It was noon, and the sun was blazing.
"Miss Potts, where is my best brother, Tony Stark? I just called him over twenty times, and he didn't answer a single one!"
After driving all the way from Washington D.C. to Stark Tower in New York, Agent Li Chengfeng stopped his car and unceremoniously burst into the Stark Industries CEO's office on the top floor of the building…
Of course, the current CEO and controlling shareholder of Stark Industries was actually Pepper Potts, while Stark was just a freeloading mustache.
Perhaps after being completely rejected by Louise Lane, he finally realized who the person he loved was, and his relationship with Pepper had rapidly warmed up over the past month.
Why was he so sure?
Because Pepper's complexion clearly showed she was in the honeymoon phase.
"Calm down, Agent Li Chengfeng, Tony will be here soon; he's meeting me for lunch, so could you wait a moment?" Pepper led Li Chengfeng to the sofa and sat down beside him. "You're in such a hurry to find Tony, did he do something good again outside?"
"Oh, Miss Potts, he certainly did something incredibly good!"
"Ah, this… it's not serious, is it?"
"What's serious? It's not serious; what he did was genuinely good, and I'm not being sarcastic."
Li Chengfeng reacted, suddenly finding it both funny and frustrating.
What on earth was Tony Stark doing every day?
Looking at his girlfriend's state, he must have caused a lot of trouble at home.
"Don't worry, Miss Potts, although Tony is usually a bit frivolous and full of flaws, he wouldn't do anything truly wicked."
"I hope so." Pepper extended her hand and shook Li Chengfeng's. "And from now on, just call me Pepper."
At that very moment, Tony Stark happened to walk in through the door, carrying a large paper bag.
While taking off his flamboyant sunglasses, he said:
"Oh, Pepper, some excellent cheeseburgers. I swear on my dad's beard, you won't find anything better in the entire Queens… Damn it! Li Chengfeng, what are you doing here! And holding my girlfriend's hand!"
Tony instantly got a bit heated, and his mustache trembled.
Pepper looked at Tony's expression, feeling a mix of triumph and shyness.
"Oh, come on, it was just a polite handshake. Do you think everyone is like you, wanting to rub off a layer of skin when shaking hands?"
Li Chengfeng poked fun at Tony Stark's past, but saw that he was completely unfazed. Instead, after placing the paper bag on the table, he rushed over in two strides…
He plopped down between Pepper and Li Chengfeng, separating the two of them.
"Hey, hey, hey, are you a jealous elementary schooler?" Li Chengfeng pushed away Tony Stark, who kept squeezing against him. "Pepper is like an older sister to me; even if I were a scoundrel, I wouldn't make a move, right?"
"Don't give me that bull. Everyone in the Federal Bureau of Investigation knows you have a soft spot for older women and are entangled with the three older women in the Star Team!"
"Cough, cough, cough! Older women and older sisters are still different, Pepper, don't listen to his nonsense."
Li Chengfeng quickly explained. Although he was a bit reserved, he still wanted to maintain an image of a decent person in front of his friends.
"Hmph, tell me, what brings you, a busy man, to see me at noon? You're not here to mooch off my food, are you? Haven't you heard the saying, people who disturb a couple's private time will be kicked to death by a donkey… And I only bought two servings of burgers."
Although Tony Stark's words were still informal, he finally stopped bickering with Li Chengfeng.
"Huh? Kicked to death by a donkey? Even if Hela kicks me to death today, I'm still coming!"
Li Chengfeng chuckled, wrapping an arm around Tony Stark's shoulder.
"Who told my good brother Tony Stark to do something incredibly good? Didn't you text me this morning that you recently helped Fury modify and upgrade the latest model of the Helicarrier, and achieved a new collaboration between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Stark Industries, which can greatly reduce the completion time of the Helicarrier and is expected to be finished in a short period?"
Upon hearing about this matter, Tony Stark immediately wrapped his arm around Li Chengfeng's shoulder in return, looking like good buddies.
"What's our relationship! Your business is my business… And I'm also very interested in a lot of your Federal Bureau of Investigation's technology… You know, ever since that little girl Skye became part of your Federal Bureau of Investigation, the difficulty of me directly hacking into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's database has skyrocketed."
"Actually, this started with Fury contacting me, hoping I could help solve an engine problem with your Federal Bureau of Investigation's satellite launch. I looked at the design drawings, and just by making a few small changes, this satellite can continuously perform sub-orbital flight without needing to land."
"Then those few beautiful Agents Fury brought rushed up and flattered me. You know me, brother, I don't like chasing women, but I like showing off my skills in front of beautiful women. So I followed Fury to the underground, sorted out the problems with those Helicarriers, which were easy to solve. They should be ready for use within two weeks, as 90% of them are already built." Tony Stark said, pointing to himself proudly, "Of course, I filled in the most important 10%!"
Li Chengfeng understood the whole story upon hearing this.
"God, he doesn't like chasing women, but he likes showing off his skills in front of beautiful women." What's the difference between this sentence and Lu Bu's "Bu is not fond of fighting, only fond of resolving fights"?
Stark had unintentionally helped him a great deal.
So, Li Chengfeng's eyes darted, and he leaned into Tony Stark's ear, revealing all the potential drawbacks of the Insight Project.
And Tony Stark's expression kept changing as Li Chengfeng spoke.
"Ah!? Then did I just make things worse?"
"No, no, no, this is what we call the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
Li Chengfeng smiled.
The Insight Project?
It was merely the biggest piece of bait on the hook.
He had originally planned to wait for an opportunity later to wipe out all of HYDRA in one fell swoop.
But Grant Ward's assassination had created a temporary intelligence blind spot in HYDRA's view, and Stark's perfection of the Helicarrier had filled in the most crucial component of the bait.
There was no better day than today. Since there were no major missions recently, it was time to put the complete annihilation of HYDRA on the agenda.
Using the Insight Project, which was merely a facade, as bait, he would offer HYDRA an opportunity to "control the World."
They would be foolish not to take the bait.
"Wait, Li, did you tell Fury about this?"
"It's not too late to tell that Black Egg after I've completed the setup. And I don't plan on letting that 'Insight Project' go into effect. Besides, HYDRA will definitely want to directly attack the America General Bureau by then, which will be a good opportunity to wipe them all out."
"Wipe them all out… You make it sound as easy as swatting flies."
"Tsk, we're both old foxes, why are you playing games with me?"
Li Chengfeng poked Stark's lower back, grinning mischievously:
"Don't tell me you didn't leave a backdoor in the satellite and Helicarrier databases that only you can crack and activate."
"Do I look like that kind of person!?"
"So, is there or isn't there?"
"There is."