I AM IRON MAN

He refused the young reporter's request to take him to the press conference.

Lin Feng drove the R8 to the press conference alone.

He did not dare fly around in broad daylight. There were too many people watching. Unlike at night, when wearing black meant people would barely notice him.

Pepper was touching up Tony's face.

She used concealer to cover every wound on Tony's face until there was no sign of anything unusual.

Coulson was repeatedly going over a few details.

On the television behind them, Rhodey was making up an explanation for the explosion last night to a crowd of reporters.

"This is your alibi!" Coulson handed Tony two sheets of paper.

"You spent the entire night on your yacht! And you have sworn statements from fifty guests!"

"There's evidence at the harbor proving that you stayed on Avalon all night and never left."

Tony took the papers and raised an eyebrow. "Fine, but I would've preferred it if it were just Pepper and me..."

"Alone on the island!" As he spoke, Tony looked at Pepper, who was still working on his face, and winked at her.

"Also, what about Lin Feng? I mean, that black-haired kid..."

"He's your bodyguard! That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?"

"Are you kidding? Those reporters are going to believe that? That excuse doesn't hold up, does it?" Tony looked utterly baffled.

"It's fine. We've handled this sort of thing plenty of times!" Coulson smiled confidently.

"There's no better explanation. Just read the statement I gave you, and this will all be over soon."

"You have ninety seconds!"

"Fine. Let's hope Lin doesn't get mad and punch me." Tony shrugged. Who knew whether Lin Feng would be that petty?

Coulson left for the moment. Pepper helped Tony into his jacket, and after her work, the wounds on his face had completely vanished.

After straightening his collar, Tony strode toward the main hall.

The moment he appeared, cameras of every kind immediately began snapping away at Tony Stark.

Tony did not even blink. He had long grown accustomed to scenes like this.

He stepped onto the stage, adjusted the microphone, took out the statement, and got straight to the point. "...Some have speculated that I was involved in the incidents that occurred on the highway and rooftop..."

Before Tony could even finish a sentence, a discordant voice rang out in the venue!

It showed Stark Industries absolutely no respect.

"Excuse me, Mr. Stark!"

A blonde reporter seated in the front row forcefully interrupted Tony.

"Do you really expect us to believe that a bodyguard wearing an Iron Man suit appeared just in time?"

Tony frowned at the reporter without saying a word.

The reporter continued pressing him, oblivious to the mood. "And that person who threw a punch with at least dozens of tons of force?"

"Or should I say, a Mutant?! From what I understand, he seems to be the person you brought back from that cave where you were stranded..."

"How do you explain whether he is..."

Tony waved a hand and directly cut her off. "I know you have a lot of questions, but please don't question the government's judgment and make crazy accusations!"

"And Lin is my friend. He isn't a Mutant like you people have guessed!"

"Besides, I don't think I need to explain my friends to you! Right?" Tony's attitude was exceptionally forceful.

"As for your questions, I have no comment!" Tony mercilessly pointed at the reporter from afar, warning her to watch what she said.

Tony had always been a strong-willed man. He was not afraid of reporters digging up dirt and writing whatever they wanted.

Without evidence, they would not dare, even if they had ten times the courage. Stark Industries was no pushover!

At that moment, Tony fully unleashed the presence of Stark Industries' leader, leaving the reporter temporarily speechless.

The reporter shut her mouth, and Tony turned the microphone before continuing to spin his tale.

He did not notice that Lin Feng was in the audience. Wearing sunglasses and smiling, he stood hidden behind the reporters as he watched Tony Stark argue with the female reporter.

Onstage, seeing Tony's story becoming more and more outrageous, Rhodey could only helplessly lean over and whisper, "Read the statement, Tony!"

"Okay! Okay!" Tony nodded halfheartedly and reluctantly picked up the papers.

"Regarding last night's incident, the truth is..."

Tony paused there and swept his gaze across the room.

Everyone was waiting for Tony's "truth," though it was probably going to be another set of evasive excuses.

After looking at the statement once more, Tony took a breath and said something no one had expected...

"I AM IRON MAN!"

"Whoa!" An uproar instantly flooded the entire hall. Reporters sprang to their feet and crowded together, raising their microphones as they shouted questions. Camera flashes went off without pause!

The entire venue descended into chaos.

This was earth-shattering news! Tony Stark had admitted that he was Iron Man. Some people were bound to have a headache now!

That single sentence pushed the entire press conference to its peak. It was easy to foresee that today's news would unquestionably dominate the front page!

After witnessing the iconic scene, Lin Feng slipped away amid the chaos.

There was nothing else worth watching. He wanted to take a walk outside and wait for Tony Stark. He also needed to speak with Tony about the young reporter.

As for Coulson, he searched the venue for a long time without realizing Lin Feng had been right under his nose.

Then Tony's declaration that he was Iron Man threw the entire venue into disarray and disrupted Coulson's plans.

Left with no choice, he reported to Black Egg and received orders to withdraw for now. That night, Black Egg would personally go meet Tony.

Coulson could only lead his team away.

But what he did not realize was that none of his actions had escaped Lin Feng's eyes.

Even more absurdly, he had passed Lin Feng several times without noticing him...

Watching Coulson withdraw, Lin Feng looked away. He touched the ring he had exchanged from the system store that morning and could not help giving it a thumbs-up.

Unremarkable Black Ring: Reduces the wearer's presence. Its effect is even stronger than Superman's glasses! Put it on, and even your dad won't recognize you!

Additional skill: Once every 24 hours, grants complete invisibility for 10 minutes. (True invisibility—undetectable by the naked eye and capable of evading heat sources, detectors, and various other detection devices.)

It had cost a full 300,000 Reputation Points! Lin Feng now had only a little over two million Reputation Points left, but it was still worth it.

Lin Feng had already revealed his true face. Without some disguise, how could he walk the streets in the future? Wouldn't a pack of reporters follow him everywhere?

Besides, the additional skill alone was completely worth 300,000 Reputation Points, wasn't it? Ten minutes of invisibility!

It might have been only ten minutes, but it was true invisibility. Lin Feng remembered that Superman did not have this ability in the original story.

This ability would bring Lin Feng enormous convenience, no matter what he did.

And it was precisely this ring that reduced Lin Feng's presence to a terrifying degree, making Coulson look at him as if he were air and instinctively ignore him.

If the skill could stack, Lin Feng would have bought ten of them and worn one on every finger. Then he could turn invisible for a hundred minutes every day!

It was not until dusk that Tony finally finished dealing with the reporters and a group of industry bigwigs.

But none of them had managed to get any truly useful information. Handling people like them had become instinctive for Tony.

If he did not want to say something, it was very difficult to pry it out of him!

The reporters had only obtained one piece of information: Tony Stark was Iron Man.

And the one who had sent the giant mech flying with a punch was Tony Stark's friend, Lin Feng.

After finally seeing off the last group of reporters, Tony heard that Lin Feng wanted to discuss something with him, so he invited him to dinner at his villa.

The two rode in the same car toward Tony's seaside villa.

In the car, Lin Feng took out the photos the young reporter had taken and briefly explained what had happened.

Tony said it was only a small matter and told Lin Feng to leave it to him.

There was no need to take a stroll in the Iron Man armor at all. He only needed to send his men over.

Lin Feng nodded in agreement. Gray Street's members could not be wiped out completely.

There were also a great many gray-market dealings involved.

Even if Lin Feng went and fired off a Heat Vision, it would not wipe out all the rats.

In the adult world, people often chose the solution with the least loss.

There were many rules involved. As long as the balance was maintained, that was enough.

The young reporter's life was saved amid the casual conversation between the two big shots...