"I'm the Crab Man! I beca a crab monster because I ate too many crabs!"
The creature that appeared in front of Tifa was grotesque and absurd all at once. A massive half-human, half-crab thing stood there, though "half-human" was generous. Its upper body was a crab. Its lower body was a man.
"...A monster that turned into a crab from eating too many crabs?"
This was the first ti Tifa had ever encountered such a nonsensical setup, and for a mont she did not know what the right response was. Was she supposed to kill it by the rules of monster suppression, or arrest it under human law?
The Crab Man did not give her ti to think.
He lunged.
Tifa stopped worrying about it imdiately.
If this had been the older, Final Fantasy version of Tifa, dealing with a monster like this might not have been so easy. But this Tifa had Kryptonian soldier genes flowing through her body. She closed the distance in an instant and drove a short, sharp punch into its midsection.
The Crab Man's abdon burst open on impact.
One-punch Tifa achieved.
Drex watched as she dropped the monster with a single hit and gave a satisfied nod.
Kryptonian soldier genes really were perfect for combat.
Tifa had only been exposed to sunlight for a few days, and she was already hitting with the force of five hundred tons. Compared to his own original growth, back when he still had a scientist's genes, her progression was far faster.
At this point she could probably hold her own against a normal Hulk.
That ant he no longer had to worry so much about her safety.
If you asked a scientist where the world's most advanced technology truly existed, most would not say Arica. They would not say Blade Technology Industries either. The majority would give you the sa answer.
The most advanced technology in the world, theoretically speaking, the very best of it, existed only on paper.
That was especially true inside the world's most secretive research labs. Across every major superpower, those hidden facilities all contained work in this field.
Beyond the blueprints left behind by the monstrous geniuses of the Second World War, there were also endless modern theories, sketches, and speculative designs. And if you looked at the actual hardware in national laboratories today, most of it was rely the closest physical approximation to those ideas.
rely close, though.
That was the problem.
Real laboratory prototypes always ca with one flaw or another, and the two biggest obstacles were materials and manufacturing.
Those had always been the wall standing between theory and practical use.
As for scaling sothing up into mass production, current technology had the annoying habit of dragging performance further and further away from the original theoretical numbers.
In the end, almost every problem in physics and chemistry ca back to materials.
Solve materials, and everything else beca easier.
That was why Drex Valen was called a genius beyond his century.
His secondary kryptonite almost dragged the world into a fourth industrial revolution by itself.
High temperature.
High pressure.
Vacuum.
Cryogenic environnts.
Materials capable of surviving under those conditions without losing performance.
For seventy years, modern technology had advanced far more slowly than people liked to admit.
Why?
Because material science kept hitting a wall.
Alloys had been tried. Variations had been tested. Nothing worked, until Drex appeared out of nowhere.
The recent breakthroughs in dozens of major scientific projects across the world were proof enough.
Even if the full details had not been made public, most researchers and elite circles already understood that secondary kryptonite had played a major catalytic role.
The clearest example was the sudden surge in production efficiency in China's aerospace and rocket programs.
Word had already spread that the reason ca down to a batch of specialized tools made from secondary kryptonite.
Those tools were the reason the country had suddenly been able to accelerate production and improve output.
The effect was massive.
Those tools dramatically increased the efficiency of top-level technicians, and other countries could only watch with jealousy and frustration. Everyone knew exactly how impossible it was to match the hands of China's best craftsn and technicians, the kind of people who could make miracles with their bare hands.
This was strategic national hardware.
A true treasure of the state.
And yet it had been hidden away, known only to a tiny handful of major figures and top experts in the relevant fields.
The effects of secondary kryptonite did not stop there.
As a new alloy and new material family that far exceeded the current limits of material science, its existence ant humanity could finally begin manufacturing genuinely era-defining technology.
Not moonlight on water.
Not a reflection in a well.
Sothing real.
Sothing tangible.
Sothing that could finally be built.
That alone was enough to make every major nation willing to use every ans at their disposal to acquire it.
Unfortunately for them, the only known source of that alloy was Drex Valen's Blade Technology Industries.
And that left them with nowhere to strike.
After all, Drex was no longer just a capitalist anymore. He was the director of the Sword Bureau, a man who commanded hundreds, even thousands of superheroes.
The monstrous, impossible abilities superheroes displayed while dealing with monsters had already forced humanity to recognize just how terrifying they truly were.
Inside one of the research buildings at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a cheer erupted from the lower floor.
The entire building drew attention almost imdiately, and before long, hundreds of security personnel were rushing to the scene.
"What happened? What breakthrough did they get to make them so excited?" an academician asked as he walked over, turning to the project leader beside him.
The project leader smiled brightly.
"It's Academician Li's project. It finally broke through."
"Academician Li?"
The older man stopped walking.
He thought for a mont, then his weathered face, lined with age and gray hair, lit up with sudden joy.
"You an Academician Li finished the new composite material for electromagnetics?"
"Yes. It's done," the project leader said eagerly. "All the trics exceeded the required standards by a wide margin. It'll give a major boost to the electromagnetic cannon systems and the other projects currently under developnt."
"Good. Wonderful!" the academician said, grinning like a child on his birthday.
"This is a true national-level priority project. A major step forward for basic science, which has been stuck for far too long!"
"With this step forward, our country will have more leverage when negotiating with outside powers."
"Exactly. And now we can mass-produce many large chanical components too."
"We won't be as passive anymore... Academician Li should be in line for the Science Award, right?"
"Absolutely. Results at this level are not easy to co by. This year, it has to be him."
"This is Academician Li's honor!"
The older academician was already eager to et him in person, but security personnel inford him that the entire team had already been relocated.
That made sense.
Results like this had to be protected from sabotage by hostile forces or prying hands from abroad.
What they did not know was that the Shadow Spear Bureau had done an excellent job in that regard.
Most spies had already been killed or captured.
...
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