Kamen Rider ZZZ from the American comic book world

Li Ai took the file bag, opened it, put the photos inside, and prepared to hand it in on Monday.

Just then, another figure walked into the photo studio. She took a USB drive from her handbag and, like a regular customer, said to the owner:

"It's still the same old machine, as long as the photos are clear."

"Jessica, it's you!" the photo studio owner said happily. "Your classmate is here too."

"Classmate?" Jessica looked around and finally spotted Li Ai, who was tidying up photos. She looked at the new Asian boy and said politely:

"Oh, it's you. It seems you trust the equipment in this store too."

"This shop can definitely help me complete my project in the best way," Li Ai said with a smile, holding up the file folder in his hand.

"I hope you also achieve something you're happy with, Jessica."

"Thank you."

Jessica nodded in agreement. She had not experienced the accident that killed her entire family, nor had she gained superpowers, nor had she been kidnapped by some pervert, nor had she gone through any unbearable experiences.

Jessica now has a fairly good family. Her parents are not divorced, have a harmonious relationship, and have a good income. She has a younger brother who often bickers with her, and she also has a hobby of photography.

There is no trace of the hot-tempered private detective she later became.

Li Ai left the photo studio, put the file bag into his backpack, took out his camera, and searched for subjects on the city streets.

One reason was to guard against supernatural events in the city, and the other was to take some photos and send them to newspapers to earn some pocket money.

Many newspapers in New York solicit photos from the public, the most famous of which is the Daily Bugle. This is also a way for newspapers to ensure that their news is timely.

Peter Parker in the future will also become a part-time photographer for the Daily Bugle in exchange for payment for his photos.

Li Ai wandered around until dark before finally returning home.

...........................

The next day

Today is Monday, a day for school. Li Ai woke up in bed. He hadn't entered Tony and Obadiah's shared dream last night.

The door to the shared dream hadn't appeared, and Li Ai figured the two of them hadn't slept all night and were probably busy with something.

So he randomly entered a dream to help a child who was terrified by watching a horror movie get rid of his troubles.

Perhaps because the child was too young, or for some other reason, the feedback was not strong enough for Li Ai to extract the capsule.

He tidied himself up and then got into his mother's car to go to school.

After a peaceful morning, lunchtime arrived, and Li Ai ate spaghetti bolognese while listening to the news on the cafeteria TV.

"The huge public outcry following Tony Stark's announcement last Friday of the closure of the weapons division caused Stark Industries' stock to drop from $82.50 to $56.50 at the start of trading this week, which is bad news for most shareholders."

Chapter 32 The Emergency Shareholders' Meeting (3/7, Requesting Monthly Tickets and Further Reading)

"It's more than just bad, it's like watching people fly through the air..." Li Ai thought to herself.

However, he knew that Tony would definitely use the Arc Reactor to change the situation in the future, so he planned to have his mother find a way to acquire some shares so that he could make a small profit.

With that thought in mind, he got up, put his plate in the recycling area, sent a text message using his Nokia N95 phone, and received a reply shortly afterward.

[The strictest mother: Don't worry, I've already bought some shares indirectly when their stock prices were down.]

Li Ai smiled knowingly, put her phone in her pocket, and then went to class.

While he was attending classes, Tony Stark was building the MK3 armor at his cabin in the woods.

The armor is painted in a striking red and gold color, and the main material is gold-titanium alloy, which ensures lightweight while also having a certain strength and preventing icing at high altitudes.

Its weaponry is also impressive. The palm thrusters can fire adjustable-power shock beams, which can only stun ordinary people when the power is low, but can also overturn armored vehicles. The chest armor is directly connected to the arc reactor, which can fire plasma beams with power exceeding that of the 'palm cannon'.

In addition, the armor is equipped with missile launchers on the shoulders and forearms, and thermal decoys on the sides of the thighs to interfere with lock-on.

The MK3 armor in the design already has combat capability. Its only drawback is that it requires a robotic arm to assisted in assembly and disassembly, and it is not portable enough.

But this did offer some solace to Tony's somewhat anxious heart.

The drones were cleaning the underground laboratory, and Tony was clearly exhausted. He hadn't slept for over thirty hours in order to complete the armor as quickly as possible.

"Jarvis, how did the simulation test go?"

Tony started chugging coffee to stay awake, and Jarvis projected a battle scene of MK3 armored vehicles, F22 fighter jets, and M1A2 tanks.

The MK3 armored vehicle's flight speed is comparable to that of the F-22, and even the M1A2 tank cannot withstand its maximum power output.

But this result was not enough to satisfy Tony.

"The rapid response capability is still insufficient, and it relies too much on the assistance of robotic arms." He began to imagine the scenario of being ambushed.

Just as he was engrossed in his speculations about how to compensate for the shortcomings of the steel armor, a voice suddenly interrupted him.

“Tony, the stock price is performing very poorly today. The board is preparing to hold a shareholders’ meeting on the grounds that the stock price crash has triggered a crisis of investor confidence.” Pepper came to the underground laboratory and reported the news.

Upon hearing this, Tony frowned in annoyance, but the board's actions were indeed legal. After all, their goal when investing in Stark Industries was to make money, and now that the stock price had plummeted, they were naturally going to hold them accountable.

"How much time did they give you?" Tony asked.

Pepper said helplessly, "Ten days. If it weren't for the legal requirement for a minimum time, they would have been eager to hold the shareholders' meeting this afternoon."

“Then tell them I will be back at headquarters in ten days for the shareholders’ meeting,” Tony said calmly.

This is enough time for him to complete the MK3 armor, but will Obadiah Stein really let him return to the corporation headquarters safely?

Pepper rarely saw Tony agree so readily, and besides, he had locked himself in the villa all weekend, so no one else knew what he was up to.

This worried Pepper greatly. She feared that Tony might have been traumatized by the kidnapping and might have taken extreme measures, so she asked:

"Tony, are you alright?"

Tony raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"

“I’m just worried about your physical and mental health.” Pepper frowned, her eyes filled with concern.

Pepper was one of the few people Tony could trust, and this feeling of being cared for calmed his anxious heart.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Tony said with a smile. "By the way, let Happy know that I'm planning to take my private jet back to California in three days."

"Should the trip be kept secret or made public?" Pepper asked, now in work mode.

"Semi-public, just let the group's senior management know," Tony said meaningfully.

"it is good."

"Also, find some time to have that child come over; I have a gift to give him."

....................................

Meanwhile, in a modern mechanical factory that is ostensibly unrelated to Sanlian Company, nearly a hundred researchers are simultaneously debugging an armored vehicle.

This armored vehicle is five meters tall, with a rugged design and some hydraulic pipes directly exposed. It is made entirely of an ultra-hard alloy, capable of withstanding direct fire from main battle tanks.

The entire structure is no longer related to the MK1 that Tony built in the cave, except for the circular interface on the chest, which is used to house the Arc Reactor.

Obadiah oversaw the construction here, personally watching the MK1 wreckage being transported to New York and perfected under his personal influence and the push of the Triumvirate.

His phone vibrated slightly in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was Tony informing all the company's senior executives that he would be returning to California in three days.

This is not good news… Obadiah frowned, turned to Exera, and said:

“Tony Stark will be flying back to California in three days. We don’t have much time left, but the key to getting this thing moving is yet to come.”

“Don’t rush, Mr. Obadiah,” Exera said calmly. “The Special Tyrant will arrive tonight, and the crucial Arc Reactor will be delivered tomorrow.”

Tyrant, a powerful biological weapon capable of smashing through reinforced concrete structures with a single punch and possessing the mobility to leap three or four stories, has been developed by Umbrella Corporation in numerous derivative models to address various situations.

The mass-produced Tyrants could only execute some ordinary commands and could not use complex weapons, which greatly dissatisfied the former Umbrella Corporation. As a result, they launched a research program to enhance the Tyrants' intelligence and achieved some results.

These things were transferred to Triumvirate through special channels by Exera's partners after Umbrella's downfall, which is why they were also able to develop Tyrant.

The Tri-United Corporation doesn't even need to worry about being suspected by outsiders for creating a tyrant, because when Umbrella fell, in addition to the companies that openly divided its 'legacy,' many researchers also fled with data, giving many forces the ability to create biological weapons.

According to Axela's vision, the core of this large armor set is a tunable tyrant, rather than equipment for ordinary people to wear.

Obadiah did not object, because he also did not trust human wearers and believed that programmed bioweapons would be more rigorous in carrying out missions.

However, Obadiah was very curious about how they managed to get that guy to obey.

"You convinced Anton Vanko? He's not an easy guy to work with. These brilliant scientists are all difficult to work with, the Stark father and son are, and that guy is no exception."

“It was just a matter of using a few special methods,” Exera replied.

Chapter 33 A Small Gift (4/7, Requesting monthly votes and continued reading)

three days later

After school, Li Ai didn't go to his mother's psychological clinic or go straight home, but waited for someone at the school gate.

Soon, a familiar car glided up in front of him, the window rolled down, revealing Happy's chubby face.

"Get in the car quickly, Tony is waiting for you."

"Okay." Li Ai quickly stepped forward, opened the back door, and got into the car.

With Christmas Eve just two days away and today being a workday, traffic in the city was somewhat congested, and it took the two of them half an hour longer than last time to reach the villa in the woods.

Having been there once before, Li Ai was clearly much more experienced. He easily made his way to the reception room and saw Tony Stark, who looked like he hadn't eaten for days and was munching on a cheeseburger.

"Which hamburger is it from? You seem to like it so much," Li Ai teased.

"It's in Queens, and I think it's the best in all of New York." Tony quickly swallowed the burger in his mouth, wiped his mouth, took a sip of iced cola, and felt much better.

But Li Ai noticed Tony's dark circles and said, "It seems you haven't had a proper rest these past few days."

He hasn't entered Tony and Obadiah's shared dream for the past few days. It seems that this guy is probably staying up all night every day, not sleeping at night at all, and only taking naps during the day, without giving him any chance to enter the dream.

"Nonsense, I just slept for two hours this afternoon," Tony said proudly, then pointed to the sofa and said:

Go see your gift.

Li Ai noticed a rectangular cardboard box on the sofa. He picked it up, opened the lid, and saw a 12-inch tablet computer thicker than a brick, a hard metal card, four hard drives, and a high-speed data cable.

"Is this a pass?" He picked up the metal card and saw the word 'Stark' written in gold lettering at the top, its purpose 'Media Pass' written in the middle, and a barcode below.

“Yes, this is a badge from Stark Industries’ publicity department. You like photography, right? It lets you take pictures in places that ordinary students can’t get into,” Tony explained, striking a pose as if pressing a shutter button.

"And that tablet, that's the key point. I scanned a lot of books, turned them into electronic documents, and stored them on that mobile device. The content includes scientific literature, cultures from various countries, history, maps, musical scores..."

Stark's media pass is of little use to Li Ai; he has a ZZZ pass that can be disguised as credentials from various organizations, so he doesn't need this one.

But this tablet is much more important; the data on it can help Li Ai find clues more effectively.

He took out the tablet and examined it carefully.

This tablet has no front or rear cameras, and the only thing on the frame is the power button; there aren't even any volume control buttons.

Li Ai pressed the power button first, and the screen lit up quickly. The interface was very simple, with a search box and filter bar at the top, and the rest were all ebooks arranged alphabetically.

"Is this just a portable library?" he asked Tony.

Tony calmly said, "That's right. To maximize storage space, I deleted a lot of things. Like you said, it was just a mobile library."

"Can't we even connect to the internet?"

"No, I removed the network module. You have to rely on a wired connection to update data."

“That’s good, then I don’t have to worry about being hacked.” Li Ai gladly accepted the gift. He put the mobile library back into the box and then stuffed the box into his backpack.

Although it's not an expensive luxury car, it's far more useful than a luxury car.

"I hope you can use it to enrich yourself in the future."

Tony cautioned him that he couldn't say more, and could only hope that this reasonably pleasing young man wouldn't go astray.

“No problem,” Li Ai said with a smile. “But I have to go now, the city has been so congested these past few days.”

“Find a car yourself, consider it a loan. Someone will come to your house to collect it later. Happy and I will ride in another car,” Tony said.

The three of them went to the garage together. Li Ai found a black sports car that looked relatively low-key, while Tony and Happy got into a van.

“Tony, this kind of car doesn’t suit your style,” Happy said, puzzled.

Tony replied mysteriously, "That's something I'll be using later, so I can't tell you right now."

Then, the two cars drove out of the villa one after the other, crossed the forest road, and soon arrived at the highway with more traffic.

Meanwhile, at the factory where the giant armor was being tested, Obadiah also received a message from his subordinates.