Morris Bench held the employee card in his hand, feeling as if he were clutching a deed of indenture.
The card was exquisitely made.
His photo and name were printed on it, and a line of gilded characters below was particularly dazzling.
"Rodriguez Risk Management Co., Ltd. · Infrastructure Project Department Supervisor."
"Supervisor?"
Morris scoffed at himself.
That title sounded even more preposterous than the name of his dilapidated boat.
He felt like he wasn't here to be a supervisor; he had boarded a pirate ship.
The kind where both he and his abilities were mortgaged.
"So, Supervisor Morris, are you satisfied with your new position?"
Morris shoved the employee card into his pocket.
His movements were so rough it was as if he wanted to tear it to shreds.
"You're truly a Vampire boss. Tell me, how do you plan to use this old bone of mine to drill holes?"
"Not drilling holes, but infrastructure. Please use more professional terminology."
After correcting him, William pulled out a helmet from under the table that looked like a high-tech colander.
"Here, this is your new tool, the 'Geological Sonar Imaging Helmet' sponsored by Stark Industries, internal code name 'Earth Penetrator.'"
Morris looked at the strange helmet, covered in precise sensors and circuits, with a look of disdain.
"Don't underestimate it."
William handed the helmet over.
"This thing is directly connected to Jarvis and can project real-time geological structure maps from dozens of meters beneath the riverbed directly into your brain."
"It is your third eye, and Jarvis is your co-pilot."
"We are not performing crude excavation; we are carrying out precise, surgical-level underground engineering."
Every word that came out of William's mouth made Morris feel his blood pressure rising.
Taking the helmet, Morris put it on sullenly.
The cold metallic touch pressed against his scalp, and the next second, a massive data stream rushed into his mind.
Countless distribution maps of strata, rocks, and sediment instantly became clear.
It was as if he was born with the ability to see through the Earth.
"Go."
William patted his shoulder.
"The East River is your office. Go and feel the power."
The East River's water at night was bone-chillingly cold.
But when Morris fully immersed himself in it, what he felt was an unprecedented sense of freedom.
Fear still existed.
But the clear vision brought by that helmet was like a beacon dispelling some of the darkness.
He could "see" the thickness of every inch of silt, and "hear" the whispers of every rock.
This sense of control intoxicated him.
"Morris, do you read? How do you feel?"
William's voice, transmitted through bone conduction technology, rang directly in his mind, like an insistent supervisor.
"Shut up, you're annoying."
Morris "mumbled" a reply in the current.
"Excellent, mental state stable. Now, try to condense a small stream of Water and perform a tentative cut on that patch of silt at your left front, three o'clock direction."
William's command was as calm as if he were playing a simulation game.
Morris mobilized his power as instructed.
This was harder than he imagined.
It required extreme mental focus.
He felt as if everything below his neck had turned into Water, which then began to spin and compress at high speed.
Finally, a Water line, thinner than a strand of hair, shot out from a part of his "body."
Pfft—
There was no loud bang.
Only a dull sensation of penetration.
The high-pressure Water blade easily cut through the thick silt, leaving a straight passage several meters long.
It worked!
Morris was ecstatic.
He had never imagined that this curse, which had plagued him his entire life, could actually transform into such a sharp weapon.
He excitedly controlled the Water blade, unleashing it freely across the riverbed.
Like a child who had just received a new toy.
But his smile soon faded.
After only a dozen minutes, a huge wave of fatigue washed over him.
His brain felt like an overheating engine; every time he controlled the Water blade, he felt a large chunk of his mental energy being drained.
He even felt his liquefied body becoming unstable, with splashes of Water uncontrollably dissipating at the edges.
He abruptly stopped, awkwardly burst out of the Water, and reformed at the dock, gasping for breath.
"It seems the first day of work is still a bit tiring."
William was already standing on the dock.
He held a cup of green liquid with a strange odor.
"What is this stuff? Dishwater?"
Morris looked at the cup warily.
"Employee benefit."
William handed the cup over.
"Dr. Connors's special 'Vitality Supplement' prototype liquid number one."
"Rich in high-concentration electrolytes and some... trace elements that promote cell vitality."
"Don't worry, this part isn't covered by your insurance; it's free."
Morris hesitated for a moment, but eventually took the cup and drank it all in one gulp.
A cool liquid with a grassy and minty taste slid down his throat, instantly dispelling most of his fatigue.
He felt like a shriveled sponge that had been refilled with Water.
Meanwhile.
On the roof of an old apartment building in Brooklyn.
Tandy pulled her jacket tighter and scanned the buildings opposite with binoculars.
The binoculars locked onto a green figure moving swiftly across the rooftops.
"This guy is wearing a green, tight-fitting jumpsuit? Did he wear his pajamas out? What is this, a Brooklyn nocturnal gymnastics show?"
The figure moved agilely, leaping and tumbling between buildings without making a sound.
Tandy pouted but still raised her device and took a photo of the blurry figure.
She wrote in the notes: "Brooklyn Nocturnal Gymnastics Man, suspected of violent tendencies and terrible fashion sense."
Inside Biological Laboratory 01 on North Brother Island.
A cry of uncontrollable ecstasy broke the silence.
"I succeeded! I succeeded! Perfect spinal regeneration!"
Dr. Curtis Connors stared intently at the cell tissue under the microscope.
His intact hand trembled with excitement.
In a cage next to him, a White mouse was scurrying around.
Previously, it had been paralyzed due to a severed spine.
The joy didn't last long.
A red glow appeared in the eyes of the healed White mouse.
It suddenly pounced on another healthy peer in the cage.
With an unimaginable ferocity, it bit down hard.
Screams and the smell of blood instantly filled the air.
Connors's ecstasy froze, replaced by a complex emotion intertwined with confusion and obsession.
He watched the increasingly aggressive White mouse, quickly walked to the lab bench, and scribbled in the report.
Experiment record: Regeneration process shows a strong positive correlation with aggressiveness.
Conjecture: Does the regeneration serum simultaneously activate deeper... primitive instincts? More experimental data needed.
William's employees each performed their duties.
Only the boss was slacking off.
After replenishing his vitality, Morris felt better than ever.
He confidently threw himself back into the grand task of "opening mountains."
Under his precise control, the high-pressure Water blade, like a divine weapon, easily cut through silt and gravel.
The tunnel was extending at a visible speed.
Suddenly—
Clang!
A deafening metallic crash, transmitted through the sonar helmet, slammed into Morris's brain.
His condensed Water blade seemed to hit an immovable wall, instantly dissipating.
That wasn't rock!
Rock wouldn't make that sound!
Morris's heart jolted, and he immediately retracted his attack.
He cautiously used a gentle stream of Water, like a hand, to touch the obstruction.
The 3D image in the sonar helmet gradually became clear.
It wasn't a rock, nor was it a bedrock slab.
It was a wall.
A massive metal wall, covered with countless twisted and bizarre unknown patterns.
It was deeply buried beneath the riverbed.
As if it had existed there since time immemorial.
Morris dared not linger any longer; he instantly dissolved his form, turning into a Water arrow and frantically shooting towards the surface.
With a loud splash, Morris burst out of the Water onto the dock in front of William.
"Boss!"
His face was pale, and he pointed at the river behind him, his words disjointed.
"Under the river... there's something under the river! That's not a tunnel! It's like a gigantic... iron plate, damn it!"
-------------------------------
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