Lin Feng put down his diary and suddenly remembered—Killian might actually be a good investment target too.
After all, a project capable of limb regeneration was certainly promising.
The potential market for it was visibly enormous.
Killian had clearly gone down a dark path. In fact, this project had already made substantial progress, enough to attract collaborators. Yet his ambition was immense—he wanted to control everything, to become the hidden power behind the country.
He was getting carried away.
Even in a world filled with superheroes, let alone the real world, thinking that with just a few special ops soldiers you could control the United States and become its hidden master was absurd.
"This project—I, Wang Duoyu, invest in it!"
No, he corrected himself mentally. The project could proceed, but Lin Feng didn't want Killian to be the one to do it. Ideally, he wanted to obtain the formula and let Professor Connors handle it.
This way, it might give him some hope, so he wouldn't turn into the Lizard.
As he recalled the plot of Iron Man 3, he realized the events were gradually aligning with those story points. 2012 marked the first assembly of the Avengers and the conclusion of Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Phase One films were generally solid in quality; Phase Two would see Marvel stories explode in scale.
Time was running out.
Lin Feng felt somewhat helpless. On the surface, he had money and strength, but it was still far from enough.
Especially in terms of power. Currently, he was roughly on par with Thor after awakening his godly powers in Thor: Ragnarok, perhaps even stronger, but still no match for a Skyfather-level opponent.
Beyond the Skyfathers were singular universes, multiverses, and so on.
So anxiety was natural.
However, he speculated that if he could advance to the high-level template of his homeland, he might gradually reach Skyfather-level strength.
After all, this was a cinematic universe—Skyfather power levels weren't absurd.
Unlike comics, where characters could casually destroy universes, here things had limits.
If he could obtain other power-enhancing resources, he could break through his current predicament.
That was why he had high expectations for the Avengers. Many crises in this world could only be handled by these overpowered protagonists.
For instance, Dormammu. Even among Skyfathers, his strength was exceptional, having merged with an entire dimension.
However, because of this merge, his main body could no longer leave the Dark Dimension, and his manifestations could only maintain the usual Skyfather-level power.
Still, Earth humans couldn't stand against him; they had to rely on Doctor Strange.
And of course, Tony Stark snapping his fingers to defeat Thanos was the one winning outcome out of 14 million possibilities. Lin Feng doubted whether Doctor Strange raising that finger was him signaling "wait a moment."
But the result was as it happened—Tony's snap was the decisive end.
Thinking of this, he continued writing in his diary.
No matter what, whether it's the upcoming Dark Dimension lord Dormammu, Thanos, Conqueror Kang, or other bizarre supervillains from parallel timelines, their defeat is largely due to the protagonists' inherent "hero aura."But if the protagonists turned on each other, things would get complicated. For example, if one day Tony Stark discovered that his own products had caused the death of Wanda and Pietro's parents…Or if Tony discovered that his parents were killed by the Winter Soldier, Bucky…And that doesn't even cover the countless other incidents across parallel timelines!These "thunderstrikes" are bound to happen sooner or later. It's better to handle them early. Either way, they'll ultimately unite to defeat Thanos.
Those who thought the diary entry was done were stunned to see a new explosive revelation.
A bombshell had dropped. This was opening thunderstrike!
Especially for Tony Stark. He didn't care about hero auras—he only realized that his parents had been killed by the Winter Soldier.
His mind instantly exploded in chaos.
All these years, he had believed his parents died in a car accident.
He felt immense guilt. Because of his childhood mischief, he had been sent to boarding school, missing the chance to see his parents one last time.
He had dreamt of them countless nights thereafter.
Even the projection devices used by the Avengers were based on technology he developed out of longing for his parents.
Tony Stark, now fully grown, could not outwardly show his emotions, but that did not lessen his love for his parents.
Especially after his rebellious years, he finally understood their love, watching old videos his father left behind. His father had always been proud of him.
The guilt and longing reached their peak.
Now, he was told that his parents didn't die from a mere accident—they had been murdered, disguised as a car accident.
Anger erupted inside him.
"Winter Soldier… Winter Soldier… Winter Soldier," Tony muttered.
He hadn't expected that his father's old friend was the killer behind it all.
"I'm going to kill him," Tony said firmly.
"Tony," Steve Rogers attempted to reason. "He was controlled—you know that Hydra forced him to do it. He didn't know anything."
At the moment Tony read the diary, his mind went blank. This was beyond his expectations.
No wonder in the old video, someone had left a message to Tony about his parents.
Steve Rogers knew Tony would react. If it had been just a dispute over agreements or ideology, it might have been resolved. But this… this was his family.
Now, Bucky was not just involved—he was directly responsible for Howard and Maria Stark's deaths.
No matter how much reasoning, no matter how rational Tony was, who could remain calm when it involved their parents?
"Captain, he killed my parents. You know that, right? If you didn't know before, fine, but now you do. He killed my parents! What are you going to do? I'm going to kill him—are you going to stop me?"
Tony's eyes burned red with fury.
"But Tony, we discussed this. He's innocent—he's just a tool. Perhaps he personally killed them, but he's just a tool. Without him, someone else would have done it," Steve Rogers said. "I don't want you to fall for Hydra's tricks."
Steve reminded himself he had personal motives too. He couldn't watch his old friend die, especially Bucky—the only friend from the old era.
But reversing the situation—if Tony were controlled to kill Bucky's parents—Steve wouldn't have agreed to that either.
(End of chapter)