Chapter 100 Genius Starts Again (Part 3) (Patreon)

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"Wait!! You planned to make me use this method all along??? Then why did you make me read so many books????"

Schiller was pressing a pair of headphones into Stark's ears, while Stark dodged and protested, "This is cheating, isn't it??? Damn it!! Don't do this!! My ears! I have already learned those things, I don't need..."

"Do you really think you can learn everything I learned from college to Doctorate in just a few nights?"

"You planned to be my off-site instructor all along!!! You liar! You told me if I couldn't learn these things, the Stark Group would be done for!!!"

"That was just a macro view, and I am not wrong. You will have to learn these things someday. So why not yesterday?" Schiller said.

Ignoring Stark's dodges, Schiller pressed the headphones into one of Stark's ears and said, "Don't make a fuss, I am just an off-site translator. It's common, right?"

Steve chimed in, "Actually, politicians do this when they discuss matters too. They have their staff team behind them, including during important interviews. Of course, in my time, these devices were much more expensive and rare. Only a few important people had them."

Stark felt like he was being bitten by fleas, desperately trying to remove the headphones from his ear, "Damn it! Why did you create such a desperate atmosphere earlier? And why did you give me so many books? I stayed up all night to memorize them all!"

"That's exactly why I did it. If I didn't, you would never have looked at them." Schiller replied.

"Okay, forget about that. But are you sure this will work?" Stark asked.

"Damn it...I should have thought of this earlier! You vampire doctor! If I knew earlier, I wouldn't have used your outdated headphones. I would have created a more advanced, comprehensive monitoring system..."

Stark slapped his forehead with regret, "Why didn't I think of this earlier? I could have let you do it for me! I could have just been a repeater in the conference room. Even if I didn't know, as long as you knew, it would be fine, right?!"

Stark was really angry, but not at Schiller. He was angry at himself for not thinking of this earlier.

Of course, it was also Schiller's fault. When Stark came to him seeking a solution, he was very anxious. Schiller used a very serious tone and rhetoric to trap Stark in a mental loop, making him feel abnormal for not knowing these things.

If only Stark had taken care of his mundane affairs, he would have known that there was an entire think tank behind Obadiah. The entire Stark industry could not have been decided by just one person's brain.

Stark was a billionaire, so he didn't need to worry about not knowing these things. As long as he had money, there were plenty of people who knew how to do them. If he had spent the whole day hiring staff, he would have already formed a dream team.

But Schiller's manipulation made him feel that he was paying the price for his past recklessness. He never considered his financial ability and genius scientific research ability.

Not to mention, even if he wrote an AI emotion analysis system, it would probably be much faster than him memorizing a book.

"Is this psychology?! You fraud!" Stark gritted his teeth and said, "You studied psychology just to trap people in this kind of predicament, so they have to pay you a lot of money for treatment?!!"

"Don't make me sound like an unscrupulous quack."

"Aren't you an unscrupulous quack?"

"Although I'm a bit unscrupulous, I'm definitely not a quack."

"Mr. Stark, the car has arrived," J.A.R.V.I.S reminded him. "The meeting will officially start at 10:30, and you are expected to arrive at 10:20."

"Okay, okay, let's go," Stark still seemed a bit nervous. "This is all we can do."

Schiller patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, after you get there, you will find that you are not alone."

Stark got into the car and arrived at the negotiation conference room in no time. He was a bit late, and most of the people here had already taken their seats.

Stark glanced around and found that almost everyone was wearing headphones, and some were blatantly video calling on their computers. The other end of the computer was a large group of people sitting in front of another small conference room.

Stark said to J.A.R.V.I.S, "Deduct Schiller's consultation fee...all of it!! Don't let me see his name on the year-end financial report!! This damn bastard played me!!"

J.A.R.V.I.S said, "The headphones have been connected for thirteen minutes."

Schiller's voice rang in Stark's ear, "It's okay, you can of course deduct the consultation fee before, but this kind of political consulting service also needs to be paid for. The price is 200,000 US dollars per minute..."

"Shit, you vampire doctor!"

"If you don't agree, I'll hang up immediately."

"Don't! Wait, wait...I think we can still talk. 200,000 US dollars is too expensive, but don't hang up yet. The negotiation is about to begin. What do you want me to say?"

On the other side, in the Psychological Clinic, Peter and Steve sat at the table, listening to Stark's anxious voice. Steve was quite amused, but Peter felt a little uncomfortable. He said, "It seems a bit too expensive, doctor. I think we can negotiate for a lower price."

"Now that you are part of Stark's staff team, we'll split the money in half when it's received."

Before Peter could continue, Stark's voice came through again, "Hello? Hello? The negotiation is about to start, what should I do?"

"You don't need to do anything, just wait. In fact, you can zone out for the first 30 minutes, you don't need to listen to anything they say."

"Is that really okay?" Stark was obviously in a highly nervous state. It was his first time participating in such a situation seriously, and he felt like he should do something immediately to show results.

"Trust me, just stay put."

Afterwards, Stark sat in his seat with mixed feelings. Soon, he realized that Schiller's words made a lot of sense, because the first person to speak was actually starting from World War II.

The military representative began reminiscing about their glorious years since the Pearl Harbor incident, and before 20 minutes had passed, Stark was already feeling extremely tired. The military spokesperson could recount various classic battles like a list of chores, always using the same lofty and righteous words to boast about the military's achievements and resumes.

No one could endure 10 minutes of this kind of speech. In the end, when the military representative finished the first round of speeches, more than half of the audience was half asleep.

Next to take the stage was a SHIELD representative. The moment he opened his mouth, Stark wished he could just pass out, because he started his speech from the Iron Curtain era.

The SHIELD agent was slightly better than the military representative in terms of knowledge of intelligence warfare and special operations organization history. But Stark thought to himself, he was here to participate in negotiations, not to learn modern history.

After about 40 minutes, it was Stark's turn to speak. Schiller said, "Open the first draft and read it as is."

When Stark opened the draft, his eyes went dark because it started from the Industrial Revolution. (XD)

He read the entire thing for 20 minutes before stumbling through to the end. After finishing, he put on his headphones and said, "Oh my god, this is the first time I've fully understood the history of Stark Industries' development..."

What made Stark feel even more desperate was that it wasn't over yet. Immediately after, the military started talking about the methods of future army organization, the development direction of future weapons systems, and the possibility of a third world war. They rambled on for another 20 minutes.

When SHIELD's agent took the stage, it was the same. He talked about the importance of the agent organization's independence from the surveillance system, the development of future individual combat and intelligence information warfare, and the establishment path of a global intelligence system.

Stark whispered into his headphones, "I'm going to ask for half the consultation fee for this part. It's completely meaningless and nothing like what I was expecting."

"What were you expecting?" Schiller's voice came through the headphones. "To start plotting all sorts of conspiracies in a dark room?"

"You need to know the most important thing, actually, this negotiation is just going through the motions," Schiller said.

"Everyone knows what cards the other side has, and everyone also knows what cards they have. The result of this negotiation was predetermined from the beginning. Even if you act like a weirdo like before, don't listen to anything, it won't change the outcome."

This made Stark feel even more absurd than learning all that theoretical knowledge, as if you had learned all sorts of fancy fighting techniques, but in the end, you only needed one punch to knock down your opponent.

When it was Stark's turn to envision the future, he had learned to close his eyes and read the draft even if the development direction of mechanical industry was completely incomprehensible to him. The draft threw together a bunch of terms, creating some fancy-sounding words, like those tech scammers, but Stark still shut off his brain and read the draft without a hitch.

Then it was time for the guests and hosts to enjoy themselves. One of the old generals with some gray hair said to Stark, "I remember the glorious era of Stark Industries. You Stark were all geniuses. Your father was, and you are too. Back then, his research on hovercars was quite astonishing, but you also know that the military did not cooperate with him due to some conservative needs. We were really sorry about that..."

Before Stark could respond, Schiller spoke through his headphones, "He's insulting your dad, saying he can't do this or that. He's insulting you, but not as much as he insults your dad. Insult him back."

Stark hesitated for a moment, then repeated Schiller's words, "Indeed, I believe that most people in the military, like you, respected generals, have long-term vision. It's just that the development of this era is too fast..."

At that moment, Nick Fury, who was sitting at the end of the negotiation table, spoke up, "In large-scale landings, conventional weapons still have some use. While mech armor can significantly improve individual combat capabilities, adaptability must also be considered in group combat..."

Schiller's voice came through the headphones, "He's giving you an out, trying to ease the tension in the negotiation. You can smile back at him."

Stark then smiled at Nick, who was covered in goosebumps, feeling that today's Stark was very strange, too strange. (XD)

Both the military and SHIELD noticed that something was off about Stark, so they cut to the chase earlier than usual.

Then Stark realized that the actual topic of the negotiation only took up less than one-tenth of the total negotiation time.

First, Nick Fury pointed out the possibility that the military had kidnapped Dr. Connors. The military then counter-accused SHIELD of staging it all. The two sides argued back and forth, and in the end, the military lost a bit and stated that they would hold accountable some officers who may have engaged in extreme behavior.

As they listened to the argument, Stark asked Schiller through his earpiece, "Do they really not know that we hid Connors away?"

"The military may not know, but Nick definitely does. He just needs this attitude to show that we should unite to deal with the military. He's already expressed this to me before, so you can trust him."

Next, Stark and SHIELD teamed up, leaving the military struggling to keep up. After all, they held a lot of cards, such as the true form of the Red Lizard, the serum that Connors might have developed, some evidence that SHIELD possessed, and the Mech armor that Stark Industries had delivered to the military.

In short, this negotiation ended with a very fast pace and an absurd conclusion, just as Schiller had predicted.

Within the military, a scapegoat was introduced, namely the faction of Tartu military officers led by Robert. They were purged, and the accounts were settled. The military and SHIELD joined forces to fabricate losses and jointly demanded an increase in military budget.

Stark Industries will establish a stable cooperative system with the military and SHIELD at the same time, will provide some auxiliary individual armor exoskeletons and will also restart medical research projects, occupying a larger share in the results.

Stark pulled off his headphones at the Psychological Clinic and said angrily, "You damn jerk doctor..."

Before he could finish, a voice came from behind him, "You damn bastard!!! Stark..."

Stark turned around and Pepper rushed in angrily, her eyes filled with tears. Stark hugged her tightly, listening to Pepper's fast heartbeat.

Pepper said, "I came to look for you early in the morning and you were gone! You weren't even wearing your Mech armor! I asked J.A.R.V.I.S, and he didn't say anything. I thought something happened to you! You scared me so much, you bastard..."

Stark held Pepper tightly, comforting her in a low voice.

In the dimly lit room, there was only Pepper's soft sobbing and Stark's muffled voice.

The path of a genius is always destined to be more difficult than that of others, and the sensitive inner world of genius Stark is always more tormented than that of ordinary people.

But at least, as this fledgling bird preparing to leave the nest, when he flies unsteadily in the harsh wind, there are still branches willing to provide him a foothold.

He saw Peter waving and smiling at him from behind the entranceway, as well as Schiller and Steve standing there.

He noticed that the TV in the clinic's living room suddenly flickered, and a smiley face made of symbols appeared on the screen.

He thought to himself, "Stark, you really are a genius."

Not only the smartest genius in the world, but also the luckiest genius in the world.

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