ตอน 70: Chapter 70
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"Sir, as always, you've made quite the sensation."
Back at the luxurious villa.
The ever-attentive butler, Jarvis, immediately serves up a comforting flattery.
It pleased Tony Stark immensely, making the corners of his mouth curl up into a smile.
"Expected, isn't it?"
Tony Stark shrugged nonchalantly.
"Ever since you announced that you are Iron Man..."
"The Destroyer!"
"That's right, the Destroyer. What I mean is, since you declared yourself the Iron Man that the public knows, Stark Industries' stock has been rising rapidly. You saved the company, sir!"
"As always! Imagine that some guys even wanted to kick me out!"
Iron Man couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.
Then suddenly he remembered something, his face immediately beaming with anticipation.
Eagerly, he asked, "Has the journal been updated?"
Tony Stark couldn't wait to see Zhou Cheng being humiliated by himself!
"It was updated at the press conference itself, sir."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner!"
Tony Stark scolded Jarvis before quickly pulling out the journal.
A glance at it confirmed that indeed, the journal had been updated.
[What the heck? Can someone tell me what the heck this is?]
[Wasn't it supposed to be 'I am Iron Man'? How did it turn into 'I am the Destroyer'?]
[What the heck is the Destroyer!]
[It's confirmed, this universe definitely isn't Earth-199999, right?]
[So which universe is this?]
[Stark being the Destroyer instead of Iron Man is unheard of!]
Even though it was only a journal, and he couldn't see Zhou Cheng's expression, just some relevant text.
Through these descriptions, Tony Stark could vividly sense how utterly confused and clueless Zhou Cheng felt on the other end.
Haha!
Got you looking dumb, didn't I?
Iron Man couldn't be more smug, his mood not having been this great in recent months.
Seeing the owner of that journal acting all-knowing every day, with a condescending tone as if advising from above, commenting on everything.
Casually judging Tony Stark's life, casually "predicting" the grandiose Tony's future.
While related spoilers are indeed crucial intelligence, they do feel quite upsetting.
This turn of events, however, allowed Iron Man to vent a substantial amount of pent-up frustration.
"I really want to see what kind of expression Zhou Cheng has on his face."
"I'm sure it's priceless."
Tony Stark even started to daydream.
[Alright, Marvel has so many parallel universes, I can't possibly know them all, can I?]
[Even if there are some universes where Stark isn't Iron Man, that doesn't seem peculiar.]
[I remember, isn't there a universe where Stark was saved by Killmonger in Afghanistan instead of being kidnapped by the Ten Rings?]
[In that universe, despite Stark ultimately creating an armored suit, he didn't become Iron Man.]
Tony Stark's smile began to fade slowly, and his expression turned serious again.
The owner of that journal, Zhou Cheng, seemed to know a lot about other universes!
Including many universes beyond his own origin!
From the various clues in the journal.
Iron Man might not know from which universe Zhou Cheng hails, but it's clear that it's not the frequently mentioned Earth-199999.
Because Zhou Cheng initially believed this universe was Earth-199999.
Now what?
Zhou Cheng has learned of another universe where Stark is not Iron Man.
And clearly.
That universe is one separate from both Earth-199999 and Zhou Cheng's originating universe!
And judging by the tone of that journal, besides these two universes, Zhou Cheng seems quite knowledgeable about the myriad of parallel Marvel universes!
So~
No matter how Zhou Cheng does it, he is likely an individual who can observe and understand the multiverse!
This is really...
Iron Man feels a bit depressed, is the disparity too great?
Even a genius like him, to this day, cannot even confirm the existence of the multiverse!
Let alone speaking as casually as Zhou Cheng does, about how this universe is, how that universe is.
[But I've got to say, a Stark who isn't Iron Man feels totally soulless.]
[Though the Destroyer sounds indeed more imposing than Iron Man, it doesn't fit Stark's persona at all.]
[Just imagine, at the final moments of the Endgame, Stark says "I am the Destroyer" right before snapping his fingers, how jarring that would be!]
[The iconic moment would've been completely ruined, wouldn't it?]
The Endgame?
The word immediately caught Tony Stark's attention.
Given the term which suddenly emerged without any context, Tony Stark naturally couldn't deduce anything specific.
Or rather, the only thing he could deduce was the meaning of the term "Endgame" itself.
"The 'Endgame' battle? So, this is the final battle?"
"It seems that in the future, I must have been involved in a war with a certain person, or a certain power, a prolonged war."
"And this battle is the last of them!"
Tony Stark's expression sobered up as he analyzed this.
Since it's the last battle, it indicates that the war has reached a final verdict.
Either his enemies have been defeated, or he, Tony Stark, has been defeated.
Whichever side has failed, it's a total and irrevocable defeat without any chance of a comeback.
But as to the actual outcome of who won and who lost, the journal didn't reveal any clues.
Tony Stark wouldn't be able to guess.
"First, the Battle of New York, and now this Endgame?"
"It looks like the future is not going to be peaceful!"
Black Widow couldn't help but sigh.
The journal had already made it clear multiple times that shortly after Tony Stark announced his role as Iron Man, the world would step into the age of superheroes.
That era of superheroes isn't described much in the journal.
But undoubtedly, it's a very dangerous age with various super-powered beings running amok.
The journal even used the term "anarchy" to describe it.
The previously spoiled Battle of New York involved a "super war" with the participation of various superheroes, even gods.
So, what about the Endgame?
Undoubtedly, it is similar to the "super war" of the Battle of New York because the superhero Tony Stark joined the battle!If it were just any war, Tony Stark would not likely be involved.
Furthermore, there was another crucial clue: "the snap."
This term had also been mentioned in the notebook before.
Though it was mentioned only in passing, there was no doubt that "the snap" possessed the magical power to bring the dead back to life! With a superhero like Tony Stark involved previously and now the miraculous power of "the snap" emerging,
it was almost beyond question what the nature of the final battle was.
But there was one thing:
Was that life-saving snap simply the usual kind, made by the snapping of fingers?
Could such a light touch and movement of two fingers really produce such an incredible force?
Black Widow was still marveling at this.
Besides, Black Widow had never imagined that Tony Stark would be the one to perform "the snap."
So, was it because the final battle was so brutal, with so many fatalities, that Tony Stark resurrected everyone with "the snap"?
What on earth kind of war was this!
[Not only that, but Marvel itself already had other destroyers!]
[Take Asgard's ultimate weapon, for example, known as one of the most feared killing machines in the universe.
That destroyer would come to Earth with Thor and casually destroy an entire town.
It was precisely the terror of this destroyer that led Nick Fury to decide to use the Tesseract to develop superweapons.]
Asgard?
Wasn't that the mythical realm, Thor's homeland?
So, Asgard had a destroyer too?
And was it Asgard's ultimate weapon, the most feared killing machine in the universe?
Iron Man couldn't help but show off again.
Look, this is the magnitude of the great Tony. This is his level!
His Iron Man suit bore the same name as the fiercest killing weapon of Asgard!
And without a doubt, not just in name, Tony Stark's Iron Man suit was also bound to be as formidable as that Asgardian killing machine.
This was the great Tony!
Tony Stark couldn't be prouder.
And hadn't the notebook also said that the destroyer would come to Earth with Thor in the future?
Iron Man really wanted his own destroyer to clash with the Asgardian destroyer to see which was more formidable!
The very thought was intriguing!
As to why the destroyer would come to Earth with Thor or why it destroyed a town,
Tony Stark couldn't possibly deduce precise details due to a lack of necessary intelligence.
But one thing was certain: the superhero era of the future seemed to be both dangerous and chaotic.
Iron Man sighed slightly but didn't dwell on it.
His attention was quickly captured by a term.
The Tesseract.
This was the first time Tony Stark had heard of it, and he had no idea what it was.
But it was clear that it was no ordinary object.
Otherwise, why would Nick Fury use it to research superweapons?
"Jarvis, search for information about the Tesseract."
After contemplating for a moment, Tony Stark immediately gave Jarvis this order.
"Sir, this is an extraordinary object."
Even Jarvis, the AI, expressed awe.
"You know that SHIELD's predecessor was the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR)."
"And the SSR was established to deal with HYDRA's high-tech armed forces."
"The high-tech army of HYDRA was created based on research of the Tesseract."
"I couldn't find much about the Tesseract, but according to what we know now, the Tesseract is an object from an alien civilization, containing a kind of magical power."
An artifact of an alien civilization?
Tony Stark's eyebrows knitted tightly; this object was indeed more than trivial.
However, the fact that this object from an alien civilization appeared on Earth during World War II corroborates the account written in the notebook.
Not only in the future, but alien races had also visited Earth in the past!
So this was the real face of the world?
So this is what the world was like!
"The Tesseract!"
Black Widow's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Compared to Tony Stark, as a high-ranking SHIELD agent, she naturally had more understanding of this mysterious object.
She not only knew the Tesseract was an object from outer space but also knew it possessed incredible power.
The Red Skull of HYDRA sought to use it to dominate the world but was timely thwarted by Captain America.
Later, the Tesseract sank into the ocean along with Captain America, and Howard Stark even personally led a salvage team to recover it.
However, they failed to find Captain America but did recover the Tesseract.
Since then, the Tesseract has remained in SHIELD's possession.
As for the notebook's mention of the Director using the Tesseract to research secret weapons, Black Widow wasn't surprised.
That was indeed in the Director's style.
And Black Widow also agreed with this approach.
With so many extraordinary threats in the future superhero era, humanity needs some weapons to fight back, right?
The only question was whether the superweapon development had been successful?
The notebook didn't mention that!
[As for Guardians of the Galaxy's modest Drax, who humorously claimed to have the second-lowest IQ on the team with no one daring to claim the first, wasn't he also a destroyer?
Not only a destroyer, but the Guardians of the Galaxy had also teamed up with the Avengers.
Iron Man had met the destroyer on Titan, even fighting side by side.
Now, imagine the scene of the two destroyers meeting. It would be interesting.
With their temperaments, wouldn't they start fighting immediately?]
"Guardians of the Galaxy?"
"Protectors of the galaxy?"
"They can't actually guard the entire galaxy, can they?"
Tony Stark shook his head, a hint of mock in his expression.
Guardians of the Galaxy, what bravado to take on such a moniker; weren't they afraid of biting off more than they could chew?
Iron Man was keen to see.
How formidable this group was, how impressive to call themselves what they did.
After all, we're talking about the Milky Way!
Not just a single planet.
Can they really protect the countless planets in the entire galaxy?
That's laughable.
"Sir, it seems we've found someone even more humble and low-key than you."
Jarvis joined in with timely sarcasm.
"Correct."
"In terms of humility and modesty, I indeed have much room for improvement."
Tony Stark heartily agreed.
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