An Invitation from His Father-in-Law

At the press conference, Tony Stark was covered in wounds, with one arm still hanging in front of his chest, wrapped in thick bandages.

At this press conference, Tony Stark officially announced that Stark Industries was withdrawing from weapons production and would make its own contribution to world peace.

Tony then announced his company's transformation plan. Stark Industries was preparing to officially enter the energy industry.

The core of Stark Industries' energy strategy was the Arc Reactor—a new, pollution-free energy source.

More importantly, Tony displayed the Arc Reactor embedded in his chest to everyone at the scene, using facts to announce to people all over the world that human energy was about to rush into a new era.

Watching the cameras and flashing lights below, Tony Stark felt immensely pleased with himself. He felt that today's press conference would definitely pull Stark Industries' stock back to where it belonged.

After basking in his triumph, another reporter asked what had happened to the two Iron Men who had fought in that earth-shattering explosion.

Tony had actually considered how he should answer that question. Coulson had also given him cue cards specifically to cover up what had happened.

Running his fingers over the cue cards, Tony hesitated for a long time before changing his original plan once again. In front of the reporters, he said the words, "I am Iron Man."

Faced with the reporters' uproar, Little Pepper quickly performed her duty and escorted Tony away from the press conference, surrounded by a group of bodyguards.

Phil Coulson, standing in the distance, helplessly scratched his head. A few more strands fell from his already thinning hair.

Coulson had never expected Tony Stark to directly announce that he was Iron Man. Tony Stark seemed to be born as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nemesis. Every time he appeared and spoke, things always turned drastically different from what they had expected, triggering one unfavorable situation after another and sending everything completely beyond S.H.I.E.L.D.'s control.

While Coulson was considering how to clean up the mess, Tony Stark returned to his seaside villa.

Now that he had some free time, Tony stared at the ruined Mark III and fell into deep thought.

He brought up the recordings of the battle that night. The footage continued until the Iron Man Armor ran out of energy. Watching Jarvis—the three-second real man—in the video, Tony suddenly realized that he seemed to have held the Iron Man Armor back.

By miniaturizing the Iron Man Armor, he had made more efficient use of the Arc Reactor's energy, but the armor could carry fewer weapons. Against a heavyweight opponent like Iron Monger, that left him at a disadvantage.

Tony therefore began considering whether he should add a battlefield support system. It could normally remain in space, then be rapidly airdropped beside him to support him in battle whenever he needed it.

After having Jarvis record his new idea, Tony continued planning. Ideas were constantly bursting out of him now, but they could not all be realized. He would have to recalculate everything later before making a decision.

After Jarvis had saved his life, Tony had realized how important the artificial intelligence was, but he had never had the opportunity to upgrade Jarvis.

Now that he had the time, Tony Stark planned to give Jarvis a major upgrade so it could better handle more dangerous situations in the future.

At the same time, Tony Stark had countless upgrade plans for the Iron Man Armor. To capture all those flashes of inspiration, Tony immediately began designing and came up with several plans in one go.

A giant-fighting armor for dealing with a large armor like Iron Monger, an enhanced-human-fighting armor for dealing with an enhanced human like Chen Changsheng, an energy backup plan for the Iron Man Armor, an enhanced self-driving function, and an intelligence upgrade plan—all of them were put on the schedule.

As for Chen Changsheng, Tony had already put him out of his mind. Tony felt that he could go thank Chen Changsheng for saving his life at any time.

But saving someone's life was not a debt that could be repaid with a sentence or two. He would have to find a way to repay Chen Changsheng's life-saving favor sometime in the future.

Meanwhile, Chen Changsheng, watching television at home, helplessly shrugged. Tony had once again stolen the spotlight, but sometimes being in the spotlight was not a good thing. Tony Stark, who had been the center of attention since childhood, would never understand what it meant to quietly grow rich or to keep a low profile.

The difference between people was truly enormous. Chen Changsheng only wanted to be an unknown slacker who developed slowly, while someone else was constantly trying to steal the spotlight and attract the attention of the entire world.

At the other end of the earth, a Russian old man lying in bed already had one foot in the grave. When he saw Tony Stark's smug expression on television, he was so furious that he could not speak. Finally, after the enraged old man left his son a single sentence—"That should have belonged to you."—he took his final step...

Ivan Vanko stared at his dead father, then smashed the bottle in his hand at Tony Stark on the television and let out a beast-like roar. His eyes were filled with hatred. He, Ivan, would have his revenge!

The Ten Rings in the Middle East also turned their attention to Tony Stark on television. Tony Stark's speech infuriated them as well. The terrorists had only one thought in their hearts: What the hell? They did not know whether it was appropriate to say it aloud.

They had only sent people to assassinate Obadiah. They had never planned to blow up Stark Industries. Tony Stark, how dare you dump every bit of blame on us? And now you're declaring war on terrorism? Do you not realize that you have been on our kill list for a long time?

After discovering that Tony was the man in the red-and-gold armor who had killed so many members of the Ten Rings, the Ten Rings and Iron Man had truly become enemies. The kind who would fight to the death.

The leader of the Ten Rings was also speechless. This playboy from America was truly lawless. It was time to let him learn what kind of organization the Ten Rings was. This was their fault—the Ten Rings had remained silent for too long, and no one remembered to fear them anymore.

Naturally, the energy giants around the world were also watching the broadcast. When they saw Tony Stark announce his entry into the energy industry, they all wore mocking smiles. After all, the energy industry was only one pie. Where did Tony Stark get the idea that he could join simply because he said so?

But when they saw the Arc Reactor in Tony Stark's chest, all the energy magnates immediately began wailing and shouting that the wolf had arrived...

Chen Changsheng, of course, had no idea that so many things were happening in the world. Even if he had known, he would not have cared. After all, those matters were too far removed from him.

Besides, they wanted to kill Tony Stark. What did that have to do with Chen Changsheng? He only needed Tony's intelligence. Even if Tony kicked the bucket, Chen Changsheng could give him a new insect body, and Tony Stark would still exist.

But in that case, it would be hard to say whether the resurrected Tony would still be the Tony cursed by the God of Knowledge. Chen Changsheng did not want to take that risk unless absolutely necessary.

In this world, aside from Tony Stark, it was probably impossible to find anyone else capable of advancing Earth's technology through his own efforts.

While Tony Stark dealt with challenges from every side, Chen Changsheng was also dealing with his own crisis. Ever since George had caught him red-handed at Stark Industries' industrial park that day, George had been wanting to have a serious talk with him.

But Chen Changsheng had been busy buying up Stark Industries' stock at rock-bottom prices then, so he had kept putting it off until now.

George had now become the captain of the Tyrant Support Squad under the NYPD, taking orders directly from Sherlock, the chief of the NYPD.

Meanwhile, Chen Changsheng's assets had multiplied by an unknown number of times. During his date with Gwen today, Chen Changsheng was caught red-handed by George.

In an unprecedented move, George invited Chen Changsheng to his home for dinner. This time, there was truly no escaping.