Pushing open the hotel room door, warm yellow light spilled in, revealing the simple and neat furnishings of a standard room.
Gwen strode in, dragging her suitcase, and casually tossed the room key onto the table with a crisp sound.
She deftly unzipped her bag, took out her newly purchased clothes, and hung them one by one in the wardrobe.
Dr. Contradiction, standing at the doorway, looked at the decor inside, then at Gwen, his expression somewhat curious.
"I thought with your financial resources, even if you didn't book a five-star presidential suite, you'd at least get a better room. I didn't expect you to stay in a room of this caliber."
"As long as I can sleep, why waste money?" After hanging up her clothes, Gwen immediately flopped onto the slightly cramped double bed, sprawling out in a big 'X' shape, and stretched languidly. "My money is all for a purpose."
Dr. Contradiction walked to the side of the bed, looking at Gwen with interest.
"If that's the case, I'm rather curious. You brought so much gold and exchanged it for so much money. What exactly do you plan to use it for?"
Gwen rolled over, lying on the bed with her eyes closed, a smile playing on her lips.
"I plan to open a small company here and do a little business. That gold is the startup capital," she mumbled, a faint red mark pressed into her cheek by the pillow.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Gwen propped herself up and turned to look at Dr. Contradiction: "Oh, right, where are you staying tonight?"
Dr. Contradiction shrugged, looking unconcerned: "I don't care. It's fine even if I can't find a place to stay. If worst comes to worst, I'll just pause time, get some sleep, and then figure it out."
Gwen: "? I don't really understand how you time-element users think."
But since Dr. Contradiction said so, Gwen didn't bother with him.
She climbed out of bed again, brushed off imaginary dust, and stood up to look out the window. It was already dark outside.
The entire street was enveloped in night, streetlights began to illuminate, and the neon light strips on the buildings started to flicker.
She checked the time; it was almost time. She opened the window and stepped onto the ledge.
Dr. Contradiction, seeing this, was curious: "It's this late, what are you doing?"
"Becoming a thief."
"Becoming a thief?"
She turned and waved at Dr. Contradiction, a slight smile on her lips, as if she wasn't going out to steal something, but rather to buy a bag of melon seeds downstairs.
Immediately after, the small broken watch on her left wrist automatically popped up, and a phantom image appeared on the watch face.
Gwen slammed her palm down without hesitation. In an instant, an intense purple light enveloped her like a tide. In the glow, her form rapidly changed.
When the light completely dissipated, a large blue moth appeared in the room.
"Ice Phantom!" Gwen exclaimed ominously, then couldn't help but sigh, "How can there be such an amazing alien hero as Ice Phantom?"
Then Ice Phantom looked at Dr. Contradiction.
"Dr., I'm going out for a bit, I'll be back soon. Could you keep an eye on my luggage for me?"
Dr. Contradiction nodded: "No problem."
Hearing Dr.'s reply, Gwen flapped her wings fiercely, and in the blink of an eye, she burst through the window and flew into the depths of the night.
Dr. Contradiction watched the figure disappear into the night sky, shaking his head helplessly.
He walked to the corner of the room, pulled over a hotel chair, and sat down.
Once seated, he reached for the magazine on the table beside him.
Gwen had bought the magazine on her way to the hotel; its cover featured that sexy mustache.
And the title of this magazine was "Technological Genius: The Life of Tony Stark"... In the top-floor office of the Stark building, the fluorescent lights hummed faintly after nearly ten hours of overtime.
Obadiah Stane loosened his tie, the second button of his shirt already undone, revealing a sweat-dampened collar.
He heavily pressed the Enter key on the keyboard, then saved the project proposal.
"Hoo—" He leaned back into the leather swivel chair, his knees cracking twice. A metal-framed photo of him with Tony's father, Howard, faced him, those smiling eyes making Obadiah's Adam's apple bob.
Thinking of this, he stood up and grabbed his phone, starting to make a call.
The moment the call connected, he immediately adopted a hearty tone: "Hey, Tony! Don't be late for the weapon demonstration in Afghanistan tomorrow. Those young men in the army really admire you!"
Outside the glass curtain wall, New York's neon lights refracted twisted light spots on his glasses.
A young man's voice responded from the other end, but the sound of a woman's kiss was equally distinct.
Obadiah sighed, saying helplessly: "I know you like to have fun, but you still need to remember to be on time."
The other end of the phone repeatedly agreed, even hanging up on him directly.
Obadiah stared at Tony's avatar, which was gradually dimming on his phone screen, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.
Putting away his phone and carrying a small bag, Obadiah prepared to leave.
The elevator arrived with a faint hum, and the metal doors slowly slid open to either side.
The moment he stepped into the car, the light behind him was rapidly swallowed, and the cold metal doors silently closed, completely isolating the corridor's clamor.
Just as the elevator slowly started and headed towards the underground garage, the glass curtain wall outside the office suddenly rippled with a strange fluctuation. A translucent figure, as if emerging from water, slowly phased in through the glass wall from outside.
Wisps of cold air enveloped the figure, and wherever he passed, the glass surface quickly condensed into delicate ice patterns.
After completely phasing into the office, this figure solidified into a physical form.
He pressed his back against the cold glass wall, curled up in the small corner, even deliberately slowing his breathing.
Because above his head, there was now a camera.
This camera was flashing red at the moment, its angle perfectly capturing everything in this entire office, except for the spot where he stood.
Ice Phantom gazed at the camera, lightly patting the purple glowing emblem on his chest.
After a flash of purple light, Ice Phantom had transformed into Brainstorm.
Brainstorm aimed his head at the camera above, opened his crab shell, revealing a brain.
Electric currents surged in the crab brain core, followed by a bolt of electricity shooting out like an arrow, precisely hitting the camera.
However, this camera did not explode or get damaged by the electric current. Instead, it trembled slightly a few times, then slowly began to rotate on its own, creating a new blind spot for filming in the direction of the office desk.
After confirming it was safe, Brainstorm's six crab legs moved rapidly, silently arriving in front of the desk.
After turning on the computer, she began to browse.
"Not financial analysis... nor business collaborations... Found it!"
After going through several local folders, Brainstorm finally found what he was looking for.
Opening the folder, dozens of research reports were neatly arranged, and the author column of each report clearly bore the name "Tony Stark."
Brainstorm's eyes lit up slightly. He quickly scanned the file titles, "Arc Reactor Energy Conversion Principle? Feasibility Analysis of Miniature Nuclear Fusion Device? Arc Reactor Material Iteration Research? Good, this is what I need."
Having found what he wanted, Brainstorm immediately began searching for a USB drive in the office drawers.
Brainstorm used electromagnetism to control and open a locked drawer.
Then she rummaged through it and pulled out a USB drive.
She didn't care what was originally on this USB drive; she needed it now, anyway.
After a quick check to ensure there were no tracking devices or anything similar, Brainstorm plugged it into the computer and began copying files.
The files were mostly paper documents, with a small portion being photos, so they copied very quickly.
After hiding the USB drive, Gwen transformed back into Ice Phantom and exited the way she came.
After flying out through the glass from inside, Ice Phantom was about to spread his wings and fly back when he heard a whooshing sound.
His body was faster than his mind; Ice Phantom hadn't fully exited his intangible state when he re-entered that state.
A milky white web shot through his body and landed on the windowsill of the Stark Industries building.
"Hey, I always thought moths might prefer organic food. Stark Industries stuff shouldn't be on your menu, right?"
On the eaves, a person in a red and blue suit with a spider emblem on his chest hung down, looking in Ice Phantom's direction.