The Tech Titans of the Marvel World

Basement.

Looking at the human-shaped lump of charcoal before him, Old Wang took out his phone, picked a good angle, and leisurely snapped a photo.

The angle was great. The pose was great.

Then, with a wave of his hand, he stored the human-shaped charcoal in the Heart of Azeroth and turned to run.

Skye had blacked out the surveillance footage in the area, and his powerful senses ensured there was no one nearby. Old Wang wasn’t worried about being discovered. He quickly blended into the crowd outside, ran into Robbie on the way, and the two took a taxi to the Azeroth Specialties Shop.

"Close up."

Old Wang had Skye shut the door, then waved his hand again. The human-shaped charcoal appeared.

"This is Madame Gao?"

Skye had just finished her call with Natasha. When she saw the human-shaped charcoal, she froze, her expression turning strange. "Wang, you’re not just interested in corpses—you’re interested in human-shaped charcoal too? Your tastes are way too broad, aren’t they?"

Old Wang: "…"

Skye, are you a horse or something? Your imagination really runs wild!

The child of an Inhuman and a lunatic—was her thought process really that different from normal people’s?

Too lazy to complain, Old Wang reclined in his chair and waved a hand. "She’s not dead yet. Not completely."

Not completely dead?

Skye moved closer for a careful look, then poked it with her finger. Bits of charred flesh crumbled off.

"She can still survive this?"

Skye was genuinely stunned. "Wang, didn’t you say Jade Lightning was one of your eighteen favorite skills, and that anyone hit by it would definitely die? She’s ‘charred on the outside, tender on the inside’ now—Chinese. I can even smell the meat!"

Old Wang shot Skye a sidelong glare.

Girl, could you stop making up words whenever you felt like it?

And mixing Chinese with English might sound fashionable, but it was actually stupid. It just showed that you weren’t good at either language. Old Wang didn’t like it!

"Ordinary people can’t survive it. Madame Gao isn’t ordinary, not even an ordinary kung fu master."

Old Wang gave a simple explanation. "The power of the Dragon Bone Fossil gave her immortality and the ability to return from death. As long as her head isn’t cut off, she can revive. It should take time, though. Not that quickly."

Skye nodded.

Got it.

Wang hadn’t cut off Madame Gao’s head, which meant he didn’t actually want her dead.

Looks like he was really interested in Madame Gao!

Old Wang glanced at Skye.

He knew exactly what that look in her eyes meant.

Old Wang had even slept with the Red Dragon Queen and the Green Dragon Queen, both of whom had lived for tens of thousands of years. And now Azeroth Miss, who had lived for billions of years, was following him around. His taste for the exotic had long since faded. A Madame Gao who had lived barely over a thousand years held absolutely no interest for this panda, all right?

Enough nonsense.

"Find a rope and tie her up. Don’t let her revive and run away."

After giving the order, Old Wang looked at Robbie with a slight frown. "Your strength’s grown pretty fast, huh?"

He could sense the Spirit of Vengeance constantly growing stronger, like Sargeras’s avatar when it had finally arrived on Azeroth and restored its power by hunting dragons.

Hearing the Spirit of Vengeance’s voice in his mind, Robbie shrugged. "It says it can work with you, boss. From now on, leave wiping out evil to it. Vengeance makes it happy. Two-thirds of New York deserve to die. Only by destroying evil can a paradise on earth be created. If you let it judge freely, it can return to its peak strength."

"Ancient One is watching you." Old Wang tapped the armrest. She’ll probably start watching me too.

The mages of Kamar-Taj and the Three Sanctums had always watched beings that threatened Earth, such as Dormammu and those hell lords.

There were many kinds of Spirits of Vengeance.

Some were ancient spirits, while others were connected to God and angels—assuming they even existed in the MCU.

The one inside Robbie had come from Blazing Johnny. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be Zarathos the Demon, second only to the hell lord Mephisto at his peak. It was powerful enough to give Ancient One a headache.

Of course, the current Spirit of Vengeance was merely a pitiful creature that had fled to Earth, and it was far too weak. Ancient One was busy dealing with the many big shots of the multiverse and had no time for it.

But if the Spirit of Vengeance started slaughtering people indiscriminately, did he think Ancient One wouldn’t intervene?

Don’t forget, there was a Sanctum in New York, and it was nearby!

The moment it heard Old Wang’s words, the Spirit of Vengeance wilted.

Why was that immortal bald old woman still refusing to die?

It had heard that the Eternal God was calling. Why didn’t she hurry up and throw herself into the great god’s embrace? What was so interesting about lingering on this tiny little Earth?

"Skye, keep investigating The Hand. Find the other four Fingers: Alexandra, Bokuto, Sowande, Murakami, as well as Murakami’s disciple Giyoka Shin and Bokuto’s disciple Colleen Wing. Also investigate someone named Wilson Fisk, and look into Rand Corporation."

Old Wang picked up his phone and called Lucy. "How’s the research progressing?"

Lucy sounded helpless on the other end. "Boss, it hasn’t even been a month. We haven’t finished learning the basics…"

Beside Lucy, Eli hurriedly nodded.

Forget us—even if they dragged that missing playboy over here, no one could produce anything in such a short time!

Boss, you think far too highly of us!

"The framework is based on brain-mapping technology and memory uploading, right?"

Searching through the few memories in his mind, Old Wang said calmly, "Focus on cracking that first. You have one month."

"…We’ll do our best." Lucy didn’t dare make any guarantees.

Although they had studied the Darkhold for decades and had some foundation, their previous research had mainly focused on creating things from nothing. They knew very little about brain mapping.

Starting from scratch now wouldn’t be easy. They weren’t top scientists—not even first-rate, really. At best, they were second-rate…

"Don’t worry. I’ll find you a few helpers."

After hanging up, Old Wang rested his chin on his hand and fell into thought.

Brain mapping and memory uploading were scientific interpretations of the Darkhold. In terms of magic, they were probably similar to Mind Steal, mind reading, and the like.

He stretched out his hand, and the Darkhold appeared.

He opened it to a certain page. Sure enough, there were similar spells inside, though the names were obviously different.

All memories were connected to the brain. As long as a complete brain could be mapped, all of a person’s memories could be extracted.

This was a concept proposed long ago, but no one had ever managed to do it. The Darkhold, however, could.

There were many related spells in World of Warcraft.

High-ranking priests could do it. Banshees could do it. Nerubians and Dreadlords could do it. There were even plenty of other bizarre races capable of it.

But he didn’t have much Azeroth Blood left, and Old Wang didn’t want to waste it.

Besides, what he wanted was all of Madame Gao’s memories, not merely part of them. Spells had durations.

Spells like Mind Control would naturally be better, but fully controlling Madame Gao, who had lived for over a thousand years, would take more blood than he had even if he used it all.

Madame Gao had endured the harshest tortures and interrogations. Her mental will was terrifyingly firm. Even the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty probably couldn’t pry open her mouth.

Brain mapping and memory uploading were the best methods.

Besides, they were the foundation of the Framework and had to be researched anyway. He could afford to wait a while longer.

Old Wang wasn’t in a hurry, anyway.

While waiting, there were a few matters that needed handling.

Darkhold Laboratory really should expand. Lucy and the others weren’t skilled enough; they could only be considered second-rate.

If the knowledge in the Darkhold was understood through scientific methods, a large portion of it involved quantum mechanics. The world’s foremost quantum physicist was probably the first Ant-Man, Pym-Hank.

That man was a big shot who had once joined S.H.I.E.L.D. He seemed to be in some trouble now, so Old Wang could consider bringing him aboard.

It wouldn’t be easy, though. That old man was exceptionally stubborn and not easy to deal with.

Tony Stark was also an authority in this field. He was currently studying the first Iron Man suit at some terrorist base in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was huge. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. and the United States military had taken months to find him, so Old Wang wasn’t optimistic.

Banner, who claimed to have seven doctorates—time, space, reality, power, soul, mind, and Black Widow—was one of the few top scientists Tony acknowledged. He might have some expertise in this field as well.

The problem was that guy was hiding from Thunderbolt General’s pursuit. He wouldn’t be easy to find, and even if he was found, he wouldn’t be easy to control. Old Wang wasn’t confident he could crush Hulk yet.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had scientists in this field too, but they were at most second-rate, on Lucy and the others’ level. The truly brilliant Leo Fitz and his assistant Jemma Simmons might not even have graduated from S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy yet.

Was he supposed to play a cultivation game?

Come on, it wasn’t like they were little boys and girls!

Could he really go looking for that conman Reed?

Old Wang sighed and tapped the armrest. "Skye, help me investigate a few more people: Pym-Hank, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, and… Reed Richards!"

Thanks to "Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Becoming a Butterfly" for the 400 donation, and thanks to "Won’t Donate a Single Penny" for the 100 donation.