Tony·Stark is back.
This news was like a bomb, exploding at Wall Street and Pentagon at the same time, causing everyone to buzz.
The stock price of Stark Industries suddenly raised its head after falling for three consecutive months. When the market opened, it went up to the daily limit. The generals of Pentagon breathed a sigh of relief. Their favorite toy supplier, the genius who could turn war into a grand fireworks show, was still alive.
The press conference was crowded with people. The flashlights were so dense that they turned the night into day.
The reporters were like a group of sharks smelling blood. Countless Black Noir microphones were crowded together like an upturned sugar cane forest. They prepared hundreds of questions and wanted to take apart every bone of Tony during those three months at Afghanistan and take a closer look.
However, when Tony came back, something seemed wrong.
He did not go directly to the stage. He asked his bodyguard Happy to buy him a few cheeseburgers. Then under the eyes of the whole world, he sat down on the steps in front of the press stage and munched on them as if no one else was watching.
His business partner, the bald one, Obadiah·Stane, with a standard businessman smile on his face, walked over and tried to make things right.
"Tony, everyone is waiting for you." He bent down and his voice was very soft, as if he was coaxing a disobedient but priceless child.
"I just want to eat a burger." Tony replied vaguely with his mouth full.
Pepper·Potts stood not far away, with unconcealed worry in his eyes. She knew better than anyone else that Tony had changed. That arrogant, always shining playboy, there was something she couldn't understand in the depths of his eyes. Like a pile of ashes burned by a fire, the surface was cold, but there were still hot coals buried underneath.
After struggling for ten minutes, Tony finally finished eating. He wiped his mouth casually, and walked slowly onto the presentation stage with Obadiah half-supporting and half-stand.
He didn't read anyone's prepared speech.
He just glanced around at the excited, Greed, curious faces in the audience, and the expressions on those faces made him feel inexplicably bored.
"I have experienced some things." He said, his voice a little hoarse. "I saw with my own eyes that the weapons I made were used in places they shouldn't be used against people they shouldn't be used against."
There was a commotion in the audience. The smile on Obadiah's face froze.
"I thought a lot after I came back." Tony ignored anyone's reaction and continued, "I don't want to leave a legacy of only a bunch of murder weapons after my death. So..."
He took a deep breath, and his eyes became like a piece of steel just taken out of the forge.
"I have decided, Stark Industries, to permanently close the weapons manufacturing department."
Boom!
The whole venue exploded instantly.
The reporters pushed forward like crazy, and countless questions were fired at Tony like dense bullets.
"Mr. Stark! Does this mean that Stark Industries will give up billions of dollars in military orders every year?"
"Is this your personal decision, or is it a decision of the board of directors?"
"Mr. Stane, what do you think of this?"
Obadiah's face turned livid. He grabbed the microphone and tried to save the situation. "Tony He just came back from a very bad place and is a little energetic... We will have an internal discussion on this matter..."
Tony pushed him away, his movements were rough and unabashed.
"I'm done."
He dropped these earth-shattering words and, escorted by Pepper and Happy, struggled to squeeze out the crowd that was about to riot.
South Pacific Ocean, a private island.
Chu Hang was lying leisurely on the beach chair, and the holographic screen in front of him was clearly broadcasting the conference live.
When Tony said those words, he blew a loud whistle, picked up the ice-cold juice next to him and took a big sip.
"The show is about to begin."
Around him, more than a dozen top-level computers lit up at the same time. On the screen, the K-line chart of Stark Industries looked like a kite with its string cut off, plunging down at a terrifying angle.
The green eyes are so dazzling that it makes people panic.
At the same time, Wall Street, trading floor.
"Crazy! Tony·Stark is completely crazy!"
"Sell! Sell quickly! Sell at any cost!"
"It's over! My pension! It's all over!"
Countless traders roared at the top of their lungs, with despair and panic written on their faces. The ringing of the phone and the tapping of the keyboard were mixed together, like a doomsday symphony. Stark Industries's stock price evaporated by more than 40% in just a few minutes. Panic spread like a plague, and everyone wanted to throw out all the stocks in their hands before it turned into a pile of waste paper.
In the midst of this ghostly cry, a mysterious fund, like a giant whale lurking in the Deep, silently opened its huge mouth.
Chu Hang's fingers were beating so fast on the keyboard that afterimages almost appeared.
He simultaneously controls hundreds of ghost accounts all over the world. These accounts were all registered under different identities around the world by using the power of [Shapeshifting]. Each one is unremarkable and cannot be traced at all. But when they come together, it is a huge wave that can shake the market.
"Eat in. Eat as much as you have."
His voice was calm, without any waves, as if he was talking about today's weather.
On the screen, countless sell orders representing panic had just been placed. In less than 0.01 seconds, they were instantly swallowed up by a huge force.
Those stocks that have been sold off like rubbish by investors are constantly flowing into Chu Hang's pocket. He is like a silent Scavenger, calmly and Greed absorbing everything in the market.
The closing bell finally rang.
The entire Wall Street was in a shambles, and mourners were everywhere. The stock price of Stark Industries finally settled on a horrific number. Countless people lost their money on this day. Obadiah smashed everything that could be smashed in his office, and the roar could be clearly heard in the corridor.
No one knew that in just one day, more than 15% of the outstanding shares of Stark Industries had quietly changed owners.
A mysterious oriental man named "Anthony·Chen", and the company under his name "Lighthouse Capital" that no one has heard of, on this day, became the largest single shareholder of Stark Industries besides Tony himself.
One week later. Stark Industries headquarters, top-floor studio.
Tony·Stark was pacing back and forth in his private studio, looking a little irritable. The Arc Reactor on his chest was emitting a faint blue light, making his face paler. The symptoms of palladium poisoning had already begun to appear. He took off his shirt and looked in the mirror at the Black Noir lines spreading like poisonous snakes under his skin, and his mood became worse.
Pepper·Potts walked in with a document, his expression more serious than ever.
"Tony, we are in trouble."
"What's more troublesome than that I'm about to be poisoned by something I invented?" Tony replied angrily. He was trying to use laser to burn those lines, but it had no effect.
"Yes." Pepper slammed the document on the table, "The company has a new major shareholder. The shareholding ratio is 15.3%. He has just passed a lawyer's letter requesting to convene an emergency board of directors and meet with you alone."
"Who?" Tony frowned and stopped trying in vain.
"Anthony·Chen. A mysterious person with no valid background." Pepper said with a hint of solemnity in his tone, "The Legal Department has investigated and all his acquisitions are completely legal. There is nothing we can do against him."
"Let him come." Tony snorted and put on his clothes again, "I want to see with my own eyes which blind guy dares to pick my peaches at this time."
Three o'clock in the afternoon, reception room on the top floor.
When Chu Hang walked in calmly wearing a decent handmade suit with a warm smile on his face, Tony's pupils shrank suddenly.
"It's you!"
"Hello, Mr. Tony Stark." Chu Hang greeted him familiarly, as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other for many years, "We meet again."
"Anthony·Chen... the delivery guy..." Tony's mind was spinning rapidly, and he instantly connected the mysterious man Afghanistan with the new major shareholder in front of him, "Did you buy the stock?"
"To be precise, I picked it up." Chu Hang poured himself a glass of water without ceremony and sat down on the sofa opposite Tony. "Wall Street and those smart people don't want it anymore. I think it would be a pity to throw it on the ground."
"Who are you? What is your purpose?" Tony's eyes became sharp, like a lion whose territory was invaded by a strange creature.
"My name is Anthony Chen. As you can see, I am your new partner." Chu Hang shook the water glass in his hand and said calmly, "As for the purpose... it is very simple. I am more interested in this glowing gadget on your chest."
He stretched out his finger and pointed at Arc Reactor on Tony's chest.
"In Afghanistan, I'm just a mercenary who gets paid to do things. A very rich client, I don't want you to die there, that's all." Chu Hang explained half-truthfully, "As for my little tricks, you can understand them as... cutting-edge technology that has not yet been announced to the public."
This explanation is pure nonsense to ordinary people. But for technology madmen like Tony·Stark, it has a fatal attraction. What he is more curious about is what kind of technology can do Spatial Cutting out of thin air.
"Now, let's talk about business." Chu Hang brought the topic back, "You shut down the weapons department with great enthusiasm. The company needs a new growth point, otherwise those old guys on the board of directors will eat you alive. And this thing on your chest is the future."
He looked directly into Tony's eyes. "A clean energy source that can continuously power an entire building for decades, but you only use it as an advanced pacemaker. Don't you think it's a waste? Mr. Tony Stark, your layout should be bigger."
This sentence, like a heavy hammer, hit Tony's heart hard.
He subconsciously looked down at the blue light on his chest, his eyes flickering. Of course he knew the huge potential of Arc Reactor, but he had been trapped by the problem of palladium poisoning and could not break through.
"Palladium is toxic, and its reserves on the earth are extremely rare. There is no way to achieve large-scale mass production of this thing." Tony said in a deep voice, this was a dead end that he could not solve at the moment.
"Then find New Element to replace it." Chu Hang said lightly, as if he was talking about something as simple as eating and drinking water. "Your father Howard·Stark is so smart and is known as the leader of an era. Didn't he leave you any clues?"
One sentence, like a bolt of lightning, split open the fog in Tony's mind.
He raised his head suddenly and stared at Chu Hang. He had always shelved the relics left by his father as souvenirs and never studied them carefully.
"It seems that we have had some conversation." Tony's eyes rekindled the fiery light that belongs to genius.
"Of course." Chu Hang stood up, smiled and extended his hand, "Happy cooperation, Tony."
Tony looked at his outstretched hand, hesitated for a moment, and finally shook it. Although this man was mysterious, every word he said touched his heart.
"A pleasure to work with."
Hold the two hands together.
Chu Hang's heart moved slightly.
That's it now.
A cold, huge, yet extremely exquisite data flow instantly poured into his brain through the contact points. It was not a simple Knowledge Infusion, but a complete reconstruction of the underlying logic.
In an instant, when he looked at Arc Reactor on Tony's chest, the world in his eyes completely changed. It was no longer a glowing iron lump. He could clearly "see" the flow trajectory of every beam of energy inside it, the precise structure of every tiny component, and... its fatal flaws, and countless ways to improve it emerged in his mind at the same time.
His brain seemed to have been forcibly installed with a brand new operating system from a higher dimension.
[Conceptualization and Engineering Mastery].
This is the core of why Tony·Stark is Tony·Stark. It is not how much knowledge he has memorized, but his ability to start from scratch and turn a crazy idea into a feasible engineering blueprint.
"Then, I'll take my leave first." Chu Hang let go of his hand, the smile on his face unchanged, "I look forward to your good news, Tony. Don't let me, the investor, down."
After saying that, he turned around and left in a cool manner, leaving Tony standing alone with his brows furrowed and deep in thought.
Chu Hang walked out of Stark Industries's building and looked up at the sky.
The sun is just right.
He felt that his brain was working better than ever before.