Chapter Six: The Project of Creating Gods and Dark Energy

“Keisha, why do I feel like you’re even more anxious than I am?”

Keisha: …

“Do you know why my name is Keisha?” There was a flash of surprise in Michael’s eyes—wasn’t it me who gave her that name?

“In truth, everything is the result of fate’s selection. I am the genetic engine of Keisha; a fragment of her soul exists within me. After the stellar explosion, Keisha chose to die, awaiting the dawn of a new era. Yet I was unwilling to simply fade away, so I split part of my system and sent it into the parallel universes of other realms.”

“I don’t know why I ended up merging with you, becoming your engine. Perhaps it’s fate again, who can say? Fate chose you, brought us to this world where there is no God-making Project, and now we begin a new one.”

“The God-making Project?” Michael couldn’t help but feel excited.

According to the universe of the Soldier Company, the God-making Project is the genesis of the Divine River civilization; all the gods in that story are connected to it.

So the question arises—do Soldier Company and the Marvel universe share the same cosmology?

“Did you forget? In Super God Academy, there’s an episode set in the Antarctic. The Avengers show up, but since they’re not the main characters, they’re instantly defeated.”

Now that she mentioned it, that really did happen…

Keisha continued, “The dark energy and dark matter used in Soldier Company exist in this world as well. That means the source of a mage’s power is dark matter. After the Rainbow Bridge was destroyed, Odin gathered a great amount of dark energy to send Thor to Earth. So-called divine power is, in essence, dark matter too.”

Damn, it’s true. In the first Avengers movie, Loki said it himself: sending Thor to his beloved Earth required a massive amount of dark matter energy.

So, Soldier Company and Marvel do share a universe; the only difference is who has the protagonist’s aura.

“The God-making Project, Super God Academy…”

“Master, I suspect Steve Rogers is an imperfect first-generation super soldier. The God-making Project also slightly influences personality; all the gods have clear convictions and principles, a definite sense of right and wrong, none walk in the grey areas.”

“And as for the selection of angels, every candidate must first meet the standard of character before they are qualified to receive the creed of angelic justice, to become warriors for justice.”

Damn. The standards for selecting angels seem quite similar to how the doctor chose Steve—caring more for the spirit than for the body.

A multitude of thoughts swirled through Michael’s mind as he quickly considered everything.

If all kinds of parallel universes exist, then why shouldn’t there be one where the protagonist isn’t an Avenger? In that case, the Soldier Company universe could very well exist too.

“I feel like you’re more impatient than I am.”

Hearing Michael’s question, Keisha was momentarily speechless.

She was silent for a moment, then said, “The creed of justice must be instilled in this universe. This universe lacks the justice that angels bring.”

Michael was at a loss for words.

“I suspect you really are Keisha.”

“I told you, I possess a fragment of Keisha’s soul, and I also have some angelic data here. If you don’t wish to carry out the creed of justice, then your genetic technology is advanced enough to revive them and let them do it.”

Still claiming not to be Keisha.

Michael rubbed his forehead.

To be honest, the God-making Project is leagues ahead of ordinary genetic engineering. Michael deeply yearned for it, yet felt powerless to attain it.

“In fact, this universe has its own God-making technology—take Loki, for instance.”

“Loki?”

“A descendant of frost giants, yet he can use illusion magic. Even as a child he could transform into an Asgardian, and he himself doesn’t know the truth. If Odin hadn’t added some special genes, then there’d be a real problem.”

That’s true.

“So, Asgardians are a race that naturally possesses god genes. It’s just that their understanding of divine genetics leans more toward metaphysics, so they retain the traditions of an ancient people.”

Thor, Odin, Loki, Heimdall, and others all possess god genes.

Thor’s case is simple—before long, Odin will cast him down and seal his powers.

The group led by Heimdall will also descend from the realm of the gods.

That presents an opportunity.

But how would I pierce their skin?

“Do you have any ideas?”

“I don’t have any technology with me, but I can offer some guidance. Adamantium might do the trick.”

Well, it looks like I’ll have to take things one step at a time.

He looked up at Norman. Although it seemed as though he and Keisha had been conversing for quite a while, in reality only an instant had passed—after all, their communication was telepathic, far faster than ordinary speech.

“I’ll join your project. Maybe this will benefit me too.”

Norman smiled brightly and patted Michael on the shoulder.

“Come with me.”

They walked into the lab, where Norman handed Michael a file and produced a remote control, revealing a wall that slid open.

Michael glanced through the file and then peered inside.

Behind a layer of reinforced glass and a mesh of special alloyed wires was a powerfully built ape, deeply muscled like Captain America.

From its features, Michael quickly realized this wasn’t a gorilla, but a type of monkey.

“It shouldn’t be this strong.”

“That’s right,” Norman replied, clearly pleased. “This is currently our only test subject, but there’s been an unexpected development.”

“What sort of development?”

“Split personality.”

For some reason, Michael wasn’t the least bit surprised—in fact, it was as if he’d seen this coming.

His understanding of Norman was limited to the first Spider-Man film; Michael wasn’t a Marvel fan.

He just liked the movies and never did much research into individual characters, so he wasn’t very familiar with Norman’s experiments.

However, Norman himself seemed to have a split personality, often experiencing hallucinations, becoming more narrow-minded, and eventually talking to mirrors, until the evil persona took over completely.

“That is indeed a problem.”

Michael didn’t rush to offer his opinion. He was here to borrow the opportunity, not to be Norman’s lackey.

Norman continued, “Overall, the experiment is a success, but the mental issues are thorny. After all, it’s a monkey—it can’t communicate with us. Lately, I’ve been considering human trials.”

“That’s best avoided. If you create a super-criminal, it will damage Oscorp’s reputation, and we might become laughingstocks.”

Norman thought for a moment and agreed. If something went wrong with something Howard managed decades ago but he couldn’t replicate now, it’d be humiliating.

Indeed, to Norman, his pride mattered more than the dangers of creating a super-criminal.

On the surface, Norman was polite and gracious, but deep down he couldn’t escape the essence of a capitalist.