A certain American comic book's secondary profession master

Chapter 36 Don't Forget the Parachute

"This house is really nice!" Levi exclaimed as he stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of Tony Stark's cliffside villa in Malibu, Los Angeles, looking at the magnificent ocean view outside.

"You came here just to enjoy the view? If you like, you can have one custom-built and then take your time looking around," Tony said as he emerged from the underground laboratory.

"All done?" Li Wei didn't answer him, but asked in return.

He was referring to the cryogenic hibernation pod; Tony had just been conducting an experiment down there, freezing Bucky in ice.

However, judging from Tony's expression, there was clearly no problem.

"Who am I? Just a cryogenic hibernation pod, it's a piece of cake. The five hibernation pods you requested are already being assembled and will be installed soon!" Tony said proudly.

"That's good. By the way, how's things going at your company?" Li Wei nodded and then asked about Obama.

"Pepper has obtained the crucial evidence. It won't be long before I have this guy spending the rest of his life in jail!" Tony's expression turned grim when Obama was mentioned.

Since the death of his father, Howard Stark, Obama has been privately selling arms, a practice that has lasted for 12 years.

Over the course of those 12 years, Obama used this one method to extract billions of dollars in assets from Stark Industries.

This is all Tony Stark's money!

"Then you'd better be careful he doesn't do something desperate!" Li Wei warned.

"Don't worry about that. With the Winter Soldier by my side and the Iron Man suit already in the works, even if he manages to create an Iron Monger after it's all done, it won't affect me at all!" Tony said confidently.

"What? Are you planning to go straight to new elements?" Li Wei couldn't help but ask upon hearing this.

Since the topic of the Iron Man suits had been brought up, Li Wei naturally wouldn't forget about the new elements.

As for the model board from the 1974 Stark Industrial Exposition, it's still in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s warehouse.

That's no big deal at all.

Because there is never just one set of information for such a large-scale expo.

Levi simply gave Tony a heads-up, and the latter easily found the original park design drawings in Stark Industries' database and then rebuilt the data model.

It's just that this process is a bit more complicated than directly scanning the model left by Howard.

But could anything be more troublesome than Stark building a particle accelerator by hand?

"No, not really. Although we've got a bit of a lead, there's still a problem with the equipment that needs time to resolve. So we'll have to use the palladium reactor as a temporary solution. But based on the information you provided, I've made some further optimizations to the reactor and the suit, which will make it even more powerful. Once the necessary equipment and materials arrive, I can get started!" Tony replied.

As for why they didn't ask S.H.I.E.L.D. to get Howard's things back—Tony and Levi both believed that now was not a good time to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D.

"That's great news—by the way, after you finish the suit, don't forget to equip the mech with a manually activated parachute," Levi reminded him.

"Parachute? What would you need that for? I designed a full-range shock absorption system for the armor, so there's no need to worry about falling from a great height!" Tony found Levi's suggestion very strange.

It wasn't that Li Wei hadn't told him about the civil war; it's just that Li Wei had only mentioned the cause and outcome of the civil war before.

However, it didn't go into detail about Rhodes falling from the sky.

"But your shock absorption system also needs a reactor to power it to maximize its effectiveness, right? What if the reactor completely fails while we're in the air?" Li Wei asked him seriously.

The shock absorption system of the Iron Man suit also requires a reactor for power to maximize its effectiveness.

This is why Iron Man, despite falling from the sky many times, was basically unharmed.

But the reason why Rhodes was half crippled after falling from the sky.

It was this injury that led to Rhodes being switched at birth.

"Um... I hadn't considered that possibility, because the probability is too low. After all, to completely destroy the reactor, the level of destruction would obviously exceed the armor's capacity!" Tony paused for a moment, then frowned and said.

The implication is that if this happens, it basically means the suit is destroyed and the person is gone.

Clearly, Tony overlooked the special case of Vision being able to emit radiation that could graz and destroy the reactor.

However, it is indeed too coincidental that a situation like in Captain America 3, where Vision accidentally damaged Rhodes' reactor while leaving the armor unscathed, was too much of a coincidence.

It was because of Rhodes' experience that Tony later added a parachute when making a new suit for Spider-Man.

Li Wei also mentioned this extremely special situation.

"Of course, there's no need to add a parachute to the suit they made for me!" Li Wei reminded her after finishing his sentence.

Li Wei's decision to use the parachute wasn't really for his own benefit.

Even if he couldn't open a portal, he still has glyphs.

Whether it's the Slow Fall glyph or the Blink glyph for mages, or the Levitate glyph for priests, they can all solve this problem well.

"I understand! I'll be careful!" Upon hearing that his friend Rhodes was almost completely paralyzed because of such an outrageous incident, and even switched by aliens, Tony immediately took it seriously. Tony and Rhodes had known each other for a long time, not long after Tony took over Stark Industries.

Of course, their relationship wasn't as strong as it was later.

However, with Li Wei's involvement, Tony also learned that his friend was not only a like-minded person, but also a reliable comrade-in-arms, and silently increased the importance of the other party in his mind.

"Alright, I have to get back to work. Do you want to sit here a bit longer, or go do something else?" Tony asked Levi after finishing their business.

In reality, it's just a formality to ask them to leave.

"Don't rush, I still have something I need your help with!" Li Wei said with a smile.

"Just say what you have to say!" Tony said bluntly, but without indicating any refusal.

"I want you to help me acquire a batch of metal!" Li Wei said.

"Buying metals? What kind of metals?" Tony immediately became interested.

Because he knew that Li Wei's father owned a trading company.

Although the scale is not large, it is still easy to acquire some common metals.

But now the other party wants him to help with the acquisition, which means that what they want is not ordinary metal.

"Molybdenum, ruthenium, nickel, and... vibranium!" Li Wei said.

Tony narrowed his eyes when he heard that Levi wanted metal.

Nickel and molybdenum are easy to buy; you can get them if you have the money.

Lumenium is a bit more complicated. As an important industrial rare earth element, lutetium is basically monopolized by major industrial groups. Small quantities are fine, but large quantities are generally unavailable to the average person.

However, this is not a problem for Stark Industries.

But this vibranium...

(End of this chapter)