"Tough nut?"
William showed no panic; instead, he was exceptionally excited.
He patted Maurice on the shoulder.
His action was like comforting a startled cat.
"Calm down, Supervisor Maurice, what's there to panic about? We're a risk management company; isn't this just business coming to us?"
"You go have a vitality drink to calm your nerves; leave the rest to me."
After sending away the still-trembling old boatman, William immediately returned to his office and ordered the air.
"Jarvis, connect me to the Stark satellite. Perform the deepest geological and energy reaction scan on the East River seabed, coordinates XXX, YYY area."
"Executing, sir."
Jarvis's voice was as polite as ever.
"...Scan obstructed. An unknown energy field exists in the target area, actively interfering with and deflecting all detection signals. Unable to obtain valid Data."
"Interesting."
William stroked his chin.
Things were getting interesting.
As he pondered a solution, his phone screen lit up.
Tony Stark's face, with two large dark circles under his eyes, appeared on the video call.
His studio in the background was as messy as if a husky had torn it apart.
Blueprints, parts, and empty coffee cups were piled into small mountains.
"Cut the crap, William!"
Tony's opening was full of a capitalist's impatience and exhaustion.
"What was that 'energy stabilizer' you gave me last time? Name your price, I want the formula!"
William unhurriedly picked up his coffee, his movements as elegant as if he were attending a tea party.
"Tony, calm down; your mustache is almost pointing to the sky."
He put down the cup.
"Firstly, that's not a product for sale; it's part of our company's claims process. Secondly, as a core trade secret of the company, the formula is not for sale."
Tony was choked.
"Claims process? I'm about to be claimed by those idiots in Congress!"
Tony irritably ran a hand through his hair.
"My systems can't analyze its composition at all! It's not any known elemental combination on Earth! Where did you dig that up, some alien flea market?"
"There really is no formula."
He spread his hands, his expression innocent and sincere.
"However, considering you are our most important client, I can offer you an upgrade plan."
"What plan?"
Tony was a bit wary.
Was this kid going to make him spend money again?
"The 'Core Technical Support and Maintenance Agreement'."
William uttered a phrase that Tony found incredibly familiar.
"An exclusive VIP service for you. Once signed, your Mark armor will be connected in real-time to our company's health monitoring backend."
"What is that?"
"Simply put,"
William explained.
"It's like buying top-tier medical insurance for your armor."
"Once our backend monitors any instability in its energy core, or any potential technical malfunction, our company will automatically perform remote maintenance and energy replenishment."
"Just like last time, fully automatic, no need to distract yourself."
Seeing his hesitation, William immediately threw out the real bait.
"According to the agreement, Jarvis can gain access to all 'non-core risk cases' in our company's database."
"Believe me, the myriad of strange 'accidents' we've handled will absolutely be of great benefit to optimizing its emergency handling procedures."
This hit Tony's soft spot.
Upgrading Jarvis.
This was even more tempting than upgrading his own equipment.
He could tolerate flaws in his own armor.
But he could not tolerate Jarvis not being perfect enough.
Tony Stark on the other end of the video call was caught in an intense internal struggle.
His expression was unpredictable, like a supercomputer calculating the optimal solution.
Finally, he gritted his teeth, as if making an incredibly difficult decision.
"Send over your damn agreement!"
"Pleasure working with you."
William hung up the phone, a sly smile on his face.
It's good to have a powerful ally!
A cold electronic voice rang in his mind.
[Ding! Successfully sold the "Supreme VIP Technical Maintenance Annual Package" to client "Tony Stark"!]
[Reward settlement in progress...]
[Congratulations to the host for acquiring the special skill: "Data Touch (Elementary)"]
[Data Touch (Elementary): When your finger touches any electronic device, you can intuitively "feel" the flow of Data and program structure. Greatly enhances your understanding, control, and... ability to find backdoors in electronic products and software.]
Holy crap!
Isn't this the "human-machine integration" that programmers dream of? Hand-crafting AI is just around the corner!
He eagerly stretched out his finger and lightly touched the tablet on his desk.
A whole new World unfolded before him.
He "saw" countless torrents of code, composed of 0s and 1s, surging and converging under his fingertips.
The steady pulsation of the operating system kernel, and the either bloated or exquisite structure of every APP program, were all within William's perception.
He could even distinguish the encrypted data streams belonging to Jarvis; they were like a disciplined army of soldiers, shimmering with blue light, moving at high speed in the underlying layers of the system.
This feeling was like suddenly possessing a sixth sense for the electronic World.
He slowly withdrew his finger, refocusing his attention on the huge trouble at the bottom of the East River.
An energy field that could not be penetrated by probes.
A new ability that allowed him to "feel" Data.
A young man who could travel through the Dark Dimension.
He was now going to send a ghost to knock on that tough nut.
-------------------------------
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