◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 50 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 40 chapter ahead on P@treon . if you're interested: patreon.com/Heroicverse
------------------------------------------------
But clearly, as an early-stage mini-boss, Obadiah wasn't that durable...
The next day.
Returning home late at night, Ryan, who rarely slept until noon the next day, woke up to see two trending news notifications pushed to his phone.
The first, unsurprisingly, was the explosive news that Tony Stark had returned.
The news video showed Tony announcing his return at a Stark Industries press conference this morning, as well as publicly disclosing the process of his kidnapping and the fact that a traitor within Stark Industries, Obadiah Stane, had leaked his security route.
The second piece of news was about Obadiah himself.
The news reported that a fisherman accidentally reeled in a male corpse while sea fishing in the Pacific Ocean this morning. The police confirmed the identity of the male corpse as the second-largest shareholder of Stark Industries, Obadiah Stane.
With these two news stories breaking together, it was hard not to suspect that Obadiah Stane's death was Tony Stark's doing.
But it was merely suspicion; the police had no evidence to prove that Obadiah's death was related to Tony.
Furthermore, Stark Industries was the Military's primary arms supplier and had deep cooperation with the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the police simply couldn't afford to offend them.
Therefore, the police only made a token inquiry over the phone about Tony's whereabouts during the time of the incident last night, not even daring to send anyone to Tony's seaside Villa for an investigation, and the matter was dropped...
Reading the news, Ryan clicked his tongue.
Tsk tsk, this is the power of capital...
Even without superpowers, there's super privilege...
To this, Ryan just wanted to say, Tony, that damn capitalist... he didn't even bring me along!
That's right, Ryan didn't have any ideas about overthrowing capitalists; he wanted to become a capitalist, even surpass them!
To the point of establishing his own business empire, Parker Industries!
However, to become a capitalist and build one's own business empire, the first step isn't just having money; one must have a unique commercial product that generates wealth!
Otherwise, blindly throwing money into establishing one's own industry isn't being a capitalist, it's being a spendthrift...
But Ryan already had a preliminary plan for his business empire, as well as the first product to be launched.
That product was... lizard regeneration serum!
With one injection, even the most severe injuries could be healed, and even severed limbs could be regrown!
Ryan couldn't imagine how much of a sensation this product would cause in the World once it was released, or how much money it could make him!
Not to say it would reach the level of a top-tier enterprise like Stark Industries, but becoming a first-rate company was absolutely a sure thing!
However, the prerequisite for all this was that Dr. Connors had to first perfect the lizard regeneration serum and completely eliminate the mutation caused by it.
He didn't want mutated Lizard Men running around all over the World...
Moreover, Ryan's ultimate plan was not only to eliminate the serum's mutagenicity but even the point that the serum granted strength far exceeding that of ordinary people would also have to be removed!
He only wanted the lizard regeneration serum to retain its regenerative effect, and even that point ideally shouldn't be permanent, but only a one-time regenerative effect.
Otherwise, this wouldn't be a medical product, but a product of war!
Think about the consequences of a group of soldiers on the battlefield who could infinitely recover from anything except head and heart wounds and possessed immense strength...
Thinking of this, Ryan shook his head and stopped thinking further.
No matter how much he thought now, he had to see the finished product first.
Otherwise, let alone the potential war consequences of the regeneration serum, even his Parker Industries was just a fantasy...
And going to Afghanistan to rescue Tony, plus yesterday's revenge for Tony, had taken Ryan exactly one week.
He had set out last weekend, so today was also a weekend.
When Ryan walked downstairs, the three people eating lunch were all stunned to see him, not knowing when Ryan had returned.
To this, Ryan simply explained casually that his plane had only landed late last night, it was too late, so he didn't wake them up.
Regarding Ryan's explanation, the old couple Ben and May naturally had no doubts and happily pulled their son down to eat with them.
Only Peter, upon seeing the returned Ryan, seemed a bit guilty and just buried his head in his food.
But even if Peter buried his head deeper, what couldn't be avoided would eventually come.
After eating, Ryan patted Peter on the shoulder:
"Peter, come down with me for a moment..."
After saying that, Ryan turned and headed toward the Underground Room.
Peter's attempt to stay invisible failed, and he could only follow with a bitter face.
On the way down, Ryan asked Peter about the progress of the lizard regeneration serum he had been working on with Dr. Connors this past week. As expected, Peter was hesitant and stuttering, clearly not very clear about it.
At this, Ryan looked back at Peter and left him with only one sentence.
"Tonight, extra training!"
Amid Peter's cries of woe, Ryan entered the Second-floor Laboratory.
But to his surprise, Dr. Connors wasn't the only one busy in the underground lab at the moment.
There was another graceful figure assisting Dr. Connors.
That figure was, of course, Gwen.
Before Peter could explain, Gwen, seeing Ryan's return, immediately broke into a surprised smile and flew into Ryan's arms.
Ryan caught Gwen in his arms, spun her around twice, and then asked with a smile, "Gwen, why are you here?"
Gwen's eyes curved into crescent moons as she replied:
"Because you left last week for something, I didn't want to disturb you, and I was a bit worried about Teacher's condition, so I asked Peter about him..."
"I learned from Peter that Teacher was helping you with research. I thought since I have nothing to do after school and on my days off anyway, I'd come over and continue being Teacher's assistant."
Hearing this, Ryan kissed Gwen on the forehead and rubbed her blonde hair: "So that's how it is. You've worked hard, Gwen."
"You're much more responsible than a certain irresponsible cousin of mine."
Peter: I surrender, I know I was wrong, stop talking ┗(T﹏T)┛
Gwen shook her head and took the initiative to excuse Peter:
"No, I volunteered to help Teacher in Peter's place."
"This city needs a hero to guard its dark side and strike at the pests hiding in the shadows to prevent more tragedies from happening."
"When you're not around, only Peter has that ability."
Ryan nodded upon hearing this but didn't offer any comment.
Although he hadn't guarded the city's dark side out of obligation before, Kingpin would often commission him to take out the leaders of rival gangs to consolidate his underground empire.
So Ryan indeed indirectly cleared many pests from the shadows for this city.