Early next morning.
Morning light filtered through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of the biological lab on the top floor of Stark Tower.
However, the master of the laboratory was in no mood to enjoy the sunrise.
Tony Stark’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the stream of data scrolling across the holographic screen in front of him, his face grim and overcast.
At his feet, seven or eight empty coffee cups lay scattered.
“Jarvis, the final report.” His voice sounded slightly hoarse from a sleepless night.
“Sir, I have performed one hundred and twenty-eight cross-comparative analyses overnight,” Jarvis’s voice was as steady as ever.
“The conclusion remains consistent with before: all physical, chemical, and biological indicators in the water sample are well within the safe thresholds of city water supply standards.
From a scientific perspective, it is simply ordinary water.”
“Ordinary water!”
Tony punched the console in frustration, the metal surface letting out a dull thud.
An entire night!
He had utilized Stark Industries’ most advanced equipment, from quantum analysis to spectral analysis, decomposing the water sample retrieved by drones overnight almost down to the atomic level.
The result was a damn cup of water, as ordinary as ordinary could get.
This frustrated him even more than if he had detected an unknown deadly virus.
His science, his theories, everything he took pride in, felt like a joke in front of this cup of water.
“That kid…” Leon Hall’s calm face flashed in Tony’s mind.
“He anticipated this outcome yesterday.”
On the screen, New York news was scrolling.
The riots in Queens had escalated overnight, and CDC experts on camera were completely at a loss.
The clock pointed to nine in the morning.
There was still one hour left before his appointment with Leon Hall.
“This isn’t an investment return at all,” Tony suddenly chuckled, a hint of provoked excitement in his smile.
“This is an exam.
A test set by an academic god for mere mortals.”
He stood up abruptly, ripping off his grease-stained overalls.
“Jarvis!
Notify the NYPD that I will arrive at the Jefferson Reservoir in an hour.
Have them prepare; I hate being watched while I work.”
“Get the car ready, Happy!” He strode toward the elevator.
“Bring my sunglasses with the micro-environmental sensors.
Since my lab is useless, I’ll go see the ‘examiner’s’ diagnostic method with my own eyes!”
At exactly ten in the morning, a flashy Audi R8 broke through the cordon on the dot, coming to a sudden halt before the reservoir’s main dam with a beautiful drift.
“Boss, is it…
really okay for us to just barge in like this?” Happy looked at the police officers who rushed over but suddenly skidded to a halt.
“Otherwise, what?
Wait for them to send me an invitation?” Tony pushed the car door open.
The face recognized by the entire world was the best passport.
He ignored the on-scene commander who ran over to salute, his sharp gaze searching through the chaotic crowd.
Soon, he spotted his target.
Leon Hall was currently being blocked by two police officers at the outermost perimeter.
Tony’s lips curled up as he strolled over.
“Hey, officers, he’s a consultant I brought in.”
The officers turned around, instantly froze in place, and stammered, “M-Mr.
Stark!”
“Now, can he go in?”
The officers immediately cleared the path, their look toward Leon Hall instantly transforming from “suspicious individual” to “the big shot’s expert.”
Leon Hall gave Tony a slight nod and calmly walked into the heart of the chaos.
“Did your instruments get any results?” Leon Hall asked, cutting straight to the point.
“They told me you should run for mayor of New York, because you’ve successfully cured half the city’s insomnia,” Tony said, putting on his sunglasses to mask his frustration in his usual manner.
On his lenses, Leon Hall’s heart rate, body temperature, and emotional fluctuations were as flat and stable as a straight line.
Stark.” Leon Hall’s gaze drifted past him toward the shimmering reservoir.
“Now, it’s time for my diagnosis.”
He reached out toward Happy, gesturing for him to bring the water sample.
Happy immediately “borrowed” a vial of freshly collected raw water sample from a nearby CDC researcher’s case.
Leon Hall took the test tube, his gaze turning focused.
“To ensure the divination is not disturbed by external spirituality, we must first establish a barrier.”
He took a step back and began to pace counterclockwise with himself at the center.
His steps were small, walking in a perfect circle that enclosed Tony and Happy within it.
At the same time, he began to chant obscure syllables in an extremely low voice.
The language was ancient and cryptic, like the echo of a lost civilization, each syllable carrying a strange, vibrating tone.
In Tony’s sunglasses, Jarvis’s voice chimed in with a rare hint of “confusion”: “Sir, audio signal captured.
Comparing with language databases…
Fail.
No match found in any known human language, including extinct ones.”
Tony’s heart skipped a beat.
A language even Jarvis couldn’t recognize?
This shocked him more than any warning on his instruments.
At the same time, a red stream of data flashed across his lenses!
[Warning: Unresolvable energy field generated!
Hemispherical dome, 2.7-meter radius, exhibits stable contraction and isolation properties!]
Happy’s face grew pale.
He could clearly feel that the clamorous voices, the wind, and the police sirens around them were instantly isolated by an invisible wall, becoming distant and muffled.
The option of “fraud” was completely and cleanly crossed off in Tony’s mind.
Leon Hall ignored their shock.
He had stopped walking and stood in the center of the circle.
He released his fingers, letting a simple, ancient citrine pendulum hang naturally, hovering directly over the water sample in the test tube.
Once again, using that incomprehensible language, he chanted in a low voice:
“In the name of The Fool, there is an anomaly in these waters.”
The previously still pendulum, as if tossed into boiling oil, instantly began to swing violently and erratically, emitting a buzzing wail.
“Do you see, Mr.
Stark?” Leon Hall looked up.
“This is not water.
It is a bowl of ‘soup’ filled with malice, hunger, and corruption.”
“My sensors…
read nothing,” Tony said, forcing himself to stay calm, though his voice was somewhat dry.
“Your eyes can only see physical matter, but my Spirit Vision can see the essence,” Leon Hall explained calmly.
“The source of this ‘soup’ is an extraordinary creature parasitic on the spiritual plane.
According to Mr.
Fool’s revelation, they are called Whispering Leeches.”
He put away the pendulum and compared the information with the incident reports from Queens one by one.
Every single point matched perfectly.
This wasn’t divination; this was a clear, complete, and logically consistent pathological diagnostic report.
“What are their weaknesses?” Tony’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he asked the crucial question.
Leon Hall lowered the pendulum again and once more chanted those mysterious syllables in a low voice.
This time, the pendulum first spun smoothly in a clockwise direction, then began to vibrate rapidly in an up-and-down motion at high frequency.
Leon Hall opened his eyes and delivered his final conclusion:
“They fear two things: pure and intense ‘light’, and ‘high-frequency vibrations’ that can disrupt the body of water.”
Light!
Leon Hall had given an answer from the occult domain, but to Tony’s ears, it was a pure physics problem!
Shock first washed over Tony’s face, followed by a fanatical, almost fierce smile.
Solving an occult disaster with physical means?
Was there anything more exciting than this?!
“Deal!” He looked at Leon Hall, his eyes shining intensely.
“I will help you retrieve the ‘offering’ you want!”
He paused suddenly and changed the subject.
The intense desire to explore unknown knowledge, inherent to a scientist, could no longer be suppressed.
“But before that, answer me one question.” Tony stared into Leon Hall’s eyes.
“The language you just used…
What was that?
My AI couldn’t find it in any known database.”
This was one of the things he cared about the most.
Energy fields could be studied and extraordinary creatures analyzed, but a brand-new linguistic system possessing supernatural power implied a complete, unheard-of system of knowledge.
It was an undiscovered gold mine.
Leon Hall met his gaze calmly, his answer flawless and impenetrable: “Hermes.
It is a key to communicate with ‘rules’, Mr.
Stark, not used for ‘conversation’.
You do not need to know its meaning; you only need to know that it yields the results you require.”
With a single sentence, he blocked all of Tony’s follow-up questions.
Tony stared at him for a few seconds.
Instead of getting angry, he grinned even wider.
With thresholds, barriers, and core knowledge that couldn’t be easily obtained…
now this was a true advanced discipline!
“Excellent.
I like these rules.” His tone returned to an unquestionable command.
“You’ve written the prescription.
Now, it’s Doctor Stark’s turn to dispense the medicine!
Happy, let’s go!”
Tony turned and got into the car.
The Audi R8’s engine roared, kicking up dust as it sped away, leaving behind the mess and his newly established ally.
That afternoon, Stark Tower.
“Jarvis.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Archive all data acquired today at the highest encryption level.
Create a new, separate file, save the audio of the unknown language we just recorded, and codename it—’Hermes’.
Run continuous background comparisons against all linguistic databases using every algorithmic model available!”
“Understood, sir.
The ‘Hermes’ file has been created.”
“Good.” Tony’s eyes gleamed.
“Now, pull up all blueprints of the Queens underground sewer system and the municipal power grid!
Our ‘Dr.
Hall’ has finished his diagnosis; it’s time for ‘Engineer Stark’ to solve the problem!”
He paused, his lips curving up.
“Also, start a new project plan, codename: ‘Deep Sea Fishing’.
Target: the Lava Octopus in the [Bermuda Triangle], and…
plan a close encounter with a meteorite.
Pull up the technical reserves for the Triton and Earth Walker.”
“Once we help Queens clear out its sewers…
it’ll be time to collect an expensive package for our new friend.”