Zhou Yi waited three or four days for Tony's message. By the time even he nearly forgot about it, Tony finally replied.
"Hey, buddy. What've you been up to lately? I invited some lovely girls—let's go have a party out on the sea today."Tony Stark's opening line was the textbook tone of a playboy. Sometimes Zhou Yi genuinely couldn't understand how such a carefree, unrestrained guy could also be the world's top inventor.
Compared to this guy, Einstein and Hawking really seemed a bit tragic.
"Lovely girls? For someone to get that kind of evaluation from you is definitely not easy. Come on, where'd you dig them up from?" As soon as Zhou Yi heard Tony's words, he completely forgot his original purpose for calling. In some ways, these two were the same type of person.
"Some newly trained Victoria's Secret Angels, plus a few beautiful girls who just stepped into Hollywood. They're in a movie I invested in, so I managed to invite them out."Tony's smugness didn't need to be seen—just hearing him through the phone was enough. Although Zhou Yi wanted to mock him, when the moment came, he had no principles whatsoever.
"Buddy, nice job. I think this might be the best thing you've done since the day we met."
On the other end, Tony Stark stroked his little goatee proudly while scanning the gathering girls with discerning eyes. Then he asked:
"I also think something's wrong with me. Maybe Hogan accidentally punched me in the head last time we sparred. Normally I wouldn't share girls like these with you."
By then, Zhou Yi had already begun tidying up his appearance. When it came to lovely women, his attitude was exactly the same as Tony's—no refusal. Of course, that didn't stop their conversation.
"Anyway, thank Hogan for me. But buddy, do you still remember the reason I left you that message?"Hearing Zhou Yi abruptly bring up business, Tony shook off the girls clinging to him and told them, "Hey, girls. I've got a bit of business to handle. It'll be quick. You go ahead and board the yacht first, okay? What? Which yacht? The coolest, flashiest, biggest one. See it? That one, girls—that one!"
Tony pointed proudly at the massive 555-foot-long vessel docked at the harbor. Listening to the girls' gasps and cheers, Zhou Yi truly felt that Tony had gone all-out just to show off in front of beautiful women.
As Tony's close friend, Zhou Yi knew perfectly well what Tony was boasting about. The yacht parked in New York Harbor was no ordinary boat—it was a custom-made super-yacht, costing nearly 700 million dollars, ordered from an exclusive shipyard in Civitavecchia, Italy.
The yacht was 555 feet long—about as tall as twelve double-decker buses—and had nine decks. The lowest level housed the engines and machine rooms; the second contained a submarine bay and docking area for smaller yachts. It even had a mini disco for guests to jump around in.
From the third deck upward were living and entertainment areas. The yacht could host 12–30 guests with 8 luxury suites. The largest suite, of course, belonged to the owner—on the fifth deck—spanning 5,000 square feet. It came with a private ocean-view terrace, two large rooms, and even a small garden on deck connected directly to the suite. The ceiling could automatically open so that the owner could fall asleep under the stars with his girlfriend in his arms.
The guest VIP suites included five double rooms and two single rooms, all with ocean-view balconies, 6-foot wide movie screens, and a private spa pool. The yacht's entire interior was designed by Jarvis. A breezeway connected the main hall and banquet hall, and the curved stern had panoramic glass windows providing a 270-degree sea view. And of course, there was an outdoor pool—exactly the kind Tony loved. It occupied the rear of the third deck, surrounded by a circular bar. There was also an indoor pool whose depth could be adjusted, and which could transform into a dance floor once drained.
Tony also built a private theater, library bar, restaurant, and a holographic gaming room inside, making sea travel unbelievably comfortable.
The yacht needed no security team, no pilot—nothing. Tony just hired some chefs and service staff. Jarvis could operate the entire vessel autonomously. It was one of only two fully intelligent private yachts in the world. Tony called it The Dream. The other intelligent yacht—The Sunshine—belonged to Zhou Yi, but was smaller and less luxurious. After all, Zhou Yi had invested only a little more than half of what Tony spent. There was no helping that—Tony Stark was the major shareholder.
Zhou Yi wasn't exactly surprised that Tony would take The Dream out just to party with a handful of entertainment-industry girls. But he accepted it quickly. For him, Tony's behavior was nothing more than indulgence and extravagance, but Tony had the right to be indulgent. And money, to them, was pretty much something meant to be spent wastefully.Another of Tony's friends, however, definitely wouldn't feel that way.
Zhou Yi waited for Tony's response. Once the background noises of girls stopped, Tony finally continued.
"Buddy, can you tell me why you want that stuff? I'm warning you—ordinary people don't get near it. There's a colonel in the military with a lot of pull who strictly controls all its production. For the sake of this material, he wiped out at least a dozen small tribes in Africa."
"Relax. I just want to make something for fun. If you've got some in stock, I won't need to deal with the military."Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow and remembered exactly which colonel Tony was talking about—General Stryker, the head of the X-program set up by the U.S. military to deal with mutants. He was the most antagonistic and extreme anti-mutant figure in the military. Incidentally, he was also on Zhou Yi's personal blacklist.
"I've only got less than 20 pounds of Adamantium. That's all I've got. If you need more, you'll have to get it through the military. But if it's really just for fun, my advice is—don't go near that guy. He's truly dangerous."
Even Tony—normally fearless and dismissive of authority—was wary of Stryker. So of course, he didn't want his buddy getting involved with a guy like that.
"That's enough, Tony. I'll trade you something good for it. I'll take all the Adamantium. It's just gathering dust on your side anyway."
Tony's goatee twitched again, then he answered with a thick layer of sarcasm:
"I'll trade with you—sure. It's just a decorative piece to me anyway. But buddy, if I don't like what you're giving me in return, then I'll just keep the stuff as decoration!"
"Don't worry. I promise you'll be satisfied." Zhou Yi chuckled. "I'll head over now. Don't tell me it's just the two of us."
"Of course not. I invited Rhodey too. The three of us can see who attracts the most attention from the girls."Tony's laughter was overflowing with smugness—and enough malicious intent to cut right through the phone signal.
"Tony?"
"What is it, buddy?"
"Can I say you're a terrible person?"
"No. You're not a cute girl, after all!"
The two hung up after teasing each other. Soon, they met up aboard The Dream.
"Hey, guys!"The moment Zhou Yi got on board, he saw Tony and an extremely displeased James Rhodes—Tony's friend and head of the Army's weapons development department. One look at his expression was enough for Zhou Yi to know that Rhodey had been screwed over by Tony again.
As for how he'd been screwed, Zhou Yi figured he'd better ask.
"Hey, Rhodey. What's with that face? You look constipated. Cheer up—it's a rare Tony-treats-us day. With so many gorgeous girls around, smile! You'll have a great time."Like Tony, Zhou Yi had a mouth built for spraying venom—especially toward friends.
"I'd prefer if there weren't so many girls looking at me!" Rhodey's expression was cracking.
"When I first arrived, a girl walked up and asked, 'Hi! Are you Colonel James Rhodes?' I said yes, you can call me Rhodey. And then…"
Zhou Yi cut him off.
"Let me guess—she asked you something weird?"
"Yes! She actually asked me why I liked men!" Rhodey flailed his arms.
"Every girl on the boat looked at me! I had no idea what to say! Who told her I like men? I don't even know who she is—how does she know I like men?!"
"I didn't know you liked men either."Zhou Yi sidestepped, picked up a cocktail from the tray of a bikini-clad girl who looked utterly stunned.
"But I think you'd better keep that a secret now."
Watching the bikini girl walk away with a strange expression, Rhodey suddenly wanted to jump off The Dream altogether.
At that moment he finally understood why Tony suggested competing to see who was more popular with the girls. These two bastards had planned this from the start—they'd eliminated their opponent in the very first round.
Compared to these two, Colonel James Rhodes felt, deep in his military-trained soul, just how naïve and simple he truly was.Friends, after all… really couldn't be relied on.
-----------------------
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