Deep in the night, in Flushing, Queens, at the second factory of Umbrella Biotech.
This place was originally a dilapidated top-floor warehouse office, but now it looks like a cyberpunk cocoon forcefully embedded into a wasteland World.
The four walls have been reinforced with three-inch-thick soundproof lead plates, and the drafty windows have been completely removed and replaced with military-grade bulletproof glass featuring a one-way perspective coating.
Viewed from the outside, it is a pitch-black void of deathly silence.
But from the inside, the entire colorful yet filthy neon nightscape of Flushing is laid out before one's eyes.
Inside, the central air conditioning system blows a steady, cool breeze at a constant 23 degrees Celsius.
Underfoot is a handmade Persian rug thick enough to swallow one's ankles, and the air is permeated with the crisp fragrance of "Hermès Un Jardin sur le Nil."
Alice is currently lounging, sunken into a twenty-thousand-dollar custom Italian leather sofa, swirling a glass of ice-cold Evian water in her hand, while a few brick-like hardcover books on "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" and "High-Dimensional Space Theory" are scattered casually at her feet.
Downstairs, four elite mercenaries from Blackwater are conducting 24-hour, non-stop crisscross patrols with their German Shepherds.
The biometric system inside the room automatically scans for vital signs every 15 minutes.
The security level of this room is comparable to the vaults of the Federal Reserve.
"This is what you call living."
The young girl stretched her body.
While the material barrier built by money can indeed bring a moment of peace, the gloom in her eyes has never truly dissipated.
Yet she still feels a bone-deep sense of unease.
The greedy face of Justin Hammer, the crazy eyes of Norman Osborn, and that black bird from S.H.I.E.L.D. circling in the sky, watching everything with a single eye.
These, in truth, are nothing.
What truly makes her wake up in the middle of the night are those unknown fears.
In this chaotic World where superheroes walk the streets and villains are as common as dogs, the right to life for an ordinary person is like a lottery ticket that could be voided at any moment.
These various external threats are like the Sword of Damocles hanging over her head.
"If money isn't converted into absolute force, this mansion is nothing more than a slightly better-decorated coffin."
Alice downed the ice water in her glass in one gulp; the chill exploded down her throat, instantly clearing her mind.
[Beep! Recharge successful.]
[Received Points: 1,000,000.]
[Current Total Balance: 1,000,000.25.]
This is the hard-earned money that Umbrella Biotech has made by devouring market share like a tireless monster during this period.
It is also her first pot of gold in this perilous World.
"System, initiate a 10-pull draw!"
"Please, don't let me down."
The young girl took a deep breath, her will like a heavy hammer, slamming down hard on the enticingly glowing [10-Pull Draw] button.
[Deducted 1,000,000 Points, lottery started.]
A massive golden roulette wheel roared to life in her consciousness space, emitting a low-frequency hum that made her heart race.
"Come on, give me a miracle. I want the power to tear the sky apart."
The first beam of light shone.
[Beep! Congratulations, you have obtained Asuna Yuuki (Sword Art Online) Character Card Fragment ×1.]
"Asuna, if it were the full form, I might consider it, but a fragment? Next." Alice said, expressionless.
The second beam of light.
[Congratulations, you have obtained Hellish Blizzard (One Punch Man) Character Card Fragment ×1]
Alice raised an eyebrow.
Hellish Blizzard?
That B-Class Rank 1, the psychokinetic queen who actually possesses Dragon-level potential?
"Psychokinesis is indeed a versatile god-tier skill, but it's a fragment again."
One hundred thousand dollars for two fragments.
The young girl scratched her hair in frustration.
The third beam of light suddenly erupted with a dazzling display of blue and white electric arcs.
[Congratulations, you have obtained Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Character Card Fragment ×1]
Alice's heart skipped a beat.
If she remembered correctly, with this fragment, she now had 3 character card fragments of the Railgun.
"If the next 7 pulls are all Railgun character card fragments, I would be perfectly happy with that." Alice shouted in her heart.
As if hearing her prayers, or perhaps due to some twisted sense of humor from the system, the following draw notifications sounded like heavenly music.
[Congratulations, you have obtained Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Character Card Fragment ×1]
[Congratulations, you have obtained Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Character Card Fragment ×1]
[Congratulations, you have obtained Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Character Card Fragment ×1]
[Congratulations, you have obtained Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Character Card Fragment ×1]
[Congratulations, you have obtained Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Character Card Fragment ×1]
[Congratulations, you have obtained Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun) Character Card Fragment ×1]
With the frenzied, flickering electric light reflected in her pupils, Alice widened her eyes, her breathing as rapid as if she had just finished a marathon.
Is this luck? Am I the chosen one?
She calculated rapidly in her mind, her fingers even unconsciously gesturing in the air.
2 in existing inventory + 1 + 6 in a row = 9.
9/10!
Just one more!
Just this last fragment, and she would be able to synthesize one of the only seven Level 5s in Academy City, that Tokiwadai ace who could fire a Railgun with a coin.
With her, any drones from Hammer Industries, any surveillance from S.H.I.E.L.D., would all be scrap metal.
The blue and white electric light flickered frantically on the roulette wheel, as if that walking humanoid Railgun were waving at her.
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