You Can’t Afford to Hire Me

"What would Spider-Man be like if he knew kung fu?"

Old Wang was looking forward to it.

He had no intention of changing Little Spider’s life trajectory. After all, he had not become Spider-Man yet.

But since they had crossed paths, there was no need to deliberately avoid him.

During his time in World of Warcraft, Old Wang had gotten along well with the Bronze Dragon Chromie. They often discussed matters concerning time and space, though most of the time, Old Wang had been the diligent student listening to Chromie’s lectures.

Timelines were very strange things. They possessed the ability to repair themselves.

Simply put, everything that happened in the past was a known condition, a series of constants. Plug those constants into the equation of time, and all possible solutions for the future would emerge.

There were infinitely many answers, which was why Doctor of Kidney Deficiency had been able to see fourteen million possible futures. No one knew which one would come to pass.

Little Spider’s future was also infinite, but everything in his past meant that, in a large portion of those futures, he would become Spider-Man. Even with Old Wang as a special variable, that might not change.

Spider-Man’s abilities were powerful, and powerful in a well-rounded way. His strength, speed, reflexes, intelligence, and even his hard-to-explain spider-sense were all enhanced versions of Captain America’s—

He was faster than Captain America, stronger, quicker to react, and smarter. His senses in every regard even surpassed Daredevil’s, and he could foresee danger.

His only flaw was that he was too young.

Not mature enough.

Too inexperienced.

He possessed formidable power without the combat skills to match it.

If he learned kung fu, then even if he could not cultivate True Qi, his overall strength would still rise considerably.

A guy like that would definitely give his enemies a headache, wouldn’t he?

Old Wang was looking forward to it.

Three days passed in a flash, and Simmons had prepared one hundred doses of Resurrection Serum.

At Egghead’s insistence, Old Wang opened a portal and arrived at Triskelion Headquarters.

Triskelion Headquarters after the disaster looked much the same as it had three days ago.

Although peacekeeping forces had been dispatched from above and governments around the world had begun taking action, S.H.I.E.L.D. had not been idle. Egghead had still ordered them to go all out and seize resources.

Egghead had his own calculations.

Once the various governments made their move, whether the assets belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra, there was no way they would spit them back out.

Since Master Wang had promised one hundred doses of serum, Egghead was confident he could preserve S.H.I.E.L.D. How could he let others snatch away what belonged to him?

Triskelion Headquarters could be rebuilt anytime; there was no rush. The most important thing now was securing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s assets. Everything else could wait.

With only a small number of personnel remaining, Triskelion Headquarters was practically deserted.

Last time, he had been in too much of a hurry to investigate S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secrets.

Now that he finally had time, Old Wang spread out his mental power, taking in everything within the headquarters at a glance.

Deep beneath the entire Triskelion Headquarters was an enormous factory. More than a hundred Quinjets were parked inside, all unfinished new models.

Each one cost several hundred million dollars. More than a hundred of them meant tens of billions.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s annual funding was limited, so Old Wang had no idea where Egghead had gotten the money. With so much backroom dealing, how did he even handle it?

These Quinjets were actually nothing much.

The three behemoths not far away were the truly frightening ones.

Three second-generation Sky Carriers.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s first Sky Carrier was not here. It was being built at another secret base and was nearly complete.

Since it was the first one, it had all sorts of problems.

The second-generation Sky Carriers solved those problems and incorporated several newly developed technologies.

The most advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carriers cost more than five billion dollars to build. Naturally, Sky Carriers were beyond comparison with ordinary carriers, and their construction costs were several times higher. Even a wealthy organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. could not build too many of them.

There was only one first-generation model.

There were only three second-generation models, and they were currently just empty shells, still a long way from completion.

These three were the primary weapons of Project Insight.

Of course, with Hydra’s downfall, their functions would definitely change. Even the blueprints would need to be altered. That would take time, so construction had already halted.

Old Wang’s arrival quickly alerted the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Since he was on someone else’s turf, Old Wang felt he should show some respect. So instead of opening a portal directly into Egghead’s office, he arrived at the main plaza, then followed an agent into an elevator to the top floor.

The moment he entered, Old Wang saw someone unexpected.

"Tony."

Old Wang greeted him with a smile. "I am Iron Man… That’s pretty cool!"

Egghead snorted.

It was one thing for this playboy to show off, but how much trouble had he caused him?

Things were frustrating enough already. Now everyone thought Iron Man was connected to S.H.I.E.L.D., and whenever they could not get Tony, they came looking for him. Was One-Eyed Hero supposed to be easier to mess with than Iron Man?

"Master Wang, do you need me to hold a press conference for you? All you have to do is say, ‘I am the Immortal Iron Fist,’ and you’ll cause an even bigger sensation than I did." Tony smiled faintly.

He was in an excellent mood.

At the press conference, he had not only announced his identity as Iron Man, but also taken the opportunity to unveil Stark Industries’ clean energy plan.

After learning just how immense the Arc Reactor’s energy output was, anyone with a brain was full of confidence in Stark Industries’ future. Its stock price had shot upward and was now approaching its peak.

Although money no longer meant much to him, having more was definitely a good thing, especially now.

Because Mark 7 incorporated costly Vibranium, its production cost had exceeded two hundred million dollars. Mark 8, which J.A.R.V.I.S. was designing, would only be more expensive. He could not do without money.

He owed all of this to Master Wang.

If Master Wang had not guided him to his father’s legacy and helped him create a new element, none of this would have been possible. He did not even know how much longer his own life would have lasted.

Though he appeared unconcerned on the surface, Tony was deeply loyal at heart. He had remembered Master Wang’s kindness.

"Forget it. I prefer to keep a low profile."

Old Wang smiled and asked, "I heard you nearly died at the villa in City of Freedom?"

Tony nodded, still shaken.

Not only had he nearly died, but he had almost gotten Pepper ‘Little Chili’ Potts killed as well.

That made him anxious.

He had too many enemies. If they could not deal with him, they might go after Pepper ‘Little Chili’ Potts. What was he supposed to do?

And when he went out, he could not carry the Iron Man armor with him at all times. A portable suitcase armor was certainly possible, but portability meant sacrificing performance: thinner armor, reduced weapons systems, and far weaker overall capabilities.

Even its flight range would be a problem.

"Here’s a suggestion for you."

Old Wang said, "Doesn’t Stark Industries have satellites? Put weapons on one and deploy it directly in space, so you can call them down quickly when necessary. Make plenty of spare parts and upgrade the automatic deployment system. As long as the armor is damaged, replacement parts can be launched from the satellite at any time."

Tony’s eyes lit up.

What a great idea!

Egghead’s mouth twitched.

Launching a satellite just to serve your armor—wasn’t that a little too extravagant?

Even I wouldn’t dare do something like that. Having money really does mean you can do whatever you want!

"Gentlemen, I didn’t invite you here to chat."

He cleared his throat to draw their attention, his eyes blazing. "I want to hire you as consultants for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative."

"You can’t afford me." Tony refused without hesitation.