In Russia.
Anton Vanko watched Iron Man Tony Stark bask in boundless glory, acting as a hero everywhere and enjoying people's cheers, and it broke his heart!
This should have belonged to his son!!
"Son, all of this should have been yours!"
"Don't listen to that garbage." The filial Ivan clenched his father's hand.
"But all I can leave you is my knowledge..."
As he spoke, tears of regret streamed down Anton Vanko's face. With endless remorse, he brought his frustrated life to an end...
Watching his father die, Ivan Vanko let out a grief-stricken roar. He had regarded his father as a role model all his life!
But as a son, he could not even let his father leave this world in glory!!
His father, Anton Vanko, had been Howard Stark's partner. They had researched Arc Energy together, but Howard had not only claimed the Arc Reactor for himself, he had also kicked Anton out of the company, leaving his father to die depressed after a lifetime of frustration.
Now, seeing Tony, that playboy, indulging in a life of luxury while he himself lived in poverty, the seeds of hatred quickly broke through the soil and grew into a towering tree.
"Ah!!"
Roaring, Ivan Vanko gulped down a mouthful of liquor and slammed his fist hard onto the table. Even when shards of glass pierced his palm and left it a bloody mess, he felt nothing.
Hatred! Hatred! Hatred!
The power of hatred was truly immense. This ruthless man immediately began building an Arc Reactor according to his father's designs.
He would personally kill Iron Man Tony Stark and seek justice for his father and their family!
"What the hell is the point of making such crude electric whips? Tony is fully armed. With your mortal body, wouldn't a single blast take you out?"
Ivan Vanko, who had been hammering metal, abruptly turned toward the doorway.
At that moment, a pretentious man in sunglasses appeared before him, seriously gesturing as if he were commanding the world.
"Who are you?!"
Ivan Vanko demanded sharply, his nerves taut. This man knew so much about him—how could he not be nervous?
"Me? Who I am isn't important. But I can provide everything you need for revenge. Interested in working together?"
"Heh, there's no such thing as a free lunch. What do you want from me? I have nothing."
Ivan Vanko gave a self-mocking smile.
"Ivan, do you understand investing in dreams? Please call me an angel investor."
The newcomer was none other than Chen Xi. Wherever there were villains, there he would be. Please call him a villain investor.
Tony refused to share the Iron Armor with him, but as the old saying went, if there were no guns or cannons, couldn't he just build his own?
"All right. What help can you give me?"
Ivan Vanko stared deeply at the face hidden behind the sunglasses. He felt an unprecedented pressure.
It was like the indifference of a higher life-form looking down upon a lower one!
"Money!"
Chen Xi spoke casually, then pulled several sacks of U.S. dollars from his system space and tossed them to Ivan—more than ten million dollars in total.
Ivan Vanko was numb as he watched this man casually throw out mountains of cash without even blinking...
It was not as though Ivan Vanko had never considered making Iron Armor.
He did not want to wear a pile of junk either, but he simply had no money.
Building a suit of Iron Armor would cost at least seven or eight million dollars.
For a poor bastard like him, just building an Arc Reactor was enough to bankrupt him...
"Aren't you afraid I'll take the money and run?"
Ivan Vanko asked tentatively.
"Run? If you run, you'll die."
Chen Xi shot him a teasing glance, then turned and blew up Ivan's pickup truck with a single punch...
Hiss!!
Ivan Vanko's eyelids twitched violently, and cold sweat broke out across his body...
Perhaps Iron Armor was not invincible after all? He was already this powerful, so why did he need a "toy" like Iron Armor?
Yes, Ivan Vanko felt that the formidable Iron Armor was probably nothing more than an interesting toy in this big shot's eyes.
Chen Xi left, leaving Ivan Vanko staring feverishly at the banknotes scattered across the ground. This time, he could finally do something huge with his life!
"Tony, Tony, do you understand that the tallest tree catches the most wind? You were so arrogant and overbearing. See? You offended someone, didn't you?"
"Host, you're such a little genius..."
"Really? I think so too. I'm a genius."
Chen Xi pretended not to understand that the system was mocking him and treated it as genuine praise.
"The system mission is to intercept and kill the villain Ivan Vanko, yet you chose to fund the villain and massively boost his villainous traits..."
No wonder the system had complained that he was morally bankrupt and not even human. It turned out the system had generated a mission for him to defeat Ivan Vanko, the villain from Iron Man 2.
But Chen Xi felt the mission reward was far too low—only thirty thousand Justice Points [because the destruction and deaths he caused were indeed nowhere near as severe as Red Hulk's, and his own strength was nothing impressive either.]
Dissatisfied, Chen Xi immediately increased the difficulty of his own mission. Even the system admired this guy for exploiting bugs like this.
And now, the system mission had completely crashed. Because of his interference, the future had changed, making it impossible to calculate.
"Sigh, you know I have a family to support. It's not easy. Don't I need to earn more formula money to support them?"
"You'll cause even more deaths this way. Doesn't your conscience hurt?" The system looked down on him!!
"I think they'll understand me. After all, I'm thinking about the future too. Before victory arrives, sacrifices must be made. Let them sacrifice themselves to fulfill me, and I'll stop Thanos!!"
"Oh, and dead is dead. It's not like the people dying are my compatriots. Those who aren't of our kind must have different hearts. I'm also helping that great beautiful country reduce its population pressure."
Chen Xi shrugged indifferently and argued loudly. In his eyes, all that mattered was getting more Justice Points, bloodstained or not.
"What if there are people from Xia Country?"
"Then they can only blame their own bad luck. Besides, there don't seem to be any people from Xia Country here. We're all Americans, and you chose the idol yourself, haha!"
"Tony is half your friend. Isn't it a bit much to screw him over like this?"
"Heh, you said it yourself—half a friend!"
"..."
The system immediately fell silent. It felt that no one could match Chen Xi when it came to shamelessness and brazenness. He could make harming others for his own benefit sound so righteous!!
Before you continue