"I don't need to lie to you, because these are all my personal experiences.
If you don't believe me, you can fly to Sokovia; everyone there has the same experiences as me, and many of them intensely dislike Stark Industries and hate you because of it.
They believe the weapons you invented killed their families."
Adam's words pierced Tony's heart like a knife, one cut at a time.
He knew Tony, who, apart from spending every day in the lab doing research, only attended various parties and dated all sorts of Hollywood actresses and models, certainly wouldn't have the extra thought to pay attention to these matters.
Even if reporters reminded Tony or news reports labeled Tony a butcher, Tony wouldn't take it to heart.
Because at this time, Tony's personality was arrogant; he only believed those were words of jealousy, and Tony always believed that the weapons he developed were protecting the country and its people.
What he had to do now was to expose this lie in advance and make Tony recognize reality.
This would not only prevent the military from obtaining the Iron Man Suit but also help Tony, and later, he could even win Tony over to help him improve the gravity device.
"Alternatively, you could go to Afghanistan and some war-torn regions to see for yourself; most of the better weapons there are basically also manufactured by Stark.
For some politicians, as long as they can gain profit, it doesn't matter how many people die. This is also why I said what I did at the White House today."
Watching Tony fall into silence because of his words, Adam decided to add fuel to the fire.
He directly grabbed Tony's arm, then performed Apparition, disappearing from the spot.
When they reappeared, they were already on a street in Sokovia.
"Where is this?"
Tony, who had come back to his senses, looked at the unfamiliar surroundings with a bewildered expression.
Adam pointed to the wall on the street side and said:
"This is Sokovia. Look over there."
"Tony Stark, murderer. Tony Stark, die."
Tony turned his head to look, and the entire wall was covered with curses against him and his country, as well as pictures of him wearing his Iron Man Suit, but with large red crosses drawn over them.
"How could this be!"
"If you walk around, you'll find many walls nearby are like this."
Adam patted Tony's shoulder.
Just then, a passing man accidentally glanced at Tony and instantly stopped.
"You are Tony Stark!"
"I… I…"
Tony looked at the man whose eyes had suddenly turned fierce, and for the first time, he was somewhat afraid to admit his name.
"It's you! It's your missile that killed my wife and child! I'm going to kill you!"
The man's angry roar instantly attracted the attention of other passersby, and when they saw Tony's appearance, they immediately surrounded him menacingly.
Seeing this, Adam reached out, grabbed Tony, and once again performed Apparition, disappearing from the spot.
This time, they arrived at a military Base in Sokovia.
"As far as I know, after the war, quite a few rebel weapons were collected here."
With a wave of his hand, Adam cast an Disillusionment Charm, making both of them invisible, and walked towards the military Base's weapons warehouse.
"Alohomora."
The metal door deep inside the warehouse slowly opened, revealing various advanced weapons and equipment.
Tony looked at the missiles and weapons stamped with the Stark logo, his legs went soft, and he almost fell to the ground.
"It's all true. I… I didn't expect this."
"I'll take you to one more place."
Adam stepped forward and once again disappeared with Tony; this time, he was taking Tony to see the Terrorists' Base.
Half an hour later, inside Tony Stark's seaside Villa in Malibu.
Tony Stark was no longer as spirited as before, but sat on the sofa, covering his head, lost in deep self-reproach and guilt.
"Adam, do you hate me? If it weren't for the weapons I made, you wouldn't have lost your family."
After a long while, he finally looked up at Adam again.
No matter how arrogant or self-righteous he was, in the face of hard facts, he finally recognized his mistakes.
Adam raised a finger, and the red wine in the decanter automatically flew out and poured into Tony's glass.
"If I hated you, I wouldn't have taken you to see all that.
In fact, even without the weapons you made, they would still have weapons from other arms dealers; the outcome would not have been different.
I just want to tell you not to fully trust either the government or the military.
Because you cannot control them. They might use the weapons you make to protect life, or they might use the weapons you make to take life.
This is the answer to the first question I asked you."
"Thank you, I understand."
Tony drank the red wine in his glass in one gulp.
He was thirty-five this year, not a young man in his teens or twenties; he wouldn't wallow in despair just because he made a mistake.
Since a mistake was made, he would strive to correct and compensate for it—that was what he needed to do.
However, he was still very grateful to Adam; if Adam hadn't let him know the truth today, he would have made many more mistakes.
"An extra reminder for you: the weapons in Sokovia were provided by the military, but the weapons of those Terrorists were not provided by the military.
So there are also problems within your company; you should investigate it thoroughly when you have time."
He believed that Tony, at this point, would definitely no longer sell the Iron Man Suit to the military, but that would inevitably provoke Obadiah Stane's displeasure.
To prevent Tony from being taken out by Obadiah Stane, he thought it would be better to remind Tony.
"I understand. I will thoroughly investigate the company's transaction records."
Tony's body stiffened, and he instantly realized this problem.
Providing weapons to Terrorists would not benefit the country in any way; it couldn't have been the military. Therefore, someone in the company must have privately sold the weapons he invented for profit.
Only one person came to his mind who could do this.
"It's getting late; I'll head back now. You can also come visit me sometime."
Seeing that things were mostly handled, Adam was also ready to leave.
He still needed to talk with Dr. Banner at the headquarters.
Tony immediately stood up from the sofa upon hearing this:
"Adam, thank you very much for everything you've done today. I heard you are holding the World's Greatest Ability User Tournament?"
"Yes, that's right."
Adam paused, not knowing why Tony suddenly changed the topic.
Tony took a deep breath, as if making a very important decision for him:
"This is a tournament that everyone in the World will pay attention to. Can I participate?
It would be a good opportunity to apologize to those who were harmed because of me and to officially announce the closure of Stark Industries' weapons division.
Stark Industries will no longer sell any weapons in the future."