The Useless Husband

A flash of white light passed through Lu Xi's hand, and divine power condensed into a faintly glowing business card.

With a gentle flick of his hand, the card slowly floated into the breast pocket of Tony's suit.

Lu Xi smiled and said,

"It's fine. I only make voluntary deals; I never force anyone. You can keep this card. It might come in handy someday."

The moment Pepper saw Lu Xi giving Tony a business card, she became wary.

She hurriedly reached out, took the card, and was about to hand it back, saying firmly,

"No. He doesn't need this."

She had already sold her own soul to Lu Xi. She did not want Tony to someday sell his soul in a daze because of this business card as well.

Lu Xi seemed to have expected Pepper's reaction. He raised a hand to stop her and said seriously,

"The future is unpredictable. Since he chose to become the superhero Iron Man, he is destined to run into all kinds of trouble."

"And this card is like a 'revive token' in a game. At a critical moment, it can give him a second chance."

Pepper's resolute expression wavered slightly when she heard that.

Which was more important, life or the soul? It was indeed a difficult choice.

A hint of conflict showed in her eyes as she subconsciously looked at Tony, seemingly waiting for his response.

Seeing this, Lu Xi turned to Tony. The corners of his mouth rose slightly as he added fuel to the fire.

"Besides, family members and people close to you being captured and used as threats are common plots in superhero stories."

"When that time comes, Tony, you wouldn't want to experience the plot of being a useless husband like in those movies, would you?"

Tony's face instantly turned green at Lu Xi's words.

Gritting his teeth, he snatched the business card from Pepper's hand and stuffed it straight into his pocket.

Trading one's soul did sound terrifying.

But he understood that if he ever faced a life-or-death emergency, this thing could save either his life or the life of someone close to him.

No one would refuse such a lifeline.

Lu Xi suddenly remembered that, according to the original plot, Tony should have publicly admitted he was Iron Man after defeating Obadiah's Iron Monger.

Yet strangely enough, he had not seen any news about it recently.

Logically speaking, a battle of that scale should have caused quite a commotion. The news should have been flooded with reports long ago.

Lu Xi could not help asking,

"By the way, what happened to that Obadiah from your company?"

Tony froze slightly, puzzled as to why Lu Xi had suddenly brought up Obadiah, but he answered truthfully,

"He was found to have been privately selling weapons with a baron. The evidence was conclusive, and he's already been arrested. Why do you ask?"

Lu Xi's heart stirred, but he replied casually,

"Nothing. He just came to mind, so I asked."

Only then did Lu Xi realize that this had all been another butterfly effect caused by him.

Baron Strucker, whom he had ordered eliminated, had caused the plot of Iron Man 1 to receive an epic speedrun.

But Lu Xi did not care too much about that. It would naturally be best if he could avoid changing the original plot, since that would give him more options for contracts.

Yet even if the plot changed, those alterations could not affect the bigger picture with his own immense strength.

Lu Xi looked around at the wrecked villa and shook his head helplessly.

"Since the party has turned into this and is basically over, I should be leaving too."

After saying that, he turned around and finally noticed Helen Cho nearby.

She had been standing there wide-eyed and dumbfounded since earlier, as though she had been frozen in place.

Only then did Lu Xi remember that he had nearly forgotten her.

Lu Xi smiled politely. "Dr. Cho, shall I see you off?"

Helen Cho finally came back to her senses. She paused before quickly nodding. "Ah... sure."

Only after watching Lu Xi leave with Helen Cho did Tony truly let out a sigh of relief.

Although Lu Xi had said he did not intend to do anything to them,

facing someone so terrifyingly powerful still left Tony unsettled.

Tony said quietly to JARVIS,

"JARVIS, create a new file. Set its priority to the highest level. Call it... Anti-Demon God Armor."

Outside the villa, Helen Cho looked curious and could not help asking,

"From what I heard you saying earlier, do you need to collect souls?"

Lu Xi thought for a moment before answering seriously,

"Not exactly. You can think of it as my wanting to gather some top-tier talents. Souls are merely one way of showing that."

Helen Cho's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly said,

"Then do I count as top-tier talent? My nanobiotechnology is world-class!"

Lu Xi glanced at her soul and bluntly told the truth.

"Uh... from the perspective of souls, no."

The moment Helen Cho heard that, disappointment appeared on her face.

Lu Xi secretly found it amusing. Well, would you look at that—someone was actually volunteering herself.

This world truly was a giant besieged city. The people inside wanted to get out, while those outside desperately wanted to get in.

Lu Xi looked around and asked,

"Did you drive here?"

Helen Cho shook her head.

"No. Tony sent a car to pick me up."

Lu Xi smiled.

"Fine. I might as well see it through. I'll take you home myself."

As he spoke, he gently wrapped an arm around Helen Cho, and a faint fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose.

Then he spread his enormous wings and shot into the sky amid a powerful gust of wind.

Helen Cho screamed at first, frightened by the sudden takeoff.

But she quickly grew excited, shouting gleefully in the air and occasionally reaching out to curiously touch Lu Xi's wings, as though she had discovered a fascinating new toy.

Following the direction Helen Cho pointed out, Lu Xi flew swiftly and soon arrived at their destination, gently setting her down.

Helen Cho was flushed with excitement, breathing rapidly, her eyes sparkling with exhilaration.

Lu Xi smiled and said,

"Alright, I'll be going then. We can get in touch again if there's a chance."

Helen Cho hurriedly said,

"Wait, do you want to come up for a glass of water?"

Lu Xi could not help laughing and teased,

"Ha ha, don't tell me you're about to say you have a cat at home that can do backflips too."

Helen Cho's face instantly reddened. As another East Asian, she had clearly heard of that classic joke as well.

She knew Lu Xi could see through her little thoughts, so she could only tell the truth.

"Actually, this is my laboratory. I've always wanted to study you. If you aren't willing, I can show you around the lab first."

As she spoke, Helen Cho excitedly dragged Lu Xi into the laboratory without giving him a chance to refuse.

Lu Xi did not resist too much and let her pull him inside with only token reluctance.

Once they entered the lab, Helen Cho pointed at a machine that looked like a single bed and introduced it with pride in her eyes.

"This is the Regeneration Cradle. It uses nanotechnology together with biotechnology to rapidly repair any nonfatal injury. It's still only a prototype, though, and there are many problems that haven't been solved yet."

"For example, how to precisely control the assembly of nanoparticles, and how to ensure regenerated tissue integrates perfectly with the original tissue."

Lu Xi nodded. At its core, this thing was similar to a biological version of 3D printing, except what it printed was human tissue.