69novels Page 99
Page 99
God knows how many times he was tricked by Zhuge Cong in high school, and how many strange foods he ate and drank.
Kazuma Sato felt that if he were in another world, he would probably have an extra poison resistance skill.
After finishing his drink, Zhuge Cong took out a bottle from the drawer and began to examine himself.
"Check the palladium content."
Zhuge Cong pressed his right thumb on the ground, and Jarvis's voice rang out shortly after.
"The blood toxin content has reached 24%."
"I've already seen it."
Zhuge Cong, somewhat annoyed, put the examination equipment back into the drawer.
"It seems that continued use of the Iron Man suit will worsen your condition; another energy core has been depleted."
Jarvis then displayed a perspective view on a nearby screen.
san yi er ba yi si yi san jiu
[The perspective view shows the miniature arc reactor relentlessly damaging Zhuge Cong's body.]
"It's going to run out of money so fast. I hope this thing doesn't bankrupt me."
[Zhuge Cong removed the miniature arc reactor from his chest and then removed the palladium core inside.]
The palladium element that was removed is now unusable; it still emits a white gas.
[Then, a box was taken out and a brand new palladium core was inserted into it.]
"I have performed simulations for all the known elements, but unfortunately, none of them can be used as a suitable replacement for the palladium core."
Jarvis reported from the side.
"Your time and choices are running out; the devices sustaining your life are also constantly killing you."
Hearing Jarvis's words, Zhuge Cong also exposed his chest. The miniature arc reactor was surrounded by dark blue veins that looked somewhat like the patterns of electrical wires.
"Sir, Ms. Shiho Miyano is here. I suggest you tell her."
"Shh, be quiet, don't talk."
Upon hearing that Shiho Miyano had arrived, Zhuge Cong immediately told Jarvis to stop talking and put down his clothes.
"Have you come up with another brilliant idea, great inventor?"
"Suddenly, for no apparent reason, my workload has increased."
"You donated all your modern art collection to a charity organization. Did you suddenly have a stroke of kindness?"
[Shiho Miyano looked at Zhuge Cong and said that she was about to leave work when several charity workers came over, saying that Mr. Zhuge Cong had donated money to them.]
"Isn't it great? I think this organization is quite meaningful. I've checked it out; unlike others that embezzle under the guise of helping people, this is a pretty good organization."
"Yes, all the collection I painstakingly organized over the years is gone. So, can you tell me if you're hiding something from me?"
There was a hint of blame in Shiho Miyano's tone.
"Nothing much, just something I wanted to do that was meaningful."
"If you don't have anything else to do, please come to the company in person and take charge. There are nearly a thousand things piling up right now."
"It's practically a complete mess."
"And because of your Iron Man persona, the Zhuge Group is also experiencing a continuous rise in its value, like a pot that's leaking while being filled with water, you know?"
"Don't even mention those elementary school math problems where water comes out while you're still releasing it."
"And I'm going to give you a warning."
"What warning?"
"You do it."
【"do what?"】
"I just had a great idea; you should take charge of managing the company."
"Why are you suddenly asking me to manage the company? Although I've been helping you with management, I feel it would be a bit troublesome for me to take charge."
[Shiho Miyano had helped Zhuge Cong with his management before, but she felt it was a waste of time not because she thought she couldn't manage it well, but because she preferred to sit in the lab and do research.]
"Wait, have you been drinking?"
[Shiho Miyano keenly detected a peculiar scent.]
"No, I just drank a little bit of a special beverage, a tiny bit of chlorophyll."
"Lift up your clothes."
"That's not a good idea, here. Maybe we should try again another day, somewhere else."
[Shiho Miyano didn't say anything more, but directly lifted up Zhuge Cong's shirt, revealing the corrosion marks on his chest.]
[When she smelled the strange odor earlier, Shiho Miyano had already suspected something was wrong; after all, her senses are very sharp from spending so much time in the laboratory.]
[Furthermore, when Zhuge Cong implanted a miniature arc reactor in his chest a long time ago, Shiho Miyano had already considered the potential side effects.]
136: Gin: Vermouth has joined S.H.I.E.L.D.?
[Shiho Miyano had considered the potential side effects, but ultimately it was because she didn't know much about this area.]
[So I didn't know much about it. Now that I've seen the side effect marks on Zhuge Cong's chest with my own eyes, I can roughly guess that Zhuge Cong's physical condition is very serious.]
At this moment, Shiho Miyano also realized why Zhuge Cong hadn't been managing the company much lately, and even mentioned earlier that she should take charge—it was as if he was making his final arrangements.
"How long has this been going on?"
[Shiho Miyano stared at Zhuge Cong's chest and questioned him.]
"Soon, about five months in total."
[Zhuge Cong initially didn't want to speak, but seeing Shiho Miyano's serious expression, he awkwardly began to speak.]
["In other words, you discovered your health problems about a month after you came back, but you kept it to yourself and didn't tell me."]
[Shiho Miyano was slightly annoyed that Zhuge Cong had kept it from her.]
"I was just worried you'd fret. Besides, look at me, I'm perfectly fine now, just a tiny, insignificant side effect."
"Don't worry too much. Besides, I can handle any problems myself."
Zhuge Cong picked up a bottle of wine, poured two glasses, drank one himself, and handed the other to Shiho Miyano to calm her down.
"Jarvis, report Zhuge Cong's physical condition to me."
[Shiho Miyano took the glass and set it aside, then spoke directly to Jarvis. Since Miyano's permissions were second only to Zhuge Cong's, and Zhuge Cong hadn't encrypted the information, Jarvis truthfully told her.]
"Mr. Zhuge Cong's blood toxin level has reached 24%, and his physical condition is deteriorating. He needs to drink 2268 grams of a special beverage every day to suppress it."
"If Mr. Zhuge Cong continues to use the Iron Man armor, it will accelerate the corrosion of the palladium element, hastening his death."
"Because there is no suitable alternative, Mr. Zhuge Cong's total lifespan is estimated to be two and a half years if he doesn't use the Iron Man armor."
"If Mr. Zhuge Cong continues to use the Iron Man armor, given the current rate at which palladium is penetrating his system, he will succumb to palladium-related illness within a year."
"Great power comes at the cost of lifespan."
"Moreover, even without using the Iron Man armor, the mini arc reactor on his chest that saved his life would continue to cause Zhuge Cong's slow death."
"As for finding a new replacement, the only options are new elements, or Zhuge Cong has also become a mutant with the same self-healing mutant ability as Kazuma Sato."
"Could it be that Zhuge Cong really will die young?"
"Or is it that Zhuge Cong will create a new element?"
"There are a few other possibilities: Orochimaru's optimized version of the lizard drug and Sasori's unawareness of the exact process of human mechanization."
Kyosuke Koban thought that Zhuge Cong had reached a dead end, but then he suddenly realized that the other party was different and had many talented people under his command.
------
"Zhuge Cong won't die here."
L said with great certainty, as if he had already foreseen the ending, which aroused the curiosity of the staff on the screen beside him.
Given Zhuge Cong's current physical condition, he is poisoned by palladium, and using the Iron Man armor would only hasten his death.
Even if he didn't use it, it would only be a slow death. If he did remove it, the shrapnel fragments that couldn't be removed would gradually invade Zhuge Cong's heart and kill him.
As for Kyosuke Takasaka's idea, he might have thought of it as well, but he felt it wasn't very reliable.
New elements might be Zhuge Cong's best chance of survival, even though he managed to create the Mark 1 Iron Man armor under such extreme conditions.
However, he didn't quite believe that Zhuge Cong could create new elements.
L didn't offer much explanation, after all, it was his fault for not observing things carefully enough.
In the previous Deadpool episode featuring Kazuma Sato, L noticed that the power center in the Iron Man armor poster on the billboard had changed.
Secondly, there's the character War Machine. We learn from Kazuma Sato that War Machine is Zhuge Cong's partner.
So, with the war machine yet to even show its face, how could Zhuge Cong, its partner, have died like this?
Moreover, L had a vague feeling that Zhuge Cong was not simple, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. It was as if it would be unreasonable for Zhuge Cong to die here and it would cause the world to collapse in the end.