A Marine Admiral in the Marvel Universe

After dealing with the vampire, Cao Gui, now free of any worries, began spending time with Beth and Audrey, spending the first half of the night with Beth and the second half with Audrey.

Constantly traveling back and forth between the two places was making Cao Gui a little tired. More than once, Cao Gui fantasized about how great it would be if he had the ability to teleport, then his time management skills would be unparalleled.

Of course, there are skill systems similar to teleportation, such as the Door-Door Fruit, but... wouldn't it be too extravagant to use the Door-Door Fruit or Bruno's character card to do something like that?

Even if Cao Gui were incredibly wealthy, he wouldn't do something so wasteful.

Of course, Cao Gui wasn't a creature driven by his lower instincts. The reason he put both of them at night was because Cao Gui needed to cultivate during the day.

With the recovery medicine at hand and plenty of time, Cao Gui began to cultivate relentlessly, using paper drawing to stretch and alter his body, determined to perfect this martial art.

Cao Gui's strategy was simple: master one skill and be proficient in many others. During the cultivation process, he would quickly master one skill and strive to become proficient in the remaining two.

Cao Gui knew one thing well: knowing everything is the same as knowing nothing. Cultivation also has a first-come-first-served principle. Cao Gui's understanding of the martial art of "Paper Painting" was more profound than that of the other two.

After using up 11 bathtubs' worth of healing medicine, Cao Gui finally mastered the art of paper drawing. He had completely learned the six techniques he had first encountered.

In the courtyard, Cao Gui stood in the sun, breathing evenly. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, gleaming brightly.

Six Styles - Paper Drawing!

Cao Gui's body width gradually decreased, but his neck grew longer and longer, until it stretched to nearly two meters in length, making him look like a snake.

At this moment, Cao Gui suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a military knife about a meter long, which flew out with a whoosh and stuck to the lawn in front of him.

Cao Gui shook his head, stretched his neck out again, bit the hilt of the knife, and put it back into his [system inventory]. Then his body quickly contracted and returned to normal in less than a second.

"Hmm... this move should be called Paper Drawing: Orochimaru Possession!"

Cao Gui smacked his lips and talked nonsense, but he no longer felt any pain in his body, and the paper drawing was indeed completed.

"So what's the next step in training?"

Cao Gui stroked his chin thoughtfully. There were two directions: one was to continue to deepen his paper drawing skills and start to explore derivative techniques, and the other was to integrate and master the other two six styles.

After thinking it over, Cao Gui decided to take the latter approach. It is correct to be good at one thing and good at many things, but one cannot be unbalanced. If he continues to practice paper drawing, he will become unbalanced, which is not a good sign.

Ring ring~

Cao Gui answered the phone and heard it was Audrey.

"Cao, do you have time now?"

"Um...yes, what's wrong?"

"Hehe, of course I came, honey, I missed you."

"Huh? Your husband..."

"He's not home, he's out fooling around."

"Your son..."

"Time to go to school."

"Hehe, no problem, I'll be there soon."

Cao Gui put down the phone, jumped into the swimming pool for a refreshing shower, then happily put on his clothes and prepared to leave.

Ring ring~

"Hey, baby, don't..."

"Huh? Cao, how did you know it was me? I changed my phone number." Gwen's sweet and clear voice rang out from the phone.

"!!!"

Cao Gui's heart skipped a beat. Luckily, he had spoken a little too slowly.

"Cao...?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just lost in thought." Cao Gui wiped his sweat, his heart pounding wildly.

"Are you home now?" Gwen asked with a soft laugh, seemingly unconcerned.

"Of course, where else could I go?"

"Okay then, come pick me up at the airport, I've arrived in Los Angeles."

"Okay, no problem, wait for me a moment."

Okay, darling~

After hanging up the phone, Cao Gui didn't dare to delay and immediately sent messages to Beth and Audrey saying that his girlfriend had returned.

Beth replied with a disdainful emoji, expressing her disgust at Cao Gui for cheating on her with Gwen.

Audrey replied with a sad emoji and left a message saying that Cao Gui would make it up to her later.

At the airport, Cao Gui picked up Gwen, who was dressed in a cool tropical outfit, but he didn't see Helen or Director George.

"Gwen, where are your parents and brother?"

“Hahaha,” Gwen laughed. “Dad said he didn’t want to see you before the trip, and he still doesn’t want to see you after the trip.”

Cao Gui shrugged, unsure how to comment on Director George's behavior.

Cao Gui drove back to their villa. As soon as he got out of the car, Gwen picked him up in her arms.

"Damn it, I missed you so much," Gwen said, biting Cao Gui's earlobe and breathing hot air into it.

"Hmm? How much do you want to?" Cao Gui bounced the little koala clinging to him and chuckled.

"Heh heh, you'll find out soon enough," Gwen laughed, then forcefully pushed Cao Gui down onto the bed.

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Chapter 113 Tony Stark's Inspiration

Marbury, Los Angeles, Tony Stark's beachfront cliffside villa.

Inside the basement, a huge holographic projection showed the scene of Little Chili being attacked by the Reapers and being rescued by Cao Gui, the helmeted man.

Jarvis used algorithms to simulate and recreate that scene from the roadside surveillance footage.

Nearby, Tony and Pepper were watching intently.

"Tch, a masked hero? How naive is this guy to resort to such tricks?"

Tony Stark curled his lip, his face full of disdain. He hadn't used the hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress tactic for picking up girls for ten years. It's easy to see how old-fashioned this guy is.

“Mr. Stark, this naive man you’re talking about saved my life. Without him, you would have needed to hire a new assistant, so I hope you won’t be so sarcastic about my savior.”

Chili Pepper said expressionlessly, while Tony Stark remained disdainful, expressing his contempt for Cao Gui's simple methods of picking up girls.

"Jarvis, what are these monsters?"

"Sir, judging from the damage these monsters have caused, they must be creatures that feed on human blood. Moreover, judging from the frequency with which they hunt, their metabolism must be very fast."

"A bunch of nonsense." Tony Stark rolled his eyes. After talking for so long, there was still no information about these monsters.

"I'm sorry, sir, we haven't found any information about this creature in our database. Based on the behavior analysis in the video footage, I think it's very likely that it's the same species as the legendary vampire."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Tony immediately refuted this conjecture: "Vampires should be elegant and noble gentlemen, how could they be so rude?"

"Besides, vampires are immortal and have plenty of ways to make money while they live that long, so why would they need to go through all that trouble to find blood?"

"..."

"Forget about that. I need to figure out a way to prevent this from happening again." Tony Stark's gaze narrowed slightly; he didn't want to lose Pepper Potts as his assistant.

“Sir, based on the damage these creatures have caused, only high-powered weapons can harm them; ordinary bodyguards are powerless,” Jarvis said.

Tony glanced at Pepper, and Pepper rolled her eyes. "Do you think I'm the kind of person who can use rocket launchers or Barrett missiles?"

Tony scratched his head. That's right. Pepper is just a girl and can't use weapons. Otherwise, Stark Industries' large arsenal of weapons would be enough to meet their needs.

At this point, Jarvis released a hypothetical design of a vehicle with folding doors and mechanical claws, which could automatically bring people into the vehicle in case of danger and then drive away autonomously.

“A very good idea, Jarvis.” Tony nodded in approval. “But the mechanical claw needs some improvement. After all, it’s very powerful and could easily cause injury or death.”

"Sir, this is a design you drew when you were fifteen."

"Oh, really?" Tony exclaimed in surprise, then laughed heartily. "See? I really am a genius. I encountered this situation when I was very young."

Pepper rolled her eyes, feeling helpless at her boss's self-praise.

"Ahem, of course, offense is the best weapon." Tony coughed lightly, regaining his composure. "The best way is to combine escape with weapons."

“Sir, what you asked for is also available,” Jarvis’s gentle voice rang out.

"Really?" Tony perked up and asked smugly, "Another one of my brilliant ideas?"

“No, that thing is called a tank.” Jarvis didn’t give him any face at all.

“…Damn it, I mean, a single-soldier weapon with both of these functions, and suitable for women!” Tony said irritably.

“And we have a gentleman,” Jarvis said. “The military has developed a combat armor…”

He then projected the design drawings onto the screen. Upon seeing them, Tony's face immediately showed utter disgust:

"Tch, a pile of junk. So ugly, so bulky, it doesn't even have flight capabilities. I could easily make one that's better than... wait?"

As he was speaking, Tony Stark suddenly froze, clenched his right fist and slammed it into his palm, his eyes gleaming:

"That's right! I can design my own combat armor!"

Without hesitation, Stark pulled up the design board and started working on the design drawings. His eyes shone like light bulbs, just like a child who had found his favorite toy.

Seeing Tony engrossed in his own world, Pepper shook her head helplessly. She wanted Tony to look for the masked man, but given Tony's current state, it was best not to disturb him.

Ring ring~

“Miss Potts, the private jet is ready and can fly to New York at any time.”

A female voice came through the phone; this was Tony Stark's personal assistant, Pepper's personal assistant.

Pepper glanced at Tony, who was engrossed in his work, shook her head, and said, "Never mind, that's Mr. Stark's private jet. Book a flight for me."

"This……"

There was some hesitation on the other end of the phone. The private jet did indeed belong to Tony Stark, but Pepper, as his personal assistant, could use it at will, since Stark had more than one private jet. Could it be... that the two of them had a falling out?

The young woman on the other end of the phone suddenly became excited, thinking that maybe she could even get the job.