A Marine Admiral in the Marvel Universe

After saying that, she hung up the phone and looked at Cao Gui pitifully: "Darling..."

"What? You don't believe me?" Cao Gui snorted. This woman dared to question her own husband.

"How could that be? Of course I... well, a little," Beth said helplessly.

"Financial markets are difficult to predict, and even top experts are not guaranteed to succeed. I am indeed a little worried."

"Then let's watch together, and I'll convince you," Cao Gui snorted, picking up the remote and turning on the TV.

"Oh~~oh~~yes...yes——!"

Beth's face immediately darkened. Why hadn't the specialty products of the San Fernando Valley been changed yet?

"Oh, not that."

Cao Gui blushed and quickly replaced it with a press conference by Tony Tucker.

In a hotel lobby, surrounded by a crowd, Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane, with their right arms slung across their chests, slowly walked out and arrived at a stage that had been set up and where many media had gathered. Behind him followed Pepper Potts and Happy.

Cao Gui's gaze was fixed on Little Chili. To be honest, Little Chili was quite pretty... if you ignored the freckles all over her face.

Standing before the podium, Obadiah Stane beamed. If Cao Gui didn't know the plot, he certainly wouldn't believe that it was him who hired someone to assassinate Tony Stark.

"Dear media friends, my Tony... wait?"

As he was speaking, Tony Stark, who was sitting on the ground beside him, was already taking big bites of his cheeseburger.

He was practically starving. In fact, he was pretty much like that. In the caves of the Central Asian war zone, the only things he could eat were barley cakes or compressed biscuit paste. The best he ever had was a cup of cola, and it wasn't even iced.

This kind of life was worse than death for this pampered young master.

"That Tony Stark... he really does whatever he wants," Beth remarked.

Cao Gui chuckled, picked up a torn pair of stockings hanging by the bed, and shook it:

"He doesn't care about his image, so he can do whatever he wants. Sometimes, if you want to gain something, you have to give up something else, right?"

“…I always felt like there was something hidden in your words.” Beth was exasperated and snatched the stockings from his hand, throwing them away.

On television, Tony Stark pulls out another hamburger:

"Everyone, please sit down, so I can see you and you can see me."

Upon hearing this, all the reporters and media personnel exchanged glances and could only do as he said, sitting down on the ground. As for the pretty female reporters in their tight skirts, they could only make do by squatting.

Seeing this, Obadiah also sat down next to Tony.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Tony Stark suddenly said, leaving Obadiah completely bewildered by his abrupt statement.

But Tony ignored him and said with a serious expression, "But I didn't make it to see my father one last time."

At this point, Tony Stark put down the half-eaten hamburger he was holding:

"If my father were still alive, I would like to ask him a question: what would his opinion be on the production of arms?"

"Does he know where the weapons he produced went or how many people he killed?"

Beth frowned upon seeing this: "What...is this guy trying to say?"

Cao Gui chuckled: "Maybe he's going to shut down the arms production department, who knows?"

“How could that be?” Beth rolled her eyes.

“Stark Industries is an arms company; closing it down is practically equivalent to bankruptcy.”

Cao Gui smiled without saying a word. To be honest, from the perspective of a group president, Tony Stark's boldness was undeniable.

All the reporters couldn't help but frown. When they arrived at this place, they had expected Tony Stark to recount his heroic act of outsmarting the bandits, fighting ten against one, and finally breaking out of the enemy's lair.

In the future, these things will become his ultimate weapon for picking up girls.

But to their utter surprise, Tony Stark immediately threw out the biggest question ever posed to an arms dealer, though... this question seemed even bigger and more compelling.

The reporters' eyes lit up immediately, and their pens flew across the paper. Sure enough, Tony Stark's next words were even more impactful.

"I witnessed young soldiers being shot and killed by weapons I designed and manufactured myself, just half a minute before they were chatting with me, taking photos with me, and even making peace signs!"

At this point, tears welled up in Tony Stark's eyes. This was only the second time in his life he had felt like crying; the first time was when he was almost brought to tears by the masked man who was still wearing a helmet.

“Mr. Stark…”

A reporter raised his hand to speak. He was one of the reporters arranged by Obadiah to control the situation and offer friendly questions to help the person being questioned out of an awkward position. At Obadiah's signal, he stepped forward.

“Mr. Stark, I’d like to ask, where and what happened that led to…” The reporter hesitated for a moment before steer the conversation back on track.

Upon hearing this, Tony Stark slowly stood up, walked to the podium, and said solemnly, "I've come to my senses. I've realized that besides weapons and ammunition, I can bring more change to the world."

"Therefore, I hereby solemnly announce that, effective today, I will be closing Stark Industries' weapons division!"

These words caused an uproar in the room, and the reporters jumped up excitedly. They never expected that Tony Stark would go so far!

"Wow! Has this guy gone mad?" Beth stared in disbelief.

Cao Gui chuckled: "Darling, we're going to make a killing!"

Upon hearing this, Beth snapped out of her daze and exclaimed, "Oh God, you're right, we've hit the jackpot!"

"

------------

Chapter 205 Agent Coulson and Obadiah

Tony Stark's decision was a seismic shift for the entire financial market.

What is Stark Industries?

It's the largest arms company in the US, the industry leader, and then suddenly you say you're not making arms anymore? What does that mean? It's like Coca-Cola stopping making cola, KFC stopping selling hamburgers, or New Oriental stopping its culinary school.

As the news spread, Stark Industries' stock plummeted, declining exponentially. Countless investors lost everything, and some even desperately ran to the top of Wall Street and jumped off, turning into a blurry mass of flesh and blood on the asphalt road.

Because today is Sunday, the media has directly portrayed it as the "Black Sunday" of the new century.

It must be said that this moment truly feels just like that moment.

However, compared to others, Black Gold Investment Company, which chose to short Stark stock at Cao Gui's instruction, made a fortune. In fact, the money they earned this time was no less than the treasure that Cao Gui and his team found during their treasure hunt.

"No wonder you all like playing the finance game; it really makes money fast."

Looking at the long string of numbers on the computer screen, Cao Gui sighed inwardly. The way the rich make money is truly unexpected, and the speed at which they make money is truly enviable.

"Hmph, of course." Beth put her hands on her hips and laughed heartily. She was really feeling awesome this time, and she wanted to gloat for a while.

However, her face fell shortly afterward: "Damn it, making so much money will definitely attract the attention of the Federation. I hate it the most."

"Is the legal team ready?" Cao Gui laughed. "If we bring in IRS, the two of them will be enough to defeat the others."

"Yes, it's already being prepared." Beth nodded; she was very familiar with the process.

"Then let's switch to a shell company and continue acquiring Stark Industries stock, striving to become Stark Industries' second-largest shareholder as soon as possible."

Cao Gui said that after the weapons department is abolished, the military will definitely no longer invest in Stark Industries, and that will be their opportunity. With Tony Stark's technology, it won't be long before they become one of the top giants in the energy sector.

Then... it will be time to make money again.

“Okay, no problem, I’ll arrange it,” Beth said immediately. After this incident, she had complete faith in Cao Gui’s words.

“However…” Beth stood up, looked down at Cao Gui, and then extended her slender white fingers to lift Cao Gui’s chin.

"What are my benefits?"

"..." Cao Gui was speechless. Damn it, he had been teased.

He immediately wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

"Hahaha..."

……

In a ranch tavern in Kentucky, a one-eyed, bald old man wearing a cowboy hat silently watches the TV host, who is passionately denouncing Tony Stark's foolish actions.

Nick Fury frowned, repeatedly picking up and putting down his phone. He also owned shares in Stark Industries, and he never expected things to turn out this way.

Tony Stark's actions were completely unexpected.

Just then, the phone rang. Nick Fury picked it up and immediately perked up; it was Coulson.

"Sir, through Stark's assistant and the military's physical examination of him, we have roughly reconstructed the detailed process of Tony Stark's escape."

“Go on,” Nick Fury said slowly, taking a sip of his drink.

"Tony Stark had a hole cut in his chest, and he put a nuclear reactor inside..."

"Pfft... What?" Coulson's words shocked even the well-informed Nick Fury. What did he mean by having a reactor placed in his chest?

"The specific situation is like this... blah blah... woo woo woo..."

Nick Fury's face grew increasingly grim as he listened. He had seen the Iron Man suit before and knew that Tony Stark was the one hiding inside it.

However... Tony Stark's assassination was clearly not an accident...

"Coulson, you guys need to find a way to protect Tony Stark. Someone wants to kill him."

"Yes, sir!"

Meanwhile, inside a villa on Long Island, New York.

Jarvis, are you there?

"Sir, I've always been here."

"Keep this design safe; it's the Mark 0 armor."

Tony's fingers moved swiftly, drawing a set of clunky, round, and bulky Iron Man armor. This was the armor he had created with Yin Sen's help. For him, it represented his first life-or-death friendship, something he could never forget.

"Ok sir."

“Bring up my previous blueprints; I need to modify my armor,” Tony Stark said.

During his nearly two months in the Central Asian theater, he realized that armor is not always better the stronger it is; sometimes portability is also very important. He wanted to develop a suit of armor that could be carried around at all times.

As for the company's stock... that's not important. The Stark Industries exists because Tony Stark is alive, and as long as he lives, Stark Industries will live forever.

However, what he didn't know was that Obadiah convened a board meeting and directly removed Tony Stark from his positions as chairman and president, placing those positions in Obadiah's own hands.

Beth, one of the shareholders, attended the meeting. Upon hearing the news, Cao Gui's eyes lit up. The actions he had secretly taken should soon come in handy.