Experiment

Lu Mingyu dragged his somewhat exhausted body onto the bed. Lying facedown on Tony's bed, he sighed. "That really wore me out. I searched through surveillance footage for so long, but found nothing."

Tony mocked, "How could surveillance footage possibly let you find anything, right? Hahaha. I'm telling you, all the footage is in Jarvis's system, and I'm the only one who can view it. Hahaha."

"So I was busy for nothing all this time?" Lu Mingyu was somewhat dejected. He lay sadly on the bed, utterly exhausted.

Tony took off his clothes, then looked at the red wine stain and smiled faintly. "Not exactly. If there's an alert, those so-called big shots have to go through me to view the footage. So by deleting it, I've made you owe me a favor."

Stephen slowly conjured red wine from an empty glass. Gently swirling it, he said, "Mm, Tony really did us a huge favor. Until we meet again. Let's end today's gathering for now. Mordo's matter still needs to be dealt with."

Wong nodded in agreement. He turned and opened a portal with his Sling Ring, taking Doctor Strange away from Avengers Tower. Lu Mingyu lay on the bed and waved. He did not have much strength left now. He had never properly adapted to this power, and his body was already struggling to withstand rapid movement.

Tony changed into fresh clothes, watched the portal vanish, and said to Jarvis, "Hide this room for now. No one except Lu Mingyu and me is allowed to enter."

"Yes, sir."

Tony looked at the exhausted Lu Mingyu and said, "Kid, if I didn't owe you my life, I wouldn't be helping you hide your identity."

With that, Tony left the room. He needed to explain this alert and provide solid evidence. After all, ever since he had not gone to the prison to stop Captain America, those people had not trusted him much.

He headed straight for the laboratory and quickly had Jarvis bring out a suit of Iron Man armor. The laboratory was not very large, but it contained several newly developed suits of armor, all of them especially novel in appearance. Their colors had changed significantly, and some even had mechanical devices resembling small capes.

The blue suit of armor Tony had Jarvis bring out glinted with a chilling light beneath the lamps. It looked like a killing machine. Tony sighed, held out his hand palm-first, and red-and-gold arm armor instantly attached itself to him. Tony aimed at the suit, and a blue shockwave burst from the palm of the arm armor, violently piercing through the blue armor.

He said to Jarvis, "Thomas-31. Experiment failed. Time: 22:36. If that isn't accurate, adjust the time. Anyway, make it match the exact moment the alarm went off."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, right. Forge an identity for Lu Mingyu. I suspect his background is far from simple, so randomly make one up for him. Preferably, get him into the same school as Pajama Baby. That would be good." As Tony arranged Lu Mingyu's identity, he added, "Make him a set of light armor resistant to friction and electricity. I remember designing one before, codenamed Stark-14."

"Yes, sir."

If Lu Mingyu had seen this scene, he would definitely have marveled at Tony's extravagance. That was Iron Man armor—something genuinely built from piles of money. Yet Tony had simply blown it up without hesitation. How terrifying was that? Tony waited in the laboratory for the officials to arrive. To be honest, at first, he had truly believed the Sokovia Accords were right. But ever since the Civil War broke out, he had felt that the Sokovia Accords were not truly right either.

Where in this world was there any absolute right or wrong? Whatever the public believed was right was right, and whatever the public believed was wrong was wrong. So it was not convenient for Tony to argue about it. But thinking carefully, what would have happened if all of them had rejected the Sokovia Accords? The Avengers would not have split into two factions as they had now. Under his leadership, they would have given the most reasonable explanations for disasters. After all, in every battle, they had tried their best to minimize the damage.

In every disaster, the Avengers had done their best. If people opposed what they did, then Tony wanted to ask: would the military do any better? Perhaps they would ultimately save the world, but in reality? The cost would be even greater. Perhaps by then, everyone would question why the Avengers had not been sent into action. Maybe that was what right and wrong meant.

Tony shook his head. Listening to the chaotic footsteps outside the laboratory, the corners of his mouth lifted into a faint smile. "What is it, gentlemen? Is something wrong? Why the rush? Are you all that concerned about my laboratory?"

The general leading them looked at the destroyed Iron Man armor and said, "You know that you once promised us your failed experiments would not trigger an alarm. What happened this time?"

"First, this is my tower. Second, I promised, but I never promised I could successfully solve every problem. Third, who are you?" Each of Tony's three points was infuriating. He had always disliked this general who abused his authority. Perhaps, to Tony, this man was simply an idiot.

Lu Mingyu lay facedown on the bed as exhaustion continuously swept through his body. For him, searching all of Avengers Tower today had been a form of training. Though he was tired, he was still happy. At the very least, he would be able to stay with these superheroes in the future. It was both an honor and a distant dream.

What worried Lu Mingyu most was his mother. If she learned he had disappeared, she would certainly be frantic with worry. If he could not return soon enough, perhaps everything would change. Therefore, what Lu Mingyu needed to do was return to his own world.

But to travel through parallel universes like they did in television dramas required super speed and vibrational waves. At least, that was what Lu Mingyu believed.

His current speed was clearly no match for Quicksilver's, let alone enough to travel through parallel universes. He could not even run through walls. Lu Mingyu thought about the future, about countermeasures, and about the life of a superhero.

In short, he was both eager and impatient.

Perhaps today's run had given him insight into his limits. It let him understand how far those limits extended and how exactly he should use his abilities.

"Who am I? You actually asked such a low-level question. Can I take that as an insult?"

Tony spread his hands, utterly helpless. His expression looked as though it had turned into the character for embarrassment. He said, "If that's how you want to see it, I don't care. At least, I didn't mean it that way. You're the one insisting on saying that about yourself."

"You!"

"What? Do you really think I'm insulting you?"