Chapter 71: The Ambition to Mass-Produce Hulks
Professor Connors's limb regeneration experiment had achieved its first success on a mammal.
After a brief moment of joy, Professor Connors chose to conceal this good news, telling no one.
He'd even mentally prepared himself to abandon this single successful case, pretending nothing had happened.
Oscorp was now under General Ross's military supervision, but the man's reputation was too foul. Like his friend Professor Miles Warren, Professor Connors had heard about General Ross's misdeeds within academic circles.
Professor Connors strongly suspected that once General Ross learned his experiments had made progress, he'd immediately demand human experimentation. Conducting human trials with immature technology was hardly different from deliberate murder.
Norman Osborn had already set this precedent. He was now in a psychiatric facility. Connors wouldn't make the same mistake.
Tap-tap-tap.
Someone knocked with their knuckles on the glass door of Professor Connors's laboratory.
Professor Connors tried to eliminate any expression of experimental success from his face, raising his only remaining left hand to rub his forehead as he looked toward the glass door.
Standing outside was General Ross. The redneck was examining the laboratory's interior through the glass door, several soldiers beside him.
"Come in."
Professor Connors sighed inwardly. This was exactly what he'd feared.
"Professor Connors."
General Ross left the soldiers outside the laboratory, entering alone with his hands clasped behind his back. After his eyes—beneath gray-white eyebrows—surveyed the laboratory, he greeted Professor Connors.
"I'm conducting experiments, General." Professor Connors had no desire to deal with General Ross. "This isn't suitable for visitors."
General Ross's hair, eyebrows, and thick beard were all gray-white. The carved wrinkles on his face made him look aged, but his mental state seemed good, his eyes sharp. "I'm not here to tour your experiments, Professor Connors."
"I want to understand what stage your reptilian gene research has reached."
'As expected, he's after my experiments, this redneck.'
Professor Connors sneered inwardly, then used the discouraged tone he always employed after experimental failures. "To be honest, General Ross, my experiments remain in the theoretical stage."
General Ross's eyes beneath gray eyebrows stared intently at Professor Connors, as though judging whether he was telling the truth.
Professor Connors looked down at his empty right sleeve, his voice containing undisguised hope. "I want this research to succeed more than anyone. I can't wait for my arm to grow back now."
"But it's not possible."
General Ross shifted his gaze from Professor Connors to the glass cabinets in the laboratory.
The cabinets were divided into dozens of equally sized compartments, each containing a mouse.
Since Professor Connors hadn't yet disposed of the dead mice corpses, that single living mouse was particularly conspicuous.
Professor Connors's heart immediately jumped.
"Professor, this?" General Ross stood before that sole living mouse, his voice questioning.
Just as Professor Connors's heart pounded and he desperately searched for an excuse, the laboratory's glass door suddenly pushed open.
Batman's enhanced hearing had let him clearly hear the conversation between Professor Connors and General Ross from a distance. He hurried over, pushing open the glass door with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, Professor, I was careless yesterday. One mouse didn't receive the reagent injection..."
Batman's sudden intrusion made the already nervous Professor Connors jump again, but he wasn't stupid. He quickly followed along with what this intruder said: "I hope this only happens once. Next time, you can leave my laboratory."
Professor Connors spoke sternly to Batman, whom he didn't recognize at all.
Batman cooperatively stood by the laboratory door with a bitter expression, remaining silent, looking no different from someone who'd made a mistake.
Though neither knew the other and this was their first contact, under the coordination of two intelligent people, General Ross didn't suspect any deception.
At least on the surface.
"Phew."
Nearly five minutes after General Ross left, Professor Connors exhaled in relief. He knew he'd successfully deceived Ross. His experimental results wouldn't become tools for the general's evil purposes.
Professor Connors turned his gaze to Batman's badge, looking at the name "Clark" and asking quietly, "You're not Harry. Who are you?"
Ordinary people might not recognize Harry Osborn, but as a scientist-director of Oscorp, Professor Connors not only knew what Harry looked like—he even knew about the low-level employee identity "Clark" that Harry had used.
"I'm Peter Parker, Harry's friend." Batman also lowered his voice. "I came at Professor Miles Warren's request."
"What are you doing here?"
"To expose General Ross's ambitions to you," Batman said.
Professor Connors shook his head, indicating he didn't understand what Batman meant.
He'd already deceived General Ross about his experimental progress. In Connors's view, there was nothing more to worry about—at least his experiments wouldn't be interfered with.
Batman didn't explain further. "There's an email in your inbox, compiled by the private detective I hired. I think you need to fully understand what General Ross has actually done."
Professor Connors grew more confused, but his hands moved without hesitation, quickly using the laboratory computer to open his email.
The email was indeed from Batman.
Unlike what Daily Bugle reporter Eddie Brock had seen, the content Batman sent Professor Connors focused on the reasons behind the Hulk's creation.
Batman had collected this information through various channels after first learning of the Hulk's existence when hacking the CIA.
"General Ross once commanded a missile base and nuclear research facility at a desert base in New Mexico, primarily working on the gamma bomb project..."
"Dr. Bruce Banner was appointed director of this project."
"During a gamma ray test, Banner became the Hulk after exposure to massive doses of radiation."
Professor Connors rapidly read the information in the email—content even he, as a member of academic circles, hadn't known.
"Gamma radiation, the Hulk..."
Professor Connors repeated these two terms quietly, but before he could catch his breath, the email seemed to trigger some program and automatically deleted itself completely, leaving no trace.
Immediately, a second email arrived. This time not data, but a series of experiment logs.
Professor Connors glanced at the silent Batman and continued reviewing the experiment logs.
Minutes later, Professor Connors's face darkened completely. These logs were Norman Osborn's experimental records researching the super-soldier serum after partnering with General Ross.
They also contained a key term: "gamma radiation."
General Ross had occupied Oscorp under the pretext of military supervision. His purpose was clearly visible in the two emails Batman had sent.
He wanted to use Oscorp's biotechnology and gamma radiation to create—even mass-produce—Hulks!