The Interview

New York, Manhattan district, Madison Avenue.

A young Chinese man in a tailored suit stepped out of a yellow taxi.

Fu Qinghai closed the car door, clutched a leather briefcase, and stood by the bustling roadside of Madison Avenue, tilting his head to size up the building before him.

The iron-gray glass curtain wall shimmered under the scorching sun, and its towering spire stood out even among the dense skyscrapers of Manhattan. The building was shaped like an irregular cone, with a massive, disc-shaped helipad extending from the top. On the side of this helipad disc was a large, eye-catching, light-blue "A" logo.

Stark Tower, the New York headquarters of the Avengers.

This building, which was originally rendered with CGI in the movies, now stood clearly before Fu Qinghai—so real, so awe-inspiring.

Fu Qinghai withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath, and stepped into the building.

"Hello, sir. Do you have an appointment?" a blonde office lady at the circular front desk on the first floor asked with a professional smile.

"Hello, I'm here to interview for an internship in the Holographic Projection Department," Fu Qinghai said, calmly handing over a business card. It was the card of an HR representative from Stark Industries who had invited him to the interview.

"Very well, security will take you up," the receptionist said after confirming, whispering a few words into her headset.

A black security guard led Fu Qinghai through layers of security checkpoints to a small office on the second floor.

Even the security for the Human Resources department is this complex... Fu Qinghai clicked his tongue inwardly, gaining a new perspective on the security at the Avengers' New York base.

Inside the small room, a middle-aged white woman behind the desk flipped through the documents on the table.

"Please, sit. I've reviewed your resume. Give me a brief self-introduction, Mr. Fu."

"Hello, Ms. Avery. I am Albert Fu. I graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, and during my postgraduate studies, I worked under a renowned professor..."

"During my doctoral studies, I was deeply involved in the laser application research project at Hammer Industries..."

Sitting on the sofa, Fu Qinghai sat up straight and spoke with confidence.

A prestigious Stanford PhD, here to interview for a mere internship?

This was Stark Industries.

As for...

The bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Stanford University? Forged.

The major research projects he was "deeply involved" in? Fabricated.

The HR manager nodded along, expressing approval of Fu Qinghai's introduction, while simultaneously asking him questions about specific research projects on his resume.

Fu Qinghai answered confidently, bluffing the interviewer with a string of long, pieced-together, professional English technical terms.

Things like "the application of the uncertainty principle in complex Zeeman effects," or "using the superposition principle and stationary state wave functions to explain the tricarboxylic acid cycle."

The interviewers hadn't asked Fu Qinghai to present his various research papers from university beforehand, so he hadn't included them in his resume. However, if the interviewer had asked to see them, he had already forged those as well, tucked away in his briefcase.

Fu Qinghai's experience as a worker before entering the Reincarnation World had long since allowed him to master the ins and outs of the HR industry. A professional HR manager does not necessarily mean a professional technical Engineer, and their understanding of specific, niche technical fields is often quite shallow.

Heh, as long as my aura is confident enough, they'll fall for anything I say, Fu Qinghai thought. The overly smooth interview process made him feel a bit cocky.

"Finally," Fu Qinghai concluded. Although he hadn't mentioned any fluff about personality, hobbies, or strengths—filling his speech with nothing but fabricated, high-value content—he followed convention by adding a bit of corporate culture to wrap things up. "I deeply admire and idolize Mr. Tony Stark, which is why I chose Stark Industries as soon as I graduated."

"Almost every applicant is a fan of Mr. Stark," the middle-aged white woman said with an indifferent smile.

"You are very talented, Mr. Fu, and also very... young. Congratulations on passing the interview. If it's convenient, you can report for duty this afternoon. This is your office address..." The interviewer swiped on her electronic tablet and handed Fu Qinghai a piece of paper, which seemed to contain some onboarding instructions.

Fu Qinghai took the paper, thanked her politely, and turned to leave.

Walking out of Stark Tower, Fu Qinghai was filled with a sense of triumph. Everything had gone smoothly. An exceptionally young Stanford PhD? If Fu Qinghai had an African or Latino face, it might have seemed a bit strange, but he was Chinese.

Chinese, young, a top student—wasn't that perfectly normal?

However, the happy Fu Qinghai did not notice that the office address written on the paper the interviewer gave him did not seem to be "218 Madison Avenue, Stark Tower."

New author, new book. I'm begging for collections, recommendations, and comments. Please, my lords!