Task Complete

At noon, a C-17 transport plane slowly landed at the U.S. military base in New York. Pepper and Happy were already waiting at the airfield for Tony Stark's arrival. As soon as the plane stopped, the two hurried forward.

The cabin door opened, and Meng Zu and the other three descended from the plane. The nearby medical staff immediately pushed stretchers over, but Tony waved a hand to indicate that he did not need one.

At that moment, Pepper's eyes held only Tony. Seeing that he was safe and sound filled her with excitement. A brilliant smile hung on her face, but as Tony approached, she did not know what to say for a moment.

Tony walked up to Pepper and said with smug pride, "Your eyes are red. Were you crying for your long-missing boss?"

"These are tears of joy. Now I don't have to find another job. I hate job hunting," Pepper said with a smile.

"Good. Then your vacation is over."

Tony turned and pointed at Ethan behind him. "Pepper, let me introduce you. This is Dr. Ethan, a new friend of mine."

Smiling, Pepper greeted Ethan. "Hello, Dr. Ethan. I'm Pepper Potts, Tony's assistant."

Dr. Ethan smiled in return. "Hello, Ms. Pepper. Tony often talked about you too."

Seeing Pepper look at him, Tony defensively said with a touch of pride, "I didn't talk about you that often."

Pepper looked at Meng Zu and said gratefully, "Mr. Meng Zu, thank you for rescuing Tony."

Meng Zu, who had been looking over the U.S. military airfield, smiled faintly when he heard her. "It was nothing. Just work. Now that the commission is complete, it's time for me to leave."

Meng Zu saw that the mission in the system had been completed, so there was no need for him to stay any longer. To Tony and the others, he was excess baggage now. Staying would only make him uncomfortable; he might as well go home.

Understanding what Meng Zu meant, Pepper said, "All right, Mr. Meng Zu. I'll transfer the money to your account shortly."

Just as Meng Zu was about to turn and leave, he suddenly said to Tony, "Oh, right, Mr. Stark. Don't forget Dr. Ethan's share."

Tony naturally knew Meng Zu meant the ten million dollars for rescuing Ethan. Of course Tony had not forgotten, but Meng Zu bringing it up made it seem as though Tony might shortchange him. His mood immediately soured, and he impatiently waved a hand. "Relax. I'll transfer it to you together shortly."

Meng Zu did not care about Tony's attitude. After all, Tony was one of his major clients. "Since Mr. Stark is being so straightforward, I'll give you a free reminder. The Ten Rings knew your whereabouts with remarkable accuracy. It seems they know you very well." With that, Meng Zu followed a soldier and left.

Tony watched Meng Zu's departing figure with flickering eyes. "All right, let's get in the car."

Tony and Ethan followed Pepper into the sedan. Happy, who served as both bodyguard and driver, asked, "Sir, where are we going?"

Pepper, seated in the front, said directly, "To the hospital, Happy."

But Tony cut her off. "No."

Pepper turned around, frowning as she anxiously tried to persuade him. "No? Tony, you need to go to the hospital and let the doctors examine you. Dr. Ethan does too."

Tony said firmly, "Nothing is mandatory."

Dr. Ethan also tried to persuade him. "Tony, I think we should go to the hospital first too. You really need a doctor to take a look at you."

"Ethan, Pepper, I was locked up for nearly three months. Right now, there are only two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and I want you to arrange a press conference for me. Once those two things are done, we'll go to the hospital, all right?" Tony said seriously as he looked at them.

Pepper asked in confusion, "A press conference? What exactly is it for?"

Tony did not explain. "Happy, drive. Let's get a cheeseburger first."

Seeing that Tony did not want to talk about it, Pepper did not press him further and fell silent. Happy then drove them away from the airfield.

After leaving the U.S. military base, Meng Zu hailed a taxi to the company. Before getting in, he took the phone from his pocket and tossed it into a nearby trash can. That phone had been prepared by Meng Zu as a disposable one. Even if it had not been disposable, he would not have kept it. Its communications had already been cracked by the U.S. military; keeping it on him was no different from carrying a surveillance device.

He took two phones he regularly used from his storage space. Looking at one of them, he found only two bounties issued by the Continental Hotel. The bounty amounts and Contract Points were too low to interest him, so he put the phone straight into his pocket.

Using the other phone, he called Yang Hai and told him that the mission was complete and that he was on his way to the company. Meng Zu suddenly remembered that he had not given Pepper his bank account information, but he did not care. He trusted that Pepper would be able to find it. Sure enough, not long afterward, a notification arrived: twenty million dollars had been transferred into his bank account.

After paying the fare, Meng Zu arrived on the second floor of the company. Seeing only Xiao Hai watching television, he asked, "Where's Uncle Yang?"

Xiao Hai replied, "My dad accepted a commission this morning. He went out to work."

"All right. Time to split the money."

Meng Zu sat in front of the computer, opened his bank account, and transferred five million dollars to Uncle Yang's account. When Meng Zu's adoptive father, Zhang Jun, and Uncle Yang had founded the Free Detective Agency together, they had agreed on how income would be divided. Any commission accepted through the company would have its final payment split fifty-fifty.

Seeing five million dollars transferred into his father's account, Yang Hai could not help complaining, "Looks like we'll be paying a lot of taxes this month."

Meng Zu thought that Tony would probably shut down Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division after returning. Stark Industries' stock would then plummet, though it would rise again in the future. This was a great opportunity, so he said, "Maybe in a few days, you won't have to pay so much."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Yang Hai asked, completely baffled.

Meng Zu stood up. "Watch more television, especially anything related to Tony Stark. All right, I'm heading home."

After returning home, Meng Zu first went to the basement and took some items out of his storage space, setting them down before putting back the things he usually used.

Meng Zu sat on the living room sofa watching television while opening the system panel to check it:

Host: Meng Zu (Human)

Strength: 4.3 (average adult human male: 1)

Speed: 4.6 (average adult human male: 1)

Constitution: 4.5 (average adult human male: 1)

Spirit: 6.7 (average adult human male: 2)

Health: 225 (average adult human: 50)

Energy: 125 (115+10)

Contract Points

Looking at his more than four thousand Contract Points, Meng Zu felt an itch in his heart. Should he try a round of ordinary draws? In the end, though, he resisted. He only needed six thousand more Contract Points for a high-tier ten-draw, and the age of superheroes was about to begin. Once it did, he could take on more missions related to superheroes. It should not take long to save up six thousand Contract Points.

At that moment, in a skyscraper, a one-eyed bald Black man was examining the information on a tablet in his hand. He was the famous Motherfucker from the Marvel movies—Nick Fury—and the subject of the file on the tablet was Meng Zu.