Above Vulgar Pursuits

The next morning, Li Chen woke up with a hangover.

The people at the Hellfire Club had frantically toasted him the night before, giving their newly appointed White Rook a warm welcome.

Yet the White Queen, who had gotten him all worked up, had run off, leaving him with no choice but to go home.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Ram looking at him reproachfully.

"Master, you promised to replenish my mana yesterday."

Ram was very weak, but Li Chen had been dead drunk last night, so she had said nothing and waited until morning.

"I forgot."

Li Chen got up at once and called Ram over.

"Please wash up first, Master."

Ram was in no hurry and began attending to Li Chen.

Li Chen let out a long breath, feeling as though he were living the life of a feudal landlord.

As his personal maid, Ram wiped his face with a hot towel, brought over a basin for him to brush his teeth, and even helped him change clothes.

As a maid, she looked at Li Chen without changing expression, already familiar with every part of her master.

"All right, let's replenish your mana. We'll go downstairs to eat afterward."

After watching Ram busy herself for a while, Li Chen spoke.

"Okay."

Ram immediately lay down in his arms, and Li Chen used solar energy to replenish her mana.

The solar energy Li Chen had converted was even purer than ordinary mana. It made Ram feel wonderful, and her face turned red at once.

Then she looked up at Li Chen and said, "Master, I learned two Chinese dishes too."

"What Chinese dishes?"

Li Chen was curious.

Then Ram's little hand moved down. "The first is hand-shredded chicken."

"This..."

Li Chen stared wide-eyed at the gentle but somewhat sharp-tongued Ram.

"Master, Ram could see that you had too much heat in you."

She shifted the blame onto Li Chen.

Li Chen couldn't help it. He was a normal man, and now that he had a Man of Steel body, of course he was just like the leader of the Autobots.

After sampling Ram's Chinese dish, Li Chen wanted to know what her second dish was, but she absolutely refused to show him.

By the time he went downstairs, Li Chen really was a little hungry.

Rem had already made breakfast for three.

Psylocke still wasn't eating with them, so she could only watch from the side. Her gaze toward Li Chen was complicated, with a faint trace of eagerness to please.

After eating, Li Chen took the leash and went for a short walk to help his digestion.

When it was about time, he headed to the office.

Psylocke watched him walk away, feeling as though her palms and knees were nearly scraped raw, but there was a hint more obedience in her eyes.

She was starting to get used to it.

Li Chen arrived at his office and turned on the television.

By now, the news in America had exploded.

"Tony Stark has returned safely to New York. Aside from looking a little disheveled, he appears to be in high spirits..."

"God bless America. Our genius scientist is back, and he's even eaten his favorite cheeseburger."

Everyone was caught up in the joy.

Tony Stark, who had been missing for months, had finally returned to America. Fortunately, he was alive and appeared to be none the worse for wear.

Of course, the stock market was happiest of all.

Although the U.S. stock market wasn't driven by sentiment like China's A-share market, everyone knew how important Tony Stark was to Stark Industries.

So when news of Tony Stark's return broke, Stark Industries' stock, which had fallen considerably, immediately rebounded.

For American investors, it was an extraordinary day.

Who knew how many people were kicking themselves, though others were delighted.

Li Chen checked on it too, a smile on his face.

He didn't know about all the other things; he only knew he had made money.

Meanwhile, after returning to New York, Tony Stark had also looked into what happened.

While in the cave, he had already decided to rely on himself.

The U.S. military couldn't be trusted. They hadn't found him after all that time, and he had given up hope.

But what he hadn't expected was that, while he was miserably hammering away in the cave and fantasizing about putting on the Iron Man Armor and slaughtering his enemies, the U.S. military had actually raided the base and rescued him and Yinsen.

Tony Stark knew the U.S. military's ways well enough to be certain that this was absolutely not within their capabilities!

Although the empire was still in its twilight, and America remained the strongest behemoth in terms of existing power in this era, it had already begun to rot from within.

As a giant of the military-industrial complex, Tony Stark knew all about the dirty dealings in it...

His good friend, for example, specialized in taking kickbacks.

As the saying went, if you don't take any and I don't take any, how will Commissioner Smith get his share?

Aside from its enormous military spending, the U.S. military no longer had recruits from respectable families. Anyone with an education was unwilling to join up.

As a result, all kinds of people entered the armed forces, and the U.S. military's combat effectiveness began to collapse.

For all these reasons, Tony Stark firmly refused to believe the U.S. military was capable of it.

So when he got back to New York, he asked around and learned that the Hellfire Club had found him.

"I've never felt more strongly than I do now that joining the Hellfire Club was the best decision of my life."

Tony Stark said this to the White Queen over the phone.

Emma Frost, the White Queen, made no comment, giving Li Chen the credit instead. "Hellfire's White Rook found you, and then we passed the information on to the U.S. military. We're glad to see you back."

"The White Rook?"

Tony Stark asked, "Hasn't the White Rook's seat been vacant all this time?"

As an ambitious man, Tony had once pursued that position himself.

But he didn't know what the Hellfire Club's requirements were.

Of course, that was mainly because he hadn't paid attention to such things before.

He had spent his time indulging himself and enjoying life, until a few months in the cave had suddenly made him seem to "see the light."

"That was before."

The White Queen hung up.

At that moment, Li Chen was rushing to sell his shares.

Although he wouldn't make much by selling now, he really didn't know when Tony Stark would go crazy.

No, when he would decide to shut down the weapons division.

That was why ordinary people found it hard to make money on stocks.

Stocks, plainly put, were all about gaps in information. If you knew something in advance, you could naturally set things up ahead of time and make money.

But what about ordinary people? They had no information channels and could instead be misled by false news put out for them. Once their blood got up and they charged in behind the so-called major players, they became cannon fodder.

Li Chen knew what would happen next, but because he didn't know what Tony was thinking, he still found it difficult to time his moves.

Fortunately, he wasn't greedy. As long as he made a profit, that was enough.

Making one dollar was a profit, and making a hundred was a profit. There was no difference!

Of course, the main thing was that money was just a number to him now.

Ever since gaining a Man of Steel body, Li Chen felt he had risen above vulgar pursuits. He was no longer very interested in making money and only wanted to fulfill his "ideal" of a perfect life.

The power of money, superpowers, and beautiful women by his side—that was life.