Dr. Connors had joined them.
Although he still had many doubts and concerns in his heart, there were two main reasons for his decision:
First, he was intrigued by the blueprint for the perfect serum.
Second, he simply had no other choice!
On the one hand, completing the research could restore his arm to its normal state and result in a scientific achievement that could benefit future generations.
On the other hand, he faced a life of mediocrity, carrying the stigma of his actions, and eventually being thrown into prison.
Faced with these two options, he chose the first!
And that was that!
—
Another morning dawned, and Arthur stood on the rooftop, gazing at the distant sunrise as he exhaled softly.
His hand moved fluidly through the motions of his martial arts routine. Each move and stance had become second nature to him, flowing effortlessly like a force of nature.
As he completed the last move, Arthur closed his eyes, unaware that at that very moment, a Taiji symbol (Yin-Yang symbol) briefly appeared in front of him. It only lasted for a fleeting second before disappearing into nothingness.
When he opened his eyes again, he muttered to himself, "Lately, I've been feeling that every time I practice Tai Chi, the energy inside me becomes more active.
He didn't think much of it. This martial arts routine was something he had been practicing consistently, even during the time when he was rescuing the troubled young Iron Man.
Even when he was imprisoned in a cave, he made sure to practice it every day.
This routine had solidified Tony Stark and Yinsen's belief that he was indeed a "Lunatic.
This morning, however, unlike other days, Arthur didn't immediately head downstairs after finishing his practice. Instead, he closed his eyes and let the memories of his battle with the Lizard play out in his mind.
His remarkable memory allowed him to vividly recall every single detail of his battle.
Overall, he had performed well in the battle, using almost all of his abilities.
But there was no denying the sheer power of the Lizard. Despite Arthur's best efforts, he still couldn't do any significant damage to the creature.
It was fortunate that Spider-Man was there to help. Had Arthur been alone, he would have been in serious trouble.
There was one detail, however, that Arthur couldn't overlook.
It was his unusually… strong left hand!
The first time it had happened was during the fight in the sewer.
At that time, he had tried to stab the Lizard with a military knife, but the Lizard had caught his arm and prevented him from escaping.
At that critical moment, Arthur had tried to use the Disassembler to capture the Lizard, but the system had responded with a "Capture Failed" message.
The same thing happened again during the rooftop battle at Oscorp.
Each time the capture failed, a spatial ripple emanated from the point of contact between Arthur's body and the opponent, releasing a strange force that pushed the opponent away.
These two incidents made Arthur realize something important.
Firstly, the Disassembler's ability to capture wasn't without limits.
Judging by the fact that it failed to capture the Lizard, but succeeded with Blonsky (the Abomination), the target's condition might be one of the criteria.
Blonsky was probably easy to capture because he was unconscious after being knocked out by the Hulk.
While the Lizard might not be more powerful than Blonsky, he was in a conscious state, which somehow interfered with the Disassembler's ability.
This interference triggered some kind of spatial energy, causing ripples that pushed the Lizard away.
And that was the origin of Arthur's "powerful left hand".
"If I could use this technique flexibly in battle, it could produce some very interesting effects… Hmm, isn't that just the 'knockback' effect?"
Meanwhile, Arthur thought that he really needed to take some time to check some things.
For example, the limitations of the Disassembler's ability to capture and its limits.
Also, do his flashing, glittering, and floating abilities have limits?
Where might those limits be?
He didn't want to find himself floating through the void one day, overconfident, only to end up in a puddle of mush, unable to even protest.
[Disassembler Upgrade Complete!]
Just as Arthur finished this thought, a prompt suddenly appeared in front of him!
"Hmm…"
Arthur didn't think much about it and went downstairs.
The upgrade was complete – so what?
Should he celebrate or something?
Come on!
It had been upgraded for so long without a word of notice; didn't it know how long he had been waiting?
Arthur went downstairs with a mixture of annoyance and dissatisfaction rather than excitement.
—
Banner's reputation as the Hulk was long gone, replaced by his new persona of being 'hospitable'.
He was very hospitable indeed!
Every day he thought about what to eat and how to prepare it. He'd go into the kitchen, and when he came out, he'd have various delicious foods in his hand. It was a remarkable ability.
Due to the sensitive nature of his identity, Dr. Connors could not leave the lab to travel.
So it was Banner who brought the food in and out, and his previously aloof demeanor had disappeared, revealing his endearing true self.
After breakfast with Banner, Arthur went out.
Had the Disassembler not finished its upgrade, he would have had to stay in the lab with Dr. Connors, working on research and data simulations.
But now that the Disassembler was upgraded, Arthur couldn't control his desire to take things apart.
Walking down the street, Arthur decided to Disassemble the weapons he had previously obtained from the Freedom Fighters.
After organizing his loot, he found that there were a total of 312 rifles, handguns, and submachine guns!
And 216 knives and military daggers.
Grenades, land mines, and other weapons that could not be disassembled were not counted.
He hadn't gotten sniper rifles or RPGs, because these guys didn't carry those weapons.
Still, it was an astonishing amount. No wonder the Freedom Fighters were losing their minds!
They were losing weapons left and right, which must have been psychologically traumatic.
And with such a large amount of weapons constantly being lost, what else could it be but a ghost haunting them?
Although the broken Battle Soul was no longer of interest to Arthur and had a negligible effect on his upgrades, the skill books underneath these weapons were still very important to him.
He picked up a weapon and was about to Disassemble it when a prompt from the Disassembler made him pause.
[Would you like to Disassemble a White-Rank Rifle?]
"Eh?"
Arthur blinked in confusion, "What does that mean?"
Realizing that the street wasn't a suitable place for this, he found a secluded alley and began to examine each weapon.
Each weapon had a prompt, but the text in the brackets at the end was different.
Of his 312 guns and 216 knives and daggers, most were labeled White!
The rest were all blue!
The only purple one was the suit of Iron Man.
"This… Is this the equipment rank?"
Arthur felt a bit dazed.