AHumanMadeMOFO
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Chapter 231: Deal Done (2)
🕑 Added 2025-02-18 16:57:21 +0000 UTCLawrence's heart raced, but he remained skeptical.
"If I remember correctly, Captain America's serum in the comics had a low success rate. Plus, it amplified a person’s nature—good people became better, and bad people became worse."
"This is not the original version. It's an improved formula with the same benefits, no side effects, and it works perfectly when combined with the right nutrient blend. Or do you think I'm trying to trick you?"
"Oh, my apologies. Of course I trust you, my friend. I'm just... surprised."
Lawrence apologized quickly.
"But... the price..."
He frowned. This was going to be a difficult number to settle.
"By the way, did you find the robot, Sonny?" Josh asked.
"Of course I did. It's in a lab for observation. It’s unbelievable—Alfred actually created a fully self-aware AI. That's insane... Wait, you want it?"
"That's right. I'm very interested. How about two doses of the Super Soldier Serum in exchange for him?"
Josh nodded.
In truth, Josh himself wasn’t the one truly interested in Sonny—it was Yuri.
Over the past two days, Josh had discussed NS robots with Yuri, mentioning both VIKI and Sonny.
Yuri was very intrigued by the idea of a self-aware AI.
This was a weak point in the Red Alert universe.
Of course, both Josh and Yuri were interested in more than just AI technology.
The I, Robot world had a strong foundation in many areas of science.
Despite the Red Alert world’s advanced technology—mostly developed for warfare—it lacked a balanced foundation. Many of its breakthroughs defied common sense, and its research focus was too narrow.
Even the Marvel Universe suffered from this problem. While it had amazing technological marvels, its overall progress wasn't much better than Josh's original world. There was a serious disconnect between everyday science and futuristic inventions.
Ironically, I, Robot's relatively "normal" sci-fi setting could help bridge that gap.
"...Alright!" Lawrence thought for a moment before agreeing.
In this deal, Lawrence was actually at a disadvantage.
He knew very well that Sonny, Dr. Lanning's last creation, was much more than just a fully self-aware AI robot. But in order to win Joss' favor, he accepted this loss-making trade.
However, his bold decision soon paid off.
After leaving the lab—ignoring Dr. Calvin's objections—Lawrence took Sonny and placed him in the system's trading interface. To his surprise, Joss's trade included an extra small glass bottle, about 350 milliliters in size.
Inside was a pale green liquid with a silver sheen.
"What is that?" Lawrence asked, confused as he held the bottle.
"It is the Elixir from Pool of Eternal Life. As the name suggests, it greatly extends your life span, keeps you looking young, and has incredible healing powers for fatal injuries and diseases like cancer. In my Universe, the Super Soldier Serum grants extraordinary strength, but doesn't provide longevity like in the comics. This Elixir from the Pool of Eternal Life fills that gap. Consider this a small welcome gift—if you want more, it'll cost you." Joss smiled.
The so-called Elixir from Pool of Eternal Life wasn't really an immortality elixir. It couldn't grant eternal life, and its effects had diminished over time.
Lawrence's eyes lit up as he stared at the bottle.
Eternal youth? Longer life? Healing of mortal wounds?
These three benefits alone made this bottle more valuable than the Super Soldier Serum, at least in Lawrence's eyes.
As for curing cancer, he didn’t care much—most cancers were already curable in his world.
"This water..." Lawrence's expression showed deep desire.
"Don't get any ideas. This stuff is far more valuable than the Super Soldier Serum, and the supply is extremely limited. I can't just give it away in bulk," Joss interrupted, seeing through his thoughts.
He wasn’t hoarding it on purpose—it was simply the truth.
The Pool of Eternal Life wasn't like ordinary water that flowed endlessly from a spring. It was a rare essence gathered from the sacred land of Shangri-La, and its annual production was very limited.
On the other hand, the Super Soldier Serum was expensive, but it could still be mass-produced.
The difference in value between the two was obvious.
"You're right. Such a treasure is almost impossible to obtain," Lawrence sighed and nodded in understanding. Thinking of all the legends about the Pool of Eternal Life, he realized that such miraculous substances were always incredibly rare.
"Alright, don’t dwell on it. As the user of the dimensional trading system, you will have access to extraordinary items beyond your imagination... as long as you're willing to pay the price. So go and collect all the resources and technology you can find! It's getting late and I have other things to do." Joss ended the call.
After the trade system interface closed, Lawrence took out the Super Soldier Serum and the Elixir from the Pool of Eternal Life from his system storage and placed them on the table, lost in thought.
Feeling exhausted, but remembering the overwhelming power he had felt that day, he didn't hesitate. He opened the case containing the Super Soldier Serum.
Meanwhile, after ending the call, Joss first made a copy of the NS robot's technical data. Since Lawrence's world was highly advanced, all data was of course digital.
At first, Lawrence had asked if Joss needed paper copies, but that was unnecessary. Yuri had already restored modern industrial capabilities, and building an early 21st century supercomputer was no longer a problem.
As Yuri's biggest customer, Joss naturally had access to high-performance computers.
In fact, some of Joss' key locations had already been modernized, so relying entirely on paper documents was no longer necessary.
Thus, digital files were enough for this trade—though the data transfer still used USB, which was outdated compared to Lawrence’s world.
With supercomputers available, backing up data was easy, even though the NS robot's technical documents were massive.
After all, robotics isn’t a single field but a combination of many disciplines, including energy, materials, structure, computing, optics, and microchips—far too many to count.
Lawrence had been quite generous, including all these aspects in the technical data. That was why this trade was such a loss to him.
After backing up the data and handing Sonny over to Yuri, Joss connected to another dimension.
"Hello, Alfred!" Joss greeted with a warm smile as a well-dressed black-haired boy appeared on the screen.
This was the trade partner from the third dimension—the one who had once been just a baby.
His last name, however, was quite unique.
The boy's full name was Alfred Abbendis.
