This Is Harassment

"Tony, what did you talk about with Mr. Coulson?"

After seeing Coulson leave on the first floor, Pepper saw Tony heading straight for the basement and asked curiously.

"Nothing much. We just had a chat about the current state of Earth and its future."

Tony Stark brushed her off casually and took the elevator straight down to the basement.

Even a genius like him had only been able to accept what he had discussed with Coulson so quickly because he had seen the Grim Reaper with his own eyes and had some mental preparation.

If Pepper, an ordinary person, were to learn about it and believe it, he had no idea how much explaining it would take.

And after Pepper believed it, she might say she did not want him going to war or something along those lines.

Though Tony Stark's words had been dismissive, they were undoubtedly true. In summary, their conversation had revolved around Earth's future.

But seeing Tony Stark's perfunctory attitude, Pepper was obviously not satisfied. She followed him down, intending to question him properly.

Tony Stark had long since developed a way to deal with Pepper, so the two began bickering back and forth.

Elsewhere.

Last night, when Tony Stark had taken the initiative to contact Harvey Anberaka,

he had already known that Tony Stark had dealt with Obadiah Stane. Iron Monger clearly would not be appearing.

Without Obadiah Stane to steal it, no one else could possibly produce an Arc Reactor anytime soon.

So for the next stretch of time, things would be calm.

Of course, calm was only relative to Harvey. For everyone else, New York had never been peaceful.

Tony Stark would not be able to settle down anytime soon.

With Tony Stark's personality, now that he knew he could arrange a meeting through the darknet, he would definitely contact him again.

For now, all Harvey had to do was wait patiently.

As for why Harvey had not answered Tony Stark's call last night, there had been no important reason, nor had he been busy.

He simply did not want to see Tony Stark showing off in front of him.

After all, although Tony Stark's temperament had changed greatly, and he had developed some compassion and a willingness to help the weak,

the arrogance ingrained in his bones, along with his words and actions that disregarded others' feelings, had not changed much.

Wearing a T-shirt and shorts, Harvey was playing games in front of the massive luxury screen in the living room.

He knew that he would soon enter his twenty-second year in Marvel World.

In this world, Harvey did not have any friends he could really talk to.

Because he had once been asian and an orphan, and because he had come from poverty, he had suffered plenty of bullying and neglect.

He did not have many thoughts about friendship. As long as people did not come bother him or get in his line of sight, that was enough.

After awakening the system and gaining great power, and after Harvey's public identity had become that of a diamond bachelor in the eyes of countless people, he had even less desire to make friends.

If making friends meant deliberately accommodating others, then he would rather not make them at all.

If one were to ask what Harvey's hobbies were during the two rare rest days each week, aside from the five days he had to train,

they would be finding more delicious food or playing games at home.

Harvey had initially enjoyed all kinds of competitive games, such as racing games, MOBAs, and FPS games.

But with Harvey's physical abilities and senses, whenever he played competitive games, people treated him like a hacker and often reported him until his accounts were banned.

Harvey could not be bothered to call and argue with the officials, so he gradually stopped playing competitive games and switched to casual ones.

For example, pet-raising and farming games. It did not matter how long he stayed offline in those.

They suited his routine of playing for only a few hours a week during his downtime.

He could casually spend some money, exchange tips with people online now and then, and relax at the same time.

After Harvey finished the daily tasks and everything else he needed to do in several games, more than an hour had passed.

After that, with nothing else to do, Harvey went out to look for something to eat.

With five meals a day, he gained more than a hundred thousand Evolution Points each day.

If he specifically sought out food made from more powerful animals, he could gain even more Evolution Points.

As for alcohol, it did not bring him many Evolution Points. He only drank it as a beverage.

But Harvey generally did not go looking for it specifically. After all, if he wanted Evolution Points, he had many ways to obtain them in large quantities, so he always did whatever suited his mood.

If he were willing to be a little harsher on himself, evolving a hundred times in a week would not be impossible.

This time, Harvey drove out in his Maserati. As he drove, he wondered when Tony Stark would next host some grand banquet or exhibition so that he could go mooch some food again.

And so, the days passed one by one.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

Tony Stark donned the Iron Man armor and went to Afghanistan several times in a row to hunt down the Ten Rings Gang.

After spending some time on it, Tony Stark finally wiped out the Ten Rings Gang entirely, freeing Gulmira from its hellish existence.

The allied nations and America were all spreading rumors about Iron Man.

The people of Gulmira regarded Iron Man as a hero, while many Americans had begun to wonder whether Stark Industries had created the technology.

After all, among American companies, only Stark Industries currently had the potential to create such advanced technology.

Facing the many doubts from the outside world, Tony Stark ultimately held a press conference and declared before countless people around the world, "I am Iron Man."

Iron Man's confirmed identity drove countless Americans wild.

What followed was a summons from the National Security Council.

They wanted Tony Stark to hand over the core of the technology and contribute it to the country.

An ordinary person might have been intimidated by the National Security Council, but who was Tony Stark?

Before he turned over a new leaf, he had been a world-famous super genius and weapons dealer, as well as an honorable taxpayer. It would not be so easy to use authority to pressure him.

So Tony Stark publicly refused and left immediately.

That move made countless Americans admire Iron Man even more. His reputation surpassed even that of his days as a playboy.

And it was on this day, one month later.

After rejecting the National Security Council's demand, Tony Stark returned to the manor, finished dinner, came downstairs, entered his laboratory, and casually instructed,

"Jarvis, contact Harvey Anberaka."

"Yes, sir."

Jarvis had long grown accustomed to this. Ever since Tony Stark's call had been rejected that time,

Mr. Tony Stark had asked him to contact Mr. Harvey Anberaka every day.

He had thought this time would be the same as usual, with the call instantly rejected, but this time it went through.

"Tony Stark, you've called every day for an entire month. Do you know this already counts as harassment?"

"My phone, my tablet, and many other things have uses besides being shut down every day just to avoid your calls."

And the first thing Harvey said after answering was filled with disdain.

"Jarvis, does this count as harassment?"

Hearing that, Tony Stark paused in the middle of preparing to work and asked belatedly.

"In a sense, yes, sir."

Jarvis paused upon hearing this, considering whether to answer truthfully, but ultimately chose a tactful response.

Second chapter for today.