Chapter 19: Check-in: Warding Totem! Tony's Headache and Worries!

After seeing Gwen off.

Su Yi checked the time and prepared to get off work.

When the time reached five in the afternoon, Su Yi closed the office door, turned around, and left.

"Check-in." Su Yi recited silently in his heart.

【Check-in successful!】

【Obtained: Warding Totem x3】

"Warding Totem?"

【Warding Totem: After activating the totem, within a certain range, any line of sight, detection, perception, or psychic ability from outside the range, including electronic devices, will fail to function unless they enter the range!】

He read the item description.

Su Yi immediately understood what kind of item this was.

"A Warding Eye from Runeterra."

Not bad, a pretty good thing.

Su Yi nodded with satisfaction.

There are three in total.

He'd stick one in the office and one at home, and then he wouldn't have to worry about any external surveillance.

Otherwise, with things like cameras.

Any camera in the world—J. A. R. V. I. S., Ultron, Vision—those beings could just look in whenever they wanted.

Could you really feel at ease with one installed at home?

Wouldn't that be a live broadcast?

Time moved on to evening.

Inside the Avengers Alliance base.

Wanda stared at the business card Tony had given her, lost in thought.

She took out her phone and searched the address.

The result showed it was right in the most bustling Manhattan area of New York.

Honestly.

Wanda didn't want to go to a place like that right now.

There was no shortage of cursing her online either.

That one mistake she made trying to save Captain America had indirectly killed more people than the mission was meant to save!

So the internet was also cursing Wanda.

Calling her an evil witch.

Calling her all sorts of things, and so on and so forth.

This had led Wanda to have two thoughts now.

One: never use any powers again.

Two: never go to crowded places again.

She just wanted to find a place with few people and live alone; that would be enough.

However...

Deep down, Wanda also wanted to live a normal life.

To go out normally.

To have fun normally.

To be happy normally...

For these things...

Maybe she had to give it a try.

And the way to try was...

Wanda lowered her head and picked up the wooden business card.

Then she put it in her pocket, stood up, and laid out the clothes she would wear tomorrow.

A pair of ordinary blue jeans.

A gray, oversized hoodie with a hood.

That way, she wouldn't be recognized as the Scarlet Witch the moment she walked down the street.

It would also save a lot of trouble.

Meanwhile.

Inside the brand-new Stark Tower.

Tony Stark sat in a chair, looking at the citizen feedback Friday had collected, and felt a headache coming on.

First of all, J. A. R. V. I. S. was already gone.

He had become the current Vision.

Furthermore.

The data and future projections Friday gave were extremely serious.

At this very moment.

Already half of the voices about superheroes online were not positive.

And among those who supported superheroes.

Most of them were fans of a particular hero, not of the very definition of "superhero."

For instance, Iron Man; for instance, Captain America.

As for those negative pieces of information.

It's either insults or opposition; that's all there is.

"Haa~~~"

Tony sighed.

He crossed one arm over his chest while the other supported his forehead.

"Sir, based on calculations, there are two most effective methods to quell societal opposition."

Tony kept his hand on his forehead without moving: "Which two?"

"One: The Chouzhelian Alliance resolves a world-ending crisis, letting society know that only superheroes are the final insurance."

"Two: The Chouzhelian Alliance goes into hiding; given the speed of online information iteration, dissenting voices would drop by 70% in about one year, approaching the optimal value after three years."

"Or fully expose the Chouzhelian Alliance's internal activities, only then can the entire society feel reassured."

Facing such an answer.

Tony helplessly shook his head.

"Saying that is the same as saying nothing."

Friday is an artificial intelligence.

It can calculate the answer correctly; indeed, this is the answer.

But these two answers are impossible things.

At least, they cannot be done in the short term.

The Chouzhelian Alliance had gathered with great difficulty.

Moreover, they had just stopped a disaster.

Although this disaster was also largely Tony's fault, isn't reality just like that? Succeed and you're covered in honor; fail and you're utterly disgraced...

Without any turning point.

Effort seems only to backfire.

Tony looked at a piece of equipment on the table.

This was a panel for neural networks and intelligent control.

It was made by him and Banner together.

But now Banner is gone too.