American Comics: Something's Wrong with This Superhero World

Chapter 98 Plain White Banner

Iris and Catherine said they would take Xiao Xian on a tour of Midtown, but instead they showed him their bedroom. Although both of their homes were in Midtown, Xiao Xian felt something was off.

After giving the group a generous reward, Xiao Xian put his arm around Iris and sat on a swing in Iris's yard, while the White Queen and Catherine set up a barbecue grill and started barbecuing.

Curiously observing Iris's mansion, Xiao Xian, who had been engrossed in discussing life experiences and hadn't paid much attention, suddenly realized that the house seemed even more luxurious than his own mansion in New York. Although the higher price of real estate in New York might be a factor, such a super mansion was probably beyond the reach of a reporter like Iris.

Catherine's house was clearly not as luxurious as Iris's.

"Your house looks very expensive. Do reporters earn that much?" Xiao Xian asked curiously, reaching his hand inside Iris's collar and putting his arm around her.

"No, journalists don't earn much money. This is a mansion Barry bought. After the divorce, Barry voluntarily left with nothing, so the house naturally belongs to me." Iris nestled obediently into Xiao Xian's arms like a kitten, adjusting her position to make it easier for Xiao Xian to move around.

"Do you like it? I'll give it to you."

"No, I don't lack places to sleep anywhere anyway." Xiao Xian shook his head and rejected Iris's suggestion. Xiao Xian was not short of money, at least not short of money to buy a house.

Whether he goes live-streaming to sell products or begs rich women for meals, with Xiao Xian's current super charm, making hundreds of millions of dollars is a piece of cake.

But when money reaches a certain level, at least for Xiao Xian, what he values ​​more than the numbers is the social influence that the money represents.

Currently, Bruce Wayne's personal net worth is only $92 billion, but he is the undisputed king of Gotham. Others, even internet tycoons with net worths of hundreds of billions of dollars, cannot compare to Bruce Wayne, especially in Gotham.

If Bruce were to convert his shares in Wayne Enterprises into an equivalent amount of cash, his social standing would plummet.

Forget about equivalence. Even if you gave Bruce Wayne $184 billion and threw him into Gotham, he still wouldn't have the status of the King of Gotham. At best, he would be a super-rich man, provided that he wasn't emptied of his fortune and murdered by various underhanded means in Gotham.

Similarly, even if Xiao Xian were given $92 billion, he wouldn't have one percent of Bruce's influence in Gotham.

The true source of Bruce Wayne's power and influence lies in the trillion-dollar Wayne Corporation he controls, the trillion-dollar companies associated with it, various foundations, top-tier committees, and connections with high-ranking officials and politicians.

Faced with these forces, Xiao Xian, who stormed into Gotham with $92 billion, was nothing more than a delicious piece of meat.

Similarly, given Xiao Xian's current status, accumulating a large amount of wealth would only attract attention and serve no other purpose.

Money is essentially just a universal form of social influence. With enough influence, even without a penny, one can make people obedient and possess all sorts of things that money can't buy.

As an Easterner, Xiao Xian has a deep understanding of this.

The most powerful aspect of Super Charm isn't that it can make Xiao Xian have a bunch of card-playing friends just by beckoning, but that it can make almost half the people in the world fall in love with Xiao Xian at first sight and willingly make all sorts of sacrifices for him.

If it weren't for the fact that super charm spreads across the internet and its effects are diminished, plus the existence of a superhuman in this world, Xiao Xian could easily influence more than half of the world's population with just this one ability. At that point, he wouldn't need money at all; he could even ascend to the throne and become the world's ruler, and have people build pyramids for him.

As for why it's more than half, it's because almost half of the people will listen to Xiao Xian, while the remaining half includes a large number of scoundrels who will listen to Xiao Xian.

Take Iris's ex-husband, The Flash, for example. He left with nothing after the divorce, and he probably felt great about himself, especially moved by his own actions, thinking he was a super good man. But then Iris turned around and wanted to give the mansion to Xiao Xian.

Iris is relatively better off; at least she's divorced. A lot of women like Amelia are still married but use their husbands' salaries to support mistresses, and some even want to kill their husbands for the sake of their inheritance.

Of course, Xiao Xian couldn't say anything about this to others, since he also planned to take this path to acquire the Osborn Group, or more precisely, to have Mary Jane acquire the Osborn Group.

However, Mary Jane is completely subservient to Xiao Xian, inside and out. Whatever Xiao Xian says goes. Mary Jane controls Osborne, which is equivalent to Xiao Xian controlling Osborne. When the time comes, whatever mansion Xiao Xian likes, he can just have Mary Jane buy it for him.

This is the Osborn Group, which, although not as powerful as Wayne Group, is still a pharmaceutical giant in America.

Amelia is free, but some people are even freer than others.

Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn, who controlled the Osborn Corporation, were both American white flag members. Even if they committed murder in the street and caused a big commotion, they would only have to go through the motions of going to their own prisons and would soon be released by a pardon signed by the president.

Of course, if it were Tony Stark, a member of the Plain Yellow Banner, who was killed in the street, that would be a different story.

When Mary Jane came to power, Xiao Xian, through her connections, could at least be promoted to the Bordered White Banner, if not the Plain White Banner.

"Hey~ Iris, I specially brought you your favorite Italian pizza from Italy, while it's hot!" The Flash was full of anticipation, imagining Iris's surprised expression as he brought her favorite pizza from faraway Italy.

However, when the Flash crossed the yard and quietly stepped into this space he once knew, he saw a completely unexpected scene.

"You two?" Barry stood to the side, still holding the box of pizza he had brought from Italy, staring blankly at the two people embracing each other.

"Uh..." Caught off guard, Xiao Xian just instinctively assumed Flash was the victim and was about to awkwardly try to find an excuse to explain when he suddenly realized, "Wait, didn't you two get divorced?"

Barry, an ex-husband, is acting like the Hulk? Xiao Xian thought, looking at Barry's pained and incredulous face.

"My dad adopted him when he was little, so we've been like siblings since we were kids. Even after the divorce, we still keep in touch occasionally. But don't worry, I don't love him anymore."

Iris quickly explained, afraid that Xiao Xian would misunderstand that she still had feelings for The Flash.

"Oh, oh." Xiao Xian nodded, trying to pull his hand out from inside Iris's clothes.

"It's alright, you can continue." Iris gently took Xiao Xian's hand and placed it where it had been, speaking softly to him.

After saying that, Iris looked at the Flash and said...

"Barry, thank you for the pizza. If there's nothing else, you can go back now. As you can see, I have important things to do right now. If there's nothing else, you can go back now."

(End of this chapter)