Chapter 86: The Ark Reactor

At last, it was noon before Wang Jing finally woke from his sleep.

The first thing he did was find Li Yiyi. “Where is Bruce Banner now?”

Li Yiyi, who had been preparing lunch, froze on the spot. Then, with caution, he said, “Sorry, boss. I lost him.”

The torrent of curses Wang Jing had expected never came. He merely sighed and sat down at the dining table. “I figured as much. Never mind. We still have the gathering.”

Just then, Ada Wong came over carrying a bowl of thick soup. After sitting down, she said, “I think our position has been exposed. Lately, I’ve kept feeling as though someone is watching us.”

“That means our plan worked. Tony Stark must have found us by now, he’s just too proud to come looking for us,” Wang Jing said with a smile.

“Then should we go find him?” Ada Wong asked, lifting a bowl of pasta.

“No need. When he can’t hold out any longer, he’ll come to us on his own. But before that, I need you to do something for me.” Wang Jing raised a chopstick.

“What is it?” Ada Wong asked.

Wang Jing pointed to the Stark Tower beside them. “In the CEO’s office of Stark Tower, there’s a model of the Stark Expo. I want you to scan its three-dimensional structure.”

“What good is that thing?” Ada Wong asked curiously.

Wang Jing smiled. “It’s the key to the future.”

Ada Wong gave a noncommittal nod, then lowered her head and continued eating the pasta on her plate.

“Boss, what about Bruce Banner?” Li Yiyi asked in a low voice.

Wang Jing looked up and thought for a moment. “Keep watching General Ross of the military. He’ll help you find the Hulk again.”

“By the way, did you find Hank Pym, the one I asked you to locate?” Wang Jing suddenly remembered to ask.

“I found Pym Technologies, but I never found Hank Pym himself. A few years ago, he was forced out of Pym Technologies by a scheme from his own disciple, and then he seemed to vanish from the face of the earth. I couldn’t find any information at all,” Li Yiyi said with a frown.

“Then set it aside for now. You have a new task: gather information on Hammer Industries. We’ll need it later,” Wang Jing said.

“Yes, boss!”

After lunch, Wang Jing returned to the main world and found Song Guohua. “I need a clone of Ivan Vanko.”

“What do you want to clone him for?” Ilman asked in astonishment.

“To fill a vacancy. Originally, Ivan Vanko would have been the whetstone for Tony Stark. Now that whetstone is gone, I can’t guarantee what will happen next,” Wang Jing said, sounding somewhat worried.

“This...” After some hesitation, Song Guohua said, “I can help you with that, but you must first obtain Ivan Vanko’s consent.”

“Fine. I’ll persuade him.”

“By the way, where are they now?” Wang Jing asked.

“In Jiang Ning’s laboratory,” Song Guohua replied.

So Wang Jing went to Jiang Ning’s lab. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Ivan Vanko, Anton Vanko, and Jiang Ning gathered together, working on something, while on the blackboard nearby hung blueprints for the Arc Reactor.

Wang Jing walked up to them and asked, “What are you doing?”

“You’re here. We’re building an Arc Reactor!” Jiang Ning said excitedly.

Wang Jing looked at the table and indeed saw a small Arc Reactor glowing with blue light, only it was significantly larger than the one Tony Stark had built.

“What’s its output? Can it be fitted to my armor?”

“The output is about two billion joules per second. It can be fitted to your armor, though your armor will need a few minor modifications.”

“Two billion joules is a bit low. You could use a quantum channel to double the output efficiency!” Wang Jing said offhandedly.

Those words made Ivan Vanko and Anton Vanko’s eyes light up. “How do you know that?” Anton Vanko stood up and asked Wang Jing.

“If you want the exact reason, ask Song Guohua. If he can tell you, he will. But before that, I need to talk to your son.”

“Talk about what?” Ivan Vanko asked from his seat, turning sideways.

“About your clone,” Wang Jing said calmly.

“A clone? You want to clone me for what?” Hearing that, Ivan Vanko looked at Wang Jing and Jiang Ning beside him with sudden wariness.

“Don’t misunderstand, the cloning hasn’t even started yet. I’m here today to ask for your consent,” Wang Jing said, raising a hand in reassurance.

Ivan Vanko took a deep breath. “Then first tell me what you want my clone for.”

“Without you in your original world, the timeline will change dramatically. To reduce and eliminate those changes, someone has to take your place and carry out the mission you were meant to complete,” Wang Jing explained.

“What mission?”

“The mission of a whetstone.”

“Whose whetstone?” Ivan Vanko’s expression darkened.

“You’d best not ask,” Wang Jing said.

“No. I want to know.”

“All right. Tony Stark’s,” Wang Jing said helplessly.

“That thief!” The moment he heard Tony Stark’s name, Ivan Vanko’s fury surged.

“Calm down, calm down. His fate wasn’t much better than yours. In the end, he died just as you did,” Wang Jing comforted him.

“How did he die?” Hearing that, Ivan Vanko’s anger eased somewhat.

“With a snap of the fingers.”

“Damn it! Are you making fun of me?”

“I’m not making fun of you. It’s just that the price of that snap was a little high—high enough to cost him his life,” Wang Jing said.

“I want more details!”

“Then you have to agree first to let us make your clone.”

Ivan Vanko fell into thought for a while, then nodded. “Fine, I agree. But you have to tell me everything from start to finish!”

“Of course. No problem.” Wang Jing agreed readily. After all, the joint government would never allow Ivan Vanko and Anton Vanko to return to the Marvel world, so there was no harm in telling them.

Anton Vanko and Jiang Ning, listening nearby, also leaned in curiously as Wang Jing recounted Marvel’s chronicle of time.

“In the end, to save all humanity, Stark snapped his fingers. Then all of Thanos’s men turned to ash, but Stark himself died too, because he could not withstand the power of the Infinity Stones.”

When Wang Jing finished, everyone present felt a wave of emotion rise within them.

“Howard Stark may have been a bastard, but his son was better than him by a little,” Anton Vanko said with a sigh.

“Natalie is so pitiful. Wang Jing, can you change her fate?” someone asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe our presence will disrupt the later timeline. By then, the one who jumps might become Hawkeye instead. Or maybe there won’t even be a second war at all,” Wang Jing said with a shrug.

“All right, I’ve told you everything about the process. Now I need to draw some of your blood.” Wang Jing looked at the silent Ivan Vanko.

Ivan Vanko wordlessly extended his tattoo-covered arm.

Wang Jing took a syringe from his pocket, drew a tube of blood from Ivan Vanko’s arm, then immediately stood up and found Song Guohua. He handed over the syringe filled with Ivan Vanko’s blood.

“How long will the cloning take at the fastest?” Wang Jing asked.

“At least a month. Can you wait that long?”

“It’s fine. I can. During this time, I’ll have a spy stand in for him,” Wang Jing said.