course, such excellent living research material could not be wasted. So the Winter Soldier moved into the Biochemistry Laboratory and began enjoying a wonderful three-person world with Simmons and Skye’s father, Carl.

He lay on the operating table all day being studied. Simmons arranged his muscular body into 108 different poses and took a huge pile of nude photos and ** photos while she was at it.

Fitz was actually not jealous. Scientists really did think differently from ordinary people…

Old Wang’s Super Soldier Program was even several times more complicated than the Framework. It involved regeneration, self-healing, physical enhancement, resurrection after death, and all sorts of other areas. It would not be completed anytime soon, but the Resurrection Serum mixed with active Dragon Bone components was quickly formulated.

After everyone received an injection, the Five Fingers of The Hand finally revived after lying dead for months.

I am Madame Gao.

I came from K’un-Lun.

My goal is to return to K’un-Lun and become its master!

Unlike the Winter Soldier, Madame Gao had not gone through any existential crisis. Her powerful will allowed her to understand everything immediately, after which she began considering the current situation.

She had been captured.

The other side possessed the ability to resurrect her—

How was that possible?

Only the true Iron Fist possessed the ability to heal and even resurrect others. He also had extremely strong mental immunity and mind-control abilities. Otherwise, he could never have become K’un-Lun’s guardian, protecting a dimension separate from Earth.

But this person was definitely not the Iron Fist. That had been established during their first meeting.

An ordinary kung fu master, even if he had mastered "chi," could only strengthen his body. At most, he could become physically stronger than an Olympic champion, possess greater self-healing ability, and become immune to most viruses and poisons.

Using chi to heal was barely possible, but resurrecting someone?

Absolutely impossible!

So there was only one answer:

This person had mastered a method of using Dragon Bone to resurrect people, and he had obtained Dragon Bone!

Although she did not know what had happened after her death, since this man had revived her, he must have some need, some desire.

As long as one had desires, one had weaknesses. She could break through his mental defenses and perhaps even control him. Madame Gao considered herself rather experienced in that regard.

"Young man, we should talk. It would benefit both of us."

As the intellectual pillar of the Five Fingers, Madame Gao exchanged a glance with Alexandra and spoke after receiving her tacit approval.

She calmly stared at Old Wang, hoping to see desire, longing, or any emotional fluctuation in his eyes, so she could seize the initiative in the coming negotiation.

Murakami clearly had no interest in letting Madame Gao handle the negotiations. In a forceful tone, he said, "You revived us because you want us to serve you?"

Kill them first, then resurrect them. The stick and the carrot—what a simple tactic.

It seemed this man understood the value of the Five Fingers very well.

Individual strength was unimportant. What mattered was that each of them had lived for over a thousand years and possessed enormous resources and intelligence.

Killing people was always the least cost-effective option.

The best way to eliminate an enemy was to turn that enemy into one of your own.

Heh heh, he was still too young, too naive.

Did he really think I would obey his orders and become his subordinate?

Yes, I would.

Since I couldn’t defeat him, I would first pretend to willingly serve under him, then find an opportunity to destroy him. It wasn’t as though I had never done something like that before.

Murakami was very pleased with himself. There was nothing wrong with doing this.

However…

"You’re wrong." Old Wang tilted his head, thought for a moment, and interrupted him.

"…Huh?"

Murakami had never expected to hear that.

What exactly was I wrong about?

No matter how he thought about it, he could not figure it out. He could only bow at a full 180 degrees and humbly ask, "Sir, what did you say? Where was I wrong?"

Murakami’s attitude pleased Old Wang, so he asked in return, "Why would you think that? Don’t you feel wronged?"

There was hope… Murakami’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "Sir, I admire your wisdom and am awed by your strength. I am willing to serve you. I don’t feel wronged. I am willing to hand the Yamaguchi-gumi over to you. All the assets in my name combined exceed ten billion… not yen, but U.S. dollars. If my wealth were made public, I would definitely rank among the top ten in Japan!"

"Although I’m not as rich as Murakami, I command an entire warlord force and have plenty of weapons!" Sowande also realized there was hope and hurriedly spoke.

"I am responsible for supplying fresh blood to The Hand. More than three hundred martial arts schools and dojos around the world belong to me," Bokuto added.

Madame Gao and Alexandra said nothing. They both felt that something was off.

"That is where you’re wrong."

Old Wang sighed. "Since I am superior to you in every way, why would I need you to serve me?"

He said helplessly, "Besides, even if you don’t feel wronged, I do!"

"Huh?" Murakami, Sowande, and Bokuto were all stunned.

Th-this wasn’t the right answer!

None of us feel wronged, so why the hell do you feel wronged?

"Young man, the resources, wealth, and most precious knowledge we possess are beyond your imagination. If all that wealth were given to you, you would surely become the richest man in the world. You could even manipulate the global financial markets."

Madame Gao said calmly, "More importantly, we have a way to make you the true Iron Fist. Since you impersonated the Iron Fist, I assume you covet the Iron Fist’s power—that truly formidable power, correct?"

"Mhm." Old Wang nodded.

Madame Gao was very satisfied with that answer. At last, she had a clear picture, and the weight in her heart lifted. She continued, "We have only one goal: to return home. K’un-Lun is our home. As long as we join forces, we can definitely break into K’un-Lun. By then, you will become the new Iron Fist, and we will be able to return home. Everyone achieves their goal. A win-win situation—isn’t that wonderful?"

"Not wonderful." Old Wang shook his head.

Madame Gao paused slightly. "Why?"

"A win-win situation is never the best choice."

Old Wang smiled. "With me, there is only ever one result."

Madame Gao quickly asked, "What is it?"

Old Wang looked toward the brain-mapping equipment beside him and smiled faintly. "The winner takes all."

Madame Gao understood even less now. "If you don’t want to cooperate with us, why spend so much to revive us?"

"First, the cost of reviving you isn’t high. The Dragon Bone I have on hand can revive people ten thousand times."

Old Wang thought for a moment. Considering that she was rather old, he decided to use a figure of speech. "As for why I revived you, perhaps it’s because… fresh ingredients taste better?"

Madame Gao froze again.

What did that mean? Why did it make her skin crawl?

What kind of eating was he talking about?

"Also,"

Old Wang added, "do you know why living people are more valuable than dead people?"

"Why?"

Old Wang blinked. "Because they can keep creating value."