Tony’s Return

For an entire week, crimes had erupted everywhere in Hell’s Kitchen and across Manhattan:

Theft, robbery, abuse, rape, murder.

Incidents large and small sprang up without end, occupying most of the front pages of every major newspaper:

Two shallow earthquakes had struck Hell’s Kitchen in succession. The government was conducting secret experiments!

Ghost Rider was another Hulk. Who had created this monster? Who had given them that authority?

Everything was a lie. What exactly were the government and military hiding?

Who should be responsible for our safety? Where had our tax money gone?

According to incomplete statistics, more than 300 serious incidents had occurred in Manhattan last night, including over 100 criminal cases. At the press conference, Director George poured out his grievances.

The renowned theologian Miss Blanice believed this was God’s punishment upon humanity, and that Judgment Day was not far away!

Naturally, those incidents had no shortage of merciful or violent vigilantes. One title after another gradually spread:

Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Black Sky, Stick, Flying Woman, Power Man, Punisher…

Another vigilante who had appeared before, the "Immortal Iron Fist," gradually faded from people’s memories with the passage of time.

Only a very small number of people knew that all those vigilantes combined could not compare to a single Immortal Iron Fist.

Time was the most terrifying force in the world. As it continued to pass, Beast’s residual power gradually dissipated, and criminal activity became increasingly rare. But Hell’s Kitchen, which had already fallen into complete chaos, could never return to the past—the past that had been only slightly better than the present.

Gangs of every size were wiped out or absorbed, then placed under one man’s name:

Wilson Fisk.

With the fall of The Hand and the emergence of many vigilantes, this bald, muscular man who would one day be known as Kingpin had completely vanished from public view. However, he still could not escape Skye’s tracking.

More than two months had passed since they went to Los Angeles to seize the Heart of Azeroth. While studying knowledge related to the Darkhold, Skye’s hacking skills had improved even further. She had even breached much of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s network security system, lifting the mysterious hem of its skirt before this top hacker and revealing a glimpse of pale skin.

Egghead had warned Old Wang for the Nth time, but of course, it was definitely useless.

Besides, Skye was still S.H.I.E.L.D.’s special consultant…

In the end, at Old Wang’s suggestion, Skye was allowed to help Egghead infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. from the network level, using this method to search for traces left behind by Hydra—though permission was never really necessary.

Kingpin was nothing. Ghost Rider and Daredevil were enough to handle him.

Hydra was the greatest hidden threat.

Old Wang had no interest in Hydra itself, but he was interested in certain people within Hydra. Of course, what concerned him most were the crucial assets and intelligence held by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra:

The Sky Carrier, Project Insight, the Cosmic Cube, the Obelisk, the Winter Soldier, and…

Tony Stark.

Kunar Province, Afghanistan, in a remote mountain region.

A terrorist organization base.

Inside a deep, shadowy cave was a sealed chamber with an iron door tightly shut.

Tony Stark wore a small vest stained with oil and grease, standing tall as he leaned against a wooden board. Dr. Yinsen was attaching components to his body one by one, tightening screws.

These parts, dismantled and cut from missiles and other weapons, had become ugly but precise and highly practical under Tony’s ingenious design and Dr. Yinsen’s steady hands, so accustomed to holding a scalpel.

Now that they were assembled together, they resembled a miniature Gundam—a crudely made lump of iron!

The high-strength missile casing gave the armor powerful resistance to impact, while the miniature Arc Reactor provided it with fifteen minutes of energy. Though it lacked an anti-aircraft machine gun or a generator capable of producing hundreds of thousands of volts, the small flamethrower on its left arm and the single-shot miniature cannon on its right arm were not weak either.

Tony-brand hand-built Gundam—you deserve one.

Footsteps and shouted questions sounded outside the door. Dr. Yinsen could not help becoming nervous.

Boom!

With a deafening explosion, the homemade bomb piled behind the door detonated. The two iron doors were blasted away, and two terrorists were instantly killed.

Tony calculated the time and said in a low voice, "Dr. Yinsen, there’s no time. Start the power system!"

"Alright, tell me what to do!" Dr. Yinsen turned toward the computer.

"Press F11. Do you see the progress bar? Ctrl+I, then Enter! Alright, come over and help me finish this!"

Tony’s voice was urgent. "Tighten the remaining hex screws! There’s no time to tighten them all the way. Close enough is fine."

Tap tap tap!

Footsteps sounded in the distance, drawing closer and closer.

"There’s no time!"

Dr. Yinsen turned around, his expression complicated. "Tony, you can survive. You definitely can. I’ll buy you some time."

"Don’t do anything reckless. I have faith in my design." Tony sensed that something was wrong.

What is this guy trying to do?

Dr. Yinsen gave him a deep look, then turned, picked up a submachine gun, and ran outside.

"Dr. Yinsen!" Tony shouted.

Watching Dr. Yinsen’s retreating back, then looking at the slowly rising progress bar.

He had never been this nervous before. Cold sweat covered his forehead.

Dr. Yinsen, please don’t let anything happen to you!

We were supposed to escape together. You still have to find your wife and children—they’re waiting for you!

I don’t want to help you look after your wife and kids. I have no experience!

Twelve hours later.

"What? Colonel Rhodey at the United States Air Force base in Afghanistan found Tony Stark? He’s seriously injured, but alive?"

Looking at the intelligence Skye had stolen, Old Wang smiled in relief. "Put the information online… Get ready to sell the stocks!"

Stock trading was an extremely dangerous business. More people lost money than made it.

Old Wang did not understand it, but Skye understood some of it. As long as she knew when a stock would rise and when it would fall, she would naturally make steady profits without losses.

There was no need to doubt a top hacker’s skills. With the help of Rising Tide, news that Tony Stark was alive quickly spread across the world as though it had grown wings, flooding every major social media site and chat app.

Anyone with even a little understanding of Stark Industries or the military knew exactly what Tony Stark meant to Stark Industries.

He was a genius, a true genius.

At only twenty-one years old, after the sudden death of founder Howard Stark, he had turned over a new leaf and single-handedly held up Stark Industries. In less than twenty years, he had increased Stark Industries’ market value by far more than tenfold, making it the irreplaceable number-one supplier for the United States government, military, and relevant agencies.

Without Tony, Stark Industries would still have been one of the world’s leading arms companies, but it absolutely would not have held its current position.

So after news of Tony’s disappearance spread, Stark Industries’ stock price plummeted by nearly thirty percent in less than two weeks.

Now, after news that Tony was still alive spread, along with photographic proof, people once again had confidence in Stark Industries. They also saw just how much the United States military valued Tony.

Thus, overnight, Stark Industries’ stock price surged.

Over the following days, the momentum continued to build. Though it had not yet returned to its previous peak, it was already not far off.

Hammer Industries’ stock, which had risen because of Stark Industries’ crash, instead suffered a modest decline.

At that moment, Skye sold all her Stark Industries shares and shifted her investment into other arms companies.

Early the next morning, a plane landed at a military airport in New York. After more than two months, the no-longer-young man at the helm had finally returned to New York. A few hours later, he returned to Stark Industries headquarters and held a press conference.

He announced on the spot that the weapons division would be shut down and that Stark Industries would no longer research or manufacture weapons.

The moment those words were spoken, the venue erupted.

The entire world erupted.

Stark Industries’ stock price crashed once more, falling even harder than before as capital fled in droves.

Stark Industries’ market value dropped to its lowest point in ten years, falling from over 300 billion to below 200 billion. There were even signs that several other arms companies might overtake it.

The stock prices of every other arms company, including Hammer Industries, rose to varying degrees.

Everyone wanted to know:

What exactly was the chairman of Stark Industries, a company built on weapons, trying to do?

Thanks to "Constantly Searching for Books" for the 500 reward, and "Strong Liquor Burns the Lips" for the 1,000 reward!