S.H.I.E.L.D., underground laboratory

In the white research room, a young man is intently looking at the inspection report in his hand.

His brow furrowed, and it looked like he was in a quandary with the research at hand.

"How can I help you? Howard. Another researcher asked, playing with the test tube in his hand.

"Of course." Howard said without raising his head.

"Really?" The man's eyes lit up and he stopped what he was doing.

"Yes, Ike" Howard put away the report in his hand and looked up at him.

"First, don't wander around my lab with nothing to do."

"Second, take your hands off the equipment."

"Uh......" Ike put down the test tube in his hand and looked at Howard with some embarrassment, "I thought you were stuck at some point, and you thought about what I could do for you." ”

"Okay." Howard threw the materials in his hand on the table, his tone a little frustrated, perhaps Ike's sincere eyes moved him, "I did get into a stalemate. He said.

"I can't explain how this phenomenon happens, you know, the above threw this thing at me a few days ago and asked me to analyze their composition, but ......"

He paused, put his hand in his arms, and when he realized that he was wearing a research gown and there was no cigarette in his arms, he put his hand back on the table.

"But...... This is the inspection report, and I think you will be very interested. Howard pouted at the materials on the table.

"You mean that black thing?" Ike picked up the report with one hand and pointed to the glass container in the distance.

Inside the container was a small black mass, like a lump of silt.

Howard nodded, "It doesn't say where it came from, and it doesn't seem to be taken seriously, and no one has asked about it since it was left with me." ”

"It wasn't long ago that it was shipped along with a large number of genetically mutated creatures."

"Hive." Ike said as he looked at the report in his hand, "Those are all monsters that were developed in that called the Hive Base. After the base was wiped out, there were some things that people on it thought might be very valuable, so they threw them at us. ”

He flipped to the first page of the report, "Really, is this a dumping ground for us?" ”

"It's mostly rubbish, but some of it is useful, and every time we guys in the Bio R&D department go to that place full of test subjects, they say they're panning for gold." Howard said and smiled.

In the lab, there are usually rare opportunities for two people to sit together and chat, and even if there are two people sitting together, most of them are arguing about the project at hand, so the conversation with Ike made him relax a lot, and he felt that his gloomy mood was much clearer.

"But I've heard that there are some strange creatures in those test subjects." He suddenly lowered his voice.

"Aren't those creatures weird enough?" Ike looked up and smiled.

"No, I'm not talking about the shape, I'm talking about the genes, the amount of genetic material inside their cells and the sheer amount of it, and the large number of "X cells" detected in their organs. ”

"X-cells?"

"That's what other people call it, but in short, it's some kind of cell that contains a lot of energy, and through them, it can shoot flames or lightning, or emit ice crystals."

"I had the pleasure of visiting the fire-breathing creatures in the test subjects, and they were able to do so because they secreted a large amount of phosphorus-containing mucus that burned violently when they came into contact with the air. There's nothing unusual about that, Howard, have you been under too much pressure lately? ”

"But ......"

"As for the creatures you said could emit thunder and lightning, as far as I know, electric eels can do it."

"As for ice crystals, I probably know a small creature that lives in the shallow waters of tropical oceans, called drum shrimp, which quickly close the giant claws in front of them when hunting, and the high-pressure water jetted can even reach speeds of up to 100 km/h."

"These high-pressure currents can help them stun or even kill their prey, and if you add the cold temperature, I think it can probably explain the problem of ice crystals."

Ike sat in his chair and retorted, and those who didn't know would probably really think that the two men were engaged in a rigorous academic discussion and not gossip about the mysterious remarks that had been circulating before the researchers recently.

"And what about low temperatures? Are there conditions in living organisms that create low temperatures? ”

"Isn't it normal for something strange to happen to those genetically mutated guys?"

"But their genes are unusually stable."

"Okay, so you're agreeing with those statements."

"I just don't refute it." Howard said.

"Dark magic? Otherworldly creatures? Summon? Oh, my God! Howard, I can't imagine you agreeing with these rumors! Ike opened his mouth in surprise, "You've always been known for your rigor. ”

"I said it, and I don't agree with it." Howard emphasized, "I just don't refute it. ”

"There are so few things in this world that we can understand that we can't explain this alone." He pouted at the black stuff in the container behind him, "How can you deny those bizarre things?" ”

"Maybe there really exists a world where so-called magic is used as an energy source."

Ike smiled and shook his head, no longer refuting his arguments, and looked down at the report in his hand again.

He knew that his old friend, once he fell into some kind of thinking alley, he would not easily get out of it, and he enjoyed this feeling.

Five minutes later, Ike frowned similarly, "You didn't drop anything into the instrument, did you?" Even though he knew it wasn't possible, he couldn't help but ask.

"Of course, I tested this set of data three times, and each time it was the same result." Howard said.

Then the two walked over to the container.

It was a black, viscous non-Newtonian liquid, spread out motionless at the bottom of the container.

"Bang bang bang!" Ike tapped the side of the container gently, perhaps a slight vibration that stimulated the liquid at the bottom, and it slowly moved some distance towards the side of the tapping like a liquid.

"I really don't know if it's instinct or intelligence, but it can actually determine the location of the source of the vibration."

"A lot of creatures can do that."

"So you admit it's a creature?"

"I've done scans and other analyses, and it's the test report in your hand, and all the components of the body are the same, there are no so-called organs. You can even divide them into parts, all of which have the same characteristics as the previous whole, but come together once they touch. ”

"Have you conducted live contact experiments?"

"Applying."

"Well, maybe it's an interesting thing." Ike stood up and put down the test report in his hand

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Thanks for the tip!

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