Stark Industries, Office of the Secretary.

"Da-da."

A yellow-haired woman with a ponytail sat at her desk, her hair looking a little dry and her expression gloomy and uneasy.

An old typewriter sat on her desk, and she mechanically tapped the keys and her eyes wandered, occasionally landing on the window with the curtains closed.

Sunlight shone through the gaps in the curtains, reflecting on her listless face. The coffee on the table has cooled, and the coffee liquid at the bottom of the cup has formed a thin film.

The entire office was filled with dead silence, except for the click of the typewriter and the ticking of the clock, as if time had stood still in this corner.

"Whew~"

After more than ten seconds, she stopped her hand and let out a long breath as she looked up at the resignation report.

Effective for two weeks from now, I hereby solemnly submit my resignation from my position at Stark International Enterprises

Sincerely

Virginia Pepper Potts

People close to her usually call her by her middle name, which is Pepper.

Pepper hesitated for a moment, then stood up, pulled out the resignation report that had been typed, folded it into a neat document, and walked to his boss's office in his hand.

Pushing open the door to the room through the hallway, there was chaos as a bearded man leaned sleepily in the boss's chair, half a bottle of wine clutched in his hand. His face was pale, and his facial features were drowned in exhaustion and drunkenness.

The table in front of him was a mess, full of half-eaten food scraps and waste paper. Some documents were scattered on the floor, the room was dimly lit, and a strong smell of alcohol filled the air, making people feel suffocated.

"Tony." Pepper tried to say something, "Your drinking problem."

"Huh?"

Tony, however, grabbed the bottle nonchalantly, his lips covered with food scraps, and he unceremoniously took a sip. There was a slight cough in his throat, but he still didn't look at Pepper, ignoring her concerns.

Seeing this, Pepper had no choice but to swallow the rest of the words back into her stomach, unfold the page of the resignation report, put it down as clean as possible on the table, and said:

"I'm leaving here, is there anything else you need me to do before I go?"

Tony shook his head, placed the bottle heavily on the table, and rubbed his forehead as if trying to dispel the fog of alcohol.

"Hiccup! I'm fine." He belched, then suddenly remembered something, and his eyes scanned the office. "By the way, do you know where I put my armor?"

Pepper, who was about to leave, turned around, her eyebrows slightly raised, "I guess either you threw him next to the wine cabinet while you were getting the drink, or you left it there when you went to the toilet to vomit"

"Since you fell into the abyss of alcoholism, you have generally only appeared in these two places in the company."

Hearing this, the bearded man muttered two more sentences, but the words were messy and he couldn't hear them clearly. His mind was still disturbed by alcohol, and there was a confusion and confusion in his words.

"Squeak-"

The office door was pushed open again, and a man walked in, holding a stack of papers.

"Tony, just sign this and it's over. A controlling stake in Stark International Enterprises, as well as all patents, have been sold. He stacked the papers on the table and waited for Tony's response.

Then he rolled his eyes again and added, "And you've got enough money to buy you a distillery for yourself, which I guess might be what you want to do more now than manage a company and be Iron Man." “

Tony glanced sleepily at the stack of papers, then frowned and waved his hand, "Put them on top of Pepper's resignation report, I'll deal with it later, Harpy." “

The corners of Happy's mouth twitched, "Your 'will deal with it later' is probably a week later, and you said the same last time." ”

"The last time I reminded you to remember to pay your electricity bill, you told me 'Don't worry, Harpy, I'll take care of it' 'Don't worry, Harpy, Mr. Stark is a heavy drinker every day, but he's still sober!' ”

As he spoke, Harpy danced and squeezed his eyebrows, trying his best to imitate the look of his boss at that time, and then his face changed a little annoyed and said:

"And then you forget about it completely and go on a date with a case of aged wine, which ends up leaving two employees trapped in the cafeteria for the night, me"

"Didi, Didi—"

A tight and dense dripping sound suddenly sounded, interrupting the conversation, and the three of them immediately turned their heads to look at a small pager on the table, which automatically broadcast an urgent message:

"Invasion . . . Alert! Inside the basement. Zizi transmission. Alert"

Harpy frowned and pressed the pager and asked, somewhat puzzled, "What does that mean?" “

Tony pressed his temples, still not looking very conscious. He tried to explain: "Meaning the situation in the basement may not be very good, uh maybe I should go and check it out, just in case"

He staggered to his feet, but visibly disturbed by the alcohol, his gait was unsteady, his body swayed, and he almost lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Harpy hurriedly grabbed his boss and friend and forced him back into his chair, "Sit here, Tony." If you go to the basement to store it now, you will have a blue nose and a swollen face. ”

"Don't forget that we've turned off most of the lighting in the basement to save power."

"I'll go see what's going on in the basement, and you'll stay here." He nodded to Pepper again, then pushed the door open and headed for the gloomy stairwell.

When he came to the basement door, he suddenly smelled a faint stench, an unpleasant smell that alerted his sense of smell to him. He frowned, feeling a little uneasy.

"Got mice? Don't knock over Tony's gallons of spirits, that's his most precious thing right now. Much more precious than his armor. “

Muttering, Harpy slowly approached the door marked in the basement. He raised his hand and pushed the door open, revealing a curtain of darkness.

After walking in, his gaze quickly adjusted to the low-light environment, and then the whole person froze in place.

In the darkness, several mottled pillars hung in the air, like stone pillars, showing a white-yellow color.

"What the hell? Stalactite? Harpy said casually, and pressed his palm to it, but the moment he touched it, the pillars seemed to come to life, and suddenly and quickly closed.

Harpy's eyes widened, but it was happening so fast that he didn't have time to react.

Half of his body was mercilessly slashed and crushed, and blood splattered everywhere. A creepy scream came from his mouth, but in that terrifying moment, his voice seemed to drown out in the darkness of the basement.

All that remained was a crunching chewing sound.

Half a minute later, those things began to float out of the darkness, revealing their true horrific nature.

It wasn't a pillar or a stalactite at all, but a huge, bloody mouth full of sharp teeth.

(End of chapter)