Chapter 110: When in Doubt, Dismantle the Truck

"How long will this palladium last?" Zhong Shenxiu asked, taking a deep breath to steady his shock.

Ivan curled his lip, grinning as he replied, "Until the end of time!"

*Until the end of time...* That was quite a claim. Zhong Shenxiu continued, "What about the other materials? Did you manage to collect enough?"

"Plenty!" Ivan responded, his smile deepening into wrinkles, looking as delighted as an old farmer during a bumper harvest. "I hauled back over three hundred kilograms of titanium alloy alone, and there's more..."

Although Zhong Shenxiu didn't recognize many of the material names, just listening to Ivan list them off made it clear that, even excluding the palladium, this was a massive haul.

When you factored in the palladium... it was an absolute, overwhelming victory. If this were a game, it would easily be a 3,000% return on investment!

"It’s because you secured so much time for me, Boss. I just kept loading more until the truck was stuffed to the brim." Ivan wasn't flattering him; he meant it sincerely.

In all honesty, robbing a behemoth like Stark Industries wouldn't have been nearly as easy if Zhong Shenxiu hadn't taken on the riskiest parts of the job. Ivan wouldn't have been able to get away with so many spoils so easily otherwise.

Zhong Shenxiu smiled slightly in response to the praise. He then pulled a small Arc Reactor from his pocket and said, "Speaking of which, the situation got a bit hairy, and the mechanical suit you built for me ended up being totaled."

Ivan glanced at the dim, fading glow of the Arc Reactor. He finally snapped out of his harvest euphoria, realizing that Zhong Shenxiu hadn't been wearing the armor when he arrived.

It must have been completely destroyed.

Ivan wasn't particularly bothered by a month of work going down the drain; after seeing the security configuration at Stark Industries, he had already prepared himself for the possibility.

"Were there any areas of the armor that needed improvement?" Ivan asked, shifting the conversation to real-world combat data.

"Hmm..." Zhong Shenxiu looked at Ivan, hesitant for a moment. After a brief internal debate, he decided to be honest. "I ran into Tony Stark. He’s built a mechanical suit of his own, quite similar to yours."

The moment Ivan heard Tony's name, his eyes lit up. He pressed eagerly, "How does it compare to his?"

*As expected, that name is Ivan's trigger point...* Zhong Shenxiu kept his expression neutral. "You're both about the same. The focus is just different; yours has superior defensive capabilities, while Tony’s excels in flight."

"It was during this encounter that I realized the flight function is actually quite important. Even though I can fly on my own, that armor became a dead weight in the air."

"So, I think, even if we don't add a full-blown flight system, at least something like the one you made—to offset the weight of the armor itself while airborne—would suffice..."

Listening to Zhong Shenxiu, Ivan pulled out a small notebook and began jotting things down.

This was first-hand, real-world combat data, and Ivan took it very seriously. Furthermore, it was a comparison against Tony's work. Even though Ivan didn't know why Tony had managed to create a similar product at nearly the same time, it only fueled his competitive spirit.

Once Zhong Shenxiu finished, Ivan thought for a moment before asking, "And in the end, Boss... you won, right?"

"Of course!" Zhong Shenxiu looked at Ivan’s expectant face and continued, "It was all thanks to your mechanical suit; its performance specs are definitely superior to Tony's..."

It was a blatant lie. Zhong Shenxiu had only been able to catch the slippery, flight-capable Tony by discarding the mechanical suit entirely. At the high-end level of combat, a mechanical suit was, at this stage, a burden.

But seeing the look of pure adrenaline and determination on Ivan's face, Zhong Shenxiu knew that as long as Ivan continued to improve based on his feedback, this type of mechanical armor—distinct from Stark's Iron Man suit—would eventually become a major asset.

***

After chatting a bit more, Zhong Shenxiu gained a rough understanding of Ivan's concept for a global instrument to track the Space Stone.

If they were to build a truly global-scale instrument, the investment would be massive, and the production cycle would be very long—Ivan estimated at least half a year.

Moreover, that would only be a general scanning device, designed to sweep an area to check for target signals. Compared to the equipment Coulson had used in Moscow, which required massive manpower and resources, this would be much more rudimentary. Coulson's device had been for real-time monitoring, requiring a vast network of receivers and long-term operation.

While Zhong Shenxiu's version would be easier to build—requiring only a few simple sweeps to detect a signal—it had strict limitations regarding geographical range.

It worked like a radar: the closer it was to the target, the better the signal. The further away it was, the more the signal would decay, requiring an unimaginable amount of power to achieve the desired result.

This was the problem that needed solving.

If they really wanted to build something that could scan the entire globe while sitting at home, the costs would be infinite. While the energy problem was solved, materials and infrastructure remained hurdles. Then there was the issue of signal strength—how to ensure they weren't detected? How to guarantee security?

*Wait!*

Listening to Ivan, Zhong Shenxiu suddenly had an idea. He proposed, "Since it's like a radar, why don't we just make the radar center mobile?"

*Mobile...* Ivan pondered this for a while, struggling to grasp the leap in Zhong Shenxiu's logic.

Seeing this, Zhong Shenxiu didn't keep him in suspense. "I mean, we build a portable instrument. That way, the requirements for the scanning range won't be so high. We can use less power, and it’ll be safer."

As they spoke, Ivan and Zhong Shenxiu’s gazes drifted simultaneously to the truck that had just returned, covered in road dust.

In the end, they decided to modify the truck further, installing a large Arc Reactor and the scanning equipment inside, and then driving it across the continent, north to south.

As for overseas, that could wait.

Zhong Shenxiu suspected that the S.H.I.E.L.D. base was likely on this continent anyway. If they couldn't find it here, they could always look abroad later.

Modifying the truck would take significantly less time than building a full-scale global scanner.

With the plan in place, Ivan was ready to get to work immediately. He was about to grab his power saw to tear apart their ultimate utility truck once more.

But Zhong Shenxiu suddenly realized something...

*Why does it feel like... someone is missing?*

*Wait!*

*Where's Peter?*