After watching the others leave...
Luca leaned against a pile of equipment alone, reflecting on his conversation with Justine Hammer.
According to her, since Hammer Industries started going downhill, she had reclaimed most of the shares.
Justine's willingness to use half of them to buy the former Aurantius Industries was indeed a sign of sincerity.
Presumably, starting from old Justin, Hammer Industries had always hoped to have their own "Tony Stark."
But to put it bluntly, no matter how nice Justine Hammer sounded, an acquisition was an acquisition.
Luca had absolute confidence in his future. Not to say he would truly become a bona fide scientific genius like Tony Stark, but he felt it shouldn't take long to at least superficially fake being a character of that level.
Rather than getting involved in the muddy waters of Hammer Industries, it was better to honestly develop his own little business.
As for Heinrich, the investor... Luca originally thought the man would chat with him for a bit before leaving.
Talking about additional funding or business expansion.
He could have used that opportunity to investigate the man's peculiar left eye.
Unfortunately, Heinrich seemed to have no such intention. He just left a meaningful look before departing briskly.
Forget it, thinking too much is useless. Collecting items to improve my strength is the priority.
Thinking of this, Luca stopped letting his mind wander. Ignoring his subordinates who were packing up, he walked over to the orange Haro.
Patting its round body, he whispered.
"You little guy, scroll the teleprompter slower next time! I almost misread lines just now."
Indeed, the reason Luca could talk non-stop at today's exhibition without exposing himself as a fake was naturally because he had arranged it with Haro beforehand.
Connecting it to the [Tracking Glasses] to act as a "teleprompter," displaying dialogue in real-time.
After all, although Luca had prepared beforehand, his theoretical foundation was still lacking. If he stumbled when questioned, it would likely be a huge embarrassment.
However, perhaps Haro overestimated Luca; the "prompter content" on the glasses scrolled ridiculously fast.
If Luca wasn't careful, he might have missed something.
However, in response to Luca's complaining tone, Haro made a pop sound, pulling itself out of the slot. Without even glancing at Luca, it bounced away into the distance.
Not forgetting to mock him continuously.
"Idiot Luca, Idiot Luca!"
Embarrassed, Luca looked around. Finding that everyone, including Wrench, tactfully turned their heads away to "work seriously," he trotted after Haro.
But before Luca could catch the nimble little guy, Shamila approached from the other side and whispered to him.
"Master, Oscorp still hasn't given us a definite answer."
Luca, who was in a good mood, frowned slightly upon hearing this.
That shouldn't be? Since Norman Osborn was willing to conduct human experiments for his wife's illness, now that I've offered a potentially effective drug, he shouldn't refuse to even take a look?
"What did they say?"
"Oscorp's reply was that Mr. Norman is currently in the middle of a very important experiment and cannot spare time to meet you for now," Shamila said.
"Important experiment? Can we find out... never mind."
Luca wanted to ask Shamila to send someone to investigate what Oscorp was up to.
But thinking about it, either it was just an excuse and there was no important experiment...
Or it was true, in which case Shamila's channels might not be able to find out anything, and he risked offending them for nothing.
So Luca changed his tune.
"Contact other biopharmaceutical labs first. Just keep a slight eye on Oscorp."
Shamila: "Yes, Master."
After speaking, Shamila hesitated slightly, then continued.
"Master, the CFO approached me just now, wanting to remind you that with the company's current funds, even maintaining the status quo might last less than half a year."
"If we want to develop new production lines, the funding gap might be significant."
Luca, who was pondering which other famous biological scientists existed in the Marvel universe, looked up at Shamila with a strange expression.
"Why did she think to ask you to relay this?"
Shamila looked slightly embarrassed hearing this.
"Master, there were too many people around you just now. She just asked me to remind you. She'll probably report to you separately later."
Seeing Shamila's awkwardness, Luca found it amusing.
It seemed that at some point, Shamila, the bodyguard/driver, was becoming more like a secretary/butler.
Of course, not in appearance. While Shamila wasn't ugly, among women, she could be considered "burly."
But precisely because of this contrast, even Shamila felt a bit awkward now, as she truly hadn't handled much of this work before.
Naturally, Luca wouldn't watch this elder who was devoted to him remain embarrassed. He spoke up immediately.
"Auntie Shamila, hire a secretary for me later. Internal promotion or external recruitment doesn't matter. You decide, just let me review the final candidate."
Shamila breathed a huge sigh of relief, feeling much lighter.
However, Luca added.
"As for finance, tell them to wait. Once the Intent to Order comes through, I'll apply for a special loan from the bank."
Shamila quickly noted this down, then continued to ask.
"Then Master, are we going home, or returning to the company with these equipments?"
Since Luca had previously handed over the completed "Arbiter" sample and some data to the company's R&D department...
Planning to let them develop some supporting equipment or derivative models based on it...
Shamila thought Luca might need to visit the company headquarters first.
But Luca shook his head slightly.
"Let the R&D guys handle those things themselves. Mass production isn't possible for now anyway, so development isn't urgent."
"As for us."
"Let's go shopping at the mall!"
With that, Luca scooped up Haro, who had come close again, and strode out of the testing ground.
At the same time, he thought amusingly to himself.
Even if I'm faking being a genius like Iron Man, I have too few items right now. A hundred flowers blooming is the hard truth~