The Idea of Creating 'Parker Industries'!

But clearly, as nothing more than an early-game minor boss, Obadiah was not that hard to kill...

The next day.

Having returned home late at night and, for once, slept until noon the following day, Toby got up to find two trending news stories pushed to his phone.

The first, unsurprisingly, was the explosive news that Tony Stark had returned.

The news footage showed Tony announcing his return at Stark Industries' press conference that morning. He also publicly revealed the details of his kidnapping and disclosed that Obadiah Stane, a traitor within Stark Industries, had leaked his security routes.

The second story concerned Obadiah himself.

According to the report, a fisherman had accidentally reeled in a male corpse while deep-sea fishing in the Pacific that morning. After police confirmation, the body was identified as Obadiah Stane, the second-largest shareholder of Stark Industries.

With both stories breaking at once, it was hard not to suspect that Obadiah Stane's death had something to do with Tony Stark.

But it was only suspicion. The police had no evidence proving that Obadiah's death was connected to Tony.

Besides, Stark Industries was the military's top arms supplier and maintained deep ties with the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The police simply could not afford to offend them.

Thus, the police only made a token call to ask Tony where he had been at the time of the crime the previous night. They did not even dare send anyone to investigate Tony's seaside villa, and the matter was quietly dropped...

Toby clicked his tongue as he watched the news.

Tsk tsk, this was the power of capital...

Even without superpowers, there were still super privileges...

All Toby wanted to say was that Tony, that damned capitalist... hadn't included him!

That was right. Toby had no intention of bringing down capitalists. He wanted to become one—no, to surpass them!

Until he built his very own business empire: Parker Industries!

But if he wanted to become a capitalist and build his own commercial empire, money alone was not enough for the first step. He needed a profitable product that belonged exclusively to him!

Otherwise, blindly throwing money into building his own industry would not make him a capitalist. It would make him a spendthrift...

Fortunately, Toby already had an initial plan for his business empire, as well as its first product.

That product was... the Lizard Regeneration Serum!

One injection could heal even the most severe injuries, and could even regenerate severed limbs!

Toby did not dare imagine the sensation this product would cause across the world once it was released, or how much money it could earn him!

It might not elevate him to the level of a super first-rate corporation like Stark Industries, but becoming a first-rate company was practically guaranteed!

But the prerequisite for all of that was for Dr. Connors to first perfect the Lizard Regeneration Serum and completely eliminate the mutations it caused.

Toby had no desire to see mutated Lizard Men running all over the world...

And Toby's ultimate plan was not merely to eliminate the serum's mutagenic effects. Even the way it granted people strength far beyond that of ordinary humans had to be removed from the serum as well!

He only wanted the Lizard Regeneration Serum to retain its regenerative effects. Even that effect would be best if it were not permanent, but merely a one-time regenerative treatment.

Otherwise, it would not be a medical product—it would be a weapon of war!

Just imagine the consequences if there were soldiers on the battlefield who could regenerate infinitely so long as their heads and hearts remained intact, and who possessed immense strength...

At that thought, Toby shook his head and stopped thinking further.

No matter how much he thought about it now, he would have to see the finished product first.

Otherwise, never mind the possible wartime consequences of the regeneration serum—even Parker Industries was nothing more than a fantasy...

Rescuing Tony from Afghanistan, then taking revenge for Tony yesterday, had taken Toby exactly one week.

He had left last weekend, so today was weekend as well.

When Toby came downstairs, the three people eating lunch all froze for a moment, having no idea when Toby had returned.

Toby merely casually explained that his plane had not landed until late last night, and since it was so late, he had not wanted to wake them.

Ben and May naturally did not doubt Toby's explanation. Happily, they pulled their son over to sit down and eat with them.

Only Peter looked somewhat guilty when he saw Toby had returned, keeping his head down as he ate.

But no matter how deeply Peter buried his head, what he could not avoid would eventually catch up with him.

After lunch, Toby patted Peter on the shoulder.

"Peter, come downstairs with me..."

With that, Toby turned and headed toward the basement.

Having failed to make himself invisible, Peter could only follow with a miserable expression.

On the way down, Toby asked Peter about the progress he and Dr. Connors had made on the Lizard Regeneration Serum over the past week. Just as expected, Peter hemmed and hawed, clearly knowing very little about it.

Toby glanced at Peter behind him and left him with only one sentence.

"Extra training tonight!"

Amid Peter's anguished cry, Toby entered the second-floor laboratory.

But to his surprise, Dr. Connors was not the only one busy in the underground laboratory at that moment.

Another graceful figure was assisting Dr. Connors.

That figure was naturally Gwen.

Before Peter could explain, Gwen immediately beamed with delight when she saw Toby return and threw herself at him.

Toby caught Gwen in his arms, spun her around twice, then asked with a smile, "Gwen, what are you doing here?"

Gwen's eyes curved into smiling crescents as she replied:

"Because you had something to do and left last week, I didn't want to disturb you. But I was a little worried about our teacher, so I asked Peter how he was doing..."

"Peter told me that our teacher was helping you with research. Since I had nothing to do after school or on my days off anyway, I came over to continue being his assistant."

Hearing that, Toby kissed Gwen on the forehead and ruffled her blonde hair. "So that's how it was. You've really worked hard, Gwen."

"You're far more responsible than a certain irresponsible cousin of mine."

Peter: I surrender, I know I was wrong, stop talking already ┗(T﹏T)┛

Gwen shook her head and took the initiative to defend Peter:

"No, I volunteered to help our teacher in Peter's place."

"This city needs a hero to protect its dark side, to strike at the vermin hiding in the shadows, so that more tragedies won't happen."

"With you gone, Peter was the only one capable of doing it."

Toby nodded at that, without offering any comment.

Although he had not previously protected the city's dark side out of any sense of duty, Kingpin would often hire him to take out the leaders of rival gangs in order to consolidate his underground empire.

So Toby had indeed indirectly cleared out many pests lurking in the shadows of this city.

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