Victor had no intention of turning on his Super Hearing to eavesdrop on how Tony comforted Pepper—though it was tempting, he couldn't lose his bottom line again.
In the past few days, Victor had been reflecting on himself.
On the night Wanda was in danger, he lost control of his emotions and almost killed several people.
Perhaps they deserved to die, but it wasn't his place to judge them.
Recklessly using Super Abilities, disregarding human life, and trampling on the law would eventually lead to negative consequences—like the various villains in Marvel.
The inflation brought by this power is like some nouveau riche with weak self-control; even if they obtain a large sum of wealth by Opportunity, if they are not good at restraint, most of them will return to poverty within a period of time.
Victor somewhat understood why Batman always adhered to the no-kill principle; perhaps it was to warn himself.
But he wouldn't be as pedantic as Batman; when it was time to be ruthless, he would never be soft-hearted.
The control of this would be slowly adjusted in the future.
Victor was now pondering why Tony, who had already investigated him thoroughly, would still invite him over?
Generally speaking, this is easy to explain.
For example, after learning about Victor's cracked spine condition, he felt guilty and wanted to compensate him.
But if it's Tony Stark, then the thought pattern changes.
Even if Tony wanted to compensate him, he would do so with a gesture of charity, not invite him home for a talk, especially since they had only met twice, including the phone call.
So what could it be? Soon, Victor had a guess.
What bothered Tony now was probably his palladium poisoning problem, and how Pepper would be taken care of if he died.
The matter of entrusting his 'wife' before death, no matter what, wouldn't fall to a stranger like him.
It could only be the palladium poisoning problem.
So why would Tony think he had the ability to solve palladium poisoning... That's right, Norman.
Norman and Tony were both among the military's three major suppliers; even if they weren't close, there was basic attention, and Tony must have received intelligence about Norman's youthful appearance after curing his genetic hereditary disease.
Then, discovering Victor's existence was a natural progression.
After all, Victor never intended to hide his tracks.
It seems that our great Genius Tony has experimented with all known elements and, after determining that he couldn't solve this problem, is now preparing to seek some external help.
With no other choice, the mysterious Victor became Tony's hope.
Perhaps, in Tony's eyes, Victor's first call to Tony was not a coincidence at all, but rather choosing him as the "first target," only to turn to take down Norman after realizing he couldn't succeed.
In other words, Tony probably guessed that Victor had a way to cure him.
Logical clarity √
The next problem was the solution.
This is not difficult.
Open the Platform interface and search for the keyword "how to safely remove heart shrapnel."
A series of products popped up.
The skill "Element Control" can easily melt the shrapnel into iron elements, and then he can recover by eating less iron-rich food.
The technology "Nano Medical Swarm" injects into the blood to directly gnaw away the shrapnel, and after it's cleaned, it's extracted with a special receiver.
The Bloodline "Fantastic Four: Fire Element Control" only requires Incarnation into fire, and any shrapnel instantly evaporates... A dazzling array of products, from E-rank to SS-rank, there are simply too many methods.
Then look at Tony.
Tsk tsk.
Indeed.
Most good brains are no match for capitalists.
Just as he was wondering what product to choose, Tony returned to the hall with a scowl—this guy suffered a big loss, yet he was willing to come back himself, which showed that he was truly at his wit's end.
Otherwise, he would have instantly thrown a tantrum and told Victor to get lost.
Having seen through Tony's plea for help, Victor immediately sat firmly like a fisherman, quietly watching how Tony would perform.
That playful look immediately angered Tony.
He unhesitatingly threw out a bank card, pointed to the door, and said fiercely, "Take this 20 million bank card, and then get out!"
With that, Tony turned and left without looking back.
Manipulating the bank card with his telekinesis, not letting it land on his face, Victor scratched his head a bit awkwardly.
He overdid it!
He almost forgot.
Our dear Tony is a tsundere little princess with a temper; if you cross his bottom line, he won't consider the consequences too much.
Compromise?
Sorry, that's the Iron Man who will bear heavy responsibilities in the future.
The current Tony is still in the tender metamorphosis period of a Super Hero.
Realizing he had gone too far, Victor understood that they couldn't talk today, so he put the bank card back on the table, stood up, and prepared to leave.
But after thinking about it, Victor cleared his throat and said loudly, "Um, Pepper, are you still there? I have many ways to save Tony."
As his words fell, a commotion erupted from behind the living room.
It was roughly Pepper and Tony arguing, one wanting to come out, the other holding her back, angrily scolding Victor as a liar.
While the two were still arguing, Victor had already turned and left.
His words had no other meaning than to annoy Tony before he left.
Hmph hmph.
Even if you are Tony, how dare you throw money at me? My dad never did that, how dare you!
We're all second-generation rich, who doesn't have a bit of a temper?!
Walking out of the seaside villa with a flourish, the door behind him slammed shut with a bang, presumably at Tony's command to Jarvis.
As for Happy's dedicated car service, that was naturally gone too.
20 kilometers, walk back yourself!
Victor said that this behavior was even more childish than his own act of annoyance before leaving... but it did embarrass him.
"Alice, have Hardy send a driver to pick me up," Victor said.
"I already notified a minute ago, expected to arrive in 10 minutes," Alice replied.
Hmm, getting smarter and smarter.
Walking leisurely on the road, Victor was not in a hurry at all—anyway, where he basked in the sun to recharge was still basking.
After walking far enough to ensure he wouldn't be monitored by Jarvis's surveillance System, he spoke again.
"Is the monitoring program planted?"
"Of course, that was simple," Alice said confidently.
Victor nodded, indicating he understood.
Victor was somewhat surprised by this invitation to Tony's villa.
But the main reason he came was to enter Jarvis's monitoring System and install a dormant monitoring program within Jarvis's core.
If the trigger conditions were not met, this monitoring program would not activate at all, and naturally, Jarvis would not discover it.
This was a last resort.
Jarvis was not that artificial idiot Osborn; giving Alice time to infiltrate and modify permissions was not an issue, but infiltrating without being discovered was impossible.
As for the purpose of this monitoring program... it was to gain some favor with Tony at the right time.
After all, he is the future Iron Man; although he doesn't fear him and doesn't need to grovel, there's no need to offend him too much.
Otherwise, he might develop an "anti-superman armor" in minutes.
Hmm... does that even have anything to do with whether their relationship is good or not?
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PS: 100,000 words now~