In this villa, Victor lived a "regular" life, being a slacker during the day and playing games at night.
In the other villa, Tony was like a man who had discovered a new continent, pestering Pepper, trying to get "a certain liquid" from her.
But Pepper sternly refused him every time.
This drove Tony crazy.
It wasn't just because Pepper refused him.
It was because Pepper, who had never refused him before, was now firmly rejecting his request because of a promise to another man!
Simply put, he was jealous.
The competitive nature in his genes surged, and Tony thought of various ways to try and get the briefcase Pepper carried with her.
In the past, Tony was always the victor.
This time, however, was vastly different.
Pepper's stance was unyielding; no matter how Tony tried with both soft and hard tactics, she remained unmoved, holding the briefcase containing the two virus tubes even while sleeping, giving him no opportunity.
The results of the drug test had come out very early; although Pepper couldn't understand them, Stark Industries had plenty of people who could.
The efficacy was indeed exactly as Victor had described!
Pepper had also consulted with experts in the field of cardiac surgery, and with the assistance of the "Pufferfish Virus" and "Self-Healing Virus," the success rate of removing the shrapnel from Tony's blood vessels was as high as 98%.
The remaining 2% of accidents were due to unforeseen events such as power outages, earthquakes, or attacks.
As for the surgery itself, the success rate was 100%!
While excited, Pepper was even more grateful and trusting of Victor.
Therefore, she was absolutely determined to keep her promise, even if Tony promised to only re-examine it and not reverse-engineer the formula.
Heh.
Tony, you big scoundrel, can your words be trusted?
He even dared to conceal the news of his impending death before; if it weren't for Victor, the consequences... it would have been too much!
Seeing that he couldn't get what he wanted from Pepper, Tony, in a fit of pique, took Happy and ran to Victor's villa.
In short.
Victor was a bit surprised when he heard Alice report in the game room that Tony had come to visit.
That guy had been made to almost shut down twice by him; hadn't he blacklisted him yet?
He glanced at Wanda, who was still earnestly controlling her hero, and the intense team fight... Victor whispered, "Alice, have Hadi take him to the second reception room first. Don't let him meet Pietro. Just say I have important matters to attend to and will be there shortly."
Wanda, wearing gaming headphones, didn't hear Victor's words and remained focused on the game, controlling the Dark Ranger to rack up kills. The slight advantage Victor had painstakingly maintained was instantly overturned.
Tony or no Tony, he immediately cast it aside and charged into the team fight to snatch kills.
Ten minutes later.
The game was not yet over when the door to the game room was rudely pushed open. Tony, with a fierce look on his face, rushed in, followed by Happy and Felicia, who was being held back by Happy.
Victor's face instantly darkened.
No need to guess.
Tony must have gotten impatient and wandered around the villa himself. With Happy blocking her, Felicia couldn't stop him at all.
Felicia hastily tried to explain, but Victor raised a hand to cut her off.
Before he could speak.
Tony had already sarcastically blurted out, "So your 'important matter' is playing games with a little girl? Ha! What a 'heavy' matter indeed!"
When saying the latter half of the sentence, Tony's gaze briefly swept over Wanda's chest.
Under normal circumstances, if Wanda were looked at like that by someone else, she would have blushed deeply.
But not this time.
Her face was also flushed, but her glare at Tony was extremely fierce. She even forgot about playing the game, her delicate fingers gripping the mouse turning white, veins bulging, and the heavy weight of her chest heaving violently.
This was also why Tony immediately noticed the "important part."
This kind of meeting was not in Victor's plan, which made him very annoyed by the disrupted arrangement.
Incidentally.
His gaze towards Tony also became much less friendly.
But fortunately, the situation was still under control.
Standing up and blocking Wanda, Victor looked at Tony with cold eyes, his attitude annoyed.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to barge into other people's homes?"
"My grandmother never let me go to strangers' houses," Tony brought up the "daddy joke" again.
"I'm starting to regret agreeing to Pepper to save you. People like you don't deserve sympathy; you should be left to fend for yourself," Victor said coldly.
"Ha, even without you, I could find a solution myself. You're just meddling," Tony was equally irritable.
"Hadi, inform Pepper. I'm taking back my gift."
"Wait!" Tony suddenly tensed. "Hey kid, how can you take back something you've given away?"
He wasn't afraid of death; he was mainly afraid that Pepper would find out he had messed up her efforts.
Seeing Tony back down, Victor snorted lightly.
I can still deal with you.
"Hadi, you accompany Wanda back to her room. I'll have a talk with this uninvited guest."
After settling Wanda, Victor walked towards the door, ignoring Tony who was blocking the way, and prepared to walk straight into him.
Tony, after comparing their physiques and Victor's build after being hit by his "Heavenly Calamity," very decisively chickened out. He turned around and left the room first, quickly heading to the living room.
Victor, however, ignored him and walked in the opposite direction towards the dining room.
Tony was "leading the way" and looked back to see Victor's back almost gone, so angry that his nose nearly twisted.
He had finally gained some initiative, and you actually changed the meeting place without permission! Who talks to guests in the kitchen?!—Don't ask how Tony knew that was the dining room; it was a gift of photographic memory.
Tony really wanted to just leave. How could he, the great Tony Stark, be led by the nose by someone else?
But Pepper's resolute face flashed through his mind... he hesitated for a few seconds.
Tony still lifted his foot and walked towards the dining room, and as he passed Happy, he told him not to follow—he had never gotten the upper hand with Victor, and any potentially embarrassing situations that might follow shouldn't be seen by his subordinate.
Wait!
Why am I even starting to consider this question? I'm a great genius! How could I lose to that mutant of unknown origin!
In the dining room.
Victor was eating a small cake by himself, not even bothering to look up at the arriving Tony.
"Alright, what do you want?" Victor cut straight to the chase.
If this guy stayed in the villa, who knows when Wanda and Pietro might erupt and "take him out." Although it was unlikely with him there, the relationship would truly sour.
Victor's impolite tone once again angered Tony.
No one dared to ignore Tony Stark like that!
This made the pampered man recall his time in the cave months ago, and he now didn't want to stay in this villa for another moment.
He pulled out a checkbook and threw it in front of Victor, haughtily saying, "Fill in any number you want. I'm buying the formulas for those two biopharmaceuticals!"
Hmph!
In this world, there is nothing that cannot be solved by money; if there is, it means there isn't enough money!
In this world, is there anyone richer than him, Tony Stark?
Hmm... Victor really wanted to say, yes.
But he didn't hear Tony's thoughts, so he didn't retort.
He slowly put down his spoon, glanced at the arrogant Tony, and uncharacteristically didn't retort. Instead, he reached for the checkbook, used his telekinesis to grab a pen, and began filling in numbers.
Tony snorted disdainfully, proudly raised his head, and pointed his nostrils at Victor.
He had acted so smug before, but now he still succumbed to money, didn't he?
Foolish mortal!
A few seconds later.
Victor stopped writing and said to Tony, who was still holding his head high, "I've filled in the number. You can sign it now."
Tony again snorted disdainfully, took the checkbook, pulled out a signing pen from his pocket, and was about to sign his name when his peripheral vision caught the amount filled in, and his movements froze in mid-air.
American checks are different from Chinese ones; they don't use traditional Chinese numerals but English, so even a large amount can be written.
However.
The amount "One hundred million trillion" actually filled the entire amount field!
And you managed to write it all down!
Tony, who had been as proud as a peacock just moments ago, slammed the checkbook onto the table and roared in anger, "Are you out of your mind? Do you know how much money that is? Why don't you just rob all the banks in America?"
Victor calmly took a bite of cake and leisurely said, "Robbing American banks is too much trouble. I can just rob yours. Aren't you very rich? Then sign it, and I'll hand over the formulas with both hands."
Tony's hand, gripping the signing pen, trembled. He glared at Victor, breathing heavily like an ox.
He, Tony Stark, was rich.
But do you know how much "One hundred million trillion" is?
One hundred million trillion US dollars!
Not one hundred million US dollars, not one trillion US dollars, but a full one hundred million trillion US dollars!!!
Damn it!
One trillion = one hundred million x one hundred million.
One hundred million trillion = one hundred million x one hundred million x one hundred million.
Forget about his Stark Industries, even all of America, all of North America, couldn't scrape together that much money!
You shameless bastard, you dare to ask me for one hundred million trillion US dollars?!
Why don't you just ask for the Earth directly?
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PS: 2800-word chapter.