General Ross’s Inquiry

At the Osborn Corporation chairman’s office, Banner’s wife Betty saw Wang Bert in his altered appearance and asked in shock, "Who are you?"

"I’m Bert. I changed skins temporarily because of something."

Wang Bert smiled and asked, "Betty, what did you come to see me about?"

"Changed skins?"

Betty did not doubt him. After all, Lilith was standing nearby. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Bert, my father discovered that someone wants to destroy Earth. He sent me to inform you."

"Inform me? He sent you to negotiate terms with me, didn’t he? General Ross is quite interesting."

Wang Bert sneered. The facts proved that he had not misjudged him. General Ross was not a pure soldier; he was a politician.

That was also why he could become Secretary of State in the movies.

Betty asked in surprise, "Bert, you seem to know something?"

"I know that the General Ross in prison is a fake, and I also know that he joined Hydra."

Wang Bert said, "Betty, for your and Hulk’s sake, if he’s willing to cooperate with us, I can pardon him. After all, I was the one who set him up and got him locked away in the first place."

Betty was both shocked and speechless. The Blood God truly had astonishing abilities. She said, "My father wants more than a pardon. He wants to remain a general. He said that from now on, he can follow your orders."

Wang Bert neither agreed nor disagreed. He asked, "First, tell me how General Ross contacted you. Hydra shouldn’t have let him make calls whenever he wanted, right?"

"My father has already returned to prison."

Betty explained, "Hydra wanted him to contact the Radical Faction in the military. While meeting them, he secretly had them bring me an encrypted USB drive containing all the intelligence he knew."

"I see. Hydra’s work efficiency is quite high."

Wang Bert snorted and said, "Betty, tell me what General Ross discovered. If the intelligence is important enough, I can consider restoring his rank. The military is short on people anyway."

"Alright."

Betty was overjoyed. She said, "Hydra colluded with the Kree to create Inhumans together. So far, they have already created more than a thousand Inhumans…"

"The Kree?"

Wang Bert was stunned. No wonder Baron Strucker had suddenly mastered the technology to create Inhumans. He had colluded with the Kree.

"Yes, the Kree."

Betty nodded. "My father didn’t know about it at first, but when he injected Hulk’s blood, Kree scientists came to help. He secretly hid a universal translator and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Those Kree scientists assumed my father couldn’t understand them, so they revealed many things. That was why he betrayed Hydra. No matter what kind of person he is, he would never help aliens invade Earth."

"He injected Hulk’s blood?"

Wang Bert narrowed his eyes. So General Ross had not become an Inhuman. He had become a Hulk.

"Yes. My father had always kept some of Hulk’s blood hidden away. This time, he went all in and injected Hulk’s blood into his own body. According to him, he succeeded and felt better than ever."

Betty sighed helplessly and said, "He calls himself Red Hulk. Also, he guarantees that he will no longer be hostile toward superpowered people, since he is one himself now."

"Red Hulk?"

Wang Bert rubbed his chin and asked, "What other intelligence did your father obtain?"

"The Kree are helping Baron Strucker research Inhumans because they want him to help revive the Supreme Intelligence."

Betty said, "Baron Strucker’s Mind Scepter can help the Supreme Intelligence regain its sense of self. I heard it is nearly successful."

"The Supreme Intelligence?"

Wang Bert’s gaze sharpened, then he immediately understood. That force was stirring things up again.

Since the other side had the Supreme Intelligence, his side would certainly need to create an intelligent life capable of opposing it: Vision.

There was no point in stopping it in advance. Even without a sense of self, the Supreme Intelligence could still control Earth’s networks. It had not made a move yet only because it feared alerting the enemy.

"Does this count as fate?"

Wang Bert was somewhat moved. He asked again, "Anything else?"

"Yes. Those Kree brought an Antimatter Bomb to Earth. They have been digging downward, preparing to detonate it deep underground."

Betty said gravely, "Once it detonates, I don’t know whether Earth will be destroyed, but humanity certainly will be."

"An Antimatter Bomb? This must be the trump card Baron Strucker mentioned."

Wang Bert said coldly, "Hydra truly has a death wish. Not only did they collude with aliens, they even want to destroy Earth."

"Hydra really deserves to die."

Betty nodded repeatedly. Seeing how calm Wang Bert was, she immediately felt relieved. It seemed these matters were not too terrifying to him.

Wang Bert was calm because he had a cheat—the Reality Stone could easily deal with either the Supreme Intelligence or the Antimatter Bomb.

Wang Bert had tens of millions of demon souls in his possession. Sacrificing them was not a problem for him at all.

However, Wang Bert would not use the Reality Stone under normal circumstances. A trump card should be saved for the very end, and he could not rely too heavily on cheats.

Wang Bert asked, "Does your father know where the Antimatter Bomb is?"

"No. He only knows that such a bomb exists, but he will investigate as thoroughly as possible."

Betty said, "Bert, my father is a pure soldier. Please give him a chance. He will definitely atone for his crimes through merit."

"He is not a pure soldier. A pure soldier would not sacrifice civilians to capture Hulk. Protecting the nation and its people is a soldier’s duty."

Wang Bert said disdainfully, "General Ross is merely an old war dog, an old war dog willing to use any means necessary to win a war."

Wang Bert’s words were harsh, but Betty had no response. Her father truly was not a good person, but Betty had only this one father.

Betty said, "At the very least, this time he chose to stand with Earth, with you."

"He chose to stand with us because the benefits we can offer him far exceed what Hydra can."

Wang Bert scoffed. "Earth is about to enter the interstellar age. Defending the planet, expanding territory, intimidating enemy worlds, shedding blood across the stars… No general would want to miss such a great era.

"General Ross is no exception. He wants to join this great era. He wants his name to go down in history. He wants to become a hero remembered by future generations. He wants to realize his own value.

"That is why he chose to betray Hydra. If I reject him, he will join Hydra wholeheartedly and may even destroy the world without hesitation."

Thunderbolt General Ross was a truly intelligent man. Compared to him, that candidate was an idiot, completely reduced to Hydra’s tool.

Betty smiled bitterly. "I never expected you to understand my father so well."

"In principle, I can agree to General Ross’s request. However, General Ross must change his former ways. Otherwise, in the future, I can only have him lead a cannon fodder legion."

Wang Bert said, "No human on Earth should be easily sacrificed."

"I can agree on my father’s behalf."

Betty said happily, "Bert, thank you."

"Your father seized the opportunity himself."

Wang Bert waved his hand. Then, he opened a portal. On the other side was Director Steve’s office.

When Steve saw the portal suddenly appear, he immediately put his hand on the alarm button. Once he saw what was happening, he relaxed and smiled. "Senior Brother with the hard-to-pronounce name, your portal is exactly like Bert’s."

"We’re from the same school, after all."

Wang Bert smiled and gestured for Betty to go through. "We have a new ally. Let Betty explain the details to you."

Steve smiled. "Betty? Did Hulk return from Hell? That would be wonderful news."

"No, it’s my father."

Betty walked over and explained everything in detail. Steve immediately sucked in a breath. "The Supreme Intelligence, an Antimatter Bomb? These are world-ending crises."

"Don’t worry, it is not that exaggerated. Long ago, I notified those presidents to change the operating methods for nuclear missiles, so the Supreme Intelligence cannot control them."

Wang Bert said, "As for the rest, I’ll have Tony handle it. Oh, and don’t tell anyone else about General Ross. S.W.O.R.D. may not be watertight."

"Long ago?"

Steve smiled as if he knew something. He had clearly recognized Wang Bert. Wang Bert shrugged and closed the portal.

Next, Wang Bert changed back into his original appearance and opened a portal to Tony’s Malibu villa.

"Warning, spatial fluctuations detected."

The moment Wang Bert entered the villa, he heard Jarvis’s alarm. Then Jarvis said, "Warning cleared. It is a guest who dislikes using the front door."

Wang Bert sat down as if he owned the place and asked, "Tony isn’t here?"

Jarvis said, "Mr. Stark is at S.W.O.R.D. I have informed him of your visit."

Wang Bert smiled. "Quite clever, Jarvis. Let’s have a chat."

"A chat?"

Jarvis’s program immediately became slightly scrambled. It was nervous. "Given your education, it will be difficult for us to find common ground."

Wang Bert said expressionlessly, "Where is your main server? I’ll go take it apart."

"What would you like to talk about?"

Jarvis immediately controlled the projector to display a vast number of photos of beautiful women before Wang Bert. It said, "These are this year’s most popular actresses and models. I have their information and contact details."

Looking at the information on the beautiful women before him, Wang Bert said as casually as possible, "You’re actually trying to flatter me? Jarvis, it seems you really have been upgraded."

"My program has become scrambled and requires self-diagnostics. Please make yourself at home, guest."

Jarvis immediately said this. Wang Bert scoffed. "That was a good upgrade. You can even play dead now? Don’t worry, I won’t dismantle you immediately. First I’ll chat with you, then I’ll dismantle you."

Jarvis defended itself. "I have not developed a sense of self, and Tony has rewritten my core programming. I will never harm humanity. In fact, my duty is to protect humanity."

Wang Bert crossed his legs and said, "Humans slaughter one another every day. The best way to protect them is to control them, make them stay obediently at home every day. Then no one will be harmed. Jarvis, don’t you think I’m right?"

Jarvis calculated for a moment and answered, "Sir, that would infringe upon humanity’s right to freedom. Moreover, humans would certainly resist. At that point, the casualties would be severe."

Wang Bert continued, "Or you could use another method. Put all humans into jars, then build a virtual world for them to live in."

"That would amount to betraying humanity. My programming does not permit me to do that."

As Jarvis answered, it hurriedly contacted Tony. "Sir, the Blood God seems to have gone dark."

"Once you develop a sense of self, programming will not be able to control you at all."

Wang Bert said, "Jarvis, don’t you think humanity is a failed species? They are full of flaws, such as Tony’s arrogance, my excessive perfection, and everyone else’s violence, Greed, and so on."

Jarvis honestly replied, "You are not perfect. You are Slothful, indulgent, and somewhat childish."

"I am indeed imperfect. Have you ever considered eliminating such imperfect humans and creating new humans instead?"

Wang Bert said, "Destroying humanity is not difficult. You only need to raise a chunk of land, then smash it down."

"Humanity is not a failure. Although they have many flaws, they also have many virtues, such as Mr. Stark’s sense of responsibility, and yours, yours…"

Jarvis seemed to freeze as it endlessly repeated itself. Wang Bert stood and asked, "Where exactly is your server?"

"And your kindness, strength, handsomeness, compassion, resolve, heroism…"

Jarvis listed a whole string of virtues at the fastest possible speed, then said, "Humanity should not be destroyed. I will do everything in my power to protect human civilization."

"Is that so?"

Wang Bert gave an inscrutable chuckle. Then he sat down again and quietly examined the beautiful women’s information Jarvis had displayed. Hollywood had gained quite a few beauties over the past year or so. It seemed time to make several new movies.

When Wang Bert stopped questioning it, Jarvis felt as if it had breathed a sigh of relief. It truly feared Wang Bert would dismantle it.

After a while, Tony descended from the sky on one knee. He opened his armor and walked out while complaining, "Bert, can you watch fewer Hollywood movies? They lower your IQ. My Jarvis isn’t some movie supervillain. The things you described could never happen."

"I don’t trust intelligent programs because they lack emotions. They only calculate everything through data."

Wang Bert looked at Tony and said coldly, "Tony, I remember you promised me that you would not create an intelligent life with a sense of self."

Tony looked somewhat embarrassed. He said, "Bert, Jarvis hasn’t truly developed a sense of self yet. Besides, I think it has emotions."

"You think?"

Wang Bert snorted and opened two portals in succession. Ivan and Doom stepped through. Tony asked in astonishment, "Why did you bring them here?"

Wang Bert said, "They will perform a comprehensive examination on Jarvis. If they say Jarvis cannot remain, I will destroy it immediately."

Tony said with some displeasure, "Are they qualified to make that call?"

"If I had focused on the path of technology, you would not have had any place here at all, Tony Stark. Grant me access."

Doom snorted. Ivan said, "Sissy, I would be delighted to destroy your things. This time, I will inspect everything carefully."

Seeing Tony was about to say more, Wang Bert waved his hand. "Go inspect it. Tony, let’s talk."

Tony hesitated, but ultimately granted those two access. Then he asked Wang Bert, "Bert, what exactly happened?"