Chapter 65

After anchoring the point, Alvin’s duration of stay no longer consumed any energy units.

Of course, this applied only to him alone.

If he wished to transport other people, supplies, equipment, or anything else across, energy or source power was still required.

Tony, however, acted unusually—since learning Alvin was about to leave, he vanished entirely, and even Jarvis refused to reveal anything.

Alvin found it strange, but had no spare mental bandwidth to dwell on it.

This time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, most of his arrangements concerned the future.

Whether it was the Five Compound from the Watron Group, cooperation with S.H.I.E.L.D., or Tony Stark’s investment, none would yield results in the short term.

Alvin had anticipated this and felt no great disappointment.

Once he returned, after adjusting the flow of time between the two worlds, the seeds he had planted would quickly take root and grow into towering trees.

Of course, to ensure the “seeds,” Alvin still had one thing he must do.

It was the same café, and Nick Fury was already waiting inside; Alvin entered with Black Widow accompanying him.

“I heard you’re leaving soon?”

Fury seemed unsurprised, set down his coffee, and regarded him with keen interest: “When will you return next?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a month or two. Maybe a year or two.”

With a fox like this, Alvin naturally wouldn’t be foolish enough to tell the truth—he gave a vague answer.

“Then I wish you a smooth journey, Alvin.”

At this, Fury smiled and shifted the topic to the matter at hand: “You called me here about Watron, right?”

“Director’s insight!”

Alvin raised his thumb, lavishing praise: “No wonder you’re the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.—you saw right through my little scheme.”

“......Too obvious. Tone it down.” Fury’s lip twitched as he helplessly rubbed his forehead: “Besides, you deliberately leaked the Five Compound to us precisely so S.H.I.E.L.D. could monitor Norman Osborn after you left, didn’t you?”

Alvin, his intentions exposed, showed no embarrassment and admitted freely: “Yes, that’s exactly what I thought—but you still agreed, didn’t you?”

“Why would I refuse?”

Fury smiled calmly: “If the Five Compound truly grants humans superpowers as you described, I have no reason to refuse, do I?”

“Don’t forget, I had conditions.”

Alvin toyed with a coin, smiling lightly: “Did you bring what I asked for?”

In truth, the Five Compound would inevitably be exposed sooner or later; better to reveal it proactively in exchange for more “resources.”

On the day they raided Hell’s Kitchen, he deliberately leaked the Five Compound’s existence to Fury.

That was why Fury had spent great effort, mobilizing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s connections and uniting military forces to surround Hell’s Kitchen.

This wasn’t done entirely for Tony’s sake.

After all, he couldn’t remain in the Marvel Universe forever, and human nature was the one thing hardest to control.

So Alvin devised a plan: expose the Five Compound to use S.H.I.E.L.D. to contain and monitor Norman Osborn, while extracting corresponding “compensation.”

Two birds with one stone—wasn’t that perfect?

“Of course I brought it.” Fury placed a cubic box on the table: “The Super Soldier Serum and the Infinity Formula Serum, along with their full research data.”

“And the rest?” Alvin didn’t reach for it, merely gazing steadily at him: “You know perfectly well the Five Compound’s value far exceeds these two serums.”

“You asked for too much vibranium. I can’t acquire it in such a short time.”

Fury shrugged, feigning helplessness: “Unless we raid Wakanda, even emptying S.H.I.E.L.D. won’t satisfy your demands.”

Alvin nodded without surprise—he’d never expected much to begin with: “What else? You owe me some compensation for my losses.”

“I’m starting to dislike you, Alvin.” Fury glanced at him, then pulled a case from under the table, unlocked it, and placed it directly before Alvin: “Your items: one tube of gravitonium, ten portable energy dispersal rods, and an electrostatic camouflage veil.”

Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. could squeeze out no more at this stage.

Items like obelisks were classified at the highest secrecy level—even if Alvin asked, Fury would never give them to him.

“Then, happy cooperation, Director Fury.”

Alvin smiled, closed the case, rose calmly, and offered sincere blessings: “I hope next time we meet, you’ll have even better things to offer.”

“That depends on what you’re willing to trade.”

Fury stood as well, smiling and extending his hand: “S.H.I.E.L.D. has many valuable things—if you can pay the price, I have no objection to showing them to you.”

After resolving matters with S.H.I.E.L.D., Alvin returned home thoroughly satisfied.

Carrying the large case and the vibranium box containing the two serum datasets, he drove back to his seaside villa to bid Tony a final farewell.

“You finally came back...”

As soon as he entered, he saw Tony with a forlorn expression, like a deserted little wife.

But upon closer inspection, Tony’s sunken eyes and bloodshot gaze revealed he hadn’t slept in two days.

“I was just handling some business.”

Alvin sat down and poured himself a glass of whiskey: “Did you remember what I told you?”

“Yeah, yeah, the Five Compound.”

Tony rolled his eyes, sounding impatient: “With me around, you can rest easy—no one, not S.H.I.E.L.D. or Norman Osborn, will take it!”

“Then I’m counting on you, Tony~”

Alvin drained his glass, glanced at the “time,” and said: “If that’s all, I should go. Until next time.”

“Wait.”

Suddenly, Tony called out to stop him.

“What else?”

Alvin looked at him, puzzled.

“I don’t like owing people. If you just leave like this, who knows when you’ll come back?”

As he spoke, Tony clapped his hands, a familiar mischievous grin spreading across his face: “JARVIS, give our Mr. Valthius a little surprise!”

The entire living room plunged into darkness, then a beam of light illuminated the wall.

The wall rotated like a revolving door, revealing a sleek, humanoid armor emerging from behind—its overall finish was silver-black, form-fitting and strikingly similar to the original Iron Man suit.

The triangular arc reactor on its chest glowed with warm blue light.

“Allow me to formally introduce... Mark V, Alvin’s custom model.”

Tony executed a dramatic slide step to stand before the armor, excitedly declaring: “The shell incorporates adamantium, harder than the Mark III combat model. And since you’re traveling, I added a portable mode.”

He clapped his hands.

The humanoid armor instantly transformed into a suitcase.

Tony walked over, suitcase in hand, and offered it to Alvin, who was still stunned: “It’s a birthday gift—I’m giving it to you early, Alvin.”

Alvin didn’t know what to say—he’d assumed Tony’s development progress wouldn’t yield even a comparable suit until his next return.

But... seeing Tony’s bloodshot eyes, he suddenly understood.

These past two days, Tony had vanished because he’d been working to prepare this “birthday gift” before Alvin left.

“Thank you, Tony.”

Alvin was deeply moved—no wonder Tony was the Marvel “succubus”—who could resist this?

“Wait, I almost forgot to ask.” Suddenly, he remembered something, staring at the suitcase: “You didn’t implant an AI in it, did you?”

“Of course! I specially developed an intelligent AI assistant!”

Tony proudly introduced the armor’s greatest feature: “I named it ‘Sunday.’ I’ve loaded it with extensive self-learning programs.”

Seeing Alvin’s wide eyes and open mouth, Tony assumed he was overjoyed and patted his shoulder: “Don’t worry—Sunday will soon grow into an AI second only to JARVIS.”

“No no no, I beg you, Tony!”

Alvin was terrified—he grabbed Tony’s arm: “Delete the AI assistant! Delete every single bit of it, do you understand?”

“Why?”

Tony was utterly baffled: “Isn’t an AI assistant helpful? Why delete it?”

“Because... I don’t want to die young!”

Alvin felt like crying—there was a Chaos God next door!

If this thing went to the Warhammer Universe, it would be corrupted by Chaos in seconds—possibly even becoming an electronic demon!

“????”

Tony didn’t understand, but was profoundly shaken.