Chapter 45: Tony Panics
After both were ready, Tony began changing into his gear. After all, he was not Lan Xingyu, who didn't need any protective gear. However, whether it was because he had been looked down upon by Lan Xingyu too many times or something else, Tony only brought a pair of goggles this time.
"Xingyu, are you sure you don't want one? The light later will be very harmful to the eyes," Tony asked.
"No need. My eyes can shoot lasers just like Superman. Please don't measure me by your standards," Lan Xingyu said haughtily.
"Just think, even the most lethal nuclear bomb humans have now can't even damage a hair on my body. Let alone this bit of light," Lan Xingyu said.
"Uh... alright, I'm starting." Saying this, Tony placed a quadrilateral crystal into the machine and used the key to turn it on.
"Prism accelerator initializing," Jarvis's voice rang out.
A blue beam of light began to brew within, and Lan Xingyu could also feel the powerful energy inside.
Tony began trying to turn the handle to transfer the energy out.
"Approaching maximum power," Jarvis warned.
"Let me do it!" Seeing that Tony was struggling, Lan Xingyu pushed him aside and gave it a gentle twist, and the blue laser turned accordingly. Everywhere the laser passed, it cut through everything like a hot knife through butter.
Seeing this scene, the husky, Creature, was in complete despair. Killing a dog is one thing, but what are you doing? This is just mental torture.
Amber, who was on the side, watched the lifeless-looking Creature and patted its dog head to comfort it.
Lan Xingyu and the others, of course, didn't care about Creature's state. The laser finally hit a triangular carrier, and as time passed, the carrier became brighter and brighter. When the brightness reached a certain peak, Tony stopped the energy transfer.
Seeing the blue finished product, both Lan Xingyu and Tony felt a sense of accomplishment.
Tony walked forward and used tweezers to pick up the new element.
"Congratulations, gentlemen, you have created a new element."
Tony placed the new element into the reactor. The reactor closed, began to flash, and then slowly stabilized.
"Sir, the reactor has accepted the new element. I will begin testing immediately," Jarvis said.
"Looks like it's a success!" Lan Xingyu stretched; it was already past three in the morning.
"I'm going to sleep, Tony. By the way, happy birthday! This is your birthday present," Lan Xingyu said, placing a ring on the table.
The ring was plain, without any gemstones or decorations. The only thing on it were some mysterious patterns engraved on it.
"This is a space ring I created by combining space pocket magic. It has a 10-cubic-meter space inside. Uh... this is the first successful one, so it's only this big," Lan Xingyu said helplessly. This was a gift he had thought about for a long time.
"This ring can be used even by people without magic. I've already bound it to you. Now, apart from you, not even I can use it," Lan Xingyu explained how to use the ring.
"You just need to focus your mind to let your consciousness enter it. It's very convenient. You can store some spare armor, reactors, and so on. It should be enough," Lan Xingyu continued explaining.
"Thank you, Xingyu! This is very useful to me," Tony thanked him sincerely. He picked up the ring and put it on. With this ring, his biggest flaws—battery life issues and the inability to fight when the armor was damaged—would be solved.
"Hehe, it's a small matter. I'm going to sleep, good night!" Seeing that Tony liked it, Lan Xingyu waved his hand and went back to sleep.
After Lan Xingyu left, Tony began tinkering with the ring. He didn't want to rest yet; there were still many tests to be done on the new element!
In Tony's busyness, time passed quickly, and soon it was past eight o'clock.
At this time, Pepper Potts returned to Tony's house. Looking at the riddled-with-holes house, Pepper Potts felt a sense of powerlessness. She didn't even need to think; seeing the machine she didn't recognize in the house, she knew.
She now knew why Lan Xingyu wanted to send her back to rest yesterday. With him and Tony messing around like this, it would be a miracle if she could have slept well yesterday.
Bringing Tony's birthday present to the lab, sure enough, Tony was still busy working away there.
"Happy birthday, Tony! Here's your gift. Have you not rested all night? Please, today is your birthday; you should give yourself a break," Pepper Potts said, placing the gift on the table, and then added, with a hint of heartache.
"Don't worry, it's fine. Look!" Tony tapped the new reactor on his chest.
"A brand new element, the most efficient, harmless, and pollution-free new energy source known on Earth. I no longer have to worry about my life safety. And its energy is many times that of the previous one. A larger new reactor can keep Stark Industries running for a year," Tony said excitedly.
"Mm, I knew you could do it," Pepper Potts looked at Tony with a smile.
Tony seemed to feel Pepper Potts's heart, and the two hugged each other, followed by a long kiss.
Just at this moment, Jarvis's voice rang out.
"Sorry, sir. The gene comparison for Mr. Lan Xingyu is complete," Jarvis said.
"Jarvis, you need to learn to read the room. You should have been muted at this time," Tony said full of resentment.
"Sorry, sir. But I think you should take a look at this," Jarvis said.
"Alright! Let's see which unlucky guy is going to be sent to Africa by Xingyu to dig coal," Tony said with interest.
Then Tony froze. He stumbled and was about to fall, but fortunately, there was a chair and a handrail behind him. Otherwise, it would have been a "face-plant" style fall.
"Oh my god, are you okay! Tony!" Seeing Tony, who was fine just a moment ago, suddenly collapse onto the chair as if he had lost his soul, this really scared Pepper Potts.
"Tony, are you okay? What's wrong?" Pepper Potts asked anxiously.
Tony waved his hand and said with a tremor: "Jarvis, match again."
In an instant, Jarvis had completed the matching again. He projected the report onto the screen again, and this time, Pepper Potts also saw Lan Xingyu's gene matching result.
There was only one person in the gene match, with a 100% match rate. And the name column showed: Tony Stark!
This time, even Pepper Potts was stunned. This... this is too sci-fi.
Tony was a bit at a loss. How could he not panic? One day you suddenly find out that your close friend of a different generation is actually your child. Wouldn't you panic?
Next, Tony's expression began to mimic the Chinese art of face-changing.
It started with joy. Tony really liked Lan Xingyu; first, they shared hardships together in the cave. After that, every little detail of life, the tacit understanding in every action, the way the other person could understand his meaning with just a look, every time they quarreled they could quarrel happily, and his own low point and despair when he had palladium poisoning—it was those little hands that helped him.
Later, because he wanted to compensate Lan Xingyu, the family added a member, Creature. Although it made me Life Qi every day, it made him find back the feeling of when his parents were still around. During the time Lan Xingyu was here, Tony felt for the first time that life was so beautiful.
He was no longer the person Yin Sen described, someone who had everything yet had nothing. His life began to become complete.
But when he thought about Lan Xingyu's past life—living independently from the age of three and a half, honing himself from the age of four, learning magic, and starting to protect the world before the age of seven—he hadn't enjoyed the childhood he should have enjoyed. This made Tony feel incomparably guilty.
For a child who should have been acting spoiled in his parents' arms, his mother passed away early, and his father didn't even know he had such a son...
Incomparable guilt shrouded Tony's heart, and then he thought of Lan Xingyu's attitude towards him, the father who didn't even know yet. Tony was even more desperate.
Seeing this result, Pepper Potts was surprised at first, and then felt happy for Tony; she knew how much Tony liked Xingyu.
"Congratulations, Tony. From today on, you are a father. Are you going to tell Xingyu?" Pepper Potts said.
"No! I can't tell him. I... I owe him too much. You don't know how much he hates his father," Tony felt this sense of anxiety and loss for the first time.
He really wanted to tell Xingyu, but he was afraid. He was afraid that after he told Xingyu, Xingyu would hate him and stay away from him.
Suddenly, he felt a responsibility pressing down on him. That responsibility was called father. But how do you be a good father? Tony didn't know. He only learned today how much his father loved him.
"Tony, no need to rush, take it slow. Xingyu is very sensible. Anyway, he doesn't know yet. We can take it slow and slowly let him accept you," Pepper Potts comforted him, seeing Tony like this for the first time.
"Pepper, am I a very terrible person?" Tony asked.
"Yes!" Pepper Potts answered without hesitation.
Tony looked at Pepper Potts. Then he saw Pepper Potts continue: "Yes! The old you was really a piece of trash, and you know you had a lot of character flaws. But I believe that in the future, you will definitely be a good father. I believe in this immensely." Pepper Potts looked into Tony's eyes and said gently.
"Thank you, Pepper! But what should I do? How can I get him to slowly accept me?" Tony asked.
"Ask yourself, Tony. Think about your childhood and believe in yourself. You can find the answer," Pepper Potts said.
Tony's listless eyes stared blankly at his father's belongings that hadn't been put away yet. Although I don't know how it will turn out, I will try my best to avoid the mistakes you made, Father...
Seeing Tony's eyes slowly become firm, Pepper Potts knew that Tony had already made up his mind.
"Jarvis, notify the legal department. I want to revise my will..." Time passed bit by bit like this, and it was soon nine o'clock.
Just after Tony finished a series of things, Jarvis's voice rang out: "Sir, Young Master Xingyu has woken up." Jarvis had been ordered to call him Young Master whenever he wasn't present, until Xingyu acknowledged him as his father.
Hearing this, Tony became inexplicably nervous. This might be the first time he had been this nervous since he became an adult.
Pepper Potts found such a Tony funny; it was also the first time she had seen such a Tony.
"Alright, don't overthink it! Go upstairs and have breakfast with Xingyu first," Pepper Potts smiled.
"Oh right! Let's go quickly!" Saying this, Tony ran upstairs first.
Pepper shook her head and smiled bitterly. Tony was really impatient and forgetful. How could Lan Xingyu come out so quickly? Doesn't he always have to wash up first after waking up before coming out?
Lan Xingyu got up in a daze. After washing up, he came out to eat breakfast. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Tony sitting at the dining table, sitting very straight, looking just like a primary school student in class. After helping Tony's poet chef set the breakfast, Pepper Potts also sat at the table and greeted Xingyu.
"Sister Potts, why are you here so early! Hmm? Tony, what's wrong with you? Is there a problem with the research?" Seeing Tony's strange sitting posture, Lan Xingyu asked curiously.
"Nothing, nothing. Xingyu, come eat. You got up just in time," Tony seemed to realize his abnormality and adjusted immediately.
Hearing Tony say it was nothing, Lan Xingyu didn't care anymore. He came to the dining table and began to prepare to eat breakfast.
Perhaps it's because he has felt that kind of pain that he treats others gently. Writing is not easy, everyone please leave a recommendation ticket before you go. Come on, everyone, the recommendation tickets are about to break one hundred! Once it breaks, I will update another chapter. Let's work hard together.