Selling Fruit

After more than ten days drifting across the sea, the cruise ship finally arrived in New York City, America. During those ten-odd days, Chen Changsheng had also fulfilled his wish to engage in friendly and beneficial conversations with Little Pepper, leaving a fairly good impression in Miss Pepper's mind.

As for Tony Stark, Chen Changsheng was utterly speechless. He truly couldn't imagine how one person could have intimate interactions with more than a dozen different women over the course of ten-odd days and still enjoy every moment of it without pause.

Speaking of which, Tony Stark could indeed be considered extraordinarily gifted. After indulging in such debauchery for more than ten days, he was still full of energy when he disembarked.

As a Virus Will Aggregate that had already freed itself from lowly amusements, Chen Changsheng could only sigh. Although Tony Stark possessed a genius's brain, he was wantonly wasting his precious time on meaningless things. It was truly shameful.

Chen Changsheng and several other gifted youths from around the world were placed by Stark Industries in New York City's best high school, Midtown High, where he began his high school education in the Marvel Universe.

In Chen Changsheng's impression, Midtown High was a gathering place for outstanding talents. Its students were either self-made geniuses or the descendants of wealthy families. In short, it was an excellent place for cultivating an elite social circle.

Chen Changsheng was already eighteen years old. He had completed his high school education back in China. However, because he came from the East and still needed to adapt to this new American environment, he had been assigned to Midtown High to study.

In America, eighteen-year-olds were already considered adults, so Chen Changsheng could handle many matters now. Moreover, with the proper procedures handled by Stark Industries, his identity was completely legal.

Therefore, the first thing Chen Changsheng did after arriving in New York was register a company in New York City.

The Marvel Universe's first interdimensional corporate giant, Umbrella Corporation, had officially appeared. Its red-and-white octagonal umbrella logo also began shining across the American peninsula of New York in the Marvel Universe.

Of course, as someone from the Prototype World, Chen Changsheng also planned to register Gen-Tech. However, considering future development, Chen Changsheng decided to make Gen-Tech and Umbrella Corporation two unrelated companies. Only then would he have enough room to maneuver.

The money for registering the company through an intermediary naturally came from Stark Industries' reward. When Chen Changsheng agreed to participate in Stark Industries' young genius training program, he had received $100,000. That $100,000 would now serve as the first startup capital for his company.

America's pharmaceutical industry was currently subject to strict scrutiny, so Chen Changsheng had no intention of returning to his old profession for the time being. As for what he would do, he decided to start by making money in the food industry. After all, its barriers to entry were low.

Cuisine from the East had already been popular in America for quite some time, but Chen Changsheng naturally wouldn't get involved in it. There was no other reason—the money was too slow.

The memories stored in the Web of Conspiracy contained many rare plants from the Prototype World that had been modified by Willow Tree. Chen Changsheng believed that fruits with all kinds of flavors would be enough to let the natives of the Marvel Universe experience the impact of delicacies from another world.

Through the person in charge of Stark Industries' young genius training program, Chen Changsheng rented a vast stretch of wasteland in the countryside far from New York City at an extremely low price, intending to plant various exotic fruit trees.

The planting process was simple and brutal. Countless willow roots spread out from beneath Chen Changsheng's feet, burrowing directly underground and beginning to branch and grow.

Before long, a lush orchard had covered the entire stretch of wasteland. Fortunately, the land was far from New York City and was a place no one wanted to visit. Otherwise, if people discovered that so many fruit trees had suddenly grown across the empty ground overnight, they would surely have regarded it as a miracle.

A massive Willow Tree stood in the center of the orchard. Countless emerald branches extended downward from its huge trunk, resembling an enormous green fountain resting upon the earth.

Beneath Willow Tree stood a small wooden cabin. The cabin blended perfectly with Willow Tree, as though it had formed naturally. It was the temporary residence Chen Changsheng had built for himself.

Starting from nothing. Until he earned enough money, this would be Chen Changsheng's home. And this wooden cabin shouldn't be underestimated. In terms of security, ordinary small bombs couldn't do a thing to it. Without Chen Changsheng's permission, nothing could enter it.

Very few fruits on the trees in the orchard had ripened. Chen Changsheng didn't need that many fruits for now. If he needed them in the future, he could produce a large quantity in a short time. Ultimately, the orchard was merely a tool for concealing his true nature.

Willow Tree's roots reached deep underground, constantly absorbing nutrients and energy from the earth, while its crown extended straight into the sky, freely absorbing the diffuse radiation from the distant sun.

Chen Changsheng felt that he would definitely have to acquire some nuclear waste from the military in the future. After all, Willow Tree grew far faster by absorbing nuclear radiation than by absorbing sunlight.

Once the orchard was built, Chen Changsheng began looking for ways to sell the fruits. Before officially putting them on sale, however, he planned to test them first and see whether these fruits would be accepted by native Americans.

Midtown High was packed with the children of the rich and powerful. Chen Changsheng pushed a small cart through the campus, beginning to sell the fresh fruit he had just picked from the orchard.

These fruits looked completely different from the fruits of this world. Chen Changsheng understood the essence of attracting attention. The fruits he had chosen resembled alien life-forms, yet each retained hints of other fruits found on Earth. This way, he could attract people's attention and arouse their curiosity to the greatest extent.

If the shape of a dragon fruit was considered eye-catching on Earth, then the fruits Chen Changsheng had brought were like the sun, making it impossible for anyone to ignore them.

One fruit looked like a Hami melon but was only the size of a fist. Its exterior seemed ordinary, but the fragrance wafting from it lingered for a long time, filling the entire Midtown High campus.

Everyone who smelled the strange fruity scent swallowed involuntarily and began looking around, wanting to find where the unusual fragrance was coming from.

Another fruit resembled an orange, but it was golden all over. Under the sunlight, it glittered brilliantly and looked extraordinary at first glance. There was also a banana that was far from ordinary. Normal bananas certainly didn't grow as large as an adult's arm...

These rare fruits looked like immortal fruits from the celestial realm, and in fact, they did possess some unusual effects. Although they were nowhere near as powerful as the legendary fruits that could defy fate and transform one's body, they were still enough to attract plenty of eager customers.

One thing worth praising was that Chen Changsheng had deliberately added a small amount of Life Essence to these fruits. The Life Essence could slightly slow the aging of the human body and extend one's lifespan.

As for relying on fruit to cure diseases, one would have to eat several tons before seeing any effect. Life Essence was painstakingly accumulated by Willow Tree drop by drop. It couldn't be wasted meaninglessly on unrelated people.

In short, there was only one thing to say: he wanted to make money, but he couldn't give away Life Essence—not a single drop.

After pushing his cart to the entrance of Midtown High, Chen Changsheng parked it securely and took out disposable paper plates and forks one by one. After casually slicing open a huge banana, he began pitching his wares to the students passing by.

"Don't miss this as you pass by! Rare fruits from the mysterious ancient civilization of the East! I guarantee you've never eaten them and never even seen them before..." Chen Changsheng's hypnotic sales pitch rang across the campus, attracting countless gazes in a very short time.

Ordinary American high school students were already quite socially bold, but this unremarkable boy from Huaguo showed them what it meant to be the boldest of the bold. He hawked his goods in public without the slightest embarrassment. Chen Changsheng even took the initiative to invite several pretty girls over to sample the fruits he planned to sell.

High school students were ultimately still shy. After Chen Changsheng invited them a few times, quite a few students joined the tasting line, becoming living signs standing in front of his stall and constantly attracting more onlookers.

The main reason was that the fresh fragrance emitted by the fruits was simply too enticing. How could ordinary teenagers' self-control possibly resist such sweet flavors?

After tasting the fruits, the wealthy students of Midtown High began asking about their prices. Some planned to buy a few to share with their parents, while others intended to give them to girls they liked. Adolescence was the period of life when people were most eager to share happiness.

Chen Changsheng had no idea what fruit prices were like in America, but selling them at a high price was the way to go. If that didn't work, he could always lower the price, right? But this was clearly Chen Changsheng overthinking things. As children of the rich, these students had never been short of money.

Just as Chen Changsheng had expected, these students didn't care at all about the high price of one hundred dollars per fruit.

Before long, Chen Changsheng had already received a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills, while the fruit on his cart gradually dwindled until it was completely sold out.

The cartful of fruit had ultimately turned into cash spread across the tabletop. A campus reporter passing by, Peter Parker, stared at the sight in stunned disbelief. As a child from a family that was far from wealthy, Peter had never imagined that making money could be so easy for someone else.

Watching the crowd disperse, Peter Parker hesitated before taking his camera and walking over to Chen Changsheng. "Hi, fellow student. I'm Peter Parker. Are you one of the international students who recently transferred to Midtown High?

"I've never seen the fruit you were selling today. Could you introduce it to me and let me take a photo for the school newspaper?"

Chen Changsheng was gathering the messy bills scattered across the table when he heard someone asking him a question. He followed the voice and looked over, only to see a youthful Peter Parker wearing thick glasses and holding a camera. Huh? Seeing Peter Parker's bashful expression, Chen Changsheng hadn't expected Spider-Man to still be socially anxious at this point.

"Of course. I'm Chen Changsheng from Huaguo, but you can call me Jack. These fruits are delicacies from certain unknown places in my homeland. Very few people in the world know about them, but I plan to take these fruits across the world and share them with more people."

As he spoke, Chen Changsheng took a round fruit from the cart's drawer. It somewhat resembled a pear. The reason he said "somewhat" was that the entire pear was covered in charming patterns, making it look extraordinarily unusual.

Peter gazed at the pear in a daze for a moment before coming back to his senses. He exclaimed to Chen Changsheng, "What a beautiful fruit."

"Of course it's beautiful, but it's even more delicious. It's yours, Peter. From now on, we're friends, right?" Chen Changsheng generously gave the future Spider-Man a fruit worth a hundred dollars, hoping to draw a little closer to him.

It wasn't for any other reason. He simply wanted to get close to the future superheroes and interact with them. Although these superheroes might not yet be as powerful as he was... still, who hadn't harbored an unrealistic dream in their reckless youth?

After saying goodbye to Peter Parker, Chen Changsheng prepared a fruit basket filled with all kinds of fruit and took a taxi to Stark Industries' headquarters, Stark Tower, in downtown New York City.

While aboard the cruise ship to America, Chen Changsheng had used humorous words to build a good relationship with Pepper and had even obtained Little Pepper's phone number. Chen Changsheng was now heading to Stark Industries to discuss with Little Pepper how to use his fruit to make money from America's wealthy.

Yes, he intended to make money from America's wealthy. Chen Changsheng disdained earning the savings of the poor. After all, even if you squeezed every last drop from poor people, how much money could they have? It was far more satisfying to harvest the rich.

What money was easiest to make in this world? Luxury money, of course. And who bought luxury goods? Naturally, it was the wealthy who had money to spare.

It made sense. Fruit worth several hundred dollars was far beyond what ordinary people could afford. But if he wanted to push his products into wealthy circles, he needed special channels.

He was currently a trainee in Stark Industries' young genius program. With such a convenient sales channel available, there was no reason not to take advantage of it.

At Stark Tower, after receiving Pepper's permission, Chen Changsheng went directly to Pepper's office. Unexpectedly, he also saw someone he had never expected to see there: the playboy Tony Stark. To be reasonable, Tony Stark shouldn't have appeared here. Even though he was the chairman of Stark Industries, he ought to have been lost among the flowers at this time, unable to tear himself away.

Tony Stark was also surprised that Chen Changsheng had come there. On the cruise ship, Tony Stark had been left with a deep impression of Chen Changsheng.

After all, seeing a man constantly chatting at close range with his personal assistant and having a great time doing so would certainly not make the boss happy, even if that man was a high school student who hadn't graduated yet.

As far as Tony was concerned, he had experienced romantic relationships between men and women long ago. Therefore, he had no choice but to be wary of Chen Changsheng, who was around the same age he had been back then. That was his personal assistant, after all.

Chen Changsheng also noticed the subtle look in Tony Stark's eyes, but he didn't care. He had come with sincerity to discuss business, and that required Tony Stark, the boss, to make the final decision.