Xu Dan received the news and immediately went downstairs to meet Bruce Banner.
After everything Banner had gone through, he had been curious about this mysterious man for quite some time. But when he finally saw Xu Dan with his own eyes, he was stunned.
He hadn't expected the man who seemed increasingly enigmatic in his mind to be so young.
Judging from his methods and influence, Banner had always pictured him as a middle-aged, wealthy businessman—someone rich, capable, and surrounded by powerful subordinates like Goenitz.Fate, perhaps, had other ideas.
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Banner," Xu Dan greeted politely.
Banner lifted his gaze to the towering Antarctic Game Building, momentarily dazed before replying, "Oh—oh, hello, Mr. Xu Dan!"
"This way, please."
There wasn't much conversation. Xu Dan already knew a great deal about him.He led Banner directly into the building and down to the basement.
When he'd purchased this building, part of the appeal had been the abandoned U.S. underground base beneath it. He still didn't know what the Americans had used it for, but the structure was solid enough.
He hadn't thought too deeply back then—he simply felt that having a secret underground site was… awesome.
Now, it made the perfect place to receive Banner.
Not for any ulterior motive—just safety.
Over the past few days, he had secretly outfitted the basement with top-tier equipment.
Banner stepped inside, eyes lighting up at the sight of the experimental machines he had always dreamed of using.
For a researcher, this place was paradise—like a gaming enthusiast being offered an RTX 2080 back in the day.
"This… this is the price you mentioned?" Banner scratched the back of his head, unable to hide his excitement.
Xu Dan nodded. "Work for me. I'll send the specific project details to you in a file later. As for compensation—just write down whatever financial support you need. And in addition to money, I'll provide you with one week's worth of 'medicine' every seven days."
Banner couldn't refuse.
In fact, the offer far exceeded anything he had imagined.
He originally thought that coming to Xu Dan meant working under him solely in exchange for that small black card that kept him safe from the Hulk.
But this—this was his ultimate dream.
He could do real research, openly request materials and expenses, and most importantly—not worry about turning into a monster.
Perfect.
After quietly pinching himself to confirm he wasn't dreaming, Banner said gratefully, "Thank you so much. Honestly, I won't need much besides material costs for the research…"
"No need to be modest. You'll need it sooner or later."
Xu Dan smiled faintly. How much could Bruce Banner possibly spend? Even if he burned through a million a month, it would be nothing—mere droplets compared to the cost of materials for developing the gaming helmet.
As long as the research succeeded, saving a few batches of high-end materials would offset tens of millions.
After exchanging a few more basic details with Banner, Xu Dan left the underground base.
——————
After a month, the development progress of the virtual gaming helmet had reached 1%.Though the number was tiny, the speed was astonishingly fast.
Fortunately, it was Banner—an all-around genius.Anyone else wouldn't have produced even a fart of progress in a month.
Meanwhile, both "Torture Original" and "CrossFire" had finished development.
"Torture Original" was a single-player game—after confirming there were no bugs, it could be released on the official store immediately.
But "CrossFire" was different. As a multiplayer online shooter, it needed new servers.
The server purchased from Stark Industries last time was already crowded to capacity with the growing number of Warcraft players.
Which meant Xu Dan needed to visit Stark Industries again.
And he also needed to discuss the core of the virtual holographic game—the smart brain.
Walking into the Stark Building for the second time, he felt that even though it hadn't been long, the atmosphere here had subtly changed.The changes were too faint for him to care much.
Tony personally came to greet him and led him to the private lounge.
"So," Tony began, "buying another server? Or are we discussing new cooperation? Like giving me a World of Warcraft privilege account—"
Xu Dan quickly cut him off. "I really am here to buy another batch of servers."
"Well, we'll go by the price we negotiated last time. You know me—I keep my promises." Tony grinned. "And then…?"
"And then," Xu Dan said, "I want to discuss cooperation."
"You do want to cooperate with me!" Tony laughed, sipping his wine."What kind of cooperation? Want me to distribute your new game or something?"
"What do you know about online games, you arms dealer?" Xu Dan shot back, leaning into the sofa.
"That's hurtful, you know."
Ignoring Tony's theatrics, Xu Dan asked directly, "Tony, have you ever imagined a game that allows you to enter an entirely new world—with your body and mind?"
Tony's eyes lit up. "You mean schizophrenia?"
"You—!"
"Alright, alright, I'm joking," Tony chuckled. "But look—I'm an arms dealer. To build what you're talking about, you need top-tier talent in biological science. And there aren't many of those in the world. Most are held tight by governments."
"You don't need to worry about that. I've already solved the biggest problem. Now I want you to cooperate with me on building the game."
"Go on," Tony said, now genuinely intrigued. He hadn't expected a game developer like Xu Dan to have access to such talent.
"This game is still in development. But obviously, it will require extremely powerful servers. And I think only you can provide them."
Tony could hear the praise embedded in Xu Dan's words, and he smiled proudly.
"That's right—I can help. To be honest, I'm excited about the game you're envisioning. Whether it succeeds or not, I'm willing to invest. But… you must give me a privilege account when it launches. Heh!"
"That's fine. How about ten times attack speed?"
"Whoa—amazing! Dan, you're a god among players!"
"However," Xu Dan added, "there's still a difficult problem—the smart brain."
-----------------------
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