Hearing

"I am Iron Man!"

After Tony agreed to become a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant, perhaps in an effort to keep things low-key, Nick Fury arranged a press conference for him, intending to have him clarify that those incidents had not been his doing.

They had even given him a script to read from.

Yet this arrogant fellow clearly had no intention of letting others pull his strings. At the press conference, he openly revealed his identity without the slightest hesitation.

Pepper Potts and Phil Coulson, standing below, could only cover their faces.

Phil Coulson even sighed and said to Potts,

"This is probably going to cause some trouble."

"What trouble?"

Potts had only been dissatisfied with Tony’s showboating, but hearing that there might be trouble still gave her a fright.

She did not know exactly how much influence Phil Coulson and the others wielded, but the fact that they could so easily arrest Stark Industries’ second-in-command gave her some idea.

Tony had joined their S.H.I.E.L.D. as well, even as a consultant. Could they not handle this?

"How should I put it? The capabilities displayed by that suit have already caught the military’s attention, and they had long suspected him. If he refused, he would only need to deny it publicly. Even if the whole world knew Tony was Iron Man, it would be fine. We could help smooth it over…"

Phil Coulson pondered for a moment before speaking, then his expression grew somewhat grave.

"But now that he has admitted it outright, if the military wants to follow procedure, even we would find it difficult to stop them. After all, we belong to two different systems. Still, it probably won’t be a major problem. Just a little troublesome…"

Just a few days after Phil Coulson mentioned trouble, Tony Stark received a subpoena for a hearing after a banquet, ordering him to appear on time.

Naturally, Tony dismissed it with disdain. He could guess what those military types wanted with his toes, but no one could make him hand over the Iron Man suit’s technology against his will. No one!

"Hey, are you in trouble?"

Xu Yue’s voice came from beside him as he took the subpoena from Tony’s hand.

"It’s nothing serious, my dear friend. So, are you interested in an Iron Man suit? Just bring me pizza regularly from now on."

Tony turned around, snatched the subpoena back from Xu Yue, casually crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into his pocket.

"It’s a subpoena. I’ll go with you tomorrow, just in case they pull something. Without the Iron Man suit, you’re still a little too weak."

Xu Yue spoke casually, and Tony inexplicably felt a touch of emotion. This guy really did care about him. But his words carried obvious dissatisfaction as he said,

"What do you mean I’m weak? We’ll spar sometime, and then you’ll see how good I am. Have you seen those achievements in the papers? People only know Iron Man now. They don’t know Delivery Man."

"Meet at nine tomorrow. Don’t be late."

Xu Yue completely ignored Tony’s last remarks and walked away.

Originally, he had planned to leave for Brazil to find Dr. Banner as soon as Jarvis’s core program was completed and in his hands.

But the appearance of a certain piece of information made him decide to wait a while longer.

Ding~ Triggered Mission: Hearing Debate. Assist Tony Stark in winning the hearing. Reward for mission success: B-Rank Plot Point ×1.

If it had only been a B-Rank Plot Point, Xu Yue would not have cared much. But since the Reincarnation Space had issued a triggered mission and even specified the reward, then according to the Space’s usual mission patterns, Reincarnators should be involved in this matter.

That was at least a bit troublesome. If they succeeded in making Tony lose the hearing, the humiliated Tony definitely would not hand over the Iron Man suit’s technology. That could lead to outright hostility or even confrontation.

The plot had already been altered considerably by him. If that happened, it might completely derail. Better to correct it and get the plot back on track…

At the hearing venue, although proceedings had not yet begun, quite a few people had already arrived: reporters, members of the public, and officials connected to the hearing.

Most of the Beiyang Society’s overseas students were seated among the audience. Only Li Hui, the frail scholar-like man who had first gotten to know Sun Lin, was nowhere to be seen.

"He has already successfully persuaded Justin Hammer. He’ll definitely get a chance to perform later. Li Hui is not only eloquent, but he also has Tony’s information that we collected using the Reincarnation Space’s foreknowledge. This round is already in the bag!"

Chen Hang looked somewhat excited as he sat in his seat.

Once the hearing was decided in their favor, they would be able to obtain at least some technological information from Stark Industries. That would further improve Hammer Industries’ Ironclad Warrior production line and make it even more valuable!

"That’s right. With Brother Chen Hang here, what do we have to fear?"

"What’s going on outside? It’s so noisy."

"Reporters. Tony has probably arrived."

The Beiyang Society’s overseas students quietly talked among themselves, mostly flattering Chen Hang.

After all, he was an Elite Reincarnator, fundamentally different from everyone else present. He was also the Leader of this operation.

How the final rewards would be distributed was entirely up to him.

But as the commotion from the reporters behind them grew louder, everyone turned toward the entrance.

Sure enough, Tony’s flashy figure entered while constantly waving at everyone.

It was as though he had come to give a speech rather than attend a hearing.

However…

The other figure following directly behind Tony made every member of the Beiyang Society widen their eyes.

"Uh, that guy looks familiar. Am I seeing things?"

"He does look familiar. The one following Tony…"

"Hey, hey, isn’t that the guy from the previous batch of exchange students?"

"His name is Xu Yue!"

"The one Sun Lin was worried about?"

"Holy shit! He actually got close to Tony?"

"So many people are watching Tony. He actually managed to get in with him without being quietly dealt with?"

"Oh, right. S.H.I.E.L.D. took care of that ‘Three-Man Group’ that was slaughtering everyone. He must have slipped through the gap while he had the chance."

"Even taking advantage of an opening would require the right secret intelligence. That guy actually kept information to himself!"

"No wonder he never contacted us. No wonder he never came to join the main group!"

"What a selfish bastard!"

"…"

Once Xu Yue’s identity was confirmed, the entire little group instantly exploded.

They had gone to great lengths just to enter Hammer Industries and latch onto a powerful backer.

And choosing Hammer Industries had been a reluctant decision. They were outsiders, after all. They could not compete for the dazzling Tony, so they had no choice but to find another path.

Yet what had happened?

A traitor among them had gotten close to Tony and was even being kept at his side!

"He really is selfish! So what if he successfully got close to Tony?"

"Yeah. If he drags out the Beiyang Society’s name later, we might get implicated too!"

"He’s the scum of the overseas students. We still can’t return home—he’s going to get us all killed!"

After they came to their senses, their words began to turn into blame and even curses.

They had reasons to complain, but there was also the jealousy of seeing someone else get what they could not.

Especially Chen Hang.

He had racked his brains to uncover this ultimate piece of intelligence, only for that guy, who had not even become a Veteran Reincarnator, to effortlessly crush him beneath his feet. It was simply humiliating!

"Don’t worry, everyone. He only took advantage of an opening. The other Elite Reincarnators watching Tony won’t let him off. Compared with merely showing our faces, the practical benefits we have obtained are far more real."

Chen Hang finally spoke to suppress the curses. Then he glanced at Sun Lin, who was carefree and beaming with delight, and the anger in his eyes deepened further…