88 Stark Shares

Zane tried for a long time but couldn't figure out what the attribute of his faith power was. In the end, he simply set aside the issue. Since he couldn't figure it out now, there was no point in obsessing over it.

When the time was right, he would naturally understand the attribute of his faith power. Zane's intuition told him that the day was approaching.

Setting aside the question of faith power, Zane opened the gifts Tony had brought over and found inside them various items such as tiger whips and deer whips, all meant for enhancing male virility.

Tony knew Zane was Chinese, so he specifically went to Chinatown to buy these. When the shopkeeper asked if they were for a man or a woman, Tony answered truthfully. As a result, the shopkeeper recommended these items to him and gave Tony a knowing look.

But did Zane need these things? Absolutely not. If he kept using them, Loana would eventually dehydrate to death in bed.

So Zane, with a face full of black lines, stuffed these items into the trash can.

Meanwhile, on the other end, Stane, whose conspiracy had been exposed by Tony, was forcibly pushed into the prison cell by two rough prison guards. As the prison door closed, the only light in the entire cell was a small window above their heads.

Even in this situation, Stane didn't feel despair because he knew he was still useful to certain people.

Stane sat quietly on the moldy bed, the entire cell quiet except for the sound of his breathing echoing within.

Suddenly, Stane, who had been looking down, lifted his head to look at a dark corner of the cell where someone had appeared at some point.

"You're slow."

"Have you made up your mind?" the figure asked lightly.

"Do I have a choice now?" Stane countered.

"Congratulations on joining us, Hail Hydra!"

"Hail Hydra!"

With Stane's oath, the figure in the corner of the cell slowly approached him, revealing his face. It was none other than Alexander Pierce, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nowadays, S.H.I.E.L.D. has another more appropriate name, which is the Hydra's branch --> S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Poor Nick Fury, he still didn't know he was about to become a figurehead.

The next day, a riot broke out in the prison where Stane was located, but it was quickly suppressed by heavily armed prison guards. Afterward, when the prison checked the inmates, they found Stane had already died in the cell, his face blurred with flesh, and he was cremated the same day.

By the time Tony received the news, Stane was reduced to a pile of ashes. Despite the convoluted power dynamics of the Marvel world, Tony didn't suspect anything, just lamented Stane's misfortune.

However, the news media outside didn't see it that way. They heavily implied in the news that Tony Stark had hired someone to murder Stane, leading to another round of stock market crashes after Tony announced the closure of Stark Industries' weapons division, causing a further 40% drop in stock prices.

To the outside world, Tony seemed to have lost his mind in Afghanistan, and if Stark Industries continued to be messed up by him like this, it would eventually go downhill.

But Zane, who understood the original plot, knew that this was all part of Tony's grand scheme. What's the most profitable and influential business in modern society?

It's not arms or medicine, it's energy. Controlling energy means controlling the lifeline of the world economy, and Tony invented clean energy sources like the miniature arc reactor.

Closing the weapons division was just a misdirection for the outside world. As expected, with the plummeting stock price of Stark Industries, various opportunists emerged. The members of the board of directors scrambled to sell their shares, and Tony naturally bought them at very low prices.

Zane certainly wouldn't miss such a golden opportunity. He ordered Skynet to aggressively buy up the Stark Industries stocks that shareholders were selling, overnight becoming the second-largest shareholder of Stark Industries, owning 32% of the shares, while Tony only had 47%. The remaining shares were still held by the old shareholders of Stark Industries and some individual shareholders.

That night, Tony angrily called Zane. While answering the call, Zane cleverly kept the phone away from his ear.

Then Tony's roar came through the receiver.

"Zane, what do you mean?"

"Of course, I support you. Seeing Stark Industries in such a sorry state, as a friend, I couldn't bear it. I happened to have some spare cash, so I bought some of your stocks to help you recover in the stock market," Zane said sincerely.

Upon hearing Zane's flawless reasoning, Tony couldn't help but doubt himself. 

"Can you sell me your shares? I'll buy them at 10% above market price."

"Not selling!"

"Of course, you know what I'm planning. You vampire! Taking advantage of the situation!" Tony roared again. If it weren't for Zane's good phone quality, Tony might have damaged the speaker.

"Oh."

"Oh what? What will it take for you to sell me your shares?"

"I'm not selling. If you disagree, come bite me! By the way, as the second-largest shareholder of Stark Industries, I have the right to join the board in impeaching you. Be careful what you say!"

With that, Zane decisively hung up the phone, leaving Tony on the other end to stew in his own frustration.

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