Chapter 15: Marvel Logic — Earth is Greater than the Universe

Chapter 15: Marvel Logic — Earth is Greater than the Universe

"Good thing Hammer provided enough resources. It's more than enough for crafting components. I'll grind out a blue-grade battery before Whiplash arrives."

It was still early.

Jiang Feng chose to stay busy, hoping to complete his goal by daytime.

He already had plans.

At night, he intended to revisit Hell's Kitchen—bringing with him the goodwill of cleaning up for public welfare, as he paid another visit to the endless stream of humanoid monsters.

Jiang Feng was aiming for balanced development.

He couldn't just hole up in the lab and grind experience for the Mechanic class—that would create a serious imbalance.

Fighting in the Iron Suit allowed him to simultaneously level up both the Mechanic and Warrior classes.

Efficiency would increase significantly—killing two birds with one stone.

In the massive research lab, only Jiang Feng's solitary figure bustled about.

Just like when he crafted the exoskeleton leg armor earlier—

As time went on—

A pitch-black, spherical fuel cell about the size of a fist was freshly completed in Jiang Feng's hand.

Unfortunately—

This newly crafted battery didn't trigger the Forging Genius effect. Its green quality was deemed unacceptable.

So he casually tossed it into his backpack without even a glance.

Jiang Feng didn't give the reject another thought—he simply continued working diligently.

Before night fell, or before he got the result he wanted—

He wouldn't stop.

Throughout the lab, several high-definition miniature cameras were installed in each corner.

Any movement within the room was under surveillance.

Although Hammer placed great value on Jiang Feng—

As a proper company chairman, he had no intention of supervising him personally.

He would occasionally glance at the surveillance feed through his phone.

At this moment—

Hammer was seated comfortably in a leather chair, sipping coffee as he watched Jiang Feng's crafting process on his phone.

The palm-sized screen showed—

Jiang Feng earnestly forging the Iron Suit, bit by bit.

The pace was slightly slow—

But Jiang Feng's focused attitude on-screen made Hammer nod with satisfaction.

"Jiang Feng is talented, yet still willing to serve me so sincerely. It seems my personal charm has won him over."

A confident smile curled on Hammer's lips as he murmured to himself.

After watching for a while—

He lost interest in continuing the surveillance.

Putting his phone back into his suit pocket, he got up and left the office.

As the boss, Hammer didn't need to be present at the company all day.

That was for employees.

Now, he was heading to a high-end club to enjoy himself and celebrate Hammer Industries' "great success."

A few minutes later—

Hammer had left the building and arrived at his favorite entertainment venue in a limited-edition luxury car.

What he didn't know was—

Jiang Feng's actual manufacturing speed was several times faster than what the surveillance footage showed, and his progress on the Iron Suit far exceeded expectations.

He also didn't see—

Items vanishing into thin air as Jiang Feng stored them in the Reincarnator's backpack.

The reality of what happened in that lab—

Was completely different from what the cameras captured.

Hammer, kept in the dark, still believed Jiang Feng was working on the same exoskeleton arm.

But in truth—

Since the day he started, Jiang Feng had already crafted dozens of components in various sizes and types.

He could have assembled several full Iron Suits by now.

The only reason Hammer was seeing false footage—

Was because in the days since Jiang Feng joined the company, Linglong, embedded in his smart glasses, had already infiltrated Hammer Industries' software systems.

The process was effortless and took barely any time.

In Iron Man 2—

Even Whiplash, who specialized more in hardware than software, once called Hammer Industries' software garbage.

He cracked it in mere moments.

For Linglong, a highly advanced AI—

Hacking into Stark Industries or S.H.I.E.L.D. would present a serious challenge.

But infiltrating Justin Hammer's Hammer Industries?

Not necessarily "a piece of cake," but definitely not hard.

Incidentally, "Hammer" is just a transliteration—

His surname, literally translated, really does mean "hammer."

Modifying the lab's surveillance was merely basic-level operation.

Beyond that—

Linglong also infiltrated the building's entire server system. By using the processing power of numerous host machines, she enhanced the stealth and speed of her hacks into other organizations' databases.

If she could steal Super Soldier serum, gamma radiation experiment data, or Pym Particle tech—

The rewards for Jiang Feng would be priceless.

Their value was on par with even the Arc Reactor technology.

But it wasn't so easy.

Organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., Stark Industries, and the military had extremely strong firewalls.

Linglong couldn't break through them in the short term.

Jiang Feng wasn't in a rush. He still had plenty of time.

There were at least two months left before the plot of this trial world ended.

More than enough for Linglong to slowly penetrate each major organization and silently wear down their defenses.

The Marvel Universe wasn't an ordinary one.

Behind its sci-fi exterior lay a fantasy core. Its scale far exceeded that of Cyberpunk 2077.

The two weren't even comparable.

Though Linglong was an AI from 2077—

In the Marvel Universe, she couldn't dominate elite firewalls as easily as she could in her original world.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this is only the early 21st century—it's still full of absurd black-tech.

A random scientist's potion might create powerful superhumans.

Arc Reactors, Pym Particles, Sentry Serums, and Quinjet-class fighters capable of space travel—

All of them were far from ordinary.

It was well within Jiang Feng's expectations that major forces in Marvel had firewalls capable of resisting even future-tech AIs.

In Marvel logic—Earth is greater than the universe.

That's why the U.S. military's M16s are somehow more powerful than alien laser guns, and even Asgardians are impressed by them.

If the plot requires it—

Even Earth's primitive cavemen can defeat the invading Kree Empire and the other cosmic bigwigs with stone tools.

At the same time—

Most of the main plotlines in Earth-616—the main Marvel universe—

Happen in the early 21st century.

That period is considered the peak of technology.

In contrast, even the Marvel future Earths don't match up to the "present-day" of the MCU.

For example—

The politically correct villain the MCU tried to hype: Kang the Conqueror.

He's said to be from the 31st century—a supposedly ultra-advanced future.

Yet Kang's ability to time travel doesn't come from that future tech—

It comes from archaeology.

He dug up an ancient artifact from the 21st century—a time machine created by Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic).

Because Kang is a direct descendant of Richards—

He inherited the time machine.

The supposedly high-tech 31st century Earth—

Still had worse medical care than the 21st century.

Kang was bullied in school, suffered a throat injury, and spent a full year in the hospital recovering.

Also, the futuristic weapons he brought when he traveled through time—

Couldn't even defeat primitive humans.

In the comics—

After being defeated by the Fantastic Four, Kang fled back to 3000 BCE, aiming to dominate Egypt with his future tech.

The result?

Unexpected.

Kang, armed with tech from six thousand years in the future, was defeated by a young Apocalypse leading an army of spearmen.

Which shows just how absurdly inconsistent tech development is in the Marvel Universe.

By the way—

In the original comics, Kang was white and a minor villain who rarely appeared.

But for political correctness—

They forcibly rebooted his character as a black man.¹

At this moment—

Jiang Feng, wearing his smart glasses, checked Linglong's infiltration progress.

His current target was Pym Technologies.

This company—

Was founded by the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym.

Even though it held the god-tier black-tech Pym Particles, its overall strength wasn't much better than Hammer Industries.

It wasn't even in the same league as Stark or Oscorp.

Thus—

Pym Technologies' firewalls were only slightly stronger than Hammer Industries'.

Linglong had already silently breached over 90% of their systems.

If successful—

Jiang Feng would soon acquire the miraculous Pym Particle technology.

Possibly tonight.