"Why does Zhou Cheng think it's perfectly fine to steal the blueprints from Stan?"
Tony Stark rested his chin in his hand, beginning to seriously consider the question.
Zhou Cheng had just demonstrated a certain level of a moral compass.
He felt that, as the protagonist, he shouldn't do something as low as stealing.
But why had his attitude changed when it came to Stan?
What was the difference between stealing from himself and stealing from Stan?
"It's Stan!"
Tony Stark quickly arrived at an answer.
Comparing the two cases, there was no difference from start to finish.
The only difference was the target.
One target was himself, and the other was Stan.
That's all.
So~ The direct cause of Zhou Cheng's two completely different attitudes was Stan!
The logical cause and effect were so obvious that you didn't even need to analyze it; it was right there in front of you.
So, the question was…
What exactly did Stan do to merit such different treatment from Zhou Cheng?
Forget it, I should just go to sleep. It's all been a waste of effort.
Even if I got the blueprints, they wouldn't be that useful.
After all, the really core part, the Arc Reactor, isn't even on the blueprints. That's the key.
Without a reactor, the armor is just a useless pile of iron. No use at all.
If you did a good job, you might be able to sell it as a toy, but the Original Mark?
I reckon it's only good for scrap metal!
Heh.
Tony Stark couldn't help but curl his lips into a mocking smile.
Just thinking about it is ridiculous.
Do you think you can just steal and take my stuff, my great Tony's stuff?
Even if I shove the blueprints in your face, it won't work!
The diary is right, what's the most core thing about the Iron Man armor?
Undoubtedly, it's the energy source.
If this problem isn't solved, everything is useless.
And this core technology, the energy source, is undoubtedly in Tony Stark's head.
However…
The energy source used by the Mark Armor is actually the Arc Reactor?
There's one of those things in Stark Tower, and it's been there for who knows how many years.
It's just a decoration, utterly useless.
But it seems that the other him found a way to miniaturize it, and successfully used it on the armor.
"Simplifying that big thing to use as an energy source, what a brilliant idea!"
"As expected of me!"
"This is indeed a very promising research direction!"
Tony Stark's eyes lit up again.
Don't even mention not having the reactor blueprints, even if I did, I couldn't use them!
That reactor is a killer!
[Tony Stark almost died in his own armor, he was even preparing for his will.]
[If he hadn't researched a new element at a critical moment, Tony Stark would have kicked the bucket for sure!]
The reactor is deadly?
Tony Stark was only slightly stunned before he immediately understood.
That's right, the Arc Reactor uses palladium!
Palladium is poisonous to the human body.
If you really use a small Arc Reactor to power the Mark Armor, using it "intimately."
Once or twice is fine, but after a long time, it will indeed poison people.
Even in severe cases, it could indeed lead to death.
But there's a prerequisite: deep poisoning.
This means…
That the other him wore the armor far too frequently, to the point where the worst-case scenario manifested.
"Why?"
"Why didn't he take off the armor?"
Tony Stark couldn't understand.
The poisoning from palladium was indeed potent, but not unavoidable.
In fact, avoiding it was incredibly simple: just don't wear the armor.
But that other Tony Stark preferred to let his poisoning worsen day by day, willing to sacrifice his life rather than remove his armor.
Why?
Lacking the necessary information, Tony Stark couldn't figure it out.
He simply stopped dwelling on it.
After all, such a thing wouldn't happen to him again.
Since that other version of himself could synthesize a new element, then he certainly could!
Once the new element was synthesized, all problems would cease to exist.
It was that simple.
[So, Howard is amazing, like he could predict the future.]
[He left a key clue so many years ago, guiding Stark to synthesize the new element.]
[This is how the 'Cross-Temporal Rescue' played out, saving Stark's life.]
[You have to admit, Stark's old man is something else!]
So, that's it.
Is this what the diary mentioned before, that his old man saved his life even after being dead for so many years?
Is this the truth?
This question had lingered in Tony Stark's mind for so long, and the answer was finally revealed at this moment.
But Tony Stark completely disagreed.
This was a damn joke, wasn't it? Even if his old man was amazing, super awesome.
How could he possibly be guided to synthesize a new element after his death?
It's ridiculous!
As Zhou Cheng complained in his diary, could his old man be some kind of fortune teller?
"Cross-Temporal Rescue"? Is this some kind of novel?
So, the situation is actually very clear.
It was definitely Tony Stark who, in order to solve the palladium problem, conducted a detailed and in-depth study of the Arc Reactor.
Ultimately, relying on his own intelligence, he synthesized the new element.
It had nothing to do with his father, Howard.
Then why did the diary's owner, Zhou Cheng, say he was guided by Howard?
Undoubtedly, Zhou Cheng was a hardcore fan of Howard!
This guy had repeatedly expressed his admiration for his father.
And the Arc Reactor was precisely what Howard created, and some technical data, undoubtedly, was also left behind by Howard.
Tony Stark succeeded precisely by studying the technical data left by Howard.
So.
That's why Zhou Cheng spun it, making it sound like Howard's achievement, right?
In reality, Howard had nothing to do with it.
He, Tony, did it all with his own smarts! Hmm, that's got to be it!
[It was precisely because of this "Cross-Temporal Rescue" that Stark reconciled with his father.]
[He finally understood that he had misunderstood his father for so many years.]
[Howard wasn't the indifferent man he had always imagined.]
[On the contrary, Howard's love for him was extremely deep.]
Zhou Cheng, that guy, is really a die-hard fan of Howard, isn't he?
Tony Stark shrugged dismissively.
Otherwise, why would the other party keep trying to defend his father?
His old man, "loved him deeply?" Give me a break!
How Howard treated him, wouldn't he, as his son, know? That guy was very harsh on him and never said "I love you" or anything like that.
Even when he was happiest was the day he sent him to boarding school.
This is called loving deeply?
------------------------
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