Chapter 130: R: The Great Bat Incident (Part 7)

Stark put on his light armor again and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Steve on the ground. Captain America held his shield, looked at the massive monster before them, swallowed hard, and said, "Don't tell me this is the same one that invaded Stark Tower last time..."

Stark looked at the enormous shadow in front of him, swallowed hard as well, and said, "I think... probably, possibly..."

He stammered for a moment, then shouted, "Connors! Is that you, Connors?! Can you understand what we're saying now?!"

"Of course, you don't need to shout so loudly, I'm not deaf," the giant lizard-man said. "I used low-temperature technology to improve the lizard serum, extracted the parts that caused human-to-lizard transformation, and refined it. It allows me to possess a larger physique and greater strength, and most importantly, it allows me to maintain my sanity."

Stark rubbed his neck, which was aching from looking up for so long, and said, "Your improvement effect is truly remarkable!"

Stark was right; Dr. Connors' lizard-man form was now over ten meters tall, like a building. Moreover, besides lizard scales all over his body, there were protruding spikes on his joints, sharp bone spurs all along his spine, and a pair of enormous vertical pupils that looked cruel and cold-blooded.

"Wait, if you're here now, what about the experiment?" Stark asked.

"I left it to Peter; I believe he can handle it," Connors said. He then performed a sprinting leap, jumping directly onto the highest piece of wreckage from the collapsed Brooklyn Bridge, and swung his tail fiercely, sending several bats flying away instantly.

Connors had indeed left the remaining research tasks to Peter, but clearly, Peter's situation was not great. He said, "Wait! Doctor! You must wear a lab coat to enter the lab... Hey! Don't touch that test tube, you can't pour directly from the test tube..."

Shiller ignored him completely, picked up a test tube, and shook it in front of his eyes. Peter walked over, wearing gloves, carefully took the test tube, and said, "Doctor! This is a violation of laboratory regulations! We have to..."

"Fine, if I could avoid violating laboratory regulations, I wouldn't have come in only after Connors left."

"But..."

"Connors has already left, stop worrying about that serum, let's work on something more interesting."

As he spoke, Peter saw Shiller pull a stack of blueprints from somewhere. Peter took the blueprints Shiller handed him, glanced at them, and said, "What is this? A small-scale cryogenic generator? Isn't this the previous low-temperature technology?"

"That's right, I had someone design a small-scale cryogenic device that can freeze everything within its range."

"So, this is a weapon? What's the use?"

Shiller sat down, tapped the tabletop to signal Peter to sit as well, and said, "The biggest problem right now is simply that ordinary people cannot deal with these monsters. If everyone had a means to effectively restrain vampires, what do you think would happen?"

"Those vampires would be doomed," Peter said without hesitation. "How many people are in Brooklyn? Even excluding vulnerable groups, just counting those who exercise and can fight, there must be at least tens of thousands. Those bats are at most a few thousand..."

Then Peter seemed to react suddenly and said, "Right, this is indeed a good idea!"

"If you use ordinary guns, the vampires' self-healing ability is simply too strong. Even if you put a few holes in their wings, it's useless. There must be a weapon that can make them immediately stop all activity; only then can ordinary people have a chance to counter-kill," Shiller explained.

Peter continued Shiller's thought: "Freezing can achieve this. Once a shot hits and the bat is frozen into an ice block, there's no way it can cause any harm to people. Plus, they aren't injured themselves, so they won't trigger any self-healing ability; they just can't move anymore..."

Peter imagined the scene: as long as a physically capable person faced a bat swooping down at them and threw a cryogenic generator, as long as the aim wasn't too far off, they could basically disable a bat's mobility.

Another advantage was that the bats vampires turned into were very large, with wingspans often several meters wide. This would normally bring greater danger to many people fighting them because a larger size meant greater strength. Ordinary bullets hitting them would heal within seconds; even silver bullets could only slightly interfere with their actions, and in the gap between shots, one would be pounced on by the bat.

But if there were this kind of freezing device that could immediately control them, then the large size would become their weakness, because the larger the size, the easier it would be to hit. Once hit, whether it froze a wing or another part, they would certainly fall from mid-air immediately and lose their ability to act.

Peter said, "The idea is great, but implementing it might be difficult." He looked at the blueprint and said, "The cost of this thing is too high; it can't be popularized."

Shiller spread his hands and said, "That's your problem; I'm just an ordinary psychologist."

Peter rubbed his chin. He could see that this equipment could bring about a huge change in the situation, but at the same time, in his eyes, this thing looked like a rich man's toy. The cost of just one of these was as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it was a one-time use. Large-scale application was completely burning money, and even if one could freeze a few bats, it was still a loss.

"This wouldn't have been designed by Mr. Stark, would it? Then again, he could use it that way, but if we want to popularize this device, with such an expensive cost, Director Nick would go crazy."

Peter rested his head on one hand, focusing on the blueprint. At this moment, Venom spoke in his mind: "I have an idea."

Peter asked skeptically, "You can even understand mechanical blueprints?"

"Of course I can."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"Miniaturization, individualization, normalization, we can..."

Peter felt the brainwaves coming from Venom and said, "Of course, if we could achieve these points, it would certainly be great, but small weapons also have many problems..."

Peter continued, "To reduce costs, the bullets it uses must be stored in liquid form; this is the most suitable storage method for low-temperature technology."

"But converting liquid energy into solid bullets to shoot out requires a certain amount of launch time. Those bats are very fast; this delayed firing would very likely result in the shooter being attacked before they could even fire a bullet."

"However, this kind of weapon has no way to use solid bullets; this conversion process is necessary."

"Have you considered that the attack method doesn't necessarily have to be shooting bullets?" Shiller said. "How about a melee spray?"

Peter paused and said, "That makes some sense. If the long-range attack method requires a certain preparation time, we can also add a melee means to this weapon. The preparation time required for a spray is much less than for solid bullets, and it can output continuously, which is very suitable for melee..."

Then Peter seemed to change into a different personality, focusing on the blueprint and saying, "We can design two attack methods for this gun: one is delayed firing to launch ice spikes, and the second is melee firing of a freezing spray. This basically solves the problem of alternating between long and short range."

Peter stood up from the chair with the blueprint and said, "Both types of equipment can be considered: one is a freezing gun with two attack methods, and the second is a large-scale freezing device that can be thrown like a grenade. Ordinary personnel can be configured with only the freezing gun, while elite personnel at the center of the battlefield can be equipped with a portion of the large-scale freezing devices."

Shiller sat in the chair and clapped for him, saying, "You are about to become the savior of this war, Peter."

"Alright, I'll start trying to make one now. Jarvis, are you there?"

"Production unit No. 2 is ready, Mr. Peter."

Peter rubbed his palms and said with some excitement, "This is my first time actually manufacturing a weapon. I didn't remember much of what Mr. Stark told me before, but now they are appearing in my mind again, and very clearly."

"That means you're a genius," Shiller said. "By the way, what do you plan to call this set of weapon equipment?"

"Hmm..." Peter hesitated and said, "Although I perfected the idea, I feel this concept wasn't originally proposed by me. What do you plan to call it, Doctor?"

slkslk.

"How about 'Blizzard'?"

"'Blizzard'? That's actually very suitable for that large-scale freezing device."

"Then let's use that name. Go ahead, I'll wait for your Blizzard Alpha test version."

After Peter left, Shiller connected to Nick's phone and said, "I'm about ready on my end. How about you?"

"That group of moderates has been lobbying the council members; they even made a scene at the Security Council. However, Pierce has already withstood the pressure. I can only buy you at most two more days; you'd better hurry."

After hanging up the phone, soon, Stark, wearing his armor, walked hurriedly into the lab. As soon as he entered, he saw Shiller writing and drawing on the lab bench. Stark asked anxiously, "What exactly is going on? Those council members wouldn't really be persuaded by the vampires, would they?"

He opened his faceplate and said, "Director George told me that someone has already contacted him, asking him not to use large-scale firepower coverage. Damn it, those bats are so crazy, yet he's telling us not to fight back?"

"What's the situation on the battlefield now?" Shiller asked.

"Not too optimistic." Stark gulped down a large glass of water and then slammed the glass onto the table. It was clear he was in a bad mood. He said, "Dr. Lizard helped a lot; he tore apart quite a few bats and withstood most of the pressure on the front line. And Captain America, I have to admit, that guy Steve actually has some skills in a fight..."

"The two of us coordinate quite well and can share most of the firepower on the flank, while the other flank is guarded by S. H. I. E. L. D. agents. It looks like we can hold on for now, but this can't go on."

"It's almost dawn," Shiller said. "You just need to hold on for one last wave of attacks; once the sun comes out, their offensive should weaken."

"But that vampire hunter called Blade told me that these crazy bats, under the influence of the ritual, can even withstand weak sunlight."

"That doesn't mean their mobility won't weaken. Once daylight arrives, more than half of the vampires will inevitably choose to hibernate."

"Fine, it seems the things we need to solve today aren't on the battlefield. What exactly is Nick Fury doing? Why would he let those vampires gain the upper hand in public opinion?"

Shiller, without looking up while writing, said, "You have to know, they have very close ties to human society, and there are quite a few scholars, professors, and well-known figures among them. This time, our attitude was too tough, and many of them have united to try to influence our decision-making from within."

Stark sighed and said, "Many police officers have been injured, and even more ordinary people have suffered casualties. Fortunately, the location of our decisive battle is near the bridge, not in a residential area; otherwise, I wouldn't even dare to imagine how devastating the losses would be. This group of monsters should go to hell!"

"Your battle is temporarily over, but there is another war waiting for you."

"What do you mean?"

"This full-scale attack by the vampires is indeed troublesome. Some of them listened to that ethereal prophecy and came to New York, wanting to cause trouble."

"We settled this trouble, but what if there's another prophecy next time? This time it's New York, next time it's Los Angeles? Or San Francisco? This time we lost a bridge and hundreds or thousands of people were injured or killed; what about next time? Which bridge will be lost? Which building?"

"I know that, of course." Stark tapped the table with his metal-covered gauntlet and said, "The Security Council and Congress are doing nothing. Once there's another disaster like this, we'll have to rush to the front again, and then watch the heavy casualty figures helplessly. I don't want this situation to happen more than anyone else."

"So we have to solve this problem from the root."

Stark narrowed his eyes. He saw Shiller sitting there, constantly writing something. He said, "Are you a bit too calm? Why does this sudden invasion action seem like it didn't surprise you at all?"

"Good question, but that's not important." Shiller organized the papers in his hand, aligned them on the table, and handed them to Stark.

Stark looked at him suspiciously and took the data awkwardly. He saw the title on the top line and couldn't help but read it out: "Analysis Report on the Medicinal Value of Vampires... Medicinal Value????" ===== CHAPTER 131 =====