After leaving Shearer's office, Lex began to think about how to tackle this project.
Honestly, he had no formal education. All the knowledge he'd attained was self-taught during the time he was apart from Lionel.
When his father was still alive and medicating him, he would pretend to hire tutors for him. However, these tutors knew they were merely tools Lionel used to feign parental affection. Who would seriously teach a child with autism such advanced knowledge? No one believed Lex could learn anyway.
Therefore, he did not know how to conduct a research project. However, he thought that as long as he achieved the project objectives, regardless of the stipulated process, he should be able to manage.
Firstly, he possessed wealth equivalent to infinity, which resolved most problems. Unburdened by cost, and solely focused on problem-solving, he could fully utilise his wisdom. As a 16-year-old genius, he believed there was nothing he could not accomplish under such circumstances.
Before starting his experiment, he had to do some preparation. First of all, he needed to find a laboratory. As a student of Gotham University, Lex reasoned that borrowing a lab from the university should be acceptable.
However, he found that the labs at Gotham University could hardly be recognized as labs. To put it in EQ-friendly terms, these labs would be barely adequate for Galileo's experiments.
Gotham University had two old lab buildings, situated behind the administration building. On the surface, both buildings appeared large; one was six stories high, the other seven, housing over twenty labs.
However, upon entering, Lex discovered that there were no modern experimental apparatuses available, nor were there teachers or students conducting experiments.
Everyone crammed into the new lab building on the far west side, which was considerably smaller, with only five floors usable. The place had only seven labs, each dedicated to a different department, leaving no empty lab for Lex's experiment.
If that was the case, Lex was not confined to Gotham University. He thought that a big city like Gotham should have research institutes or academies, shouldn't it?
In Metropolis, for example, there were several private research institutes besides the central research institute. These institutions welcomed individual researchers and only charged a fee for equipment use. Lex was not short on money.
Then he found out that he had underestimated Gotham. He bought various maps, asked people, and confirmed that there were no research institutes in the city. The last research institution in the city was a theological seminary established by Europeans.
Gotham was not a city founded on science and technology. Or rather, the entire city's technological pillar relied solely on Batman, who single-handedly upheld the city. At present, most technology-rich devices in Gotham were developed by him.
Lex definitely couldn't ask Bruce to lend him a lab, so he had to find another way.
Building a new lab building or establishing an independent research institute was not difficult with his finances. Still, it would take time. Even if he were to donate a lab building to Gotham University, it would take at least a year to construct. Lex couldn't wait that long.
After searching everywhere, he finally found a place that might work – Victor's Cryogenic Laboratory.
Victor had been in Gotham for quite some time. His Cryogenic Lab was built from scratch inside the basement and first and second floors of the second old building. It met all his experimental needs.
As another super-genius, Victor made his base quite well-rounded. Although he was not yet the super villain Mr. Freeze, he had a freezing chamber, cold storage, and an arsenal. He possessed most of the equipment needed for physics and chemistry experiments.
Victor had a good relationship with Bruce, so he got many advanced equipments from him in exchange for cryogenic technology.
Furthermore, Victor moonlighted for the mob and had monetized his patented cryogenic technology. He was now quite wealthy. His cryogenic lab had moved toward a Batcave-like style, boasting comprehensive tools from multiple disciplines. Occasionally, other departments' teachers would come to use it, so the lab had gained a reputation.
After hearing about it, Lex, of course, wanted to use the lab. So, he approached Victor but was rejected.
In Victor's eyes, Lex was just a freshman. He hadn't even taken the basic courses. Why did he need to do experiments? And experiments were not child's play. Victor's lab still housed many dangerous objects.
Upon hearing Lex was only 16, Victor immediately refused. No responsible teacher or researcher would let an underage child into their professional laboratory. It showed a lack of responsibility not only for the equipment but also for the child's safety.
Would Lex just accept this and give up? Of course not. He was not Batman. He wasn't a superhero. He didn't have any moral obligations. He wanted to accomplish his objectives by any means necessary.
So, the day after being rejected by Victor, Lex broke into the lab building.
In Lex's view, Victor was just an ordinary scholar. Whether he agreed or not was irrelevant. Lex had his ways to break in and use the resources in the lab.
Upon entering the first floor of the lab building, it was just as Lex had expected. There were no special implements. It seemed like a regular lab. Opening the first room revealed an unremarkable preparation room. Lex stepped in, changed his clothes, and conveniently located a utensil storage directory.
He flipped through the directory, finding that the cold storage for certain chemical compounds was on the lower floor. So, he headed to the stairway leading down from the first floor.
Descending a few steps, a bone-chilling cold wafted up from below, making Lex shiver.
However, he reasoned that it was only natural for areas with cold storage to be colder than others. He was only going down to fetch something and wouldn't be staying for long. Afterwards, he could quickly head back up.
An hour later, Victor looked at Lex, who was now frozen like an ice statue at the entrance of the cold storage on the lower floor, and sighed.
Lex was still alive within the gigantic ice block. Not only that, but his eyes were moving. He glared at Victor, realizing that the refined and amiable professor before him was not the ordinary scholar he had assumed him to be.
"My cold storage is different from others. You must wear a special protective suit to enter, especially special gloves, to touch the door handle. Otherwise, you'll end up frozen solid in ice like you are now," said Victor as he put on a pair of gloves before twisting the door handle before Lex.
Lex's gaze fell onto the doorknob. He had fallen for this trap. He had come down the stairs, found his way to the cold storage, and without thinking, twisted the doorknob, planning to open the door. Then he was instantly frozen.
Lex had never seen or heard of such technology before—a technology that could instantly freeze a person solid within an enormous ice block. Moreover, he did not feel any discomfort—didn't even feel cold. His physiological activities and thinking were normal. He just couldn't move at all.
He considered such technology a marvel, knowing just how powerful it was because of his knowledge in the field.
Victor, however, was unconcerned. He changed into a protective suit and went into the cold storage. He pulled out a gun and shot a beam of light at the ice block encapsulating Lex.
With a crack, the ice block shattered. Lex stumbled as he touched the ground, barely managing to stay standing.
"How did you manage to do that?" asked Lex, spinning around to inspect the ice shards on the floor. To him, they resembled not ice, but a high-density crystal similar to diamond.
"You should answer my question first. What're you doing here? You're called Lex, right? A first-year student. Didn't anyone tell you this place is a forbidden zone at Gotham University?"
"I wanted to borrow the lab to complete a project assigned by Professor Shearer," Lex responded.
Upon hearing Shearer's name, Victor frowned. He took a few steps back, looking at Lex. He noticed that even though Lex appeared lean and somewhat pale, his eyes emitted a unusual glow.
The last person assigned a project by Shearer was Bruce, and Victor knew just how much of a genius Bruce was. Did Shearer think the boy before him was of the same caliber as Bruce?
Suddenly intrigued, Victor turned and went back to his workstation. He grabbed a protective suit and threw it at Lex, saying, "Come in. I'll ask you a few questions. If you can answer them, I'll lend you the lab."
Lex said nothing, silently put on the suit, and entered. Upon entering, the sight of the lab surprised him. It was truly a sight to behold.
Gotham was a strange place. Wealth disparity revealed itself not only in the city's architecture and the lives of its residents but also in the realm of technology.
The experimental building adjacent to this one was shabby, resembling something from the Middle Ages; but Victor's lab seemed like an alien laboratory, transported in its entirety from a flying saucer.
The overall wall color was gray-blue, made of an unidentified metal. The places where walls intersected consisted of the high-density crystalline objects seen before, with cold light emitters placed every two metal panels.
There were four rows of consoles, all oriented in the same direction as the walls. At the center of the room was a massive machine, spanning two floors, fastened between the floor of the first level and the ceiling of the second level. Blue liquid coursed through the machine, giving off a fantastical glow.
Beside the giant machine were two control panels, both filled with dizzying arrays of buttons. Apart from that, there were rows of filing cabinets near the windows and a few laboratory benches housing vials, all glowing faintly.
Anyway, if you were to wake up in a lab like this, you'd be relieved if the creature doing the check-up didn't have six legs.
While Lex was observing the entire lab, suddenly, the lab's door opened, and another skinny figure walked in, carrying a stack of files, saying,
"Professor Victor, I've finished tidying the data I took home yesterday. Should I put it in the 2nd cabinet?"
Lex turned around; he and the newcomer both paused for a moment. Lex saw a skinny boy who appeared even younger than him, with pale skin and a somewhat gloomy expression under his brow.