Tony Started Telling a Story!

"JARVIS!" Tony turned his head and shouted.

Suddenly, several mechanical probes appeared out of nowhere, emitting rays of light to scan the Icosahedron in Lin Yi's hand.

"Unparseable, Sir. Matches the signature characteristics described by the Quantum Being."

"Sir, match rate increased to 97.61%."

Match rate? Lin Yi was baffled. What the hell was this now? And how was a match rate with two decimal places even calculated?

With a match rate this high, was he the goddamn Chosen One?

"So do you know what this thing is?" Lin Yi tossed the Icosahedron in his hand. The damn thing was a bit magical; if you left it alone for a while, it would float on its own, but the moment you touched it, it would temporarily lose its levitation function.

"No idea." Tony stared at the Icosahedron and shook his head.

"If you don't know, what are you staring at it for!" Lin Yi rolled his eyes and put it away unhappily.

"Uh... I thought you'd know. Shouldn't this be something the Quantum Being gave you?" In a rare moment of restraint, Tony didn't use his sharp tongue, instead asking a rhetorical question.

"Yeah." Lin Yi smiled, though the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I don't know if I can say I'm acquainted with the Quantum Being, but the thing was indeed given to me by her."

"After she gave me this, a Cosmic Virus broke out in our universe. Right, the exact same Cosmic Virus from your universe."

Lin Yi's inner guess about the Quantum Being's identity, along with his sixth sense, told him that the Quantum Being was not the mastermind behind the Cosmic Virus.

Yet, it was undeniable that the Quantum Being did run through the entire event from start to finish.

"It wasn't the Quantum Being..." Tony shook his head and spoke.

"What do you mean?" Lin Yi frowned.

"Just what it sounds like. I know you suspect whether the Cosmic Virus was the work of the Quantum Being, especially since it only broke out after you got this thing."

"But I am entirely certain that the Quantum Being appeared to destroy the Cosmic Virus, not to bring it."

Lin Yi looked straight at Tony, studying him for a long time. Confirming he wasn't lying, Lin Yi spoke quietly, "I don't know why you're so certain. But by your logic, what does this Icosahedron she gave me mean? Could it be that it holds a way to completely resolve the Cosmic Virus?"

As he said this, Lin Yi chuckled derisively to himself. "If that were really the case, why not just give me the method directly, instead of packing it into an unparseable and unopenable Icosahedron?"

Tony stared straight at Lin Yi. "What do you think? Do you really not know the Quantum Being's identity? If she did this, what do you think her purpose would be?"

Lin Yi fell silent.

What the hell would I know? If that really is the her I think it is, I'm going to take the sole of my shoe to her backside right now!

Who taught her that, huh? Refusing to live like a normal person and instead acting like some damn Riddler!

"I didn't come here to talk about this with you, Tony." Lin Yi directly changed the subject.

"A Cosmic Virus broke out in my universe too. I came here to find a way to resolve the Cosmic Virus."

"My friends... are suffering from the torture of the Cosmic Virus, and even your daughter, Morgan, is lying in bed right now, enduring pain every single moment."

Not really. Even though the Infinity Stones had been returned, as long as the energy Lin Yi guided hadn't dissipated, Morgan would remain in a deep sleep and wouldn't feel any pain.

Now the silence fell on Tony. He had already roughly guessed Lin Yi's purpose for coming earlier.

"That's not..." Tony stubbornly tilted his chin up, wanting to say that wasn't his daughter.

But Lin Yi directly pulled up a photo of Morgan on his phone, shoved it right in front of Tony, and pointed at the Morgan on it.

The muscles in his cheeks twitched uncontrollably as Tony realized he couldn't get those words out.

It was Morgan! Even if she wasn't from the same universe, how could Tony bear to say those words in the face of that familiar face and familiar smile?

"You..." Tony was at a loss for words, pointing at Lin Yi as if wanting to curse but stopping himself, before leaning back against his seat like a deflated balloon a moment later.

"You win..."

The hell did I win!

Seeing Tony lost in thought and knowing his mood had changed, Lin Yi didn't urge him, giving him some time.

A few minutes later.

"Is Pepper... doing okay?" Tony suddenly looked toward the window and spoke.

Under the previous surveillance, he naturally learned that the Pepper from the other universe was still alive.

Lin Yi nodded. "Doing great, probably sitting there hugging little Morgan and crying her eyes out right now. Even though she hasn't been infected with the Cosmic Virus yet, who knows when she might end up lying right next to Morgan."

With a twisted expression on his face, Tony turned his head back, his lips moving as if he still couldn't help wanting to curse at Lin Yi.

"You really know how to choke people with your words..."

He could hold back from cursing even at that? Was he Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

"To each other..." Lin Yi sneered. If you don't hit him with some heavy material, would he be willing to spill information about isolating the Cosmic Virus?

If you're going to throw knives, throw the sharpest ones. Let's see if I don't stab you!

Tony silently stood up and fetched a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet.

This time, he politely poured a glass for Lin Yi as well.

"In 2023, we found a method for time travel..." Tony downed a gulp of the strong liquor, sat back down in his seat, and looked at Lin Yi.

"I imagine the situation in your universe is the same."

Lin Yi nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

See? He told you Tony needed to be provoked. Didn't he just start talking about history and telling the story to follow the script?

"Thanos appeared, brought by the Nebula from the past."

"They were infected with the Cosmic Virus. Of course, back then we didn't know it was the Cosmic Virus."

"Thanos became even stronger than before, and the Avengers were driven back step by step."

As he spoke, Tony waved his hand, and a screen was dragged over by JARVIS, playing the battle scenes from Avengers: Endgame.

On the screen, the Avengers were locked in combat with Thanos's army.

That Thanos was just as powerful, ferocious, and twisted as the one in Lin Yi's universe.

True to Tony's words, under Thanos's attacks, the Avengers had almost no power to fight back, and even Carol was in an exceptionally miserable state.

In this universe, there was no Lin Yi. The Ancient One had said he possessed absolute uniqueness, which made sense—he was a time traveler after all.

"We simply couldn't beat the Variant Thanos, and even during the war, some of our people were infected with the Cosmic Virus."

"They went crazy on the spot and started attacking their teammates nearby. In a very short time, the situation grew worse and worse."

Tony sighed.

This point was actually different from Lin Yi's universe. In his universe, this situation only appeared after Thanos had been dealt with.

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that the prolonged battle was caused by the absence of Lin Yi and any other high-tier combatants joining the battlefield.

Tony continued, "Under these circumstances, it seemed that nothing awaited us but defeat once more."

"However, a turning point still appeared."