Chapter 1163: Infiltration and Reconnaissance
In fact, Division A had made major progress in their research, but it was still far from the man-made, safe and controlled final outcome that some people imagined.
He was greedy for capital; it was impossible to buy a Bugatti with money that was only enough for two shoddy cars.
Even though Sentinel Services had invested billions of dollars and had been around for more than ten years, to achieve their ultimate goal, this was really only the beginning.
It would take at least a hundred years and more than a trillion dollars to achieve this goal; could it be achieved with just a few billion over a decade? If there was really such a good thing, who would be stupid enough to give all the benefits away?
Like him, for example; he had only gotten some benefits. He looked at the woman in leather on the phone. Unfortunately, those guys couldn’t accept just this small amount of benefits.
Of course, in exchange for these small personal benefits, he had to use the research base’s best research outcomes for the moment, and spend almost 200 million in raw materials; he had to even fork out some personal resources to cover things.
If he was willing to sell off his “benefits,” however, they would be worth at least a billion.
But he couldn’t do that unless he was confident he could escape, or couldn’t do it anymore.
The blame for a number of things that he had done in the name of Sentinel Services all these years would silently fall on his head.
As long as he looked like he wanted to run, the bigshots would throw the blame on him.
The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became. The middle-aged man didn’t continue. “Fine. Be careful. Let me know if anything happens.”
By the time the call ended, the truck had already moved the “packages” into the base.
The reason why the base had deployed a special truck even so close to the base still came down to the understanding that the longer the six “packages” were exposed outside, the more dangerous it was, and the more complicated the subsequent procedure for entering the warehouse would be.
Actually, the heads of the six “packages” had been covered with black hoods to hide their appearances before they were taken out of the truck that had broken down.
At that moment, Luke was in the back of the second truck and close to the front in a blind spot.
When they were moving the “packages,” he had found an opportunity to slip inside, and Muscle Control prevented anyone from noticing his movements.
After the truck entered the base, the doors opened again, and he followed the people who took the “packages” out of the truck.
First stage of his secret infiltration, accomplished.
He didn’t continue following the men with the “packages,” but veered away and darted into a dead end.
A moment later, several mini drones flew into a ventilation duct in the corner.
The entire base was inside the dam. The ventilation system had to be good, or n.o.body could stay here for long.
Of course, it wasn’t like in the movies, where people could move through the ducts.
The ventilation system here could only allow a 7- or 8-year old at most to pa.s.s through, provided that the vibration and infrared sensors in the ducts weren’t set off.
Leaning against the wall, Luke lightly hummed a tune.
His voice wouldn’t travel out of the armor; he was just having a bit of fun.
On the virtual screen, he was directing the mini drones to move forward.
As a map of the ventilation system took shape, the layout of the entire base became clearer.
As long as there were rooms for people to stay in, there had to be plenty of ventilation ducts.
What Luke needed most this time was abilities, and from living people, so any other information wasn’t as useful to him.
If superpowers could be controlled well enough, what need was there for Iron Man?
Tony’s technology was clearly far more cost-effective and practical than relying on the development of superpowers.
Ordinary people already had a lot of complicated conditions that couldn’t be treated, but these people actually wanted to create superpowers.
In the end, this came down to genetics.
The foundation for treating most human diseases was the study of genes, and superpowers were one step beyond that.
It was like how one had to be healthy first before they could think about longevity, and only then consider longevity itself.
These greedy guys wanted to skip the basics and directly obtain superpowers.
Tony had never dwelled on this matter because he knew that even if Stark Industries invested everything they had, they might not get much out of it.
A capital of hundreds of billions could only be considered a deposit when it came to basic research on human genetics.
Of course, Tony himself was more interested in machines and industrial products.
If this son of destiny turned his creative endeavors to gene technology, it might indeed be possible for him to create something extraordinary.
But geniuses all had their own quirks.
As long as they weren’t interested, it would take twice the effort to get them to work on a particular project.
Luke, who had been using the tyc.o.o.n’s abilities for a long time, also leaned a little toward this.
But the bigger reason was that he didn’t need gene technology to obtain superpowers. Daddy System was enough.
Using gene technology to give a person more than two types of abilities wasn’t a matter of adding them together; it was like the difference between a car and a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
Compared with using gene technology to manufacture superpowers – far in the indefinite future – Luke still chose the system. Although it didn’t offer magic abilities, what abilities it did provide could be learned quickly and were good.
Thus, Luke, who wasn’t greedy for more, was calm and spent five hours in that tiny blind spot.
The mini drones were sent out in batches, and there were 50 of them in total. They were positioned near the ventilation ducts in key rooms to be Luke’s “ears.”
There were more than 200 combat soldiers and more than 20 researchers in this base.
But from what they said, it seemed that Mr. Trask, the person in charge of the project, wasn’t here. Instead, the person with the highest authority here was a woman whom they called Miss Miller.
This Miss Miller entered the project manager’s room and didn’t come out again after that.
The room was as quiet as a morgue.
Luke simply made a note of the woman as an important target, and didn’t probe further.
If everything went according to plan, he would definitely run into her later. Since she was a woman, however, the matter might be very simple.
Apart from this person, however, only one of the researchers at the base was a woman, so there wasn’t much that Elementary Pheromone Control could do.
It was three in the morning, and most of the people in the base were resting. Only the soldiers on night s.h.i.+ft were still patrolling diligently.
But that was just on the surface.
This was the Canadian wilderness. Anybody on the approach would be discovered several kilometers away.
These patrol officers were already used to this, and weren’t very vigilant.
Luke didn’t waste any more time and started moving.
His first target was still the surveillance room, followed by Miss Miller, the interim leader, and then the captains of the combat teams.