The site for this World Energy Conference was set in Japan—a country that had just experienced the Fukushima nuclear leak a few years ago. Choosing this location was meant to help people distinguish between Nuclear Fusion and Nuclear Fission.
On the other hand, the location was excellent. In the past, Japan had always served as a pawn for the United States, and holding the conference here also signified its transition toward becoming an East-West office hub.
In the old era, most discussions revolved around oil. If there was a war, the talk would be about how oil prices were severely harming developing countries, calling for stable energy prices and ensuring the security of energy supplies, and so on.
If there wasn't a war, everyone would discuss environmental protection and sustainable energy, with slogans like "Energy Transition to Create a Livable Planet" and the like.
But as long as there were no breakthrough technologies like Controlled Nuclear Fusion, these topics didn't really hold much meaning. At most, they were excuses to condemn one party or another over carbon emissions. As for actually pouring money into Nuclear Fusion research, that depended on whether the wealthy oil oligarchs were willing.
In fact, even if Nuclear Fusion truly appeared, promoting it would be difficult—Roxxon's involvement in the assassination attempt on Norman was partly due to this factor. If everyone used Nuclear Fusion for power, who would they sell their oil and gas to?
The conference itself was a platform, a top-tier event in the global energy field where energy policymakers, corporations, and experts from various countries would showcase their technologies, perspectives, and achievements.
The theme of this conference was "Future Energy in an Interdependent World." Without Nuclear Fusion, this topic wouldn't have been worth discussing, but since the situation had changed, it was now very meaningful. After all, the theme could have just as easily been "Building a New Order for Future Energy" without mentioning interdependence at all.
Moreover, both Norman and Harry had shown a willingness to share—though Harry hadn't shared the core technology, everyone knew they should thank their lucky stars that the U.S. wasn't using these things to wage an economic war.
At this conference, the Oscorp was undoubtedly the protagonist. Before landing, Harry had the Japanese side clear his arrival path; he didn't want to face a swarm of reporters, businessmen, and politicians the moment he touched down.
Stepping off the plane, Felicia was waiting outside. As the CEO of the Oscorp, she would naturally be attending this conference as well.
A hug is a good way to relieve fatigue. Feeling his lover's warmth, Harry was in a very good mood.
"I was just thinking, if the first person I saw after getting off the plane wasn't you, I'd be very disappointed."
"That's a crazy thought," Felicia whispered into Harry's ear with a smile.
After the hug, the two left the airport under the protection of bodyguards. After walking a few steps, Harry noticed a crowd gathered ahead—there seemed to be a celebrity up front.
"Mr. Stark, may I ask—"
The reporters were eager to shove their microphones into Tony's mouth, but Happy's massive frame kept them at bay, clearing a path for Tony.
"Terribly sorry, but I'm here to pick someone up—hey, Genius Child!" Unsurprisingly, Tony was indeed waiting for him.
Hearing that nickname, Harry felt a bit helpless:
"Why must you use that nickname? Do you think it's funny?"
Tony flashed a punchable grin: "I just think it suits you. Genius, child—though the way you look now, you're not exactly a child anymore. Let's just call you Genius Teenager then."
Harry was eighteen when he first met Tony, so he could still be considered a teenager back then. Now he was nearly twenty-four, and this nickname-loving guy only just thought of using the word 'teenager'!
Harry crossed his arms: "You're quite something, Tin Man—how is Pepper?"
"She's here too—why choose Tokyo as the conference site? There doesn't seem to be anything interesting here. I wanted to find a fun bar to chat with you, but it's all just 'adult entertainment' shops here," Tony complained.
"Isn't that your favorite?"
"Pepper and I are in a committed relationship, so..." Tony shrugged.
Harry thought for a moment and flashed a somewhat mischievous smile: "I know a fun place."
Tony blinked, then said, "Then you decide—tonight at eight, be there or be square."
With that, he ducked back into his flashy sports car. Harry realized something was off: Tony asked him to find the place, but set the time himself?
He originally had plans for tonight—
"Then you should go find him. I originally prepared something special for you," Felicia shrugged, intentionally revealing a corner of her lingerie, looking very seductive.
Harry pulled Felicia into his arms—to hell with Tony Stark, let him wait.
The following evening.
If Japan had any specialties, Tony was right—the adult industry was very developed and friendly to both men and women.
Furthermore, it wasn't just pure pornography; it was the kind of development that played the 'gray area' well, where even completely 'clean' Host Clubs could thrive.
So, Harry first took Tony to experience a Japanese specialty—a Host Club.
However, this really wasn't Tony's cup of tea. Once they reached the entrance, Tony turned and left immediately.
So Harry took him to another specialty industrial street in Japan—
"What on earth is this?" Tony asked with a strange expression, holding a manga book. The cover featured a young girl with twin short ponytails, a red headband, and pink hair.
After looking for a while, Tony turned his gaze to Harry: "Your thoughts seem a bit dangerous. You'll get flagged by the FBI like this—wait, are we already being watched?"
Perhaps this was a clash of cultures. Things that Japanese youth were crazy about seemed like they should be investigated by the FBI to Tony.
Though, the character in his hand was indeed a minor.
"I'm just introducing you to this subculture—didn't you want to see Japanese specialties? This is it," Harry shrugged.
Tony flipped through the manga again and found that the content actually seemed quite normal; it was just that the '2D characters' all over the street didn't look like they were wearing very legal outfits.
"Alright..."
Putting down the manga, the two continued walking down the street as Tony brought up business:
"The work on my end has met the targets. How's the situation on your side?"
Project Zeus aimed to complete a global energy upgrade. Harry had ceded some markets for Tony to build under the name of Stark, primarily the South American market.
This distribution, on one hand, nominally prevented Osborn from forming a monopoly, and on the other hand, served as an investment in Tony's brilliant mind.
"Osborn's side exceeded the targets long ago. It looks like Project Zeus is entering its final stages," Harry said easily.
Those oil companies were basically on their last breath. In the future, oil would mostly be used as a raw material for the chemical industry. While it still couldn't be replaced, its value was greatly diminished. It used to be liquid gold; now it was at most liquid iron.
Natural gas was even worse off. Integrated oil and gas energy companies had basically lost everything here. Out of humanitarian spirit, the two of them had acquired many such companies and reorganized them into power companies under their banners, saving many people from unemployment.
The focus of this energy conference was to showcase their work results and demonstrate their global power grid layout to the World.
"Roxxon's stock price has gone up quite a bit," Tony suddenly said.
Why did it rise? It could only be that Roxxon's CEO, Agger, had fed the investors some kind of magic potion. But as a former energy giant, what could he possibly bring out? Could it be another Controlled Nuclear Fusion?
Harry rubbed his chin. If Roxxon really did come up with such a thing, it would indeed have some impact on the industry rules the two of them had set, but it would be very limited.
He was pushing this out a bit late now; it wouldn't affect the big picture.
"Then let's welcome another company to the acquisition of this technology," Harry shrugged.
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