The next morning.
Clean sunlight spilled over Manhattan, New York.
"Mr. Mencken! Is the new superhero Mr. Watt, a director at your company?"
"Has Osborn mastered high-tech suit technology similar to Stark's?"
"Will you be sharing this technology with the government and military?"
…
At the entrance of Osborn Tower, Mencken was instantly surrounded by a large group of reporters with their long and short lenses, interviewing him the moment he stepped out of his luxury car.
Mencken didn't answer, simply instructing his bodyguards to clear away the annoying reporters before entering Osborn Tower and heading straight to Qingshui's office.
"Watt, what you did last night was really…"
Mencken wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead with a tissue and sat down opposite Qingshui.
"Really what?"
Qingshui took a sip of coffee and asked.
"Really great!"
Mencken said excitedly.
"You deliberately let those reporters photograph you in the suit? You're brilliant! The media outside are going crazy right now! This is simply a perfect advertising and marketing strategy. Since the market opened this morning, the company's stock price has surged, almost reaching its peak from when Norman was still around!"
Mencken clenched his fists, his gleaming glasses fixed on Qingshui as if he were looking at a mountain of gold.
"Aren't you going to ask if my technology can mass-produce suits, or if we can make a fortune by cooperating with the military?"
Qingshui reached for an empty cup nearby and placed it in front of Mencken.
"Tea or coffee?"
"Coffee's fine. You know, I've been bombarded with calls since the news broke at five this morning—from the military, from partners, and from other directors at our company. Most importantly, I tried to call you, but your phone was off, so I had to contact your butler, Jorge, to find out you were here. I definitely need some coffee to perk up."
Mencken complained, scratching his head, though his expression and tone showed his excitement hadn't faded.
"Because I knew I'd only get more calls, I turned it off from the start. Also, the coffee machine has freshly brewed coffee right there, still hot."
Qingshui pointed to the coffee machine.
Mencken got up to get coffee, almost stumbling because he was so excited and moved too quickly.
"I guess you're probably unwilling to hand over this technology, just like Stark. But as a shareholder of the company, I certainly hope you're willing to cooperate. However, I also know that with such technology, you could entirely go solo, and that would be Osborn's greatest loss. So I won't force you."
Mencken said to Qingshui while pouring coffee.
"I didn't expect you to be so understanding."
Qingshui said, surprised.
"The last person who wasn't understanding was Obadiah, and by now, the grass next to his grave is probably up to my waist. The biggest difference between him and me is that I'm very sensible. I worked with Norman for twenty years, and I know how to pursue maximum profit with minimum loss.
Most importantly, I know that you can only make big money by betting on capable people."
Mencken took a sip of coffee, shrugged, then his eyes lit up.
"What kind of coffee is this?"
"Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. I added a little vanilla bean and honey."
"Next time, I need to have my assistant change the coffee in my office to this. Also, you have to tell me something, don't you? I need to deal with those other people."
"I don't have Stark's energy technology, and I'm currently only researching graphene batteries. Even if I develop a finished product, it's vastly different from his condensed, controllable reactor. The real energy, actually, is me."
Qingshui snapped his fingers at Mencken, releasing a small electric spark with Lightning Release.
Mencken frowned slightly in thought.
"Norman's genetic experiments?"
"Not exactly."
Qingshui had already prepared his explanation.
"It was a year ago, during a thunderstorm. I was experimenting with Professor Norman in his private lab. Due to the weather, a light bulb broke, so I climbed a ladder to fix it."
"And right then, a ball lightning struck me from outside the window. I fell into a pool, and in the pool was Professor Norman's experimental subject, a genetically modified electric eel. Along with me, dozens of chemical reagents from the shelves also fell into the pool."
Qingshui recounted a mutated event that blended The Flash and Electro.
Adaptation isn't random fabrication. The origin stories of a superhero and a supervillain merged together sounded very convincing in this world where superheroes truly existed.
"Outdoors, the probability of a person being struck by lightning is one in six hundred thousand; indoors, it's even lower. Ball lightning, on the other hand, only occurs in one out of millions of lightning strikes. Such a one-in-a-quadrillion event just happened to me.
But thankfully, Professor Norman saved me with emergency equipment at the time."
Qingshui spouted nonsense with a serious expression.
Anyway, Norman is dead, so I can make up whatever story I want.
"So you mean… this accidental experiment can't be replicated?"
Mencken asked.
"Yes, after that, Norman secretly conducted several experiments trying to replicate it. We replicated both the million-volt electricity and the chemicals from that day, but we still couldn't succeed."
"That mutated electric eel… I remember the company had a project like that."
Mencken thought back.
"The key to the problem might indeed be the electric eel, but each electric eel mutates differently. The one that helped me mutate was electrocuted into char by the ball lightning that night, to the point where even its DNA couldn't be extracted, let alone cloned.
Afterward, Norman also tested my genes and found no changes compared to before. Therefore, he concluded that this experiment could neither be replicated nor help treat his genetic disease, so after researching it for a while, he stopped caring.
As for the suit, I developed it myself to better control my own energy."
Qingshui's explanation was flawless.
Yet Mencken believed that the probability of such coincidences happening in the world was extremely low.
But since Qingshui said so, it meant he had already handled all related matters thoroughly, leaving nothing for others to investigate.
In that case, what difference did it make whether it was true or false?
"This afternoon, I'll hold a press conference to give the public an answer as best I can, and I'll also leverage Osborn's connections to help you navigate this. But as you know, even Stark handed over an Iron Suit. If you don't offer something in return…"
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