"Figures. Villains really do live forever. Congratulations on getting yourself blacklisted by God, Tony. Though honestly, that's not great news for me—I've had my eye on that car in your garage for a long time."
Those little butterfly wings of his were enough to cure Tony's palladium poisoning ahead of schedule. That was good news. Still, Qin Xiao wasn't sure whether Rhodes would be able to turn Tony's armor into the War Machine because of this change.
"You're a complete bastard. Sharing good news with you was a mistake. So when are you coming back? Are you waiting for the hammer to drop or something?"
After chatting casually for a while, Qin Xiao suddenly seemed to remember something. He walked to a secluded spot and spoke to Tony in a conspiratorial tone.
"Tony, I need a favor. And only you can help me with this."
The way Qin Xiao looked made Tony wrinkle his nose in disgust.
"That sneaky expression reminds me of a pickpocket. What, you got some kind of male problem? Sorry, buddy, I can't help with that. I'm in perfect health and great shape. You'll have to figure it out yourself. Ask Banner—didn't he take some kind of medicine or something?"
"Shut up, you pervert! I'm perfectly fine. My equipment could smash your armor to pieces. Haven't I been to Mexico? Do you know how much money I made off those cartels?"
"I got a huge sum back and opened an account in a Swiss bank."
"I opened it at one of the cartel families' houses. You know, Zurich has a lot of banks. I want to know which one's the safest. I'm thinking of transferring the money again."
Qin Xiao kept his voice low, making sure no one around could overhear.
"That's it?"
Tony looked visibly disappointed. He'd clearly been expecting some earth-shattering secret.
"Watch your attitude, Tony. I'm a billionaire now. Three billion dollars. Three billion! My God, I don't even know what to buy anymore. A mansion? A yacht? Got any advice?"
On the screen, Tony Stark looked down at him with utter disdain.
"I thought you'd done something impressive. Three billion is what you're bragging about? UBS—a major banking group formed from the merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation. As long as the bank's website shows those three letters, it's reliable. Any other questions?"
Tony didn't say it out loud, but Qin Xiao could clearly read the words 'pathetic bastard' in his eyes.
"I admit you're rich, Tony, but three billion dollars is still a huge amount anywhere in the world. You could at least show me some respect. Do you know what three billion dollars represents?"
Qin Xiao had just solved all his financial problems in one stroke. With a fortune in hand, how could he tolerate Tony's condescension?
"I don't know, pal. Three billion—one order from the Department of Defense? A small fluctuation in Stark Industries' stock price? Hard to say. You know me—I don't care about banks. I care about the numbers."
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Qin Xiao angrily hung up the call.
This was Versailles-level arrogance.
Even among billionaires, there were levels. Only someone mentally unwell would try to brag about money in front of Tony Stark.
"Excuse me… are you alright, sir?"
Someone spoke beside him, and Qin Xiao snapped back irritably without thinking.
"Not really. How about you?"
He turned around and saw a ragged old man.
It was none other than the genius astrophysicist—Dr. Erik Selvig.
This man had appeared multiple times throughout The Avengers franchise.
Thor, Thor: The Dark World, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron.
In The Avengers, he had been controlled by Loki and forced to develop a device that used the immense energy of the Tesseract—channeled scientifically through Stark tech—to open a stable portal.
Through that portal, the Chitauri army had poured endlessly into New York.
Qin Xiao's harsh tone startled the old man, who spoke cautiously and nervously.
"I have a friend… he's very smart. You see, he disappeared yesterday. I heard he came here. I wanted to ask whether he was taken by you. If you're with them…"
Dr. Selvig pointed to a sign behind the camp.
"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Quite a mouthful, isn't it? That's us. And if the friend you're talking about goes around shouting that he's the God of Thunder, son of Odin, father of the gods and all that—then yes, that's him."
Dr. Selvig nodded repeatedly.
He couldn't refuse Jane Foster's request, or he'd never have come begging like this. Otherwise, he would rather deal with a mysterious intelligence agency himself.
"Well, your friend seems seriously ill. Don't forget to take him to a doctor once you get him back. And by the way—what's his name?"
Qin Xiao waved over a guard.
"Go notify Director Coulson. Tell him that the madman's friend came looking for him today. He'll understand what I mean."
Qin Xiao kept Dr. Selvig around for a bit, exchanged a few words, then quickly lost interest.
Brilliant scientists were often painfully slow unless you talked about their field. For anything else, their reactions lagged behind.
Someone as talented and entertaining as Tony Stark was truly rare.
Before long, Coulson arrived with two guards and escorted Thor out.
The kid hadn't lifted the hammer the night before and looked like he'd lost his soul. He didn't say a word, just stared blankly.
"Thor, are you okay?" Coulson asked. "Jane asked me to take you home."
No one knew whether it was hearing Dr. Selvig's familiar voice—or hearing Jane's name.
But Thor lifted his head, and a glimmer of light appeared in his eyes.
"Dr. Selvig… are you here to take me away?"
"That's right. Jane's waiting outside. I'll take you home."
With Qin Xiao's hint, Coulson didn't even ask Dr. Selvig to show any identification before letting them go.
It saved the trouble of having someone forge fake IDs overnight.
After Dr. Selvig and Thor left, Coulson quietly had an agent tail them.
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