"Soundwave weapons?" The sudden disturbance made Daniel immediately think of soundwave weapons. With the advancement of modern technology, weapons had evolved far beyond conventional firearms, including chemical weapons, biological weapons, and soundwave weapons, which were beyond the imagination of most people.
While soundwave weapons might not be as destructive as chemical or biological weapons, their stealthiness was unmatched. Ordinary people couldn't hear ultrasonic or infrasonic waves, making these weapons highly effective in certain scenarios. In modern society, soundwave weapons had been widely used in various fields, such as dispersing birds at airports, suppressing terrorists, breaking up protests, and rescuing hostages. For example, stun grenades were a type of soundwave weapon.
General Ross had once used soundwave weapons against the Hulk, though it ultimately failed. Still, it proved that soundwave weapons could affect even the Hulk, albeit minimally.
However, despite their effectiveness, soundwave weapons had limitations due to the nature of sound and scientific constraints. Their lethality was relatively low, as they were only effective at close range. At longer distances, their impact diminished significantly.
That said, soundwave weapons' stealthiness made them ideal for criminal activities, especially when combined with the unique traits of certain organisms. Daniel had once heard from Ritsuko Akagi about a criminal who used sound to induce suicide. This criminal, a biologist, had discovered a creature that emitted strange sounds. By amplifying these sounds with modern equipment, he could manipulate people into taking their own lives.
At first, the police dismissed the deaths as suicides. It wasn't until the number of suicides increased dramatically that they began to suspect foul play. After an investigation, the criminal was eventually caught and faced the consequences of his actions.
"How is this possible?"
In an unnamed building filled with high-tech equipment, a middle-aged man in a black suit stared at a monitor in disbelief. He had just witnessed Daniel standing unharmed in front of the psychiatric hospital. However, his disbelief quickly turned to excitement.
"Capture him. I want him alive!" the man shouted. As soon as he gave the order, four heavily armed individuals who had been tailing Daniel rushed toward him.
"Get down! Put your hands on the ground!" one of the armed men yelled, firing two shots into the ground in front of Daniel to intimidate him.
"Mobius, the Ouroboros?" Seeing the emblem on the four men's combat uniforms, Daniel smiled mysteriously.
"Get down now!"
Daniel's smile seemed to infuriate the man, who ordered the two on the flanks to apprehend him. If not for the order to capture Daniel alive, the man would have shot him on the spot.
"It seems there's a deep secret hidden here," Daniel said as the two men approached. Before they could react, four gunshots rang out, and the four armed men fell to the ground, blood pooling around them.
"Sorry, everyone," Daniel muttered, shaking his head as he looked at the four corpses. He then turned toward the psychiatric hospital and fired four more shots, destroying the cameras mounted above the entrance.
"It looks like I've stumbled upon something I shouldn't have. I should have come in disguise."
Seeing more armed men pouring out of the psychiatric hospital, armed with advanced weaponry that ordinary people wouldn't have access to, Daniel sighed in frustration.
He had used a gun to deal with the four armed men instead of relying on his own abilities because he had come to Elk Grove in his true identity. The cameras had already captured his face, and if he revealed his extraordinary abilities, the people behind this operation might flee. That would waste a lot of time, and Daniel didn't want to spend his time chasing after them.
Originally, Daniel had come to Elk Grove to find the hacker who had breached the OASIS game's defenses. Given the game's advanced security, only a highly skilled individual could have pulled off such a feat. Daniel had hoped to recruit this hacker to work for him. While many hackers online preached about freedom and the right to information, most were easily swayed by money. Only a few, like Skye, had strong principles.
After all, if hackers had the skills to make a fortune, why not use those skills to improve their lives? Not everyone was willing to live in a rundown van like Skye.
Similarly, among superheroes, not everyone was like Spider-Man, who struggled to make ends meet by delivering pizzas and selling photos of himself. Jessica Jones ran a detective agency, Luke Cage owned a bar, and Daredevil was a lawyer—a high-paying profession in the USA. Even though Daredevil often did pro bono work, he still lived comfortably.
Only Spider-Man seemed to struggle financially, though this wasn't true for all versions of Spider-Man across the multiverse. Some versions of Spider-Man lived comfortably, and some even became wealthy. After all, Peter Parker was a genius. If he wanted to, he could easily become a millionaire. The problem was that he didn't seem to want that.
If even superheroes had such differences, it was no surprise that hackers did too. Many hackers, especially those whose identities had been exposed by authorities, often became informants or collaborators with governments. Only the top-tier hackers could maintain their independence.
For Daniel, recruiting hackers and computer experts was a simple task, given the technology he now controlled. The OASIS game's operations team had already recruited a large number of skilled individuals.
However, upon arriving in Elk Grove, Daniel realized that something was off. The hacker issue would have to wait.
"You guys don't look like ordinary psychiatric hospital security."
The armed men moved with precision and efficiency, wielding automatic weapons. It was highly suspicious for such individuals to be working as security for a remote psychiatric hospital.
While the USA was known for its gun culture, most civilians only had access to semi-automatic weapons. Fully automatic weapons were rare, even among criminal organizations. Justin Hammer's company, which Tony Stark had dismissed as producing junk, actually manufactured high-quality weapons that were highly sought after in the black market.
"Take a rest. Red Queen, investigate Mobius Corporation and lock down the data here."
This time, Daniel didn't kill the security personnel. Instead, he knocked them out and located the security team leader. Using his Double-Layered Hands technique, Daniel extracted the man's memories to understand what was really going on in the psychiatric hospital. He had only come here to investigate, but it seemed he had stumbled upon a hornet's nest.
"Human experiments, brain memory, knowledge sharing... This is unexpected. If Sughou were here, he'd probably get along well with these people."
From the security team leader's memories, Daniel quickly pieced together the truth about Mobius Corporation and the psychiatric hospital. The team leader wasn't just a security guard for the hospital—he was part of Mobius's private security force.
"I had no idea this relatively unknown company was such a giant. With a bit more power, it could have become another Umbrella Corporation."
After reviewing the information Red Queen had gathered on Mobius Corporation, Daniel shook his head. Despite his high status, Daniel hadn't paid much attention to corporate affairs, so he wasn't familiar with many powerful companies.
"Brain memory and knowledge sharing... That's an interesting idea. It could save wealthy people the time needed to learn. But it's still too naive."
Acquiring knowledge required time and effort, but Mobius's research aimed to eliminate that need by allowing people to share brainwaves and memories with experts, effectively transferring knowledge. While this was an impressive concept, it was incredibly difficult to achieve. After years of effort, Mobius had only made minimal progress.
In simple terms, Mobius was trying to create a super learning machine.
"Wait, something's not right."
After organizing the information he had gathered, Daniel entered the psychiatric hospital and quickly realized that what he saw didn't match the security team leader's memories. The hospital was devoid of life until Daniel found the basement, where he discovered rows of incubation pods, each containing a living person.
"Brain memory, knowledge sharing... Did they use this to breach OASIS?"
Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan had a genjutsu called Tsukuyomi, which manipulated time and space in the target's mind. Virtual reality technology, in a way, could be considered a form of Tsukuyomi, albeit without the ability to alter the perception of time.
"Something's still off. There's no information about knowledge sharing, but there's a lot about brain synchronization."
In what appeared to be a research lab in the basement, Daniel found several people in white coats inside incubation pods. He had Red Queen extract the data from the lab while he reviewed the physical documents. Even in this age of advanced technology, physical documents were still the most secure way to store highly confidential information.
Even the notorious HYDRA had a company dedicated to storing its secrets, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had similar measures in place.
"These guys are really annoying."
Seeing the Mobius action team storming in, Daniel grew increasingly irritated. He had no interest in their activities, but their repeated provocations were testing his patience.
"Who are you?" The CEO of Mobius, located in an unremarkable building in Elk Grove, stared at Daniel in terror.
This building was Mobius's secret headquarters, something no one would expect to find in a small town. While the building looked ordinary, it was heavily fortified with a large security force. However, none of that mattered to Daniel.
"Who I am is none of your business. But I must say, your company's ultimate goal is quite laughable."
Upon reaching Mobius's headquarters, Daniel discovered that the so-called knowledge-sharing and super learning machine project was just a front. The company's real goal was immortality.
Many wealthy individuals in the Marvel universe, especially those advanced in age, had invested heavily in research on longevity and rejuvenation. So far, no one had succeeded, but Mobius had found a unique method: transferring consciousness through brainwave synchronization.
In simple terms, Mobius aimed to transfer an elderly person's consciousness into a younger body, effectively allowing the elderly to regain their youth. After years of experimenting on psychiatric patients, the project was nearing its final stages. Daniel's arrival coincided with a critical phase of the project. The company had planned to capture Daniel and use him as a test subject, but they had severely underestimated his abilities.
"This is hilarious. You think you can achieve immortality this way? Do you think you're Orochimaru?"
After learning the full extent of Mobius's plans, Daniel burst into laughter. The concept reminded him of Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation technique from the Naruto series, which was strikingly similar to Mobius's consciousness transfer.
"Unfortunately, you don't have Orochimaru's skills. You're just a bunch of fools digging your own graves."
(End of Chapter)
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