American Comics: Tales of Cultivator

Chapter 199: Serum Zero

Late at night, moonlight scattered upon the Gourd-Shaped Artificial Lake.

The calm lake water was like a mirror, reflecting the full moon from the sky.

The cool moonlight shone through the lake water into the Lakebed Quiet Room below.

In the northeast corner of the Meditation Room, a purple gold candlestick as thick as an adult's arm stood quietly.

The exquisite candlestick had no wick, yet its firelight illuminated more than half of the Meditation Room.

Within the candlelight, the figure of a blood-colored palace-dressed beauty was faintly visible, wailing silently in the candle flame! The viscous blood light on her body, under the burning of the candle flame, transformed into wisps of red mist that permeated the air…

The entire Lakebed Quiet Room was filled with a refreshing fragrance…

As the candle flame burned, the blood light on the palace-dressed beauty's body became increasingly pure, like a crystal-clear humanoid blood red gemstone.

In the center of the Meditation Room, Tang Song formed the Zi Wu Seal with his hands, sitting naked on a green jade cushion.

From various parts of his naked body came the sound of flowing water, like great rivers surging endlessly.

With the Sha Condensation Technique successfully cultivated, Tang Song could now practice some magic arts from the Sha Condensation stage.

Tang Song was not lacking in magic arts; he had a large library deep within his memory.

He had inscribed countless magic arts from the Yanfu World Source…

However, because he had condensed the Yin Yang Life-Death Sha, the most suitable magic arts for him were those of the Yin Yang type.

Yin Thunder, Yang Thunder, Yin Yang Male-Female Sword Art, Nine Cauldrons Yin Yang Void Displacement Great Method…

Tang Song did not choose the powerful thunder magic arts, nor did he practice the sword art. Instead, he condensed the Yin Yang Qi into an Innate Tai Chi True Form Diagram.

Black and white qi flow rose behind Tang Song, dispersing like two flying immortal ribbons, and combining into a Yin Yang Tai Chi Fish diagram.

Within the Tai Chi Yin Yang Fish, several lotus pedestal phantoms flickered in the Yang Fish. When the lotus petals opened, the phantoms of various magic tools like the Great Desolation Bell, Sword Pill, and Cane Sword Implement were faintly visible.

The Yin Fish was pitch black like ink, looking like a soul-capturing black hole…

Every thirty-six cycles of rotation, the Yin Yang Fish would disperse and transform into two distinct black and white ribbons around Tang Song…

At the moment the Yin Yang Fish merged, the phantoms of several small banners appeared within the pitch black Yin Fish.

The next morning, Tang Song emerged from the Lakebed Quiet Room. He was sitting under the grape trellis in the Manor's Courtyard, on a bamboo woven rattan chair, drinking white congee served by a Maid while reading a newspaper.

The Cantonese Cuisine Master, specially hired from domestic with a high salary, had cooked the congee well. It was thick and sticky, with the fresh richness of rice paste and the satisfying chewiness of rice grains.

Paired with the appetizing Lu Wei side dishes, it had a unique flavor.

"Yesterday, the Federal Minister of Defense submitted his resignation to the White House Office, suspected to be due to the Mutant Laboratory scandal. The White House has not yet officially responded!"

"Regarding the Mutant persecution incident, so far, five generals and colonels from the Federal Department of Defense are implicated, the highest-ranking being a three-star Lieutenant General.

There are reports that Minister of Defense Raman is also involved, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has not yet launched an investigation into this Minister of Defense!"

"Affected by the Mutant persecution incident, President Francis's approval rating has dropped by eight percentage points. According to analysis by the former White House Secretary-General, this successor President has slim chances of winning the upcoming election!"

"Wall Street News: Due to the Mutant persecution incident, the stock prices of all biological sectors on Wall Street, including Oscorp, have experienced varying degrees of decline…"

"According to the White House, to resolve the situation of Mutant persecution, the White House has formally submitted a bill regarding Mutant protection to Congress…"

"Large-scale protests and demonstrations have occurred in multiple areas across eleven states of the Federation. At 3 PM local time, a demonstration involving ten thousand people in Ohio escalated into physical conflict between demonstrators and the Police! The Police used tear gas and other non-lethal weapons. This conflict resulted in twenty-three deaths and hundreds of injuries of varying degrees!

Dozens of local businesses were looted by rioting demonstrators!"

"There are reports that the White House urgently summoned the Mutant representative known as Beast Hank, attempting to quell the large-scale protests and riots in multiple parts of the Federation through the words of a Mutant!"

Tang Song flipped through the newspaper; most of the articles were about the Mutant persecution incident.

Human experimentation involving official Federal agencies was truly heinous in nature.

Moreover, it implicitly involved the Department of Defense.

Various news media naturally wouldn't miss this hot topic.

Most of the Federation's media were controlled by private hands, and these media magnates wouldn't give the White House face.

Tang Song read the newspaper news while drinking white congee, occasionally looking up at the Courtyard Open Space in the distance.

In an open area within the Manor, a ball net had been set up at some point.

Gu Zi Yun and Zheng Duo En, the two young girls wearing hot pants and showing off their fair legs, were on opposite sides, competing with tennis rackets.

Skye and Fox stood by, acting as referees.

The tennis ball spun rapidly in the air. The two young girls hit the tennis ball with the force of artillery shells. In the time it took Tang Song to drink half a bowl of congee, they had already gone through six tennis rackets.

The big cat was being bossed around by these two girls, running back and forth to fetch the tennis ball, showing no sign of its king-of-the-mountain aura.

...…

The newspapers on the table in front of Tang Song were from multiple media outlets.

As he flipped to the third one, he saw an interesting piece of information in an obscure corner of a newspaper.

"An unidentified extraterrestrial meteorite, an extraterrestrial flying hammer, suspected to have been discovered in New Mexico! Residents of a local Small Town have spontaneously organized a rally race…"

"Boss! Professor Connors called, Serum Zero is a success!"

Just as Tang Song was reading the newspaper, Lane suddenly walked quickly through the Long Corridor of the Courtyard, came before Tang Song, and reported good news.

"Hmm?!" Tang Song heard this news and immediately placed the jade bowl with half a bowl of white congee left onto the table, slightly surprised: "Didn't Connors say that the research and development of Serum Zero would take at least another half a year?"

"Professor Connors said it's because of the Mutant samples and research data you brought back. I'm not entirely sure about the specifics. Do you want to go to The Hive?"

"Prepare the car, no, prepare the helicopter instead!"

Tang Song picked up the congee bowl from the dining table and finished it in two gulps.

Lane stood by and didn't move: "Boss, the helicopter is already parked Outside!"

A private helicopter hovered over Raccoon City. In the past six months Tang Song spent in the Subterranean World, Raccoon City had been initially built with an investment of billions of US dollars.

In the construction plan for Raccoon City, black pine was chosen as the protective forest belt.

Black pine trees have a unique effect on purifying the air; they can absorb smoke and dust, absorb harmful gases, absorb carbon dioxide, and release oxygen.

They have the effect of absorbing heat, providing shade, and increasing air humidity.

Rows of two-story villa buildings were nestled within patches of black pine forests.

Looking down from the sky, Tang Song saw that many of the two-story villas were already inhabited.

"Boss, according to the plan, the first batch of residents in Raccoon City are the relatives of the Subordinate Soldiers and Gunmen. All supporting facilities were completed two months ago!"

"What about security?"

"According to your instructions, the architecture of the entire Raccoon City forms a large formation. We have prepared six large arc reactors Underground in Raccoon City as energy sources. Once the formation is activated, Raccoon City will disappear from satellite and radar sight…

Not only that, Raccoon City has the Federation's most advanced anti-missile system, enough to handle general missile bombardment!"

Hearing Lane's words, Tang Song nodded.

His purpose in building Raccoon City was, firstly, to have a large Base, and secondly, to secure the loyalty of his Subordinates.

But security had to be done well, otherwise, gathering his people together only for them to be wiped out in one go would be too laughable.

The reason for setting up an anti-missile system was that Tang Song was guarding against the Federal Government; they truly dared to drop nuclear bombs on their own country.

After circling Raccoon City in the private jet, it landed on the Helipad atop Tang's Building.

The Tang's Building, recently completed and over three hundred meters tall, had not yet been officially put into use.

After getting off the helicopter, Tang Song took Lane directly to the Hive Laboratory via the elevator on the top floor.

...…

Professor Connors, who had been waiting for a long time wearing a dust-free white lab coat, welcomed Tang Song into the Laboratory and introduced Serum Zero to Tang Song while standing in front of the large projector screen in the Laboratory.

"Boss! The key problem that previously restricted Serum Zero was that the cell mitosis rate was hundreds of times faster than normal cells, so the Experiment Subject's lifespan was very short. Even if Blood Orchid Serum could solve this problem, but wanting to extract enough blood orchid essence would require a huge number of blood orchids!"

"But the flowering period of blood orchid is too long; it takes seven years to bloom once. And wanting to meet the needs of the experiment, the blood orchids we are currently nurturing would require at least three flowering periods to accumulate enough quantity.

Boss, you said you wanted to speed up the research and development of Serum Zero, so I thought about finding a substitute!"

Professor Connors's complexion was flushed in front of the big screen, clearly very excited, "Boss, just when the research into Serum Zero hit a bottleneck, while studying the woman named Yuriko Oyama, we discovered a super healing factor within her body!"

"This healing factor makes her vitality very strong. Although the adamantium alloy metal in her body has been eroding her cell activity, even so, based on her current life condition, her lifespan is still two to three times that of an Ordinary Person.

If we remove this adamantium alloy metal from her body, based on cell strength analysis, she could theoretically achieve immortality!"

"So, you used these cells as the carrier for Zero?" Tang Song seemed to understand!

"No, no!" Professor Connors shook his head, a hint of pride flashing across his face: "Boss, we didn't directly use her cells as samples. Your intention was to research a product similar to Lizard Serum, not to cultivate a humanoid weapon for killing.

Moreover, we experimented, and her healing factor alone cannot perfectly neutralize the super electric current within Zero. We still used alien cells as an intermediate transition culture dish, allowing the alien to absorb the genes of both, and then added Blood Orchid Serum. Only then did we obtain the perfect Serum Zero!"

"Using an alien as a carrier!" Tang Song frowned, realizing the problem: "Can ordinary human body cells withstand this agent!"

"That's the key!" Professor Connors pointed to the gene chain displayed on the big screen, "After the alien gene neutralizes the healing factor and Zero's gene fragments, its strength will weaken.

We replaced the Experiment Subject's entire body with Perfect Blood. The First Generation Blood within Alexander Corvinus's body can adapt to this strength of Serum Zero!"

After explaining the agent's principle clearly to Tang Song, Professor Connors led Tang Song to a Laboratory. In the slightly empty Laboratory, stood a Big man.

He had deep-set eyes with clear blue pupils, and his gaze held the innocence of a newborn baby. His body, strong as a mountain, was only clad in a small pair of shorts.

Fine, reddish-white electric current was visibly flowing slowly over his body, emitting several crisp "chi la" sounds.

Connors pointed to the Big man and proudly introduced him to Tang Song: "Boss, he is Adam, the most perfect Experiment Subject Zero! His physical quality is twenty times that of ordinary humanity. The cells in his body can generate high-intensity electric pulse waves like Zero—

Not only that, he also inherited the cell regeneration ability of Mutants and Zero. When he is injured, his cell regeneration ability is hundreds of times that of Ordinary Persons!"

As if to prove his words were true, Connors picked up a scalpel from the experiment table and heavily stabbed it into the Big man's chest.

Professor Connors looked awkwardly at the blade edge of the scalpel that had bounced off his hand. Not even a white mark was left on the Big man Adam's chest.

Adam blinked his innocent eyes. He didn't react much to Professor Connors suddenly stabbing him. "I forgot to mention, Adam's body surface can withstand the firing of general caliber rifles…"

Professor Connors looked at the knife hilt in his hand and added awkwardly.

Tang Song examined Adam, his Divine Sense sweeping over his body. He had a strong physique. In terms of physique alone, even Kane, who had cultivated the Divine Demon White Tiger Transformation, was not his match.

Tang Song's eyebrow twitched slightly, "What about his lifespan?"

"We collected Adam's cells and tested them. Based on the current terminal cell division state, his theoretical lifespan can reach three hundred years!"

Professor Connors's voice carried a hint of envy. A lifespan of three hundred years—how many years does a dynasty rise and fall? One must know that the Federation was founded less than three hundred years ago.

Unfortunately, his genes are fused with the Lizard's gene fragments. If he were to be injected with this Serum Zero again, even with Perfect Blood, the risk of genetic collapse would exceed eighty percent.

Tang Song walked up to Adam, looking up at this strong man who was nearly two meters two or three tall. Adam lowered his head and met the gaze of the smaller man before him with the natural innocence of a newborn child.

"Good, good!"

Tang Song's True Essence and Divine Sense scanned Adam's entire body. Whether it was Qi and Blood or Divine Soul, this Adam had no deficiencies. His physique was terrifyingly strong.

The power contained within his body far exceeded what Professor Connors had said. It was just that this power was hidden deep within his body, like lava hidden within the earth's crust before a volcanic eruption.

Tang Song even closed his eyes, just feeling the Qi and Blood, and it was as if a human form titan beast was standing before him.

"How many agents have been produced in total so far?"

"Boss, limited by the quantity of blood orchids, we have currently produced a total of seven doses of Serum Zero! Adam was injected with one, so there are six doses remaining!"

In the innermost Room on the Laboratory floor, Professor Connors unlocked the half-human-high vault in front of him via fingerprint and iris scan. From this vault, which had its own constant temperature device, he took out a test tube rack. Twelve test tube injectors were neatly arranged on it.

"Boss, the red ones are Perfect Blood, and the green ones are Serum Zero!"

Tang Song picked up a test tube, looked at the jade-like serum inside, and then looked at Lane standing behind him, raising an eyebrow:

"Dare to try it?!"

Lane glanced at the serum in Tang Song's hand, reached out, and took a dose of Perfect Blood from the rack in Professor Connors's hand. He directly injected this push-in injector into his neck.

The concentrated Perfect Blood was pushed directly into his neck in one go. He casually threw the emptied syringe onto the tray held by Professor Connors and asked: "Is there an interval period needed between injecting Perfect Blood and Serum Zero?"

"Oh, oh, no, that's not necessary. However, theoretically, after injecting Perfect Blood, it's best to leave a few days for the blood in the body to be better replaced by Perfect Blood.

But this First Generation Blood is very potent, especially after we've concentrated it. Theoretically, it can infect the entire body's blood within a few minutes!"

As soon as Professor Connors finished speaking, Lane had already taken the Serum Zero from Tang Song's hand.

Tang Song looked at Lane, who shrugged his shoulders and said seriously: "Just one Experiment Subject isn't very reliable. There are six more injectors here. Take one out for another experiment, and you, Kane, Frank, and a few others can use the rest!"

Lane held the injector and smiled: "Boss, I believe in Professor Connors's skill. Your strength is getting stronger and stronger, and the enemies you encounter in the future will only become more powerful.

As your Subordinate, although I don't dare to fantasize about having the same powerful strength as you, I at least can't be left so far behind that I can't even see your back!

I still want to follow in your footsteps. I don't want us to be powerless when you encounter problems in the future!"

Saying this, Lane didn't hesitate to inject the Serum Zero into his neck and pushed it in hard.

Different from injecting Perfect Blood, immediately after injecting Serum Zero.

'Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack', Lane's body emitted terrifying cracking sounds.

Tang Song used Divine Sense to tightly stare at Lane's body, holding several Spring Breeze Rain talismans in his hand.

Ready to take action at any moment.

Under the effect of Serum Zero, all the meridians in Lane's body were blasted open by a huge force!

Every bone, every nerve, every muscle, every fiber, were repeatedly compressed and refined.

Tang Song kept a close watch on Lane's physical condition.

Within ten minutes of injecting Serum Zero, Lane's physical body doubled in strength! Then, the masses of Black Water True Qi within his body also expanded violently along with the strengthening of his physical body.

Seeing this scene, Tang Song quickly formed hand seals.

The Tai Chi Yin Yang Fish rotated, and several magic tools within his body simultaneously boosted him. Tang Song formed the restriction formation magic incantation of the Black Water True Method with his hands.

The water vapor essence from dozens of miles around gathered, condensing into a black water bead the size of a little finger in front of Tang Song.

Tang Song flicked his finger, and the black water bead transformed into a black tidal wave that surged into Lane's body!

'Thump, thump, thump, thump'! Lane's heart beat powerfully, and his Black Water True Method also rapidly strengthened.

One time, two times, five times, ten times! With the help of the drop of True Water condensed by Tang Song, the Black Water True Qi in Lane's body quickly expanded to more than ten times its original strength.

Finally, when the speed of Lane's body strengthening could no longer keep up with the growth speed of the Black Water True Qi.

The gene chain in Lane's body, which was originally transforming towards King Ghidorah, was unknowingly led astray by the Black Water True Qi.

His silver buzz cut was dyed black by the potent Black Water True Qi.

Deep black light water mist filled his hair. The white electric current that should have enveloped his body, like Adam's, turned into wisps of water mist.

By the time Lane had digested Serum Zero, his height had stretched to a full two meters one or two. He was lean and strong, his muscles not the bulging kind, but distinct, steel-cable-like streamlined shapes.

"Boss!"

Lane, who had regained consciousness, glanced at Tang Song, and tore off his ill-fitting clothes.

"How do you feel?" Tang Song looked at Lane and asked.

Lane moved his hands and feet, threw a punch. The punch shadow immediately tore through the air, emitting a terrifying crack.

"Very strong. My punching speed is three times faster than before. I only used half my strength! And, Boss, I seem to have the ability to transform…"

Lane said, demonstrating to Tang Song.

A wave of water mist permeated and rose. Lane's body surface was covered in black scales. When the water mist dissipated, Lane appeared before Tang Song in a three-meter-tall dragon-headed human form.

Lane's dragon head was somewhere between King Ghidorah and the black dragon from the Jambudvīpa World. He had a pair of conical dragon horns on his head and golden vertical pupils, making him look awe-inspiring.

The dense black scales were like a child's palm in size, and these scales with incomplete spiritual marks seemed to be permeated with wisps of water mist.

"Boss, in this form, I feel like I can control the water control magic techniques within the Black Water True Method as easily as moving my arm…"

Lane said, spreading his dragon claw. A water sphere the size of a human head hovered in his palm. At times it turned into birds, cats, or dogs, at times into firearms and ammunition, houses, or cars, and even into human forms, each lifelike.

The water sphere transformed into Frank's appearance, walked a few steps in Lane's palm, and then turned back into clear water.

The clear water flowed, finally transforming into a rapier in Lane's hand.

As he virtually gripped the dragon claw, the rapier formed by the water sphere began to condense into ice. In the space of a breath, an ice sword formed in his palm.

Looking closely, it was identical to the rapier he usually used.

After the ice sword formed in Lane's hand, it turned back into a pool of clear water, and finally dissipated into wisps of water mist.

Lane's series of actions left Professor Connors, who was standing by, dumbfounded.

He stared at Adam behind Tang Song, his eyes filled with some doubt.

When he tested Adam's abilities, he had never seen Adam possess this kind of ability.

(end of chapter)