Wang, We’re Out of Money

Early the next morning.

The sky was clear and the sun shone brightly.

"Skye, about how much do we have in assets now?"

As a qualified hands-off boss, Old Wang had no real concept of money. He had entrusted all his assets to Skye’s management, trusting her completely and never asking questions—

Mainly because he had no way to ask.

Fighting was his specialty. Leading troops into battle was merely a hobby. As for business and investment, he was not even an amateur. He was the type who "wouldn’t know how to spend money even if you gave it to him." He knew absolutely nothing about finance.

There had been income and expenses lately, and both were substantial. He truly had no idea how much money they currently had on hand.

Skye hummed, climbed out of bed, and hugged her laptop as she said:

"Selling Essence Wine and the antique artworks we got from Alexandra brought in a total of 432,452,472 dollars. Some of it still hasn’t been sold yet; it’s hard to find buyers for those things."

"Through the memories of the Five Fingers, we gradually obtained 1,503,391,284 dollars and 24 cents in liquid funds from The Hand, along with 1,034 properties and shares in over three hundred listed companies. Together, they’re worth more than 5 billion dollars. There’s more to come, but definitely not much. Most of it has already been divided among the Five Fingers’ subordinates."

"Most of Hydra’s assets were taken by S.H.I.E.L.D. We only got a small portion of Whitehall and Pierce’s secret assets, including anonymous bank accounts, cashier’s checks, stocks and bonds, real estate, arms, and a destroyer, with a total value of roughly 2.5 billion dollars."

"Also…"

Skye had made a mind map listing every source of income and expenditure in detail.

At present, excluding the Immortal Dragon’s Dragon Bone, the vast mineral resources, plants, and animals exchanged from Azeroth, Old Wang’s total assets were nearly 10 billion dollars. Naturally, a considerable portion of that was somewhat illusory, such as stocks.

Still, Old Wang was now one of the wealthiest people in the world, at least within the top three hundred. He could barely be considered a fraction of the newly crowned richest man in the world, Tony Stark.

Old Wang was quite satisfied. Smiling, he asked, "What about expenses?"

Skye opened an Excel spreadsheet and said:

"Following your instructions, we sold off most of the real estate, stocks, and bonds, then invested everything into Stark Industries. We now hold 1.24% of Stark Industries’ shares, worth over 3.5 billion dollars… Stark Industries’ market value is even higher than before Tony was kidnapped—380 billion."

"We’ve invested a total of 500 million into Azeroth Laboratory, including construction, laboratory equipment and materials, salaries, and necessary public relations expenses."

"The total investment in Azeroth Tower exceeds 2 billion. So far, we’ve used 300 million. That’s enough to build the tower itself, but the real expense is the R&D department. Any one of the devices Fitz and Simmons listed costs tens of millions… They even want a high-energy particle collider!!! We can’t afford it. Also, recruitment has been ongoing, so we need to keep sufficient liquid capital on the books."

"Building virtual experience centers in major international cities will require an estimated 50 million dollars each. Twenty of them will cost 1 billion. These things cost many times more than the best internet cafés. Every one of them needs a supercomputer and a world-class server room, and the helmets aren’t cheap either…"

Skye spoke for a full half hour before taking a sip of Essence Wine and looking at Old Wang with a serious expression. "Wang, we’re out of money!"

There really was not much cash left. Old Wang had always believed that money spent was money well spent.

"Let me see."

One glance at the densely packed thousand-plus entries made his eyes blur.

The assets of The Hand and Hydra covered every conceivable field and were far too chaotic and miscellaneous. The stocks they could not sell for the time being alone covered dozens of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, electronics, consumer goods, aerospace, and military manufacturing.

They were inconvenient to manage.

Old Wang liked simplicity, and they really were short on money now. So he said, "Find a way to sell all this miscellaneous junk. Put all the money into Azeroth Social Network Company and build the virtual experience centers."

The Laboratory and the tower were both massive projects that would drain money over the long term.

The Laboratory could still make some money, but Azeroth Tower would take at least two or three years to complete. Until then, it would only spend money without earning any. They had to find ways to bring in cash now; they could not simply live off their reserves.

"Mm."

Skye pulled up the spreadsheet and did some calculations. "We’ll retain quality stocks like Stark Industries, Rand Corporation, and Roxxon Corporation, then liquidate everything else…"

Old Wang waved his hand. "Keep Stark Industries. Sell everything else. What kind of quality stock can’t double within a year?"

Skye froze.

Wang, aren’t your standards a little too high? Stark Industries only doubled because it had fallen so much before. Otherwise, its stock price couldn’t possibly have doubled in a year. Do you really think buying ten stocks that double after spending a hundred thousand will let you achieve your little goal?

She grumbled inwardly but nodded on the surface. "In that case, if we also sell the real estate and such, we can probably raise another billion dollars. That should be enough for now."

Only enough for now.

Fitz and Simmons still had a huge pile of pending requests, such as a high-energy particle collider, an MRI machine, and a lithography machine. Every single one made her feel as though her heart were bleeding.

Wang, Wang, you just say things like, ‘Fitz, Simmons, if you need money, go find Skye.’ You really don’t understand how expensive diamonds are until you manage the household. At this rate, we’re going bankrupt, you know…

If those weapons and warships weren’t too hot to handle and difficult to sell, and if you hadn’t said not to sell them yet because they might be useful, I’d really want to sell them all. Isn’t it enough that there’s you and me when it comes to fighting?

"Don’t worry. We’ll have money soon enough."

Seeing Skye’s unhappy expression, Old Wang hurriedly massaged her firm breasts to comfort her. "Think about the hard days we used to have. Look how wonderful life is now. Don’t be in such a bad mood…"

He quickly explained the upcoming plan, particularly mentioning those two suckers, Tony and Egghead. Only then did a smile appear on Skye’s face.

After soothing Skye, Old Wang stroked his chin. "Find out where Ivan Vanko is being held."

Skye was startled. "Do you want to kill him and eliminate future trouble?"

"What future trouble could he possibly be? Even if he is future trouble, he’s Tony’s, not mine."

Old Wang shrugged and spread his hands. "Relax, I’m not interested in him. I’m only interested in what’s in his head."

What was in his head?

Skye understood and nodded. "I’ll do it."

Although Ivan Vanko was not as good as Tony Stark, he was still an extraordinary genius. There were definitely fewer than a hundred top scientists like him in the entire world. One Ivan was worth a hundred Justin Hammers.

She immediately hacked into the Monaco Police Department and quickly found the exact location. Then she gave a soft cry of surprise. "Wang, there was a bombing at this prison three hours ago."

A bombing?

Three hours ago?

Old Wang was taken aback. "Justin looks pretty refined. Why is he so impatient?"

Monaco was thousands of kilometers from New York. If it had been three hours, Ivan should still be on the plane. The timing was perfect.

"Go on with your work. I’ll make a trip to Hammer Industries."

Old Wang opened the door and vanished.