Chapter 80: The Basilisk (Part 1)

"Even with Stark's genius, the technological gap is just too wide to bridge," thought Daniel Davis as he walked through the streets of Hell's Kitchen at night, hooded and head down, pondering Stark's research.

After curing Stark, the latter became fascinated by the powers of the Op-Op Fruit and started experimenting with some animals. Unfortunately, the results were less than satisfactory.

Stark's study of the Destroyer followed a similar path. Despite being one of Asgard's top technologies, it wasn't something easily replicable. This was vastly different from how Howard Stark created the Arc Reactor from the Tesseract or how Dr. Hank Pym developed Pym Particles from it.

Howard and Hank's successes were not just due to their talents but significantly because of the Tesseract, an Infinity Stone. The emergence of various mutants on Earth, like the Hulk, Captain Marvel, and even the Inhumans, along with numerous technological marvels, could be attributed to the presence of Infinity Stones on Earth.

Without the Infinity Stones, such feats would have been impossible. The Kree had experimented with Inhumans on many planets but only succeeded on Earth—not because Earthlings were particularly destined or extraordinary, but because Earth harbored Infinity Stones. Having one would be notable enough, but Earth had two.

Infinity Stones are incredibly powerful but also come with their own set of issues. Otherwise, Odin wouldn't have left the Space Stone on Earth. It would have been safer in Asgard. Moreover, even after Asgard acquired the Reality Stone, Odin chose to leave it with the Collector rather than keeping it in Asgard.

Daniel didn't know Odin's exact reasons, but it was clear Odin was very cautious about the Infinity Stones.

In terms of understanding the Infinity Stones, even the Ancient One couldn't match Odin. Otherwise, the Ancient One wouldn't have allowed two Infinity Stones to remain on Earth.

But it was not entirely the Ancient One's fault. Most of her energy was devoted to defending against dimensional incursions, and she spent her life primarily on Earth or in other dimensional realms, without much exploration of the Marvel universe's broader reality.

"Thinking about it, Thanos destroying the Infinity Stones was actually a blessing for this world," Daniel mused. Though the Infinity Stones can't truly be destroyed and Thanos's "destruction" merely transformed them into an invisible form—such as quantum states—they would eventually be reborn. However, their rebirth would not occur for thousands or even millions of years.

"Free America, shootings every day—indeed, that saying isn't wrong," Daniel thought. As he walked through Hell's Kitchen, he soon heard gunshots nearby, accompanied by screams and curses.

Except for a few affluent areas, the USA is generally unsafe at night, especially in Hell's Kitchen. By day, Hell's Kitchen is relatively normal, but by night, it's like a completely different place.

"Stop right there." Daniel had just started to think this when he encountered four young black men with menacing tattoos, all armed with weapons—two with knives, two with baseball bats.

Upon hearing this, Daniel immediately turned and ran. The four men cursed and chased after him. Fleeing in panic, Daniel ran into a narrow alley, prompting the four men to laugh arrogantly, knowing it was a dead end.

"A yellow-skinned monkey, huh?" They laughed even more when they saw Daniel take off his hood, revealing his Asian features.

Ah.

The next moment, the man who had spoken screamed loudly. His companions, startled, saw him clutching his eyes as blood poured from his eye sockets. His knife had fallen into Daniel's hand.

"Bastard." One of the men, a burly figure, raised his bat and swung it at Daniel's head. In an instant, he too screamed in pain as his bat fell to the ground, along with one of his hands. He clutched his wrist, where his right hand had been, crying out in agony.

The remaining two, terrified by what they saw, dropped their weapons and turned to flee. But a moment later, they were both thrown against the alley wall by an unseen force, knocking them unconscious.

"Four people, that should be enough." Seeing the blinded man still screaming, Daniel quickly knocked him out with a kick. Then he coldly turned his gaze to the man who had lost his hand. Seeing Daniel's chilling expression, the man fell silent, sweating profusely as he tried to suppress the pain.

Daniel then moved swiftly to knock him unconscious as well.

Afterward, Daniel pulled out his wand and used a summoning spell to drag the two unconscious men toward him, piling all four together. "Fiendfyre." He then conjured a small fire and vanished with a flick of his wand.

"Consider yourselves lucky to have met me. Quantum realms and dimensional spaces—experiences even Stark hasn't had," Daniel said to himself in the basement of his villa after tossing the four men aside. He began to work immediately.

First, he stopped the bleeding of the two injured men, then he dressed one of them in the Ant-Man suit. Daniel hadn't gone to Hell's Kitchen to play superhero; he had been searching for test subjects, and these four fit the bill perfectly.

With the satellite he needed already in hand—a mix of three simulation satellites and one digital satellite, though somewhat old—it was sufficient for use in Harry's world.

He had also gathered all the necessary materials beforehand. Considering Stark's suggestions and the potential need to bring others with him in the future, he decided to test for safety. Hence, he ventured into Hell's Kitchen to find subjects.

Now he had four test subjects to experiment on from four different perspectives.

The first was to test if an ordinary person could survive in the quantum realm. He speculated that without Pym Particles, ordinary people likely couldn't survive in the quantum space, but it needed verification. This was a serious matter involving human lives, not something to be taken lightly—though not the lives of these thugs.

Daniel wouldn't experiment on innocent people, but using these criminals was a different matter. He was, in a way, ridding the streets of danger. Had he thought of it sooner, he would have started testing right after returning from Harry's world.

"I also need to test the effects of the Op-Op Fruit's powers in the quantum realm and dimensional spaces," Daniel muttered, using the Op-Op Fruit's abilities to cut one of the men into pieces.

Daniel could have returned to Harry's world long ago. With the portal between the two realms established, traveling back and forth wouldn't waste much time.

But he's not the savior of Harry's world. There's no need to burden himself too much. Traveling between realms consumes Pym Particles, and while he's now wealthy, before his transmigration, earning enough for even a single vial of Pym Particles would have been impossible for him.

He wanted to change Harry's world, but only if it didn't hinder his growth. He also saw Harry's world as a potential logistical base.

After all, gathering materials for the Arc Reactor or manufacturing Pym Particles was easier in Harry's world than in the Marvel universe.

"This timeline is fascinating. How exactly do two different dimensional spaces synchronize time?" Daniel pondered as he saw the time in Harry's world upon his return. To his surprise, the time difference between the two worlds was minimal, despite spending considerable time in the Marvel universe.

"Is it time synchronization or something else?"

"Forget it, I'll go back in a few days and see how those four are doing. It seems like I'll need to keep making money to afford enough Pym Particles for free travel between dimensions."

Traveling this way was far more expensive than Stark's private jet.

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