Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

Iron Monger lay on the ground, the cockpit on its chest opened, and Obadiah scrambled out—if he had stayed a few more seconds, his skin would have been burned off.

Lu Mingfei glanced at him, raised his hand and hooked Obadiah by the neck with an invisible force, lifting him up and bringing him in front of Lu Mingfei. His face was red due to difficulty breathing and blood flow.

"Please, don't kill me... I'll give you anything... I'll give you anything..." Obadiah struggled and begged for mercy, his syllables distorted.

“Mingfei, don’t kill him,” Tony shouted. “Save his life. I need his shares to shut down Stark Industries’ weapons division!”

A golden light flashed in Lu Mingfei's eyes, and he casually threw the sword and knife out, which melted the surrounding concrete as they landed on the ground.

He twisted his arm, and Obadiah screamed as he fell to the ground, his limbs dislocated.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, on an armed helicopter, several people in black suits were recording something using some high-tech-looking instruments.

……

The next day, at Tony's home.

“Here, sign this.” Tony handed a document to Lu Mingfei.

"What's this?" Lu Mingfei, lounging lazily on the sofa, picked up the documents and glanced down. "Another share transfer agreement? Why are there so many?"

Lu Mingfei was a little surprised.

The document shows a full 17.1% stake, which, combined with Lu Mingfei's original 6%, gives him a total of 23.1% ownership of Stark Industries, nearly a quarter of the company.

“14.1% of it belongs to Obadiah, and another 3% was given to you by Ethan,” Tony explained. “Originally, the Stark Group’s shareholding was 39.4% for Obadiah and 28.2% for me.”

“I used a little trick, and I’ve taken back all of Obadiah’s shares. We’ll split them equally between the two of us. I also gave you and Ethan each 6% of the shares, but Ethan has decided to give you half of his shares as a thank you for saving him.”

Tony said, "Congratulations, you are now the second largest shareholder of Stark Industries."

“No, no, no, isn’t this too expensive?” Lu Mingfei quickly shook his head. “Just give me some of Obadiah’s share, but I absolutely cannot accept Ethan’s…”

“Then you go talk to him,” Tony shrugged. “Anyway, he seems pretty determined, and I don’t want to try to persuade him.”

“By the way, the three of us now hold a combined 67.6% stake,” Tony said. “Any resolution will take effect as long as the supporting shareholders have more than two-thirds of the shares. I will convene a shareholders’ meeting in a couple of days to propose closing Stark Industries’ weapons division. As long as you and Ethan support me, the proposal will definitely pass.”

"That's great!" Lu Mingfei's eyes lit up, but he was still a little doubtful. "But if you just shut down the weapons department like this, won't the stock price plummet by half? Won't you go bankrupt then?"

“I’m preparing to transition to the clean energy sector.” Tony tapped the Arc Reactor on his chest.

"Holy crap! You're going to sell this thing?!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed in horror.

Having spent a few months with Tony, Lu Mingfei had a basic understanding of what the miniature nuclear fusion reactor in Tony's chest was all about.

It is no exaggeration to say that this thing could completely free human civilization from energy limitations.

“You’re overthinking it,” Tony said. “If I dared to popularize this technology, oil would only have the value of being an industrial raw material, its energy value would drop to zero, oil prices would plummet, and those countries that make money by selling oil would definitely want to kill me at any cost.”

"Moreover, I'm not sure what the consequences would be if this technology were popularized. The worst outcome would be World War III, and then, as Einstein predicted, everyone would return to the primitive era after the war."

"Huh!" Lu Mingfei shivered.

“So I will build some relatively low-profile large fusion reactors and use them to produce power at almost zero cost, becoming an energy supplier,” Tony said. “If all goes well, within a year, we will become the world’s leader in clean energy.”

"So you're not planning to maintain the stock price for the rest of the year?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously.

“No,” Tony shook his head, “the stock price won’t fall.”

"Why?" Lu Mingfei asked, puzzled. "If you're going to dismantle the pillars of Stark Industries, won't the shareholders just fly away?"

“The specific reasons are rather complicated,” Tony said. “Jarvis, broadcast the news, you know which one I’m referring to.”

The television in the living room lit up, showing a press conference. It first played several video clips, mostly depicting a flashy gold and red armored vehicle defeating terrorists who were attacking civilians in areas controlled by terrorists in the Middle East.

"Wow, your Iron Man suit!" Lu Mingfei's eyes lit up. "Is it this cool when it's fully charged? And it even has a laser cannon!"

Tony looked smug.

The television screen immediately switched to Tony's speech at the press conference.

"Yes, this Iron Man suit is a product of Stark Industries' research and development, but it is not a weapon... well, it is a weapon, but not a weapon for destruction, but a weapon for protection, and I hereby guarantee that Stark Industries will never sell this suit to any other entity."

"Oh, by the way, about the guy in the Iron Man suit in the video, I heard people call him Iron Man. Uh, actually, the suit is made of titanium aerospace metal, and..."

Tony paused for a moment while standing on the stage: "I am Iron Man."

The TV screen is black.

“Now you understand,” Tony said.

"Wow!" Lu Mingfei's eyes lit up. "When can I hold a press conference to announce that I have some really impressive identity?"

"What about the status of Stark Industries' second-largest shareholder?" Tony asked.

“Very rich, very powerful,” Lu Mingfei said, “but not cool enough.”

“You look pretty cool when you transform,” Tony said.

"Stop talking. Not long after I transformed yesterday, that power was gone again. What's the point of only being able to hold on for three minutes? I'm not Ultraman."

“Perhaps, from today onwards, a part of that power will truly belong to you?” Tony said.

"You've made progress in your research on my blood?" Lu Mingfei's eyes lit up.

“I guess so, but…” Tony frowned, “your blood is very strange, and extremely dangerous.”

"Danger?" Lu Mingfei was stunned.

"follow me."

Tony led Lu Mingfei into his laboratory.

……

“Look,” Tony said, pointing to the motionless white mouse in the cage.

"Holy crap! What a huge rat!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed, his eyes wide.

This white mouse was exceptionally large, almost as big as some common house cats, and its fur could not hide the contours of its undulating muscles.

“It’s not just big,” Tony said, “Jarvis.”

“Yes, sir,” Jarvis replied.

Several robotic arms extended from around the experimental table, some of which parted the white fur on the mice's bodies, allowing Lu Mingfei to immediately see the fine scales hidden beneath the fur.

Several more robotic arms pried open the mouse's eyelids, revealing a pair of lifeless golden eyes.

Then the mechanic lifted up the white mouse's limbs and showed Lu Mingfei its sharp claws.

Lu Mingfei swallowed hard and looked at Tony: "You didn't make this thing with my blood, did you?"

“That’s right,” Tony nodded, “and it’s easier than you think. I just activated your blood a little, diluted it, and injected it into a few mice.”

“Most of them quickly underwent drastic physical mutations and died deformed, with the worst ones exploding,” Tony said. “I tested dozens of mice, and the ones that maintained a relatively normal appearance were stronger than wild beasts, capable of easily biting through alloys. They were extremely dangerous, so I had to kill them. What you see now are specimens.”

"Holy crap, my blood is infectious?" Lu Mingfei was stunned.

"Would you like to see the other specimens?" Tony reminded him. "If you do, be prepared."

"Come on!" Lu Mingfei's curiosity was piqued.

Rows of specimen boxes rose up from the lab table, containing specimens of various creatures that could hardly be called "white mice." Among them, those with three heads and two tails were considered relatively normal.

As one after another, the strangely shaped white mouse corpses were displayed, Lu Mingfei began to touch his own body repeatedly, and even started to take off his clothes.

"What are you doing?" Tony quickly stopped him.

"Let me check if I've mutated anywhere..." Lu Mingfei said with a mournful face.

“Don’t worry, your blood is very stable. It’s only after I tried to activate it that this change occurred,” Tony said. “That power, as you said, is hidden very deep. With my current level of research, I can only activate it a little bit.”

“Then, based on my research, I created a potion,” Tony said. “If nothing goes wrong, it will permanently awaken a small portion of the power within you, and it shouldn’t be dangerous.”

"No surprises? Probably?!" Lu Mingfei took two steps back. "Tony, you're a scientist, you need to be more meticulous. Will something actually go wrong?"

“I’ve already tested it on mice that have been injected with your blood. This drug can effectively suppress the mutations in the mice, allowing them to be enhanced by your blood without drastic changes in their physical form,” Tony said. “And there won’t be a significant decrease in intelligence, unlike the earliest test subjects, who had almost no intelligence after the mutation and only pure instincts.”

"Actually, I developed the initial version of this medicine more than a month ago. I have been improving it during this period, and it is now the limit of what I can do. It is quite stable."

"Is it really stable?" Lu Mingfei was still somewhat skeptical.

"Trust me, there won't be any problems," Tony patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder. "This is the most stable potion, there's absolutely no way it will cause any issues, but correspondingly, it probably won't activate your powers too much."

"Then... shall I give it a try?" Lu Mingfei tentatively suggested.

……

"Tony, is it too late for me to say I don't want to do it anymore?" Lu Mingfei was bound to the bed with metal buckles, his body covered with electrodes, and he was struggling.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems. I'm confident." Tony picked up a syringe filled with a clear liquid.

"Then why did you tie me up!" Lu Mingfei didn't believe it. "You're probably afraid that I'll take you with me after I mutate."

“You will definitely not mutate. I tied you up not because I’m worried you will mutate,” Tony explained patiently, “but because you’ll be in a lot of pain during the drug’s effects, so I tied you up to prevent you from hurting yourself while you struggle.”

"So it's not a mutation, it's just painful, oh, that's reassuring... Wait a minute!" Lu Mingfei struggled even more violently, "Tony, I'm not doing it anymore, let me go!"

"You should have said so earlier." Tony said innocently, holding up an empty syringe.

"Huh?" Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded. "When did you call in? I didn't feel anything."

“I used a painless syringe,” Tony said.

"You're so damn thoughtful..." Lu Mingfei rolled his eyes and fainted, but his body would still twitch from time to time.

"What happened!" Tony exclaimed in shock. "He shouldn't be unconscious, Jarvis, check him out quickly!"

“Sir,” Jarvis’s voice rang out, “according to the test results, Mr. Lu has likely lost consciousness temporarily and fallen into a coma due to shock.”

"Does that mean... he was scared unconscious?" Tony concluded.

"Yes."

Tony: ...

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Lu Mingfei felt like he had a very long dream. The dream was very blurry, but he remembered that there seemed to be a little boy in the dream who kept pulling his hair and hitting him, yelling, "Can't you just give me a break?"

When Lu Mingfei woke up again, he blinked and felt that the surroundings seemed to have become much clearer, and he could see things with unparalleled clarity.

Turning to Tony beside him, Lu Mingfei asked, "I haven't mutated, have I?"

“A little, see for yourself.” Tony held up a mirror in front of Lu Mingfei.

The person in the mirror was a handsome young man with soft eyebrows and eyes.

But its eyes are a dazzling golden color.