Whiplash

Azeroth Universe?

Hearing Old Wang’s words, Fitz fell into thought.

Our laboratory was called "Azeroth Laboratory," the headquarters tower under construction was called "Azeroth Tower," the parent company already established was called "Azeroth Group," and now the virtual platform was called "Azeroth Universe."

So what exactly was Azeroth?

Could it be the boss’s ex-boyfriend, or the man of her dreams?

With that thought, Fitz subconsciously glanced at Skye.

A strange glimmer flowed through Skye’s eyes.

Wang had a habit of talking in his sleep.

More than once, he had murmured the name "Azeroth" in his dreams, his voice carrying an indescribably deep emotion, as if it belonged to a… close family member.

Sometimes other names slipped out too—Sylvanas, Chromie, Freyja, Li Li, Ysera, Elune. They all sounded like women’s names.

Fortunately, "Azeroth" sounded more like a man’s name. Otherwise, she definitely would have been suspicious.

Based on the information she had so far, Azeroth seemed to be some peculiar place.

Where exactly was it—in some corner of Earth, or somewhere in the universe?

Or was it merely an imaginary paradise that did not exist?

"Wearing only a helmet is definitely uncomfortable. Fitz, you need to free your mind and think bigger."

Old Wang simply could not read minds. Otherwise, he would definitely have given Fitz a proper lesson. What was with all that wild imagination all day?

The United States was so open, yet he still had not gotten intimate with Simmons. Kid, your thoughts were dangerous.

After thinking it over, he said,

"You can try developing VR motion-sensing chairs, the kind that can give SPA massages. Then VR beds, VR pods, even dedicated VR rooms, to meet the different needs of different customers."

"Different equipment can be sold at different prices. Of course, even the cheapest should cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Ordinary people won’t be able to afford them, so I think we can build virtual experience centers in major cities around the world. Memberships can let people rent beds, and booking rooms can come with discounts."

"Set up a membership system—diamond tiers, gold tiers, whatever. Or bronze, silver, gold, starlight, king. Or just lv1, lv2, lvmax. The more you recharge, the higher your level and the bigger your discount."

"3D and 4D are so popular. Ours can go straight to XD—someone will definitely pay for it… At first, we can offer it free and run a few events to attract attention. Also, don’t be afraid to spend money. We need lots of advertising, and it needs to be good."

"Skye, what do you think about starting an advertising company? The virtual world itself is the best advertising platform. We can make a fortune just renting out ad space. And animation studios, film studios—making movies, producing animation, game CG. We have the best virtual technology in the world. We can definitely do it best!"

"With Brain Mapping and Memory Upload technology, we won’t even need to hire actors. We can just imagine it in our heads, then make adjustments. It won’t just save costs—no matter how difficult the special effects are, we can pull them off!"

"We can also offer a memory movie service. Extract memories specified by customers and turn them into films. They can watch them whenever they want. It can also be used to treat forgetfulness, amnesia, and fake amnesia!"

"And there’s more…"

Old Wang’s imagination ran wild, one idea after another pouring out.

Skye’s eyes lit up. Wang really did have a head for business!

A virtual helmet did not look nearly high-end enough. Chairs were acceptable, but a bed or an immersive virtual pod would be even better. You could stay in the virtual world all day without any problem.

But that still was not enough.

They could have Simmons develop the hibernation pods from sci-fi movies, the kind with nutrient fluid. That way, for certain rich shut-ins, as long as they replaced the nutrient fluid regularly, they could stay in the virtual world forever without coming out.

The virtual world might be fake, and the real world might be the only place where you could fill your stomach, but with nutrient fluid, who still needed to eat? The virtual world could satisfy all your desires.

You could enjoy cuisines from all over the world, even foods that did not exist, like steamed Scottish round-faced fat chicken, deep-fried Middle-earth sexy spider legs, braised Nine-Headed Sage lion’s-head meatballs…

You could even try pleasures you had never dared imagine before.

Wang was right. Virtual technology would change the entire world!

Fitz muttered softly from the side, "Technically, there doesn’t seem to be much difference. Is there really a need for all this messy stuff? I still have so many projects to finish…"

No one paid him any attention.

Old Wang and Skye simply huddled together to draft a business plan. The keyboard clattered away, and they finished a twenty-thousand-word proposal in less than half a day.

"Okay, we’ll proceed according to this."

Old Wang rubbed his stomach, while Skye rubbed her chest. They looked at each other and smiled.

It was as if they could both see mountains of cash raining down from the sky, too much for either of them to count.

In high spirits, Old Wang personally cooked charcoal-grilled fish and yellow-braised chicken, paired with rice served in wooden buckets. The aroma was irresistible.

Before they had even finished eating, Skye, who loved scrolling through her phone, suddenly cried out.

"What is it?" Old Wang frowned.

Had Hydra’s remaining forces started causing trouble again? Or had Tony wiped out another terrorist base?

"Wang, see for yourself."

With a swipe of her little hand, Skye connected her phone to the dining room wall screen, and an explosive scene appeared.

It looked like a car race, though it had already been stopped. All the spectators had been evacuated, and a group of police officers had surrounded the venue.

One race car had been sliced cleanly in half, with obvious scorch marks on it.

Several police officers were tying up and dragging away a bare-chested Russian strongman. Two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were collecting the metal restraint cords and electroshock whips stripped from the strongman, packing them into cases.

The camera shifted to the side, revealing the flashy Iron Man.

A beautiful Persian cat-like female reporter tried to interview the person involved in the incident, but Iron Man was clearly in a bad mood and had no interest in showing off. His thrusters ignited, and he shot straight into the sky.

Pepper ‘Little Chili’ Potts walked over with a helpless expression and dealt with the reporters’ questions.

After watching the news, Old Wang rubbed his belly. As he used True Qi to aid digestion, he tapped his plate with his chopsticks. "Tsk, tsk. So he got attacked!"

"Wang, the search is complete. That Russian is Ivan Vanko, a wanted criminal."

Skye asked in confusion, "There’s a battery on his exoskeleton armor. It looks like it might be…"

"An old-model miniature Arc Reactor."

Old Wang leaned back in his chair. "His father used to be Howard Stark’s partner. The two invented the Arc Reactor together, but that guy had bad intentions and later became a wanted criminal. Ivan is also an extraordinary genius, only a tiny bit worse than Tony."

Being able to miniaturize the Arc Reactor was certainly no simple feat, but compared to Tony, he was indeed still somewhat lacking.

Tony was undeniably a protagonist-type figure, while Ivan was merely a villain—and not even the final boss.

The gap was rather obvious.

After eating and drinking their fill, Old Wang stretched lazily and pulled Skye away to rest.

Fitz and Simmons looked at each other and nodded.

They still had plenty of projects unfinished. They could not slack off like the boss!

Come on, back to work!

Hammer Industries, chairman’s office.

Justin Hammer had just returned from meeting Colonel Rhodes in person, and he was in a terrible mood.

Ever since Tony shut down Stark Industries’ weapons division, Hammer Industries had become the Department of Defense’s largest and most important partner, receiving over a billion dollars in research funding and orders worth tens of billions.

Yet the Hammer Steel Soldiers had still run into problems.

Although they had acquired the Mark 1 from the Ten Rings, and there were no issues with the external armor or overall system, the biggest problem remained unresolved:

Energy.

To power such a massive machine, they needed an energy module efficient enough to do the job. At present, the only one in the world that met the requirements was the Arc Reactor.

Now the Department of Defense was demanding that they hold an exhibition as soon as possible and deliver within half a year.

What could they do?

"Boss, look at the news!" A huge fat man weighing at least a hundred kilograms panted as he ran in and turned on the screen.

"The news? You barged in without knocking just to make me watch the news? You’ve followed me for three years—have you ever seen me watch the news? You’re fired!" Justin’s anger surged.

But the next moment, his gaze swept over the screen, and he froze.

"An Arc Reactor…"

"That thing isn’t the only one…"