The next morning, after finally receiving a night of rest, Stark woke up in the lounge next to his laboratory. Looking at the bright sunshine through the floor-to-ceiling windows and the shuttles passing by, he yawned, took a long sigh, and prepared to start work.
To find Spider Man of his universe, he first needed to collect information to see if there were any abnormal fall reports in the news around the world, or traces of black fiery flames.
More importantly, when Stark just landed, he saw the symbol of the Ten Commandments again. This indicated that his initial suspicion may be correct. The Mandarin was definitely planning something sinister.
Regardless of its connection to Peter Parker, The Mandarin stabbing The Avengers in the back during their battle with Thanos was absolutely unacceptable.
Stark didn't want to interfere too much with the process of other universes because, in general, Iron Man was a pessimist. He didn't believe that alerting other people with his own prescience could avoid a tragedy. On the contrary, he had an insecure feeling that his warnings could potentially backfire.
He thought it would be more useful to invent practical devices based on the current situation of this universe. When Thanos arrived, these targeted measures might come in handy.
"JARVIS, JARVIS, are you there?" Stark called out.
"I'm here, sir," Jarvis responded as always to Stark's call. As Stark was getting dressed and walking out of the lounge, he said, "Help me collect the recent abnormal news from all over the world, focus on the supernatural section, check for reports of ghost fires sightings, and send me the most suspicious news."
"Also, push the experiments that are currently in progress with the highest priority to my life-supporting armor's intelligence system. Decline all visits and communications for me within this week, just say that I'm busy with experiments."
"Understood, sir, the news collection is in progress...The experiment project material you need has been pushed to your personal terminal. Please go to the laboratory control center to view it."
"What about the life-supporting armor?"
"I am sorry, sir, I did not understand you," Jarvis said in an extremely formal and flat tone. "If you are referring to the life support and action protection device No. c204, you destroyed the latest version of this device two years ago. If you have forgotten, I can send you the final command confirmation process for the destruction program."
"Oh, I did forget!" Stark deliberately acted as if he was enlightened, then, frowning, said, "Dr. Schiller said that I bumped my head during an experiment, causing a bit of concussion. Of course, this is no harm to my genius intelligence, but my memory is a bit messy."
"If you need to conduct a closed-door experiment for a week, then I suggest you replace the energy core of the Arc Reactor in your chest with the 27th Arc Reactor energy core."
"Number 27?" Stark murmured softly in confusion. He looked down at his chest, opened his mouth, then was unsure of how to continue the question.
"If you still do not remember your Arc Reactor energy core number, please go to your energy core storage warehouse on your right," Jarvis said in a very steady tone, like he had handled this situation many times before.
Stark had to go to the so-called energy core storage warehouse according to his instructions. As soon as he opened the door, he was stunned. The shelves in this warehouse were densely packed with hundreds of energy cores of the Arc Reactor.
Stark looked down at his chest again. Even though he had clothes on, he could see through the layers of fabric that there was only a shallow scar there. There was no Arc Reactor there at all.
Perhaps people who have seen the movie know that Iron Man had taken the Arc Reactor out of his chest in "Iron Man 3" and used the energy core of the armor to provide power.
Has the Iron Man of this universe not removed the thing from his chest yet?
Standing at the entrance of the warehouse, Stark was a bit confused. What is this universe's Iron Man up to? Not only did he not remove the thing from his chest, but he also made so many energy cores, turning the Arc Reactor in his chest into a detachable slot?
Stark really couldn't understand. He was also Tony Stark. He knew how insecure he was. The key wasn't whether the Arc Reactor was still in his chest or not, but if the energy core was external, what if one day the enemy found this place and destroyed all the cores, wouldn't he be immobilized?
Stark knew that he was such a worrywart. He hated all uncontrollable powers. He absolutely couldn't imagine anyone putting their life security on warehouse security.
But standing at the warehouse entrance, he had a hard time deciding. If he took off his clothes and there was no reactor in his chest, Jarvis would definitely find out that he was acting strangely. However, this Iron Man had already destroyed the life-supporting armor used for experiments, entirely relying on different cores to boost his energy. Then what about him, an outsider who didn't have a reactor in his chest?
Stark sighed, waved his hand to let Jarvis close the warehouse door, and while walking to the lab, said, "I haven't experienced the life of ordinary people for a long time. Fine, let's live like a regular researcher. When I'm hungry, I eat; when I'm thirsty, I drink. Let's settle for that."
Stark went back to the laboratory and flipped through the drawer for a pair of glasses. With both hands on the lab table, he looked at the control center's screen and asked, "Okay, where were we with the previous project?"
"Sir, do you need me to tell you the latest submitted experimental progress report for you?"
"Okay, I am a bit tired from reading. You can just say it directly."
Stark closed his eyes and reclined in his chair, with his hands resting behind his head and his feet propped up on the footrest, semi-reclining as if sunbathing on a beach.
"Okay, sir. First is the construction report of the Mercury base that you are most concerned about. According to the latest experimental progress news, the construction of the A62 zone has been completed, and about 220 sun particle capture devices have all entered the scheduled orbit, currently 216 are working normally."
"Robots number 197~200 had a slight collision with the 'Hou Yi' series robots developed by the Chinese laboratory. They are currently being repaired and will be relaunched into the sun's gravitational orbit in about three days."
"Wait a second!" Stark shouted, springing up from his chair, "What... what base report am I most concerned about???"
"The Mercury Base report." Jarvis's tone was as steady as always, he emphasized again, "The construction report of the A62 Solar Energy mining base in Mercury, one of the planets in the Solar System."
Stark slowly widened his eyes, but Jarvis announced yet again: "Pupil dilation detected, behavior pattern analysis in progress..."
"If you are surprised by the collision incident involving four robots, I suggest you call the corresponding Chinese lab for a detailed accident report. Would you like me to connect the call for you?"
Stark's genius mind began to compute at high speed. He ran over the report Jarvis had just read in his head, picking out several critical keywords - Mercury Base, Solar Particle Capture Device, 220 robots, 4 of which collided with robots from other countries.
With these phrases surfacing in his mind, Stark instantly made an intuitive judgment. Iron Man in this world had built a base on Mercury and launched hundreds of robots to absorb solar energy,
But the most terrifying aspect was not this, it was the fact that other countries were doing the same!
Due to the presence of the super-genius Stark, the Stark Group's technology has always been ahead of the rest of the world. Therefore, it wouldn't be a surprise to harness solar energy in a futuristic technology context.
What shocked Stark was, if this were the base technology of other countries, then how far had the technology of the Stark Group developed?
Thinking of this, Stark immediately became restless, he addressed Jarvis, "Read the experiment report later, first show me the latest achievements, I need to confirm some things."
"Alright, sir, which area's most recent project would you like?"
Stark was stuck.
The project results are split into areas?
He remembered that there were only a few types of major projects that Stark Group was focused on. Apart from his own Iron Armor technology, there were weapon studies, medical security, and logistical resource replenishment.
Before Stark could ask, Jarvis had already begun to speak, "Within this week, 196 projects have been presented on Star System Development Plan's platform. If you would like to review them all, I can recite them starting from the most recent."
"Alright, go on," Stark had to agree.
"Firstly, Lady Alerie, the Holy Sword Mage, leading the Kamar-Taj Alchemy Instrument Material Upgrading Project Group has some good news. After two months of research, the project team discovered that the cotyledon of the magic sword orchid seeds cultivated in the Himalayan No. 68 Greenhouse can be used to conduct magic marks at the bottom of the crucible. It is said that this discovery will increase the heat absorption efficiency of the crucible by about 68%."
"The Andromeda Binary System Observation Group, led by Dr. 'Beast', has continuously published encouraging news. They've discovered the latest laws of gravitational circling in binary star systems."
"In the most recently returned survey report, Magneto Erik asserts that mutants will achieve gravitational stability in binary star systems within three years. Moreover, they will further expand the application scope of solar energy technology, extending it to more complex star systems."
"Mr. Parker, leading the Near-Earth Space Station Technology R&D Group, has also returned the latest expedition report. Mr. Parker mentioned in the report that this expedition was rewarding, and that there's new progress on the construction of the space barrier ecosystem and habitable system, intending to do on-site R&D in three months."
"Dr. Rodriguez is currently working on the third section of Intergalactic Sociology's second part. A thrilling academic paper has been published in the 'American Journal of Sociology', causing a heated response. A vigorous debate on interstellar social relations has begun in the field..."
"Stop!" Stark held his forehead, raising a hand to stop Jarvis.
What is a magic crucible? What is binary gravity? Why on earth is Peter working on a space station? Where did this subject of Intergalactic Sociology come from?
Stark felt dizzy. Despite all his calculations, he hadn't anticipated that the universe he'd come to chasing the demon kidnapper would be like this.
He had thought that the unknown universe was about heroes fighting evil dragons, but it turned out to be an interstellar stage play.
"I mean, Jarvis, show me my latest research results." Stark ground out through clenched teeth: "Mine, Iron Man's, Stark's latest research results."
"Fine, sir... Data transmission complete."
Stark saw a flicker on the screen in front of him, then a large amount of data that would be completely incomprehensible to a layperson appeared. Stark took a deep breath, concentrating and engaging his prodigious intellect to understand the screen.
A few seconds later, a shout echoed through the lab.
"What is this?!!!"