Chapter 2036: Lighting the Heart's Strange Dream (29) _1

After the Guardians of the Galaxy left, Steve took his gaze off their retreating backs and turned to Shiller instead. "What's the deal with my shield? It wasn't really made of vibranium, was it?"

Stark snorted coldly, about to say something, when T'Challa and Ororo came in. T'Challa smiled at them and asked, "What are you guys talking about? I heard you from far away."

"We were talking about a certain illiterate who thought his shield was mere vibranium," Stark said in an odd tone. "He thought it was Howard's genius design that made his shield so sturdy."

T'Challa revealed an awkward expression as he asked, "Isn't that the case?"

In order to promote Vibranium, T'Challa had read heaps of historical documents and realized that many people were unfamiliar with this unique metal. Many had heard of Vibranium for the first time because they knew Captain America's Stars and Stripes shield was made of it.

The Wakanda marketing department had even allocated a large budget to encourage Captain America to introduce his shield as "made from vibranium, the hardest metal in the world."

"Of course not," Stark sighed, no longer in the mood to taunt his close friend. He pondered for a moment before stating," Howard was indeed a good scientist, as are the Starks, but even he admitted he wasn't purely a scientist; he was more like a businessman who understood technology."

"The early technology of Stark Auto Tech Group was not entirely developed by Howard. He bought a lot of technologies from disappointed or defunded scientists. Even though these didn't play much of a role later on, it was one of Stark Group's secrets of success."

The others didn't show any surprise. In fact, it's rare for someone like Stark to insist that all technology from a company must be his inventions and maintained and upgraded by him. Most tech groups, even if they had one or two core scientists developing the majority of their technology, the rest would typically be bought."

"And it's not just about technology," Stark shook his head lightly," For a while, Howard was addicted to new materials, because he believed that the reason why his hovering cars couldn't fly was a material problem."

"Around that time, a struggling researcher named McLaren approached him, claiming to have cultivated an incredibly intriguing metal with properties stronger than vibranium, a perfect alloy."

"Howard visited McLaren's lab and found that McLaren wasn't lying. The alloy McLaren presented to him had an astonishing defensive ability; it was perfect in every sense."

"Howard thought the alloy would solve the safety problem of the hovering cars, so he bought it for a hefty sum. He believed that he could analyze the components and reproduce it successfully, but he failed."

"He returned to find the researcher only to discover it wasn't McLaren's research outcome at all. Instead, McLaren had stumbled upon it in an accident and even he couldn't replicate it."

"Hence, this piece of metal became the unique Vibranium Alloy. Until now, only Captain America's shield utilized this alloy. Haven't you all noticed? The shield's defensive capability is simply miraculous."

As T'Challa listened, his interest piqued and he hastily asked, "What kind of defensive power are we talking about? Can you quantify it?"

After a moment of thought, Steve replied, "Well, I could jump off a twenty-story building and be totally fine as long as my shield landed first. So far, there's been nothing my shield couldn't handle. If it can block, it definitely will."

T'Challa widened his eyes slightly, looking towards Stark and Shiller. Both of them nodded in unanimous agreement. They indeed hadn't seen anything that Captain America tried to block and failed."

Whether it was physical or magic attacks, regardless of the speed or the intensity of the assault, the moment Captain America raised his hand, the attack dissipated as if it never existed.

T'Challa's brow furrowed deeply. Clearly, he realised this wasn't something a simple Vibranium Shield could achieve. Otherwise, wouldn't every Wakandan Warrior be invincible with one in hand?

Then a thought sparked in his mind: the Vibranium Alloy might be a good start! It still would incorporate Vibranium after all. Or rather, if the world and numerous major technology companies knew of such a perfect alloy, wouldn't the value of Vibranium sky-rocket?

With great anticipation, he looked at Stark. After a moment's hesitation, Stark shook his head and said, "Don't look at me that way. I can't possibly ask Howard, 'Hey, did you really get conned by a struggling researcher and buy a unique piece back then, scratching your head over its formula?'"

"I know Howard," Steve said, looking at T'Challa. "If he indeed had a method to replicate it, there wouldn't be just one shield in the world."

The light in T'Challa's eyes gradually faded away, but he held onto a sliver of hope, planning to ask Howard himself.

Shiller sighed, "Haven't you guys forgotten something? We're in the 21st century now, why don't we just give him a call? Maybe we can get a clue that way."

It was as if T'Challa had been enlightened. He smacked his forehead and hastily retrieved his mobile device from Ororo.

Unfortunately, as Stark had speculated, Howard really hadn't discovered the formula for the alloy. Over the phone, he apologized to T'Challa, who, despite his disappointment, reassured Howard it was alright.

After hanging up, the usually gentle king seemed a bit distracted. Shiller then spoke, breaking the silence.

"If scientific methods are ineffective, maybe forensic science might be of use," he said.

"If it was an accidental incident, it could certainly be investigated. What caused the accident, what was in the lab at the time of the incident, may all possibly be inferred by human deduction. During the time of the incident, the surrounding area must contain the mysterious ingredient in the Oscillating Gold Alloy, which would significantly narrow the scope of investigation."

At this point, Shiller brought out his mobile phone too. The others had no idea whom he intended to call. After calling and saying a few things, he hung up. Shortly after, Bruce and the other two appeared in the restaurant.

Shiller shared the situation with Bruce briefly. Bruce stood still, thinking for a few minutes, then said, "Perhaps I know what the critical ingredient is."

The others were dumbstruck.

And Bruce began deducing from the beginning.

"First, we need to analyze that down-and-out researcher, McLaren. From his actions, we can tell that he once had a certain reputation in academic circles and a fairly solid professional level, but he probably got into some sort of trouble, which led to his fall from prominence."

"Hold on, why is that?" Steve interrupted him and asked, "You're from another cosmos, you can't have possibly heard of this McLaren. How do you know about his downfall?"

Bruce shook his head and said, "I obviously haven't heard of your cosmos's scientists, but it's clear."

"Stark Group, oh, back then it was called Stark Auto Tech Company, I assumed it wasn't a small company?"

The others looked at Stark, Stark wrinkled his brow slightly but still said, "The Stark Group at that time was not as powerful as it is now, but it was considered a leading company in the New Jersey State."

"There you have it, I guess your father was also somewhat of a well-known scientist."

"His fame in Playboy was much greater than that in the scientific community." Stark sneered, "But he was young at the time and considered a rising star in the scientific research community. So he did have some fame."

"So, how would a scientist who holds a large company and also masters advanced technology meet with a relatively unknown researcher? What persuaded Howard to get McLaren inside the Stark Group?"

Everyone showed a look of contemplation. Stark nodded and said, "So that's what you inferred. Indeed, Uncle Obadiah once told me, Howard was hot-headed when young. He especially couldn't stand beggars. For McLaren to step into his office, he must have had some skills."

"In a good scientist's lab, especially on their worktable, there won't be a lot of stuff, even on the journey of developing a new material."

Bruce snapped his fingers and said, "Everyone knows that material science is about luck; you need to experience billions of combinations before you could make some new discovery."

"But geniuses always feel that they are especially blessed by God. They would steadfastly believe in their combinations, and thus, start trying their ordered combinations in the early stages of the research."

"So, what are McLaren's ordered combinations?" T'Challa leaned forward and asked.

"That's not important. What's crucial is that even if there are only a few ingredients, a researcher like McLaren, who is already lacking funding, wouldn't have the means to replicate each one of them. Howard, thinking that he had been fooled by a small researcher and not wanting to lose face, certainly wouldn't lower himself to ask McLaren what was on his table at that time. And so, it becomes a perpetual secret."

"We definitely can't guess all the things on the table, but we can infer from probabilities what's most likely to appear on the table."

The others found him confusing. Only Stark and T'Challa, who themselves are scientists, could understand him.

"The things that are bound to appear on the table…" Stark, touching his chin, said, "Vibranium for sure, and I guess there would be some basic metals, like iron and copper. These are the materials we most commonly use for alloys."

T'Challa silently noted these deductions and then said, "Perhaps there are also some chemical reagents used for testing properties of metals."

"All these are indeed possibilities." Bruce nodded in agreement but then said, "However, their probabilities are equal. If that's the case, paper fiber, rubber, and glass, even the material of the lab worktop would have a higher priority than them."

The others were left somewhat speechless, but they also had to admit that he had a point. Since it was an accidental incident, all surrounding materials, including the lab worktop, gloves, glass test tubes, and even note papers, could all possibly be ingredients. If it was to be guessed like this, there would be no end to it.

"There is something with a higher priority than them." Bruce suddenly said, "That is Vibranium Ore, the original ore, right?"

T'Challa nodded and said, "The only thing he could have gotten was the original ore, because the smelting plant under the strict management of the royal family wouldn't have any problems. The only possible areas of mishap could be the mines and during transportation. So, the only thing Vibranium traffickers could get was the original ore."

At this point, Stark suddenly followed Bruce's train of thought. His eyes widened slightly as he looked at T'Challa and said, "Does Vibranium Ore have associated ores?"

T'Challa suddenly stood up and muttered to himself, "The meteor... the meteor that brought the Vibranium!"