137: Chapter 137 T-Veronica

"Five billion dollars for a single course of treatment."

Tony Liu stood before the desk, his mind still reeling from that figure.

He looked at Chen Feng, his lips trembling for a long time before he finally squeezed out: "Boss, I have a very serious question."

Chen Feng looked up: "Speak."

"In my lifetime, will I ever have the chance to see five billion in cash piled together?"

"Yes."

Tony's eyes lit up.

Chen Feng delivered the finishing blow: "In your dreams."

"..."

Chen Feng picked up his tablet and swiped the first version of the customer screening list for the [Eternal] project to the side.

There was only one name on the list.

Weber.

Tony took a glance and immediately shut his mouth.

This old gentleman was different.

Five billion was an astronomical price for others, but for someone like Weber, it was the price of a ticket to stay at the gambling table.

And he would definitely buy it.

Chen Feng handed the tablet back: "Keep a close eye on procurement. Whatever Samantha needs, give it to her."

"Understood."

Tony was about to leave but stopped, "By the way, should we notify Mr. Weber in advance?"

"No rush."

Chen Feng leaned back in his chair, "Produce the first sample first. Until there's a finished product, all promises are just empty talk. I don't like selling pipe dreams."

Tony whispered under his breath: "That five billion quote you just gave already makes you look like a master of pipe dreams."

Chen Feng gave him a look.

Tony immediately stood at attention: "I'm going to work! Goodbye, Boss!"

The office door closed.

The room fell silent.

Chen Feng didn't continue looking at the [Eternal] data; instead, he summoned the Umbrella System again.

A translucent interface expanded in his field of vision.

[Current Remaining Research Points: 228,000]

Unlocking [Eternal] just now had cost 250,000.

From 478,000 points, one cut had left less than half.

It would be a lie to say he didn't feel the sting.

Chen Feng scanned the Tech Tree, his gaze stopping on another top-tier project.

[T-Veronica Virus]

The icon wasn't as clean as [Eternal].

Its structure was more complex, with red branches extending all the way down like out-of-control tree roots.

Chen Feng stared for a few seconds and tapped his finger.

[Host selection detected: Invest Research Points into T-Veronica Virus Basic Research]

[Current Research Points available for investment: 178,000]

[Confirm?]

Chen Feng was in no hurry to confirm.

He looked at the number and did the math in his head.

Keep 50,000 points as a backup.

Throw everything else in.

[Eternal] is the collar.

[T-Veronica] is the blade.

If you want to put a collar on others, you must have a blade in your hand.

Otherwise, if the people wearing the collars gather for a meeting one day, they might even try to strangle his neck in return.

"Confirm."

[Deducting Research Points...]

[Current Remaining Research Points: 50,000]

[T-Veronica Virus Basic Research initiated]

[Current analysis progress: 1%... 7%... 19%...]

A red data stream unfolded.

From viral gene fragments to host neural reconstruction, then to high-temperature metabolism, blood structure rewriting, and cellular energy transition...

Every piece of data told Chen Feng one thing.

This thing was not for ordinary people.

It didn't spread crudely like the T-Virus, nor did it favor infinite proliferation like the G-Virus, and it certainly didn't emphasize control like the Placa.

The core of T-Veronica was reshaping.

Treating the host like a running factory, forcibly dismantling the original production lines, and then restarting according to a different set of rules.

The problem was, during the dismantling, the person might be gone first.

[Analysis Progress: 100%]

[T-Veronica Virus Basic Blueprint unlocked]

[Warning: This virus possesses extreme instability]

[Warning: Without system-assisted intervention, the human fusion success rate is less than 0.01%]

[Warning: Failure results are unknown]

Chen Feng raised an eyebrow.

"Unknown?"

The system rarely used this word.

Usually, if the system dared to give a prompt, it meant it could calculate the outcome.

For it to say "unknown" now, the meaning was very blunt.

Failing might not be as simple as just dying.

A second later, a new prompt popped up.

[The host can use the Umbrella System for real-time genetic monitoring and intervention]

[Under full intervention conditions, the fusion success rate can be increased to 99.99%]

Chen Feng stared at the last line, silent for a few seconds.

99.99%.

This number would be considered a miracle in any project.

But once it involved human lives, that remaining 0.01% became very glaring.

Because it wasn't just a probability.

It was someone's everything.

Chen Feng rubbed the space between his eyebrows.

He was no saint.

But he didn't like pushing people onto an experimental table and then telling them it was just fate.

At the very least, they had to sign this life-gambling ticket themselves.

He pressed the intercom.

"Sarah."

A few seconds later, Sarah's voice came through: "I'm here."

"How many homeless adult survivors were rescued from Eden Island?"

"Thirteen."

"Bring them to the Underground Training Base."

"Now?"

"Now."

"Understood."

The communication ended.

Chen Feng stood up and grabbed his coat.

Outside the door, Marcus was already waiting.

Chen Feng glanced at him: "You're quick with the news."

Marcus didn't explain, only saying: "Sarah notified me to prepare the venue."

"Are they all settled?"

"The children were sent to school, and the adults were settled separately. A psychiatrist is on hand, but the effect isn't great."

Chen Feng walked toward the elevator: "That's normal."

Marcus followed.

The elevator doors closed.

The numbers went down.

Marcus remained silent for a few floors before asking: "Boss, is this experiment dangerous?"

"Dangerous."

"Will people die?"

"Possibly."

Marcus nodded and didn't ask further.

Chen Feng, however, glanced at him: "You're not going to try to persuade me?"

Marcus replied after two seconds: "I believe in Umbrella, and I believe in you even more."

The elevator reached the Underground Training Base on the third basement level.

The doors opened.

The lights in the training ground were coldly bright.

Thirteen adult survivors stood in the center of the field.

There were men and women, ranging in age from their early twenties to their forties.

They wore gray training uniforms provided by Umbrella; they were clean, and their hair had been trimmed, but the numbness from long-term imprisonment wasn't something a set of clothes could hide.

Elena was also among them.

She was the youngest adult survivor among the thirteen, with several abrasions on her face that hadn't fully faded.

Seeing Chen Feng enter, she looked up.

She recognized him.

That night on Eden Island, she had heard this man's name before she lost consciousness.

The boss of Umbrella.

The person who destroyed that island.

The person who saved them.

And possibly another devil.

Chen Feng didn't walk up to the high platform.

He stood directly in front of the thirteen people, not far away.

"I don't like beating around the bush."

As soon as he spoke, he drew everyone's attention.

"You survived Eden Island. I won't ask what happened there, and you don't need to say."

"First, Umbrella can give you a first path."

Chen Feng raised his hand, and Marcus handed over the documents Tony had prepared long ago.

He flipped them open casually.

"One million dollars each, a clean identity, a new place to live, psychological therapy, medical insurance. If necessary, you can even change cities or even countries to start a new life."

Someone in the group's eyelids twitched.

A million?

Chen Feng continued: "You sign a non-disclosure agreement and then leave this place. From now on, treat Eden Island as a nightmare. Get married, work, raise children, curse your mortgage—whatever you want."

Chen Feng closed the file.

"The second path."

Sarah raised her hand, and a screen on one side of the training ground lit up.

No bloody images.

Only sets of genetic models, muscle reaction data, and nerve conduction curves.

They couldn't understand these things.

But they could understand the line of text in the lower-right corner of the screen.

[T-Veronica Basic Fusion Experiment]