Tony wanted nothing more than to kill every last member of the Ten Rings. They were despicable, squeezing him alone for every penny they could.
He had already spent a considerable amount of liquid capital buying back company stock. He had barely arrived when they extorted three billion from him, nearly draining his cash flow. Now Wenwu actually wanted another ten billion!
"Your name's Wenwu, right? Do you have any idea how much ten billion is?"
Tony roared in anger, "My company isn't even worth a hundred billion, and you want ten billion just for casually healing me! Are you crazy?"
"Don't be so hasty, Mr. Stark. I can let you pay in installments. I won't make you pay it all at once," Wenwu said calmly.
"Installments?"
Tony wondered if he had heard wrong.
A terrorist organization was actually letting the great Stark pay in installments? Had the world gone mad, or had he?
Wenwu gestured to Hamid beside him again.
Hamid understood. He picked up a contract from a nearby table and handed it to Tony.
Tony picked it up and read it, his expression darkening with every line.
"Ten billion, one year, and one billion in interest. Mr. Wenwu, you really know how to bleed someone dry!" Tony stared at Wenwu through gritted teeth.
"You can pay it back early. As long as you finish paying within three months, I'll waive nine hundred million dollars, leaving you with only a hundred million in interest. Well? Isn't that a good deal?" Wenwu said with a smile.
Tony suddenly felt as though he was getting a bargain, and that ten billion didn't seem quite so much anymore.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he felt all strength leave his body and had an urge to give up trying.
"I'll sign!"
Tony threw caution to the wind, picked up a pen, and signed his name.
After signing, Tony left without looking back.
Not long after he left the city, the military arrived to pick him up.
"Hahaha! Tony's such a cash cow. Look how much wealth he's brought us! Ivan, learn from him."
Wenwu rose with a laugh and patted Ivan on the shoulder.
Ivan looked a little awkward, but couldn't help warning him, "My lord, aren't you afraid he'll retaliate? He's Stark, a man with extraordinary scientific talent!"
"Why should I be afraid? I'd love for him to come looking for trouble again. Then I can squeeze him for another sum."
Wenwu smiled unconcernedly, even looking forward a little to Tony's next attempt at revenge.
Then Wenwu pointed at the Mark IV armor on the ground and ordered, "Ivan, your task now is to master all the technology in this Mark Armor."
"Yes, my lord!"
Ivan immediately accepted the order. Although he had admitted he was no match for Stark, he had a physical sample. Wouldn't replicating it be easy?
Seeing that the US military had stopped firing missiles, Wenwu turned and returned to the headquarters base.
After returning to the base, Wenwu walked straight to his desk, pulled out his chair, and sat down.
He took a deep breath and channeled his Spiritual Power through the Ren and Du meridians into the depths of his brain.
In an instant, his thoughts seemed to ignite. Countless fragments of information collided and reorganized at lightning speed in his mind, and the world became streams of flowing data before his eyes.
His ten fingers became a blur on the keyboard. Countless pages cascaded across the screen, then quickly closed.
From low-level code to advanced architecture, from the basics to mastery, he learned and digested vast amounts of computer knowledge.
After just one hour, he stopped typing.
Wenwu leaned back, sinking deep into his chair, and let out a long breath.
He raised his hands and kneaded his throbbing temples, where waves of needlelike pain and pressure were building.
"This takes quite a toll..."
He muttered under his breath, a hint of resignation in his voice. "It's only been an hour, and more than half my Spiritual Power is already gone?"
Even so, the delight in his eyes was hard to conceal.
This was practically a heaven-defying cheat. That small price was well worth it.
He raised a hand to summon a guard and ordered him to bring Origin Substance to restore his Spiritual Power.
Once his Spiritual Power had recovered, he entered the overclocked state again and continued studying.
Meanwhile, after returning to Los Angeles, Tony turned away all the media surrounding him, citing poor health.
After a routine examination at the hospital, he found that Wenwu really hadn't lied. He really was cured, and healthier than ever!
Afterward, he went to the basement workshop of his Malibu mansion.
He threw himself onto the sofa without a word, his chest heaving.
He didn't know how much time had passed before he suddenly sprang up from the sofa.
He tore off his tie, strode over to the workbench, and spread out the blueprints for improving his armor.
He had to build a more powerful Iron Man Armor.
As he worked, images of Razor Fist's shield and blade kept flashing through his mind.
He stopped what he was doing and took a fist-sized block of metal from deep inside his safe.
It was a dull silver-gray all over and felt heavy in his hand, its density far exceeding that of ordinary steel.
This was the adamantium sample his father, Howard, had obtained from the military. Howard had planned to study and synthesize it himself, but had met with disaster before he could begin.
Now, in time, this metal would become the sharpest weapon in Tony's hands.
Early the next morning. Salia, the Ten Rings headquarters base.
After a night of overclocked study, Wenwu had reached an advanced level in computer science.
Intelligent algorithms, system kernels, hardware architecture, network attacks and defenses, reverse engineering and cracking... Knowledge that had once been obscure and difficult to understand now came naturally to him, and he understood how it all fit together.
He stood up, loosened his stiff neck, then went over to the sofa and slumped down.
A subordinate immediately stepped forward and handed him a cup of warm tea.
"At this rate, it won't be long before my computer skills reach Ivan's level."
Wenwu picked up the cup and took a small sip. The warm tea flowed down his throat, dispelling the fatigue of staying up all night.
He set down the cup, the corners of his mouth curving upward in a confident smile.
His overclocked brain might still fall short of true geniuses like Dr. Sterns or Tony Stark in pure scientific aptitude, but given enough time to fill the gap with vast amounts of knowledge, he would be no worse than anyone.
His once-unattainable dream of becoming a genius was now coming true in this way.
From now on, even without relying on Dr. Sterns and Ivan, he could support the entire Ten Rings on his own.
Just then, a rush of footsteps broke the silence.
Ching-Lin strode in, his face ashen, and dropped to one knee. He reported urgently:
"My lord, the United States has just announced that it considers our operation an invasion of Salia by terrorists. It has also declared that it will help the Salian government reclaim its territory and sovereignty."
He paused, his tone growing heavier. "Not only that, the five neighboring countries of Isil, Is, Kuwait, Basen, and Kama have also issued statements designating us a terrorist armed group and vowing to crack down on us."
"Heh..."
A soft chuckle escaped Wenwu's lips, yet it sent a chill through anyone who heard it.