Chapter 222. Experiment (Part4)

"Mr Stark. How are your levels?"

After talking with Steve, Dr Erskine immediately turned to Howard Stark, who was standing in front of the instruments and quickly walked over. He looked at Steve lying in the ship-shaped test bed and raised an eyebrow in return.

"Levels at 100%. We may dim half the lights in Brooklyn, but we are ready as we'll ever be...."

To be honest, Howard Stark wasn't surprised by the super soldier experiment in front of him, and mentally speaking, he certainly hoped that it would come to a successful end. But he didn't really have much of a clue whether it would work or not. If it failed, the little man in front of him would be utterly doomed.

Thinking of that, Howard couldn't help looking down at Steve again, and his face revealed some pity.

Aware of Howard's strange look, Steve, who was tied to the experimental equipment, began to feel uneasy.

Dr Erskine adjusted his glasses, took a deep breath subconsciously, turned to Agent Carter, who was still standing by, and said, "Agent Carter, don't you think you would be more comfortable in the booth? "

"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry."

Hearing the Doctor's advice, Agent Carter looked at Steve in the bed and turned away with a complicated expression. Arriving in the room upstairs, Agent Carter subconsciously raised her hands in silent prayer that would all go well.

A group of people in the observation room were chatting, trying to make connections. The project and the super soldier were important, but for the people here, they were actually more concerned about maintaining their connections than the so-called Super Soldier. After all, whether Project Rebirth would be a success or not was all up in the air.

Just as everyone was chatting with each other...

Tap zizizi~ tap ~~

There was a sudden noise from the lab, causing the otherwise inattentive crowd to frown subconsciously and glance over to where the noise was coming from.

Looking up at the people above the laboratory, Dr Erskine honestly didn't want to deal with them if he could help it, but they were essential to the continuation of Project Rebirth, so Dr Erskine kept his emotions down and kept his cool on the surface.

"Do you hear me? Is this on?" Tapping the microphone, Dr Erskine said, "Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace."

As Dr Erskine narrated, behind him, Steve could see the medical staff in attendance getting busy as nurses wheeled in a large box containing rows of test tubes filled with blue liquid. They took out the test tubes and inserted them into the joints on either side of his ship-shaped chamber, then pulled a couple of metal brackets over and pressed them against his body.

"We begin with a series of microinjections into the subject's major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change."

The doctor talked endlessly while Carter pressed her lips and looked nervously at Steve below. The stiff-faced young man sat behind her.

Dr Erskine explained the steps of his experiment to the crowd, even though he was well aware that the majority of people in the room, in fact, did not understand what he was saying. As he spoke, he simultaneously made sure that the nurses were doing their job correctly, "Then, to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays."

Describing the whole experiment as if it were a play-by-play, Dr Erskine looked up at the inattentive crowd with a helpless expression on his face, knowing full well that these people wouldn't listen to what he was saying. But Colonel Phillips made a request that this had to be done, whether the people understood it or not so that they could understand a little bit about Project Rebirth and be able to pull in more funds in the future.

With a sigh, Dr Erskine placed the microphone down and returned to Steve's side. At this time, a nurse took a small syringe and stuck a needle into Steve's arm. Some transparent liquid was injected into his body.

"How do you feel?" Dr Erskine asked.

"That wasn't so bad." Steve felt the shot and didn't feel anything. He hadn't noticed any change in his body so far.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "That was penicillin."

"..."

Erskine squeezed Steve's shoulder, gesturing for him to be at ease, and turned his head to give instructions to the staff.

"Serum infusion beginning in ..."

People looked nervously at Steve on the test bed, and Agent Carter stood up nervously.

"Five, four, three, two ... one."

Two metal plates covered with needles pierced Steve's arms, and the blue serum on both sides of the test bed was quickly injected into his body.

Instantly, intense pain struck. Steve felt like he couldn't resist, he clenched his teeth, and his whole body began to shake. He could feel every inch of his muscles contracting and the bones inside him growing, stretching his body. The Super Soldier Serum changed Steve even more, but at the same time, the pain was even more intense.

Dr Erskine had little to say about that. To gain transcendental strength, one must suffer these agonies.

"Now, Mr Stark!"

Howard nodded. He wore his goggles and started to operate the controls.

The original ship-shaped bed began to close up, firmly encasing Steve in it. The whole thing took on the appearance of a small space capsule.

Dr Erskine approached the capsule and tapped on it, "Steve? Can you hear me?"

Steve gritted his teeth, endured the pain in his body, and asked, "It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?"

"Yes, it probably is."

Dr Erskine smiled and turned to nod to Howard, who immediately turned a huge knob on the instruments. In the next moment, the entire lab glowed with a blinding white light, and everyone averted their eyes. Agent Carter was also blinded by the blinding white light, but she couldn't resist rushing to the top of the stairs and looking at Steve in the middle of the lab.

"Ah ~~~~"

As the exposure continued to increase, Steve couldn't bear it any longer and let out a miserable scream.

"Shut it down!"

Hearing Steve's screams, Agent Carter couldn't help but shout for them to stop.

Hearing Agent Carter's shout, Dr Erskine immediately gave orders to the people around him. He was more concerned about Steve's life than the success of the experiment.

However, just then, from inside the chamber, Steve's voice stopped them, "No! Don't! I can do this! "

Steve knew very well that if the experiment was interrupted at this moment, he would survive, but the project would fail. He would lose the possibility of becoming a real soldier, and it was unlikely that the military would give him a second chance. Meaning this was his only chance.

Hearing Steve's remarks, Dr Erskine hesitated, then turned to Howard, who was ready to shut it all down. "Mr Stark..."

After a silent glance at Steve in the chamber, Howard didn't say anything but turned and continued to turn the dial up to maximum.

In the next moment, the rays reached 100%, emitting blinding white light from within the chamber. Soon afterwards, problems began to occur throughout the experimental lab because of the overload. A large number of instruments burst with sparks. The white light that had been glowing faded down as the power was disconnected.

There was silence throughout the laboratory as they all watched the instruments dimming down.

They looked at each other blankly, and no one was sure whether it was a success or failure.

"Mr Stark? "

Looking at the lack of movement from the chamber, Dr Erskine immediately turned his head and shouted to Howard.

At Dr Erskine's reminder, Howard quickly pressed the button to open the hatch with the same anticipation for the success of the experiment.

As the hatch opened, a puff of smoke spread. Instead of Steve's scrawny form, it revealed a tall, toned body covered in muscles.