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Ryan looked back with a slight smile and pointed behind Tony's seat. "There's a laptop in the bag behind you. You can appreciate it now."
Tony looked back in the direction he pointed and indeed found a laptop bag behind the seat.
Opening it up, there really was a laptop inside!
As Tony pulled the laptop out of the bag, he couldn't help but complain, "How do you have everything in your car? RPGs, laptops... are you doraemon?"
Slap—
Ryan didn't answer. Instead, he reached back from the driver's seat and pressed his hand down on the laptop Tony was about to open.
A mischievous smirk curled on Tony's lips.
"What, do you want me to come to the front seat and watch it with you?"
Ryan slowly shook his head and said seriously:
"I have no interest in watching such eye-searing things with you. I just need to tell you in advance: once you see the content, if you plan to take action against the people inside, you must commission me to do it. If you agree, you can continue."
Hearing this, Tony looked at Ryan with disdain:
"Pah! What kind of person do you take me for? This kind of stuff is just for watching. Who would want to invite the teacher over for a private lesson? Do I look like someone that thirsty?"
"I'm putting it out there right now: no matter how good-looking the lead actress is, I, Tony Stark, won't have the slightest reaction!"
Ryan shrugged without a word and silently withdrew his hand from the laptop.
With a triumphant smile, Tony opened the laptop and plugged the USB drive into the port. Not forgetting his brother-in-suffering, Ethan, he pushed the screen toward him.
"Ethan, come on. Sharing joy is better than keeping it to yourself. The two of us have been suffering for over two months. Let's see something 'good' to cleanse our eyes!"
"Hiss... we're still in the car. This... this isn't very appropriate..."
Despite his words, the usually upright-looking Ethan couldn't help but glance toward the screen.
Tony smirked and used an Ip Man-style hand gesture to point at the stubborn but curious Ethan. He smiled without saying a word and clicked on the only video on the USB drive.
"Ahhhhhhh~~~~~"
As soon as it started, it was a critical hit. Even before the image appeared, the sound of moaning drifted from the video.
Holy shit, starting off this intense?
But immediately, Tony's brow furrowed as he noticed a major problem!
Wait! Something's not right! Why does the screaming sound like a man?
And why does the scream sound so familiar?
When the camera cut from the black screen to an image, Tony was shocked to find that the person screaming in the video was actually himself!
And the reason for the screaming was that in the footage, Ethan was performing a simple open-chest surgery on him!
The kind without anesthesia!
So, he was screaming in pain!
Veins bulged on Tony's forehead as he watched. He felt a faint ache in his chest again. He gritted his teeth and looked at Ryan in the driver's seat:
"This is the 'SM, bondage, and wet look' you were talking about?"
Ryan, in the driver's seat, suppressed a laugh. "Yeah. Going under the knife—isn't that SM enough?"
"I... you... fine, fine, fine! I'll count that. Then what about the bondage and the wet look?" Tony asked through gritted teeth.
"Don't be in such a hurry. It's coming right up."
Sure enough, as soon as Ryan finished speaking, the video reached the 'bondage and wet look' segment Tony 'wanted' to see—which was also the most important part of the video.
In the video, Ethan was gone. In his place was Tony, tied to a chair, soaking wet and unconscious, along with the desperate Bald Leader Ryan had killed during takeoff.
The first name the Bald Leader shouted made Tony's body shudder, his eyes filled with disbelief!
Because the name the bald man shouted was Obadiah Stane!
The second-largest shareholder of Stark Industries, his father's old friend, and the uncle he trusted most in the company!
It was actually him who had betrayed him!
"Motherfucker! That bastard! I should have known it was that bastard who sold me out! He's in charge of Stark Industries' weapons business. Only he could hide it from me and sell Stark weapons to Terrorists!!"
Tony was so furious he started cursing up a storm. He slammed his fist onto the laptop, shattering the screen!
"That laptop costs ten thousand."
Hearing the sound, Ryan casually tossed out that remark.
After pulling out the USB drive, Tony threw the entire laptop out the window and panted, "I'll give you ten million! Shut up!"
Ten million?
Ryan immediately became as silent as a lamb.
However, after a short while, it was Tony who couldn't hold back and spoke first: "You said earlier that if I saw this video and planned to act against the person inside, I must commission you, right?"
Ryan nodded silently.
Tony's lip twitched. "You can talk now. Answer me, yes or no!"
Only then did Ryan speak: "The customer is king. Yes. So, do you want to become a repeat customer?"
At this point, Ethan hadn't died, and Tony hadn't completely transformed from a weapons dealer into a man with a heart of gold. He nodded resolutely:
"Of course. I want you to help me make that guy pay in blood. Name your price!"
Name a price?
This actually stumped Ryan.
Thinking back on his years in the business, it seemed he had never actually named his own price.
Whether it was Kingpin looking for him or him taking missions in the underworld, the prices were always set beforehand.
Kingpin's offers were always very high, so he was naturally never dissatisfied.
So he really had never taken the initiative to name a price...
After thinking about it, Ryan decided to throw the problem back to Tony: "How much do you think your uncle's life is worth?"
Now it was Tony's turn to be stumped.
That's one way to put it. His uncle was the second-largest shareholder of Stark Industries, holding a full 15% stake, which, combined with his own 45%, formed absolute control.
If measured by commercial value, that 15% stake was simply immeasurable!
So strictly speaking, Obadiah Stane was worth that 15% stake in Stark Industries; it couldn't be calculated specifically in cash.
But Tony couldn't actually give that 15% stake to Ryan as payment. After all, an employment fee isn't calculated based on the target's net worth.
Therefore, Tony pondered for a while before deciding: "How about this, I'll give you two choices."
"One, I'll directly give you five hundred million. Given your worth for saving me, having you take out Obadiah Stane isn't a bad deal, right?"
Ryan shrugged. "Indeed, it's not a bad deal. Killing is much easier than saving. For five hundred million, I'm making a huge profit~"
Tony frowned. "So you're choosing option one?"
Ryan said flatly, "No, I'm choosing option two."
Tony was a bit surprised now. "I haven't even said what two is. How do you know it'll be better than one?"
Ryan looked back and smiled. "For a smart, handsome, and incredibly wealthy guy like you, would your next offer be lower than the first? That's not the style of a billionaire playboy..."
"I like the sound of that!" Tony narrowed his eyes. "I'm finding that I like you a little bit now..."
"You're right. My offers never go lower, only higher!"
"Option two: I'll give you a 5% stake in Stark Industries. But not only do you have to help me take out Obadiah Stane, you also need to promise me two things."
Ryan nodded without hesitation. "Fine, I agree."
This left Tony bewildered again.
No, buddy, aren't you being a bit too casual about this!
It was one thing to pick option two before hearing it, but now you've agreed before even hearing the conditions?
So Tony asked speechlessly, "Aren't you afraid I'll propose something you don't dare to do, or conditions that are unfavorable to you?"
To this, Ryan said indifferently, "I'm not afraid. As long as the money is right, there's nothing I don't dare to do. And unfavorable to me? Heh, if you dare to suggest it, I'll dare to throw you out of the car right now."
Hearing this answer, Tony was truly impressed!
If you can't solve the problem, solve the person causing it, huh...
Tony covered his face helplessly and said:
"Fine. Actually, these two things aren't anything unfavorable to you."
"The first thing is, if I ever face this kind of danger again in the future, even if no one hires you, you have to come and save me one more time."
"The second thing is similar, but the target isn't me. If I'm unfortunate enough to die and Pepper is in danger, you need to help me save Pepper once!"