No problem, my friend, the return you get will definitely far outweigh your investment, I guarantee it in Stark's name."
After saying that, Tony, who had been tormented by thirst for a long time, no longer cared about his cleanliness. He grabbed the item from Zhou Xuan's hand, unscrewed the water skin, and drank Water heartily.
He gulped down several mouthfuls of Water, then let out an ungraceful burp, before roughly tearing open the oiled paper and wolfing down the pie.
"It's beef-filled, and it tastes great. Friend, it's my luck to meet You," Tony Stark mumbled as he ate.
"Slow down, buddy," Zhou Xuan advised, watching Tony Stark devour his food, afraid he might choke and his reward would go to waste.
After finishing the pie and drinking a few more sips of Water, a feeling of fullness came over him. Only then did Tony Stark feel alive again. He looked up and down at the strangely dressed Zhou Xuan and asked:
"Oh, friend, I haven't asked your name yet."
"Zhou Xuan, I'm used to being called that, but I estimate You might not be accustomed to it. You can shorten it and call me Zhou, or Xuan, either is fine."
Zhou Xuan answered with a smile, his gaze fixed on the Arc Reactor on Tony Stark's chest.
A miniature nuclear reactor, the blackest of black technologies.
"Zhou, Xuan," Tony Stark awkwardly repeated, then asked, "Zhou, are You Chinese?"
"Chinese?" Zhou Xuan's gaze shifted from the Arc Reactor, and he smiled mysteriously, saying, "In a sense, yes."
Tony Stark's brows furrowed into a frown, puzzled by Zhou Xuan's strange words.
At this moment, the information that had suddenly been transmitted to his mind surged into his thoughts.
His mind raced, and he immediately understood everything, raising his finger to Zhou Xuan and asking:
"You, You are from another World, a Chinese person from another World!"
Zhou Xuan was startled by Tony Stark's words:
He knew Tony Stark was smart, but not *that* smart, surely? He had only said a few words, and he could deduce his origin! This shouldn't be happening? Is the gap between genius and ordinary people really that big?
As he pondered, Zhou Xuan inexplicably recalled the situation where he had haphazardly become Sun En's disciple in the Borderland World.
Equally sudden.
After entering the sect, he had even asked Sun En why he had accepted him as a disciple.
At that time, Sun En had said with a charlatan-like expression, 'This is the guidance of the World, the arrangement of the Heavenly Dao.' Then, under the guise of instructing martial arts, he had severely beaten Zhou Xuan, leaving Zhou Xuan utterly bewildered.
However, Tony Stark was now also suddenly saying he was an outsider. Could it really be as Sun En said, that the World consciousness told them?
"How did You know? Did the World consciousness tell You?" Zhou Xuan asked.
"World consciousness? Perhaps it really is that way. Because that information was just too vast, too vast…"
Tony Stark had a look of unbearable recollection, remembering the feeling of his brain almost exploding from the information.
After two wails, he then took two steps forward, grabbed Zhou Xuan's clothes, and vigorously shook Zhou Xuan's upper body, roaring with a distorted expression:
"Do You know! Do You know! I was flying perfectly fine in the sky, flying perfectly fine...
I could have flown out of this desert smoothly and returned home safely. But then a massive amount of information was suddenly crammed into my brain, almost making my brain explode.
Do You know how massive that information was? It was like decades of my memories from childhood appearing in my brain all at once.
I instantly lost control of my body, spinning and falling from the sky, almost falling to my death.
And that wasn't all; after I fell into the desert, that information kept being crammed into my head, even when my mind was bursting from it, it didn't stop.
I lost consciousness, no, no, maybe that wasn't losing consciousness, because I could still feel the vast information surging in my brain at that time.
Do You know how uncomfortable that is? Do You know... Do You know... It's too uncomfortable... too uncomfortable... so uncomfortable that I want to cry."
As Tony Stark spoke, his voice gradually began to choke, and eventually, he actually started to cry.
He cried with tears streaming down his face, like a thirty-year-old child.
Zhou Xuan had a helpless and embarrassed expression; he truly didn't know about these circumstances:
"Sorry, Tony. I didn't want this to happen, I really didn't know that receiving this information would make You so uncomfortable…"
At this point, Zhou Xuan's expression froze, and he stopped comforting Tony Stark.
He seemed to have guessed why Sun En had taken him as a disciple.
What fate's guidance, what Heavenly Dao's arrangement, it was most likely that the World consciousness had also crammed a lot of information into Sun En, telling him to look after this outsider to prevent him from potentially damaging the World.
And the method by which the World consciousness transmitted information, judging by Tony Stark's current tearful state and his cheap master Sun En's frequent unprovoked beatings of him, showed how painful it was to receive information transmitted by the World consciousness at a spiritual level.
As Tony Stark cried, he threw the clothes covering his head from the Sun to the side, then stripped off his T-shirt and reached out to untie Zhou Xuan's belt.
Zhou Xuan was startled, immediately stepping back two paces, raising his hands to block in front of him, and said to Tony Stark:
"Tony, what are You doing? I have no interest in You whatsoever. If You want compensation, I can give You something else as compensation, but it definitely does not include my body."
"Damn it, You filthy-minded bastard, what are You thinking…"
Tony Stark's mouth twitched, and his face, covered in dust and tears, showed a disgusted expression:
"I have no interest in men, and even less interest in You. What I want is your clothes, that White shirt on You, I'm about to die from the Sun!"
With that, Tony Stark took two steps to Zhou Xuan's front, roughly stripped the clothes off Zhou Xuan, and with a twist of his hands, put the clothes on himself and then put them on properly.
This wasn't over yet. He then glanced at Zhou Xuan's bamboo hat, then snatched it and put it on his own head.
Zhou Xuan's mouth twitched, allowing Tony Stark to claim his clothes and bamboo hat as his own.
Facing the World's consciousness, just thinking about it was terrifying.
And for Tony Stark, an ordinary person who had never possessed extraordinary power, not having his brain explode from the information given by the World consciousness truly meant he was beloved by the World.
After Tony Stark put on the clothes, he felt a cool, smooth sensation spreading from the clothes to his body, making him incredibly comfortable.
He reached out and touched the clothes, his palm feeling silky smooth, and he immediately exclaimed in admiration:
"Hey, Zhou, what material are your clothes made of? They've been exposed to the Sun in the desert for so long, yet they're still cool. They're incredibly comfortable to wear, I love this feeling so much, it's like touching the skin of a cool beauty, it makes me…"