As the sun rose, Qin Li woke up and looked at the pale, smooth thighs and arms beside him, inwardly sighing in regret. He'd been led astray by that idiot Tony Stark. If it weren't for his drunken antics last night, I wouldn't have fallen this low. Next time, I definitely won't do something like this again.
He quietly moved the still-sleeping twin sisters to a different position, grabbed some new clothes from the warehouse, and dressed before heading out.
"Hey, Li, how was last night? Feel like your life has found new purpose?" Tony Stark asked, munching on a sandwich as he spoke.
"No, I just feel like I'm slowly being corrupted by money and power. I won't do this again," Qin Li replied, his face turning red.
"Oh? Did Jarvis record it? Hope the next time something like this happens, we can show Mr. Li the video, just like you said—what was it? Oh, right, the 'truth of the irresistible allure'!" Tony teased.
Qin Li's face darkened. "Tony, you remember those pictures from when you were in the Iron Man suit?"
Tony Stark looked at him in confusion. "What did you just say?"
"Did you just say 'when you were in the Iron Man suit'?" Qin Li asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, no, no! What did you just call me?" Tony quickly waved his hands.
"Tony, is there a problem? Or should I just call you Stark?" Qin Li asked, noticing something odd about Tony's reaction.
"Yeah, just call me Tony. Using my last name is too formal. In China, friends usually call each other by their first names, right?" Tony said, sounding pleased.
"Yeah, that's right," Qin Li scratched his head, agreeing.
"Okay then, deal. I'll trade the photo of me in the suit for the video you just took," Tony suddenly shifted back to the previous topic.
Qin Li stared at him, skeptical. "You have Jarvis, so you think deleting it is as easy as a command? I don't believe that!"
Tony shrugged. "If you don't trust me, you can trust Jarvis, right? It'll carry out any command we give it."
"Fine, you go ahead and delete it!" Qin Li said, pulling out his phone.
Tony immediately turned to Jarvis and said, "No problem, Jarvis! Delete all those footage of Li's 'truth of the irresistible allure,' leave nothing behind."
"Understood, Mr. Stark, all deleted," Jarvis replied. Tony raised his eyebrows, giving Qin Li a look of victory.
Qin Li didn't hesitate, opening his phone and deleting the pictures. Tony smiled with satisfaction, but that smile quickly froze as he saw Qin Li flipping to the next few pictures—those of Tony stuck in the Mark 1 suit, unable to get in or out.
Tony's smile turned to a scowl. "Next time, be more careful. I'll have Jarvis keep an eye on you all day, and I'm sure we'll find some embarrassing moments."
Qin Li was stunned by Tony's vengeful side and quickly replied, "Alright, alright, I admit defeat, we're even now. But if you have Jarvis monitor you 24/7, aren't you worried it might catch something you don't want to see?"
"Doesn't matter, we're all human. Are you saying you're so special?" Tony said nonchalantly.
Qin Li was disgusted by Tony's shamelessness.
"Alright, let's end the war here. We need a ceasefire," Qin Li said, raising his hands in surrender.
"No problem, hurry up and delete it," Tony urged.
Qin Li quickly resumed deleting the photos and muttered, "Almost done, almost done, it's almost finished."
Tony snatched the phone from Qin Li, checked that everything had been deleted, and returned it to him. "Okay, done. Now, I need to get back to work on my suit. Do you need to go back to New York? I can have Happy fly you there."
"I'll go tomorrow. I want to see how your suit is coming along today," Qin Li shook his head, curious.
"Alright, let's go check it out. To be honest, with the addition of the arms, it should balance fine, but I haven't tested it yet," Tony said, opening the door to his lab, with Qin Li following closely behind.
Tony then gave Qin Li a quick demonstration of a flight test, which almost had Qin Li laughing to tears, though there was no progress in terms of the suit's performance. As they watched Tony toss materials onto his workbench, Qin Li had a sudden idea. "Tony, how about these materials?"
Without even turning around, Tony replied, "They're top-notch materials. While I wouldn't say they're the hardest, they're in the top 5."
"How do they compare to vibranium?" Qin Li asked, curious.
"Vibranium? How do you know about that?" Tony stopped his work, looking at Qin Li.
"Isn't Captain America's shield made of vibranium? I heard it was your dad who gave it to him," Qin Li said.
"Yes, that's true. But vibranium is so rare. We only managed to make the shield, and I don't even know where to get more," Tony said with a sigh.
"Can these help?" Qin Li pulled out some lower-grade hardener, carbon crystals, and lower-level elemental crystals from the warehouse.
Tony was immediately intrigued, taking them to his machine and calling out to Jarvis. "Jarvis, analyze these three materials."
"Understood, Mr. Stark," Jarvis responded. As time passed, Tony became impatient. "Jarvis? How's it going? Have you analyzed them yet?"
"Mr. Stark, I cannot analyze these materials. There are no similar substances on Earth," Jarvis replied.
This piqued Tony's curiosity. "Li, what are these things you've brought? They're made of elements that don't exist on Earth. Where did you get them?"
Qin Li thought for a moment and then replied, "It's a long story, but let me explain their uses. The first one is a hardener for making weapons, the purple one is a carbon crystal that increases strength, and the white one is an elemental crystal—honestly, I'm not sure, but you can experiment with it."
Tony looked at the materials and nodded. "Can you give me more? These might not be enough for an experiment, but if it works, I think my suit could use it."
"Sure, where should I put it?" Qin Li said indifferently.
"Just put it here. Oh, and separate them," Tony pointed to the area beside his cars and reminded Qin Li.
"Got it," Qin Li said. He tossed over ten buckets of hardener, one hundred carbon crystals, and one hundred elemental crystals. "Is this enough?"
Tony glanced up and nodded. "Yeah, this is enough."
"Alright, I'll have Happy take me to the plane. I have some things to handle back in New York," Qin Li said, turning to leave.
"No problem. If I make any progress, I'll contact you," Tony said, waving him off.
"Here are a few bottles of the glowing magic juice for you. Just don't use it to pull all-nighters!" Qin Li continued.
Tony came over, grabbed a bottle, took a sip, and immediately shuddered. His eyes widened with energy as he exclaimed, "Damn, this stuff is way better than coffee! Alright, I get it. I won't see you off, I need to study these three materials."
Qin Li watched Tony dive back into his work with a smile, then headed upstairs to find Happy.