Cosmic Source Will

Tony felt that Li Congxin's three reasons were complete nonsense, but when he thought about them carefully, he really couldn't find anything to refute.

Looking at Li Congxin standing before him in his underwear worn outside his clothes, Tony felt that, at least today, clothing was not something he could bring up.

As for the name Martha... that wasn't really a distinguishing trait, at least not in Tony's opinion.

However, from Li Congxin's half-smiling expression, he could tell that if he dared question him on that point, Li Congxin would dare ask him on the spot, "Is your mom's name Martha too?"

Tony's mother was certainly not named Martha, so he could only avoid the subject.

For a moment, Tony, a four-sword-style master of the verbal sparring world, was actually left speechless?

And with Tony causing such a scene, everyone present noticed this young Superman who had rendered Tony Stark speechless. Another wave of Impression Points flooded in, leaving Li Congxin feeling delighted.

"Sir, although I really shouldn't speak at a time like this, I must kindly remind you that he isn't poor."

Just as Tony found himself caught between a rock and a hard place, the phone in his pocket suddenly spoke up and helped him out of the awkward situation. "The young man before you owns a gym in central Manhattan, New York, and is also the author of this month's best-selling novel. Whether in income or assets, he surpasses more than eighty percent of New York's residents. He absolutely has nothing to do with the word 'poor.'"

Hearing Jarvis's words, Tony's eyes immediately lit up.

He had never considered that before. When Li Congxin said he was poor, Tony had even assumed it was only natural.

A few million in assets? That wasn't even money in his eyes!

But according to Jarvis, this guy standing before him, who shared Superman's name, really wasn't poor. At the very least, both his assets and income far exceeded Superman's.

"Jarvis, well done!" Tony patted the phone in his pocket with satisfaction, and a triumphant smile finally appeared on his face. "Little Superman, your lie has been exposed!"

Yet Li Congxin, whose lie had supposedly been exposed, showed not the slightest trace of guilt. Instead, he said righteously, "Since we're discussing this issue at this ball today, then we can only compare ourselves with the people present."

As he spoke, Li Congxin raised his right hand high and shouted in a voice like a ringing bell, "Who dares claim they're poorer than me!?"

No one answered...

Received Impression Points +16666 from Tony Stark!

Received Impression Points +1666 from Stephen Strange!

Received Impression Points from Justin Hammer...

Received...

What the hell is wrong with him!

Who wants to compete with you over that? Is being poor something glorious?

We're all wealthy people!

After checking his haul of Impression Points, Li Congxin smiled with satisfaction. Then he looked at the future Iron Man before him, who had always been trying to find some sense of superiority over him, and suddenly said, "Super genius, Playboy, great philanthropist, Mr. Tony Stark—although you have plenty of halos around you, a bet should be fair. Since I've already answered one of your questions, do you dare answer one of mine?"

Tony Stark frowned upon hearing this, then asked with feigned composure, "What question?"

"Don't worry, it's just a simple math question. It won't involve any of your privacy." As Li Congxin spoke, he reached out and tapped Tony on the chest. "Of course, the condition is that you answer it yourself and don't use your phone for help."

"No problem!"

Tony answered with crisp decisiveness. A math problem? He actually dared challenge Tony Stark with a math problem? Did he not know what education Tony had?

This kid was practically walking into the line of fire himself!

Not only Tony, but even the crowd of onlookers had stopped their own conversations by then. Wearing expressions of eager anticipation, they all focused their attention on Li Congxin and Tony.

Under everyone's curious gazes, Li Congxin first cleared his throat before saying, "Here's my question. Listen carefully."

"There was a bus. When it departed from the first stop, there were fifteen people on board. At the next stop, eight got off and nine got on. At another stop, seven got off and twelve got on. Then it reached another stop..."

Li Congxin spoke incredibly quickly, with the air of someone determined to outdo Hua Shao.

But Tony was not affected by Li Congxin's speed in the slightest. As he silently calculated the number of people on the bus, a confident smile appeared on his face. No matter how long this utterly basic addition and subtraction problem goes on, it can never stump a super genius like me.

Once you finish reciting it, just watch how I properly look down on you, you little brat who doesn't know his place.

One minute later...

"Then it reached another stop. Thirteen got on, and ten got off. This is already the terminal." Having finished, Li Congxin finally slowed down and asked the confident-looking Tony, "So, genius Tony Stark, how many stops did this bus make along the way?"

WTF!

Upon hearing Li Congxin's question, not only did Tony's smile freeze on his face, but even the crowd of onlookers around them looked completely bewildered.

Following normal human thought patterns, as they watched this wager, they had instinctively considered the answer alongside Tony. They did not actually want to compete with Tony over anything; it had simply been an instinctive reaction.

Yet every single one of them who had been thinking that way was caught completely off guard by Li Congxin's bizarre question.

Received Impression Points +66666 from Tony Stark!

Received Impression Points +6666 from Stephen Strange!

Received Impression Points +666 from Hope Van Dyne!

Received...

Satisfied after looking over the latest entries in the system, Li Congxin thoughtfully patted Tony on the shoulder. "Old Iron! Today is your charity Masquerade Ball, so you're the main character. Don't waste your time on me. There are still plenty of guests waiting for you to greet them."

Li Congxin said that because he naturally wanted to give the other man a way out, lest he ruin a perfectly good Masquerade Ball and leave everyone unhappy.

However, Tony seemed unwilling to accept his goodwill.

Impression Points received from Tony Stark +77777!

Who was he calling Old Iron?

Tony protested righteously, "I'm not old at all!"

Li Congxin silently pulled out his student ID and held it up in front of Tony. Whether intentionally or not, his finger happened to point at the words "Age: 16." "Whether you're old or not, don't you have any damn self-awareness?"

Impression Points received from Tony Stark +77777!

Tony took a deep breath, telling himself to keep his composure and not stoop to the level of a child.

After quite a while, Tony finally calmed himself down. Once again wearing that carefree, roguish smile, he said to Li Congxin, "All right, kid. I need to go greet the other guests. Have fun."

As Tony left, everyone gradually withdrew their gazes as well.

Hope looked at Li Congxin with a strange expression. "I'm afraid everyone here is going to remember you now. They won't be forgetting you anytime soon. Didn't you just say you weren't part of this circle and needed to keep a low profile? Is this what you call keeping a low profile?"

Faced with Hope's teasing, Li Congxin could only smile bitterly. "I want to keep a low profile too, but my strength just won't allow it!"

After the party ended, Li Congxin turned down Hope's offer to drive him home. Still dressed in Superman's outfit, he began running with the wind.

On one hand, he wanted to use this to make up for today's exercise. More importantly, he needed to calm down and think carefully about his future direction.

In this Marvel world, where danger lurked everywhere, pursuing strength was essential. Combat was a fundamental skill he had to master, but it could not become his true reliance.

After all, the ceiling of that path was a little low. Under normal circumstances, the absolute limit was someone like Black Widow. A step above that were Captain America, Winter Soldier, Iron Fist, and Shang-Chi, but reaching even that level required outside assistance or some rare inheritance.

But even if he reached their level, so what?

Those combat experts put together still wouldn't be enough for Green Hulk to smash on his own!

If he wanted to truly hold his fate in his own hands, he had to find a power system with a higher ceiling. Judging from the abilities his cheat had displayed so far, becoming Ancient One's disciple seemed like a pretty good choice?

As he pondered the various ways of gaining power in the Marvel world, Li Congxin felt a little thirsty. He bought a bottle of mineral water from a roadside drink stand, tipped back his head, and drained it in one go.

"Kid, the music you're playing sounds pretty cheerful." As he gave Li Congxin his change, the elderly owner of the drink stand seemed drawn in by the music of "Calories." He casually remarked, "Music can cultivate one's temperament. Listening to more music will definitely do you good."

Li Congxin's thoughts were still focused on analyzing Marvel's various power systems. He did not even notice what the old man in front of him looked like, and merely nodded perfunctorily at his well-meaning reminder.

Casually tossing the empty water bottle into a trash can, Li Congxin continued running in his chosen direction.

But before he had taken more than two steps, a system notification suddenly rang out without warning.

Impression Points received from the Cosmic Source Will, automatically converted into one 'Random BGM Draw Card'!

Here's a three-thousand-word chapter. While I'm at it, I'd like to ask for some recommendations, bookmarks, investments, reading-list adds, and the like.

No need for many words of thanks—Dong Liu offers his gratitude here!