Black Widow appeared
As Li Qi chatted and laughed, his gaze sharpened. He coldly ordered the members of the Ten Rings to get out of the car, leave the villa, and head straight to the artificial lake near the residential complex to drown themselves, paying the price they deserved for their evil deeds.
As for the bodyguards and security personnel hired by the bald man, Li Qi used his unique ability to carefully distinguish their thoughts.
He soon discovered that five of the bodyguards harbored evil thoughts, their minds full of greed and cruelty, so he unhesitatingly ordered them to drown themselves alongside the Ten Rings death warriors and receive their punishment.
As for the other three security personnel, Li Qi could sense that they were relatively kindhearted and still possessed a sense of justice and a conscience, so he spared them.
"Go find yourselves new jobs. Forget everything that happened after you came here. I hope you'll follow the right path from now on."
As for the bald man, Li Qi instructed him with a stern expression, "Personally submit your resignation at tomorrow's board meeting. After that, go to Stark Industries' logistics department and handle some minor, unimportant tasks."
Li Qi successfully took possession of the Stark Industries shares under his control. Then he waved the bald man away, telling him to return to his own villa first, and instructed him, "Notify the company's board members that a board meeting will be held tomorrow." The bald man meekly agreed and left with his tail between his legs.
Pepper Potts had stood quietly at the study door the entire time, watching intently as her master, Li Qi, easily resolved this enormous problem without deploying a single soldier.
Once everything was over, her eyes filled with fear, she gently straightened her master's shirt.
With nothing else to do afterward, Li Qi simply took Pepper Potts back to the master bedroom. The two sat on the soft sofa and exchanged a few words.
With nothing to do that afternoon, Li Qi planned to upgrade the villa's artificial intelligence, JARVIS. With all the specialized knowledge he had learned from Tony, upgrading an AI was no difficult task for him.
Li Qi turned on the computer and devoted his full attention to the upgrade from that afternoon until after seven in the evening, finally completing a simple upgrade to JARVIS.
After the upgrade, JARVIS's performance exceeded the level of artificial intelligence in this world by more than threefold. He could now undertake some unconventional projects and tasks.
Li Qi planned to have JARVIS take control of all permissions at Stark Industries as well.
He already had a plan in mind. Over the next few years, he intended to gradually withdraw Stark Industries from the arms trade and turn its efforts toward researching clean energy and various sustainable development projects.
That evening, the kitchen prepared a Manchu-Han imperial feast as usual. The dishes were plentiful and varied, a sumptuous spread of color, aroma, and flavor. After eating, Li Qi frowned slightly, feeling that eating like this every day was far too extravagant and wasteful. After all, he was someone who valued thrift.
So he specifically called the kitchen staff over and said gently but firmly, "Don't prepare so many kinds of dishes from now on. Just keep it simple and make enough to eat. We should practice thrift." Hearing this, the chefs and servants immediately felt that their new master was both considerate and possessed excellent character.
That evening, Li Qi specifically summoned Tony back. After ten that night, Li Qi took a bath with Pepper Potts attending him.
Before long, Tony returned travel-worn from Malibu and hurried to report the situation to his master.
Tony reported respectfully, "Dominator, renovations and construction at the villa there are proceeding at full speed. Everything is going according to plan." Li Qi nodded slightly, then continued,
"You'll attend the board meeting tomorrow and announce your resignation to the other directors. Tell them that I'm now the company's largest shareholder. Also, tell them that the company will gradually shut down weapons manufacturing and the related departments, shifting instead to research into new energy and other sustainable development projects."
Tony nodded to show he understood, then reminded Li Qi, "Dominator, some of the board's hidebound members may try to block your plans." Li Qi merely smiled faintly at this, his eyes showing confidence and composure, and paid it no mind.
Having finished speaking, Li Qi waved Tony off to rest in another guest room, while he took Pepper Potts back to the master bedroom to rest.
The next morning, after Li Qi had eaten breakfast, the bald man called to say that the board meeting would begin on time that morning. Li Qi took Pepper Potts and Tony with him, and they headed to Stark Industries together, driven by the potbellied head of security, Happy.
When they reached the entrance to the enormous conference room on one of the upper-middle floors, a woman with long orange hair emerged gracefully from an office to the side.
She was tall, with proportions that could be called perfect. She wore a fitted white secretary's blouse that traced her shapely figure as precisely as a second skin, accentuating her slender waist.
On her lower half, she wore a black professional pencil skirt that made the lines of her legs look especially long and straight. A pair of exquisite black high heels graced her feet, each step producing a crisp, confident sound.
Her steps were light and rhythmic, her model-like figure displaying elegance and competence as she walked. She carried a set of neatly organized documents, ready for Tony to sign.
At this point, Tony's resignation as chairman and general manager had not yet been announced within the company, and the employees still believed he was the chairman.
Tony shook his head slightly. Rather than accept the pen the secretary offered, he respectfully stepped aside and invited Li Qi forward to sign, then said earnestly to the secretary,
"Listen, I've already stepped down as chairman. Mr. Li Qi here will take over the company, so he'll be making all the decisions concerning it."
The secretary slowly raised her head in slight surprise and looked at Li Qi. Only then did Li Qi get a clear look at Black Widow Natasha Romanoff's beautiful, finely sculpted face.
Her eyes were like deep pools of lake water. Beneath her high nose were beautifully shaped lips, now slightly parted, as though she were surprised by this sudden news, or as though voicing a silent question.
Indeed, this secretary was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s super-agent, Black Widow.
Li Qi also noticed Black Widow's feigned look of surprise. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly in a meaningful smile as he slowly said,
"To think that a renowned super-agent would stoop to being a mere secretary at my company, doing minor clerical work. How about this? From now on, why not help coordinate some of the company's important affairs and contribute ideas for its development?"
Intense surprise instantly showed in Black Widow's eyes. She truly had not expected to be recognized by this clearly extraordinary new boss less than two hours after arriving at Stark Industries undercover.
The report S.H.I.E.L.D. had received stated that Mr. Tony Stark had been rescued by a man with an unusually powerful physique. Could the man before her be someone with superpowers or a Mutant? A string of questions could not help rising in her mind.