Where’s the Promised Funding?

Triskelion Headquarters, Security Council office.

Watching the live feed from Air Force One Zero, they saw Hydra soldiers being eliminated one after another. Baron Strucker and Dr. List, who had tried to escape through a secret passage beneath the castle, had also dropped to their knees and surrendered at Air Force One Zero’s gunpoint.

The men, women, old people, and children used for experiments were all huddled in the corner, too afraid to move. Air Force One Zero stood guard over them as they waited for the local government to send someone to take custody.

Old Wang shrugged and spread his hands. "Gentlemen, Director Fury, the broadcast is over."

Silence filled the room. Everyone was stunned.

Directly or indirectly, they had all seen Iron Man in action. He truly was formidable. His attack power, defense, and speed all surpassed Captain America’s. From that perspective, Tony had been right:

The Iron Man armor really was more reliable than a super soldier.

Of course, the Iron Man armor had its shortcomings as well:

Its firepower was insufficient.

The Iron Man armor was not large to begin with. Aside from Mark 1 and Mark 2, most of the suits weighed less than a hundred kilograms. The lightest, Mark 5, weighed less than twenty kilograms and could be carried around as a suitcase.

Naturally, armor like that could not have a particularly powerful weapons system.

Iron Soldiers were taller and bulkier than Iron Man armor, and they had no cockpit. Weapons could be mounted anywhere on their bodies, and they could carry several times more ammunition than Iron Man armor.

Other than being somewhat less agile and adaptable, their defense, attack power, and endurance far surpassed Iron Man armor.

The Iron Man armor was primarily meant for protection—protecting its wearer and giving an ordinary person durability no less than Captain America’s. It was especially suited for playboys like Tony, who could not even catch a pig with his bare hands.

In a sense, it truly was a high-tech prosthetic limb.

But what war needed more were offensive Iron Soldiers.

Director Wang was right.

These Iron Soldiers really could protect the Sky Carrier, even Triskelion Headquarters.

The only problem was that they were too expensive…

No matter how rich S.H.I.E.L.D. was, it could not compare with the Department of Defense.

The Department of Defense had an annual budget of over seventy billion dollars. An order worth a mere one billion was clearly nothing to them.

Money was like cleavage—if you squeezed hard enough, there would always be some—

But first, you needed something to squeeze.

Although S.H.I.E.L.D. had the support of the United Nations, it was ultimately only a subordinate organization of the United Nations’ Security Council. How could it compare with the Department of Defense?

No matter how uneven an airfield was, it could never turn into rolling mountain ranges, much less when the Department of Defense was no ordinary mountain range.

It was the towering twin peaks of the Himalayas and Mount Hyjal.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s capital was too small. No matter how hard it squeezed, it could not squeeze out one billion dollars.

How about…

Buying two units for emergencies first?

The Sky Carrier had not even been completed yet, so there was no rush.

Triskelion Headquarters and the other bases did not actually need Iron Soldiers for protection either. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s greatest enemy had been Hydra, and Hydra had already fallen.

Thanks to Director Wang’s help, even Baron Strucker, the toughest nut to crack, was finished. What was left to worry about?

They could not squeeze out one billion, but ten billion dollars was still manageable if they tried.

So…

"Ten Azeroth Unit 1s. Eight for the Air Force, two for the Navy."

Egghead thought for a moment, then solemnly instructed, "One Air Force unit and one Navy unit must be delivered within a month. The other eight will be pre-ordered and delivered a year later… We’ll pay a ten percent deposit first."

The first-generation Sky Carrier would officially enter service in a year. They could buy more then; for now, they would save wherever they could.

In modern warfare, whoever controlled the skies held the initiative.

The first-generation Sky Carrier was capable of operations on land, sea, and air. Many terrorist organizations now hid at sea, and there were also so many pirates. The Navy would have plenty of use for them.

As for the Army?

Sorry, but once the Air Force and Navy came ashore, they were not much different from the Army.

Even if Air Force and Navy equipment was not particularly suitable for land combat, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Science and Technology Division was not in the business of selling tea eggs. Modifications and add-ons were entirely possible, though given Director Wang’s personality, he would most likely void the warranty the moment you modified anything…

Old Wang smiled. "Deal."

For an order worth a mere one billion dollars, Egghead was even stingier than expected.

It did not matter. Once war broke out, they would definitely need to buy more—at least ten times as many.

In truth, the reason he had wasted Arc Reactors and ammunition worth tens of millions, helping S.H.I.E.L.D. wipe out Baron Strucker for free, was not for such a tiny order from S.H.I.E.L.D.

The real prize was not here.

It was the entire world.

People feared not scarcity, but inequality.

The most terrifying thing in the world was not having nothing, but seeing others have what you did not.

The livestreams from the exhibition and the council meeting had driven people mad. The powerful combat capabilities of the Azeroth Iron Soldiers would soon reach the ears of national leaders across the world.

Such a good product, and at a relatively affordable price. The United States had bought it—should we buy it too?

Or, to put it more bluntly, what if they used those things against our country?

One hundred million dollars per unit sounded expensive, but it was actually very cheap.

How much did it cost to train a qualified soldier? How much did compensation cost when one died in battle? And during high-risk missions, how many soldiers could a single Iron Soldier replace? The battle just now had fully demonstrated the last point.

Ten Iron Soldiers were equivalent to a thousand fully armed American troops.

The United States’ most advanced conventional fighter jet currently cost two hundred million dollars apiece, yet its maximum speed was only twice the speed of sound. Although it carried more weapons and ammunition than an Iron Soldier, its flexibility and speed were far inferior—

A fighter jet could not even lock onto an Iron Soldier.

Even if it did lock on, conventional weapons were slower than Iron Man armor. They could not even catch up, so how were they supposed to hit it?

In a head-on clash between an Iron Soldier and a fighter jet, the former only needed a single missile to destroy the latter without taking any damage.

Fighter jets had many other shortcomings as well.

For example, because of their size and weight, they consumed too much energy and lacked endurance.

For example, they were large targets and easy for enemies to hit.

And because they were so large, they could not enter certain special environments at all, such as forests, ravines, or the interiors of buildings. Iron Soldiers could.

Anyone could do that math.

Whether they should buy them or not, everyone knew the answer in their hearts.

Old Wang was not doing this for money.

He truly was doing it for the safety of people across the world.

With Azeroth Iron Soldiers, terrorist organizations and criminals would not exactly face doomsday, but the cost and consequences of committing crimes would become many times greater than before.

Compared to the losses caused by those terrorist organizations and criminals, the price of Iron Soldiers was practically negligible. Besides—

Human lives were priceless.

Even if they really fell into the hands of terrorists, Skye could forcibly take control through the backdoor program and ensure they would never be used by bad people. Aside from Tony, probably no one on Earth could crack an Iron Soldier’s firewall and infiltrate its operating system.

How perfect!

What Old Wang was doing now was actually what Tony had always wanted to do later:

The Iron Legion.

Though there were all kinds of hidden dangers, they could not stop eating for fear of choking. Old Wang would certainly not repeat Tony’s mistakes. As long as he was careful, there would be no problem.

People had long grown accustomed to sacrificing freedom for safety.

Staying alive was more important. That was the choice of most people.

That was public opinion.

So Hydra really is in my bones… Old Wang closed his eyes and reflected for two seconds, then opened them.

"Gentlemen, for the safety of people’s lives and property across the world, the Shengun Bureau intends to order one hundred Iron Soldiers from Azeroth Industries. So… when will the United Nations release the funding?"