Ben and Norman talked for a while.
The two then discussed the profitability of the Self-Healing Serum again.
In reality, he already knew about this part from Eunice.
All the profits from the serum belonged to Primus. Although it had only been a month, the military's large orders had already made him a fortune, and Ben had instantly become one of the youngest billionaires in New York.
"Our production can't keep up with the orders at all. You need to find Connors and have him speed up the breeding of those little lizards," Norman reminded him.
Currently, Primus had only received deposits for the orders, as there was no stock.
In Norman's opinion, such low production was greatly hindering the company's ability to make money. Even though he wouldn't get a cent of it, he was still anxious for Ben.
The two chatted for a while longer.
Then, the other party began to prepare to sue Mendel Stromm.
Although Osborn had a professional legal team, Ben still recommended Matt Murdock to him.
After that, he washed his hands of the matter and turned to ask about Harry's company.
"The phones have started selling."
Speaking of this, Harry was no longer sleepy.
As the son of Osborn, it was easy for Harry to find a few production lines.
Besides, in the end, it was just a civilian smartphone, and the required technical skill wasn't very high. The first batch of phones was quickly produced.
Leveraging the buzz created by the Self-Healing Serum for Primus, Harry advertised the phones, and they quickly gained considerable popularity.
Although the profit margin of the phones was far inferior to that of the Self-Healing Serum, their advantage lay in the large market and the ability to quickly expand production, so the total profit was also very considerable.
Harry's report of this month's revenue alone had changed Ben's initial idea of not getting involved in the telecommunications industry long-term.
Why not make money if there was money to be made?
These departments with relatively low technical requirements could be completely handed over to Harry, which would also be good training for him.
With Harry's intelligence, it would be difficult for him to engage in invention and creation, but he could still do some simple things better than most ordinary people.
Then, Ben left Osborn Manor with several new phones.
At the same time, he was also thinking about confessing to Uncle Ben and Aunt May that he had started a company.
"Now that Primus has started generating revenue, there's no need to hide it from them anymore."
Ben had kept it a secret before because the Parker family didn't have much capacity to bear risk. Although he knew he wouldn't fail, it was also to prevent them from worrying.
Now, there was naturally no need for that.
Queens.
Ben was driving, feeling a bit tired.
He had gone out looking for work again today, but he kept hitting dead ends. Not many people were willing to hire someone who was old and didn't know how to use modern electronic devices.
Even a cashier at a store had to know how to use a cash register.
"Fortunately, Peter has been taking pictures for that Spider-Man lately and earned some money, which has eased the family's burden a little."
He wiped his sweat and sighed again.
It made him feel very guilty to have a child who was still studying bear the family's financial burden. Moreover, if things continued like this, it would be difficult for them to pay for Peter's and Ben's university tuition.
Besides that, he was also worried about Peter's safety.
The newspapers were filled with reports of Spider-Man's battles with supervillains every day. Peter's taking pictures for him might also get him into trouble.
"If it really comes to it, maybe I should modify the car, install a guardrail, and then drive a taxi."
Although he couldn't sit for long due to his back pain, there was no better solution at the moment.
It's just that even the air conditioning in his old clunker was broken, and he would need to fix it up if he wanted to drive a taxi.
"I wonder how Little Ben is doing in the lab?"
As Ben was thinking, he suddenly saw two familiar figures standing in front of his house.
"Little Ben?"
Outside, Ben and Mary Jane were standing side by side.
After leaving Osborn's, Ben had rushed home immediately, but to his surprise, no one was home. Aunt May was still at work, and Uncle Ben was out looking for a job.
Instead, Mary Jane had seen him from the window and quickly ran down.
After not seeing him for a month, Mary Jane was as happy as a blooming flower the moment she saw Ben.
She eagerly asked Ben what kind of research he had been doing in the lab.
Ben casually mentioned some data from his experiments with Connors. Mary Jane listened, completely lost, not understanding a single word, but she still nodded along with her eyes wide open, looking like she would listen to anything he said.
Just then, they heard the sound of a car behind them. Ben and Mary Jane looked back simultaneously and saw Ben, his hair completely white, peeking out from the window and waving at them.
Seeing this, Mary Jane decided not to delay Ben's reunion with his family and said:
"Then I'll be going back now."
She waved her hand, ready to leave.
Actually, she still had a lot she wanted to say to Ben, she had been listening the whole time and hadn't had a chance to speak yet.
"I'll come find you later tonight."
Uncle Ben parked the car and walked over, asking strangely, "Why did she leave? Did I interrupt you?"
"No," Ben shook his head.
"Oh, Uncle Ben, there's something I need to tell you."
The two of them walked into the house together.
Ben smiled and said, "What is it? Does it have to do with your experiments?"
"No, I've started a company."
—
In the evening, the family sat at the dinner table.
Even now, they still felt like they were dreaming about Ben starting a company.
"So, we're suddenly rich people now?" Aunt May asked cautiously, as if afraid of disturbing this beautiful dream.
Ben nodded, giving her confidence.
At this moment, it felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from the shoulders of the two elders, and the worry lines around their brows had even relaxed a little.
Aunt May couldn't help but shed tears. Still holding a spatula, she gave Ben a big hug and said happily, "That's wonderful! It looks like we don't have to worry about not having enough money for both of you to go to college anymore."
Even now, the two of them cared most about Ben and Peter.
"Peter, you don't seem surprised at all. Did you already know?" Uncle Ben looked at Peter with a hint of playful scolding, as if blaming him for not telling him sooner.
Peter shook his head. "I just found out too."
The reason he wasn't surprised at all was simply because he had already heard more surprising things today.
Compared to conquering a planet, what was starting a company?
"It's not just tuition for college; we can live a better life. We can move out of Queens, buy a few bigger villas, and you won't have to work so hard anymore," Ben said.
But Aunt May and Uncle Ben both shook their heads.
They exchanged a look, and then Uncle Ben said earnestly:
"To be honest, Benny, you've made us very proud since you were little, and now you've achieved so much. We're all very happy for you. But we don't want you to spend money carelessly just because you have it."
Ben was genuinely happy for Ben, but at the same time, he was a little worried. He feared that immense wealth might cause Ben to become addicted to it.
Ben understood this very well. In his past life, he had a relative who earned a lot of money at a young age, and he became arrogant and conceited because of it. Later, he got into gambling, not only losing all his family's assets but also accumulating a lot of debt, eventually ending up working a sewing machine.
"Don't worry, Uncle Ben. I just want to change our lives,"
Ben said. "To have a better environment, to not be controlled by life—that's the meaning of me making money."
Actually, Ben's main intention was to get Uncle Ben and Aunt May out of Queens and into a place with better security.
But the two of them didn't really want to move.
"We've lived here for over thirty years, Benny. This house is older than both of you combined," Aunt May said.
"We know everything about this neighborhood, we know it like the back of our hands, we know everyone who lives here, like Mrs. Walls, Mrs. Laura, and Little Billy two houses down..."
Aunt May listed every name like a treasure.
Then, Ben said:
"We're already rooted here. If you suddenly ask us to leave, we'll just feel lost. We'll feel very... lonely."
Perhaps this was how most elderly people were.
Once people get old, they don't accept new things as easily, especially moving to a new environment and meeting new people.
Because they understood that their remaining years were not many.
Ben also expressed his understanding.
Since Uncle Ben and Aunt May didn't plan to leave Queens, he wouldn't force them.
In fact, there was no need to force them.
"Coincidentally, the Machine Warriors from the Ben 10 world are quite advanced,"
he thought.
He could completely strengthen the security here and let machines patrol.
The Battle Armor he had salvaged from Stark earlier, as well as those technological items from Sakaar, had given Ben quite a bit of inspiration.
Now that Primus was slowly starting to turn a profit, he had the funds to conduct such research.
Meanwhile, Ben gave them new mobile phones as gifts. On the other side, Bullseye, who had failed his mission, returned to Kingpin's side.
In the spacious and opulent hall, Kingpin, who was as massive as a small mountain, wore a white suit and looked out at the bustling New York with his hands behind his back.
For someone like him, New York was the true city of the world.
All the sin in this city was a circulatory system he'd personally built, constantly pumping money and power right before his eyes.
"You failed, Lester."
Before Bullseye could speak, Kingpin had already cut him off.
His voice was deep.
"That's not common."
Kingpin turned around and sat on the massive black throne, clasping his hands.
Normally, he wouldn't tolerate failure, but he could afford to be a little lenient with his most capable subordinate.
Especially when the opponent was Spider-Man.
Two Spider-Men.
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