Begin from the original form of torture and become immortal

Chapter 1747 Deep Sea Shadow
He admitted that Natasha's performance exceeded his initial expectations. But this admission was more like fuel, igniting an even stronger desire for conquest within him.

So what if she saw through him? So what if she understood him? In this steel fortress he controlled, deep in the ocean, under his woven surveillance network, she was still trapped in a cage.

The rules of the game were still set by him, Stark. Her clarity and resistance merely escalated this cat-and-mouse game from a one-sided crushing victory into a more interesting contest. He loved the challenge.

Just as Tony's brain was racing, assessing the variables brought by Natasha and beginning to devise a more ingenious next "test" plan, Jarvis's perpetually steady, clear, British-accented synthesized voice rang out in the control area, its volume perfectly blending into the background hum:
"Sir, Dr. Bruce Banner has arrived at the main airlock and is completing disinfection and secondary biometric verification procedures. He is expected to enter the core area in two minutes. Would you like me to connect you to the intra-cabin communications or prepare a drink?"

It was Jarvis's voice, always so polite, always providing the necessary information at the right time.

"You've finally arrived, Banner."

Tony's eyes lit up, and his lips curled back into that signature smile, a mixture of excitement and amusement. The brief frustration caused by Natasha was instantly forgotten.

Bruce's arrival signifies that his grand "Insight" plan is about to enter a new and more exciting practical phase.

He needed Banner's unique mind, his mastery of gamma energy, biofield, and the astonishing intelligence hidden beneath the rage. He needed his friend, his partner.

Tony sprang up from the hover chair almost as if ejected, his movements quick and light. The hover chair gently descended back to its preset standby height the instant he left.

He subconsciously straightened his expensive but slightly wrinkled T-shirt and stepped towards the alloy passageway connecting to the airlock to greet his special guest.

Just as he turned around, his attention completely shifting from the main monitoring array on the console—

In an inconspicuous corner of a giant surveillance wall consisting of dozens of high-resolution screens that surrounds the core area 360 degrees, on a screen displaying real-time sonar imaging and optical (low-light enhancement mode) images of the perimeter of the Stark seabed base, a huge, blurry, dark shadow, several times larger than the outline of the largest known blue whale, is silently gliding across the eternal inky blue of the deep Pacific Ocean.

It moved slowly but with an unusually steady pace, carrying an unsettling sense of oppression, like a mountain drifting in the deep sea.

The optical image captured a partial reflection of its massive body at the edge of the base's powerful searchlights. The texture was neither scales nor armor, but shimmered with a cold, unnatural metallic luster.

Sonar imaging reveals an even more perplexing, non-streamlined, angular, and geometrically complex silhouette echo, whose internal structure far exceeds that of any known marine organism.

Jarvis's core logic detected this anomalous data point in a fraction of a second. Its algorithm instantly mobilized all available sensor resources: infrasound arrays, passive sonar, magnetic field anomaly detectors, water pressure micro-change monitoring... The data stream poured into its processing unit like a waterfall.

Analysis results:

Sonar feature matching: The similarity with the low-frequency call pattern of "blue whale" in the database reached 87.3%, but the fundamental frequency intensity was abnormally high, and there was a weak, regular high-frequency harmonic superposition (not a naturally occurring feature).

Volume estimation: The target length is initially estimated to be 108-125 meters, far exceeding the record of the largest known blue whale (33 meters).

The outline is atypical of a biological streamline. Optical characteristics: Low-light enhanced images show highly specular reflective areas, with a reflectivity that does not match the known skin/shell of deep-sea organisms, and is more like polished metal or high-strength composite armor.

Movement pattern: moves at a constant speed in a straight line, without the vertical maneuvers typical of whales that involve surfacing/diving; the trajectory is unusually straight.

Magnetic field/water pressure: Weak but persistent local geomagnetic disturbances accompanying the target were detected, as well as water pressure fluctuation patterns caused by the movement of non-biological bodies.

Thermal signal: extremely weak, which is seriously inconsistent with its huge size (thermal concealment technology? or non-living organism?).

However, this area—near the deep, mysterious, and unknown Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean—is itself a paradise for large marine life on Earth, especially deep-diving whales.

Over the past few hundred hours, the base’s monitoring system has recorded more than 37 signals of large creatures (mostly sperm whales) passing by at a safe distance.

Jarvis's threat assessment algorithm quickly reached its conclusion after integrating factors such as "87.3% matching rate of cetacean acoustic features," "historical data on frequent appearances of large creatures in the area," and "the target is currently maintaining distance and has not shown any hostile or probing behavior."

Judgment result: High probability (>92.7%) that it is an unusually large whale (possibly due to an under-recorded population or individual variation) or a special acoustic/optical artifact formed by whale pod aggregation.

[Environmental parameters: A strong thermocline exists in the current sea area, which may cause distortion and amplification in sonar imaging.]

[Related System Status: Active sonar array Beta-3 is in low-power mode due to routine maintenance, resulting in a 17% decrease in detection accuracy.]

Based on the above data flow and probability model, Jarvis's core protocol makes a judgment within milliseconds:

Threat Level Assessment: Low.

[Anomaly Type: High probability of large marine life (whales/whale sharks) grouping activity, with imaging anomalies caused by the thermocline and equipment status.]

[Operational Recommendation: Mark as [Non-threatening biological activity], log it, and integrate it into the regular marine environmental monitoring data stream. No additional alerts or defense resource mobilization are required.]

Based on this assessment, and given that Mr. Tony Stark is currently focused on the high-priority task of welcoming Dr. Bruce Banner, Jarvis followed the pre-established protocol for handling "non-urgent, low-threat anomalies": record data, continue monitoring, refrain from active acoustic detection (to avoid disturbing him), and refrain from issuing visual or auditory alarms to Mr. Stark (to avoid distraction).

A tiny line of green status text, almost blending into the console's backlight, quietly appeared in the corner of the screen displaying the monitoring footage of that sea area, flickered for half a second, and then disappeared:
日志：[2025年7月2日 14:38:17 UTC]γ-7区段：探测到大型生物质量（疑似鲸类）。

Tracking in progress. No signs of hostility detected. Logged to environmental monitor.

(End of this chapter)