Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6070 - 5086: Fate of the Fighter (32)

Ordinary people are just like this. Everyone says Reed drilling a hole into the Antimatter Universe is courting death and he should go to jail. But if you say this experiment could create a teleportation portal from home to the office, completely eliminating the over-an-hour daily commute, and even allowing ultra-long-distance teleportation, earning in Europe and America and spending in Asia, then ordinary people would immediately uplift Reed, saying that his merits outweigh the demerits, and the minor flaws don’t overshadow the major achievements.

This move by Brainiac actually resolves the greatest conflict between mad scientists and ordinary people. If mad scientists only cause trouble without doing any good, ordinary people would absolutely hate these dangerous elements. But if they can indeed come up with significant achievements beneficial to ordinary people, then a few experimental mishaps don’t really matter.

It’s said that you only know pain when the knife cuts you, correspondingly, you know sweetness when the sugar enters your mouth. If experimental results harm your safety, then they should be criticized, but if they improve your life, then they definitely deserve praise.

Previously, the Extremis Virus did nothing but create Ponzi schemes and terrifying robots, which is why Iron Man was so unpopular. But now, with the Extremis Virus creating super plants that bolster the Rebirth Alliance’s defensive strength, substituting for the agents’ sacrifices, his reputation will naturally improve.

"I won’t even ask how those tulips got out," Nick said. "Having the Stark Building at the Rebirth Alliance Headquarters is still somewhat unsafe, if there aren’t any problems, you should move it quickly."

"That won’t do." Iron Man flatly refused, "The Assassin’s Union would definitely come after me. If I move out, they will take advantage of the vacancy."

"Then plant more flowers!" Nick emphasized, "Hurry and pack up, I’ll call Superman over right now."

Iron Man still wanted to say something, but Nick wasn’t in the mood to entertain him. He could only complain to Brainiac inside the mecha: "He’s always so unreasonable, throwing me outside the headquarters, not realizing how many criminals are after me. Can’t he let me stay a few more days?"

"If you want to stay, you naturally need to show some sincerity," Brainiac appeared a bit helpless, "Wanting to give nothing will get you nothing, I don’t understand why you just won’t cooperate."

"How am I not cooperating?" Iron Man seemed puzzled, "I’ve moved my home to the headquarters, if I didn’t want to cooperate with the Rebirth Alliance, why would I stick around?"

"Don’t you know what the Rebirth Alliance and I want?"

Iron Man became alert: "You’re after the Extremis Virus again. There’s no way I would give you that."

"I ask you, what can you do with the Extremis Virus in hand?" Brainiac issued a soul-searching question, "Do you want to package it as a product for sale, only to be banned by countries, or sneakily sell it in small quantities on the black market to earn some scraps?"

"It doesn’t necessarily have to be sold directly," Iron Man said. "Once people experience the effects of the Extremis Virus, they won’t refuse."

"So you still want to deal drugs?"

"This isn’t drug dealing. This thing has no addiction potential, and even if you stop using it, there won’t be withdrawal symptoms, nor will it harm the body."

"Do you think you can persuade the world’s governments to legalize this?" Brainiac continued asking.

"Someday they will," Iron Man said. "They will realize this is such a great invention, it can completely change humanity, make people immune to disease and frailty, become truly perfect beings, what reason would they have to disagree?"

"You’re always looking into the future," Brainiac pointed out acutely, "You first envision a perfect result, where everyone accepts the Extremis Virus, and you control all humanity with it. You think you are striving towards a bright future, not accepting any outcome other than this."

"But the fact is, if things go on like this, that bright future will never arrive, it is nothing but your fantasy. Those minor achievements that you disdain and discard are the correct path to success."

"You are too arrogant, Tony Stark. Be it Greed, Nick, or the path I planned for you, you disdain them all. Greed wanted you to use the Extremis Virus for agriculture and animal husbandry, becoming the father of world grain, but you think plant and animal growth takes too long."

"Nick believes you could give the Extremis Virus to the Rebirth Alliance to further strengthen superheroes or create weapons like Sentinel Robots to safeguard Earth’s security, but you worry the Rebirth Alliance would become too strong, threatening you and limiting your freedom, so you refuse."

"I think you could give the Extremis Virus to me, and I promise not to use it in your universe but take it back to my own universe to build with it. I could reciprocate with my own technology and wisdom, enhancing your combat power, or boosting the Stark Group’s efficiency, but you find me untrustworthy, so you won’t cooperate with me."

"You only think about relying on yourself, hoping everyone will unconditionally give way to you and let the Extremis Virus sell globally. Let me tell you plainly, it’s impossible. If things continue like this, this technology will never see the light of day, and you’ll be left with your achievements to die in prison."

"Enough." Iron Man clenched his fist, "Get out of my mecha! You evil artificial intelligence!"

Brainiac fell silent, as if he had truly left. But this silence did not give Iron Man peace of mind; on the contrary, it left him more uncertain than ever before.

Meanwhile, Shiller, flipping through the Bible at the hotel, heard a beep from his phone, followed by Brainiac’s voice: "Haha, he really said that word."

"What?" Shiller asked without looking up.

"The word people often say after listening to you talk. It’s the first time I’ve heard it, Professor. Am I not one of your proud students?"

"Being my proud student isn’t beneficial," Shiller sighed, put down the Bible, and then asked, "What did you say to him?"

Brainiac briefly repeated, then said, "You’re right. Lies don’t hurt, it’s the truth that’s the sharp knife. To deal with this kind of person, analyzing someone’s personality strenuously won’t help, only the facts will break their defense."

"While words can sometimes be more powerful than fists, if you can strike with both words and fists at the same time, it will be more effective," Shiller seemed to be hinting at something.

"You’re suggesting I should find a way to punch him in another area then?" Brainiac asked, "But where should I start? Pepper?"

"You don’t have to worry about that," Shiller glanced at his phone and said, "Someone else will handle it. Can you help me scan this Bible and summarize its main content? I’m really impatient to read it... "

"I’ve divorced Happy." Pepper placed an agreement on the office desk, "It’s time to fulfill your promise, Iron Man, don’t let me look down on you."

Iron Man picked up the agreement and took a look. He should’ve made a sarcastic remark at Pepper, but he was feeling anxious and wasn’t in the mood. He directly took a vial of Extremis Virus from the desk drawer, saying, "Give this to him, it’ll work in just two hours."

Pepper didn’t say much either, took the vial and left. Iron Man kept pacing in the office, appearing anxious and nervous, but he didn’t even know what he was nervous about.

After a while, Iron Man felt a bit puzzled. Since Nick said Superman was going to move the Stark Building, and it was supposed to be right away, how come Superman hasn’t shown up yet?

Of course, he wanted to stall for time, but this situation was beyond his expectations, making him more anxious, so he directly called Nick to ask, "Weren’t we supposed to move? How come no one’s come yet?"

"Things have changed," Nick said, "Lady Aisley wants to conduct experiments in your chemical laboratory, considering her safety, we can’t move Stark Building at the moment."

"What?!" Iron Man was furious, implying my safety doesn’t matter, you move whenever you say so, but considering her safety, you don’t?

"Lady Aisley has provided the Rebirth Alliance with optimized seed technology and shown us her gigantic crops. We believe these have strong potential, and we plan to collaborate on agriculture with her. She is a key protection target for the Rebirth Alliance, there can’t be any mishaps, we’ll have agents protecting her round-the-clock, please don’t cause trouble."

Iron Man glared, not knowing what to say. Pamela was using his laboratory, and he was told not to make trouble, is there any justice left?

But soon he found something even more unjust. Iron Man stormed towards the laboratory, only to be stopped by the agent guarding the door.

"Sorry, you can’t go inside," the agent said, "There are important figures being protected by the Rebirth Alliance inside, any contact needs to be reported."

Iron Man’s eyes almost popped out: "This is my laboratory!!!"

"But this is the Rebirth Alliance Headquarters," the agent replied, "Everything must follow headquarters’ rules, no unauthorized contact with important personnel. If you insist on going in, I can file a report for you."

Iron Man couldn’t help but laugh angrily: "I don’t want to see him, I just want to go in and do experiments!"

"Then you’ll need to provide proof of poor eyesight," the agent stated dismissively, "We assume people with normal eyesight can see each other in the same laboratory, you can’t go in."

Iron Man punched the wall in anger. Just as he took a step forward, the agent swiftly drew his gun: "Consider this a warning!"

Iron Man quickly backed up two steps, raising his hand saying, "Put down your tank cannon!"

Iron Man wasn’t afraid of the agent, but of that Diana’s blessing in his hand. He had seen the videos Pepper previewed, this thing could peel up half a city block with a single shot. If the agent fired here, the Stark Building’s fate would be no different than the Twin Towers.

"What exactly do you want?" the agent asked, "Unrelated personnel shouldn’t linger here for long, leave if it’s nothing."

"I said I want to go in and do experiments!" Iron Man was speechless, "He really didn’t intend to go find Pamela, I just want to mess with the Extremis Virus a bit. When I feel anxious and insecure, I tend to immerse myself in research to divert my attention."

"Can’t you go to another laboratory?" the agent asked.

"I only have this one well-equipped chemical laboratory," Iron Man replied helplessly, "The others are just those mechanical engineering labs. I don’t need to constantly tinker with mechas. Even if you don’t let me stay inside, at least let me take my stuff out?"

"What do you want? I can get it for you, but you can’t go inside," the agent remained firm.

"Fine," Iron Man conceded, "In Laboratory Zone B’s freezer, there’s a box, it’s blue and has a white label on it, help me take it out, be careful not to spill it."

The agent nodded and went inside to fetch the item for him.