Zhou Lan was still holding a teacup, chatting idly with the woman sitting with her back to Zhou Yi. At this moment, Zhou Yi walked up and called out to her.
"Look here, surprise!"
Zhou Lan inexplicably turned her head, and upon seeing Zhou Yi, she immediately stood up and hurried to meet him.
"Yi? My Darling Child, how did you get here?"
Zhou Yi, whose waist was suddenly embraced by Zhou Lan, smiled and hugged his mother back, explaining to her.
"You know, recently I've been swamped with work. So, I finally managed to wrap things up, and I couldn't resist coming out to relax. It's a good chance to visit you."
"A vacation then, that's not bad. You can stay with me in London for a while. Oh, right. I also need to introduce you to our guest." Listening to Zhou Yi's words, Zhou Lan was even happier to have him by her side. However, she wasn't so overwhelmed by the pleasant surprise that she forgot her guest. She immediately introduced her guest to Zhou Yi.
"Yi. This is Young Miss Susan Storm. Susan, this is my most proud son, Zhou Yi."
Looking at the intellectual beauty with long, sand-gold hair, whom he had met twice before, Zhou Yi smiled and slowly bowed, mimicking the etiquette of a British gentleman greeting a lady.
"It's an honor to meet you, Susan. To see you well and as beautiful as ever is the best news I could ask for."
Susan, dressed in a loose black knit top and off-white trousers, also smiled and extended a hand, speaking with a hint of joy in her voice.
"The pleasure is mine as well, Mr. Zhou Yi. I didn't expect to run into you again at this time. I thought our next meeting would be in the U.S.!"
Gently kissing the jade-like smooth back of the beautiful lady's hand, Zhou Yi looked a bit puzzled. Why would she need to meet him in the U.S.? He didn't think that after meeting him only once, this beautiful Young Miss Storm would throw herself at him, even crossing oceans. That would be something only an idiot would imagine, and it basically wouldn't happen in the real World.
Seeing the confusion in her son's eyes, Zhou Lan began to clarify for him.
"Susan and her university classmates formed a research team, but now they've run into some trouble and need help from someone with special abilities. So I recommended you to her. You're here now, why not chat with Susan?"
"Special abilities?" Zhou Yi's first thought was his own abilities or his connection to Mutants. But he immediately realized something was off. Zhou Lan would never let him help others in that regard. Nor would she easily disclose his family's secret issues to outsiders. So he immediately concluded that this help must be related to his influence.
The Corona Group, in this Europe that was generally declining, definitely had the power to command the winds and summon the rains.
"May I know what kind of special abilities are needed to help you, Susan?" Having understood this, Zhou Yi sat down and gave Susan a confident smile.
Facing the person she was asking for help from, Susan showed no sign of humility or excessive eagerness on her Face.
She simply spoke calmly with a charming smile.
"I wonder if Mr. Zhou still remembers Reed Richards, whom you met at the Alfred Manor gathering last time?"
"Call me Yi, or just use my name. Using 'Mr.' is a bit too formal." Zhou Yi seemed to correct Susan's form of address, then began to answer her question. "You mean Mr. Richards. I remember him. Last time I intended to invest in him. But unfortunately, that Genius rejected me!"
Hearing Zhou Yi's words, Susan sighed almost imperceptibly. She was truly despairing of her old friend and ex-boyfriend. A true patron put his leg in front of you for you to hug, and you refused—what exactly did you want? Thinking of the bills under Richards's name that could be sold by the pound, she felt a headache.
To help this old friend, she had truly gotten herself into big trouble. However, there was still a chance. Susan looked at the man who had once given her hope for a new life, and her smile became even more charming.
"Reed is an idiot who knows nothing but scientific research. Zhou Yi, I hope you won't hold it against him."
"Of course, talented people have some privileges. I understand!" Zhou Yi blinked and agreed. His somewhat humorous personality made Susan feel her hopes increase a bit.
"I don't know how to tell you, Yi!" As if having made a decision, she used that address. "Our current research project has made new progress. Significant progress, but we need more precise data, and this data cannot be obtained by ordinary means."
"Wow." Mrs. Hamilton walked over and placed a cup of milk tea in front of Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi took a sip and immediately praised it. "Madam, your skill is excellent. I love it!"
"I am honored to receive your praise, sir!" Mrs. Hamilton smiled and quietly withdrew. Zhou Yi then continued speaking to Susan.
"Uh, you said data that can't be obtained by ordinary means. Let me think, you're not trying to get me to procure some national secret for you, are you? If so, you'd probably have to be ready at any moment to deal with Soldiers kicking down the door. Honestly, I'm confident I can get such things. But I'm not confident I can clear the little tails afterward."
Zhou Yi's clearly joking tone lightened the atmosphere considerably, and Susan immediately relaxed. She heard the goodwill in Zhou Yi's words, so she immediately shook her head and replied.
"If we really needed something like that, I think going to Tony Stark would be a wiser choice. I believe his iron man armor would definitely make those little tails shrink back obediently."
"No, no, no, trust me. For a beauty like you to go to a guy like Tony is absolutely the worst decision. He's far more terrifying than you imagine!" Zhou Yi naturally spared no effort in badmouthing his close friend. This, of course, piqued Susan's curiosity.
"Really?"
"Truer than any expensive gem, Darling Susan. You should know. Tony's bad reputation isn't just spread in the U.S."
Watching the beautiful Young Miss Storm nod repeatedly, completely taken in by his words, Zhou Yi couldn't help but give Tony a thumbs up. How to put it, pal. All your efforts over the years certainly haven't been in vain.
Seeing Zhou Yi sell out his teammate like that, Zhou Lan couldn't stand it anymore. You see, Tony still sent her gifts every holiday, as the mother of his good friend. So, she naturally couldn't just watch Zhou Yi speak ill of his friend like that. Although, from a certain perspective, these words were all true.
But he still needed to be given some Face.
"Alright, Child. That's not how you treat friends. If Tony found out, he'd definitely come looking for trouble again."
"Don't worry, Mom. He doesn't have the leisure for that right now. But alright, I'll listen to you." Zhou Yi shrugged. He brought the conversation back. "So, Susan. Let's return to the original question."
"You said you need special data, so what kind of data requires a beautiful lady like you to run around so much?"
Combing a lock of her long hair behind her ear, revealing her delicate profile, Susan sat up straight and answered seriously.
"It's like this, Yi. Our team is researching the development of cosmic rays. And now our research has entered a Bottleneck. We need first-hand data. And this data can only be obtained in a space environment."
"In the next few months, there will be a super-large solar quantum storm passing by Earth. Reed believes that is the best opportunity to obtain cosmic ray data. However, his connections at the Space Agency are not enough, and he simply cannot get launch approval. Of course. Even if he got launch approval, there's no space station available for him to use."
"We might miss this opportunity, so I wondered if we could get help from a private source?"
Hearing this, Zhou Yi finally understood what data they needed. A set of solar quantum storm data obtained from space. And to get this data, they also needed a Rocket to send them up, as well as a usable spacecraft and space station.
Zhou Yi could now imagine how ugly the Face of the Manhattan Space Agency boss must have been after hearing Dr. Reed Richards's explanation. Within a few months, they needed to prepare a launch Rocket, data collection equipment, and free up a transport spacecraft and an operational space station.
This was simply a joke. Not to mention the funds, manpower, and material resources required. The time frame alone was completely insufficient.
The Manhattan Space Agency couldn't possibly halt all its plans and invest so much for a single experiment. No rational person would be willing to do such a thing.
Because the investment was too great, and the returns were almost unpredictable. A slight misstep could potentially ruin a company's future. Apart from reckless madmen looking to turn their fortunes with a single gamble, only the top-tier large enterprises had this capability.
Zhou Yi was certainly not a madman, and coincidentally, he held one of the World's top-tier enterprises in his hands.
"How much time do you have for your plan?" He asked, while also calculating the benefits he could gain.
"The solar quantum storm we've predicted will arrive in four months, and after that. It's very likely we'd have to wait hundreds of years for a quantum storm of the same scale to pass over Earth." Susan explained, also adding weight to the importance of this experiment.
"Three months ago, Corona's space station in the sky was just emptied, and all personnel were repatriated. You know, that's Umbrella's space station, and the equipment inside is very advanced. But due to personnel reorganization, I had to bring the astronauts back. Which means, that space station is currently empty."
"Additionally, I can arrange for the Space Agency to schedule a launch within three months. Enough to send you up. From these two points, I am very confident I can help you. But, Susan. What will I get in return?"