Who's gonna drive you home, tonight?"
"What a piece of junk, the radio system is broken. And I even left my customized Audi R8 with that stingy Ron. What bad luck…"
Tony frowned when the radio suddenly started singing. He held the steering wheel with one hand and reached for the radio window with the other, trying to fix the broken radio.
Just then, the music that had been playing on the radio suddenly stopped, and then a gender-neutral voice, whose sex couldn't be distinguished, suddenly emerged.
"Mr. Stark, I believe I am not damaged and do not require your repair."
"Shit…" Tony was slightly startled by the voice coming from the radio, and the steering wheel swerved a bit.
But who was Tony? As a technological genius, he immediately realized that the voice from the radio must have been an AI speaking, and the song played earlier must have also been actively played by the AI.
'I didn't expect Ron's junk car to actually have an AI. I knew this car wasn't that simple…'
Tony grumbled to himself, steadied his posture, put his hands back on the steering wheel, and began to communicate with the car's AI.
"Hey, AI, what's your name? Why are you in a car, and who created you?"
"Mr. Stark, I cannot answer all of your questions. I can only tell you that my name is — Origin!" The neutral voice from the radio sounded again, answering Tony.
"Alright…" Tony shrugged, "So, my previous car swap was all under your surveillance, and Ron knew about this too, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Stark." Origin's voice sounded, "And Mr. Stark, to be precise, without Ron's consent, your action is not called a car swap, but rather car theft."
Hearing this, Tony's expression became a bit awkward, but he quickly recovered and laughed, "Hmph, since Ron knows about this, that means he agrees to me doing this, so it's still a swap, isn't it?"
No sooner had Tony finished speaking than Origin's voice immediately came out, "You are correct, Mr. Stark. Ron is indeed prepared to lend you this car for a few days. You will need to return it after a few days."
"Of course, that's no problem. I only intended to borrow this car to travel around Europe for a bit. I will naturally return it to Ron once I'm back in New York, don't worry."
Tony nodded, agreeing with Origin on the surface, but in his heart, other ideas were stirring.
Through his conversation with Origin, Tony could clearly feel that Origin's intelligence level was definitely higher than that of his Jarvis. An AI of this caliber could absolutely not be unknown. Who created Origin, and in what form did it exist? These were all things that made Tony very curious.
And according to Ron, this car could transform into a robot, just like in the movie "Transformers" that came out a few years ago.
At the time, Tony dismissed it as Ron boasting. He had watched that movie a few days prior and realized that Transformers were a type of mechanical life form, and with Earth's current technology, it would be absolutely impossible to create such intelligent mechanical life.
But now, Tony was starting to believe Ron's words.
Because, even if mechanical life couldn't be created, artificial intelligence could still be used to control Transformers!
If this car could really transform into a Transformer like in the movie, then it meant that the car's technology would certainly not be inferior to his Iron Man armor.
How could Tony easily let go of such high-tech items?
'You want me to return it? Fine, but only after I've thoroughly studied this car and Origin…'
Tony snorted in his heart, then continued to speak to Origin, "Origin, I remember Ron saying that this car can transform into a race car and also into a Transformer, right?"
"I apologize, Mr. Stark, you do not have this authorization!" Origin replied.
"Okay, I understand…"
Tony smiled, having no intention of asking further.
His intention had been achieved. Origin's intelligence was clearly not yet comparable to a human's, and Origin had said he didn't have authorization.
Didn't that mean that once he had authorization, he could transform the car into a Transformer?
…Two days later, a private jet landed in Monaco, Europe. Tony, Pepper, and Tony's bodyguard Happy disembarked from the helicopter.
After the three of them got off, another hatch of the private jet opened, and a luxurious Rolls-Royce Phantom and an ordinary Mercedes-Benz CLS coupe were lowered from the automatic lift in the hatch, landing on the ground.
"Happy, you take Pepper in the Rolls-Royce first. I'll follow you in the CLS. It's decided, understand?"
Tony pointed to the Rolls-Royce and the CLS and said to Happy.
"Tony, what's so great about this CLS? Why did you bring it all the way to Europe, and you won't even let me ride in it?" Seeing Tony's actions, Pepper on the side sulked and complained.
"I love this CLS. It's mine and mine alone, hehe!" Tony ignored Pepper's complaints. He walked to the CLS, opened its door, and got in.
"Hurry up, I'm waiting for you to go first. I'll follow behind you."
Seeing Tony's willful behavior, Pepper helplessly rubbed her forehead, then said to Happy, "Alright, Happy, never mind Tony, let's go first."
"Okay, Miss Pepper." The strong Happy responded, opened the rear door of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, helped Pepper into the car, and drove her to the Hôtel de Paris, which they had booked in advance.
Meanwhile, Tony, after Pepper and Happy left, followed them. However, halfway through, he suddenly turned onto a fork in the road and arrived at the waiting area for the Monaco Grand Prix.
"I said I would drive this CLS to the Grand Prix and race against those professional race cars, and I won't go back on my word. Ron, I wonder if you still want me to experience the true performance of this car, hmph…"
Soon after, an ordinary Mercedes-Benz CLS coupe, for some unknown reason, arrived on the professional race track. It seemed as though it intended to race against professional race cars to see who was superior!