Chapter 13: Lorna Dane
Thinking about this, Zane suddenly froze. He realized that his current thoughts were surprisingly similar to Iron Man's, creating a countermeasure armor whenever faced with a formidable opponent. Why were his thoughts becoming like Tony Stark?
Zane shook his head, pushing away the stray thoughts, and ordered Skynet to first learn about robotics and artificial intelligence related stuff. Afterward, Skynet carefully erased any traces of Zane left in this secret laboratory. After all, this was not a place to stay for long.
Zane sat in the car, humming an unknown tune with a cheerful mood. This trip was indeed full of gains. Originally, Zane only planned to bring Zola's soul under his control and then establish a laboratory for him to develop various technologies.
As for why he wanted to develop technology, the reason was simple: for money.
In the capitalist country of the United States, having money meant having the freedom to do anything. The magic of money was unleashed to the maximum extent in this country. As long as you had enough money, you could even directly influence the choice of the president. It could be clearly stated that in the United States, having money equaled having everything, including power.
Zane wanted to establish his own power, and money was indispensable for that. The assets of his group, with a billion, were still a bit insufficient, and most of the group's projects were civilian-oriented, giving Zane less influence in government and military matters.
Looking at Iron Man with assets of 100 billion US dollars, who dealt with weapons and later ventured into the energy industry, it was clear that he could ignore those senators. Although Tony Stark wasn't a great person, his methods were impressive. Zane was striving towards the goal of accumulating a billion in assets.
Unexpectedly, Zola's consciousness, under the effect of [Son of Death] turned into intelligent life. Zane's current mood was like winning the lottery, hoping to get back the invested five dollars but unexpectedly winning five million, a pleasant surprise.
The stronger Skynet became, the happier Zane was. Zane had absolute control over Skynet, and the A-level skill "Son of Death" was not just for show.
Some people back in his world might have thought of letting Skynet control nuclear missile controllers, wouldn't they then be invincible then?
Zane could only say that those people had read too many novels. Strategic weapons like missiles and nuclear bombs had independent networks. Skynet couldn't connect to them at all. Even if it could, the last step of launching required manually pressing a button, fundamentally eliminating the possibility of being directly controlled by hackers.
On the car, Zane was thinking about going home to celebrate with the C-level skill [Culinary Master] and see what kind of luminous dishes he could create. So, he picked up his phone and called his assistant, Anna, instructing her to buy the ingredients.
It must be said that having a personal assistant is really convenient. Anna takes care of the cleanliness of the villa and manages Zane's travels, saving him a lot of unnecessary worries.
Meanwhile, on the streets of the Queen's district, two burly men were beating a frail figure curled up on the ground. Through the fists and kicks, it could be seen that the small figure was using her body to protect two pieces of bread.
The people around were just watching without any intention of helping, as if enjoying the spectacle.
"You little bastard, dare to steal bread. Watch me beat you to death."
"You little bitch, scum like you deserves only death. Do you know that?"
"Hahaha..."
After beating for a while, the two men left. The two pieces of bread weren't worth much, and they were just venting their dissatisfaction with work and life. It wasn't worth actually killing her; otherwise, the police would definitely cause trouble.
Zane was originally passing by and had no intention of helping. After all, in a place like the United States, such incidents happen every day, and one can't intervene in everything.
But when he unintentionally caught a glimpse of the defiant look in the little girl's eyes, Zane seemed to see himself from a past life. Although he didn't suffer as much as she did in his previous life, their stubbornness was the same.
Thinking of this, Zane stopped the car on the street, walked to the still curled-up girl, and gently said, "Come with me."
The noon sunlight pierced through the thick clouds, forming a beautiful beam that enveloped the pair of men and women, looking extremely picturesque.
Lorna Dane looked at Zane, who was smiling at her, and for some reason, placed her dirty little hand on Zane's outstretched hand.
The warmth from Zane's palm made Lorna want to hug him tightly and cry, but her resilience held her back.
Zane lifted Lorna from the ground, noticing the bruises all over her body. He frowned but didn't say anything, just keeping it in mind.
"What's your name?" Zane asked with a friendly smile.
"Lorna, Lorna Dane."
"Okay, Lorna, are you hungry? I'll take you to eat something delicious. By the way, I'm Zane."
Lorna stood there in a daze, tears unknowingly streaming down her face. The tears cut through the thin layer of dirt on her face, revealing her snow-white skin. After a while, Zane finally heard Lorna's voice.
Lorna stood there, tears flowing down her face unnoticed. The tears cut through the thin layer of dirt on her face, revealing her snow-white skin. After a good while, Zane finally heard Lorna's voice.
"Okay."
Many years later, Zane teasingly told Lorna that she was so easily fooled back then, following him just for a meal. This led to an indignant Lorna chasing and hitting him for half the day…
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