Return

In early August, Zhang Shuren, having completed his first semester, gave up on his original plan to go home for summer break.

On one hand, the Benevolence Society's development had entered a crucial stage, and many specialized matters required his professional expertise to coordinate.

On the other hand, Zhang had truly fallen in love with this work—it was practically a perfect match for his field.

Even Zhang's advisor intended to send graduate students over for internships and planned to develop a new research model for environmental organizations based on the Benevolence Society next semester.

If the project could proceed smoothly, the laboratory would not only obtain firsthand real-world data, but the Benevolence Society could also quickly make up for its shortcomings and gain comprehensive academic support.

Environmental science was an interdisciplinary field. Knowledge of geography, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, law, and social sciences could all be brought into it.

Zhang himself, for example, focused more on the area of sustainable development, which was most lacking domestically. Besides his scientific coursework, he had also taken electives in management, economics, and even policy analysis and formulation.

However, when Oaks first returned, he received another wave of admiration from the true academic genius Zhang—when Oaks had sold off Stark Industries stock before leaving, it had basically been at its peak.

Ever since Tony had been kidnapped, the stock had been falling steadily. When he returned in May and announced the closure of the weapons division, it began to plunge sharply, and by now it had been dropping on and off for more than three months.

As soon as Oaks returned this time, he asked about the situation and told Zhang to begin preparing funds, because Stark Industries stock would begin its comeback this winter.

Over the past half year, the Benevolence Society had been running a monopoly. The miraculous Drink Acorn had captured the entire New York market.

Their charitable work had also accelerated New York's greening plans by more than thirty percent, earning the attention and praise of countless media outlets and members of the public.

Stark Industries noticed this phenomenon. To shift the negative attention caused by Tony's decision, they stepped up publicity for the Environmental Protection Foundation Tony had invested in, as well as the Benevolence Society's charitable work.

This move gave them an alternative way to ease their own troubles while drawing another massive wave of public attention to the fledgling Benevolence Society.

At the same time, with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tacit approval, various departments swiftly issued testing reports. Drink Acorn was regarded as "truly green food," the perfect combination of biotechnology and environmental ideals—

It was composed entirely of organic matter. The Benevolence Society even collected the shells, transported them back to the Little Rainforest, and used the highly efficient decomposing moss developed by Oaks to process them into fertilizer, causing no environmental pollution whatsoever.

So although they were doing charity work, they were not short of money in the slightest. They had even made a tidy profit from it.

After Oaks returned, it took him less than a month to use all the recovered funds to buy Stark Industries stock at its historic low.

Though it was insignificant compared to Stark Industries' predicament, his support undoubtedly earned him great appreciation and increased backing from the Stark Industries board of directors.

Melinda also seemed to have adjusted her mood well through her work with the Benevolence Society. As its liaison, she was practically a genuine Benevolence Society employee now...

Oaks himself had only just finalized the Benevolence Society's next development plan when a haggard-looking Tony came knocking.

Having been absorbed in researching the armor, Tony only learned from Jarvis that Oaks had returned and invested in Stark Industries after completing a crucial model.

"Hey, man, this is really important. You have to help me!"

The moment he entered, Tony threw himself onto the sofa, rubbed his face with both hands, then gave an undisguised cold laugh.

"Hey! What kind of top hospital can't cure him? It's ridiculous! I can only watch those idiot doctors study my savior like some specimen in a display case, yet I can't make him regain consciousness!

"Oaks, I can't crack your technology, so those idiots definitely can't either. Yinsen was already close to death back then. I could only crush up the Acorn to save him, but I was still too late.

"I spent two days wandering through the desert with him before we were rescued. Yinsen's condition had worsened again!"

He raised his head, his eyes bloodshot like a beast with nothing left to lose.

"Man, without him, I would've been ready to give up this life... You have to save him!"

"...How long has it been since you slept?"

Frowning, Oaks tossed Tony another Acorn Bracelet.

"At this rate, by the time your savior wakes up, you'll already be out of your mind.

"Put it on and get some sleep. When you wake up, drive me to see him yourself."

"...Thanks."

Tony let out a long sigh of relief, took the bracelet and put it on. His whole body relaxed at once, and he fell asleep right there on the sofa.

"This guy..."

Oaks shrugged helplessly, had someone bring over a blanket to cover him, then closed the door.

Tony had come alone. At Stark Industries, he could now be said to be a target of public criticism. Even Pepper did not really understand what he was doing, though she trusted him as always.

The Acorn Bracelet was a small attempt by Oaks to interfere with fate. And now, things seemed to have gone more or less as he had expected. Dr. Yinsen had survived, but although he was no longer in mortal danger, he still had not regained consciousness.

So the efforts of the past half year had finally produced their first test subject.

Tony probably had not completed the Mark II Armor yet, but he had already told Obadiah about the miniature Reactor. That meant...

"As the only person besides Tony who might know about the miniature Arc Reactor technology, even if only part of it, Dr. Yinsen has become a priceless commodity."

The U.S. Military did not yet know of the miniature Arc Reactor's existence, but they were already highly dissatisfied with Tony's decision to shut down the weapons division. Colonel Rhodes was no exception.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was also completely in the dark about the details of how Tony had escaped. Although Coulson had tried to approach Tony, he clearly had not found an opportunity yet. However, he seemed to have come to the Benevolence Society looking for Melinda.

But Obadiah should have known all of it.

In other words, if Dr. Yinsen regained consciousness, then once Tony demonstrated the armor's power, one of its core technologies—the miniature Arc Reactor—would inevitably make all three parties set their sights on Dr. Yinsen.

This was something Tony had not even considered yet.

"Looks like I need to arrange matters for Dr. Yinsen before Tony gives himself away."

When Tony woke up refreshed, he met the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson, who had rushed over after learning that Tony had appeared at the Benevolence Society.

"Mr. Stark, I'm Coulson, Melinda's colleague."

As an outstanding field agent, Coulson seemed to feel no embarrassment whatsoever about using the connections of Melinda, an "office" agent, to complete his mission.

"Colleague? S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Tony's mind was exceptionally clear now. He touched the bracelet on his wrist and looked Coulson up and down.

"I don't want to talk much about how I escaped right now."

"But I can offer some help with what you're about to do."

Coulson glanced at Oaks beside him. Oaks gave Tony a slight nod, and Tony spread his hands.

"Fine. Come with me."