Although Stark wanted badly to drag the intruder out, things never developed according to human will. Besides, Kraft's original intention had not been to invade Stark's database, but to test Angela and Haro's abilities. So after breaking through Stark's network, he did not have Angela loot any data. Instead, he switched from offense to defense and began testing her defensive capabilities.
"Mr. Stark, the other party does not appear to be hostile."
J.A.R.V.I.S. quickly noticed the intruder's unusual behavior. He decisively reported the situation to Tony Stark and offered his own assessment.
"Are they... using us as a test?"
Stark understood in an instant. He was so angry that he laughed, but after remembering that he had indeed lost to the other side, he could only shake his head helplessly and give up on pursuing them further.
"Who are you?"
Having given up resisting, Stark sent the other party a message asking who they were.
A reply came very quickly.
"Red Queen."
"Red Queen? It was actually a girl?"
The online battle between the AIs had long since ended. Tony Stark had returned to his room, and the cover girl had already left. Stark did not care in the slightest. He took a fresh set of clothes from the wardrobe and changed into them, then carried the coffee J.A.R.V.I.S. had brewed for him toward the dining room.
"What girl? Have you found a new target again?"
Virginia Pepper Potts, nicknamed Little Pepper, was Tony Stark's personal assistant, press secretary, nanny, psychologist, and official consort...
In short, she was someone indispensable in both Tony Stark's life and work.
For example, just now, she had seen off the cover girl who had stayed the night, then prepared Tony Stark's favorite cheeseburger for breakfast.
"A new target?"
Tony Stark froze for a moment, then nodded firmly and declared decisively.
"That's right! She is my new target!"
"Looks like she's very special."
A sour feeling rose in Pepper's heart. She had never seen Stark wear such a serious expression over any woman before.
"Yes! Extremely special!"
Stark did not notice his personal assistant's subtle feelings at all. His eyes gleamed as he answered.
"I've been completely captivated by her!"
"Then what kind of gift and restaurant would you like me to arrange?"
Pepper suppressed the bitterness in her heart and asked according to their usual routine.
"A gift? A restaurant?"
Only then did Stark realize that the two of them did not seem to be talking about the same thing.
"No, none of that is necessary." Stark laughed. "You can't 'win over' that girl with things like that."
"Is that so?" Tony Stark's misleading phrasing finally made Pepper unable to suppress her jealousy any longer. Her tone turned sarcastic. "Looks like our playboy has finally decided to settle down and consider the important matters in his life?"
"Hey! Little Pepper! Are you jealous?"
Tony Stark happily continued teasing Pepper. He had been somewhat downcast after losing the cyber battle earlier, but now he had completely recovered.
Stark was fairly resistant to marriage at this point. Otherwise, even though he and Pepper had mutual feelings, he would not have dragged things out for so long without making their relationship official. But seeing Pepper get jealous over him—there was no way Tony Stark would not be pleased.
"I'm only your personal assistant. What do I have to be jealous about?"
Pepper was upset inside. She shoved the breakfast she had brought hard into Tony Stark's hands, then turned to leave.
But Stark grabbed her in one swift motion.
"All right, don't be angry."
Tony Stark was not an idiot. Naturally, he could not simply let Pepper walk away like that. A joke was a joke, but if Pepper truly misunderstood him and left his side in anger, that would be something Tony Stark could not accept.
He quickly gave her a brief account of what had just happened. To clear up the misunderstanding, Stark even brought in J.A.R.V.I.S. as a witness.
After hearing Tony Stark's explanation, Pepper secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then she began scolding Stark indignantly again.
"How can you be so reckless? What if your database had really been breached?! Do you know how much damage that would cause the company?! You can't always act according to your own preferences, Tony!"
Stark's computer contained plenty of Stark Industries data, as well as all kinds of design blueprints. If they had truly been leaked, the consequences would definitely not have been much better than when he later announced he was shutting down the weapons division.
"All right, all right, I understand."
Tony Stark wore a conciliatory smile as he dealt with Pepper's anger.
"Nothing happened, did it? And judging by the strength that AI displayed, if she wanted to steal Stark Industries' data while I wasn't paying attention, J.A.R.V.I.S. wouldn't have been able to stop her either."
As he said this, Tony Stark's expression turned serious. He reached out and placed both hands on Pepper's shoulders.
"So, Little Pepper, for the next while, I'm going to give J.A.R.V.I.S. a proper upgrade. I'll leave all the company matters to you."
"I understand. Go ahead and do it, Tony."
Now that they were talking business, Pepper returned to her brisk and decisive manner.
Meanwhile, Kraft had no idea that this little test of his had actually crushed the famous Tony Stark's confidence. Of course, if he had known, he might have thrown back his head and laughed twice.
After using J.A.R.V.I.S. to test Angela's abilities, Kraft handed her two other tasks he had already been working on.
One concerned the mastermind behind the Maggia human experiments back then, while the other concerned the source of Vibranium, the primary material used to make Captain America's shield.
After several days of gathering and sorting intelligence, there was still no lead on the Maggia. After all, the internet had not been very developed seven years ago, and very little information had been stored on computers. Furthermore, the mastermind had been extremely cautious, and nearly all relevant information had been erased at the physical level.
There was simply too much information related to human experimentation. Not only was America far ahead of everyone else in this field, but other countries also had similar experiments to varying degrees. Their research directions were largely focused on creating super-soldiers as well. It seemed Captain America's successful example had made quite an impact.
Therefore, it was essentially impossible to begin with forces involved in human experimentation. Leaving other countries aside, America alone had a huge number of official and unofficial groups that had secretly conducted human experiments. The number within America was nearly equal to the total of all other countries combined.
On the other hand, Angela and Haro quickly tracked down information regarding Vibranium.
This unusual metal came from a small country in northeastern Africa called Wakanda. There were two ways to obtain it: small quantities occasionally sold by the government, or smuggling. As a result, Vibranium's price had always remained extremely high. Even then, it was in scarce supply and could not be bought easily.
The high price was not much of a problem for Kraft now, but the issue was that even with money, he might not be able to buy it.
And besides...
Wakanda clearly possessed a resource far more valuable than gold or diamonds, so why was it still a poor, backward agricultural nation dependent on international aid?
Kraft carefully calculated the total recorded amount of Vibranium that had flowed out of Wakanda and its sale prices. If even half of that had been used for its own development, Wakanda could never still have been a poor country.
Curious, he had Angela and Haro conduct a deeper investigation into Wakanda.
Then he was stunned.
Wakanda, this supposedly backward agricultural nation, actually possessed fairly advanced network technology. It even had its own intelligence agency, PRIDE. The organization's primary role was to block and delete information about Wakanda from the internet. However, it was thanks to this intelligence agency that Angela had an opportunity to hack into Wakanda's internal network.
"This is really... shameless beyond belief..."
Looking over the information Angela had collected, Kraft revealed a mocking smile.
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