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Chapter 98: Genius Starts Again (1)

After the night fell in New York City, the lights in the whole city gradually went out. Only the top few floors of the Stark Tower had dim lights left. Pepper, who had been busy all day, walked into the elevator. As the indicator light lit up, she took a deep breath but didn't completely relax.

The elevator door opened, and the lights on the ceiling lit up one by one along with her footsteps, guiding her to the Stark Laboratory that she hadn't visited for a long time. The laboratory door slowly opened without making any sound. The entire laboratory was pitch-black, with only the lights of the experimental instruments dimly shining. Stark was lying on the experimental table, seemingly asleep.

JARVIS turned on some soft lights, enough for Pepper to see where she was stepping but not enough to wake Stark up. Stark was sound asleep, and after Pepper walked closer, she noticed that his brow was furrowed.

She saw a pile of materials on his experimental table. In the past, these were experimental data that Pepper couldn't understand. But today, Pepper saw several books that shouldn't be here, such as social engineering, game theory, political science, international relations, and even some textbooks from her own university. There were signs of flipping through, and several books were even open and placed on the desk, obviously not yet finished by Stark.

As Pepper was about to bypass the experimental table and walk over to Stark, he moved a bit, coughed, and woke up. In the dim light, he saw Pepper standing in front of him and thought he was dreaming.

Stark shook his head and blinked his eyes hard, looking very confused. Pepper often saw him like this, usually after drinking or staying up late doing experiments.

"Oh, you're here. Are you done with your work? How have you been lately?" Stark seemed a bit at a loss, as if he hadn't seen Pepper for a long time, and he greeted her in a somewhat awkward tone.

Pepper was not affected by him, and she walked over and said, "What's going on with you? Why did you start reading these books?"

Stark turned to look at his desk, and his expression was somewhat like that of a child caught playing games by his parents. He awkwardly twisted his neck and said, "A friend recommended them to me. He said I should read more of these books, or I won't be able to deal with those troubles."

Stark paused for a moment, then lowered his head. His voice sounded somewhat low and serious, something rarely seen from him.

"SHIELD, the military, and Congress have all gotten what they wanted from this event. The next negotiation will be the last."

"I represent the Stark Group. I know there won't be anyone to handle these troubles for me anymore. I have to learn to deal with everything myself."

"I've never participated in any decent negotiations. Sometimes even if I go, I just need to sit there and wait for Uncle Odaiya to finish everything. I'm just a symbolic figure. Everyone knows I'm a genius, so even if I show impatience or leave early, no one dares to say anything..."

"I know, I'm really a mess. I've caused a lot of trouble and made a lot of messes. I used to mock the other side's representatives as idiots, or deliberately spilled coffee all over the table just to leave early."

"I can't even remember how many times I've done stupid things like this, but I know this time I can only rely on myself."

Stark rubbed his eyes, then rubbed his face with both hands, trying hard to hold back the sad and helpless expression. He said, "No one will do these things for me anymore. No one will solve these problems for me anymore. No one will even look at my inventions or listen to my genius ideas..."

Pepper had to admit that this was the first time she had seen Stark look so sad. In the past, he would make those sad expressions to be funny or intentionally make people happy. But now, he was really sad.

After a moment's pause, Stark clapped his hands and said, "Okay, that's it then. I can handle all of this, right?"

"I am Stark, how can I not do it? How could these things be harder than building armors? Just watch, as long as I finish reading these documents and books, I will be able to defeat them single-handedly in the negotiations after a few days..."

Pepper felt a pang of sadness. Before this, whenever Stark acted stubborn and didn't want to do something, she would feel a headache, thinking that she was wasting too much time cajoling this big kid, and hoping that Stark would mature quickly.

But now, when Stark calmly accepted to do something he didn't want to do, Pepper suddenly wished that he would still be as willful as before.

She didn't know what was wrong with herself. Stark had grown up, which should be a good thing, but Pepper knew all too well that such growth inevitably came with intense pain and sorrow. She would rather Stark not experience such pain and live in a utopia forever.

Pepper choked back her tears, about to say something, when her phone in her pocket rang again. Reluctantly, she had to leave to answer the call, unable to chat with Stark, and had to go back to dealing with the seemingly endless work.

Stark watched Pepper's departing figure, his pain and helplessness reaching their peak. He propped one hand on the workbench and covered his eyes, never feeling that the night in New York was so long.

When he was engrossed in his experiment, the night seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Before he could finish a small portion of the experiment, the sun had already risen. He used to complain that these pure and joyful times were too short.

But tonight's darkness seemed never-ending. It felt like no matter how long he suffered, the sun would never rise.

In the dim and dark room, Stark thought to himself that the books were right. Not everything in this world could be overcome by wearing an Iron Man suit and rampaging through. Social humans cannot survive without adhering to social rules. As long as he lived in this society, he had to follow some social rules.

Stark used to think that he didn't have to follow any rules, didn't have to think about anything, and could live his life as he pleased every day. But now he realized that someone else paid the price for him to follow those rules.

It was only because they paid the price first that Stark could continue to live in this warm shell and not think about anything.

Stark actually knew that Pepper worked until late at night every day to deal with those gossip news for him, and Rhodey had to clean up all sorts of messes for him more than once.

But ever since the kidnapping case, reality was like a heavy hammer that broke open the shell of this fledgling bird, letting the cold wind of reality blow on his feathers, causing him to fall and roll in the mud, struggling to get up.

After the warm wings that he was so attached to left him, he had to face everything that was left by himself. This nest was perched on a cliff, and the cold wind was howling, but Stark had to learn to fly by himself.

After a while, Stark seemed to have accepted this fact. He slowly organized the scattered materials on the table, then placed the various books with bookmarks on one side and picked up one to continue reading.

In reality, Stark didn't know if what he was doing was useful. When he learned from Schiller that the chips of all parties had almost been prepared, and only the final negotiation was left to divide all the benefits, Stark had never felt so anxious and flustered.

In the many years before, he had never thought about these things, but at least he knew that if he did nothing, he would be giving up the entire Stark Group, giving up his father, uncle, and all their hard work.

If he doesn't take this step, the Stark Group will only retreat until they are completely defeated and divided by their opponents.

And now, no one can turn the tide in this situation except for Stark himself.

For many years of his life, he didn't have to consider anyone else's feelings, but now he is about to participate in what may be the country's highest-level negotiations. There are congressmen who have been in politics for many years, SHIELD agents who operate behind the scenes, and military leaders who are pushy and greedy.

In this situation, Stark is like a primary school student suddenly participating in a doctoral forum. He has no theoretical knowledge or practical experience, and he doesn't even know how to read people's expressions. Stark can already imagine that his usual disruptive tactics would only make these wolves more eager to make a big deal and take a bigger bite.

He must learn to be calm, to not show his emotions, and to use intelligence and skills to complete a non-combative war on a battlefield without gunfire.

This is not easy, nor is it easier than launching a real war.

Stark is like a newborn baby, and under Schiller's suggestion, he can only start with theory.

Not all politicians know these things, but they have extensive practical experience.

Stark is a blank sheet in this regard, but luckily, he is the genius Stark. His brain allows him to memorize all the knowledge in a very short time. Although he may not have time to practice and fully comprehend, having this knowledge in his mind is better than having none.

Stark thinks Schiller is right. Since he has already decided to bow his head and learn these theories that he used to despise and consider empty talk, he will try to read them as quickly as possible and attempt to understand.

The former was not difficult at all. With Stark's genius brain, he was able to memorize several books in just one night. When his brain was at its peak performance, he had an impeccable photographic memory.

However, reading and memorizing were one thing, and understanding and applying the knowledge was another. After memorizing the books, Stark had to think about how to act based on the information about people's backgrounds and relationships.

How would certain individuals react to certain topics? Within the same faction, what were the intricate subdivisions? Which relationships could be exploited? Why would some people have a lower bottom line than others? Why would some people be willing to offer higher stakes as bargaining chips?

These questions overwhelmed Stark, even though he was a super genius, he couldn't learn the essence of human knowledge overnight.

What's more, sometimes game theory and psychology seemed more like occultism, because human nature was always elusive. Analyzing everything with theories would only lead to increasingly inaccurate answers. It all relied on on-the-spot reactions, which really put immense pressure on Stark.

Finally, in the deep dark night of New York, Stark muttered to himself, "You are a genius... Stark, you are a super genius... There is no one in this world smarter than you, of course, you will be fine..."

Then, as his voice gradually faded away, he sank into a dream, and at that moment, a purple-red dawn broke over the skyline of New York.

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