The Heart of the Treasure Chest

Hearing Tony's words, Coulson wanted to ask a few more questions, since he hadn't figured out what was going on yet. Pepper had already made her position clear, so he probably wouldn't get any answers.

Only through Tony, who knows, Tony might blurt out something unintentionally.

But Tony had already determined that there was a treasure chest under the collapsed wall. After so many days of discovering a new treasure chest, Tony had long lost interest in dealing with them and simply stopped answering, instead going to wash his hands.

I'm planning to see if metaphysics can help me find good things. I don't know if praying to gods is useful either. I'll try praying to all the gods when I have the chance. As a scientist, I need to learn to control variables to accurately determine which gods are useful.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Coulson could only leave with Hawkeye. He would report the rest to the director and let him do whatever he wanted. What was originally a routine questioning of people on the protection list had become more and more complicated. He hoped that another mission would be assigned to transfer him away.

Once everyone had left, Pepper rushed into the bathroom, eager to talk to Tony about what was to come.

"Tony, we need to get ready quickly. This matter must be distanced from us and cannot be associated with Umbrella or Stark Industries. This is not as simple as a stock market crash."

After Pepper finished speaking, she noticed that Tony was still devoutly washing his hands, muttering something that sounded like he was speaking Chinese.

Tony wasn't praying to gods or Buddhas for gold; instead, he was thinking about the issue of treasure chest refreshes, muttering to himself in Chinese to organize his thoughts.

If we're talking about other places, like Stark Industries, there might be some areas we haven't been to, such as the women's restroom, where there might be undiscovered treasure chests.

But the villa is only so big, there can't be any undiscovered treasure chests, so the treasure chests can only be those that have just spawned.

What are the refresh rules? With his gaming experience, Tony easily guessed that defeating the boss would likely refresh the treasure chest.

The last time I defeated the Tyrant outside the cave, who was the bald guy from the Ten Rings Gang, he was considered a mini-boss. I found a treasure chest on the plane and got a manual for using telekinesis.

Although Obadiah was a bit weaker than him compared to himself, from the perspective of the movie plot, he was definitely the main villain of the first Iron Man movie, so it's reasonable for him to get a boss treasure chest.

As for the T-virus chests that spawn in the caves, Tony estimates that these are exploration chests and should spawn in iconic locations in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He can explore these places in the future and maybe make some discoveries.

After understanding all this, Tony finally had the mind to think about Pepper's words.

"That's really a bit egregious. Why not just push Obama out there and let the victims sue him?"

"That's one way, but it will also affect Stark Industries. However, there's good news: our previous expulsion of Obadiah has to some extent severed ties with him, but the public probably won't accept that. It would be best if there was an official statement that this matter has nothing to do with us."

"We should have kept Coulson here and negotiated with him a bit more, adding this request. S.H.I.E.L.D. is an official agency, and its authority should be considerable."

Tony's tone was slightly regretful. If all else fails, he could call Coulson again. Once the T-virus was fully enhanced, they could do some business with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Pepper, unfamiliar with S.H.I.E.L.D., didn't continue Tony's line of thought. Instead, she explained her own plan: "I expect that tomorrow, or even soon, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and even the CIA will come to question us. I need to contact the people we have good relationships with in advance, hoping they can play a role, at least to prevent any information from leaking that is detrimental to us."

"Why don't we contact the media and ask them not to publicize it so much? At least keep the media coverage down so that ordinary people won't pay too much attention to it," Tony suggested.

Pepper nodded in agreement with Tony's suggestion, saying, "That's a good idea, but we don't own any large media organizations. The media groups we have aren't on good terms with. If we let them report on us, they'll probably just kick us when we're down."

At this point, Pepper couldn't sit still any longer. She finally asked Tony, "I'm going back to the company to call a meeting with all departments and get everything ready. Do you want to come?"

"You handle it. I believe you can do a better job than me. But don't worry too much. With my current shares, plus the Obadiah shares we've acquired, the company won't change hands. At most, its market value will be a little lower. With Umbrella, it will soon surpass what it was before."

"Okay." Pepper nodded, then went to Tony's underground garage to find a car. Jarvis also thoughtfully contacted the Umbrella Corporation to escort Pepper all the way to Stark Industries.

After Pepper left, Tony finally had time to go to the living room. He personally cleared away the bricks and rubble, revealing a treasure chest with gold patterns and inlaid with gems. Tony excitedly pressed his hand against it.

Open the magnificent treasure chest to obtain the item: Heart of Domination (Fragment).

A crystal core radiating a blood-red light appeared in Tony's hand.

【Item Name: Heart of Domination (Fragment)】

[Type: Consumable]

[Special Effect: Core biomass and fragments of consciousness left behind by the ancient Zerg leader "Overlord," modified by the Xel'Naga. Using this item will grant some Overlord traits:]

1. Gene Devouring and Integration (Incomplete): It can safely absorb and perfectly integrate the genetic essence of any non-pure energy organism, gaining its abilities without rejection or side effects. The core is incomplete, and it has not yet gained the function of devouring and digesting genes, only retaining the ability of perfect integration.

2. Swarm Will (Missing): Can simultaneously establish mental connections with subordinates, constructing a collective consciousness network of absolute obedience (i.e., the swarm).

3. Gene Imprint Domination (Deficiency): Possesses absolute control over any organism (including derivatives and clones) that is fused with, infected, or carries the user's gene fragments, and can perform mental manipulation or genetic erasure regardless of distance.

[Note: "The Queen of Blades merely inherited its legacy... and you will become the legacy itself." — Warning: If you don't want to lose the joys of humanity, don't devour too many non-human genes. Oh, right, you can't devour genes, so pretend I didn't write this.]

After reading the instructions, Tony felt that there were quite a few missing parts. Although the effect looked impressive, two of the three special effects were missing, and one was only half of the original. It was like the tricycle had lost all three wheels, leaving only the cargo bed for him to pull himself.

But the items from the treasure chest can't be given to others to use, so there's no point in keeping them. Besides, the first special effect looks somewhat useful, but I don't know if it's the same as what I expected.

After thinking for a while, Tony decided to stop worrying. The treasure chest was his livelihood in this world, so even if it backfired, he had no choice but to do it.

After making up his mind to use it, the blood-red core seemed to sense something and flew up directly towards Tony's head, piercing into his brain.

Immediately, images flashed through Tony's mind: insects in an alien desert, advanced aliens whose faces were invisible, a cold and gloomy laboratory, a battlefield of constant killing and devouring, scenes of splitting, multiplying, and creating, and finally being annihilated by countless alien warships.

When Tony came to his senses, his mind was filled with a bunch of Zerg knowledge that he couldn't understand.

To Tony's surprise, another item in his backpack suddenly started glowing.