Cp! bsp;Cp!

  In the hallway of a New York's Hospital, the sound of polished leather shoes echoed through the corridor.

  A young man, whose face bore a striking resembo Howard Stark, though with a touch of youthful innoce, was running frantically down the hall.

  The surrounding medical staff, as if they had already expected his arrival, watched the panicked young man with , yet none of them stepped forward to calm him down or tell him to slow down.

  The young man's identity was now clear.

  Anthony Edward Stark—better known as Tony Stark.

  "How could this happen?! How could this be happening?!"

  Just one day ago, Tony had been on a bea Hawaii, enjoying the warm weather.

  Having never had a close retionship with his father, he had po return only on Christmas to wish his mother a happy holiday.

  But while dang on the bea Hawaii, news from New York reached him. His parents had been in a car act. His father, Howard, was critically injured, and his mother, Maria... was dead on the spot.

  Tony naturally refused to believe the news. He immediately left Hawaii and rushed to New York, heading straight for the Hospital to reach Howard Stark's room.

  He believed that by the time he arrived, he would be greeted by the old man's sarcastibsp;smile and his mentle face.

  Swish!

  Tony threw open the door to the hospital room, calling out loudly.

  "Old man, don't joke around too much... you..."

  Tony had already prepared himself for an angry frontation with Howard, for making him fall for this trid having to return from Hawaii.

  But ihe room, all he saw was the elderly man, ed in bandages, looking at him with exhausted eyes.

  His voice grew quieter, and he found himself uo speak.

  The thing he had been unwilling to accept seemed to have turned into reality.

  Tony staggered toward Howard's bedside, each step more unsteady tha.

  "So... is the rue?"

  "Tony... I..."

  Tony couldn't accept the reality of Maria's death, and how could Howard face his son at this moment?

  He knew himself. He had poured all his heart and soul into Tony, yet had driven a wedge between them. He uood how important Maria was to his son.

  While he had hurt Tony time and again, it was Maria who had soothed Tony's young heart and helped him grow up healthy.

  Now, as a husband and father, he couldn't protect his wife, couldn't protect the mother of his child.

  How could he not feel guilty?

  "Why wasn't it you who died?!"

  Tony lifted his head again, his cheeks streaked with tears.

  He raised both fists and smmed them into Howard's wounded body.

  But at the st moment, his fists veered off course and struck the iron frame of the bed instead, causing blood to pour out immediately.

  "Tony... I'm sorry..."

  Howard wept untrolbly, repeatedly apologizing to Tony. But Tony, in the midst of the sorrowful atmosphere, slowly stood up.

  "Who... tried to assassinate you?"

  Tained his posure, but that posure was now driven by rage.

  He had been told that his parents had been in a car act, but he knew who his father was. Although he despised him, he was well aware that Howard would never let Maria be in a car act like this.

  He khat his father still saw him as a child, believing he wasn't capable enough, just like before. He would always look down on him and hide the truth, all in the name of misguided prote.

  "Tony... it was a car act..."

  Howard hesitated for a moment but still didn't tell Tony the truth. He could describe the appearance of the attacker and was fident that his talented son could iigate the leads.

  But at the same time, because of how capable Tony was, Howard felt uneasy. Tony was ed by anger, and if he acted recklessly... he didn't want to lose his son, too, after already losing his wife.

  Howard's thoughts were destio be beyond Tony's uanding.

  He stared at his father intensely, feeling for the first time a deep sense of disappoiowards the man he had always viewed as an immovable mountain.

  "Even with Mom dead, are you pnning to just let it go, Howard?"

  The moment Tony addressed his father by his first heir retionship hit robsp;bottom. Yet, despite everything, Howard still refused to offer any clues, tinuing to insist that it was just a car act, just an unfortunate i.

  Sigh...

  Gradually realizing that he wouldn't get any answers here, Tony took a deep breath and switched tactics.

  "Then at least tell me... who the hell saved your sorry ass?"

  Tony khat someone must have found the gravely injured Howard and rushed him to the hospital. Since Howard was unwilling to reveal the truth, Tony decided to go after another witness.

  This time, Howard's resolve was noticeably weaker.

  He had looked at Alfred's file.

  The man was kind, just, learned, and wise. Perhaps Alfred could get through to Tony in a way that Howard, the inpetent father, never could.

  "He's a gentleman worthy of respect, Alfred Pennyworth. He's in Gotham."

  With that aony no longer wao spend a single sed longer with Howard. He turned on his heel ahe room without a word.

  Maria's body was in the mue, but Tony did not go to see his mht away.

  He had heard that her face had been severely disfigured, to the point where it was unreizable. The morti would soon begin the process of rest her appearaony thought it best to focus on finding the killer first. Once he caught the person responsible and avenged his mother, he would return to see her restored body.

  Only then would Tony's heart find a sliver of fort.

  ......

  Gotham City.

  Reid, who had not yet drawn the "Dr. Manhattan" character card, naturally had no idea of the Stark family's iurmoil. In fact, the issues surrounding Wayne Enterprises left him no time to dwell on such matters.

  At this point, Reid was beginning to feel that his system wasn't so much a golden finger as it was the root cause of his predit. He had crossed over and was now w for the system, not the other way around.

  In his previous life, when characters in novels drew simir enviro cards, they received both the enviro and the characters within it, and those characters would follow the protagonist's orders.

  But things were different for him.

  Everyone in Gotham had their own lives, their own thoughts. If someone was meant to oppose him, they would.

  Take Earle, for instance, aive at Wayerprises and a partial shareholder. He had been spreading rumors about Bruce Wayne's death, hoping to push Wayerprises to go public. His goal was not only to profit from the pany's listing but also to force the Wayne family out of Wayerprises entirely.

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