Victor glanced at Norman, who was still curled up on the floor like a shrimp, then opened the platform interface to check the merchant panel.
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Name: Victor Chen;
Plane: "Marvel Universe";
Level: Level One Merchant;
Permissions: "Dimensional Radar", "Dimensional Trading", "Dimensional Database";
Age: 24 years, 18 days, 11 hours, 21 minutes;
Bloodline: "Superman Bloodline - Incomplete"
Skills: "Telekinesis";
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"Dimensional Database": Back up and store complete data of items acquired from this plane;
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The description didn't reveal anything special.
He opened [Inventory], and with a thought, selected Avril's "X-Gene - Weak Cat" to have the platform back up the data.
[This item is F-grade. You can choose to spend 1 hour backing it up with no reward, or sell it to the platform to complete the backup directly and receive a full valuation;]
Hmm? There are two options?
He then selected Old Ford's "X-Gene - Camouflage" for backup.
[This item is E-grade. You can choose to spend 2 hours backing up the data to receive a lower-grade valuation, or sell it to the platform to complete the data backup directly and receive a full valuation;]
Comparing the two, the pattern was easy to summarize.
There were two ways to back up data.
One was to spend time backing up data, which would result in a lower-grade valuation for the item, but the item itself could be retained.
This was suitable for rare and precious items, such as Infinity Stones.
The other was to sell it directly to the platform, immediately receiving data backup and the full value of the item.
For items that could be obtained repeatedly, or useless items, all value could be extracted.
It was quite user-friendly.
After a moment of thought.
Victor first chose to back up "X-Gene - Camouflage," and a 120-minute countdown appeared in the corresponding square.
When he tried to perform another operation, it showed that it was temporarily unavailable, otherwise the countdown would stop.
He then chose to back up "X-Gene - Weak Cat," and a 60-minute countdown appeared in the corresponding square.
Similarly, no operation was possible.
However, the "Dimensional Database" could perform multi-line backups, which was quite good.
While Victor was figuring out the rules, Norman, who was playing shrimp on the floor, finally completed his physical transformation—or rather, his physical metamorphosis.
He shed a layer of human skin!
The old skin peeled off, and a young man stood up. His eyebrows were six-tenths similar to the original Norman, but the wrinkles, age spots, and sagging muscles had all disappeared.
Hey, he was even a little handsome.
Comparing photos of the two, one was clearly a grandfather and the other a grandson.
The unprecedented feeling of lightness in his body made Norman unable to hide his excitement. He ran straight to the desk and looked at the young face reflected on the smooth surface, momentarily choked with emotion.
Nine years!
From the onset of his illness at eighteen, Norman had proudly lived for nine years with a ticking clock on his life!
He forced himself to give up everything, even neglecting his only son, and devoted himself to a race against death.
He was already nearing the finish line.
But the betrayal of his close friends, the Parkers, made the finish line seem distant again.
During that time, he was almost insane. In the darkness of despair, he even thought of taking more people with him to die.
He never expected.
Today, he was saved by a mysterious young man!
Moreover, the technology contained in this gene serum, which allowed for such rapid transformation… it wasn't that Earth couldn't produce it, but at least he, Norman, didn't know how.
Just for this miraculous gene serum, Norman could believe six-tenths of what Victor had said earlier—originally, Norman would have only believed one-tenth at most.
After the excitement subsided.
Norman quickly reined in his emotions, but he didn't look gloomy as usual. Instead, he exuded an air of natural confidence.
It was the taste of new life.
"You've seen me at my worst, Victor." Norman smiled with genuine sincerity: "So, what should we do next?"
Victor was somewhat surprised by the genuine smile on Norman's face.
And.
Did Norman just use "we"? Was he deliberately showing goodwill?
But on second thought, it seemed to make sense.
Human hearts are inherently complex.
Norman had returned from hell to the human world. Without the threat of a death countdown, and having shed years of heavy burdens, his spirit and energy would naturally change accordingly.
He couldn't possibly remain lifeless, could he?
Victor pondered for a moment, then stopped overthinking and began to strategize: "For now, I'll give you two simple tasks.
First, start slowly acquiring Stark Industries stock. Buy it when others sell, and try to buy from small shareholders as well, under my name.
Second, gather intelligence on all mutants in New York. Keep your distance and observe; do not make contact."
Facing Victor's two tasks, Norman pursed his lips as if to object.
The second one was fine.
The first one was completely unnecessary.
As the Stark Group, which had made its fortune selling weapons, had closed its weapons division, it was like a gaming company delisting all its games—there would hardly be any chance of recovery.
With that money, it would be better to seize the military weapons procurement share left vacant by the Stark Group, which was a guaranteed profit.
But Norman didn't object. He had a daring idea.
To bet the entire Osborn Group, betting that Victor truly had the support of an extraterrestrial civilization—a six-tenths chance, which wasn't low.
If the gamble succeeded, Earth would no longer be his constraint.
If it failed, it would only be a year wasted.
As for the Osborn Group?
As long as he was still around, Osborn would naturally not fall.
With these thoughts, Norman suppressed his doubts and readily accepted Victor's first assigned tasks.
Victor felt a little uncertain about Norman's straightforwardness.
He wouldn't be planning to feign compliance, would he?
He quietly activated his contract perception and received Norman's thoughts from just now, and couldn't help but marvel at how well this old fox had calculated.
But this was also good.
Anyway, someone had to work for him, and who it was didn't matter. Norman, at 27, could manage such a large group, so he certainly had the ability.
Ahem.
In any case, he was definitely much more professional than Victor, the director.
Having settled the matter, Victor waved his hand and said, "Then, take me to see your Osborn's highest research achievements. I need to collect items."
Norman naturally agreed, also wanting to witness the methods of "alien civilization."
He placed his right hand on the desk, about to say something, when the bookshelf on one side rotated on its own, revealing the elevator entrance behind it.
This greatly surprised Norman.
The control system of the core research institute was independent of the Osborn control system. He had played a trick and not handed it over to Alice... Now, the entire Osborn Group was truly under Alice's control.
"This is..." Norman wanted to make some amends.
Victor raised a hand to interrupt him, saying magnanimously, "Let bygones be bygones. Let's work well together from now on. I am not a dictator; I don't want to rule anyone, nor do I want to conquer anyone."
Victor walked into the elevator first. Norman followed a step behind, his mind echoing Victor's words, pondering their deeper meaning.
Victor's contract perception was still active, and he felt a bit exasperated.
These old foxes just loved to pick apart every word.
He had just said a line from "The Great Dictator" on a whim.
That was all.
The elevator went directly to the core laboratory. Before it even stopped, the platform buzzed with dense notifications.
[F-grade item discovered, please note;]
[F-grade item discovered, please note;]
[E-grade item discovered, please note;]
[E-grade item discovered, please note;]
...[D-grade item discovered, please note;]
A total of nine notifications.
Hmm… the core laboratory of the large Osborn Group only had so few achievements?
Poor guys!
Not even as much valuable stuff as the underground shelter in Las Vegas!
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PS: The potential ranking list has been updated for the new week. Please bombard me with recommendation tickets! More chapters will follow shortly.