Chapter 176: An Apocalyptic Folly
Lynn's microscopic fingertips gently touched the very tip of the first ice crystal.
It began to melt.
Not all at once.
Molecule by molecule.
The rigid crystalline lattice gradually unraveled as individual water molecules detached from its structure.
Slowly.
Painfully slowly.
Yet with absolute precision.
His movements never varied.
Every action possessed the mechanical consistency of a perfectly calibrated surgical instrument.
One crystal.
Then another.
And another.
...
Forty minutes later—
The liver had been completely cleared.
One hour—
The kidneys.
Two hours—
The heart.
Three hours—
The brain.
Every neuron.
Every capillary.
Every microscopic ice crystal.
Four hours—
The circulatory system.
Four and a half hours after the procedure began—
The final intracellular ice crystal vanished.
Lynn withdrew his hands.
Quantum Scaling disengaged.
His fingers returned to their normal size.
He flexed them once.
"Awakening solution."
Without hesitation, Wanda handed him the specially prepared syringe.
Lynn injected the compound solution directly into Nora Fries' jugular vein.
The second stage immediately followed.
Repairing the neurodegenerative disorder itself.
Compared to removing billions of microscopic ice crystals—
This was considerably simpler.
The gene-repair solution targeted the damaged neurons throughout the basal ganglia.
Simultaneously—
Bioactive factors derived from Lynn's Immortal Divine Body stimulated dormant neural stem cells.
Healthy neurons gradually regenerated.
New synaptic pathways began forming where degeneration had previously destroyed them.
Twenty minutes later—
The cardiac monitor changed.
A single wave appeared.
Weak.
Slow.
Regular.
Sinus rhythm.
Her heart had resumed beating.
Outside the operating room—
Victor Fries stood frozen before the observation window.
Behind the transparent visor...
Tears rolled down his face.
His armored hand pressed against the reinforced glass.
The surrounding surface immediately frosted over.
He never noticed.
His attention remained fixed entirely upon Nora.
Her chest...
Rose.
Then fell.
She was breathing.
...
Five hours after surgery began—
Nora Fries slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw...
Was the white ceiling.
The second...
The rhythmic pulse displayed on the cardiac monitor.
Finally—
She turned toward the observation window.
A familiar figure stood there.
Motionless.
Covered in ice.
"Victor...?"
Her voice was rough.
Barely above a whisper.
Victor slammed his armored hand against the glass.
Cracks spread through the frost coating its surface.
Lynn quietly removed his gloves.
Then opened the operating room door.
Victor entered immediately.
Ignoring the enormous weight of his cryogenic suit—
He dropped to one knee beside the operating table.
He reached toward Nora.
Then stopped.
His body temperature remained catastrophically low.
Even through the refrigeration armor.
Direct skin contact would instantly cause severe cold injury.
His hand remained suspended.
Only centimeters away.
Unable to move farther.
Exactly as it had remained...
For nearly ten years.
Nora smiled faintly.
"You idiot."
Her voice remained weak.
Yet unmistakably warm.
She slowly raised her own hand.
Then gently wrapped her fingers around Victor's armored glove.
The cold immediately made her flinch.
But...
She refused to let go.
Lynn silently watched for two seconds.
Then stepped behind Victor.
"Your hand."
Victor remained motionless.
"The glove."
Victor slowly extended his left arm.
Lynn removed a specialized blood collection needle.
The instrument had been manufactured from vibranium.
An electromagnetic field surrounded the tip.
Victor's cryogenically altered tissues had become significantly denser than ordinary human skin.
Standard surgical needles would simply fail.
The reinforced needle pierced the exposed skin near his wrist.
Victor never reacted.
Lynn withdrew exactly two milliliters.
The blood was not normal crimson.
Instead—
It appeared deep blue with faint violet undertones.
The altered hemoglobin structure responsible for Victor's unique cryogenic physiology produced the unusual coloration.
Lynn sealed the sample inside a refrigerated containment tube.
"Take your wife somewhere warm."
"The Bahamas would be appropriate."
"Her body requires approximately three months for complete recovery."
"Prevent unnecessary exposure to cold during that period."
Victor slowly nodded.
His eyes remained red.
Lynn continued.
"As for the warrants against you..."
"...that becomes your own responsibility once you leave this street."
Victor nodded again.
He never thanked Lynn.
He didn't need to.
Some gratitude transcends words.
...
Late that night.
The underground laboratory.
A refrigerated sample tube containing Victor Fries' mutated blood rested on the laboratory console.
Lynn did not immediately begin integration research.
Instead—
He first opened the system interface.
The healing assessment remained incomplete.
The Masterful Copying process had not yet finished resolving Nora's treatment.
Victor's blood, however, required no system evaluation.
It was a physical specimen.
Suitable for immediate analysis.
The gene analyzer activated.
Victor's physiology proved remarkable.
His altered blood contained an entirely unique family of cryoprotective proteins.
Unlike naturally occurring antifreeze proteins found in polar marine organisms—
These proteins actively influenced surrounding thermal energy.
They did not merely prevent freezing.
They absorbed heat from the local environment.
Even below −200°C, their molecular structure remained completely stable.
That was the true foundation of Victor Fries' cryogenic condition.
Not magic.
Not metahuman energy.
A complete biological adaptation.
Interestingly...
Its underlying principles mirrored the thermal regulation already integrated within Lynn's Immortal Divine Body.
One system accelerated molecular motion.
The other slowed it.
Heat.
Cold.
Opposite expressions of the same thermodynamic principles.
If Victor's biological cooling mechanism could eventually be incorporated into the Immortal Divine Body...
Then Lynn's existing thermal regulation would cease being theoretical.
He would truly achieve seamless transition between extreme heat and extreme cold.
One hand capable of generating temperatures comparable to stellar plasma.
The other capable of reducing surrounding matter toward cryogenic extremes.
Fire.
Ice.
Within one body.
Lynn inserted the blood sample into the genomic analysis system.
The analysis required time.
He leaned back.
Picked up his coffee.
Took a slow sip.
His phone rang.
Bruce Wayne.
"I heard you cured Nora Fries."
Bruce spoke without preamble.
"I'm a doctor."
Lynn answered just as directly.
The two exchanged only a few brief remarks before ending the call.
Lynn returned his attention to the analysis display.
...
Time continued moving forward.
Wanda had now remained at Miracle Clinic for nearly six weeks.
The emotional rehabilitation program had progressed steadily.
During the previous two weeks—
She had maintained complete control over Chaos Magic even while deliberately reliving traumatic memories.
The monitoring collar remained consistently blue.
The second stage of treatment had officially begun.
Instead of suppressing Chaos Magic—
Lynn now encouraged Wanda to release it voluntarily.
Control...
Rather than restraint.
That was the next objective.
However—
The training temporarily stopped.
Because something far more urgent occurred.
11:00 PM.
Lynn was reviewing Victor Fries' protein analysis within the underground laboratory.
His phone rang.
Tony Stark.
"Lynn."
Tony sounded different.
Urgent.
Behind his voice came the deep mechanical hum of large industrial equipment operating at full power.
"What happened?"
"Can you come here?"
"Depends."
"What happened?"
Silence.
Two full seconds.
Then Tony finally answered.
"Bruce and I..."
"...did something unbelievably stupid."
Lynn's hand stopped moving.
Tony Stark.
Bruce Wayne.
Two of the greatest scientific minds on Earth.
Calling something—
"Stupid."
That alone was alarming.
"How stupid?"
Tony exhaled.
"Apocalypse-level stupid."
Lynn quietly placed the research report onto the desk.
"Send me the coordinates."
A string of encrypted GPS data arrived.
The All-Seeing Eye immediately decrypted the transmission.
An abandoned industrial complex.
Upstate New York.
No registered facilities appeared on any public map.
Lynn stood.
Golden sparks erupted into existence.
A Sling Ring portal unfolded before him.
He stepped through.
...
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