People with Their Own Agendas

Although he doesn't intentionally seek the limelight, the young master Stark, who is naturally the center of attention wherever he goes, has long since mastered the ability to ignore paparazzi.

Faced with the Police Station chief's veiled invitation to leave, Tony Stark retorted without hesitation, "The equipment provided by Stark Industries hasn't been integrated, and many of it has minor issues."

"These are all issues that I need to resolve on-site. If I'm not here, the people you're counting on will probably have already finished rebuilding those two skyscrapers by the time they get the equipment set up. So how could I not come?"

Exchanging a few polite words with a mere city police chief was already Tony Stark's limit. He approached the bearded, unruly-haired man and asked curiously, "You yourself said there's an air pollution problem, so why aren't you wearing a respirator? Are you lying to me?"

Henry glanced at the young master wearing a custom-made mask, then mumbled through his food, "I have too much facial hair, and those things don't cover me properly, so I just gave them to someone else. I'm still wearing a mask, but I'm eating right now."

"How is the situation?"

What are you doing here?

Both men asked a question but didn't answer the other. Henry was busy giving instructions and assigning tasks via radio, and also eating.

So Tony Stark had to answer first, "You don't think just anyone can make those devices work for them, do you? I'm here to keep an eye on them."

"Hmm." After swallowing what was in his mouth, Henry said in a clearer voice, "There are still many people buried in the rubble. According to the police department's initial statistics, more than ten people from nearby police and fire departments cannot be contacted."

"These people were stationed nearby and could very well have stormed the building before it collapsed to rescue the people inside. However, they were unable to escape in time when it collapsed and were trapped inside."

"Or perhaps they are somewhere else, not at home or at work, and cannot be contacted because there is no cell phone signal. Hopefully, these people are not trapped under the rubble."

"A considerable number of office workers in both buildings are also trapped inside. In addition to the confirmed injured and deceased, there are currently about three to four thousand missing persons whose whereabouts are yet to be confirmed."

Although Henry had warned of the building collapse beforehand, and George Stacy had cooperated by allowing police and firefighters to evacuate first, some people still could not be contacted and were suspected of being trapped inside.

However, compared to the memories before the time travel, the number of more than 300 firefighters and police officers who sacrificed their lives because they rushed into the building that had been hit by the plane and were unable to escape before it collapsed is much smaller.

After learning about the situation, Tony Stark said, "No wonder you requested so many high-precision detectors like acoustic and thermal imaging. Are you planning to build a model of the ruins?"

Before Henry could give a direct answer, a commotion arose outside. The roar of engines indicated that another convoy carrying relief supplies or equipment had arrived. And this convoy was particularly noisy! As if they wanted everyone to know they were coming.

The deafening roar of engines, accompanied by the blaring of horns, almost created a symphony. This forced Chief George Stacy and Henry, among others, to step outside command post to assess the situation and, incidentally, to ask the other side to quiet down, lest it disrupt the transmission of orders.

Just as the curtain of the command post was lifted, what was seen was a man standing on a large truck, waving his hand flamboyantly as if he were directing his own convoy.

Tony Stark clicked his tongue in disdain, while the Kryptonian stared dumbfounded at the man. He was Justin Hammer, the businessman who had murdered a lot of journalists' film the moment he appeared.

If it weren't for the fact that he had brought a lot of construction equipment, such as excavators and multi-purpose bulldozers, and was unloading them from the truck, Henry would have wanted to go up and slap this lousy guy across the face.

But considering he brought urgently needed construction machinery, they let him off the hook—and the supplies he was unloading from the truck's cargo hold were boxes of respirators. They'd apparently scavenged them from somewhere, but they certainly solved the immediate crisis.

Many rescue workers, volunteers, and reporters on the scene could only cover their mouths and noses with any piece of cloth they could find, as there weren't enough respirators for everyone. When Justin Hammer arrived, he immediately distributed respirators to the reporters on the scene, his intention quite clear.

Justin Hammer spotted Tony Stark, his perceived nemesis, at a glance—even though the latter didn't take him seriously at all. Even though Tony was wearing a custom-made respirator that covered half of his face, he still recognized him.

"Tony, you've arrived. I never expected you to personally come to a place like this to put on a show. Is Stark Industries ' business really that bad? But why are you wearing a mask? What shady thing have you been doing?"

To be fair, wearing a respirator mask makes arguing difficult. Justin Hammer wasn't wearing anything, just so he could show off his handsome face to the reporters. Tony Stark, realizing this, immediately lost interest in arguing with him.

This is similar to how girls show off their long legs even in the dead of winter, risking catching a cold just to look beautiful. Young Master Stark certainly doesn't have that kind of relentless spirit.

But as he tried to ignore the guy standing on top of the truck by talking to the people around him, Henry had already run far away. He led a few policemen with map boards and told them where the engineering machines brought by Hammer Industries were to be assigned.

This is because the Police Station and fire departments have divided the disaster site into dozens of zones to facilitate the management of personnel and supplies. However, newly arrived support personnel are unaware of these zones, so someone needs to relay their detailed assignment locations to them.

It would be too slow for Henry, who is very busy, to explain everything one by one, so these policemen with map boards came along. After Henry finished assigning the areas, they would pass on the assigned areas to the new supporters and explain in detail until the other party could understand.

Henry had no interest in the love-hate relationship between Stark and Justin Hammer. His job was to make the supplies and equipment on site useful.

The Kryptonian was taken aback. When did this become his job?

Despite the thoughts and complaints, the task allocation work cannot be delayed. To ensure the efficient operation of rescue manpower in the disaster area, everyone must be mobilized.

Tony Stark didn't have Mind Stone, so of course he had no idea what that bearded, unruly-haired guy was thinking.

Lacking an excuse to ignore Justin Hammer, he simply stopped pretending and ignored him, heading into the shed Stark Industries had set up. He still had a lot to do to make the equipment he provided work.

Justin Hammer was naturally annoyed by the Stark scion's attitude. However, with reporters' cameras and lenses watching, he didn't dare to show his anger.

The businessman, a master of performance in front of the camera, smiled nonchalantly, as if he didn't care at all about Tony Stark's rude behavior.

He took a deep breath, intending to stand on the truck and address the reporters. However, the breath caused him to choke and cough, nearly falling off the roof.

With the help of his own employees, he climbed down from the front of the vehicle and put on a respirator mask before the nausea and pungent smell subsided slightly.

At this point, Justin Hammer gave the reporters an awkward smile. However, his mouth was covered, so no one saw the smile.