PY Transaction

Justin was smugly making his way upstairs when the phone on him suddenly rang. He glanced at it, his expression changing, then smiled apologetically at Stryker. "Sorry, I need to take a private call."

Stryker understood. Pointing toward the conference room at the end of the corridor, he excused himself. "I’m going to the restroom. Mr. Hammer can sit in the reception room for a while."

After Stryker left, Justin entered the conference room before answering the call.

"Mr. Obadiah, what can I do for you?"

Obadiah’s furious roar immediately came from the other end.

"Justin Hammer! I gave you that thing, not so you could go looking for trouble with other people! What about the thing you promised me? When are you going to do it?"

"Oh, Mr. Obadiah, you’re still as cautious as ever!"

Justin leaned back on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other as he casually brushed him off.

"But you know, the design schematics for this Strong Magnetic Armor 2.0 may be quite complete, but they still need to be tested in actual combat. After all, there’s only one chance to launch an attack. Once it fails, there won’t be a second chance. That’s Tony Stark we’re talking about. You can never be too cautious, right?"

"Stop trying to fool me! Now that the armor has been used, there’s no way Tony won’t find out! There are only a few people who could have obtained the schematics from his room, and he’ll trace it back to me very soon. You must kill him before that happens! The sooner, the better!"

Obadiah’s tone grew harsher and harsher. He had clearly become anxious.

"Oh, dear! That makes things difficult! All the Magnetic Field Warriors I had were killed in the previous failed attack on Zhan Liu. I don’t have a suitable candidate at the moment!" Justin flicked some dust from his trouser leg with one finger and continued brushing him off.

"If that’s the problem, you don’t need to worry. I still have a few Magnetic Field Warriors. Send me one set of the finished product, and I’ll arrange for someone to handle it!"

"Oh, what a coincidence! All the Strong Magnetic Armors have already been sold, and we’ve used up all the Vibranium. We can’t produce new armor in the short term." Justin shifted his body, making himself more comfortable.

There was a brief silence on the other end before Obadiah’s furious voice came through again.

"Justin! Are you planning to renege on our deal? What? Do you think that now that the military is backing you, there’s nothing I can do about you? Or do you think that because you’ve become a Magnetic Field Warrior, no one can kill you? Do you think my things are so easy to take?"

Since they had already fallen out, Justin stopped pretending.

He sat up straight and sneered sarcastically at Obadiah on the other end of the phone.

"Old man, do you really take me for a fool? You can clearly produce this thing yourself. Why would you let me profit from it?"

"You had already decided from the start that you wanted me to take the blame for you!"

"Once I killed Tony Stark, you could stay out of it. You could even turn around and claim that you were avenging Tony Stark."

"By then, with Tony Stark no longer there to stop you, you could produce Strong Magnetic Armor in Stark Industries as you pleased, right?"

"And once you had the genuine armor, who would still buy my knockoffs?"

"In the end, I’d merely have been a knife in your hand, selling a hundred or so sets of armor and earning a little money, while you sat back and collected all of Stark Industries’ shares, becoming its true owner!"

"If I’m not mistaken, you must have already sent people to secretly buy my armor, right? All you needed was armor produced by Hammer Industries. As for the people who would carry out the attack, you had already prepared them, hadn’t you?"

"But what you probably didn’t expect was that I’d been guarding against this move of yours from the beginning. I didn’t recklessly sell armor just to make money. Every buyer had to have a clean background before I would sell to them! Every suit sold had a serial number, and I personally handled every sale."

"When the time comes, I’ll know immediately who killed Tony Stark as soon as I investigate."

"So you have no choice but to come back to me!"

"How about it? Was I wrong?"

Obadiah was silent for a while, then his voice became much calmer.

"Justin, I underestimated you."

"You see through things very clearly. No wonder you managed to build a military-industrial group of this size through knockoffs alone."

"But don’t forget, even if Tony finds out, so what? I merely lost the armor schematics by accident. He wouldn’t suspect that I deliberately sold them to a competitor, would he?"

"But now that you’ve produced the armor, there’s naturally no need for Stark Industries to keep hiding it!"

"If you refuse to do as I say, I can have Stark Industries produce this Strong Magnetic Armor at any time! Will the military still back you then?"

"What you’re worried about now is nothing more than me killing the donkey after it has done its work and using you as a scapegoat. I’m sure you recorded today’s conversation. Now that we’ve laid everything out, if you have any other conditions, just name them. We can discuss them."

"But if you dare to play me again, I won’t be so polite! Or do you think offending Tony Stark is more frightening than offending me?"

Obadiah’s voice was low and hoarse, making Justin break out in a cold sweat.

"Heh-heh." He gave two dry laughs, softening his tone as well.

"How could that be? Mr. Obadiah, I’ve always respected you greatly. I’m only trying to protect myself… But are you certain you can deal with the aftermath? That’s Tony Stark we’re talking about! The most talented man in the entire world!"

"Hmph!"

Obadiah snorted coldly and said, "A genius is valuable only while alive. A dead genius is nothing more than a pile of rotten meat! Only geniuses who can be used by others deserve to be remembered. Anton Vanko was no less talented than Howard Stark back then, but who still remembers him now?"

Justin secretly memorized the name Anton Vanko, then asked tentatively, "Mr. Obadiah, I plan to build a position in the stock market first and short Stark Industries’ shares. After that, I also plan to take the opportunity to acquire some shares. About that…"

"Shorting is up to you. After all, once Tony Stark dies, the stock market will inevitably fluctuate. If you don’t short it, someone else will. But you must control the size of your position. It can’t be too large. You’re a smart man, so I’m sure you know what to do. Also, the shares you acquire cannot exceed five percent, or all the shareholders will object. And you won’t have a seat on the board."

Obadiah rattled off a long list of conditions, but it was precisely because of that that Justin became certain Obadiah truly would not silence him afterward.

"Rest assured, I know my limits. Leave Tony Stark to me. You only need to wait for the good news… Chairman Obadiah!"

Thanks to the reader Preparer for Transmigration for the reward!