Chapter 6: Hulk
Mr. Ling continued, "In everyone's mind, countless thoughts arise every moment. Traditional Chinese Medicine categorizes them as joy, anger, worry, contemplation, sorrow, fear, and shock—these are the seven emotions."
Upon hearing Mr. Ling mention 'anger,' Bruce Banner instinctively sat up straighter, listening for Mr. Ling to continue.
"In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are seven emotions and six desires. The seven emotions—joy, anger, worry, contemplation, sorrow, fear, and shock—and the six desires—the physiological needs or wishes of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. These things combined essentially encompass everything in a person's entire life."
"Although I don't know exactly how the power within you was generated, I think the emotion of anger must be the key to controlling everything. You see, anger, when pushed to its extreme, is also a very powerful force, and you just happened to trigger this force." Taking a deep breath, Mr. Ling continued, "And what you need to do now is to completely control this power."
Bruce Banner looked deeply at Mr. Ling, picked up the teacup on the table, took a large gulp, and then said in a deep voice, "Although I didn't fully understand everything you said, I can feel that what's happening to me is somewhat similar to what you described."
Mr. Ling nodded gently. The stories he told certainly couldn't be directly related to what was happening to Bruce Banner, but they still had general reference value.
"According to what you said, there should be a consciousness within me that controls the power of anger, just like I call it the Hulk!" Bruce Banner revealed his true identity to Mr. Ling without reservation, and he asked very frankly, "Then, Mr. Ling, is there any way to destroy this power and consciousness within me?"
"Destroying it is impossible." Mr. Ling gently shook his head, took a deep breath, and said, "Dr. Banner, this consciousness within you, to put it plainly, is just a part of your own consciousness. Trying to destroy it would be equivalent to destroying yourself. Your current relationship is one of co-existence and co-death; if you live, it lives; if you die, it dies!"
Hearing Mr. Ling say this, Bruce Banner seemed to let out his last breath, lowering his head and remaining silent for a long time.
"Dr. Banner!" Mr. Ling refilled Bruce Banner's teacup, and then said in a low voice, "According to the theories of our Eastern world, as long as you live in this world for one day, the Hulk will always exist. Even if you manage to destroy him by some means, as long as you are alive, the Hulk has a high chance of Rebirth."
Hearing Mr. Ling say this, Bruce Banner seemingly listlessly drank the freshly refilled teacup in one gulp, then sat there in silence, not moving.
Mr. Ling didn't understand why Bruce Banner was so determined to destroy the Hulk, perhaps because the Hulk had caused countless innocent casualties and he himself couldn't control it. Mr. Ling didn't want to delve into this point. He stared at Bruce Banner and said in a deep voice, "Completely destroying the Hulk might be impossible, but removing him from your body is not a fantastical idea."
"Remove?" Bruce Banner suddenly looked up at Mr. Ling, asking with some expectation, "How do I remove him?"
Mr. Ling pondered for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I think you might be like conjoined twins, conjoined twins whose bodies are connected. They each have their own consciousness but cannot move freely, and this is not an incurable disease in medicine. I think, to solve the Hulk within you, we should also work in this direction."
A glimmer of longing flashed in Bruce Banner's eyes. He suddenly stood up and asked eagerly, "Mr. Ling, what do you suggest we do?"
"Please calm down, Doctor." Mr. Ling waved his hand, signaling Bruce Banner to sit back down, then carefully said, "It will likely be very difficult to remove the Hulk from your body. First, you need to have a considerable degree of control over the Hulk. During the removal process, it is to be expected that the Hulk will resist. No one knows how powerful it is better than you, so you must have some control over it, at least to prevent it from causing trouble during this process."
"If I could completely control him, why would I need to destroy him!" A bitter smile appeared on Bruce Banner's face. He nodded helplessly and said, "I'll try my best. I'll try to find a way to control him."
"Mmm, practices like Buddhism and Yoga might help with that. You should try them out." After Mr. Ling finished speaking, his expression turned serious, and he said in a deep voice, "Secondly, if we want to use this technique, my personal medical skills must be elevated to a very high Realm before this step is possible. This will take ten or even more years, and I don't know if you have that patience."
"Don't worry, time is not an issue!" Bruce Banner's attitude was unexpectedly calm to Mr. Ling. There were some things Mr. Ling might not know at all; ever since he had the Hulk within him, Bruce Banner had found that he showed no signs of aging whatsoever. This was something no one else knew but him.
"Good!" Mr. Ling clapped his hands and continued, "Thirdly, we will need an item that can carry the Hulk's mental consciousness and power. The best items are very rare and hard to find, but you don't need to worry; I will find this item."
Mr. Ling already had a certain target in mind. The legendary power stone, it was rumored, would be most suitable for the Hulk!
"Even at worst, we can use cloning methods to solve the problem." Mr. Ling smiled lightly, appearing full of confidence.
"Cloning!" A hint of worry appeared on Bruce Banner's face as he said in a low, firm voice, "Regarding this matter, if we can avoid cloning, we should try our best not to use it, because we don't know what kind of monster the clone will turn out to be."
"I understand!" Mr. Ling nodded in agreement and said, "Cloning technology is only a last resort. Once we use cloning, all our control methods over the Hulk will fail. So, I will not resort to cloning unless it's the very last moment."
Although cloning technology appears to have made no Breakthrough due to ethical resistance, those within the true inner circles know that cloning technology is already quite mature and has even been widely applied by governments in secret. Therefore, it is not difficult to create another Bruce Banner using cloning methods.
Hearing Mr. Ling say this, Bruce Banner let out a deep sigh of relief. He was genuinely worried that Mr. Ling would resort to cloning by any means necessary, in which case the consequences would be unimaginable.