The Comprehensive Evolution of American Comics.

Chapter 1245

Arguably, the most difficult part of this whole idea was the container.

The method used by the virus's creator, Schreid, was to force the virus into dormancy and then awaken it with stimulation when needed.

This method is indeed very safe, but it also has a drawback that matches its safety: the startup time is too slow.

It wasn't that Schreid didn't want to create a version that could detonate at any time; it was because activating the virus into a dormant state required a certain amount of time, which was the countdown timer set by the time bomb.

The time it takes for the virus to spread must also be taken into account, which in turn causes the explosion time to be delayed again and again.

Yang Le didn't want the kind of setting where you have to charge up for ages before you can unleash a powerful attack, so he came up with a different approach: creating containers with viral antibodies.

It sounds fantastical, but in the world of American comics where even metal can have self-awareness, it seems much more scientific.

However, this process was bound to be lengthy, so Yang Le had to resort to other methods. To save time, he directly used the power of the Sleep Demon, although he couldn't succeed in one go with the power he controlled.

However, Yang Le used this ability to influence reality to continuously increase the success rate of the experiment, and finally succeeded on the eighth experiment.

The end result was that Yang Le obtained a very magical metal.

Through his testing, Yang Le discovered that this metal has a certain degree of resistance to various viruses, somewhat similar to the amber gold unique to the DC Universe.

Of course, it is not amber gold. Amber gold is a flowing, colorless liquid metal, while the former is a piece of silver-gray solid metal.

When Yang Le was using this metal, he discovered a characteristic of it: once it was changed into another form, it was very difficult to change it back.

For example, if Yang Le melts it into a liquid, no matter how low the temperature is, it cannot be solidified back into a liquid. Even though the temperature has already dropped, it just cannot solidify.

Looking at the liquid metal in the container that couldn't solidify, Yang Le, adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, wanted to test how it differed from amber gold. After injecting it into an experimental organism, he obtained the results shown above.

Through the dual testing of Clock King and Popa, the results showed that organisms injected with liquid metal would not experience any adverse reactions due to the heavy metal entering their bodies, and their physical strength would be enhanced to a certain extent.

However, the injected organisms will not gain the same resistance to aging as those with amber gold, and their lifespan will not exceed that of similar organisms by much, reaching only the theoretical upper limit of such organisms.

The reason it can reach its limit is that the injected metal organism gains extraordinary disease resistance, and none of the known viruses on Earth can affect it.

Yang Le even simulated some alien viruses and got the same result. The experimental organisms might become weak at first, but they would acquire antibodies to the virus within half an hour at most and be fully recovered.

Yang Le's final conclusion was that once this metal enters a living organism, it helps the organism's immune system fight off external enemies.

In subsequent experiments, Yang Le continuously diluted the metal, eventually obtaining a new type of vaccine.

This vaccine strengthens the recipient based on the above conclusions, but because the dosage is insufficient, it is excreted from the body after completing its mission, showing no mercy once it is used up.

Of course, it is also very possible that the virus was not completely eliminated before it was expelled from the body. This situation is also easy to solve; another injection will suffice.

After all, Yang Le didn't want to create superhumans, so he figured he might as well go through the trouble. Getting back to the main point, Yang Le simply named this metal "serum," based on its properties, which coincidentally matched the name of a symbiote in the Marvel Universe.

But since they're not in the same universe, no one can cause him any trouble.

Ultimately, Yang Le used the "serum" to make a hollow container, then injected the virus into it, finally completing the new prototype arm.

Because it was only a prototype, Yang Le didn't go so far as to make the entire arm out of serum metal, since he didn't yet have the capability to mass-produce this metal.

The most important reason is that serum metal has a relatively low hardness, making it unsuitable for making weapons and armor. We can only try to find a way to overcome this problem in the future.

"Roy," Yang Le called out to his assistant through the communicator. "Are you still in the training room?"

"Yes, sir, I'm still in the training room."

Roy sounded breathless, indicating he hadn't been slacking off and had been training continuously.

Yang Le admired Roy's hardworking attitude, but constantly pushing his body to its limits wasn't a good thing, even if he had a way to restore Roy's health.

Yang Le took the new prototype robotic arm to the training room. He decided to give Roy a good talking-to, telling him that haste makes waste.

...

Jason felt that the last two days must have been the unluckiest days of his life, because it was already autumn, and his gang of kids had to start thinking about how to survive the winter.

The other members of the gang were similar to him; they were all children who couldn't stand their parents or had run away from orphanages. At their age, there were no jobs available, so they could only make a living by stealing.

In order to raise the supplies needed for winter, Jason decided to pull off a big heist: stealing a car. He had done it before, but because unscrupulous dealers kept driving down the price, he could only sell the good cars he stole for a low price.

Because he also had to guard against retaliation from car owners, and the rewards were meager, stealing cars became a thankless and arduous task, which is why Jason gave up his skills.

But time won't wait for these kids who are ignored by society. They don't want to be adopted by an orphanage or return to a family, and they can't even receive frequent relief from charitable organizations.

Because once the charity organization discovers their situation, they will definitely send them back to a place they don't want to go back to.

With no other option, Jason had to continue doing that thankless job. But this time, he made a deal with the car dealer: if he could steal ten cars, the dealer would buy them at a price higher than the market price.

This was an almost impossible task for a child, but Jason had no other choice but to take the plunge.

Then, on the night of his first move, he saw the imposing Batmobile. As the saying goes, the bold get rich, and the timid starve.

Jason acted without thinking much.

(End of this chapter)