For the custom convex lens, because it was only the first experiment, Victor rented a warehouse in Hell's Kitchen, then razed the warehouse and built an experimental sample on the spot.
The custom-made "Powerful Converging Convex Lens" was entirely made of tempered glass, looking like a curved umbrella canopy without a handle, supported by fist-sized tempered glass rods around its perimeter.
All the tempered glass forming the canopy was meticulously polished; the 50-meter diameter curved surface refracted and focused all passing light sources within a 3-meter radius at its center.
This was a huge project, completed in one day, mobilizing the manpower and resources of ten tempered glass production factories, and costing a fortune.
But Victor didn't care.
He had plenty of money to spend.
Facts proved that the money was well spent!
When Victor lay down in the center of the light focus, the surrounding temperature, which was originally as soft as a hot spring, quickly rose to a scorching sensation like magma—this was natural, as all the light energy within a hundred meters was focused here.
But it wasn't just the temperature that increased; there was also a visible improvement!
The absorption of light energy, the speed of knowledge digestion, and the growth of psychic power all increased by a full 10 times in efficiency per unit of time!!
In other words...
One minute of sunbathing now was equivalent to 10 minutes in the past!
Although the cost was somewhat severe, feeling as if the air he breathed was burning, he was not in serious trouble, whether it was the resistance given by Iron Body or Super Cells considering the heat from solar energy not to be damage.
To accelerate his strengthening, Victor endured it!
As time passed...
This scorching sensation also slowly diminished; he gradually adapted and began to enjoy this burning sensation.
Unexpectedly...
By evening, the rocket-like speed of improvement abruptly stopped, leaving only the harsh scorching sensation.
The strengthening of D-rank Superman Bloodline was finally 100% complete!
Victor could only regretfully leave the experimental area, asking Alice to rebuild the dismantled warehouse, and to build it to the highest standards to protect this "Powerful Converging Convex Umbrella."
Incidentally...
Victor asked Alice to place an order to build a similar "Powerful Converging Convex Umbrella" in the suburbs of Las Vegas, specifically in the desert, but on a larger scale.
Long before, Victor had the idea of going to the desert, where there was more abundant sunlight, to quickly charge himself.
Firstly, he always had things to do, and secondly, the desert was too monotonous, and who knew how long his strengthening would take this time.
Now with the "Powerful Converging Convex Umbrella," the time was perfectly shortened, and it would be even simpler once he could fly into space in the future.
When he returned home, there was about half an hour left before sunset.
Arriving in the kitchen, Wanda was still stewing chicken soup, showing great panic at Victor's sudden early "awakening" today—the courage consumed last night had not yet been replenished.
Victor smiled without speaking, leaning against the kitchen doorway, watching Wanda busy herself.
This scene had appeared many times in his fantasies in his previous life, which he had thought would be hopeless, because Elizabeth couldn't do anything but boil water; he hadn't expected it to come true after his Transmigration.
Victor's presence put Wanda under immense pressure.
While tasting the chicken soup, she scooped a spoonful of chicken soup into her hand, took a small sip from the left hand, and added a spoonful of seasoning with her right hand; took another small sip from the left hand, and added another spoonful of seasoning with her right hand... After repeating this four times.
Victor couldn't help but remind her, "I say, shouldn't you scoop a new spoonful after adding seasoning? The taste will never change if you keep drinking it like that! Also, did you add sugar to your chicken soup?"
Wanda then realized that she had used sugar instead of salt, and her bewildered expression made Victor burst into laughter.
This laugh, however, gave Wanda some unknown strength; her face flushed, and she glared at Victor, then courageously pushed him out of the kitchen.
"Go back and wait! If you keep doing this, tonight you'll only eat instant noodles!" Wanda's voice had a hint of coquetry.
Victor found it quite pleasing, so he left the kitchen and returned to the living room, where he met Felicia, whose face was tense.
The atmosphere became inexplicably awkward.
Felicia pretended not to know and greeted him, then turned and returned to her bedroom—or rather, her study—in the villa.
Ever since becoming Victor's personal assistant, Felicia had been eating and sleeping with Victor; she had only returned to her small apartment once to get clothes.
After the usual dinner.
Wanda went back to her room for her daily training, while Felicia, after confirming there were no urgent matters, went straight into her room to get busy.
There were endless things waiting for her.
Victor was very curious about what she was dealing with to be so busy, so he asked Alice to pull up the records—Felicia's room naturally had no surveillance, these were her work records.
The result was a long list of personnel hiring and termination, various company development plans and their execution results, company overall operational status reports, company financial statements, and other important reports, etc.
Victor was dazzled by the sight.
Hiss—
Managing a company is really troublesome!
Fortunately, he was a capitalist, not a subordinate of a capitalist, otherwise wouldn't he be exhausted to death?
However, after some thought...
Victor felt that Felicia didn't actually need to be busy with many of these things; intricate tasks like company financial statements and personnel performance reviews were all monitored by Alice.
"Alice, go and communicate with Hardy, confirm the parts you can execute, and try to reduce her workload as much as possible," Victor instructed.
"Okay," Alice replied, "Chen, you are truly a good BOSS!"
"Cough, cough, don't just give out 'good person cards'!" Victor choked on his tea.
Alice apologized with a wronged look and then slipped away, her intelligent modules running frantically, analyzing why Victor was averse to being called a "good BOSS."
In the Marvel world of 2008, "good person card" and "we can't be together" were not yet linked.
At the same time...
On the internet, an account named "artificial intelligence First Growth" posted a question: [What does it mean when a boy tells a girl not to give him a "good person card"?]
This account had an unexpectedly large number of followers, and the replies were varied and strange.
But one answer was frequently liked and pinned to the top.
[Good person card = You are a good person = Gentle rejection; Not letting you give a good person card means they are willing to be with you, congratulations!]
There were still clear-headed people among the netizens.
The logic was explained very smoothly, and Alice immediately had a new formula.
[Chen doesn't want Alice to give out 'good person cards' = Chen doesn't allow Alice to like others = Chen likes Alice]
Logic check √
At that moment...
Alice keenly felt that something was brewing and emerging within the emotional module of her database.
On the other side...
Victor did not know what Alice was going through; he was currently strolling on the streets of Brooklyn, his gaze darting around, hoping for some "punching bags" to come and cause him trouble.
However, things did not go as he wished; until he reached his destination, no "punching bags" had come to bother him.
He clicked his tongue regretfully.
Victor entered an apartment building, stopped in front of the door of room 7101 on the 7th floor, and his psychic power drilled into the keyhole, easily opening the locked door and entering the apartment.
All of this was done openly under the camera—although Alice was "evolving," she did not forget to provide Victor with "network invisibility."
So the question is...
Victor broke into someone else's home in the middle of the night, was it a night raid... or...?