New Element

No one knew what Rhodey had done, but starting the next day, the pressure against Tony slowed down, and most morning news programs began featuring the gossip Lu Qi loved to watch.

Lu Qi had also bought a small apartment in Los Angeles. It was not large, but it was comfortable for one person—just right.

He checked his blog. Since his identity had been exposed, his follower count had shot up into the tens of millions. Even the photos he had casually taken before now had tens of thousands of comments.

After reading some amusing comments, Lu Qi replied with a few laughing emojis, then uploaded photos of himself beating up Iron Monger.

What had happened at Stark Industries was no longer a secret, so plenty of people knew that he had taken down Iron Monger there. In a sense, releasing these photos was old news, but the reply and repost numbers were frighteningly high.

After having several Ninja Soldiers act as human moderators and delete the malicious comments, Lu Qi headed outside.

Out of boredom, he had recently started jogging in the mornings. Every day, while there were few people around, he would run a lap outside and take some photos to use as updates. Whenever he had no good pictures in the future, he could use those to fool the internet users. It was not as if they dared trace the connection and come knocking on his door.

He went to the local Chinatown and bought several Goubuli Baozi, then walked back while munching on them and checking the news on his phone.

Automatically skipping the news he was not interested in, Lu Qi silently scrolled down and suddenly saw a report saying that Hammer Industries would unveil new weapons in the main hall of the Stark Expo tomorrow night.

But Tony had not created the New Element yet!

This could cause major changes to the plot.

Lu Qi had a bad feeling. It seemed Tony had not called him over for detoxification in quite some time either.

Finding an alley, Lu Qi drew a circle and went straight to Tony's house.

As soon as he arrived, Lu Qi saw Tony holding a model of the Stark Expo and analyzing something.

It looked like S.H.I.E.L.D. had still given Tony those things. Lu Qi was relieved.

It seemed the plot's power of self-correction was quite strong. It had managed to steer things back on track. Still, why had Tony not called him?

And why had JARVIS not said anything today about deleting recordings? Had S.H.I.E.L.D. directly cut off the internet physically?

Seeing that Tony seemed to have discovered something, Lu Qi took out his phone and decided to snap a few pictures of Tony at this moment.

Watching Tony successfully discover, within half an hour, the New Element that S.H.I.E.L.D. had failed to find for decades, Lu Qi was rather happy for him.

"Looks like you've found a way to save yourself?"

Lu Qi leaned close to Tony and suddenly spoke, successfully startling him.

"You scared me to death. I thought it was Coulson. Say, Lu Qi, did you know? The way Coulson threatened me was terrifying!"

Seeing Lu Qi, Tony was not particularly angry. He even imitated the way Coulson had threatened him.

"That was indeed terrifying." Lu Qi gave his assessment without expression.

"Fine, but as you can see, I've discovered a New Element that can replace Palladium, and it's even more powerful than Palladium."

"This was all..." Tony fell silent for a moment. "It was all left for me by my dad."

"Brother, you know what? I only just learned what my dad really thought of me." Tony looked somewhat lonely now.

"Oh, come on. Don't be sad. At worst, invent a time machine someday and go back to see your dad! Just hope he won't be scared by a son who's the same age as him." Lu Qi put an arm around Tony.

"Is there anything you need my help with now?"

Tony smiled. His old self had returned.

"First, I need your big guys. We're going to give this house a proper overhaul. Start by moving all the furniture out!"

With a wave of Lu Qi's hand, a group of Troll Soldiers appeared. Fortunately, Tony's house was large enough, or it would not have been able to accommodate these five-meter-tall little giants.

After moving everything out of the house, Lu Qi summoned some Ninja Soldiers as well.

The large items could go to the Troll Soldiers, while the smaller items could be handled by the Ninja Soldiers.

They punched holes through the house and ran all kinds of strange wiring through them. With the help of the Shadow Ninjas, the house was quickly remodeled.

Coulson walked in at that moment.

"Hey, Coulson, your hairline has receded again." Lu Qi greeted Coulson as usual.

"So that's how you greet him." Tony said gleefully, "But things like this should be based on facts. How about you let JARVIS connect to the internet? I'll make a backup for you, and every time I see you, I can tell you exactly how much farther your hairline has moved back."

Coulson shook his head helplessly, but then unexpectedly noticed a model.

"This is..." Seeing the five-pointed star on the shield, Coulson was somewhat surprised.

"Do you know what this is?" Seeing such a treasure mixed in with a pile of miscellaneous junk, Coulson was speechless.

Tony was holding a level, worrying over how to balance the pipe in front of him, when he saw the shield in Coulson's hand.

"Yes! That one!" Tony looked delighted.

Taking the shield from Coulson, Tony examined its construction and thickness, then prepared to shove it beneath the pipe.

"You really shouldn't shove that in there." Lu Qi snatched the shield away and looked at the five-pointed star on it. He wondered when Captain America would be dug out. Thor's story seemed about to begin soon, though. When that happened, he could visit Asgard and see whether he could obtain some new coordinates for the Dark Dimension.

"Don't ruin this thing." He casually handed Tony some unknown artwork and gestured for him to use that as a support instead. After playing with the shield for a while and seeing Coulson staring at it longingly, Lu Qi simply turned back to Tony and said,

"How about just giving this shield to Coulson? You don't want it anyway."

Tony was happily looking at the level's perfectly aligned reading. He glanced indifferently at the shield and tossed it directly to Coulson.

"Thanks!" Coulson had not expected to receive the shield. He was thrilled and gave Tony a smile.

"You don't look too bad when you smile." Tony commented.

Coulson strapped the shield onto his arm and said to Tony with a smile, "Actually, I came to say goodbye. I've been transferred to Mexico, where new work is waiting for me. And it looks like you've discovered the secret of the New Element, so I can leave without worrying."

Looking at Coulson's friendly smile, Tony simply could not connect him with the tyrant from a few days ago who had threatened him not to leave the house.

Watching Coulson stride efficiently out of the villa, Tony unexpectedly said to Lu Qi, "Do all spies have two faces?"

Lu Qi thought for a moment. "Maybe some people have countless faces."

Tony believed him. Looking at the drastically transformed villa, he said, "All right, Lu Qi. Let's get started."

Walking over to a valve, Tony told Lu Qi to stand farther away, then turned it.

A beam of energy passed through the pipes and, refracted through crystals, struck the wall and sliced straight through it.

"Oh no." Feeling the wrench in his hand shaking nonstop, Tony quickly called for Lu Qi's help.

Lu Qi grabbed the wrench and turned it in the direction Tony indicated until the energy beam converged onto a wafer.

"That works!" Tony stared nervously at the wafer and shut off the valve.

The energy beam vanished, and the wafer began emitting a glow.

"You appear to have successfully created a new element." JARVIS's voice suddenly came through the speakers.

"Oh, JARVIS, you're back. Did they let you out?"

"Yes, though I am considering suing them for violating my personal safety and privacy rights."

"Enough with the bad jokes. Hurry up and analyze whether this thing can replace Palladium."

Tony looked at the glow on the wafer, feeling a little nervous.

Lu Qi walked over and patted Tony on the shoulder.

"Don't be afraid. Even if this thing can't save you, I can find a way to save you." At worst, he could have The Ancient One step in and go directly back a few months to move that bomb away.

Tony smiled, realizing he had been a little too extreme.

"All right, brother. Want a drink? We just created a new element. That's worth celebrating with a drink."

Lu Qi readily agreed. While JARVIS ran the tests, the two went to find some alcohol and drank while chatting.