"Finally got the call. I thought he'd forgotten about me." After hanging up on Happy, Shen Fei finally let out a sigh of relief. After all, Stark had a history of this sort of thing. Shen Fei had only waited a few extra days, but Killian had once spent an entire freezing winter night on a rooftop.
After hanging up, Shen Fei began packing his things. Someone would soon come pick him up to meet Stark, and naturally, he had to make some preparations if he wanted the negotiations to go smoothly.
Before long, a man in a standard bodyguard uniform rang the doorbell and said he had come to pick up Shen Fei.
Shen Fei wasn't Spider-Man, so of course he didn't get the privilege of having Happy personally chauffeur him.
"This doesn't look like we're heading to Stark Group. Are we going to Stark's villa?" Tony Stark owned many villas around the world, as well as more than one private island, but his most important residence seemed to be the Seaside Villa in California.
Shen Fei had not investigated Tony Stark too thoroughly. A simple search could be explained as preparation for meeting him, but digging too deeply would arouse suspicion.
After all, Stark had Jarvis, a personal artificial intelligence system. Excessive searches could easily be noticed by Jarvis.
Don't think hackers were invincible. They only looked impressive. Today, they might be congratulated for hacking some Department of Defense system; tomorrow, it might be the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the military. But that was only on the surface.
Most hackers did it for money. If it were really so easy to breach confidential locations—such as secret national research institutes or major corporations like Stark Group—hackers would not have to work so hard selling information.
If they could casually obtain classified material, such as blueprints for Stark Group's weapons, they could sell them for astronomical prices. They could even hack into banks and transfer money online. That was faster and much safer than robbing a bank in person.
Why weren't there more hackers doing that? Don't bring up things like hacker codes. Such codes might restrain some hackers, but not all of them. There would always be people willing to do anything for money.
The reason they did not do it was not that they didn't want to. It was because they couldn't—or even if they could, they would be easily traced.
Besides being skilled, hackers also needed powerful equipment. Compared to nations and major corporations, the equipment available to individual hackers was far inferior.
Not to mention that nations and major corporations had formidable hackers of their own.
If someone like Stark discovered that someone was gathering information on him, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and S.H.I.E.L.D. would probably soon come invite them in for a chat.
Manhattan.
The car soon arrived outside a lavish standalone villa occupying a vast area in Manhattan. Happy was standing by the front gate.
"I wonder whether Coulson had to go through an inspection when meeting Stark." Shen Fei thought this as he underwent the security check at the gate. Afterward, Happy led him toward the villa.
There were not many bodyguards outside, but that was normal. Given Tony's personality, he definitely relied on electronic security. With Jarvis added to the mix, no one could possibly sneak in without forcing their way through.
"Hello, Mr. Stark." After entering the villa, Shen Fei was somewhat surprised to find that Stark had brought him straight into the villa's laboratory. Pepper was there as well.
"Perfect timing. Can you tell me how you did this?" Stark pointed at the red potion resting on a nearby table and asked directly. He was clearly extremely curious about it.
"That's difficult to explain in a short time, Mr. Stark. Why don't you tell me exactly what's confusing you?" Shen Fei said.
"Fine." With a wave of Tony's hand, a holographic image appeared between the three of them. It was a diagram of the red potion's composition. Stark pointed at several parts of it and asked, "How did you manage to combine so many functions into one?"
The potion Shen Fei had made could be taken internally or applied externally.
"All the ingredients I used were traditional Chinese medicine. Mr. Stark should know something about that, right?" Shen Fei considered for a moment before explaining.
At Kamar-Taj, Shen Fei had learned something important besides magic: traditional Chinese medicine. As expected of the Ancient One, there were ancient texts on the subject there.
With the power of the Op-Op Fruit, Shen Fei's skill in traditional Chinese medicine had improved by leaps and bounds. During those two years in Kathmandu, he had become a somewhat well-known doctor around Kamar-Taj.
By providing free consultations, Shen Fei had gained considerable practical experience. If an outsider investigated him, they would probably assume he had spent those two years studying medicine in Kathmandu.
That bottle of red potion had been created by Shen Fei using the Op-Op Fruit's abilities to fuse together various traditional Chinese medicines. The biggest problem in traditional Chinese medicine was understanding the properties of medicinal ingredients. That was the most difficult part, but for someone with the Op-Op Fruit's power, it was precisely the easiest.
"Wait. What do you mean by mutual generation and restraint? What are those?" When Shen Fei explained concepts such as mutual generation and restraint, conflict, counteraction, medicinal guides, and the like, Stark directly interrupted him. He apparently could not understand.
"It's roughly like neutralizing agents in chemistry." Shen Fei thought for a moment before explaining the term.
Yet even after Shen Fei explained it, Stark still did not seem to understand much. Perhaps unwilling to appear ignorant in front of Shen Fei, he nodded as though he understood perfectly.
It was simply too difficult for Westerners to understand these concepts from the Celestial Dynasty. It was like Celestial Dynasty food—once it entered the Western world, it underwent enormous changes. Tea was the same. They added milk, ice, sugar, and all kinds of things to it, treating tea like coffee. It was a wonder they could drink it.
"I think I understand. Name your price. I'll buy it." After Shen Fei finished explaining, Stark spoke bluntly.
"I don't think I need to explain this product's market potential. I'm not selling the formula. I'm here to discuss cooperation. I'll contribute the technology and hold fifty-one percent of the shares. The rest will belong to you, but you'll be responsible for running the company." Shen Fei directly stated his bottom line.
"Ten billion dollars for a complete buyout." Stark replied immediately. "Stark Group will never allow anyone else to hold a controlling stake."
Unlike other publicly listed companies, Tony had always retained absolute control over Stark Group. Even during the company's most dangerous periods, he still held fifty-one percent of its shares.
If another company tried to do that, the likely result would be bankruptcy. But Stark Group was different. After all, Howard had not only been a genius scientist, but also one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders. Unlike Dr. Hank Pym, Howard had excellent people skills.
Just look at the treatment received by Dr. Hank Pym, the inventor of Pym Particles, and Whiplash's father, then compare it with Howard's achievements. The difference was like heaven and earth.
If he had not been assassinated, Stark Group's accomplishments would have been even greater than they were now.
"Ms. Pepper, who has already used it, should understand this product's effects. Ten billion dollars is nowhere near enough. Once its effects become known, countless people will want to invest and join in. The reason I came here first was because I trust you, Mr. Stark. Otherwise, I could have sought investment from someone else."
Shen Fei had a favorable impression of Iron Man Tony, but in the world of capital, controlling interest was extremely important. He had no intention of yielding on that point.
"How about this? We take fifty-one percent of the shares, and we compensate you with another ten billion dollars." Pepper suddenly spoke from the side.
"Sorry, but I already told you my bottom line. I offered these terms only because of Mr. Stark. If it were anyone else, the terms would not be the same. Since we can't reach an agreement, then forget it. Consider that bottle a gift for Ms. Pepper. Goodbye." Shen Fei said as he prepared to leave.
"Please wait." Pepper spoke, then pulled Stark aside. They seemed to be discussing something. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shen Fei looked around the laboratory. Though it was not Stark's primary laboratory, its equipment would still be considered top-tier anywhere else.
"We accept your terms, but we have some conditions as well." Pepper and Stark soon returned. Pepper laid out her conditions.
"Fine, I agree." After considering Pepper's conditions briefly, Shen Fei agreed. If it had been Stark, he might truly have refused, but Pepper had already used the potion. With her business sense, she clearly understood how enormous its market was. Naturally, she would not let this opportunity slip away.
Pepper's condition was actually very simple. The new company would not be merged into Stark Group. It would be a newly established independent company, so there would be no impact. As for staffing, that was easy enough. As long as there was money, professional managers could be found everywhere.
"By the way, you said earlier that you came to me first because you trusted me. What did you mean by that?" Stark asked afterward.
"It's simple. If it were anyone else, I probably wouldn't leave here alive today. But you, Mr. Stark, wouldn't do that."
As soon as Shen Fei said this, Stark looked extremely pleased. It was a roundabout compliment, after all.
"Interested in working for my company after you graduate?"
"Let's talk about it after I graduate."
For Stark, finding out that Shen Fei was about to attend Empire State University was easy. Stark Group had established quite a few scholarship programs at Empire State University.
Before you continue