Chapter 105: The Genius Sets Forth Again (Part 2)

“Wait!! You planned for me to use this method all along???? Then why did you make me read so many books????”

Shiler was pressing a headphone into Stark’s ear; Stark dodged and said, “This is cheating!!!! Damn it!! Don’t do that!! My ears! I’ve already learned all that stuff—I don’t need...”

“You really think you can learn everything I studied from college through my Ph.D. in a few nights?”

“You’ve been planning to be an outside coach all along!!!! You liar! You told me if I didn’t learn this stuff, Stark Industries would be finished!!!!”

“That was just the big picture, and I wasn’t wrong—you’ll have to learn this stuff someday, so why not yesterday?” Shiler said.

Ignoring Stark’s squirming, Shiler still pressed one headphone into Stark’s ear and said, “Don’t overreact—I’m just an outside translator. It’s common, right?”

“My Healing Game”

Steve said from the side, “Actually, politicians do this too when they negotiate—they have entire advisory teams behind them, even during important interviews, they wear these headphones. Of course, in my time, the equipment was far more expensive and rare—only the most important few had them...”

Stark frantically fiddled with the headphone in his ear, as if bitten by fleas, and said, “Damn it! Then why did you make the atmosphere so desperate before? Why did you shove so many books at me? I stayed up all night memorizing every single one!”

“Exactly. If I hadn’t done this, you’d never have looked at them once in your life,” Shiler said.

“Alright, forget all that—but are you sure this actually works?”

“Damn it... I should’ve figured this out sooner! You bloodsucking doctor! If I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have used these outdated headphones—I’d have built a far more advanced, full surveillance system...”

Stark slapped his forehead in regret and said, “Why didn’t I think of this before?! I could’ve just had you do it for me! I could’ve just been a parrot at the meeting—if you know it, doesn’t that mean I know it too?!”

Stark was genuinely angry—but not at Shiler. He was furious at himself for not seeing it sooner.

Of course, it was also Shiler’s fault. When Stark came to him for help, he was desperate, and Shiler used a serious tone and rhetoric to trap Stark in a mental loop, making him believe that not knowing these things was abnormal.

Had Stark paid attention to worldly affairs, he’d have known that Obadiah also had a full think tank—Stark Industries could never have been run by Obadiah’s mind alone.

Stark was a billionaire—he didn’t need to know these things. He had money, and plenty of people who did. If he’d spent this entire day hiring advisors, he’d already have assembled a dream team.

But Shiler’s manipulation made him feel he was paying for the consequences of his past recklessness, so he never considered his own financial power or genius-level scientific ability.

Not to mention—he could’ve written an AI emotion-analysis system faster than memorizing all those books.

“Is this psychology?! You liar!!” Stark gritted his teeth. “You studied psychology just to trap people in these situations so they’ll pay you a fortune to fix them?!!”

“Don’t paint me as some unethical quack.”

“Aren’t you an unethical quack?”

“I’m a bit unethical, but definitely not a quack.”

“Mr. Stark, the car has arrived,” JARVIS reminded. “The meeting begins at 10:30. You’re scheduled to arrive at 10:20.”

“Alright, alright, fine,” Stark still looked tense. “There’s no other choice.”

Shiler patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Once you get there, you’ll realize you’re not the odd one out.”

Stark got in the car and soon arrived at the negotiation venue. He was late—most people were already seated.

Stark glanced around and noticed almost everyone wore headphones. Some openly used laptops for video calls, the screens showing entire teams seated at conference tables—clearly miniature meeting rooms.

Stark said to JARVIS, “Deduct Shiler’s consultation fee... deduct it all!!!! Don’t let me see his name on the year-end financial report!!!! That damn bastard tricked me!!!!”

JARVIS said, “Headphones connected for thirteen minutes.”

Shiler’s voice came through Stark’s earpiece: “You can deduct all the previous fees if you want, but political consultation services are billed at $200,000 per minute...”

“Shit! You bloodsucking doctor!”

“If you refuse, I’m hanging up right now.”

“No! No no... wait! Maybe we can negotiate—$200,000 is too much, but don’t hang up—the negotiation’s about to start. What should I say?”

Meanwhile, in the psychological clinic, Peter and Steve sat at the table listening to Stark’s anxious voice. Steve was gleeful, but Peter felt uneasy. He said, “That’s a bit too expensive, Doctor. Maybe we could lower the price...”

“You’re now part of Stark’s advisory team. When the payment clears, we split it fifty-fifty.”

Before Peter could say more, Stark’s voice came again: “Hello? Hello? The negotiation’s starting—what do I do?”

“Do nothing. Just wait. For the first thirty minutes, you can zone out completely. Don’t even listen to what they say.”

“Really? That works?” Stark was clearly in a state of high tension—he’d never seriously participated in such a setting before, and felt he had to immediately prove himself.

“Trust me. Just sit still.”

Stark sat there skeptically, and soon realized Shiler was right: the first speaker began by talking about World War II.

The military representative began reminiscing about the glory days of Pearl Harbor. Before twenty minutes passed, Stark was nearly asleep. This speaker managed to turn even classic battles into a dull laundry list, repeating the same hollow, glorified rhetoric about military achievements.

No one could stay awake through such a speech for ten minutes. By the end of the military’s first round, more than half the room was dozing off.

Next up was the SHIELD representative. The moment he opened his mouth, Stark wanted to pass out—he started with the Iron Curtain speech.

The SHIELD agent was slightly better—he knew every detail of intelligence operations and special forces history. But Stark thought: I’m here to negotiate, not to study modern history.

Around forty minutes in, it was Stark’s turn. Shiler said, “Open the first script. Read it aloud. That’s all.”

Stark opened the script and went blind—because it began with the Industrial Revolution.

He read for a full twenty minutes, stumbling through it, and when he finished, he opened his earpiece and said, “Good God... this is the first time I’ve fully understood Stark Industries’ history...”

What crushed Stark was that it wasn’t over. Next, the military resumed, going on for another twenty minutes about future army organization, weapon system development, and the possibility of World War III.

The SHIELD agent followed suit, endlessly droning on about the importance of intelligence agencies operating independently from oversight, future individual soldier combat, information warfare, and the path to building a global intelligence network...

Stark whispered into his earpiece: “I want half off this consultation fee—this has zero practical value. It’s nothing like what I expected...”

“What did you expect?” Shiler’s voice came through the earpiece. “A dark room full of conspiracy theories?”

“You need to understand one thing: this negotiation is just a formality,” Shiler said.

Everyone knows what cards the other side is holding. Everyone knows what cards they themselves hold. The outcome was decided before it even began. Even if you had acted like your old self—ignoring everything, hearing nothing—the result wouldn’t have changed.

It felt even more absurd than learning all those theoretical concepts, as if you’d trained in every flashy martial art, only to defeat your enemy with a single punch.

When it came time for Stark to envision the future, he’d learned to close his eyes and read the script mechanically—even though the jargon about industrial development seemed like nonsense to him.

The script mashed together obscure terms to invent grand-sounding phrases, just like a tech scammer. But Stark shut down his mind and read it through without a flicker of emotion.

Then came the cordial exchange. One elderly general with gray hair said to Stark, “I remember the golden age of Stark Industries. Your family were all geniuses—your father was, and so are you. Back then, his hovercars shocked everyone. But you know, the military, due to conservative needs, never partnered with him. We truly regret it...”

Before Stark could respond, Shiler whispered in his ear: “He’s insulting your father for being useless and saying you’re worse than him. Insult him back.”

Stark paused, then mimicked Shiler’s tone: “Indeed. I believe most in the military, like your honorable self, have long-term vision—but this era is advancing too quickly...”

At the far end of the table, Nick Fury said: “In large-scale ground invasions, conventional weapons still have value. While powered armor enhances individual combat, in group operations, compatibility must still be considered...”

Shiler’s voice came through: “He’s giving you an opening to ease tensions. Smile back at him.”

Stark smiled at Nick. Nick shuddered, covered in goosebumps—he thought Stark was acting weirder than ever today.

Both the military and SHIELD noticed Stark was acting odd, so they cut straight to the main topic earlier than usual.

Stark realized the actual negotiation topic took less than one-tenth of the entire meeting.

First, Nick Fury pointed out that the military might have kidnapped Connors. The military retaliated, accusing SHIELD of staging it. They bickered back and forth until the military lost ground and agreed to investigate certain overzealous officers.

Listening to their argument, Stark whispered into his earpiece: “Do they really not know we hid Connors?”

“The military might not, but Nick knows. He just needs this stance to show we should unite against the military. He already told me as much—you can proceed confidently...”

Next, Stark and SHIELD teamed up, overwhelming the military. They held many cards: the original Red Lizard, Connors’ potential serum, SHIELD’s evidence, and Stark Industries’ delivered powered armor.

In short, the negotiation ended quickly and absurdly—exactly as Shiler had predicted.

The military sacrificed a scapegoat: Robert’s Tarta officer faction. They were purged, the matter buried, and the military and SHIELD jointly fabricated losses to jointly demand increased defense funding.

Stark Industries would establish stable cooperation with both the military and SHIELD, supplying auxiliary exoskeleton armor and restarting medical research projects, securing a larger share of the results.

Back at the clinic, Stark yanked off his earpiece and stormed: “You damn bastard doctor...”

Before he could finish, a voice came from behind him: “You damn bastard!!! Stark...”

Stark turned. Pepper stormed in, eyes glistening with tears. He hugged her tightly—he heard her heart pounding fast.

Pepper said, “I came looking for you this morning and you were gone! Not even wearing your armor! I asked JARVIS—he wouldn’t say a word. I thought you were dead! You scared me half to death, you bastard...”

Stark held Pepper tightly, murmuring soothing words.

In the dim room, only Pepper’s quiet sobs and Stark’s muffled voice remained.

The path of a genius is always harder than others’. Stark’s sensitive soul endured more torment than ordinary people.

But at least, this fledgling bird, just preparing to leave the nest, still had branches willing to catch him when he wobbled in the biting wind.

He saw Peter, hiding behind the Xuanguan, waving and smiling at him. Shiler and Steve stood beside him.

He saw the clinic’s living room TV flicker—then a smiley face made of symbols appeared on the screen.

He thought: Stark, you really are a genius.

Not just the smartest genius in the world—but the luckiest.