Chapter 1426: Manipulated Research (Nine)

When Elliot woke up from the old wooden bed the next morning, his whole body ached. No one had advocated for hard mattresses in that era; most large beds in luxury manors were soft and comfortable, allowing one to sink into them and feel a sense of security from being enveloped.

Elliot had grown up in such comfortable and luxurious environments, never anticipating that he would one day be reduced to sleeping on a hard wooden board, so he felt as though his entire body was falling apart when he got up the next day.

But a more serious problem than being poked by the bed was that he had no money for food. Elliot could not possibly possess Bruce Wei En's moral standards, and he could have directly broken into a house to rob it, but given the level of martial prowess in Cat Getan, attempting a home invasion without a firearm was simply seeking death.

Elliot decided to get his hands on a gun. He was very averse to doing so, as he felt this was not the life a Batman should lead, but he had no other choice. He couldn't fit into the Batsuit, he didn't know how to use the Bat-gear, so wasn't a gun the best option?

Just then, the only phone in the house rang. After picking it up, Elliot heard a slightly familiar female voice.

"Hello, Bruce? I called your house, and your butler gave me this number. Do you have a moment?"

"Pamela?" Elliot asked, frowning.

"That's right, it's me. I'm calling to tell you that I need your help. It's time we made some progress on the agricultural cultivation project we discussed."

Elliot was just about to impatiently say he didn't have time when he heard Pamela say on the other end, "Victor's funding has arrived. I bought some new high-quality seeds, but there's still more than half left over. I think we should study how to allocate them, and there's quite a bit of new equipment that needs to be added."

Elliot raised an eyebrow. He changed his tone and said, "Alright, wait for me a while; I'll be there soon."

After going downstairs, Elliot pried open a car and drove to Cat Getan University. He had practiced this skill while on the run, though he wasn't very proficient, so it took him a little extra time.

When he arrived at the lab, Pamela frowned, her tone quite dissatisfied. "Does your 'a while' mean over an hour?"

"Traffic jam," Elliot said, eyeing the equipment in the botany lab. Pamela followed his gaze, standing in the center of the room with her arms crossed, saying teasingly, "What, so interested in the equipment you invested in yourself?"

Pamela walked to the side of the lab bench, sliding her hand along the surface, and said, "The new lab you built is indeed much better than the original. Unfortunately, I'm the only one left capable of researching here. My original botany professor has already been locked up in Arkham Asylum, where he'll continue his research on plant toxins."

"I'm not very interested in his direction; I still prefer living plants... Alright, enough talk. I'll go get the results from the last round of research. You see what's lacking, and we can adjust in the upcoming research."

After saying this, Pamela walked out the door. Elliot wanted to call her back, but Pamela walked quickly, and Elliot didn't stop her.

After a while, Pamela returned holding a cylindrical glass container filled with a light green liquid, inside which floated a plump cabbage.

Pamela placed the glass container on the table, took a thick stack of documents from the drawer next to it, and began to read. Elliot didn't put on that impatient facade again; instead, he listened quietly, pretending to be very focused.

But in reality, Elliot had no intention of solving any problems for Pamela; he just wanted to gain her trust. Elliot needed a useful tool to help him resolve the various predicaments he was currently facing, and a bookish female college student was a good choice.

Originally, Elliot's appearance wasn't outstanding, but he could still attract the attention of many women by relying on his wealthy family background. The wealth of the Elliot family was enough to attract many women far superior to Pamela.

In Elliot's view, with the added bonus of Bruce Wei En's face, wouldn't he be able to make these college girls fall head over heels for him?

In this regard, Elliot certainly had a say; after all, he was also a wealthy scion who had seen all sorts of women in social circles.

Pamela's attire wasn't wealthy, but her every move carried the habits of the upper class—she was clearly the type raised in a middle-class family, carefully groomed and taught to marry into a wealthy family.

Discussing funding? Elliot sneered inwardly. Who would seek out Bruce Wei En to discuss the meager funding for a university project?

It was nothing more than an excuse to steer the conversation toward money, to show off her humble background, and preferably to demonstrate her love for learning, proving that inviting Bruce Wei En to an empty lab was absolutely just for scientific research.

Manipulating these innocent and simple female college students, obtaining beauty and physical pleasure from them, and then ruthlessly discarding them was almost a mandatory course for these true wealthy playboys. Elliot was also well-versed in this.

Thus, while listening to the data, he moved his body closer to Pamela without a sound, leaning against the lab bench until their hands were almost touching. Pamela read for over ten minutes of data that Elliot couldn't understand at all, yet Elliot maintained a very focused expression.

After Pamela's voice trailed off, Elliot remained silent for a dozen seconds before acting as if he had just realized something.

"Sorry, I was too absorbed in listening to your voice," he said, touching his brow lightly. "I was so focused on listening that I didn't quite catch the main content. Would you mind summarizing it for me?"

Pamela spread her hands helplessly, raising her voice. "Simply put, I replaced every possible control condition, but these plants still went crazy. Do you know what's going on?"

"Went crazy?" Elliot finally shifted his attention to the content of Pamela's words. He leaned forward to look at the glass container on the table, but the cabbage inside looked like an ordinary vegetable, perhaps just a bit more robust than others.

Elliot shook his head. Although there had been precedents of plants going crazy in Cat Getan, this cabbage looked quite normal at the moment, and Pamela's words sounded like a lie made up to attract attention.

"How did it go crazy?" Elliot patiently continued the topic. He understood that he couldn't show too much aggression at the beginning; he had to give the other party a sense of security, making them feel everything was under their control, so they wouldn't flee the trap out of panic.

Pamela tilted her head and looked at Elliot. "Do you want to see? But I have to warn you, they go crazy quite violently... Never mind, you're not one of those weak undergraduate students; dealing with one shouldn't be a problem."

After saying this, Pamela used equipment to drain the liquid from the glass container and opened the lid.

The cabbage lay quietly in the center of the base. Elliot curiously leaned his head in.

Then, with a "bang," a green shadow flashed, and a long cabbage leaf struck Elliot straight in the nose, punching him onto the lab bench opposite.

Elliot was dizzy and hadn't even figured out what happened when another whistling sound rang out. A huge, round, dark shadow slammed straight into his forehead. Elliot's head hit the surface of the lab bench, and he slid off the edge.

Pamela dodged to the edge of the room and shouted at Elliot, "What are you doing?! Hit it back!"

Elliot staggered to his feet, only to find a cabbage using its two outermost leaves to support its body, while the front two leaves curled up into fists. With a burst of leg power, it leaped forward and slammed into Elliot's chest.

A well-developed cabbage had more leaves and was naturally heavier; this collision was equivalent to a basketball thrown at full speed. Caught completely off guard, Elliot was slammed to the ground again.

And the cabbage, seemingly unsatisfied, jumped off Elliot's chest and punched him right in the side of the ear. Instantly, Elliot heard a "buzz" in his right ear and lost partial hearing.

As he struggled to climb up from the ground, that cabbage seemed to find him too weak and lost interest, sprinting toward another door in the lab at high speed, while Pamela just hid behind the curtain and screamed.

"Stop screaming!" Elliot's voice was extremely distorted. He covered his nose and stood up, his anger rushing to his head. He had actually been beaten by a cabbage??!

So, what is more terrifying than a cabbage that hits people?

The answer is two tons of cabbages that hit people.

The jumping cabbages broke through another door, and instantly, countless cabbages waving their fists poured out. The expression on Elliot's face changed from anger to terror.

Cat Getan University was hosting a physics lecture today, with Victor as the main speaker. The tiered classroom was packed with people, and Victor, wearing glasses, was demonstrating a structural model of dense ice.

"It is precisely by interfering with the structural arrangement of molecules during water condensation that we can obtain such a magical new material. Although it is ice, its material strength far exceeds..."

Just as he said this, Victor drew out the sound, his eyes widening slowly. His gaze was fixed on the window opposite the podium. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe the scene he had just witnessed.

The sound of wood splitting came from a door on the side of the podium. Victor immediately pulled a freeze gun from under the podium.

"Bang!" The door was kicked open. Elliot staggered in. Victor was just about to raise his gun to fire when "Boom," two tons of hitting cabbages submerged the entire tiered classroom.

The freeze gun in Victor's hand was knocked away by a cabbage that jumped in front of him, followed by another punch that knocked off his glasses. With an "ow" of pain, he took a punch to the face.

Within seconds, the classroom turned into a boxing ring. All the teachers and students were punching bags, and the two tons of cabbages were the boxers.

Pamela, who had been following the cabbages, peeked through the window, watching this crazy boxing match. After a while, she made a sign of the cross over her chest and whispered:

"I'm really sorry, but rather than having myself be the unlucky one, I choose to help Professor Schiller make others unlucky. Amen."