Tony and Happy didn't know the route when they'd arrived, so they could only follow Quinn at a leisurely pace. When leaving, that factor was gone, so they walked quickly.
When Quinn caught up with them, they'd already left the alley and reached their car on the street, just about to open the door and leave.
"Wait a moment!"
After Quinn called out, he stopped in front of the car and extended his right hand to Tony. "Where's my payment?"
"You still want to get paid?"
Happy glared. "You almost made Tony into a controlled puppet, and you still want to..."
"Stop talking, Happy!"
Tony raised his hand to halt his loyal driver and bodyguard. "Although things turned out this way, he did introduce a 'doctor' who could cure me. I just didn't accept the treatment. That's on me."
"But..."
"No buts. A transaction is a transaction. Even if you get scammed, you can only blame yourself for being careless. Nobody forced anyone to buy or sell."
"Hey, how am I deliberately trying to trick you?"
Quinn folded his arms across his chest, looking displeased.
"Who knows what's really going on?"
Tony shrugged, then got into the passenger seat and stuck his head out. "I've had Jarvis transfer the money to you. Just check your bank messages."
"Okay!"
Quinn didn't bother checking and graciously stepped aside.
Although the playboy's personality was a bit irritating, as a superhero, his integrity was solid.
"If you hear any other information that could heal my condition, contact me. My contact details are in the bank message."
"Will do."
"Goodbye then."
Tony waved to Quinn. Taking advantage of Happy settling into the driver's seat while they'd been chatting, he started the car and drove off.
Quinn stood on the roadside and watched Tony's car leave. He didn't turn back until it disappeared from sight, a smile on his face.
Although Tony hadn't accepted Tamayo's proposal to transform into a demon, nor had he healed his body, what did that have to do with Quinn?
His purpose was prayer value, nothing else. How Tony chose was irrelevant to him.
All he cared about was the prayer value.
This time, just from Tamayo's interaction, he'd gained 11,240 prayer points. Including the restaurant, the Vongola Family, and Otto, there were over 14,000 prayer points total.
And this was just one morning's harvest.
Compared to the previous year's gains, it was only slightly less than what Muzan and the Twelve Kizuki's chaos had generated over two months.
And...
"The prayer value harvest is only the small part. The real big gain is what comes from the incident's ripple effects!" Quinn looked at the street where Tony's car had disappeared, unable to contain the smile spreading across his face.
Tony was the most critical component of Fury's Avengers Initiative, and S.H.I.E.L.D.—even Fury himself—had been keeping tabs on him.
After Tony learned about demons' existence, whether to investigate if Tamayo had deliberately set a trap to harm him, to eradicate evil as a hero, or to find hope for survival, he would investigate.
And his investigation would be tracked by S.H.I.E.L.D., whose intelligence would become known to Hydra. Additionally, the Rising Tide organization that had been hiding in the shadows wanting to expose S.H.I.E.L.D.—step by step, link by link, the existence of demons would surely come before the public eye.
Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. would inevitably try to suppress the information. Whether the Rising Tide Organization could expose these existences hidden in the world's shadows remained uncertain.
But it didn't matter—Quinn would give them a little help when necessary.
"I'm really looking forward to how this develops more and more!" Quinn forcefully resisted the urge to laugh out loud, turned around, and walked toward the convenience store.
…
On the way back.
While driving, Happy asked irritably, "Tony, I don't quite understand—we gained nothing from this trip, so why did you still pay that Quinn guy?"
"No, we did gain something."
Tony rested his right elbow on the car window, his hand against his cheek. After hearing Happy's question, he glanced sideways at him, then looked forward again. "If that Tamayo wanted to set up a scheme to harm me, then at least Quinn let me know there's such a dangerous person targeting me. If not, then at least it gave me hope."
"Hope?"
Happy looked over in confusion.
"Watch the road!"
"Oh, right!"
After seeing Happy return his attention to driving, Tony continued, "Although I don't trust that Tamayo, I can research it myself. The super healing power of demons could genuinely solve my physical condition."
"That's true—nothing in this world can stop you!"
"You know me well!"
After joking with Happy, Tony continued, "The reason I don't trust Tamayo is because there are many inconsistencies in her story. Think about it—a demon race and a demon-hunting organization that have survived for thousands of years, even if they've been hiding in the shadows, it's impossible they'd leave absolutely no traces."
"Maybe it's too unbelievable, like mythology!" Happy said, adjusting the steering wheel. "There seem to be many similar legends in Japan, like those paintings of Muzan or something. Maybe they recorded the actual experiences of Muzan Kibutsuji."
"That makes sense."
Tony nodded, then continued thinking. "...But there shouldn't only be clues at that superficial level. With so many people and demons in the world, they'd definitely leave traces of their existence. As long as you search carefully, you'll definitely find clues."
Speaking of which, he raised his right hand and pointed at the smartwatch on his wrist. "Jarvis, search globally for clues about demons and demon slayers."
"Sir, I've found over 136,000 entries, all of which are legends and film and television works from Japan!"
"Automatically filter out fictional legends and entertainment media information."
"Sir, filtering complete!"
The smartwatch projected a holographic display with many clues densely recorded on it.
Vampires, mummies, ghosts, reapers... Clues or information about various legendary creatures were presented in this table... Most were false legends, but many were genuine.
For example, the registrants of several companies.
There was nothing special about the companies themselves, but their registration dates spanned from the 15th century to the present, with one registered every 100 years.
But the registrant's name was identical throughout.
This information was extremely secretive—without an advanced intelligent program like Jarvis, it would be absolutely impossible to find.
There were also properties that had existed since 1,200 years ago, with their legal owners never changing.
There were even government-owned enterprises with similar patterns.
Another example was numerous people reporting sightings of a skeleton knight riding a motorcycle recklessly through city streets at night.
"Haha..." Tony laughed. "There are more hidden truths in this world than I imagined!"
Character Notes:
Jarvis - From Marvel Comics/MCU. Tony Stark's advanced AI assistant. Originally his human butler Edwin Jarvis; later became the AI that would evolve into Vision.
Ghost Rider (Skeleton Knight reference) - From Marvel Comics. A supernatural entity bonded with a human host, manifesting as a flaming skeleton who rides a motorcycle and punishes the guilty.