Chapter 203: Falling

Time passed bit by bit, and in the blink of an eye, it reached the end of 2001. In a few more days, it would reach 2002.

In the distant outer space, a spaceship slowly drifted over from the dead space.

The silver-white shell and streamlined fuselage made it look so aesthetically pleasing. And just as it approached Earth, several satellites slowly approached the spaceship, and countless signals were emitted from the satellites, covering the entire spaceship.

However, this spaceship seemed as if it had not received any signals, continuing to fly toward Earth under the encirclement of many satellites. And just as it entered Earth's orbit, the spaceship suddenly fell. The surface of the spaceship ignited a layer of red flames, just like a crashed satellite, falling rapidly.

Ye Nan sat at his desk, staring blankly at the pile of documents.

"Simila, do you think I should hire a CEO to manage the entire ICQ company?" Ye Nan rubbed his temples and said to Simila, who accompanied him day and night.

It was almost the New Year, and there were extra documents. Not only did he need to sign for the strategies of major companies for the coming year, but he also needed to sign for employee benefits. For him, these few days were definitely the busiest.

"I also think you should hire a CEO to handle these trivial matters." Hearing Ye Nan say he wanted to hire a CEO, Simila immediately became happy, because Ye Nan hiring a CEO meant he could be liberated from work and have more time to accompany her and Sister Angela.

During this time, Ye Nan stayed in the office every day and hadn't seen Sister Angela for a long time. This made her feel dissatisfied, but she also knew this was Ye Nan's work requirement, so she swallowed all her dissatisfaction.

"You seem very happy." Ye Nan stopped his pen and teased Simila, who was happy. "Do you think I'm dragging down the development of the ICQ company?"

"No, no." Simila shook her head violently. "I'm just worried you're too tired. Look at Stark; that's what you call living."

"Him?" Ye Nan scoffed at Simila's words. "Now his troubles are endless."

Ever since defeating Obadiah, Stark and Spider-Man had acted as firefighters, catching bad guys everywhere. They even expanded the scope of their arrests globally. From American superheroes, they became global superheroes. The title of world police seemed like it should be transferred from the U. S. government to Stark.

And Stark later announced his identity, admitting before the media that he was Iron Man, and arrogantly made the statement that with him around, the U. S. government could just sit on the sidelines and drink tea.

And the consequence of doing this was that he had to deal with challenges from many guys who dreamed of becoming famous. Plus, his relationship with Potts had some unknown problems, and the U. S. government wanted to take the iron suit technology from his hands. Now, he could be said to be overwhelmed.

"Speaking of which, I haven't been in touch with him for a long time. Why, what is he doing now?" Ye Nan suddenly smiled. "I really want to see what he looks like now."

"He is recently holding his Stark Expo, which I heard will last for a year," Simila replied. "As for what he is doing now, I think I can find out."

"Oh, found it. Our poor Mr. Stark seems to have ended up at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing."

Simila laughed heartlessly. From the first time she saw Stark, she hadn't given this playboy any good looks, because Stark wanted to study her core program.

"Senate Armed Services Committee hearing? It seems our Mr. Stark is indeed in trouble." Ye Nan laughed gloatingly. "Show me his expression now; he must be very distressed."

He had also been subpoenaed by this thing called the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, but he ignored it. No matter how many subpoenas the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing sent, he treated them as trash.

"Okay." One could see a virtual screen displayed in front of Ye Nan, and the scene inside the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was all captured by Ye Nan.

Ye Nan saw Stark whispering and chatting with a female guest, one hand unconsciously touching the female guest, making her laugh repeatedly.

"This Stark, even at this time, dares to tease a female guest. It seems he is fearless." Ye Nan shook his head, but it was also true; this hearing seemed to decide the life and death of Stark Industries, but in reality, it had no effect at all. As long as Stark refused to admit it, this hearing couldn't do anything to him.

"Stark, do you possess special weapons?" the hearing chairman asked.

"No, I don't." Stark replied. "In fact, my suit is not a special weapon at all; it is actually a high-tech prosthetic."

Haha...

Stark's words immediately caused the hearing to burst into laughter. All the guest senators were amused by Stark.

"Don't laugh, don't laugh." Stark said seriously, "Actually, this is the most accurate definition I can give it."

"This is a weapon, Mr. Stark." A senator stood up abruptly and loudly refuted Stark's words.

"Come on, if you really put the interests of the American people first..."

Before Stark finished speaking, he was interrupted by the hearing chairman, who was worried that Stark would come to other absurd conclusions. "I hope you can hand over the iron suit to the American people."

"Finally here." Stark sneered in his heart. He knew that the key point of the hearing had finally arrived. He immediately said, "This is impossible. I am Iron Man, the suit is with me. Handing over the suit is equivalent to handing over myself. What is the difference between this and enslaving good people and forcing them into prostitution? So you don't need to count on it, unless you use violence to threaten me, just like the military used violence to threaten Ye Nan back then."

As soon as Stark's words came out, the expressions of the senators sitting above changed immediately. The lesson from the military family was right before their eyes. They didn't dare to stir up trouble again and challenge the nerves of the American public while the storm had not yet been completely forgotten by the American people.

"This Stark, actually using me as an example." Ye Nan shook his head but wasn't very angry. Facts proved that getting angry with a playboy like Stark would only make oneself angry.

"This... I..." On the forehead of the hearing chairman, drops of sweat fell. He didn't know how to respond to Stark's words, and he just sat there, feeling somewhat uneasy.

"Of course you wouldn't. You are not a pimp forcing good people into prostitution; you are a senator, a senator elected by the American people." Stark gently gave the hearing chairman a way out, while simultaneously dissolving the tense atmosphere lightly.

"Yes... yes..." The hearing chairman stopped and said nothing more.

"I don't know much about weapons, but we have a weapons expert here." A senator took over from the chairman. "I think our Mr. Hammer can bring us some of his views on the iron suit."

"Hehehe." Hammer stood up and laughed dryly. "My dear Mr. Stark, we haven't seen each other for a long time."

"Hammer?" Stark scoffed. "If he can be considered a weapons expert, then everyone in this world is a weapons expert."

"Hehe. I am different from you, Stark." Hammer drank a cup of tea and continued, "Our Mr. Iron Man, perhaps I am not a weapons expert, but someone is."

"Mr. Howard Stark. That is your father, Mr. Stark. He is the real weapons expert."

"He is the predecessor of all of us, and even more so the father of the military industry. But he is not some peace guardian; he is a lion. A strong lion."

"The content of this hearing is very clear: in the second half of the year, our Mr. Stark created a weapon, a secret weapon."

"But he insists that this weapon is for defense. He makes us, who are trembling with fear, believe his words." As he spoke, Hammer made a trembling expression. "To be honest, I am very willing to believe his words, but unfortunately, this is not Canada. This world is always full of threats of death. Our Mr. Stark cannot predict all dangers. Therefore, I, on behalf of the American people, implore our Mr. Stark to contribute the iron suit and truly make a contribution to America's security cause."

"Alright, I'll stop here. Thank you."

"God bless America, and also bless our dear Iron Man."

Hammer looked at Stark hypocritically, the pride in his eyes unable to be hidden.

"This guy named Hammer is really interesting. He still hasn't given up, actually bribing so many senators to hold such a hearing. Simila, tell me, should I help our poor Mr. Stark and help him get out of his current predicament?"

Hammer was an arms dealer of similar age to Stark. He controlled an arms industry of similar scale to Stark Industries, but unlike Stark Industries, his arms industry didn't have a genius like Stark, so the profit was less than one-tenth of Stark Industries.

However, this arms dealer Hammer was very shrewd and good at conspiracies. Obadiah's investment failure also had a lot to do with this arms dealer stirring up trouble behind the scenes.

"Of course not... wait, Ye Nan, there is new intelligence. Our outer space has been invaded." As Simila was speaking, her expression suddenly changed, and the screen in front of her also shifted from the hearing to outer space.

One could only see a floating spaceship slowly approaching Earth. The reason it was called floating was because it hadn't turned on any power system at all.

"Where did this spaceship come from, what is its purpose, is there any way to communicate with it?" Ye Nan asked.

"I don't know where it came from. I only know it just broke into the monitoring range of the satellites. As for communication, it's completely useless. The signals I sent out had no response at all. I suspect something happened inside this spaceship, causing all the passengers inside to die."

"All dead? What's the reason?" Ye Nan asked in a deep voice.

"Look at this spaceship; it is approaching Earth completely by floating. It hasn't turned on its power system at all. In addition, the signals we sent out, they didn't respond. If there were people inside, even if the signal couldn't be distinguished, there would definitely be some response. But it, it violated common sense and had no response at all."

Suddenly, the spaceship in the picture fell toward Earth. Because of the friction between the surface of the spaceship and the atmosphere, violent burning occurred. Looking from afar, it was like a meteor that suddenly broke into Earth.

"Calculate the crash site of the spaceship. Regardless of whether there are people inside, I have to go over and take a look. Perhaps this time is an opportunity for our ICQ company, an opportunity that can let us rush into the universe." ===== CHAPTER 204 =====