Chapter 120: The Shareholders' Meeting

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After making arrangements for Hank Pym, Wang Jing returned to his life of endless busywork.

Because of the several days he had spent in the Marvel universe, a great many tasks had piled up across the various worlds: transporting supplies to The Wandering Earth, shipping crop seeds to the Resident Evil universe, transferring materials and rotating troops in the Terminator universe, and more.

Under the control of the weather-control satellites, Earth in the Resident Evil universe had gradually recovered to its pre-apocalypse condition. In some areas with abundant freshwater, preparations were already being made to begin planting crops ahead of schedule.

The Terminator universe, meanwhile, required vast quantities of food and daily necessities. Years of war had completely destroyed its light industry and agriculture, and it would need assistance from the primary universe before it could slowly recover.

There was also the matter of rotating the troops stationed in the Terminator universe, as well as relocating the factories at Skynet’s bases to the primary universe in order to accelerate robot production.

Apart from the other universes, there was plenty to do in the Marvel universe as well. Energy pillars had to be installed to establish inter-universal communications. Through acquisitions and sponsorships, promising technologies and talented individuals also had to be brought under their banner—such as Helen Cho’s Regeneration Cradle, which was capable of controlling cells and even DNA.

The Regeneration Cradle could elevate the capabilities of the medical pods to an entirely new level, perhaps even to the point of creating life. Wang Jing’s recommendation was that the technology could be researched, but it had to be placed under strict supervision. If misused, it could trigger a biological catastrophe and a crisis of human morality.

Without exaggeration, the technology was like Pandora’s box. Used properly, it could raise humanity to a higher level; mishandled, it might destroy human civilization altogether.

Naturally, even while busy across the various universes, Wang Jing had not forgotten Ada Wong. On the morning of the third day, Ada awoke. As expected, she had acquired spider-like abilities: muscular strength approaching fifty tons, tremendous leaping power, an acute danger sense, lightning-fast reflexes capable of dodging bullets, and the ability to crawl across vertical or inverted surfaces.

Her iconic web-shooting ability, meanwhile, worked just like Spider-Man’s. She used liquid webbing, the technology having been derived from data copied from Oscorp’s laboratories.

After spending three days delivering the goods that had accumulated earlier, Wang Jing returned to the Marvel universe to attend the previously scheduled shareholders’ meeting of Hammer Industries—though, of course, it was no longer called Hammer Industries.

Joining Wang Jing at the meeting were Alice, the newly recovered Ada Wong, Liu Peiqiang and Wang Lei, who were responsible for security, and the CEO and senior executives sent by the United Government to manage the company.

The only shareholders attending the meeting were Norman Osborn and Tony Stark.

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After learning why Wang Jing intended to acquire Hammer Industries, Tony Stark had taken the initiative to participate as well. He had even established an entirely new division: Stark Industries Security.

Its primary business was renting out robots to serve as bodyguards. The moment it was launched, it provoked heated discussion throughout the media, which speculated that Stark intended to revive the company’s weapons division.

As a result, Stark Industries’ stock hit its daily limit, and Tony Stark appeared extremely pleased as he arrived for the meeting.

Tony’s broad smile made Norman Osborn’s expression even more sour. Sitting grim-faced in the conference room, Norman could feel the Green Goblin personality within him growing increasingly violent.

Dressed in a suit and surrounded by a group of people, Wang Jing entered the conference room. After embracing Tony Stark, who had been waiting inside, he took his seat at the conference table.

When Norman Osborn realized that the person acquiring Hammer Industries was Wang Jing—the mysterious genius whose recent prominence rivaled that of Iron Man Tony Stark—he felt not the slightest bit surprised.

After all, the feud between Hammer Industries and the two of them was not exactly common knowledge, but it was close enough.

Once Wang Jing and Tony Stark had taken their seats, Norman Osborn changed his previously gloomy expression and warmly greeted them with a smile.

“Hello. I never imagined that the mastermind behind everything these past few days would be Mr. Wang Jing. I was somewhat skeptical when you said that you had earned your first fortune through stock trading, but today I’ve finally seen the proof for myself!”

Norman showered Wang Jing with flattery the moment he approached.

Unfortunately for him, Wang Jing had already seen through him. Norman Osborn had injected himself with the Green Goblin formula. Though he was grinning now, who knew what malicious thoughts might be running through his mind?

Wang Jing continued speculating inwardly, but appearances still had to be maintained. He rose to his feet and shook Norman’s hand warmly.

“Mr. Osborn, I’ve long admired your reputation. Building such an enormous company through your own efforts is truly remarkable.”

The two men exchanged a round of mutual praise, leaving Tony Stark watching in astonishment. This was the first time he had discovered that Wang Jing possessed such a hypocritical side.

Tony, unlike Wang Jing, never held back when he felt someone deserved to be challenged—not even the President of the United States. After all, he was the principal source of the candidate’s campaign funding.

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After greeting Wang Jing, Norman turned to Tony Stark. His attitude remained cordial, but it was clearly less enthusiastic than it had been toward Wang Jing.

“All right, Wang Jing. Stop wasting time and get this meeting started,” Tony urged.

“Very well. The first item on today’s agenda is taking the company private.” Wang Jing turned to Norman Osborn. “Mr. Osborn, you currently hold only 9.2 percent of the shares. We are willing to acquire your entire stake for one billion dollars. Would you be willing to sell?”

When Norman heard that Wang Jing was offering only one billion dollars, the smile vanished from his face at once.

“Mr. Wang, you must have misspoken. I spent more than eighteen billion dollars acquiring these shares. Your offer is far too low!”

Norman’s face darkened as he spoke.

“That only proves that your judgment was poor, Mr. Osborn. My offer is based entirely on the cost I’ve incurred. If I acquired the shares at the price you mentioned, I would be taking an enormous loss—and I would have no way to explain it to the other shareholders.” Wang Jing glanced at Tony Stark, the implication unmistakable: he was not acting alone.

“Then I’ll simply retain my shares,” Norman said after calming himself. “After all, I have complete faith in Mr. Wang’s abilities. I’m certain that, in the future, you’ll be able to raise the company’s market value to more than ten times its current level.”

“Very well. But I should make one thing clear in advance. The company has no plans to turn a profit in the near future. We may even need to continue making substantial investments. So, Mr. Osborn, you should be prepared for the possibility that the company will remain unprofitable for a long time—or even operate at a loss.”

“What exactly do you intend to do?” Norman asked.

“Military robots,” Wang Jing replied calmly, “for export.”