Marvel: The Imposter Inventor

Chapter 241 Zombie Universe Ruler
'Wait a minute, I forgot to ask earlier, what's Tony up to all this time, suddenly starting to study magic?'

Luca, who was happily flying home, suddenly paused, but quickly stopped thinking about it.

Anyway, I had already discussed with Tony that we should not provoke the demons of the Hell Dimension for the time being. As long as he doesn't try to open a passage to the Hell Dimension, he probably won't cause any major trouble.

'Perfect timing. Sokovia has already brought the Maksimov siblings over; I can take some time to visit them.'

With these random thoughts swirling in his mind, Luca quickly returned to his company.

However, upon returning to the company, he did not immediately rush into the experimental workshop to continue upgrading his 'Boxer Gundam'.

Instead, he jogged all the way to the biology lab where Sherry was, greeted the busy Baymax, and then casually walked in.

However, Sherry herself is not currently in this laboratory.

Or perhaps, the true entity is not here.

At this moment, apart from Baymax, the laboratory was filled with busy small engineering mechs controlled by Haro.

In fact, it's for safety reasons.

The real researchers, Sherry and Maya Hansen, would spend most of their time in another laboratory next door, remotely controlling the Haro robots to carry out the next experimental tasks.

That's right.

The new project that is about to begin in this laboratory is to study the [Blacklight Virus] that Luca previously obtained.

Although Luca may have various worries and hesitations before making a decision, he is usually quite decisive once he has made it.

Now, Luca, who had previously been worried about the spread of the virus and even asked Sherry and Luca to conduct their research remotely as much as possible, was now being asked to do so.

The reason they dared to be so carefree, entering the laboratory without even taking proper precautions, was that...

Naturally, this is because Luca made a completely new discovery after the [Blacklight Virus] was synthesized.

At this moment, I look at the dark red liquid in the large culture tank in the laboratory.

Luca, who had approached, gently beckoned to him with his finger.

The dark red liquid immediately began to converge rapidly in the direction of Luca, like a magnetofluid.

In an instant, all the 'Blacklight Virus' cells rapidly condensed into a more concentrated and viscous gel-like substance, revealing the original appearance of the pale green nutrient solution inside the culture tank that had previously appeared to be filled with red and black.

Yes, all these red substances in front of us are 'Blacklight Virus' cells.

The reason these cells gathered together at once because of Luca's action was because Luca was surprised to discover this after synthesizing the [Blacklight Virus].

This terrifying 'virus,' which he himself had previously been somewhat afraid of, was also given the command of 'absolute obedience' by his powerful cheat system, perhaps because it possessed certain biological characteristics.

In fact, according to Shirley's observations...

Although the Blacklight Virus is named a 'virus', it is essentially a cell with unique characteristics. The existence of a single Blacklight Virus is closer to an intermediate form between a 'virus' and a 'bacterium'.

It is called 'virus' simply for the sake of easy understanding of the terminology.

More importantly, these 'blacklight viruses' do not need to devour and merge with other organisms. The existing 'viruses' alone, gathered together, already possess certain characteristics of intelligent life. However, due to insufficient numbers and the fact that they have not yet devoured any truly intelligent life forms, this 'intelligence' is far too weak, even closer to 'instinct'.

Even so, these "Blacklight Viruses" that only have "instinct" will still easily understand and obey Luca's various commands.

Furthermore, the Blacklight virus itself possesses a very strict hive cluster mentality, with extremely strict hierarchical relationships.

Luca's existence itself seems to be a higher level of being that has replaced the 'Mother's Will'.

Therefore, even if a new virus is created later, or an 'infected individual' is created by fusing with the genes of advanced organisms, it will still be subject to Luca's control as long as it is in front of him.

Um, yes, 'in front of'.
Although Luca possesses the highest level of authority over the Blacklight virus, he is different from the 'mother' itself; Luca's consciousness does not exist within the swarm network.

Therefore, Luca can only use this control when the other person is 'face to face'.

This is why, even with the so-called highest authority, Luca still insisted that Sherry be extremely careful during the research process.

After all, he can't possibly keep an eye on these viruses all the time, or go and collect them one by one after a virus leak.

However, even so, the risk of the Blacklight virus that he was originally worried about has been greatly reduced.

In fact, when Luca first discovered that he had absolute control over the Blacklight virus, a wicked thought once crossed his mind.

'Let the virus out, let it spread all over the world, that way everyone will be under my control!'

Fortunately, Luca's rationality prevailed in the end, and he didn't actually force himself to have a title like 'Zombie Universe Overlord'.

This is why Luca rushed to Tony to show off before the antidote for APTX4869 was even developed.

He does need these interactions with family and friends to keep himself from becoming too radical.

Of course, even without directly spreading the Blacklight virus, gaining supreme control would still be very beneficial for Luca.

At least now, the risk of him merging with the Blacklight virus itself would be greatly reduced.

Sherry's main research focus right now is to cultivate a stable version of the Blacklight enhancement agent and to familiarize herself with the characteristics of the Blacklight virus. While training her subordinates, she also wants to ensure that Luca can retain his human identity when he is to actually fuse with the Blacklight virus in the future.

'Directly replacing the body with a viral polymer is out of the question; it would be best if the Blacklight virus parent could be transformed into a symbiote like Venom.'

'Speaking of which, should we go to Harry's and get some Venom pups to feed the Blacklight Virus to enhance it? Maybe something interesting will emerge~'

'Perhaps we can have Sherry test it later to see if this thing can infect demons?'

In short, following the [Dehydration Gun], Luca has now mastered a bug-level ability that can drag the entire Earth down with him.

After observing the newly formed [Blacklight Virus] for a while and giving Sherry some follow-up instructions, Luca left the biological laboratory.

And at the same time.

The Shield Mountain squad, which had received Luca's new orders earlier, has already begun their operation.

(End of this chapter)