After putting the production of the Spider-Man serum on the agenda, Matthew paid a visit to Dr. William Birkin to inquire about the progress of the G-Virus research.
As expected—the reply he received from Dr. William Birkin was still "minimal progress," with almost no movement at all.
Matthew merely nodded slightly at this answer, not delving any deeper.
Scientific research is inherently a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and long-term endeavor; he fully understood this.
Furthermore, the G-Virus has extremely poor stability, and its flaws could certainly not be eliminated in a short amount of time.
If he wanted to shorten the R&D cycle in this regard, apart from relying on the system, there was currently only one path to take... recruiting more geniuses in related fields to join his ranks.
Thinking of this, Matthew, now seated back in his office, had a plan in mind.
His fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard as pieces of personal information popped up from various websites, which he then screened and extracted one by one.
Before long, he turned his head toward Eleanor, who was beside him, and instructed, "Eleanor, I need you to help me recruit a few people."
"Their detailed profiles have all been sent to your phone. There is no time to lose; go handle it now."
Eleanor gave a soft affirmation, not asking any further questions.
As she walked out, she took out her phone to check the files Matthew had sent.
[File — Maya Hansen (Botanist)]
[File — Aldrich Killian (Genetics Expert)]
[File — Alexia Ashford (Umbrella Corporation Researcher)]
Her gaze swept over the three file names one by one.
She didn't pay much attention to Maya Hansen and Aldrich Killian, who had not yet developed "Extremis."
Instead, she locked her attention firmly on the file named "Alexia Ashford."
The reason was simple: the name "Alexia Ashford" was just too famous within the Umbrella Corporation.
Her grandfather was Edward Ashford, one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation. Although her father's aptitude was mediocre, she herself was a genius through and through!
She graduated from university at ten years old and joined the Umbrella Corporation. The "T-Veronica Virus," which she led the development of, even made top researcher Dr. William Birkin feel immense pressure.
It was precisely because of her appearance that Dr. William Birkin fell into an obsession with the G-Virus that he could not extricate himself from.
Because he desperately wanted to surpass Alexia, step out of her shadow, and thereby prove his own value.
However... in the official records, she had clearly been confirmed dead fourteen years ago.
Why did the boss want her to look for a dead person?
Eleanor frowned deeply.
"Could it be... that she actually faked her death?" she suddenly thought.
"Yes! That's very likely!"
The boss would never ask her to recruit a dead person; the only explanation was that she was still alive.
Taking a step back, even if she were truly dead, she still had to bring her back as the boss had instructed; she absolutely could not betray the trust the boss placed in her.
After all, failing to persuade the others, besides Leon, to join the Umbrella Corporation last time was already a major dereliction of duty on her part.
If she couldn't complete the task smoothly this time, she felt she wouldn't have the face to face her fellow countrymen in the U.S., and would have no choice but to imitate Xiang Yu and run to the banks of the Mississippi River to commit suicide.
Just as she was pondering this—her phone popped up another message.
[Matthew: Alexia Ashford's location is at the Antarctic Research Facility. Her current state is very special; she is in cryosleep. If you cannot bring her out intact, you may also choose to just bring her brain back to the company.]
"Cryosleep... just as I guessed..."
Eleanor narrowed her eyes, murmured to herself, and then drove off in her beloved car.
Once the office was completely empty, Matthew slowly leaned back in his chair.
"System, add points."
A blue light screen unfolded before his eyes.
The first thing that came into view was Matthew's personal panel.
[Name: Matthew (T-Virus + v-virus Host)]
[Abilities↓ High-Speed Regeneration LV1: A variant ability produced after the fusion of the v-virus and T-Virus. In a normal state, you can still maintain combat for two minutes even if vital organs are destroyed; limb regeneration efficiency is increased to ten minutes; after contact with blood, you can rapidly recover important organs including the heart and brain. Super Strength LV1: A variant ability produced after the fusion of the v-virus and T-Virus. Strength can reach the level of easily tearing through 3cm steel plates; ordinary concrete is as fragile as clay when you attack with full force; the limit speed when running at full speed can reach 70 meters per second. Blood Mist Transformation LV1: A derived ability of the v-virus; you can decompose yourself into blood mist to move, and during this period, you are immune to low-level physical damage. Stamina LV2: No change. Nerve Reflexes LV2: No change.]
It is worth noting that the original "Cell Activity LV2" and "Strength LV2," after fusing with the v-virus, not only changed in name but also dropped back to LV1.
However, although the level seemed to have decreased, the actual values had increased.
Matthew had long realized this in his daily life, but it was not as obvious as when he first fused with the T-Virus, so he had been too lazy to specifically test it.
Now, taking a closer look, he noticed the specific detailed changes in each ability.
His gaze continued to move down— [Remaining system points: 6,500 (The orphanage project is growing daily)] [Current cumulative system points: 11,000. The threshold for the previous stage of the pass reward was 8,000 system points. The reward has now been deposited into the warehouse—Ivan Tyrant * 2.]
Ivan Tyrant? Seeing the prompt that suddenly appeared on the system panel, Matthew slapped his forehead!
This was the reward for reaching the system point target after saving Tony Stark last time. If it hadn't reminded him, he would have forgotten...
The Ivan Tyrant possesses higher intelligence compared to the ordinary T-103 Tyrant. It can not only understand human language and speak, but has also undergone firearms training and can collaborate with each other.
Correspondingly, its production cost is extremely expensive, so much so that the company hasn't been able to produce many, and they can only serve as bodyguards for the company's upper management.
Matthew hadn't expected the system to directly deliver this model into his hands.
He took out the Ivan Tyrants to observe them. Compared to the oppressive height of the regular Tyrant, the Ivan's height was only about 2.1 meters, making it look more human than the ordinary Tyrant.
On their bald, egg-like heads, they were also equipped with blue and yellow goggles respectively.
"Hello... Master." Both Ivan Tyrants spoke at the same time.
Master... Matthew's mouth twitched when he heard this sentence.
What is this strange sense of déjà vu... Could it be that in the next second, he is going to participate in the Holy Grail War?
"Master, may I ask if there are any ord..." The Ivan Tyrant still wanted to say something.
However, before he could finish his sentence, a flash of light appeared, and Matthew sent them both back to the warehouse...
Sorry, Servant, egg-heads have no say here! If you want to talk to me, you at least need to look decent.
———— PS: Kind masters, please give me a monthly ticket!!