69novels Page 21
Page 21
31: Zhuge Cong: I am Iron Man
[The following morning, a press conference was immediately held regarding the incident that occurred the previous night at the Zhuge Group Industrial Park.]
After all, the battle between four Iron Man suits spanning different eras, along with the unexpected appearance of their friendly neighbor Spider-Man, created quite a stir in just one night.
As the liaison for the Zhuge Group, Hachiman Hikigaya was once again forced to interrupt his vacation to handle the press conference for this incident.
"Why do I feel like I'm always cleaning up your messes, just like Zhuge Stan?"
Hachiman Hikigaya feels that he hasn't had any highlight moments since his appearance, and has mostly been accompanying Zhuge Cong or cleaning up his messes.
"You've stirred things up again, haven't you?"
Kazuma Sato felt that Hachiman Hikigaya's words were like Versailles, and he would be happy to have him on screen as long as he wasn't just a passerby, let alone someone with so much screen time like Hachiman Hikigaya.
"Alright, I presume everyone has received the official report on last night's Zhuge Group incident. There are unconfirmed reports claiming that a robot prototype malfunctioned, leading to..." Hachiman Hikigaya read the official response from his prepared script.
"Not bad, Iron Man, that's a decent name." Zhuge Cong looked at how he was addressed in the newspaper: Iron Man.
"This is your alibi, Cong." Nishikata handed over several slips of paper.
"Well, speaking of which, I haven't seen you much since your wedding with Takagi. I didn't expect you to become a secret agent. How's married life?" Zhuge Cong asked, taking the slip of paper from Nishikata.
"It's great, very good. I'd be quite happy if I had more vacation time."
"Chii, you're old enough to start elementary school by now, aren't you?" Chii is Nishikata and Takagi's daughter.
"Yes, I don't need to worry about that; Takagi will take care of it."
"This testimony looks strange; it doesn't hold water in many places," Zhuge Cong said, looking at the prepared testimonies and witnesses, feeling uneasy.
"Don't worry, this isn't my first time doing this. You just need to read it as instructed. Don't worry about any problems that arise."
"Alright, thank you very much for your help anyway," Zhuge Cong said to Nishikata, placing the piece of paper on the table.
"It's our duty, and we'll stay in touch."
"By the way, your Homeland Defense Agency..."
"Just call it S.H.I.E.L.D., we've already changed the name; the old one was too awkward and hard to remember."
"Alright, Cong, it's your turn to go upstairs," Ai Haibara said, knocking on the door as she walked in.
"Okay, coming right away. Looks like we'll have to talk another time," Zhuge Cong replied, then said to Nishikata.
"Now, Mr. Zhuge Cong has prepared a statement," said Hachiman Hikigaya, offering his seat as he saw Zhuge Cong arrive.
However, at this moment, Hachiman Hikigaya had a bad feeling. He knew that Zhuge Cong would definitely not do things as planned. After all, Hachiman Hikigaya knew Zhuge Cong's personality very well.
"Good heavens, Zhuge Cong, are you really up to something?" Hachiman Hikigaya thought to himself.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you probably all know a little about what happened last night at the Zhuge Group Industrial Park. Well, I'll just read from the prepared script." Zhuge Cong said, pulling out a piece of paper, a move that stunned the reporters in the audience.
"Wow, everyone else reads from a prepared script, but Zhuge Cong just reads directly from the script."
Inside the Biyou Academy News Club, Toudou Lilysia also felt that Zhuge Cong's behavior was a bit outrageous.
[“Some people speculate that I was involved, previously on a high-rise building, on a rooftop…”]
"Excuse me, Mr. Zhuge Cong, but you don't really think we'd believe that a few bodyguards just happened to be wearing combat gear," a female reporter interrupted Zhuge Cong before he could finish speaking.
The other reporters nodded in agreement with the female reporter's words, clearly finding them reasonable.
"Questioning the official statement is one thing, but implying that it's the superhero Iron Man as the newspapers claim is quite another."
"I never said you were a superhero."
"That would be perfect, because I'm clearly not cut out to be a superhero. I have no combat experience, I have personality flaws, and I don't have a strong sense of justice..."
Seeing Zhuge Cong's demeanor and noticing his words had strayed far from the script, Hikigaya Hachiman, who had meticulously memorized Zhuge Cong's entire script last night to prevent him from causing trouble, sensed something was amiss and whispered something in Zhuge Cong's ear.
"Read from the script."
"Alright, alright," Zhuge Cong said, picking up the manuscript.
His previously somewhat playful expression turned serious, and a glint seemed to appear in his eyes. Zhuge Cong glanced at Hikigaya Hachiman, then at the group of reporters below the stage.
"The fact is, I am Iron Man. Of course, I'm not the only Iron Man," Zhuge Cong said, putting down the piece of paper. As soon as he finished speaking, Sasori and Deidara, who were already prepared, descended from the sky and stood beside him.
The reporters in the audience erupted in excitement, pulling out their cameras to take pictures of Zhuge Cong and the other two suits of armor.
Then the light screen dimmed, but it still hovered in front of people.
"The fact is, I am Iron Man."
During the summer of the Far East Magic Nap Club, Yuta Togashi watched as Zhuge Cong announced that he was Iron Man, and his inner chuunibyou (delusional) spirit burned uncontrollably as he mimicked Zhuge Cong's words.
"The truth is, I am the True Eye of the Evil King."
Rikka Takanashi, who also suffers from chuunibyou (middle school syndrome), was also fired up.
"The truth is, I am Death, the wielder of Thor's hammer."
Seeing her master like this, she couldn't hold back any longer.
"Ugh."
Looking at the three of them, Dansheng Valley Mori Natsumi was actually a little excited, but her sense of shame held her back.
"But why is this light screen still here after everything has finished? Is it like a movie, with a post-credits scene at the end?"
On May 7th, Fennel was a little curious.
------
"Why isn't Kazuma saying anything?"
Hachiman Hikigaya looked at Kazuma Sato, who was silent, and said, "Logically speaking, shouldn't Kazuma Sato have wailed a few times after such a high-class scene was shown?"
"I don't care what I say anymore."
Kazuma Sato said expressionlessly.
"But why is this light screen still hanging here? Is it unusual that it's still hanging here even after the event is over?"
Kirito poked at the light screen in front of him.
"I don't know, maybe there's some Easter egg that's why it hasn't disappeared."
Zhuge Cong guessed that this was the only possibility, although another possibility was that the light screen would continue to display another film.
32:king: I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers.
"Hey, it's lit up. Let's see if we continue or add an Easter egg."
Zhuge Cong looked at the lit-up screen and said.
"Welcome back, sir," Jarvis said to Zhuge Cong as he returned home.
[In the past, Zhuge Cong would usually respond, but this time he had no mood to do so, because he saw a figure standing on the sofa. Due to the backlighting, Zhuge Cong could only see a dark figure standing there.]
The fact that no alert was received from Jarvis indicates that the intruder is not an ordinary person capable of hacking Jarvis's system.
"I am Iron Man. Do you think you're the only superhero in the world, Mr. Zhuge Cong? You've become part of a larger universe, you just don't know it." The black figure on the sofa spoke slowly, then walked towards Zhuge Cong.
"Of course I know I'm not the only superhero," Zhuge Cong said, referring not only to Spider-Man but also to the mutants.
"So, who are you, and what are you doing at my house?" Zhuge Cong asked.
"You can call me King. I'm Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers." Zhuge Cong looked at the tall, blond man in front of him, with three gruesome claw marks around his left eye.
Then the light screen disappeared, and it was no longer just a black screen.
"King, you're on camera!"
Saitama looked at King in the camera at King's house and said.
"Hey, I'm on camera?"
King himself was a bit confused. He was just an ordinary otaku, so how could he become a bureau chief who sounded so impressive and prestigious?
------
"finished."
As the light screen disappeared, L finished eating the small cake in front of him.
"The final scene reveals quite a lot when combined with what came before."
L, who is very observant, also noticed a lot of details.
When Nishikata said we would keep in touch, he probably wasn't referring to a simple friendship between classmates, but rather a connection similar to organizational cooperation.
Secondly, there's the Avengers. I estimate that L is similar in nature to the Iron Alliance that Zhuge Cong planned to establish, only their purposes may be different.
King's words, "Do you think you're the only superhero?", clearly didn't refer to Spider-Man, because Spider-Man is a publicly known superhero, just like Zhuge Cong's Iron Man.
Therefore, King clearly knew about the existence of mutants and even more mysterious things.
To go even further, one could speculate that King's purpose in creating the Avengers was to recruit superheroes, limit uncooperative superhumans, and prevent dangerous incidents.
"interesting."
For the world's number one detective, it had been a long time since he had encountered something so interesting. L looked at his notes and gave a knowing smile.