Chapter 82 The Behind-the-Scenes Major Shareholder
Tony Stark was back.
This news was like a bomb, exploding simultaneously on Wall Street and in the Pentagon, leaving everyone buzzing.
Stark Industries' stock, after three consecutive months of decline, suddenly surged, hitting the daily limit at opening.
The generals in the Pentagon breathed a sigh of relief; their favorite toy supplier, the genius who could turn war into a grand fireworks show, was alive.
The press conference was packed with people.
Flashbulbs were so dense they could turn night into day.
Reporters, like sharks smelling blood, crammed countless black microphones together, resembling an inverted sugarcane field.
They had prepared hundreds of questions, wanting to dissect every bone of Tony's three months in Afghanistan.
However, the returning Tony seemed off.
He didn't go straight to the stage.
He sent his bodyguard, Happy, to buy him a few cheeseburgers.
Then, under the gaze of the entire World, he plopped down on the steps in front of the podium and began to devour them, oblivious to his surroundings.
His business partner, the bald Obadiah Stane, walked over with a standard businessman's smile, trying to smooth things over.
"Tony, everyone is waiting for you," he bent down, his voice soft, as if coaxing a disobedient but priceless child.
"I just want a burger," Tony replied indistinctly, his mouth full.
Pepper Potts stood not far away, her eyes filled with unconcealed worry.
She knew better than anyone that Tony had changed.
The arrogant, always brilliant playboy now had something in the depths of his eyes that she couldn't understand.
It was like a pile of ashes after a great fire, cold on the surface, but with scorching embers still buried beneath.
After a full ten minutes of fuss, Tony finally finished eating.
He casually wiped his mouth and, half-supported and half-escorted by Obadiah, slowly walked onto the podium.
He didn't look at any of the prepared speeches.
He just scanned the excited, greedy, and curious faces below, their expressions filling him with an inexplicable annoyance.
"I've been through some things," he began, his voice a little hoarse, "I saw with my own eyes that the weapons I personally made were used in places they shouldn't be, against people they shouldn't be against."
A commotion broke out below.
Obadiah's smile froze.
"I've thought a lot since I came back," Tony continued, ignoring everyone's reactions, "I don't want the only legacy I leave behind when I die to be a pile of killing machines.
So..."
He took a deep breath, his eyes becoming like a piece of steel just pulled from a forge.
"I've decided that Stark Industries will permanently close its weapons manufacturing division."
Boom!
The entire venue instantly erupted.
Reporters pushed forward like mad, countless questions shooting at Tony like dense bullets.
"Mr.
Stark! Does this mean Stark Industries will give up billions of dollars in Military orders each year?"
"Is this your personal decision, or a resolution of the board of directors?"
"Mr.
Stane, what do you think about this?"
Obadiah's face had turned ashen.
He snatched the microphone, trying to salvage the situation: "Tony has just returned from a very bad place, and his mind is a bit... we will discuss this internally..."
Tony pushed him away abruptly, his movements rough and undisguised.
"I'm done."
He threw down this Earth-shattering statement and, escorted by Pepper and Happy, struggled to squeeze out of the almost riotous crowd... South Pacific, a private island.
Chu Hang lay leisurely on a beach chair, the holographic screen in front of him clearly broadcasting the press conference.
When Tony said those words, he let out a loud whistle and took a big gulp of the iced juice beside him.
"The show begins."
Beside him, a dozen top-configured computers lit up simultaneously.
On the screens, Stark Industries' K-line chart, like a kite with its string cut, was plummeting at a terrifying angle.
The sea of green was so dazzling it made one uneasy.
At the same time, Wall Street, trading floor.
"He's crazy! Tony Stark is completely insane!"
"Sell! Sell quickly! Sell at any cost!"
"It's over! My pension! It's all gone!"
Countless traders screamed at the top of their lungs, their faces etched with despair and panic.
The ringing of phones and the clatter of keyboards mingled, like a symphony of the apocalypse.
Stark Industries' stock evaporated by more than forty percent in just a few minutes.
Panic spread like a plague; everyone wanted to dump all their shares before they turned into a pile of scrap paper.
Amidst this wailing and howling, a mysterious fund, like a giant whale lurking in the deep sea, silently opened its massive mouth.
Chu Hang's fingers danced rapidly on the keyboard, so fast that they almost left afterimages.
He simultaneously controlled hundreds of ghost accounts spread across the globe.
These accounts were all registered by him under different identities using his Form Mimicry ability, each one unremarkable and untraceable.
But when they converged, they became a monstrous wave powerful enough to shake the market.
"Buy in.
Buy as much as there is."
His voice was calm, without a ripple, as if he were discussing today's weather.
On the screen, countless panic-driven sell orders were posted and instantly devoured by a massive force in less than 0.01 seconds.
Those stocks, frantically dumped by investors as if they were trash, were continuously flowing into Chu Hang's pocket.
He was like a silent scavenger, calmly and greedily devouring everything in the market.
The closing bell finally rang.
The entire Wall Street was in shambles, filled with lamentations.
Stark Industries' stock finally settled at a dismal figure.
Countless people lost everything that day.
Obadiah smashed everything he could in his office, his roars clearly audible even in the hallway.
No one knew that within this single day, over fifteen percent of Stark Industries' circulating shares had quietly changed hands.
A mysterious oriental man named "Anthony Chen" and his unheard-of "Lighthouse Capital" became Stark Industries' largest single shareholder, apart from Tonyhimself, that day... A week later.
Stark Industries Headquarters, top-floor workshop.
Tony Stark paced back and forth in his private workshop, looking somewhat agitated.
The arc reactor in his chest emitted a faint blue light, making his complexion even paler.
The symptoms of palladium poisoning had already begun to manifest.
He took off his shirt, looking at the black Texture that spread like venomous snakes beneath his skin in the mirror, his mood worsening.
Pepper Potts walked in with a document, her expression more serious than ever.
"Tony, we have a problem."
"What could be more problematic than me getting poisoned to death by something I invented?" Tonyretorted testily; he was trying to burn off the Texture with a laser, but it was useless.
"This is." Pepper slapped the document heavily on the table, "The company has a new major shareholder.
He holds 15.3% of the shares.
He just sent a lawyer's letter demanding an emergency board meeting and a private meeting with you."
"Who?" Tony frowned, stopping his futile attempts.
"Anthony Chen.
A mysterious person with no verifiable background," Pepper's tone carried a hint of gravity, "The legal department has checked; all his acquisition activities are completely legal, and we can't do anything about him."
"Let him come." Tony snorted, putting his clothes back on, "I want to see with my own eyes which ignorant fellow dares to try and pluck my peach at this time."
Three o'clock in the afternoon, top-floor reception room.
When Chu Hang walked in calmly, dressed in a well-tailored custom suit and a warm smile, Tony's pupils suddenly constricted.
"It's you!"
"Hello, Mr.
Stark," Chu Hang greeted him familiarly, as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in years, "We meet again."
"Anthony Chen... the delivery guy..." Tony's mind raced, instantly connecting the mysterious man from Afghanistan with this new major shareholder, "You bought the shares?"
"To be precise, I picked them up," Chu Hangunceremoniously poured himself a glass of Water and sat on the sofa opposite Tony, "Those smart people on Wall Street didn't want them, and I thought it was a shame to leave them on the ground."
"Who exactly are you? What is your purpose?" Tony's eyes sharpened, like a lion whose territory had been invaded by a strange creature.
"My name is Anthony Chen, as you can see, your new partner." Chu Hang swirled the glass of Water in his hand, saying unhurriedly, "As for my purpose... it's simple, I'm quite interested in that glowing little thing in your chest."
He extended his finger, pointing at Tony's arc reactorfrom a distance.
"In Afghanistan, I was just a mercenary working for money.
A very wealthy client didn't want you to die there, that's all." Chu Hang explained, half-truth, half-lie, "As for my little tricks, you can understand them as a kind of... cutting-edge technology not yet publicly announced."
This explanation would be pure nonsense to ordinary people.
But for a tech fanatic like Tony Stark, it had a fatal attraction.
He was even more curious about what kind of technology could perform Spatial Cutting out of thin air.
"Now, let's talk business." Chu Hang pulled the conversation back, "You impulsively shut down the weapons division; the company needs a new growth point, otherwise, those old guys on the board will devour you alive.
And this thing in your chest is the future."
He looked directly into Tony's eyes: "A clean energy source that can continuously power an entire building for decades, yet you only use it as an advanced pacemaker.
Don't you think it's too wasteful, Mr.
Stark? Your vision should be broader."
These words hit Tony's heart like a heavy hammer.
He subconsciously looked down at the blue light in his chest, his eyes flickering.
He, of course, knew the immense potential of the arc reactor, but he had been severely hampered by the palladium poisoning issue, unable to make a breakthrough.
"Palladium is toxic, and its reserves on Earth are extremely scarce.
This thing cannot be mass-produced on a large scale," Tony said in a deep voice, this being the deadlock he currently couldn't resolve.
"Then find a new element to replace it," Chu Hang said casually, as if talking about something as simple as eating and drinking, "Your father, Howard Stark, was so brilliant, hailed as a leader of an era.
Didn't he leave you any clues?"
These words, like a bolt of lightning, cut through the fog in Tony's mind.
He suddenly looked up, staring intently at Chu Hang.
He had always kept his father's relics as mementos, never studying them closely.
"It seems we have something to talk about." The fiery glow of a genius reignited in Tony's eyes.
"Of course." Chu Hang stood up, extended his hand with a smile, "Pleasure working with you, Tony."
Tony looked at his outstretched hand, hesitated for a moment, and finally shook it.
Although this man was mysterious, his words resonated deeply with him.
"Pleasure working with you."
Their hands clasped together.
Chu Hang's heart stirred slightly.
Now was the time.
A cold, vast, yet incredibly precise data stream instantly surged into his brain through the contact point.
It wasn't mere knowledge transfer, but a complete reconstruction of underlying logic.
In an instant, when he looked at the arc reactor in Tony's chest again, the World in his eyes completely changed.
It was no longer just a glowing hunk of metal.
He could clearly "see" the flow trajectory of every energy beam within it, the precise structure of every minute component, and... its fatal flaws, along with countless potential improvement solutions that simultaneously flooded his mind.
His brain felt as if a completely new operating system, from a higher dimension, had been forcibly installed.
Conceptualization and Engineering Mastery.
This was the core of why Tony Stark was Tony Stark.
It wasn't about how much knowledge he memorized, but his ability to take a crazy idea and turn it into a feasible engineering blueprint, from scratch.
"Well then, I'll take my leave." Chu Hang released his hand, his smile unchanged, "I look forward to your good news, Tony.
Don't disappoint me, your investor."
With that, he turned and left gracefully, leaving Tonystanding alone, his brow furrowed, deep in thought.
Chu Hang walked out of the Stark Industries building and looked up at the sky.
The sun was just right.
He felt his mind was clearer than ever before.
Chapter 83 New Elements
After Chu Hang left, Tony Stark locked himself in the Underground Room of his Malibu Villa.
In the vast studio, there was only the sound of his pacing footsteps, and the occasional jarring clang of tools thrown onto the table out of frustration.
He had pulled out everything Howard Stark, his father, had left behind—everything he could find. Dusty old photographs, yellowed and curled film, rolls of design blueprints that had been printed but never looked at again, and even some scribbled shopping lists written on napkins.
Pepper would dutifully place food at the studio door every day. But when she came to retrieve the plates the next day, the food was often untouched, cold and stiff.
She could only see Tony's increasingly gaunt silhouette through the thick soundproof glass.
His eye sockets were deeply sunken, his beard was scruffy, and he looked like a plant rapidly dehydrating. The faint blue glow in his chest, once a symbol of new life, now seemed to him more like a Death countdown timer.
Palladium poisoning.
The phrase clamped his heart like cold pliers. Black Texture, like ugly cracks on a dry riverbed, spread from the edge of the reactor in his chest, climbing up his blood vessels. Every day, he had to force himself to drink several large glasses of green chlorophyll juice that tasted like rotten grass.
That stuff, besides making him feel waves of nausea, did nothing to stop the invasion of the toxin.
"Tony, you're driving yourself crazy." Pepper stood at the door, watching him once again violently sweep a whole box of documents onto the floor, papers flying everywhere like snowflakes.
"I'm dying, Pepper!" Tony suddenly turned around, his bloodshot eyes glaring at her, his voice hoarse as if scraped by sandpaper, "Before I'm completely poisoned by the thing I invented, I have to find a way out! That bastard was right, my old man, he couldn't have left nothing!"
The "bastard" he referred to was, of course, Chu Hang.
Chu Hang's understated words that day were like a red-hot steel nail, hammered fiercely into his mind, burning his nerves day and night.
He finally found that thing among a pile of relics he had classified as "junk"—a huge city model that covered the entire center of the room. It was the star exhibit of the 1974 Stark Expo, one of his father's proudest masterpieces.
Tony circled the giant model again and again, disassembling every component, studying every tiny circuit, every piece of plastic paneling. But the result was despairing. There was nothing. It was just an exquisitely detailed city model, nothing more.
An intense sense of frustration drowned him like cold seawater. He plopped down on the floor, picked up a bottle of chlorophyll juice, and chugged it like hard liquor. His throat was filled with that nauseating grassy smell.
Just then, his phone, which he had casually tossed on the table, rang. It was an unknown encrypted number.
"Who?" He answered gruffly, his voice full of suppressed anger.
"Looks like you haven't found the way yet." Chu Hang's signature, lazy voice came from the other end of the line, "Mr. Stark, sometimes, the map itself isn't the most important thing. The shape of the map is where the treasure lies."
With that, the call ended. The sharp busy signal in the quiet studio was particularly jarring.
The shape of the map... Tony froze. He suddenly looked up, his eyes, dim from exhaustion, now fixed on the gigantic model he had disassembled into pieces.
His genius brain began to work at an unprecedented, terrifying speed.
"Jarvis, generate a 3D model for me!"
"Received! Sir."
The layout of the buildings, the contours of the parks, the direction of the roads... they were instantly stripped, reorganized, connected in his vision... lines danced in the air, nodes automatically aligned, and a brand new, stable atomic structure diagram slowly emerged in his eyes.
"My God..." Tony murmured, his eyes bursting with a light of ecstasy that could burn, "So that's it... So that's it! Old man, you really are an out-and-out genius!"
He leaped up from the floor like a madman, stumbling towards his workbench. He had to turn this structure into reality!
...Meanwhile, in the Stark Industries boardroom, the atmosphere was as oppressive as the sea before a storm.
Obadiah Stane sat at the head of the table, his iconic bald head gleaming with a cold light under the bright boardroom lights. His gaze, like a shark ready to devour, slowly swept over every director present.
"Gentlemen," he began in a heavy voice, as if it could wring out water, "I think everyone has seen what the company's stock price has become since Tony made that foolish decision. Now, an unknown person has appeared out of nowhere, taking advantage of the situation, and has become our major shareholder. If we don't take action, Stark Industries will be ruined in our hands!"
A corpulent director immediately echoed, "Obadiah is right! We must dismiss Tony from his CEO position and reopen the weapons division! That is our foundation! Military orders are real money!"
"That Anthony Chen, we must find a way to kick him out! An unknown fellow, who knows what his intentions are!"
The boardroom immediately erupted into chaos, everyone pointing fingers at the absent Tony and the mysterious Chu Hang.
Just then, the heavy boardroom door was silently pushed open.
Chu Hang, dressed in a well-tailored suit, with a harmless smile on his face, walked in unhurriedly. He was not accompanied by any assistants or lawyers, just him, calm and composed, as if attending a casual afternoon tea.
"Hello everyone, I'm Anthony. It seems I missed some wonderful opening remarks." He walked directly to the head of the table, pulled out an empty chair next to Obadiah, and sat down without a word, his gaze calmly sweeping around, "Gentlemen, you all seem very agitated."
"Anthony Chen!" Obadiah slammed his hand on the table, making a dull thud, "You are not welcome here!"
"Mr. Obadiah, please calm down."
Chu Hang's fingers gently tapped on the smooth tabletop, making a few crisp "tap, tap" sounds. The sound was not loud, but it miraculously quelled all the noise in the boardroom.
"I am the second largest shareholder of the company. According to the company's articles of association, I have the right to attend any board meeting. Or, do you want my legal team to discuss corporate law with you?"
Obadiah was choked by his words, his face turning beet red, only able to glare at him fiercely.
"I know what everyone is worried about." Chu Hanglooked around at everyone, his tone calm but with an undeniable force, "Worried about stock prices, worried about profits, worried about the future of Stark Industries. Closing the weapons division is indeed a risky move. But gentlemen, times have changed."
He snapped his fingers.
The projection screen at the end of the boardroom silently lit up, displaying the title of a document— "Project Arc."
Over the next hour, Chu Hang presented these old men, whose minds were only filled with firearms, orders, and profit reports, with a grand and magnificent future they had never imagined.
An hour later... "Very good." Chu Hang put down his water glass and slowly stood up, "Since no one has any objections, Project Arc will officially launch today. I will personally serve as the overall project leader. Meeting adjourned."
With that, he didn't even glance at Obadiah again and walked straight out of the boardroom... A few days later, in the Underground Room of the Malibu Villa.
After a violent tremor, a beam of blue energy, thicker and purer than ever before, shot up into the sky, piercing directly through the studio's specially designed ceiling and straight into the clouds.
Tony Stark stood before this makeshift particle accelerator, carefully holding a brand new, triangular reactor emitting a pure blue light.
He succeeded.
He rushed to the mirror and tore open his shirt. In the mirror, the black Texture on his chest, visibly fading at a rapid rate, filled him with ecstasy. He could clearly feel a surge of power, more surging and stable than ever before, flowing within his body.
He couldn't help but burst into laughter, his laughter filled with the wild joy of surviving a disaster and the pride of being reborn.
"I'm back!"
The studio door opened, and Chu Hang walked in with a bottle of '82 Romanee-Conti, as if on cue.
"Congratulations, Tony." He shook the wine in his hand, "It seems you've found the legacy your father left you."
"You knew all along, didn't you?" Tony looked at him, his eyes complex. This man always seemed to be one step ahead of him.
"I only know that a tiger father has no dog son." Chu Hang expertly pulled out the cork and poured a glass for each of them, "To a great father, and a reborn genius."
They clinked glasses and drank it all. The spicy wine slid down their throats, bringing a refreshing warmth.
"How do you feel?" Chu Hang asked.
"Better than ever." Tony moved his body, feeling the surging power brought by the new element, his face filled with uncontrollable excitement, "I've already designed the Mark IV, with a brand new energy core, brand new materials, and a brand new system. It will be perfect."
"Then I congratulate you in advance!"
Just then, a strangely shaped satellite phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
This was his dedicated line for Nick Fury. If it rang, it meant something big had happened.
Chu Hang answered the phone.
"Anthony," Fury's voice was more solemn and urgent than ever before, "Something's happened. A big problem, a big green problem. And now, it might be two."
On the other end of the line, faint roars and explosions could be heard, the signal becoming intermittent and full of static.
"Location." Chu Hang's voice turned cold.
"Harlem, near Culver University."
"Understood."
Chu Hang hung up the phone and looked back at Tony, who was staring at him with a puzzled expression.
"It seems your new armor suit will soon have a chance for a real combat test."
He grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, "However, this opponent might be a bit out of your league."
Chapter 84 The Incredible Hulk
Tony was completely bewildered by Chu Hang's words.
Chu Hang didn't look back, he just waved his hand, walking towards the door, and said in a relaxed, almost perfunctory tone: "Literally. A big green guy with a bad temper, and an even worse-tempered big red guy with bones on the outside. They're causing a ruckus in New York City."
He pulled open the studio door, and his figure disappeared through the doorway, leaving only a sentence floating back.
"Your new armor suit had better be fast, Tony. Otherwise, you'll miss out on the next fun thing like this."
As soon as his voice faded, he was gone without a trace.
Tony stood rooted to the spot, looking at the empty doorway, then lowered his head to look at the masterpiece in his hand, representing the pinnacle of human energy technology, his brows tightly furrowed.
A big green guy?
He vaguely recalled some scattered records in the Military archives, about a scientist named Bruce Banner, and that failed gamma rays experiment.
"Jarvis." He suddenly spoke.
"At your service, sir."
"Connect me to Colonel Rhodes's encrypted line. Also, accelerate the assembly process of the Mark 4 to the highest priority." A complex light, a mixture of curiosity, competitiveness, and fanaticism, flickered in Tony's eyes. "It seems I need to join the fun in New York."
...New York, Harlem.
This was no longer the neighborhood filled with hip-hop music, street art, and a sense of life. This was hell.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder, concrete dust, and a faint, lingering scent of blood.
On the streets, two giants were wreaking havoc.
One was a giant entirely emerald green. Every punch he threw, every jump he made, carried world-destroying power. The ground beneath his feet shattered like fragile biscuits, and cars in his hands were like easily crushed soda cans. It was Hulk.
His opponent was even more hideous and terrifying in appearance. His red skin was as tough as rock, covered all over with jagged bone spikes, especially along his spine, where thick bones directly burst out of his body, forming a natural, awe-inspiring bone armor suit.
He was Abomination, a monster mutated from SoldierEmil Bronski after mixing super soldier serum and Hulk's blood.
"Boom!"
Abomination grabbed a bus and hurled it at Hulk like a baseball. Hulk roared, using his arms to forcefully brace against the tens of tons of steel monster, and the ground beneath his feet instantly collapsed into a deep pit.
In the sky, several armed helicopters circled, their Vulcan cannons spewing long tongues of fire, a dense storm of bullets pouring down on the two giants.
However, these bullets, which could easily tear through armored vehicles, merely sparked harmlessly off their bodies, unable to even pierce their skin.
"Target has not sustained any substantial damage! Repeat, target is impervious to bullets!"
"Fire! Keep firing! Don't let him get close to residential areas!"
Inside the helicopter, General Ross's roar echoed across the entire battlefield via radio.
His eyes were bloodshot, fixed intently on the green figure on the screen, completely ignoring Abomination, who was causing even greater casualties.
In his eyes, Hulk was the prey he had pursued his entire life, a Military asset he had to recover.
Just then, the pilot of one of the helicopters suddenly let out a terrified scream.
"What is that?!"
In the night sky, a figure appeared silently beside them, in a way that completely defied the laws of physics.
The person stood there out of thin air, thousands of feet above the ground, wearing only a casual suit, not even a single strand of his hair ruffled by the high-altitude airflow.
It was Chu Hang.
He glanced at the city below, which resembled a purgatory, then at the helicopter next to him, which was frantically strafing Hulk, and gently shook his head.
"Too noisy."
He extended a finger and lightly touched the helicopter's propeller.
There was no sound, no light effect.
But the helicopter pilot and General Ross, through their screens, witnessed a scene they would never forget. The space around the rapidly spinning propeller, capable of grinding a person to mincemeat, seemed to be squeezed by an invisible hand, undergoing a bizarre distortion.
The propeller's rotation speed instantly dropped to zero, and the entire helicopter, like a stone, lost all power and plummeted straight down.
"No—No—No—!" The pilot let out a desperate cry.
Chu Hang snapped his fingers.
The falling helicopter, when still dozens of meters from the ground, was once again held up by an invisible force, then gently and steadily placed on a relatively intact street.
Having done all this, Chu Hang's figure vanished in mid-air, and the next second, he appeared in the center of the battlefield between Hulk and Abomination.
He landed precisely between the two giants, less than twenty meters from both.
"Hey, you two big guys." He brushed off non-existent dust from his suit, looked up at the two monsters who had temporarily stopped their actions due to his sudden appearance, and showed a benevolent smile, "Excuse me, can I have a moment of your time?"
A trace of confusion flashed in Hulk's angry green eyes.
Abomination, however, was different. In his eyes, filled with brutality and cunning, there was only contempt and cruelty for this intruder who didn't know his place.
"Another bug coming to die!" Abomination let out a piercing roar, and his giant arm, thicker than a water barrel, swung fiercely, smashing down towards Chu Hang.
This punch was enough to reduce a building to rubble.
However, Chu Hang merely stood still, not moving an inch.
Just as the massive fist was about to smash down on his head, a translucent spatial ripple, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, flashed above his head and then vanished.
[Spatial Curvature Barrier]
Abomination's fist seemed to strike a viscous, invisible jelly. The terrifying force, capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, was strangely twisted, folded, and then... vanished the moment it contacted that ripple.
The cruel smile on Abomination's face froze, replaced by an expression of incredible astonishment. He felt as if he had punched a wad of cotton with all his might, his strength completely dissipated.
"Good strength," Chu Hang commented, extending his hand and using Twin Star Form to unleash energy, blasting Abomination away.
Then he immediately used fixed-point teleportation to flash beside Hulk.
He could clearly sense that the violent gamma raysenergy within Hulk was like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment. And supporting this energy was an emotion of pure, extreme rage.
This was exactly what he wanted.
"System, lock on target, prepare to replicate." Chu Hangsilently thought.
[Target: Hulk (Bruce Banner)]
[Replicable Ability List:]
[1. S-Rank Limitless Rage: Converts anger into pure physical strength. Anger has no upper limit, strength has no upper limit. Note: This ability has been optimized by the system, and the host can maintain sanity during the conversion process.]
[2. A-Rank Gamma Radiation Body: Completely immune to all gamma rays and most strong radiation. Body tissues possess super regenerative abilities and adaptability.]
[3. B-Rank Super Jump: ...]
Chu Hang's gaze unhesitatingly locked onto the first option.
Limitless Rage while maintaining sanity? This was simply a divine skill tailor-made for him!
"You're the one!"
Hulk seemed to sense some threat, letting out an uneasy roar and raising his huge fists high.
Just then, from the building in the distance that Abomination had smashed through, came a violent tremor. The terrifying monster, staggering, had stood up again. He looked battered, but the wounds on his body were healing at a visible speed.
"Bug... I'll kill you!" Abomination's roar was filled with endless malice.
He saw Chu Hang standing in front of Hulk, and a cunning glint flashed in his eyes. He didn't charge directly at Chu Hang, but instead grabbed the wreckage of a Military helicopter nearby and, with all his might, hurled it in Hulk's direction!
His purpose was clear: he wanted to use Hulk as a shield, making these two guys, who seemed to be working together, fight each other.
The helicopter wreckage arced through the air with deadly precision, whistling as it hurtled towards Hulk. Hulk seemed to not have reacted yet, just staring blankly at the approaching steel monster.
"What a troublesome guy."
Chu Hang sighed, his figure instantly disappearing from where he stood.
The next second, he appeared beside Hulk, and just before the helicopter wreckage was about to hit Hulk, he extended his right hand and gently pressed it against the twisted steel.
"Spatial Banishment."
The huge helicopter wreckage, the moment his palm touched it, vanished silently into the air like a popped soap bubble, thrown by him into an unknown sub-space.
Having done all this, Chu Hang's hand naturally patted Hulk's muscular, green-rock-hard shoulder.
"Don't space out, big guy."
[Ding! Contact successful, commencing replication of ability [S-Rank Limitless Rage]...]
[Replication successful! Ability beginning to merge with host...]
A wonderful sensation surged through his heart. Chu Hang felt his emotions as if they had been connected to a brand new amplifier. He could clearly feel the suppressed, subtle dissatisfactions, irritations, and even anger deep within him being infinitely magnified at this moment, then forcibly compressed and purified by a more powerful rationality, ultimately transforming into a pure power that could be freely manipulated by thought, integrating into every limb and bone.
"This feeling..." Chu Hang clenched his fist, feeling the surging, explosive power within his body, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curve upwards slightly, "This is... amazing."
He turned around and looked at Abomination, who was charging over with a look of astonishment.
"Alright, warm-up's over."
Chu Hang's body crouched slightly, and the asphalt road beneath his feet, centered on his feet, instantly spread with spiderweb-like cracks.
"Now, let me show you what real power is."
He didn't use any spatial abilities, but simply swung his right fist in Abomination's direction.
[Limitless Rage]
"Boom—!!!"
The air exploded with that punch.
A visible, white airwave, formed purely by physical force, fanned out. Wherever the airwave passed, the ground was forcefully ploughed into a ravines several meters deep, and all the glass of the buildings along both sides of the street instantly turned to dust!
Abomination didn't even have time to react before he was hit head-on by this irresistible, terrifying force. His proud, tough skin and bone armor suit, which even cannonballs couldn't penetrate, were as fragile as paper in front of this punch.
The bone armor suit on his chest shattered inch by inch, and his massive body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, tracing a long arc in the air, finally crashing heavily onto a plaza hundreds of meters away, and then remained motionless.
Just one punch.
Hulk stared blankly at this scene, then looked at the tiny human beside him, his green eyes revealing great confusion.
He let out a few low growls, and his massive body unconsciously took two steps back.
On a distant street, General Ross, who had just climbed out of the helicopter, saw this world-destroying punch through his binoculars, and he was struck as if by lightning, standing motionless on the spot. The cigar in his hand fell to the ground, his mouth agape wide enough to fit an egg.
"Done."
Chu Hang retracted his fist, shaking his hand as if he had just swatted a fly.
He turned to look at Hulk, noticing that the big guy's anger was rapidly dissipating, his green skin beginning to fade, and his massive body slowly shrinking.
Bruce Banner was about to transform back.
Chu Hang walked over to him, took off his suit jacket, and prepared to drape it over him once he had transformed back.
Just then, the piercing roar of engines approached from a distance. Over a dozen Military Hummers and armored vehicles surrounded the area.
General Ross, leading a squad of fully armed Soldiers, jumped out of a vehicle, their dark muzzles uniformly pointed at Banner, who was transforming back into human form.
"Don't move! Target is losing threat! Prepare to capture alive!" General Ross roared, his eyes filled with greedy light.
Chu Hang sighed, walked forward, and stood between Banner and the army.
"General Ross, is it?" He looked at the old man whose face was etched with paranoia and madness, his voice calm, "I suggest you have your men put down their weapons."
"Who are you? Leave immediately! This is a Militarymatter!" General Ross snapped.
"Me?" Chu Hang smiled, "I'm the one who just punched away the monster that dozens of your tanks couldn't handle. Now, I'll say it again, put down your weapons, and then take your men and get out of here."
"You are obstructing a Military operation! I have the right to shoot you on sight!" General Ross was enraged by Chu Hang's contemptuous attitude, and he drew his pistol.
"You can try." Chu Hang's eyes turned cold. "But I guarantee that before you pull the trigger, all the weapons of you and your men will turn into a pile of scrap metal."
Just at this tense moment, several black Chevrolet SUVs sped up and screeched to a halt between the army and Chu Hang.
The car doors opened, and Phil Coulson, leading a team of SHIELD Agents, stepped out.
"General Ross." Coulson smiled as he handed over a document. "According to the highest directive from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, this area is now under our jurisdiction. Including... Dr. Bruce Banner."
General Ross looked at the glaring emblem and signature on the document, his face turning darker than the bottom of a pot.
"This was my operation!"
"It was." Coulson's smile remained, but his tone was unyielding.
Chu Hang watched the scene and nodded in satisfaction. He walked over to Coulson and whispered, "Tell Fury he owes me one. Dr. Banner needs a quiet place, not a Military prison. If the Military troubles him again, I'll personally go have a 'talk' with General Ross."
Coulson's body stiffened slightly, and he nodded solemnly: "I will relay that faithfully."
With that, he directed his subordinates to carefully lift the completely transformed and unconscious Banner onto the car using a specialized stretcher.
A familiar figure—Betty Ross—also ran out of one of the cars, looking worriedly at Banner on the stretcher.
Watching the convoy drive away, and General Ross, who was trembling with rage at having his credit stolen, Chu Hang stretched.
The night wind of New York felt quite good on his body.
He took out his phone and dialed Tony's number.
"Hey, Tony, guess what I just saw? A big guy playing baseball with a helicopter. When will your new toy be able to fly?"
Chapter 85 Special Advisor to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Tony Stark on the other end of the phone was silent for a full five seconds.
Chu Hang could even imagine his expression at that moment: a complex look mixed with disbelief, extreme displeasure, and intense curiosity.
"Helicopter... playing baseball?" Tony's voice sounded like it was squeezed through his teeth. "Are you sure you're not watching a live broadcast of a B-grade monster movie?"
"It's much more exciting than that." Chu Hang chuckled softly. "By the way, the other big guy was sent flying several hundred meters by my punch, and he's probably still stuck in some building somewhere. Alright, I'm not chatting with you anymore; I need to deal with the aftermath. Remember, if your new toy doesn't make an appearance soon, you won't get an invitation to these kinds of parties in the future."
With that, Chu Hang hung up the phone directly.
In the underground workshop of the Malibu Villa, Tony Stark stood in place, phone in hand, his face constantly changing expressions.
He had just seen the tragic state of Harlem, as if it had been hit by a meteor, and the blurry images of the two giants rampaging, all through the satellite channel connected by Jarvis. He knew Chu Hang wasn't lying.
One punch... sent flying several hundred meters?
This pure, violent, and unimaginable physical strength deeply stimulated Tony's heart, which was proud to its core.
He could fly, fire energy cannons, and calculate precisely. But this raw beauty of overwhelming force with a single blow was something his Iron Man armor suit currently lacked.
"Jarvis!" He spun around abruptly, battle intent burning in his eyes. "Simplify all testing procedures for the Mark 4! I don't care how you do it; I want to see it fly within twenty-four hours!"
"Sir, this does not comply with safety protocols..."
"Then rewrite the protocols!" Tony rudely interrupted Jarvis. "Now, immediately, right now!"
...Three days later, New York, the top floor of a private club not open to the public.
This was one of the many properties Chu Hang had bought under the identity of "Anthony Chen." Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows was the bustling night view of Manhattan, with an endless stream of lights below.
Only two dim floor lamps were lit in the room, and the atmosphere was quiet, almost oppressive.
Nick Fury sat alone on the sofa, his signature black trench coat placed aside, wearing only a simple black turtleneck. On the table in front of him was an untouched glass of whiskey.
He had been waiting here for ten minutes.
The door opened, and Chu Hang, dressed in casual loungewear, slowly walked in, holding a steaming cup of coffee.
"Director Fury, you've waited long enough." He settled onto the sofa opposite Fury, as if he were the Masterhere.
"Not long." Fury's single eye looked at him calmly. "For someone who can appear out of thin air, the concept of time might be a bit different from ours."
"Spare me the compliments." Chu Hang took a sip of coffee. "How is Dr. Banner doing?"
"He's safe." Fury said succinctly. "We've placed him in a location no one can find. As for General Ross, I'll handle him. He won't have any more trouble."
"Very good." Chu Hang nodded. "Then, let's talk about business."
"Business?" Fury leaned forward slightly. "You turned New York upside down, almost wiped Harlem off the map with one punch, and then you tell me we're just starting to talk business now?"
"That was dealing with trouble, not creating trouble." Chu Hang corrected him. "Moreover, I was helping you. Otherwise, what you'd be facing right now might be a completely out-of-control Hulk and an Abomination that turned half of New York into ruins."
Fury fell silent. He knew Chu Hang was telling the truth. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s post-battle assessment report was already out; the power of that punch was classified as top secret, and the assessment result was only two words: unsolvable.
"Alright." Fury leaned back on the sofa, seemingly compromising. "Tell me your conditions."
"My conditions are simple." Chu Hang put down his coffee cup and held up three fingers.
"First, all my identities, including Anthony Chen, and any future identities I might use, must be provided with the highest level of cover by S.H.I.E.L.D.. I don't want to be harassed daily by the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the tax authorities."
"Understood." Fury nodded.
"Second, I need partial intelligence access to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Of course, not everything; I'm not that bored. I just need to know what interesting things are happening in this World, especially those that are out of the ordinary."
Fury's single eye narrowed: "That's impossible. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence is top secret."
"Then let's rephrase it." Chu Hang smiled. "You can establish a special consultant office, and I'll be the sole consultant. You can regularly send me filtered intelligence that you deem I need to know. The decision-making power remains in your hands."
Fury thought for a few seconds, then nodded again: "Agreed."
"Third." Chu Hang looked at Fury, his gaze becoming a bit more serious. "And this is the most important point. Do not attempt to investigate me, do not send people to track me, and do not make any petty moves against my businesses or friends. We are a cooperative relationship, not a superior-subordinate one. I help you solve problems you can't solve, and you provide me with convenience. That's all."
The room fell into a prolonged silence.
Fury's single eye stared intently at Chu Hang, as if trying to discern his deepest secrets from his face. But Chu Hang simply met his gaze calmly, his eyes clear and composed.
After a long while, Fury slowly spoke: "Within S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal files, there's a highest-level threat classification, codenamed 'Skyfather.' It refers to individuals who possess god-like power, capable of deciding the fate of a Planet by themselves. From today on, your file will be 'Skyfather' level."
"Sounds good." Chu Hang shrugged.
"Pleasure working with you, Mr. Chen." Fury stood up and extended his hand.
"Pleasure working with you, Director Fury." Chu Hangshook his hand... After seeing Fury off, Chu Hang went alone to the uninhabited area of Nevada.
This was an abandoned mine owned by one of his mining companies, with no human habitation for hundreds of miles.
He wanted to try out his new ability.
He closed his eyes, trying to recall and find the emotion called "rage." For someone accustomed to controlling everything and maintaining a peaceful state of mind, this was not easy.
He remembered the days in his previous life, working overtime until late at night, being ordered around by his boss like a dog; he remembered his sudden Death at his desk, the endless fatigue and unwillingness; he remembered the fear of Death and the powerlessness against fate under the Normandy bombardment at the beginning of his transmigration... A faint, long-suppressed spark quietly ignited in his heart.
The Limitless Rage ability was passively activated.
This spark was instantly magnified a thousandfold, turning into a towering Fire of rage, roaring to consume his reason. However, his rock-solid willpower, strengthened by the super soldier serum, acted like a cold dam, firmly blocking this torrent.
Reason and Fury reached a delicate and dangerous balance in his spiritual World.
He could clearly feel that the rage, compressed and purified by his willpower, was continuously transforming into pure physical strength.
His body seemed to have become a furnace of power.
Chu Hang suddenly opened his eyes, and a terrifying red glow flashed deep within them.
He simply threw a punch at the empty Gobi desert in front of him.
There was no earth-shattering bang, only a muffled, ultimate "thump," as if the air had been instantly sucked out.
In front of him, centered on his fist, a perfect circular deep pit with a diameter of over twenty meters appeared out of thin air. The edges of the pit were smooth as a mirror, as if instantly vaporized by some super laser weapon.
An invisible Impact wave followed, spreading in a ring. Within a hundred meters, all sand, stones, and shrubs were instantly pulverized into their most basic powder.
Chu Hang looked at his fist, then at the huge deep pit, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Not bad, demolition will be much easier in the future."
He knew that although this power was immense, the consumption of willpower was also terrifying. Each activation was like dancing on a cliff, and a slight misstep could lead to being swallowed by rage.
It seems that willpower training also needs to be put on the agenda... Back in his New York penthouse apartment.
Chu Hang pulled up an encrypted file. On the screen, a man's profile appeared.
Ivan Vanko.
The man in the photo had a full beard, gloomy eyes, and exuded a violent aura that warned people to keep their distance. The file detailed that his father, Anton Vanko, was once Howard Stark's partner, but was later expelled back to the Soviet Union due to ideological differences.
"Anton Vanko... Howard Stark... arc reactor..." Chu Hang's fingers tapped lightly on the table.
He knew that with Tony's new element arc reactor being made public, this son of vengeance, lurking in Moscow, would soon come knocking with his electric whips.
"Can't always wait for trouble to come knocking." Chu Hang murmured.
He dialed an encrypted phone number.
"It's me. Help me find someone, Ivan Vanko, in Moscow. I need to know everything about him: what he does every day, who he contacts, what parts he buys. Yes, everything."
After hanging up the phone, Chu Hang's gaze once again turned to the bustling night view outside the window.
Stark Industries' future couldn't just have one Iron Man. Artificial intelligence, clean energy... Tony's genius brain still held countless treasures that could change the World.
And what he had to do was clear all obstacles for him in advance.
Chapter 86 Stark Expo
Ever since the Harlem incident, Tony Stark had been like a wound-up madman.
He almost self-abusively immersed himself in his underground workshop twenty-four hours a day. Caffeine and high-calorie pizza became his staple, and the workshop was always filled with the acrid smell of metal welding and a faint scent of ozone.
Pepper had tried more than once to drag him out of that iron cave, to get him to bask in the Sun or at least get a full night's sleep. But each time, she only saw a Tony with two huge dark circles under his eyes, yet with a fanatical glint in them.
"I'm fine, Pepper, I'm perfectly fine!" he said to her without turning around, while adjusting the miniature missile launcher on the Mark 4 armor suit's arm, "I'm just... I've found some new inspiration."
Pepper sighed helplessly, looking at the brand new armor suit behind him.
Mark 4.
It was sleeker and more elegant than any previous generation. It was made entirely of lighter, stronger titanium alloy, and its iconic red and gold coloring was even brighter. Most importantly, it was powered by a new triangular arc reactor, with an energy output more than three times that of the Mark 3.
In a secret late-night test flight, Tony piloted it, easily breaking the sound barrier three times over, and even performed a brief cruise in low Earth orbit.
That feeling, that unparalleled speed and power, completely captivated him.
But the shock Chu Hang's punch gave him, which he saw in the video, still felt like a thorn deeply embedded in his heart.
He could fly higher and faster, but that pure physical power, capable of leveling an entire city block, he still didn't possess.
"Not enough, still not enough..." he muttered to himself, looking at the constantly flickering data stream on the holographic screen.
A few days later, at a board meeting, Tony Stark suddenly announced a decision that left everyone, including Pepper, stunned.
"I've decided to restart the Stark Expo," he stood at the head of the conference table, surveying the directors, a proud, signature smile on his face, "Next month, at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, the same place my father once held the Expo."
The conference room erupted in an uproar.
"Tony, are you crazy?" Pepper was the first to object, "We've just stabilized the stock price, and the arc reactorproject is just getting started. Now is absolutely not the time to host such an expensive Expo!"
"No, Pepper, now is the best time," Tony's gaze swept over her, carrying an undeniable firmness, "The Worldneeds to see the future of Stark Industries, not by selling those damned weapons, but by this."
He pointed to the triangular arc reactor on his chest.
"I want to announce to the World that the era of clean energy has arrived. And Stark Industries will be the leader of this era."
His words were full of idealistic passion, but the old men on the board were unmoved. They only cared about the numbers on the reports.
"Tony, this is too risky!" said a newly appointed director after Obadiah's death, frowning, "Our energy department is still in the integration phase, the technology isn't mature, announcing it so early..."
"Whether the technology is mature or not is up to me," Tony interrupted him, "As for the money..."
He looked at Chu Hang, who was sitting in the corner, silent throughout, idly twirling a pen.
"I think Mr. Anthony Chen, our company's second-largest shareholder, would support my decision, wouldn't he?"
Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Chu Hang.
Chu Hang stopped twirling his pen, looked up, and showed a gentle smile: "Of course I support it. In fact, I think this is a brilliant idea. I can personally cover half of the Expo's entire budget."
Tony raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a look that said, "You know what's good for you."
Pepper watched the two most powerful men in the company play off each other and could only sit down helplessly. She knew this matter could no longer be stopped... While Tony was frantically busy with his Expo, a top-secret document with an encryption level of "Skyfather" was sent to Chu Hang's computer.
The document contained all the information about Ivan Vanko.
Chu Hang sat on the sofa in his penthouse apartment, sipping coffee and leisurely flipping through the document.
The photo showed Ivan Vanko living in a dirty, dilapidated apartment in Moscow, with yellowed newspapers plastered on the walls. His only companion seemed to be a small White parrot.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence was meticulously detailed to an infuriating degree. Every expense, every outing, every internet search record of Ivan Vanko over the past three months was clearly listed.
"High-intensity plasma conduits... military-grade capacitors... graphene fiber... and, a ticket to the Monaco Grand Prix?"
Chu Hang's finger stopped on the last line.
He quickly pieced together these seemingly unrelated parts information with his memories of the plot.
A clear plan emerged in his mind.
Ivan Vanko's father had a grudge against Howard Stark, and he was settling that score with Tony. He was using his father's leftover technology from early arc reactors to build a weapon—plasma whips.
And the stage he chose for his debut was the upcoming Stark Expo, or... during the Expo, the Monaco Grand Prix, which Tony was very likely to attend.
He wanted to tear apart the myth of Iron Man's invincibility in front of the entire World.
"Interesting," Chu Hang closed the file and leaned back into the soft sofa.
He began to ponder a question: Was there any ability Ivan Vanko possessed that was worth copying?
Engineering talent? He already had Tony's top-tier version; Ivan's was at best a "wild-card modified version," not very valuable.
Then... control over plasma energy?
Chu Hang recalled the scene in the movie where Ivan, wielding two electric whips, easily sliced through race cars like tofu. That technique of confining high energy into a weaponized form seemed to have some potential. Although he could also do it with his spatial abilities, having an extra means of attack was never a bad thing.
"Perhaps I'll take a look," he murmured to himself.
He picked up his phone and dialed Tony's number.
The phone rang for a long time before it was answered, with loud music and various noisy sounds coming from the other end.
"Hello! Who is it? Don't you know I'm busy?" Tony's voice sounded very impatient.
"It's me," Chu Hang said concisely.
"Oh, it's you," the noise on Tony's end subsided a bit, as if he had moved to a quieter place, "What's up? If you're looking to make an additional investment, you're always welcome."
"Investment is easy to talk about," Chu Hang's tone was casual, "I just wanted to remind you that your Expo is being organized on such a grand scale, and the eyes of the whole World are on you. Some people, well, they don't particularly like to see the Stark name become so dazzling again."
"You mean someone wants to cause me trouble?" Tonyscoffed, "Let them come. I now have the best security system in the World, and... this." He patted the Mark 4 armor suit beside him.
"I'm not talking about ordinary Terrorists, Tony," Chu Hang's voice deepened, "I'm referring to those who live in the Shadow.
A legacy always comes with baggage. You've inherited your father's genius and wealth, and naturally, you also inherit some of the grudges he left behind."
There was silence on the other end of the line.
Chu Hang knew that his words had hit the mark. Tonywas a smart man; he would investigate.
"I understand," after a long pause, Tony's voice came again, with a hint of gravity, "Thanks."
"You're welcome, partner," Chu Hang smiled, "I wish your Expo every success. I'll be there to support you then."
...A month later, the Stark Expo grandly opened.
Flushing Meadows–Corona Park was packed with people, and media and tech enthusiasts from all over the Worldgathered there, eager to witness the new era of Stark Industries.
At night, the opening ceremony officially began.
Accompanied by deafening rock music and dazzling lights, a red and gold figure descended from the sky like a meteor, landing heavily in the center of the stage amidst countless flashes and screams.
Iron Man, Tony Stark.
He made his entrance in the most ostentatious and spectacular way possible.
"I'm back!" He spread his arms, and his helmet faceplate automatically lifted, revealing the face that the whole World was crazy about.
The crowd completely erupted.
And below the stage, in the surging crowd, a man wearing an ordinary jacket and a baseball cap calmly watched the radiant figure on the stage.
It was Chu Hang, his appearance and physique altered.
He didn't go to the VIP area; it was too conspicuous. He liked the feeling of being mixed in with the crowd, like a true observer.
He could clearly sense the surging energy within Tony on stage, and he could also sense the location of every camera and every security personnel in the venue.
On his system panel, the superpower copier icon was faintly glowing, indicating a "ready" state.
Chapter 87 Justin Hammer
The stage lights were like molten gold, pouring over Tony Stark. He stood there, the center of the World. The crowd's cheers were a tsunami, and he was the one riding it.
"I'm back!"
Four words, they slammed into everyone's ears, then exploded.
Chu Hang pulled the brim of his baseball cap lower. He stood in the crowd, like a reef that wouldn't be washed away by the tide. Tony, that guy, was indeed a natural showman, knowing how to make others go crazy for him.
"I know you missed me." Tony walked across the stage, each step perfectly timed to the beat of the music, his confident smile just right. "But don't rush, tonight's protagonist isn't me, nor is it this tin suit."
He raised his hand, pointing to the giant Earth model behind him. The model slowly rotated, glowing with blue light, like a tamed star. This was the dream his father, Howard Stark, had left behind more than fifty years ago.
"My father, Howard, was right here, over fifty years ago, telling the World what the future would look like." Tony's voice, amplified by the speakers, became a little deeper, carrying a deliberately solemn tone. "He planted a seed, but unfortunately, he didn't live to see it bloom."
He paused, placing his palm on the triangular arc reactoron his chest. It glowed with the same light.
"What my father left behind was the future. Today, I'm bringing the future directly to your eyes!"
His voice suddenly rose, like a sharp sword piercing the night sky.
"Many people say the cornerstone of Stark Industries is weapons. They are wrong! The cornerstone of Stark Industries is creation! It's the determination to change the World! And the source of all this is energy! Clean, efficient, inexhaustible energy!"
As soon as he finished speaking, countless blue light strips on the Earth model behind him instantly lit up, spreading across the globe like blood vessels. As energy flowed, they alternated between bright and dim, like breathing.
"Look!" Tony pointed to the shining Earth, like a child showing off a new toy. "This is the future! The arc reactor, driven by a new element, will power our cities! It will completely end the energy crisis, and those wars and conflicts caused by the struggle for oil, can go to hell!"
The crowd's emotions were completely ignited. People screamed and cheered, going wild for this incredibly beautiful-sounding future.
Chu Hang watched it all, expressionless. He knew that the more elaborate the setup, the louder the crash would be when it fell.
The show was about to begin.
Just as Tony spread his arms, ready to announce the official opening of the expo, something went wrong.
Above the stage, a row of huge searchlights flickered twice, then with a "snap," they all went out. Immediately, a harsh electrical noise came from the speakers, like hundreds of steel needles scraping glass at once, so sharp it made one's scalp tingle.
The blue light strips on the surface of the Earth model, symbolizing the future, began to flicker wildly, extremely unstable, like the last struggles of a heart patient before death. A crackling sound came from inside the model, and a few wisps of unpleasant black smoke emerged.
The crowd, which had been fervent just seconds before, instantly fell silent. The huge contrast made the air solidify. Doubt, astonishment, and finally a hint of panic spread through the crowd like a virus.
"What's going on? Power outage?"
"That sound is awful! My ears!"
"That ball... it's not going to explode, is it?" A girl shrieked.
On stage, Tony's smile froze. He frowned, his first reaction being a simple technical malfunction. But the urgent electronic voice of Jarvis in his helmet immediately made him realize that things were not that simple.
"Sir, the main control system has been externally infiltrated! The attacker is attempting to seize control of the energy core! The firewall has been bypassed!"
"Infiltrated?" Tony's eyes turned cold.
In the crowd, Chu Hang's expression remained unchanged. His energy perception detected the anomaly a second earlier than Jarvis.
The entire energy system of the expo, in his perception, was like a smoothly flowing energy field. But just now, a signal attempted to contaminate the entire energy network, targeting the Earth model as its core.
"Remote hacker." Chu Hang immediately made a judgment.
His perception, like an invisible net, instantly extended out from the expo as its center. Soon, he located the signal source in an inconspicuous apartment in Queens, several kilometers away. The energy fluctuations of that signal source carried the characteristics of a primitive and crude arc reactor, like a clumsy imitation.
"Ivan Vanko." Chu Hang murmured to himself.
This guy was even more impatient than in the movie, actually making his move at the opening ceremony. However, this level of attack, for Tony, was at most an appetizer.
Chu Hang decided not to act yet. He wanted to see how Tony would resolve this situation, and he also wanted to take the opportunity to observe Ivan Vanko's method of controlling plasma energy.
On stage, Tony had already calmed down. Far from panicking, a provocative sneer curled at the corner of his mouth. The thing he feared least in his life was a technical challenge.
He picked up the microphone and addressed the restless crowd, his tone as light as if he were joking: "It seems we have an enthusiastic audience member who wants to experience Stark Industries' latest cybersecurity system in advance. Well, we'll oblige him!"
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers in the air.
"Jarvis, open the Skynet firewall."
Before the audience could fully understand, a high-tech operating interface had already appeared on the giant LED screen behind the stage. Countless green codes cascaded down like a waterfall, with a red skull warning sign in the middle, particularly glaring.
A louder cheer erupted from the crowd; they truly believed this was a pre-arranged special effect show.
Tony gestured in the air with his hand, his movements elegant and fluid.
"Our Skynet firewall... here, let's build a virtual trap, make him think he's succeeded, let him be happy for a while. Then, from the flank, build a quantum-encrypted firewall to block his retreat. Finally..."
He clenched his fist and made a motion as if slamming a Hammer down hard.
"...cut off his connection, and send him a little gift, like turning all the files on his computer into videos of cats dancing!"
As his last word fell, the red skull on the big screen instantly disappeared, replaced by a green "Secure" icon.
All the lights in the entire venue, at that moment, returned to normal. The Earth model also re-emitted a stable and brilliant blue light. The harsh noise disappeared, and the stirring music played again.
The crisis, in just thirty seconds, was perfectly resolved by Tony in a highly entertaining manner.
The entire hall erupted in thunderous applause, even more enthusiastic than before.
Just then, a middle-aged man in an expensive suit, with slick, reflective hair, rushed onto the stage from backstage, a wide smile on his face.
"Tony! My friend! That was truly thrilling!" The man grabbed Tony's hand, acting like a long-lost friend. "I knew your system wasn't very stable. If you need it, Hammer Industries would be delighted to provide you with the World's top security support! Our technology is absolutely reliable!"
The newcomer was none other than Justin Hammer, CEO of Hammer Industries. He had always seen Tony as a thorn in his side. Now, seeing Tony in a bit of trouble, he immediately wanted to step on him and, incidentally, advertise his own company.
Tony calmly withdrew his hand, looking at him with the eyes of someone watching a Joker, then took the microphone.
"Mr. Justin Hammer, CEO of Hammer Industries." Tonyintroduced him to the entire audience, his smile full of undisguised mockery. "I remember seeing your company's drone demonstration at the congressional hearing last time. The way those things spun around in the sky, it really did look like an epileptic seizure. Justin, is your technology still stuck in the dial-up internet era?"
A merciless roar of laughter erupted from the crowd.
Justin Hammer's face instantly turned a liver-red color. He hadn't expected Tony to humiliate him so mercilessly in front of the World's media.
"Also," Tony leaned closer to him, saying in a cold voice audible only to the two of them, "stay away from my stage. This is an adult party; children should go home to their mothers."
After speaking, he winked at a nearby security guard. Two security guards, both over six feet three inches tall, immediately stepped forward and, like carrying a chicken, "escorted" the ashen-faced Justin Hammer off the stage, one on each side.
Hammer, publicly humiliated, trembled with rage. He walked to an empty, dark corner offstage, immediately pulled out his phone, and dialed a number. His expression was distorted by anger, and he cursed viciously, spitting as he spoke.
All of this was observed by Chu Hang, not far away.
A knowing smile played on Chu Hang's lips.
A tech madman eager for revenge.
An arms dealer publicly humiliated and desperate to prove himself.
Very good.
The two key figures were finally connected.
Now, they just had to wait for the opening act at the Monaco racetrack. That was the real stage.