"You'd better give me a reasonable explanation, or every last bit of testosterone in my body is going to come after you!"
Su Zhou's face fell at once, and he had already rolled up his sleeves.
Tony ignored Su Zhou's threat and sniffed hard.
Then he nodded with absolute certainty and pointed at the little plastic bag Su Zhou had taken out.
"You can question the expertise of big Tony's brain. That's your right.
But little Tony's expertise is beyond question. What's in that plastic bag?
Who would've thought? An upstanding-looking guy like you, Su Zhou, actually carrying around women's intimate apparel?"
Su Zhou: (๑ŐдŐ)b
Tony really was a man cursed with knowledge. Even in the realm of playboys,
he had reached heights ordinary people could barely dream of, identifying women's clothing by scent alone.
Even the average police dog didn't have a nose that good!
"The bag contains part of a female alien's combat suit. The material is pretty special.
I've already tested it. It's bulletproof, stab-resistant, and resistant to both high and low temperatures.
You could even use it as a spacesuit, so I brought it over for you to look at.
Maybe you can figure something out. If you can reproduce it, it'd make a pretty good lining for your armor."
Su Zhou tossed the plastic bag straight to Tony, then went back to slurping his frozen juice.
When it came to research, he was utterly clueless. Besides, this was a pair of stockings.
Honestly, it didn't really fit his persona!
Tony caught the plastic bag and opened it. Sure enough, there was a pair of thick black stockings inside.
He secretly gave little Tony a mental thumbs-up, then stuffed the plastic bag into his pants pocket.
He didn't know where Su Zhou had gotten these stockings, but Su Zhou probably had no reason to lie to him.
He could study them at his leisure later. Right now, he still had a whole pile of things to do!
Watching Su Zhou slurp juice on the couch, Tony switched on the room's holographic projector.
At his command, a whole array of Stark Expo projections appeared.
"Two things. The Stark Expo opening ceremony is tonight, and I'm planning to make a spectacular entrance in the Iron Man Armor.
What about you? Want to join me? Batman was seriously cool last night!
If you show up, we'll be the hottest superhero duo around!
Second, my research schedule is already packed.
So I've decided to hand over my job as CEO of Stark Industries. Do you think Pepper Potts can handle it?"
"First, I'm not interested, and Batman probably isn't either.
Second, I'm not part of Stark Industries. What does your company's choice of CEO have to do with me?"
Su Zhou set his juice on the coffee table in front of him, not quite understanding what Tony meant by that last question.
He could own up to being Batman, but Pepper Potts becoming CEO...
Did that mean Tony had discovered he had palladium poisoning? Had they reached the plot of Iron Man 2?
[Super Vision] activated, and Su Zhou could directly see the iron fragments around Tony's heart,
as well as the somewhat scorched and damaged palladium plate in the reactor in his chest?!
Su Zhou had to admit he couldn't save him. He hadn't drawn any medical skills.
With [Super Vision], he already surpassed ninety-nine percent of the surgeons on Earth,
but he didn't know how to save people, only how to cut them down!
So if Tony wanted to remove the things inside his chest, he'd be better off taking a good look at Skrull technology.
The medical pod Su Zhou had soaked in before was pretty good. Maybe it could heal Tony's injuries!
"I know what Batman means. Even if everyone in the world knows Batman's real identity,
no one will ever say it out loud, so he needs to avoid appearing in public!"
Tony also took a bottle of dark green liquid out of the refrigerator and started drinking it. It looked poisonous!
One glance told Su Zhou it wasn't juice. It was probably highly concentrated chlorophyll,
used to suppress the palladium poisoning in his body. But that stuff really tasted awful!
"Second, you're already a Stark Industries shareholder. Those business plans you told me about back then,
I thought they had real potential. The latest phone is being unveiled at the Expo tonight.
So I decided to give you three percent of the company's shares. The annual dividends alone will be enough to make you rich!"
"Are you trying to bribe me?"
Su Zhou's expression turned cold, and he began straightening his suit, looking ready to throw hands.
Tony plopped down beside Su Zhou and put an arm around his shoulders.
Faced with Su Zhou's rather hostile gaze, Tony very sensibly offered his explanation.
"First, that proposal of yours was worth that much. In fact, I'm still getting the better end of the deal.
Second, you're not a government employee right now. I checked your social security records.
You're currently unemployed, so giving you shares doesn't count as bribery!"
Tony had known exactly how Su Zhou would react, so he explained his actions in perfectly clear terms.
He also had JARVIS display Su Zhou's health insurance information, showing that he really had done his homework.
"So now you are, at the very least, a Stark Industries shareholder. You're even the largest shareholder after me!
Your vote matters quite a bit when it comes to appointing the CEO!"
Su Zhou: (๑•̌.•̑๑)ˀ̣ˀ̣
So a publicly listed company as big as Stark Industries only had two shareholders?!
"So the two of us make up the entire board?"
"Pepper Potts is on it too, actually. She also has one percent of the shares. I hold all the rest.
Once tonight's Expo is over, I'm sure the stock price will skyrocket.
Then we can sell the shares we're holding to bring in a big chunk of cash, and announce Pepper Potts as the new CEO afterward.
The stock price will fall again, and we can buy them back. Then, once the new phone hits the market and the stock goes up, we sell again!
Do that once or twice, and we'll all have a bright future!"
Tony truly lived up to being the bona fide heir to Stark Industries. He knew exactly how to play the capital game.
In Su Zhou's words, a capitalist who made money the way Tony did would deserve it even if he were left hanging from a lamppost until he rotted!
Still, Su Zhou could tell that Tony wasn't in very high spirits. There was an uneasy sense that he was rushing to get something done.
"Tony, are you hiding something from me?"