Chapter 1041: Shocking Mundane World (Eighteen) (Patreon)

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When Schiller arrived at the Stark Tower lab, there was nothing left but ruins, resembling a post-apocalyptic jungle. Schiller stood there completely stunned.

For a good thirty seconds, he couldn't make sense of what had happened and how any villain could have directly infiltrated Stark Tower's most important laboratory.

This wasn't just any laboratory; Stark's materials repository housed the cutting-edge achievements of human civilization in scientific research. Every faction spared no effort in protecting this place. The defense level here, compared to the Eternity Temple, was only a hundred notches below the Green Lantern headquarters.

Schiller shook his head vigorously before turning to JARVIS. "JARVIS, can you perform an alcohol level test? You know, like the ones for drunk driving..."

"Sir, from my assessment, the alcohol level in your system isn't sufficient to induce hallucinations. Also, the damaged laboratory you see is not a hallucination. That's why I summoned you here."

Schiller frowned and walked into the laboratory, somewhat dazed. "What exactly happened? Everything was fine yesterday... Start from the beginning."

What shocked Schiller immensely was when he heard JARVIS emit a deep sigh before speaking in an extremely complex tone, one that should never come from a machine:

"It all started last night when Mr. Strange suddenly burst into Stark Tower's laboratory."

"Dr. Connors was conducting an experiment, and Mr. Strange burst into his laboratory, requesting... Dr. Connors..."

Before JARVIS could continue, Schiller interrupted, "Stop! You only need to describe the events, no need for so many honorifics."

With a couple of "beeps," JARVIS acknowledged his understanding and continued, "Strange barged into Connors' laboratory, hoping that Connors could provide him with a lizard serum to cure... Medicine."

From their conversation, it was apparent that last night, Mr. Strange's father's condition suddenly deteriorated. Even the expensive artificial lung machine failed to help, shattering Mr. Strange's gradual treatment plan. He had no choice but to seek out Connors, hoping the Medicine could work.

However, Connors was a very meticulous scientist. He informed Strange that the lizard serum, while effective in treating injuries and regenerating limbs, had no special effects in treating organ failure or restoring cardiopulmonary function.

Connors emphasized that pharmacy was a very rigorous discipline, and without experimentation, he couldn't administer an experimental Medicine to a critically ill patient because it could not only fail to treat but also potentially harm the patient. As a doctor, he couldn't do such a thing.

However, Strange was on the brink of collapse. He even begged Connors continuously, hoping to obtain the Medicine. He claimed he had the Time Stone, so if all else failed, he could reset time...

Schiller furrowed his brows and asked, "Then why didn't he just reset time to when his father was fine?"

"Strange already tried," JARVIS replied. "But his father's deterioration was inevitable. The lung damage was accumulated over many years. He couldn't reset his father to a younger age, and if he reset only a segment of time, the deterioration would occur again. He still had to rely on the Medicine for treatment."

Schiller nodded, indicating his understanding. JARVIS continued, "Connors softened a bit, but he informed Strange that all ready-to-use Medicine was stored in Stark Tower's Medicine repository and required Mr. Stark's personal authorization to access."

Since the lizard serum Medicine had proven to be extremely effective, the project team had expanded significantly. However, due to the inherent risks of the lizard gene, Connors worried that someone might follow in his footsteps. Therefore, strict control over the entry and exit of Medicine and its ingredients was necessary.

"Why didn't Connors just call Tony? Or submit an application through you? Although Tony and Stephen often clash, he wouldn't be stingy in such matters, right?"

JARVIS sighed helplessly again before saying, "That leads to another story..."

"Before Strange arrived at Stark Tower, Mr. Stark intended to deliver a new combat suit to Peter and witnessed Peter fighting criminals dressed in green."

"Not wanting to disturb Peter, Mr. Stark kept his distance. However, he later learned that Osborn Industries actually intended to target Spider-Man to obtain his Spider genes."

"Mr. Stark claimed to have witnessed this scene across endless spacetime, yet he still felt very angry. So, that evening, he led a newly produced batch of Mech armor troops and stormed into Osborne Tower, interrupting the negotiation between Osborne and Obadiah..."

"Osborne thought Stark was acting recklessly, attempting to use Mech armor troops to threaten him into submission. He was furious and left in a rage, while Obadiah, who had gained the upper hand and was about to finalize the contract, also fell into a fit of anger and collapsed on the way back."

"After a hospital examination, it was found that Obadiah's nervous system had problems. The cause was traced back to his youth when he experimented with biological Mech armor and used himself as a test subject. His nervous system had been damaged at that time, and without timely treatment, it left lasting consequences."

"Obadiah's situation wasn't optimistic. The hospital informed Mr. Stark that apart from conservative treatment, surgery was an option. However, due to the high difficulty, it required a skilled and experienced surgical doctor..."

"Mr. Stark wanted to find Strange, but because he was too worried about Obadiah at the time, he missed many of Connors' calls and reports. About thirty seconds after the second report expired, Strange received the news that his father had passed away."

"Mr. Stark returned to Stark Tower only to find a seemingly crazed Strange, who had already become the deranged Sorcerer Supreme."

An excessively enraged Strange felt that Mr. Stark was unwilling to take risks and deliberately refused to give him the Medicine, indirectly leading to his father missing a chance to be saved.

When Mr. Stark mentioned hoping that Strange could perform surgery on his uncle, Strange angrily refused, saying it was his retribution, and Mr. Stark also felt very angry.

As a result, the two engaged in a physical altercation, causing the laboratory to end up like this.

After listening to the entire story, Schiller was completely dumbfounded, still trying to grasp how things had escalated to this point at such a lightning speed.

However, JARVIS hadn't finished the story yet. He continued, "After returning to the company, Old Osborne immediately put on the most advanced battle armor and armed himself with bomb weapons, intending to reclaim his position at Stark Industries."

"But Young Osborne thought his father was fully armed to deal with Spider-Man, so he chose to intercept his father."

Old Osborne was extremely angry at his son's defiance. Father and son fought each other fiercely. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Spider-Man intervened, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, Mr. Stark and Strange weren't content with fighting inside the laboratory; they escalated their confrontation to Earth's near-orbit, engaging in another round of battle there.

However, in their haste, they failed to notice Miss Lorna, who was controlling the magnetic field to manage traffic. Strange used a type of magic not recorded in my database, somewhat like a gravity trap, causing disruption to Miss Lorna's magnetic field, resulting in her being thrown out and fracturing two ribs.

Coincidentally, Brotherhood of Mutants' leader, Magneto, had returned to Earth to pick up new interns for Andromeda Galaxy. Learning that his daughter was injured for no reason, he directly descended to Earth's near-orbit, disrupting many satellites and causing local unrest.

Congress was very displeased, and governments of other countries also complained, seeing this as another manifestation of mutants running amok. Citizens of many countries demanded that governments tighten their policies against mutants once again..."

Schiller felt dizzy by now, and JARVIS timely ceased his narration, intending to let Schiller catch his breath. However, Schiller waved his hand and said, "Tell me all the bad news together..."

"Because the laboratory was destroyed, the transportation routes of the sky train were also damaged, so the construction projects at various stations may be delayed... Dr. Schiller! Dr. Schiller! Are you okay???"

Schiller leaned against the wall, covering his forehead. "I'm fine, I'm okay, I just need to calm down..."

After saying that, he grabbed a somewhat intact chair, sat down by the lab table against the still-standing wall, remained silent for a while, then asked, "...JARVIS, do we have any cold beer?"

"Sir, I believe, in your current condition..."

"I know you don't have any snacks here, then, just get me some cold beer." Schiller's hand began to tremble slightly. He pulled out a bottle of pills from his pocket with some effort.

Struggling to unscrew the bottle cap, his hand shook, and with a "clatter," he spilled out more than a dozen pills. Ignoring them, Schiller tossed them all into his mouth. JARVIS' attempt to stop him was a beat too slow, leaving him silently standing in place.

Schiller stood up, seemingly intending to leave, but soon, JARVIS brought several cans of cold beer, and Schiller sat down again.

"Sir, it's not entirely your fault. It's just an accident," JARVIS said after a moment's thought. Although his personality module wasn't quite perfect yet, he knew how to comfort people.

Schiller finished a can of cold beer in three gulps, took a sip, then slammed the can heavily on the table. "No, it definitely has something to do with me, you know? I'm a gambler..."

"I'm accustomed to turning nothing into something, making small investments for huge returns. I'm so greedy, I never think about the consequences..."

Schiller's hand exerted a little force, the fair knuckles turning slightly purple, and the aluminum can gradually flattened under his slow, powerful movements.

JARVIS had never heard him speak in such a low tone, like a gambler already in the throes of madness.

"I not only want to win but also want to take it all."

Schiller finished the last sip of beer, threw the can backward, wiped his mouth, as if he had made a decision, and said to JARVIS, "Find a car to take me back."

"Sir, I think you should..."

Schiller silently stared at JARVIS, who could only say, "Alright, I will contact Ultron to pick you up..."

Two hours after Schiller left, Stark returned cursing. He muttered, "If it wasn't for Magneto, I would have shown Stephen... Oh, by the way, JARVIS, how is Uncle Obadiah?"

"Mr. Obadiah's condition is stable, but I believe Dr. Schiller's condition is not very good, or rather, it's very bad."

Hearing JARVIS' serious tone, Stark paused for a moment. He looked at the many empty beer cans beside the lab table and said, "Don't tell me those are Schiller's; he doesn't drink, does he?!"

Stark also realized the seriousness of the situation. He immediately piloted the Iron Man armor to the Sanatorium where Schiller was, only to hear that he had moved back to the clinic.

On the way to the clinic, Stark unexpectedly encountered Strange. He knew that Strange was probably looking for Schiller to resurrect his father.

Stark snorted coldly, said nothing, and at that moment, the slightly relieved Strange also realized that this wasn't entirely Stark's fault.

The two went their separate ways. They then encountered Steve, who came to get medicine from Schiller, Peter, who was worried about the clinic being affected by the earlier Green Goblin fight, and Matt, who wanted to deliver good news to Schiller.

The group gathered at the clinic's door, intending to pull down the roller shutter. Suddenly, Matt shouted, "Wait! There's a smell of blood inside!"

Instantly, everyone assumed defensive positions. Steve, holding a shield, approached the roller shutter first. As the door rolled up, the scene inside stunned everyone.

Schiller was slouched on the sofa in the living room, empty beer bottles piled up like a mountain at his feet, and the sofa was covered with empty medicine bottles and countless scattered white pills.

A long wound ran from Schiller's right mandible to his left clavicle, blood flowing out steadily. He squinted, his gaze unfocused.

But what shocked people the most was Schiller's other hand, inserted into the wound on his neck, continuously widening it, letting blood spread down his chest, staining his pristine coat a glaring crimson.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1042: World-Shaking Commoner (Nineteen)