After the night in New York turned dark, the lights in the entire city began to gradually go out. Only the top floors of the Stark Tower were dimly lit. Pepper, who had been busy all day, walked up to the elevator and waited for the elevator instructions.
The lights came on and she took a deep breath, but she didn't completely relax.
The elevator door opened, and the lights on the ceiling lit up one by one following her footsteps, guiding her to Stark's laboratory, which she had not been to for a long time.
The door to the laboratory opened slowly without making any sound. The entire laboratory was dark, with only the lights of the experimental instruments on weakly. Stark was lying on the experimental table, seemingly asleep.
Jarvis turned on a soft light, enough for Pepper to see her feet clearly, but without waking up Stark. Stark was sleeping soundly. When Pepper walked over, she found that his brows were furrowed.
She saw a pile of information on his experimental table. In the past, it was filled with experimental data that Pepper could not understand, but today, Pepper saw several books on the experimental table that should not appear here.
Social engineering, game theory, political science, international relations, etc. Pepper even saw a few textbooks from his own university there. There were signs of turning on them, and there were even a few books that had been opened and buckled.
On the desktop, it was obvious that Stark hadn't finished reading yet.
She walked closer and picked up the information. Most of it contained information related to the military, Congress and SHIELD, especially information about their personnel.
Just as Pepper was about to walk around the experimental table and walk to Stark's side, Stark moved for a moment, coughed dryly, and then woke up. In the dim light, he saw Pepper standing in front of him, and...
Thought I was dreaming.
Stark shook his head and blinked hard, looking very confused. Pepper often saw this expression on him, usually after drinking too much or staying up late doing experiments.
"Oh, you're here, have you finished your work? How have you been doing lately?" Stark seemed a little at a loss, as if he was unfamiliar with Peto after not seeing him for so many days. He used that somewhat embarrassing tone.
Exchanging pleasantries.
Pepper was not affected by him. She came over and said, "What's wrong with you? Why did you start reading these books?"
Stark glanced back at his desktop. His expression was a bit like a child who was caught secretly playing a game console by his parents. He twisted his neck unnaturally and said, "A friend recommended it. He said
I should read more books like this, otherwise I won’t be able to cope with the trouble."
Stark paused for a moment, then lowered his head. His voice seemed a little low, with a seriousness that was rarely seen in the past.
"SHIELD, the military and Congress have basically gotten what they want. Next, there will be the last negotiation on this incident."
"I represent the Stark Group. I know that no one will deal with these troubles for me this time. I have to learn to deal with it myself."
"I have never participated in any decent negotiations. Sometimes even if I go, I just have to sit there and wait for Uncle Obadiah to finish talking. I am just an iconic symbol. Everyone knows that I am a genius.
, so even if I show impatience or leave early, no one dares to say anything..."
"I know, I really sucked. I caused a lot of mess and trouble. I once mocked the representative on the other side as a retard, or deliberately left coffee all over the table just so I could leave early."
"I can't even remember how many times I have done this stupid thing, but I know that I can only do it by myself this time."
Stark rubbed his eyes, then rubbed his face with both hands, trying to take back the sad and lost expression. He said: "No one will do these things for me anymore, no one will go for me anymore."
Once these troubles are solved, no one will even look at my inventions or listen to me talk about my genius ideas..."
Pepper had to admit that this was the first time she had seen Stark with such a sad expression. In the past, he used to make those sad expressions to be funny or to deliberately make people happy, but now, he is really sad.
After Stark calmed down for a while, he clapped his hands and said, "Okay, so be it, I can handle all this, right?"
"I'm Stark, why can't I do it? How can these things be any more difficult than making mechas? Let's see, as long as I read all these materials and books, during the negotiations in the next few days,
I can defeat them all alone..."
Pepper felt a kind of sadness. Before this, whenever Stark acted cheating and didn't want to do anything, she felt a headache. She felt that she wasted too much time on coaxing this big child and looking forward to it.
Stark can mature quickly.
But now, when Stark calmly accepted to do things he didn't want to do, Pepper suddenly wished that he could still be as willful as before.
She didn't even know what was wrong with her. Stark had matured, which should be a good thing, but Pepper knew very well that such growth would be accompanied by severe pain and sadness. She would rather Stark not experience this kind of pain.
, live forever in a utopia.
Peto choked up. Just when she was about to say something, the phone in her pocket rang again. As a last resort, she could only leave to answer the phone. She didn't even bother to chat with Stark, and had to deal with the seemingly invisible situation again.
The end of the job.
Stark watched Pepper leave. His pain and helplessness reached its peak. He put one hand on the experimental table and covered his eyes. He had never felt that the dark night in New York was so dark.
Long.
When he concentrated on the experiment, the whole night seemed to fly by with a snap of his fingers. Before he could finish a small part of the experiment, it was dawn. At that time, he would always complain that this kind of pure and happy time was
Short-lived.
But today's night seemed like it would never end, as if no matter how long he suffered here, the sun would never rise.
In the dim and dark room, Stark thought, what the book said makes sense. In this world, not everything can be done wearing a mecha. Social humans cannot survive without social rules. As long as he still lives in
In this society, you must follow some social rules.
Before, Stark felt that he didn't have to obey at all, didn't have to think about anything, and could live as he pleased every day, but now he found that someone just paid the price of following the rules for him.
Only if they paid the price first, Stark could always live in this warm eggshell without thinking about anything.
Stark actually knew that Pepper worked until midnight every day to deal with the sexy news for him, and Obadiah had to clean up various messes for him more than once.
But since the kidnapping case, reality has been like a heavy hammer, directly smashing open the shell of this young bird, letting the cold wind of reality blow on his ungrown feathers, causing him to turn several somersaults and be stained with blood.
After being covered in mud, you still have to struggle to get up.
After those warm wings that he coveted left him, he had to face the rest by himself. The cold wind roared in this nest built on the cliff, but Stark had to learn to fly on his own.
After a while, Stark seemed to have accepted this fact. He slowly organized the scattered information on the table, then put bookmarks on various books and put them aside. He picked up one of them and continued reading.
With.
In fact, Stark didn't know if it was useful to do this. When he learned from Schiller that the bargaining chips of several parties were almost ready, and only the last step of negotiation was left to divide all the benefits, Stark
I have never felt so anxious and panicked.
In the past many years, he had never considered these things, but at least he knew that if he did nothing, it would be equivalent to giving up the entire Stark Group, his father, his uncle, and all his hard work.
If he fails to take this step, the Stark Group will only retreat again and again until it is completely divided by them.
But now, no one can turn the situation around and turn the tide in this situation, except for Stark himself.
In the past many years of his life, he did not need to consider anyone else's feelings at all, and now he is about to participate in a negotiation that may be the highest level in the country. There are lawmakers who have been in politics for many years and are powerful politicians, and some who are hiding behind the scenes.
, the strategizing agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the military leader who is aggressive and greedy.
And Stark, in this situation, is like a primary school student who suddenly participated in a doctoral forum. He has no theoretical knowledge or practical experience, and he can't even read people's faces. Stark can already imagine
, the messy actions he used in the past will have no effect other than allowing these evil wolves to make a fuss about it and bite off an extra piece of meat.
He must learn to be calm, learn to remain calm, and learn to use wisdom and skills to complete a war without smoke on a battlefield without the sound of artillery fire.
It's not easy, and it's no easier than waging a real war.
Stark was like a newborn baby. Under Schiller's advice, he could only start with theory.
Not all politicians know these things, but relatively, they have rich practical experience.
But Stark is a blank sheet of paper in this regard, but fortunately, he is a genius Stark, and his brain allows him to write down all the knowledge in a very short time, even if there is no time
Let him practice and master it, but having this knowledge in his mind is better than not having it at all.
Stark felt that what Schiller said made sense. Since he had decided to bow his head and decided to study these theories that he didn't bother to read at all and thought they were full of empty talk, he would read them as quickly as possible and read them.
Try to understand.
The former is not difficult. Stark's genius brain allows him to memorize several books almost in one night. When his brain works at its peak, he has a photographic memory.
But after reading it, memorizing it and understanding it and applying it are completely different things. After Stark memorized it, he still had to think about how to act based on the popularity and relationship information.
How will some of them react to certain topics? What are the intricate subdivisions within the same force? Which relationships can be exploited? Why are some people's bottom lines lower than others? Some people are willing to pay
Why are the chips of others higher than those of others?
These questions almost overwhelmed Stark. Even if he was a super genius, he could not learn the essence of human knowledge overnight.
More importantly, sometimes game theory and psychology seem more like mysticism, because human nature is always mysterious and elusive. Using all theories to analyze will only get more and more wrong answers, and everything depends on
The on-the-spot reaction really put Stark under great pressure.
Finally, in the deep darkness of New York, Stark muttered: "You are a genius... Stark, you are a super genius... There will be no one smarter than you in this world, of course you are fine...
"
Then, as the words gradually disappeared, he fell into sleep. At this time, a purple-red glow just lit up on the New York skyline.
