Chapter 224: An Existence on a Par with Gods
Indeed, Natasha could not help with the operation of the company, and she now needed to deal with something that was both troublesome and necessary.
She walked downstairs slowly, tidying up her appearance while recalling the business details.
The guest who made the appointment this time was Lucaso. He had always had a crush on Pepper and had invited her out on a date many times, but she had rejected him every time.
This time he came for project exchanges, and I hope he can do his job impartially.
When Pepper pushed open the door of the reception room, she saw a well-dressed, elegant man walking towards her. He was completely different from the humble, sloppy, and thin Lucaso in her impression. They were like two different people.
Xiao La Jiao was surprised, but she still confirmed it out of politeness: "Lucaso?"
Luxor smiled confidently, "It's me, Pepper."
Then, he looked at Pepper and said, "You look pretty good lately. This outfit suits you very well. It's very beautiful."
Little Pepper hasn't recovered from the shock yet. "Oh my God, you look so, so handsome. I'm a little, that, unbelievable...you..." She couldn't find the right words for a long time, so she simply asked, "What have you been doing these years?"
Luxor smiled confidently, "It's nothing serious. I just had some minor health problems and have been receiving treatment for the past five years. Also, you can call me Sean Luxor from now on."
Pepper gradually recovered from her shock.
No matter who the person in front of him is, he is the guest of today's business negotiations and also an old acquaintance.
She poured Luxor a glass of water. "Nice to meet you, Luxor."
Although Xiao La Jiao's words returned to calm, she did not reveal much surprise.
This made Lucaso frown. He found that he had not occupied a single place in Pepper's heart for so many years. He was jealous of Stark and hated Stark even more.
Stark is like a child of destiny, brilliant and intelligent. People can only see his brilliance but not the shadow beneath his brilliance.
And Luxor is that shadow, the humblest and darkest part.
In the corner where no one is, he longs to be noticed. He is also a smart man, unique in biological research and outstanding in material physics.
But his intelligence did not bring him much confidence. Instead, he often doubted his ability because of his poor health and frequent bullying. He became less and less confident and wore glasses to block the gaze of others.
But at the same time, he also cut himself off from the world. He lived in his own comfort zone until he found Stark. His desire for light made him want to meet Stark, but there was no news.
So, he transformed. He took off his glasses and reconnected with the world. He became obsessed with researching the ultimate bio-transformation technology.
In this field, he found that he could be as confident, calm, suave, and brilliant as Stark.
In that case, why couldn't he become someone like Stark?
He looked at Pepper, his smile full of confidence, "Pepper, let me introduce you to our company's latest project."
"Over the years, my research team and think tank have been cleverly circumventing the 'unethical biological research ban'," Lucaso said, making quotation marks with his hands for emphasis. He smiled brightly and continued, "But God helps those who work hard, and by chance, we developed a little gadget."
Luxor pulled a small box out of his pocket and noticed that Pepper was staring at it intently. He chuckled and touched his ear gently to make sure the instrument he was wearing was working properly. He then installed a small device behind his ear. "We call it the 'ultimate transformation'." He said while looking at the box unconsciously.
A strong sense of uneasiness inexplicably surged in Xiao La Jiao's heart. Compared with the past, Lucaso exuded admirable confidence and was quite attractive to women, but at the same time, he also revealed his strong possessiveness and desire for control, and even in his words, one could sense a faint desire for destruction.
Luxor also noticed the subtle change in the atmosphere. After Stark disappeared, he immediately had the newspaper publish the news of Stark's death. Although this news was overshadowed by the report of the appearance of a god in Sakura Country, he knew that people who cared about Stark would definitely notice this news, especially Pepper.
However, after learning the news, Pepper was unusually calm, without any panic or concern. Does this mean that she already knows Stark's whereabouts?
Recalling the incident of the fake Mandarin being arrested by War Machine some time ago, Luxor guessed that Stark was so smart that he might find clues from the fake Mandarin's residence. He remained calm on the surface, but he had already made a gesture secretly.
Lucaso picked up the remote control, which controlled the lights in the reception room. "If you don't mind, I'd like to turn off the lights."
The reception room is surrounded by transparent glass, so people can come and go without having to worry about any accidents.
Luxor extended his hand to Pepper with a weird smile on his face, "Come on, Pepper, please join me and explore the mysteries of the human brain."
Then Luxor pulled three steel balls from his pocket and rolled them onto the table.
The three steel balls immediately and tacitly assumed a fixed posture, and after stabilizing, they projected a picture of the vast and boundless universe.
Before Pepper could respond, Luxo awkwardly called out, "Wait, sorry, I made a mistake, this is a picture of the universe."
Luxor adjusted the remote control in his hand and confirmed the order. "Yes, it should be this one."
The brilliant cosmic image then disappeared, replaced by a blue neural network projection. It was mysterious and beautiful, attracting people's attention, with an unknown color that made people unable to take their eyes off.
Chili stood up involuntarily, her breathing was a little rapid. She was shocked by the beauty. Compared with the medical brain anatomy diagram, this neural network projection was full of unknown beauty and temptation.
Luxor looked at the smile on Pepper's face with pride and asked proudly, "This is the human brain. How is it? Isn't the simulation effect amazing?"
Despite being drawn to the attention, Pepper remembers that this is a work setting. She responds, "It's amazing, it's incredible. Luxor, how did you do that?"
Luxor retracted his gaze, "Thank you for the compliment, Pepper. This is a projection of my brain's neural activity."
Hearing this answer, Pepper didn't react for a moment, but then she suddenly realized, turned to look at Lucaso, and asked in shock, "What did you say?" Looking at the confused Pepper, Lucaso proudly boasted, "What you see is actually a real-time projection of my brain's neural activity." He pointed behind his ear, motioning Pepper to pay attention there.
"Come on, I'll show you up close." As he said that, he stepped onto the table in the reception room and extended his hand to invite Pepper to explore this new world with him.
Little Pepper also stepped onto the table.
Luxo held out his arm, "Now pinch my arm hard." Seeing that Pepper was a little hesitant, Luxo smiled and said, "Don't hesitate, Pepper. I'm not afraid of pain. Hurry up. If you don't do this, I won't be able to show you."
Pepper had no choice but to gently pinch Lucaso's arm. The projection immediately emitted a yellowish light, surrounding them.
Little Pepper was startled by the sudden yellow light. She was both frightened and curious and asked, "Oh my God, what is that?"
Luxor replied, "That's the primary sensory cortex, which is also the pain center of the brain. You pinched me just now, and my brain immediately received feedback and projected it. This is just to show the effect of real-time feedback." He patiently explained to Pepper.
Then, he picked up the remote control and brought up another picture. "But that's not the point. What I really want to show you is this."
Lucaso walked behind Pepper and wanted to speak close to her ear, but Pepper avoided him calmly.
"At present, we are committed to tapping the unlimited potential of human bioelectricity," Lucaso's voice is low and charming. He keeps gesturing on the projection of the brain's neural network, looking for his target.
He was dissatisfied with Pepper's resistance, but he was not discouraged because he was sure that Pepper must have known Stark's whereabouts.
"Once we successfully tap into the potential of human bioelectricity, we can transmit it here." Lucaso finally locked onto his target and zoomed in. "There is more than enough space here. This means that the human brain and DNA system will usher in a revolutionary upgrade. This is a historical necessity and cannot be stopped."
He stared at Pepper, his eyes focused and affectionate. However, Pepper just looked at that key point curiously and couldn't help but exclaimed.
After the presentation, Luxo and Pepper sat back down for their face-to-face conversation.
However, Lucaso, who was supposed to be in the guest position, unknowingly took the dominant position.
He enthusiastically showed his research results to Xiao La Jiao, "Imagine if any organism is regarded as an active biological computer, and you can invade their system anytime and anywhere and recode their DNA."
Lucaso paused here deliberately, leaving Pepper enough room for imagination.
Lucaso is confident in his plan and he believes that Pepper will accept it.
The appearance of gods broke people's inherent ideas.
Compared with the previous world ruled by physics, more and more people have begun to devote themselves to biological research, trying to reveal the secrets of human evolution. In Chinese legends, there are many people who exercise the power of gods in mortal bodies, such as Fuxi, the emperor of mankind, and the two emperors Yan and Huang. They are all powerful and mysterious, standing side by side with gods.
Moreover, the gods clearly stated that they would not interfere in the human world, which is much better than the performance of the God in the Bible.
The God in the Bible destroyed the Tower of Babel in order to destroy the unity of mankind, and caused a flood to punish mankind for not obeying his will.
True gods will not interfere with human beings in any way, just as a famous Chinese saying goes: "Heaven and earth have no benevolence and treat all things as straw dogs; sages have no benevolence and treat the people as straw dogs." They treat everything like a sacrifice made of grass, without interfering too much, without being biased, without arbitrarily attacking and destroying, and certainly not forcing human beings to believe in them.
Pepper regained her calmness and rationality as a business woman, "I have to say, this is indeed an amazing plan."
Luxasso smiled, but Pepper poured cold water on him immediately. "But Luxasso, this technology is very likely to be used in biological weapons, such as biological warriors, super mercenaries, etc. Stark Enterprises is now just a clean energy company..."
Luxor was a little unhappy when he heard this. His smile became stiff, and then his expression became elusive. "Stark, Stark, actually I once invited him to join our company. That was in 1999 when we were still in Switzerland. But he rejected me. But now the situation is different. Even without him, I can run the company in an orderly manner. The same is true for your Stark Clean Energy Company. There is another genius at the helm. She is not like Stark," he pointed at Pepper, "she is not under Stark's jurisdiction, and she does not have his genius arrogance."
The implication is that Xiao La Jiao can actually make the decision on this matter herself.
Pepper said seriously: "Sean Luxor, although I am very interested in the economic cooperation project, I can't help you with this matter. The possibility of your technology being used in the military is too great, and there is currently no effective means of suppression. I'm sorry, I can't help you. I have to refuse you."
Walking out of the door of Stark Company, Pepper personally saw Luxor off.
Although Lucaso was a little disappointed, he still said to Pepper with a high heart: "Okay, although I am a little disappointed. But as my father said, only by passing through the fog of failure can we see the dawn of success."
Little Pepper frowned and said puzzledly: "It's a bit profound. I don't quite understand what you mean."
Lucaso smiled and said, "I don't quite understand it either. Maybe my father is a philosopher."
Pepper suddenly laughed. It must be said that Lucaso's humor and optimism are quite admirable.
Lucaso looked at Pepper and said, "Pepper, we will meet again. After all, only by going through the fog of failure can we see the dawn of success."
Pepper looked at Lucaso's gradually receding back, her heart filled with doubts and confusion.
She suddenly thought for no reason, could Stark's whereabouts be unknown and have anything to do with Luxor?
She quickly shook her head, because she didn't know whether there was any grudge between Luxor and Stark, and such malicious speculation was not very friendly.
What's more, the Kree are now eyeing the Avengers, so she shouldn't think of Luxor like this.
After shaking her head, Xiao La Jiao returned to the company to continue handling company affairs.
Lin Feng's research on gods is unparalleled in the world, so Koizumi Rokuro's hospitality naturally has a purpose.
(End of this chapter)
