Chapter 1303: Heart Shaped Herb

After following Shuri for about ten minutes, Lin Rui finally returned to the central control room of the core experimental facility where they had started. Although Shuri had been giving him and Bucky the cold shoulder the entire way, Lin Rui didn’t mind.

He had come with Shuri to get his hands on the technology he had exchanged using Pym Particles.

Meanwhile, T’Challa was in deep discussion with the elder and the queen, addressing the most critical matters. Lin Rui and Captain Rogers had already clarified their interests, and based on Lin Rui’s understanding of T’Challa, he was likely to make the right choice.

Therefore, Lin Rui was feeling quite relaxed about obtaining the black technology he had been seeking.

“Alright, we’re here. Have you decided what you want?” Shuri asked as they stopped by the central control console in the core laboratory.

Although Shuri had not fully decrypted the technology behind Pym Particles, she had no intention of reneging on her promise to Lin Rui. Moreover, Pym Particles were indeed worth exchanging for Wakanda’s other technologies.

“Well, before we proceed with the exchange, I’d like to ask something,” Lin Rui said politely.

“What is it?” Shuri inquired.

“I’ve heard that Wakanda possesses a very special plant with incredible effects, such as healing, enhancing physical abilities, and granting other powers. I’m curious if this plant’s effects extend to people outside of Wakanda?” After Shuri’s unimpressed questioning, Lin Rui calmly raised the question that had occurred to him upon seeing the elder.

In the Marvel narrative about Wakanda, apart from showcasing their highly advanced black technology, the Heart-Shaped Herb also received considerable attention. Many of the abilities akin to Superman that T’Challa possessed were obtained after consuming the Heart-Shaped Herb, and it had even saved him from near death.

Currently, Lin Rui, or rather, the alliance behind him, possessed advanced lifeform enhancement technology. SHIELD had the Superman Serum and the new Winter Soldier enhancement serum.

Oscorp had the Titan series gene enhancement medicament, and even Stark had developed lifeform enhancement medicaments derived from Extremis optimization.

However, all of those technologies were artificial and came with varying degrees of side effects. In comparison, the Heart-Shaped Herb was completely natural and seemed to require a special ritual to extract its enhancement properties.

Lin Rui thought that their current lifeform enhancement methods might draw some positive aspects from it.

However, upon mentioning the Heart-Shaped Herb, Shuri’s previously composed expression changed. She seemed surprised as to how Lin Rui knew about this, as the Heart-Shaped Herb had never been stolen from Wakanda by outsiders.

Seeing Shuri’s change in expression, Lin Rui was already contemplating how to explain his knowledge about the Heart-Shaped Herb. As expected, when Lin Rui turned around, he found Bucky still looking baffled but maintaining his stoic expression, and Shuri began to speak.

“How do you know about the Heart-Shaped Herb? Do you want to exchange it for Pym Particles?” Shuri questioned, her demeanor shifting to that of someone confronting a thief.

“Don’t give me that look; I’m not a thief,” Lin Rui protested, unhappy with Shuri’s change in demeanor. He continued, “Besides, Wakanda might have been hidden for centuries, but it’s not completely isolated from Earth. As long as there’s contact, some information will always leak out. I happened to come across this piece of information.”

After Lin Rui’s explanation, which aimed to dispel some of Shuri’s doubts and surprise, he believed that the fact that N’Jadaka was currently in SHIELD’s custody might have contributed to her acceptance. After all, N’Jadaka seemed to have a good understanding of Wakanda’s internal affairs.

“Even if you know about the Heart-Shaped Herb and its effects, I can’t just give it to you,” Shuri responded, retracting her surprised expression.

As the most mysterious product of Wakanda, the Heart-shaped Herb had always been held tightly by the Wakandan royal family. Only the legitimate heirs to the throne, like T’Challa, were allowed to consume the special herb and gain enhanced abilities.

Therefore, Shuri, despite being Wakanda’s princess, didn’t have the authority to decide to trade it with outsiders.

“Why not?” Lin Rui asked, somewhat surprised by Shuri’s response.

In Lin Rui’s memory, although the Heart-Shaped Herb was precious, there were still many of them in the secret chamber of Wakanda. Moreover, Shuri was Wakanda’s princess, and after T’Challa’s formal succession to the throne, she became the king’s sister. So, shouldn’t it be relatively simple for her to take out a few Heart-Shaped Herbs?

“Even if you know about the Heart-Shaped Herb and its effects, I can’t just give it to you,” Shuri reiterated.

Lin Rui had expected that Wakanda’s most advanced black technology wouldn’t be easily accessible, but he didn’t want to give up so easily.

“Well, okay, then. I’d like to exchange for another technology…” Lin Rui began.

Shuri sighed, exasperated by Lin Rui’s persistence.

Half an hour later, when Shuri’s Kimoyo beads vibrated slightly in her hand, she had been locked in a stubborn standoff with Lin Rui for quite some time. 𝘳𝓪ƝＯＢÈŞ

After failing to immediately secure the Heart-Shaped Herb, Lin Rui proposed exchanging it for Wakanda’s most advanced aircraft manufacturing technology or their matured space technology.

Of course, Shuri was not willing to give either of these technologies to Lin Rui easily. While Shuri had played a significant role in developing the core technology of Wakanda’s aircraft, it also contained some of the secrets of Wakanda’s technological ascent.

As for the space technology, it was the core technology that had allowed Wakanda to remain hidden and develop peacefully for so long.

Glancing at the message on her kimoyo beads, Shuri finally relented and said, “I don’t have the authority to grant your requests. My brother has already discussed these matters with our mother and the elder. You should go and talk to him yourself, see if he’s willing to give you what you want.”

“Alright, but I feel like the technology behind Pym Particles should have been enough to exchange for what I mentioned earlier,” Lin Rui replied, expressing his frustration at still not obtaining any of Wakanda’s core black technology.

“Then let’s go,” Shuri said, turning around to lead Lin Rui back to the lounge-like area they had previously visited. Lin Rui didn’t hesitate to send a message to Rogers at SHIELD headquarters in Washington.

This time, he was confident that the outcome of T’Challa and the others’ discussion would be in favor of cooperating with SHIELD and establishing positive diplomatic relations.

…

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.