The meeting ended.
Jill stayed behind in the former chief's office to handle affairs.
Marvin and the others accompanied Lyon on a tour of the city before heading to the underground research facility.
They had recently added a new elevator shaft directly connected to the facility's main entrance.
The group descended in the elevator.
"I guess there's no chance of getting a decent burger in this world," Tony muttered to Lyon as they rode down.
"The virus has set this place back to the Middle Ages. The streets are full of people sleeping on the ground, and there's waste and the stench of filth everywhere."
"So, are you regretting tagging along now?" Lyon asked in a low voice.
"Regret?" Tony gave him a look, as if Lyon were joking. "What does that word even mean? Sorry, I don't recognize it."
His wide eyes were full of sincerity. "Now that I'm here, I've got to do something for this world. Consider it as me helping to wash away your sins."
"Don't joke around. How is this my fault? I didn't know the world's consciousness would be this foolish," Lyon retorted.
"That was a joke, but I really do need to contribute something here. Did you forget? I'm Iron Man!" Tony emphasized.
"Alright, Iron Man, so what do you want to do? Design a new suit here?"
"Research your prototype of the S virus!"
"You... must be joking? Your field is energy, materials, and machinery!"
"Heh! Do I look like someone who jokes?"
"...Alright, let me ask you a few questions about biochemistry."
Lyon posed a few cutting-edge biochemical questions that he thought would stump Tony, but Tony answered them all with ease.
"What the fuck? You actually answered all of them? When did you secretly get a Ph.D. in biology without me knowing?" Lyon asked, astonished.
Tony shrugged. "After you mentioned studying Kryptonian genes, I spent a few days on it."
"A few days? You really are a genius."
"Did you think you're the only one who picks things up quickly?" Tony casually shook his head. "Fast learning is just the foundation of being a genius, kid."
Lyon suddenly realized that Tony's learning speed wasn't much slower than his own, despite Lyon having a super brain. Tony truly lived up to Thanos' description of him as "cursed with knowledge."
The elevator arrived at the research facility.
Tony dragged Lyon straight into the lab.
In the research of the S virus, Tony's pace was incredibly fast. Often, before Lyon finished explaining one part, Tony had already figured out the next three steps.
For the first time, Lyon felt someone else had the same kind of rapid comprehension that his super brain provided.
As they discussed and experimented, each person's sudden inspiration would spark more ideas in the other. Their creative process was like stepping on each other's toes, spiraling upward in an endless loop of breakthroughs.
Next to them, the assistant director Bard and his team, who were there to help, could only stare in shock. They had no idea how their world had produced such geniuses—let alone two of them at once.
Half an hour later, an orange vial of serum was ready.
"The prototype S virus vaccine. It should be able to form antibodies that block the infection, and it works through the air. But it also neutralizes the enhancement effects of the S virus prototype," Tony said, stroking his chin. "It'll do for now. Hey, you—take this and run tests on the lab mice!"
Lyon was holding a golden vial of serum.
"The S1-type virus has been improved. The mutation probability after infection has been reduced to 70%, while the enhancement effects remain the same... But it's still far from the final goal."
He then took out a case he had brought along and opened it, revealing the Extremis virus and a USB drive.
"Tony, why don't you try merging the Extremis virus with the S1 virus?" Lyon said as he removed his white lab coat. "Further improvement of the virus requires other reference materials. I'll go look for them—and destroy some nukes along the way."
"Yup. You better hurry. In a few hours, I might even create the perfect version of the S virus right here," Tony replied, eyes glued to the golden vial of virus solution.
After thoroughly examining it, Tony realized that this virus was indeed a potential step in biological evolution.
Having witnessed such a creation, Tony felt this trip was well worth it. In fact, he believed it wouldn't be long before the perfect version of the virus was within his grasp.
At that point, perhaps the two brothers could truly push an entire world into a new stage of evolution—an exciting thought.
"Let's hope so. I'd love it if you could just create the final version of the S virus already."
Lyon wasn't worried about Tony getting infected.
With his special constitution—Gifted by the World Consciousness, Tony no longer faced any risk of turning into a zombie. Even the most infectious viruses in the Resident Evil world could now only serve to make him stronger.
After leaving the underground research lab, Lyon shot straight into the sky.
He accelerated mid-flight and within five seconds, he had broken through the atmosphere, floating in outer space.
In the void, his sleeves fluttered silently as his enhanced vision scanned the entire globe, locking onto one super zombie after another on the Earth's surface.
Judgment had arrived!
Like divine punishment, two beams of heat vision descended from outer space. For this era's Earth, it was as though the deadliest space-based weapon from a sci-fi movie had been unleashed.
A super zombie wandering aimlessly on the ground suddenly found itself engulfed by the scorching heat from above.
Tens of trillions of cells across its body screamed in agony, disintegrating into their most basic molecular form within a mere moment.
The red beams from the heavens swept across the earth's surface, like a deity stirring the world with chopsticks.
Wherever the beams passed, the earth shattered, and oceans evaporated.
In the regions of India, millions of super zombies roared at the sky, as if challenging the divine punishment from the heavens, but in an instant, they were reduced to ashes within the beams of light.
The entire world began to focus on these two divine beams, watching them sweep from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, and from South Asia all the way into Africa.
The beams even carved deeper chasms alongside the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.
Wherever they went, the seas parted, and the clouds dispersed, resembling the biblical scene of Moses stretching out his staff to divide the waters.
After the entire world had been scoured by the two beams of light, the divine punishment from the sky finally began to fade.
The wicked trembled as if they had fallen into the abyss, while the suffering refugees clung to hope, praying in desperation.
In this moment, they all believed in the existence of a higher power.
But Lyon's actions were far from over.
In just ten minutes, he had eradicated millions of super zombies across the planet.
Next, there were still nuclear missiles waiting for him.
With a twist of his waist, Lyon dived back into the Earth's atmosphere.
In this world, no one deliberately used lead to block his vision.
With a single sweep of his gaze, Lyon could see all the locations where nuclear warheads were stored on Earth.
When faced with mountains, he passed through them; when met with oceans, he sliced through them. The fortresses designed to withstand nuclear blasts couldn't hold up for long before him.
A few minutes later, Lyon had wrapped thousands of nuclear warheads from both the United States and Russia in a biological force field and pushed them all into space.
He continued until they were hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the Earth's atmosphere.
Then, Lyon used his heat vision to detonate all the nuclear missiles.
Brilliant fireworks exploded in space, with invisible penetrating radiation and electromagnetic pulses rippling outward in circles.
Countless satellites simultaneously witnessed this spectacle.
Lyon stood with his back to Earth, his figure flickering in the firelight like a god surveying the heavens and Earth, holding all of creation in his hands.
When he turned back, he did not use his biological force field to conceal his face. Half of his face was illuminated by the firelight, while the other half was bathed in sunlight.
Screens all over the world recorded Lyon's face at that moment.
This chiseled face, as if carved by an axe, was seared deeply into the minds of countless people watching from their screens.
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