"How did you know? Oh, right, you have seen me in other parallel universes," Tony said. He paused for a moment but then quickly understood.
"Yes, I have even seen your finished products in other universes," Lin Yu said casually.
"Oh? What are they like?" Tony became very interested.
"They look like this," Lin Yu said. He tapped on the personal terminal bracelet that was Xiao Ai. He conveyed his thought, and Xiao Ai instantly projected a large holographic display.
The hologram showed a list of Iron Man armors, from the very first Mark 1 all the way to the Mark 42, and even the advanced Nanotech Mark 50.
"Wow! I made all of these in a parallel world?" Tony stared at the hologram, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "And that last one, it looks incredible. What is that?"
"Correct. You in that parallel world really went all out with these suits," Lin Yu said. He pointed at the final nano-armor. "The last one is your latest masterpiece there. It is a new armor made with nanotechnology."
As Lin Yu pointed, the hologram changed. The image of the nano-armor moved to the front and enlarged to life-size. It then showed a scene of the parallel Tony putting on the suit. The viewpoint made it look like Lin Yu was standing nearby watching. This was actually a simulation Xiao Ai created based on a scene from an "Avengers" movie.
"That is truly amazing. I will build it sooner or later," Tony said. He watched the simulation of his parallel self take off his glasses and then "double-tap" the triangular reactor on his chest. Countless nanobots swarmed out and covered his body, forming the sleek nano-suit. Tony felt a rare thrill and longing. Of course, he could not resist adding, "As expected of me. Even in a parallel world, I am still a genius."
"Yes, yes. Tony Stark is a genius in every universe," Lin Yu said, his mouth twitching a little. "So, are you starting to develop your armor now?"
"I just started. But the things you showed me have given me a lot of new ideas," Tony said. He put down his coffee mug and began working excitedly on the virtual screen in front of him. He did not forget to ask Lin Yu, "By the way, are you interested in helping me develop my armor?"
"Sure. I am bored anyway," Lin Yu said, his voice calm. But inside, he was extremely excited.
It was incredibly thrilling to be personally involved in creating Iron Man's armor.
Lin Yu was not being arrogant. In the year before he left his own universe, he had no job. Besides training his powers, he had also worked hard to learn a lot of knowledge. He had left the orphanage for personal reasons and, to support himself, had dropped out of school to work directly. He had never liked studying from books and found teachers and textbooks annoying. So, in that final year, he had frantically tried to learn all kinds of useful knowledge on his own.
But at first, just looking at thick textbooks made him sleepy. Reading a few pages almost put him to sleep. Breaking his species' limiter did not seem to improve his IQ at all. The same was true for the powers of the Quantum Body and the Infinity Gems. Lin Yu had the power, but he could only use it on a surface level. These abilities did not make him any smarter.
Lin Yu had no choice. He decided to try a different approach.
He specifically traveled to the universe of the movie and TV show "Limitless." He found a supplier and bought ten packs of a drug called NZT. Each pack contained one thousand pills.
NZT was a drug from "Limitless" that could fully stimulate the brain's potential.
In the stories, after taking NZT, the main character gained a photographic memory, incredible language skills, endless energy, crystal-clear thinking, and fast reflexes. He could instantly go from being a failure to a master of logic and learning.
This drug opened up every neural pathway in the user's brain. It gave the user an unforgettable memory and super intelligence. They could learn a complex language in a single day, easily understand advanced formulas and equations, and win anyone's favor in a short time.
There were side effects, though. All the benefits relied on taking the drug without stopping. Frequently going off NZT caused splitting headaches, vomiting, dizziness, and memory loss.
In the TV show that followed the movie, the main character, Brian Finch, became immune to these side effects by getting regular injections of an immunity serum developed by the movie's hero, Eddie Morra.
Lin Yu was confident his body could resist the side effects without any serum, but he went to the end of the TV show's timeline anyway. When the character Piper Baird injected Brian with the permanent immunity serum, Lin Yu used his reality power to make a perfect copy of it and brought it back.
Actually, Lin Yu could have just used his reality manipulation to make the NZT have no side effects, or to make himself immune. If you asked him why he copied the serum, it was for no real reason. He just had a collector's obsession and a need for completeness. Just like when he first gained the powers of the Infinity Gems, he felt he had to have the complete set, or he would feel uncomfortable.
So, he made ten copies of the permanent immunity serum, put them in nice packaging, and collected them together with the one thousand NZT pills and one serum he already had.
There was just one problem.
When Lin Yu tried the NZT back then, it did nothing. His IQ stayed the same. Those thick books were still very hypnotic. He refused to believe it and ate an entire pack of one thousand NZT pills at once. It was still useless. After asking his system, he found out that his body, having broken its species limiter, was completely immune to all drugs. So, no amount of NZT would work on him.
Reluctantly, Lin Yu put the one pack of NZT he had opened together with the other nine unopened packs and the nine remaining serum copies. He made a complete set of ten and stored it away. He then asked the system to directly grant him a state that had the same effect as being on NZT. He called this state "Thinking Overclocking." It was like his Quantum Observer state; he could turn it on and off whenever he wanted.
This way, in the last year before leaving his original universe, Lin Yu would occasionally switch on the "Thinking Overclocking" state to learn knowledge he found interesting or useful.
"Tony, according to the calculations, it only needs a 25% axial load to achieve flight."
Lin Yu was standing on a test platform, wearing four flight stabilizers—one on each hand and foot. White flames shot out from the stabilizers. Lin Yu rose slowly into the air. He flew a few circles around the large underground workshop, reflected in Tony's brightly lit eyes, and then landed back on the platform.
And so, Lin Yu and Tony threw themselves into the development of the Iron Man armor.
With Tony's genius mind, combined with Lin Yu's fearless personal testing since he could not be hurt and Lin Yu's own intelligence and super information processing in his "Thinking Overclocking" state, they made rapid progress. Also, because the technology in this time was more advanced, Tony's workshop and Jarvis's computing power were much better than in the 2008 movie. This made the development of the Iron Man armor move forward at an incredible speed.
In just half a month, with Lin Yu's help, Tony had created a working prototype of the Mark 2.
That afternoon, Obadiah Stane came to see Tony. Just like in the original story, he told Tony that, following "shareholder negotiations" which was really an order Stane had signed himself Tony had been removed from his position as Chairman of Stark Industries.