After Chu Hang left, Tony·Stark locked himself into the underground studio of Malibu's seaside villa.
In the huge studio, there were only the sounds of his footsteps pacing back and forth, and the occasional harsh knocking sound of tools thrown on the table out of irritation.
He dug out everything his father Howard·Stark had left behind, everything he could find. Old photos covered with dust, films with yellowed curls, rolls of design drawings that had been printed out and never looked at again, and even some scrawled shopping lists written on napkins.
Pepper would leave the food at the door of the studio on time every day. But when she came back to pick up the plate the next day, the food was often still the same, cold and stiff.
She could only see Tony's increasingly thin silhouette through the thick soundproof glass.
His eye sockets were sunken deeply, his beard was unkempt, and his whole figure looked like a plant that was rapidly dehydrating. The faint blue light on his chest that once symbolized rebirth, now in his own eyes, looked more like a timer counting down to death.
Palladium poisoning.
The word was like a pair of cold pliers, clamping tightly onto his heart. The lines of Black Noir were like ugly cracks on a dry river bed, spreading from the edge of the reactor on his chest and climbing up his blood vessels. Every day, he forced himself to drink several large glasses of green chlorophyll juice that tasted like rotten grass.
Apart from making him feel nauseated, that thing could not stop the erosion of the poison at all.
"Tony, you are driving yourself crazy." Pepper stood at the door, watching him once again roughly sweep a whole box of information to the ground, and the papers flew everywhere like snowflakes.
"I'm about to die, Pepper!" Tony turned back sharply, staring at her with his bloodshot eyes, his voice hoarse as if it had been sandpapered, "I must find a way out before I am completely poisoned by the thing I invented! That bastard is right, my dad is that old stubborn, he can't leave nothing behind!"
"That bastard" in his mouth naturally refers to Chu Hang.
Chu Hang's understatement that day was like a red-hot steel nail that was driven into his brain, burning his nerves day and night.
He finally found that thing among a pile of relics that he classified as "waste" - a huge city model that covered the center of the room. It was the star exhibit of Stark Expo in 1974, and one of the masterpieces his father was most proud of during his lifetime.
Tony walked around this huge model, taking apart every part of his model, studying every tiny line and every piece of spliced plastic board. But the result was disappointing. There was nothing. It was just an exquisite city model, nothing more.
The ultimate frustration overwhelmed him like cold sea water. He sat down on the ground, picked up a bottle of chlorophyll juice, and drank it like a strong drink. His throat was filled with the disgusting smell of grass.
Just then, the cell phone he threw on the table rang. It was an unfamiliar encrypted number.
"Who?" He answered angrily, his voice full of suppressed anger.
"It seems you haven't found the way yet." Chu Hang's iconic, lazy voice came from the other end of the phone, "Mr. Tony Stark, sometimes, the map itself is not the most important. The shape of the map is where the treasure lies."
After saying that, the phone hung up. The beeping busy tone was particularly harsh in the quiet studio.
The shape of the map...
Tony was stunned. He suddenly raised his head, his eyes that looked dim due to fatigue were staring at the huge model that he had dismantled into pieces.
His genius brain began to work crazily at an unprecedented and terrifying speed.
"JARVIS, help me generate a 3D model!"
"Received! Sir"
The layout of those buildings, the outline of the park, the direction of the road... they were instantly peeled off, reorganized, and connected in his field of vision... Lines flew in the air, nodes automatically aligned, and a new, stable atomic structure slowly emerged in his eyes.
"Oh my god..." Tony murmured to himself, his eyes bursting with ecstasy that could burn people, "So that's it... That's it! Old man, you are really a genius!"
He jumped up from the ground like a madman and stumbled towards his workbench. He wanted to turn this structure into reality!
At the same time, the atmosphere in Stark Industries's board meeting room was as depressing as the sea before a storm.
Obadiah·Stane sat in the main seat, his iconic bald head glowing with an icy coldness under the bright lights of the conference room. His eyes were like a shark ready to devour, slowly sweeping over every director present.
"Everyone," he said in a heavy tone, as if he could squeeze out water, "I think everyone has seen how the company's stock price has plummeted since Tony made that stupid decision. Now, another person from nowhere has appeared, took advantage of the situation, and became our major shareholder. If we don't take action, Stark Industries will be destroyed in our hands!"
A fat-headed director immediately echoed, "Obadiah is right! We must remove Tony as CEO and reopen the weapons department! This is our foundation! Military orders are real money!"
"That guy named Anthony·Chen, we must find a way to kick him out! A guy with unknown origins, who knows what he has in mind!"
The conference room suddenly became noisy, and everyone pointed their fingers at the absent Tony and the mysterious Chu Hang.
At this moment, the heavy door of the conference room was pushed open silently.
Chu Hang was wearing a tailored suit, with a harmless smile on his face, and walked in unhurriedly. There was no assistant or lawyer behind him, he was just a person, calm and relaxed, as if he was attending a relaxing afternoon tea party.
"Hello everyone, my name is Anthony. It seems that I missed some wonderful opening remarks." He walked directly to the main seat, pulled out an empty chair next to Obadiah, sat down on his own, and glanced around calmly, "Everyone, you are very angry."
"Anthony·Chen!" Obadiah slapped the table with his hand, making a dull sound, "You are not welcome here!"
"Mr. Obadiah, please be patient."
Chu Hang tapped his fingers lightly on the smooth tabletop, making a few crisp "ta, ta" sounds. The sound was not loud, but it miraculously suppressed all the noise in the conference room.
"I am the second largest shareholder of the company. According to the company's articles of association, I have the right to participate in any board meeting. Or do you want my team of lawyers to come and talk to you about corporate law?"
Obadiah was choked by his words and could not speak. His face turned the color of pig liver and he could only stare at him fiercely.
"I know what everyone is worried about." Chu Hang looked around the crowd, his tone calm but with an undoubted force, "Worried about the stock price, worried about profits, worried about Stark Industries's future. Closing the weapons department is indeed a risky move. But everyone, times have changed."
He typed the Snap.
The projection screen at the end of the conference room lit up silently, and the title of a document appeared on it - "Ark Project".
In the next hour, Chu Hang showed these old guys, who only had arms, orders and profit statements in their minds, a grand and magnificent future that they had never imagined.
An hour later...
"Very good." Chu Hang put down the water glass and stood up slowly, "Since everyone has no objections, from today onwards, Ark Project will be officially launched. I will personally serve as the general person in charge of the project. The meeting is over."
After saying that, he walked out of the conference room without even looking at Obadiah.
A few days later, in the basement of Malibu villa.
After a violent vibration, a blue energy beam that was thicker and purer than ever rose into the sky, directly penetrated the specially made ceiling of the studio, and went straight into the sky.
Tony·Stark stood in front of this makeshift particle accelerator, carefully holding a brand new triangular reactor that exuded pure blue light in his hand.
He succeeded.
He rushed to the mirror and pulled off his shirt. In the mirror, he saw the Black Noir lines on his chest that were fading rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, which made him ecstatic. He could clearly feel that a more surging and stable force than ever before was surging in his body.
He couldn't help laughing loudly, his laughter filled with the ecstasy of surviving the disaster and the pride of being reborn.
"I'm back!"
The door of the studio opened, and Chu Hang walked in carrying a bottle of 1982 Romanée-Conti, as if he had picked the right time.
"Congratulations, Tony." He shook the wine in his hand, "It seems that you have found the inheritance left to you by your father."
"You already knew that, right?" Tony looked at him with complicated eyes. This man seemed to always be one step ahead of him.
"All I know is that a tiger's father has no sons." Chu Hang skillfully pulled out the cork and poured a glass for each of them. "Here's to a great father and a reborn genius."
The two clinked their glasses and drank it all in one gulp. The spicy wine slid down their throats, bringing a pleasant warmth.
"How do you feel?" Chu Hang asked.
"It's better than ever." Tony moved his body, feeling the surging power brought by New Element, with uncontrollable excitement on his face, "I have designed Mark 4, a new energy core, new materials, and a new system. It will be perfect."
"Then I'll congratulate you in advance!"
At this moment, a strange-looking satellite phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
This is the special line he left for Nick Fury. If it rings, it means something big has happened.
Chu Hang answered the phone.
"Anthony," Fury's voice was more solemn and urgent than ever before, "Something happened. A big trouble, a big green trouble. Now, it may become two."
On the other end of the phone, there was a faint roar and explosion, and the signal became intermittent and full of electric noise.
"Location." Chu Hang's voice became cold.
"Harlem, near Culver University."
"Got it."
Chu Hang hung up the phone and looked back at Tony, who was looking at him with confusion.
"It seems that your new armor will soon have the opportunity to be tested in actual combat.
He grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, "However, this time my opponent may be a bit over the top."