Chapter 85: The Seizure

Coulson was visibly stunned, but Zhong Shenxiu only offered a faint, knowing smile. Such was the advantage of being intimately familiar with the plot.

If ordinary deduction was a process of weaving together infinite, subtle clues—those hidden threads and faint traces—then boldly hypothesizing to arrive at the truth, Zhong Shenxiu's method was quite the opposite: he already knew the truth. The rest—the deductions, the details, the clues—he simply worked backwards from the answer, and as long as it wasn’t too excessive, everything seemed perfectly reasonable. The two approaches were not even on the same level.

Having resolved Coulson’s doubts, Zhong Shenxiu turned to gaze out at the eternally unchanging barren landscape beyond the window. He chose to remain silent, leaving Coulson to ponder endlessly in his own mind. Soon enough, Coulson would likely fill in the blanks himself, fleshing out his earlier explanation into an unassailable line of reasoning. That was the purpose of leaving a little "space" in conversation: once you provided enough information, clever people always overanalyzed and constructed elaborate interpretations to support your words.

Taking advantage of this pause, Zhong Shenxiu allowed his thoughts to drift elsewhere. His primary goal at present was to acquire the Space Stone, advance his Chaotic Body, and achieve another breakthrough in his own power. But to obtain the Space Stone, he would first need to build a machine capable of locating it. A machine that could scan the globe, however, would require a staggering amount of electricity at all times.

Therefore, before anything else, he would need to construct a large-scale Arc Reactor to power the machine. And for that, the Arc Reactor demanded a crucial core—one of two materials could serve: either conventional palladium, or the new element Tony’s father had devised while researching the Space Stone.

As for this new element, Zhong Shenxiu had long since set it aside. For one, he lacked Tony’s holographic projection technology—God only knew how much it would cost to acquire such a system. Besides, actually producing a new element would require an astonishing investment of time, effort, and money. It simply wasn’t realistic for him at this stage.

Thus, his gaze returned to palladium. Palladium was a rare material; finding even a small piece was difficult, and purchasing enough on the black market to support a large Arc Reactor would be a colossal financial burden. Normal procurement was out of the question.

Zhong Shenxiu needed another route—a more expedient one:

Robbery.

Where was the world’s remaining palladium stockpiled? At Stark Industries, beneath the weapons development department, where a massive Arc Reactor hummed away. To keep such a behemoth running, Stark Industries must have a considerable reserve of palladium. And as the company's lifeblood, the security measures for the weapons division would be anything but lax. It might not rival a military base, but for a corporation, it would be top-tier.

Don’t be fooled by the events of Iron Man 1, where during the showdown between Obadiah and Tony, it seemed as though the entire weapons department didn’t even have a seventy-year-old security guard on duty. That was an obvious plot contrivance—either Obadiah had cleared the area beforehand, or S.H.I.E.L.D. had orchestrated it. Under normal circumstances, the weapons division would have at least a squad of well-trained security personnel, armed with heavy weaponry—in fact, outside of money, weapons were the one thing Stark never lacked.

And what did Zhong Shenxiu have on his side? A Scarlet Witch who looked fifteen and was in many ways barely more mature than a child; a Spider-Man who was, in fact, still a child; and a Russian scientist who had spent the last fifteen years locked up and had only just been released. Add to that an impossibly handsome, elegant, charming, powerful, brilliant, and sharp-witted leader.

Yes... our side is clearly dominant.

With careful planning, there was a real chance of success in stealing a large quantity of palladium from the Stark Industries weapons department.

At least, he hoped so...

Why not simply heal Tony’s injuries and propose an equivalent exchange? First, Zhong Shenxiu couldn’t explain why he needed so much palladium, so the legitimate route was blocked. Besides, palladium and the Arc Reactor were only part of the equation; the real money would be spent on building a global search machine. For now, aside from essential supplies, cold hard cash was still the most critical need.

——

“We’re here, Xiu.”

Coulson parked the car steadily at the curb near Zhong Shenxiu’s home, turning to him with a smile to rouse him from his meditative rest. At the sound, Zhong Shenxiu opened his eyes almost immediately, a flash of brilliance passing through his clear, sky-blue gaze as he glanced out the window.

Indeed, it was the familiar, slightly worn Ingram Street.

Directly ahead was his house. Outside the small gate beneath the sign for "Zhong’s Clinic," a crowd of gangsters had already gathered. No matter their color, or which gang they belonged to—no matter what deep-seated grudges they might have harbored before—at Zhong Shenxiu’s doorstep, they all queued up politely and peacefully.

Those unable to stand waited in wheelchairs or on stretchers.

Coulson followed Zhong Shenxiu’s gaze and was somewhat surprised. “These lawless gangsters really do behave themselves in front of your house.”

But after a moment’s thought, he wasn’t all that shocked. When a man was not only a master physician and a genius intellect, but also possessed terrifying superpowers, making these fierce gangsters behave was the least of his accomplishments. Compared to his other titles, it hardly seemed worth mentioning.

Zhong Shenxiu nodded slightly, not bothering to reply as he opened the car door. “I’ll be going in now...”

He paused, then added, “Don’t forget my payment for this mission!”

A stifled laugh escaped Coulson at that. Truly, he was a greedy man... Yet, as time passed, Coulson found that Zhong Shenxiu’s greed was almost a virtue. When someone was too exceptional, an unbridgeable gap inevitably formed between them and others—but Zhong Shenxiu’s little avarice seemed to mitigate that distance. Sometimes, Coulson couldn’t tell if it was intentional, or if he genuinely needed the money...

Genius minds, it seemed, could be hard to fathom—

Retracting his gaze from Zhong Shenxiu’s retreating figure, Coulson started the car and headed toward Washington—the direction of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Meanwhile—

Upon seeing Zhong Shenxiu return, the gangsters queuing at his door instantly straightened up, their backs ramrod-straight. Not even in front of their own bosses did they show such respect as they did for Zhong Shenxiu.