Rich People Play Wild

An hour later.

Led by Pepper Potts, Lake rode Tony Stark’s private elevator directly to the top floor of Stark Industries Building.

Entering the room.

Brilliant projections immediately greeted their eyes. Photos and detailed information of six individuals appeared on the projections. These six people, with their varied appearances, were the experts Tony Stark had hired at a high salary to conduct autopsies at the time.

Dr. Dark, a top autopsy expert from NCIS.

Dr. Donplan Spellen, a top anthropology doctor from the Jefferson Society in Washington D.C.

From…

"Who is this?"

"Which one?"

Lake looked at a familiar figure in the projection and frowned, directly clicking on it.

Will Wick!

Male, thirty-five years old, graduated from MIT, majoring in neuroscience, research director at Bionai Industries.

This surname?

Lake looked at the surname and the photo, feeling a strange sensation. He recognized the person in the photo and the surname, but in his memory, this person didn’t seem to be called Will.

A fake identity?

Killers also had professions. At the very least, they needed a profession as a cover on the surface, because if they didn’t even have a profession, money laundering would be troublesome.

But…

A killer’s public cover identity is a neuroscience expert?

This move is quite flashy.

Is it real or fake?

Tony Stark looked over and saw Will Wick, whom Lake had pulled up. After looking, he directly turned to Lake and said, "Alright, do you know why I suspect Bucky Barnes is a clone?"

Lake snapped back to attention and looked at Tony Stark. "Isn’t it because of your intuition?"

Tony Stark said, "Because Stark Industries is also researching this area."

Lake: "…"

Tony Stark then had Jarvis pull up the project Will Wick was researching, as well as the information on Bionai Industries, the company he served and which Stark privately funded and controlled. "I acquired this company in ’97 and invested in it without reservation during that time. Will Wick was also hired by me at a high salary back then."

Lake frowned and looked at Tony. "You want to revive Howard Stark and Maria Stark too?"

Tony didn’t speak, but simply pulled on the projection with both hands, instantly pulling out an experimental video and clicking play.

In the picture.

It was a laboratory.

A humanoid robot sat in an electric chair, with a number on its shoulder, 344.

Not far away, next to the electric chair, a dissection table held a dead body.

Will Wick was speaking to the camera.

"This person is already dead."

"But we can already read his neural data."

"This is the 344th robot we’ve manufactured."

"What we want to do is…"

"Transplant this person’s biological brain into the robot’s brain!"

"…"

Immediately after.

The experiment began.

When the robot spoke, asking "Where am I?" and then saying "Where are my hands? My legs?", it directly self-destructed.

Experiment failed.

The video recording went black.

Lake exclaimed in amazement. As expected, rich people’s toys were wilder, more imaginative, and more out-of-the-box.

Hey, Old Mephisto, are you just watching from hell?

If you let these people mess around like this, your hell will be completely empty.

As always.

Lake could never understand why the Lord of Hell in hell could be so calm when there were Zerglings snatching his authority. If it were Lake, he would have already imposed a technological lock on humanity.

Also…

I knew it.

Given Tony Stark’s immense wealth and his status as a top-tier genius, how could he possibly not take any action regarding his parents’ deaths?

It’s likely that Howard Stark and Maria Stark’s brains were also preserved in some secret location, their neural information still existing through technological means.

Tony looked back at Lake, "You suspect Will Wick swapped Bucky Barnes’s brain?"

Lake snapped back to attention, looking at Tony strangely. "While I’m not your enemy, I’m also not your good friend. I can tell you very clearly, you’ve already broken federal law."

Tony’s expression was calm. "The bodies obtained by Bionai Industries were all donated and had legal procedures. Furthermore, this is a study and treatment surgery for brain-dead patients."

Lake let out a laugh. "Do you believe that?"

Tony said, "As long as the outside world believes it, that’s enough."

Lake fell silent.

Tony Stark was never a bleeding-heart liberal. In terms of positioning, Tony Stark leaned towards the hawkish side, developing and manufacturing weapons to arm the federal military, making them invincible on the battlefield.

Simply put.

Tony Stark’s heart might be warm, but his blood… is cold.

The blood of a top military contractor and capitalist.

Lake shook his head. "Although I don’t know what hell is up to, I’m very sure you won’t get what you want, at least not this way."

After speaking.

Lake directly changed the subject. "Yes, if this Will Wick was involved in researching Bucky Barnes’s brain, then there’s a high probability that he was the one who swapped it."

What Tony did was his business; Lake couldn’t be bothered to manage it.

After all…

As Secretary Kelly said, cloning, from the perspective of law enforcement, falls within the jurisdiction of the FBI or S.H.I.E.L.D.

Most importantly, if Tony Stark wasn’t a good person, then the lord of hell, Mephisto, was a bona fide demon. Without the strength to crush him, he’d definitely be played by him very badly.

Lake was certain of this. Going to confront Earth’s powerhouse, The Ancient One, directly, gambling his future, and making a huge bet with The Ancient One – either he’d die on the spot, or The Ancient One would directly manipulate the timeline to change it. Even that was better than dealing with Mephisto.

That’s what Lake did when he was ten.

But thinking about it now?

He was a bit reckless back then. The reason Lake dared to do that was because he firmly believed he was the destined protagonist. To put it bluntly, he agreed with one saying.

Cheat systems are only late, but they never absent.

Very good.

Lake won that bet. At sixteen, the cheat system ran towards him, bathed in the afterglow of the sunset, and plunged into Lake’s embrace.

Tony Stark nodded. "I will investigate this matter, but…"

"What?"

Tony Stark frowned and looked at Lake, asking curiously, "How are you so sure that brain was swapped?"

Lake chuckled.

He turned and walked towards the elevator, waving his hand. "You have technology, I have cheat systems. You rich people rely on technology; we poor people can only rely on cheat systems. Otherwise, how can we turn things around and become masters?"

After speaking.

Lake walked into the elevator.

Pepper Potts also followed him in, swiped her card for him, and sent him to the first floor.

In the elevator.

Lake looked at Pepper. "Perhaps you play with time, and time will play with you. That sentence is nonsense, but if you play with souls, souls won’t play with you. Hell will play with you. I believe this sentence is correct."

Pepper opened her mouth. "Tony just wants to do something. He’s always blamed himself for the deaths of Howard and Maria."

The day Howard Stark and Maria Stark died was on Christmas Eve. That day, Tony Stark’s last conversation with his family wasn’t calm or warm, but an argument.

Perhaps…

Pepper said, "Until you investigated and found the truth, Tony always felt that the car accident happened because of his argument with Howard on the phone. He’s always blamed himself."

Lake nodded noncommittally, not saying anything.

The elevator door opened.

Outside the Stark Industries Building.

"Lake."

"Hmm?"

Pepper walked up to Lake and was silent for a moment before looking at him. "Although Tony seems to have a bad temper, he’s very grateful to you. You helped him uncover the truth of the case."

Lake smiled, turned, and walked down the steps, saying without looking back, "It’s my duty."

He got into the car.

Started it.

And drove away.

"Duty calls my ass."

Lake thought back to that time. If he remembered correctly, he had no intention of digging up the truth about this matter. If it hadn’t been for a twist of fate and Hydra’s own self-destruction, would Lake have opened the lid on this case, known as the second most mysterious unsolved case on Earth in the Marvel Universe?

What?

The first most mysterious unsolved case?

Was it where Captain America, Steve Rogers, was?

Or…

Who stole Dr. Pym’s nanoparticles?

After watching Lake’s silver Porsche Cayenne drive away, Pepper turned and re-entered the building.

Top floor.

"He’s gone?"

"Yes."

Pepper walked over to Tony, frowning, and said with some confusion, "I remember you said that the matter of Bionai Industries was top secret, to be kept solely by Jarvis, and that even Mr. Stan didn’t know. Why this time…"

Tony said, "He’s mysterious?"

Pepper frowned, "Mysterious?"

Tony nodded, recalling that last year, Lake had been in New York, but his information had been circulating in Europe. He looked at Pepper, "Perhaps you’re right, I should make another friend besides Happy and James. Besides, he and I are allies in this matter. Helping him is like helping myself."

His spouse said nothing.

Jarvis spoke up, "Sir, Dr. Will Wick took sick leave half a month ago and is currently not at Bionai Industries."

Tony said, "Sick leave?"

Jarvis said, "Yes, however, while reviewing Dr. Will Wick’s information, I discovered some anomalies in Bionai Industries’ supplies."

Tony Stark: "…"