The next day, the headlines of almost every newspaper featured two men flashing peace signs.
One was a handsome young Asian man, and the other was the playboy Tony Stark.
The headlines generally fell into two categories: Tony Stark becomes Iron Man, teams up with young Asian warrior to defeat the evil Iron Monger, and things along those lines.
Or: Tony Stark and Asian youth, two newly emerged superheroes, come out together.
Their peace signs were also described as matching couple gestures, a public display of affection in front of the media.
Compared to the first kind, the second was clearly more popular with the gossip-loving public.
And by Western standards, Qin Xiao really did look a little delicate.
He could hardly be called effeminate, but with his good skin and fair, refined features, he would definitely have a bunch of powerful perverts fighting over him if he were thrown into prison.
Even Pepper Potts, seeing the two side-by-side photos of them flashing peace signs in the newspaper, teased that Tony and Qin Xiao looked quite good together.
"Those damn media outlets. I should burn their TV stations to the ground. Saying I came out is one thing, but they actually made me out to be a bottom! I'm fucking straight as steel. My dick is harder than my blade, okay?"
Qin Xiao angrily pointed at a talk show host on the television who was animatedly recounting a lingering, tender tale of romantic ambiguity between Tony Stark and Qin Xiao.
"Where's your legal team? Lend them to me. I'm suing them for defamation. This is blatant defamation."
Qin Xiao slapped the sofa's armrest with a series of bangs.
Tony rolled his eyes at him and kept typing rapidly on his computer with both hands.
Obadiah was dead, and there were plenty of internal company matters to deal with.
Although he had already hired a professional team, with the huge weapons division gone, Tony had to come up with some decent products.
He had recently been designing a renewable energy source adapted from the principles of the Arc Reactor, and had even made the rare move of shifting his workplace from his mansion's garage to his office at the company.
After all, he still needed to personally soothe some disgruntled longtime shareholders. The Stark name was a prestigious brand in itself.
Tony did not care much about what people outside said, especially the rumors about him and Qin Xiao, though he was not particularly pleased that some media outlets were misrepresenting his sexual orientation.
But compared to the enjoyment of watching Qin Xiao's anger, Tony thought it was worth the price of admission.
Seeing that Tony was ignoring him entirely, Qin Xiao turned to Coulson, who had just entered the office.
"Didn't you say you'd wipe my ass for me? Haven't you seen? These reports are seriously insulting my ass."
"This is a country with freedom of speech. You should know we've already done our best to get you off the hook for Obadiah's death. Your actions in that video hardly counted as self-defense."
Coulson was referring to the secretly filmed video of Qin Xiao. Iron Monger had clearly lost the ability to resist, but Qin Xiao had still stabbed him to death without the slightest hesitation.
Strictly speaking, that counted as excessive self-defense.
"Then what are you here for? Don't tell me you're notifying me to report for work?"
Qin Xiao knew Coulson would never show up without a reason. He had originally been thinking of activating his return over the past few days, but his house still needed a few more days.
He still wanted to wait until the house was finished and copy the intelligent program Tony had custom-made for it before leaving.
"The boss wants to see you two. I'm here to arrange a time!"
Nick Fury wanted to meet the two of them, mainly because of the Avengers Initiative, of course.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s analysis of the abilities Qin Xiao had demonstrated indicated that he far surpassed a so-called super soldier.
As for Tony Stark's armor, there was naturally no need to say more. It was nothing short of a weapon ahead of its time.
Especially since everyone knew about Tony Stark's genius mind.
Strictly speaking, this was only a first-generation product. Who knew how powerful it could become in the future?
After all, JARVIS, his rudimentary artificial intelligence, was no secret.
A Miniature Arc Reactor, Iron Man Armor, and an artificial intelligence to command them.
Combined with Tony Stark's staggering wealth, he alone would be a terrifying armored force.
After arranging a meeting for two days later, Coulson hurried away.
As for Qin Xiao, after some indirect probing, he learned that his house would take about another week to finish.
He nodded in satisfaction and was just about to turn and leave when something apparently occurred to Tony.
He suddenly looked up and said.
"Oh, right, there's a party tomorrow night. You know, I became Iron Man, and some friends keep saying we should celebrate together. There are always some bored rich people, aren't there? More importantly, there'll be plenty of beautiful models. So, want to come?"
With loads of beautiful women there, only an idiot would pass. Black Widow was always nowhere to be seen, so he could not even find her to pester her.
When Qin Xiao first arrived in this world, he had planned to pick up a curvy Western babe. Unfortunately, he had been caught up in Iron Man's storyline ever since.
He had not had much of a chance. Now that there was finally a party, like hell he would miss it!
The party was held on the rooftop of a hotel.
There were plenty of rooftop party venues like this throughout Los Angeles.
Almost every respectable hotel had turned its rooftop into a party venue.
After all, this was Los Angeles. Hollywood alone had so many wealthy celebrities and even film moguls that parties were an indispensable part of everyday life.
Tony had attended and hosted more parties like this in his lifetime than he could count.
But for Qin Xiao, this was his first time, like a country bumpkin entering a grand estate.
Pulsing music, a DJ furiously scratching records, professional bartenders, an infinity pool.
Most importantly, women of every skin color, with full breasts and long legs, filled the rooftop and could be seen everywhere.
Qin Xiao even spotted a few sexy second- and third-tier actresses who often appeared on the big screen.
"Now this is a fucking party. This is living! Tony, you should've brought me somewhere like this ages ago, you know? Ages ago!"
The two of them were undoubtedly the center of attention when they appeared.
The hottest newsmakers right now were neither politicians nor big stars, but Tony Stark and Qin Xiao, the Chinese man who seemed so mysterious to the outside world.
Hearing Qin Xiao's excited voice beside him, Tony smiled slightly.
He shoved Qin Xiao straight into the crowd.
"Ladies, whoever tames this little wild bull tonight gets a brand-new sports car from me personally!"
Tony's words immediately sent a wave of excitement through everyone around them.
Quite a few of the women there were new actresses trying to make their way in Hollywood. Even setting aside Tony Stark's reward.
Just getting a romantic rumor going with this young Asian man would generate plenty of news and buzz.
Not to mention his status as one of the two newest superheroes since Captain America, alongside Tony Stark.
As for the rumors about him and Tony Stark, nobody cared whether they were true.
Something came up today, so the update was late. Here's the first chapter for now. There'll be two more tonight!