Chapter 51

Unfortunately, Spider-Man had no intention of going for a drink with him, leaving only a warning behind.

“Don’t dress like you’re going to a banquet—you’re not cut out for this line of work.”

“What do you mean?”

Tony stared at the man, utterly baffled.

“I’ve seen many people who, after gaining a bit of special ability, rush out to show off.”

Spider-Man gave him a long, solemn look, his voice unusually low: “But a true superhero isn’t defined by power—it’s defined by an unshakable heart. A friend told me that. I hope you understand the weight of this responsibility, instead of recklessly wielding this power today and causing unnecessary damage.”

“Superhero? Me?”

Tony pointed at himself, thinking this joke had gone too far: “Hey, kid, I don’t need you lecturing me—and I’ve never wanted to be some superhero!”

He’d only come to test the armor’s flight function—how had he suddenly been labeled a superhero?

As if realizing he’d said too much, Spider-Man gave a self-deprecating chuckle: “Sorry—I must’ve been mistaken. My mood’s been off these past few days. Goodbye, Iron Man.”

With that, Spider-Man shot a web from his wrist, leapt into the air, swung a few times, and vanished from Tony’s sight.

“JARVIS, if I didn’t imagine it, didn’t he just jump nearly ten meters?” This time, it was Tony who was stunned—he’d watched Spider-Man leap straight up from the ground and land on the factory roof, which stood a full ten meters high!

“Sir, precisely thirty feet.” JARVIS replied.

“What the hell—why have I never noticed there are so many people like this?”

Tony suddenly felt strange—he couldn’t shake the feeling that since his kidnapping, the world had changed completely!

From Alvin being able to control objects at will, to tonight’s lizard-like mutant, to that man in the spider suit who jumped ten meters high.

Either he was insane—or the world was.

“Sir, perhaps what you’re seeing now is the world’s true form?” JARVIS spoke slowly, as if sensing Tony’s thoughts.

Suddenly, shrill sirens blared outside the factory.

Clearly, such a large object falling from the sky couldn’t go unnoticed—the police cars were already heading this way.

“Let’s head back for now.”

Tony frowned deeply; the joy he’d felt testing the armor had largely vanished, replaced now by grim seriousness.

If the police found a man in the factory dressed like War Machine, he’d likely be front-page news by morning.

He didn’t want his hard-won creation to fall into the hands of the damned parasites in the Department of Defense and the military, so he activated his energy pack. With powerful thrust flames, he shot into the night sky like a streaking meteor of fire, vanishing from the police’s view.

“Welcome back, genius kid.”

Alvin sat in the living room, watching Tony’s disheveled return, unable to resist mocking him: “You should be grateful you’re still alive—if you’d waited half a second longer, you’d be a puddle of goo now.”

Even though he knew Tony wouldn’t die so easily, accidents could still happen!

If he’d actually died from a headfirst crash and the Navigator System suddenly notified him, “Congratulations, you’ve eliminated the most crucial character in the Marvel Universe. Source Power +10086,” would he cry or laugh?

“At least I found a flaw, didn’t I?” Tony brushed off the near-death incident with indifference: “Only by discovering flaws can you correct them in time. From that perspective, I can only say you don’t understand science at all!”

“Oh sure, sure—that’s how science works, just focus on the research.” Alvin shot back: “But we’re different—I’m terrified you’ll one day kill yourself playing around!”

Let's be honest, solving problems with formulas is so much faster!

“Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about science?”

Tony’s face flushed red—he’d never won an argument with Alvin since they met.

“Don’t get worked up—come on... to your safe return, cheers!” Alvin deftly dodged the issue, raising a glass and handing it over.

Tony, tired of arguing, took the glass and drank, then seemed to recall something, staring at Alvin slowly: “I just met... two very unusual people.”

“What kind of people?”

Alvin asked casually.

“I can’t really describe them.” Tony drained his glass, his expression serious: “JARVIS, play back the footage from earlier—you’ll see for yourself.”

A pale blue projection began playing in the living room.

Alvin, who had initially paid little attention, froze when he saw Spider-Man and the lizard-like humanoid form on screen—his whole demeanor shifted.

Wait—Spider-Man?!

Wasn’t the movie universe’s Spider-Man supposed to only gain powers and debut in the final Avengers film?

The timeline should be 2008—how had Spider-Man suddenly appeared?

And now even Doctor Lizard was here—what the hell was going on?

Noticing Alvin’s strange expression, Tony’s eyes lit up: “You know something, don’t you, Alvin?”

Alvin cleared his throat twice to mask his shock: “No, no—I was just startled seeing a lizard-man and someone in a spider suit. Why would you think I know anything about this?”

“Uh... genius intuition.”

Tony slumped back onto the sofa, rubbing his throbbing temples: “Alvin, I keep feeling that since I came back from being kidnapped, the world has changed drastically—things I never saw before are slowly appearing.”

“Don’t overthink it, Tony.”

Alvin soothed him gently: “How many strange people could there really be? Tonight was just a coincidence.”

In truth, he knew Tony’s feeling was correct.

Or rather—since Tony Stark created the Iron Armor, the gears of the entire Marvel Universe had begun slowly turning, pushed forward by some unseen force.

“Is that so? Then... what about you?”

Tony turned sharply, staring intently at him, speaking slowly and deliberately: “I’ve investigated your identity. You leave no trace in this world—you appeared out of nowhere. And you possess so many unknown technologies. Alvin Valthius... who are you really?”

“A wandering traveler, a not-so-sharp merchant.”

Alvin raised his glass, smiling warmly at Tony, his eyes clear: “And... Tony Stark’s friend. That’s all.”