Page 47
Pepper, who was sitting on the side, cleared her cough and glared at the two men, stopping the armed fight that escalated from a quarrel.
She put on a kind smile, stood up, took Alice's hand, and led her to sit down.
"Hello, I'm Pepper Potts, you can call me Pepper and he's Tony Stark. It's our first meeting, I'm so embarrassed."
"I should be embarrassed. I'm Alice Black. I heard Lai Mu mention you."
Alice was graceful and polite at this time, like a Japanese Yamato Nadeshiko, with just the right manners and smile.
Just like the way he looked in front of Lai Mu before was all fake.
"I am Laimu's (head maid)..."
"She's my girlfriend."
Lai Mu stood up and sat next to Alice.
Alice just fluttered her big eyes and smiled, "I'm his head maid, please excuse me."
Stark opened the big bag of snacks, took out a piece of bruschetta and threw it to Lai Mu, then took one and opened it to eat.
“These are freshly made and won’t stay for long.”
There were tomato slices, shrimp meat, etc. on the bread, and it was still warm.
The words "Old John" were printed on the packaging, which made Lei Mu feel familiar, as if it was recommended by Obadiah.
He thought about it, put it on the table and didn't touch it for the time being.
Pepper took Alice aside to chat with her about family matters, asking about random things, such as how they knew each other, Alice's parents, school, family situation... She was also very worried.
Stark took two bites of bread and seemed to remember something. He took out a stack of bills from his pocket and spread them out on the table. There were six or seven of them, which looked like some kind of invitation.
He swallowed the bread hard, "We came here today for another reason besides looking at your shabby house... villa."
"There's a... um..." in May.
He took a breath, picked up an invitation, read it, and finished the sentence at once, "Formula One World Championship Monaco Grand Prix."
"…The location is in Monaco. You can bring your girlfriend along to have some fun."
While having fun with Pepper on the Magellan Crystal cruise ship, Stark met some old friends who invited him to go to Monaco in May and gave him some blank invitations.
Many wealthy people attend every time this world-famous F1 event is held.
They will provide financial and technical support to their favorite players to help them achieve higher results. Private circles will also place bets, and whoever supports a higher ranking will get more money from the prize pool.
This is a form of leisure and entertainment, and also a way for them to socialize.
There you can meet rich and powerful people from all over the world, all kinds of people, good and bad. Therefore, many people who want to get ahead in the industry try their best to get in, because if they can get in touch with a big guy, their life will take off.
Lai Mu took out an invitation and took a look at it. The workmanship was quite exquisite, with watermarks, hollowing out, and embossing. The pattern in the center was a lifelike red Formula One racing car. It looked like a special invitation made for a small circle.
In May...Monaco...
He seemed to have thought of something. According to the original time trajectory, a madman would attack Tony Stark on the Monaco track, and that madman also mastered the technology of miniaturizing the reactor.
Thinking of this, a cold murderous intent began to spread in his mind... This kind of guy who is too dangerous and will even attack the crowd indiscriminately must be controlled.
And if he still has a powerful weapon like the reactor in his hands... it is not enough to just control it, he must
--die!
Lai Mu himself is not afraid of these dangers, but the people around him are all ordinary humans. They will be killed if they are touched, and they cannot withstand any storms.
However, it was not difficult to get rid of him. He still had to have fun. He had never watched a race in person before... He was not very interested in racing. What could be as exciting as racing in a steel suit? He mainly enjoyed the atmosphere of the scene.
He nudged Alice, who was chatting with Pepper next to him, "Are you going?"
Alice shook her head. "In May, I still have to go to school, so I probably won't be able to go."
In fact, school matters were easy to handle, and Lai Mu could handle them with just one phone call. But looking at Alice's expression, knowing that she was not very interested in these things, he did not say more.
Besides, I might have to kill someone on this trip, and it would not be good if Alice saw me.
Lai Mu nodded to Stark, "Okay, then I'll go with you guys alone."
"Let's go there and have some fun..."
"Okay, if you have nothing else, please go back."
Lai Mu raised his hand and made a gesture of invitation to Stark.
"It's getting late. I'm sleepy and need to go to bed."
The deeper meaning is, leave quickly, stop eating, and leave me more snacks.
Stark nodded with a half-smile, looked at Lai Mu, and folded his arms, "I should have left, but... I saw some very interesting news this morning. I wonder if you saw it?"
"Ah this is...interesting? I might not have seen that."
Of course this kind of thing must be denied.
"Of course it's interesting. Do you want to know what they say about me?"
Stark changed his voice to a sarcastic one, imitating the tone of a third-rate host.
"They said this in the news... Although this does not seem to fit the powerful image of a superhero, it is actually a reflection of Iron Man's gentle heart. He not only has great love for humanity, but also has universal love for all living things."
"Oh my goodness! How dare they assume what's going on inside my head?"
Lai Mu grinned, tilted his head cutely, "Isn't this great? I think it's great."
“I think it’s great, too.”
Pepper agreed. "From the perspective of public publicity, this is good for shaping your image. People will like you more and like a flesh-and-blood Iron Man."
Iron Man looked at Pepper, looked around, lowered his head and sighed.
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Thanks to @永劫·千界一乘@魔电狼王@天基·源@常书客@吾是宇宙之意 for the monthly tickets
Thanks to @瀟� @钟·尘世闲游·离 @吾是宇宙之意 @告别某帝骑 @代理80 for feeding the blades
Chapter 60. Undercurrent
Dang——dang——dang——
The rhythmic sound of hammering iron echoed in the empty room.
The man was swinging the hammer vigorously in front of the iron felt. The red fire was roasting his naked upper body, and strands of sweat were flowing down the hideous tattoos on his body.
The bottom shell of a small Ark reactor gradually took shape under the hammer.
Blacksmithing is the process of forging steel into a certain shape and then quenching it to shape it and increase its hardness.
It is a dangerous and arduous job. The high temperature and sparks can burn people at any time. The surging sweat will take away the moisture of the body, and the force of hammer after hammer will take away the body's energy. If you are not a strong man who has been immersed in this for many years, you will collapse in the chair and be unable to move after two hours.
It is more of a technical job. Without professional knowledge and techniques, the iron that is forged is just a piece of iron. The shaping of the shape and the control of temperature, hardness and toughness require the blacksmith to have a lot of experience and precise vision.
So, why would anyone do such a hard and difficult-to-learn job?
Some are forced to do so to make a living, some do so because of their passion, and some do so out of hatred.
After Ivan Vanko buried his old father, he removed all the sundries and beds from the room. He spent all his money, and also cheated a sum of money, to purchase the equipment in front of him, and locked himself in this small, stuffy cage day and night.
Why did he do this? He just wanted to kill someone because he was not convinced and was unhappy.
The red-hot iron had been shaped into a rough shape by the hammer. Ivan Vanko picked it up with pliers, looked at it carefully, and immersed it in cold water, stirring up billowing white mist.
The mist drifted along the slight air current and landed on the posters of Tony Stark that covered the walls.
Revenge for one's father is only natural, isn't it?
I won't keep you waiting too long... Stark...
/——————
Bruce Club is a non-famous top private business club in California.
It is only open to a limited number of members, and only those who are rich and powerful are allowed to enter.
The corridor is decorated luxuriously and elegantly, with famous paintings hanging on both sides and precious red silk carpets on the floor.
A glamorous blond pretty boy walked on the red carpet and walked quickly towards a portly middle-aged man.
"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you, nice to meet you..."
He is Hammer Justin, and he has made a special appointment to meet here with Congressman Stern.
The two men shook hands enthusiastically, with hypocritical smiles on their faces.
"It's really not easy to meet you, Mr. Stern. I have asked you out three times, and finally I have made you come out."
Stern's fat face was filled with fat and he smiled more kindly, a politician-style smile that he usually uses. "I'm really sorry, I'm really busy with official duties. Please forgive me, please forgive me."
"please."
"please."
Justin's follower opened the door for the two of them. After the three of them walked in, the heavy wooden door slowly closed.
"...Of course Congress wants Stark's technology...but why should they seek your cooperation?"
After entering the door, Councilman Stern turned around and put away the smile on his face.
He found the sofa in the middle, slumped his loose and fat body on the chair, took the women's cigarette handed to him by Justin and took a puff.
The toothpick-like cigarette held between the thick fingers looked quite funny, and the red sparks flickered in the slightly dim room.
"There are not many companies in the United States that are capable of acquiring this technology, and our Hammer Industries is one of the best..."
Justin smiled along, nodded and bowed, and the wrinkles on his face were squeezed together.
Stern glanced at Justin with half-closed eyes and took another drag on his cigarette.
"But you're not the only ones."
"And you're asking for too much. A 25-year contract... It's not that we can't negotiate. But you know we're generally not willing to give positions in Congress to outsiders."