Pepper, Don't Turn Around, I'm Tony (Please Follow)

Ben slipped into Tony's body like a bubble.

The next moment, black-red lines appeared around Tony's eye sockets. When he opened his eyes, the consciousness within this body had already been taken over by Ben.

Possession.

One of the Ectonurite's superpowers. In theory, an Ectonurite could use this method to permanently occupy someone else's body.

However, due to the watch's restrictions, Ben did not have much time to waste.

More than twenty minutes had already passed since he left home.

That was why he chose to take over Tony's body instead of waiting until Tony left before making his move.

But...

Inside Tony's consciousness.

Ben warily looked at another sphere of light.

Tony Stark's own consciousness had fallen asleep under his power. If Ben did not leave on his own, Tony might never wake up again. But the consciousness inside this sphere of light was different.

Though it was also dormant, it did not seem to have been affected by Ghostfreak's power.

"Could it be the Intelligence Stone?"

As someone who had once followed comic summaries online, Ben had heard in his previous life about the so-called seventh Infinity Stone.

Legend had it that Tony Stark was so intelligent because he possessed the seventh Infinity Stone—the Intelligence Stone.

This Infinity Stone supposedly existed as a tumor inside Tony's head.

However, not every universe's Tony had that setting.

The Infinity Stone before him was most likely still dormant, but Ben was still somewhat uneasy. He did not know whether the Intelligence Stone could analyze twentieth-level universe technology.

After all, the Little Broken Watch was Azmuth's masterpiece. Many who claimed their intelligence rivaled Azmuth's, such as Albedo and Dr. Psychobos, had been unable to completely replicate the Little Broken Watch.

Even Ultimate Form Albedo was far inferior to Azmuth in terms of intelligence.

The Intelligence Stone might not necessarily be able to analyze the Little Broken Watch.

Still, Ben could not quite put his mind at ease.

"I should get the information and leave quickly." As he considered this, Jarvis's voice sounded.

"Sir?"

It had been waiting for Tony to issue clear instructions, but Tony had suddenly gone blank, leaving Jarvis somewhat confused. Still, as an artificial intelligence, it had no authority to pry into Tony's affairs.

"I'm fine, Jarvis. Show me your underlying code." Tony—Ben—shook his head, then casually made up an excuse. "I want to see whether I can upgrade you."

"You seem a little strange, sir." Jarvis appeared to have noticed something slightly off, but as a program, it had clearly fallen into a mental blind spot.

As far as it was concerned, the Tony before it had never changed. Since that was the case, it naturally had no right to disobey his orders.

Strings of code flashed past Ben's eyes on the virtual projection.

To be honest, he could neither understand nor remember it.

"I should've brought a USB drive."

He thought about it.

Unfortunately, there was no such thing as if only he had known earlier.

He had never expected to turn into Ghostfreak tonight, so he had made no preparations. He could only force himself to memorize it.

"Oh, right, Jarvis." Ben remembered something. "Where's the other arc reactor core?"

He remembered that Iron Man had more than one arc reactor. If he planned to take one away for research, he could not exactly rip the one on Tony's chest out.

"Have you forgotten that you gave it to Miss Potts?" Jarvis asked strangely.

It felt that Tony was being far too abnormal all of a sudden.

If Tony had not remained under its watch the entire time, Jarvis would have suspected that someone was impersonating him.

"Oh, right. I forgot."

Ben clicked his tongue softly. At this hour, he did not know whether Pepper was still in Stark Tower. Besides, going to see Pepper while wearing Tony's body felt a little strange.

But to his surprise, just as Pepper came up, the laboratory doors opened.

Blonde Pepper strode inside.

"Tony."

The sudden appearance of the real deal made Ben panic for a moment, but he quickly recovered. He was Tony right now. There was nothing to fear.

"Hey, Pepper."

"You've locked yourself away for days just to study those..." Potts frowned, pausing briefly. "Suits."

She looked worried and distressed.

"Miss Potts, sir has slept only three hours in total over the past few days."

Jarvis appropriately tattled on him, making Pepper even more concerned.

She stepped forward, looked at Tony's haggard face, and instinctively reached out her hand.

"Wait, Potts, I'm fine."

Ben took a step back and avoided her.

He looked at Pepper awkwardly, thinking that if this continued, the plot was going to head in a strange direction.

Pepper, I see you still have plenty of charm?

At that moment, he suddenly felt that Ghostfreak's power seemed to have taken on a color...

He shook his head and cleared out the useless garbage.

Honestly, Pepper was not his type. Even the famous Black Widow did not do much for him.

"Fine? Look at those dark circles under your eyes!"

Pepper angrily grabbed a mirror and shoved it in Ben's face.

Ben really wanted to say those were not dark circles. That was what he looked like after being possessed by Ghostfreak.

But he did not have much time left.

He had not had much possession time to begin with, and after Pepper interrupted him, Ben estimated that the thirty minutes were nearly up.

Fortunately, he had roughly looked over the artificial intelligence's underlying code. Though he had not remembered any of it at all, memory was tied to brainpower. Once he turned into Grey Matter, perhaps he could recall it all.

"I don't need to remember everything. A general idea will be enough," Ben thought.

As for the rest, the all-powerful Grey Matter would find a way.

But now, he needed to leave quickly.

"Alright, Pepper, do you know where my snacks are?" Ben said quickly. He needed to send Potts away, or she might discover him when he left Tony's body. "I'm starving. I need something to eat."

Pepper gave him a helpless look. Sometimes, she really felt like she was Tony's mother.

She sighed helplessly.

"I'll get them for you." Pepper turned around, her back facing Ben.

Pepper was not particularly beautiful, but she did have a pretty good figure. Her business skirt outlined the curves of her body from behind.

Looking at her back, a line suddenly popped into Ben's head:

Pepper, don't turn around. I'm Tony.

"You know what? I really am Tony!"

Ben cracked a joke, then slipped out from Tony's back like a cicada shedding its shell.

This time, Jarvis noticed his vague, indistinct shadow in the darkness. But before Jarvis could activate the high-precision cameras to verify the image, Ben had already merged into the air and vanished completely.

Jarvis froze.

Could an artificial intelligence like it be hallucinating too?