Chapter 193: Gamma Rays (2)

"That's simple—how to resist its harmful effects, or better yet, how to neutralize it," Dottie said.

The moment she spoke, Howard's expression turned serious. "What happened?"

Earlier, when Josh—acting under his CIA identity—had asked him about Zero Matter, it had been framed as a general research request. Howard hadn't thought too much about it and hadn't taken it too seriously.

But now Dottie was asking how to counteract its effects. That meant the situation wasn't so simple.

"I won't hide anything from you. Howard, you've heard of the Arena Club, right?" Seeing Howard's reaction, Dottie decided to speak plainly. (Tl/N: Arena Club was previously translated as Competitive Social Club)

"Of course I know about it!" Howard shrugged, though his expression was a little unnatural.

The Arena Club was the public face of the Council of Nine—Hydra's elite inner circle. It was an exclusive organization that sought to gather America's top elites from various fields. However, it wasn't about recruiting them into Hydra, but rather about networking and exchanging benefits.

The real Hydra was limited to the Council of Nine.

The club only accepted elite white males as members, and its membership requirements were extremely strict.

Howard, who fit all the criteria, had once been invited to join. This was also how he had met Hugh Jones for a while. Of course, he knew exactly what kind of organization it was.

Howard didn't really like the Arena Club, which was mostly made up of older men. So, after being a member for a while, he decided to leave.

But his reason for leaving wasn't just because he didn't like the atmosphere. His flirtatious nature also played a role—something that made him enemies, including Hugh Jones. Most of the club members were wealthy older men, and many of them liked to keep young women as companions.

Compared to these aging men, the young and charming Howard easily caught the attention of these wealthy men's mistresses.

In this situation, it was impossible not to make enemies.

"Yesterday, the CIA received a request for help from Mr. Hugh Jones. The reason was that one of the club members, Calvin Chadwick, president of Isodyne, had received a military research contract on Zero Matter—just like your Stark Industries. He recently made a breakthrough. But instead of sharing his findings, he weaponized Zero Matter yesterday morning, killing several club members. He is trying to take over the club by force and is threatening the members to submit to him. Howard, I'm sure you understand what would happen if Calvin succeeds, considering who those club members are!" Dottie explained everything that had happened the previous morning, although she changed a few details. For example, she avoided mentioning that Josh was also a member of the club, and instead framed the request for help as coming from Hugh Jones.

That way, it wouldn't seem like Josh owed Howard a personal favor. Instead, it would be a straightforward cooperation between the CIA and Howard to handle the case.

When he heard Hugh Jones' name, Howard's expression became uncomfortable. He liked to fool around, but he still cared about his reputation.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on his past scandals.

"I see. So Calvin has figured out how to control Zero Matter and use it as a weapon? That's really bad news. But you came at the right time—I have a way to deal with Zero Matter. The solution is gamma rays!" Howard nodded and explained.

"Gamma rays?" Dottie was a little surprised. She had never heard of them.

"That's right! Gamma rays produce powerful bursts of high-energy photons, and these photons can neutralize Zero Matter!" Howard explained.

"I see. Do you have the equipment to generate gamma rays?" Dottie asked.

"I do, but it's not powerful enough. I'll have to build a bigger one, which will take some time," Howard replied.

"How much time?" Dottie frowned.

"If I work fast, I can finish in 12 hours. But I have one condition!" Howard added. Just as his son would one day build a miniature particle accelerator in a single day, building a gamma ray emitter wouldn't take too long.

"What condition?" Dottie asked.

"I have to be the one who controls it!" Howard said.

"You mean, after you build it, you want to come with us?" Dottie frowned.

"Of course! Otherwise, who knows what you might do with my invention?" Howard shrugged.

"If that's what you want, then fine." Dottie agreed without hesitation.

"Okay, no time to waste. I'm going to the lab now. Jarvis, come with me. There are a few things I need you to prepare." Howard immediately went to his lab. Although he was a playboy, he, like his future son Tony, became completely focused when confronted with an interesting scientific problem.

"Right away, sir. Miss Underwood, excuse me." Jarvis apologized to Dottie before quickly following Howard.

...

"Understood, sir. I'll keep an eye on him!" Dottie smiled and touched her earring as she spoke.

Her conversation with Howard had been secretly monitored by Ophelia through a small listening device in her earring.

Ophelia quickly reported back to Josh.

When Josh learned that gamma rays were the best way to counter Zero Matter, he immediately used his system to contact Yuri. While Josh didn't doubt Howard's abilities, he wasn't the type to put all his eggs in one basket.

"Gamma rays? That's easy! I can do it in four hours tops!" Yuri replied after hearing Josh's request. His estimated time was only a third of what Howard needed.

Of course, this didn't necessarily mean that Yuri was smarter than Howard. The two worlds simply had different levels of technology.

In the Marvel Universe, gamma ray research was still in its infancy, understood only by top scientists like Howard. In fact, in Josh's original world, gamma rays weren't even discovered until almost the 1970s.

But in the world of Red Alert, gamma rays were nothing special.

Thanks to Josh's support over the years, Yuri's base in the Cretaceous era had already reached mid-war production levels from the U.S.-Soviet conflict. Since Yuri was personally handling this, rushing out a gamma ray cannon wasn't a problem at all.

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