CHAPTER 25: CHAPTER 025: WIPING YOUR MOUTH WITH A SUIT! IS THIS FRIED RICE FOR SALE?!

Tony really was a businessman at heart.

One moment they were chatting away, and the next, after just a sip of milk tea, he was already calculating how much money it could make.

When Wanda and Gwen drank it, all they thought was that it tasted amazing. Making money off it? How much it could earn? That never even crossed their minds.

Of course, Tony wasn’t actually interested in the profits from milk tea. Even if it brought in hundreds of millions of dollars, it was nothing compared to the clean energy of his cold fusion technology. A few hundred million dollars? He could earn several times that from a single shipment of Ark Reactors alone.

So Tony’s real thought was simple:

This milk tea is incredible.

I wish I could drink it every day.

Just like the burger stand under Stark Tower. You’d think it was a regular food truck? No—Tony just loved their burgers so much that the owner knew the stall was worth more than gold.

Lorien, however, had another thought. If milk tea could spread across the U.S.... if it could squeeze coffee out of its market share... if he could watch the so-called "upper class" of America sipping milk tea instead of coffee... that could be pretty fun.

Besides, his milk tea recipe wasn’t anything magical—it was just delicious. Nothing worth guarding like a state secret.

So Lorien nodded, opened a drawer, pulled out the recipe, and tossed it to Tony.

"Here. I’ll take thirty percent of the profits. The rest is your problem."

Tony caught the recipe, scanned it with his sunglasses, and slipped it into his jacket.

"No problem."

Neither of them cared how much money it would make—Tony just didn’t want to lose money, and Lorien just wanted to enjoy the show. In the end, the deal was struck in two sentences.

...

"We can continue now," Tony said.

Lorien was about to bring up the third question when he glanced at the clock and realized it was already 1 p.m.

That could only mean one thing. Business was business, showing off was showing off... but people run on food. Skip a meal, and you’ll regret it.

Lorien snapped his fingers.

"It’s time to eat. I think we should have some lunch."

Tony: ...

Now he knew what it felt like to have his conversation interrupted.

"Alright." Tony sat up and tapped his wristwatch. "I’ll have Pepper send over some good food with the armor. We’ll keep talking while we eat. I promise it’ll be first-class—Boston lobster, Orr Estate wine, a Michelin-starred chef’s entrée, the works."

A billion-dollar suit of armor doing food delivery. Classic Tony.

But Lorien shook his head, stood, and walked toward the other room.

"Forget it. We’ll have my fried rice instead."

"You made it?" Tony looked genuinely surprised. "You think your cooking is better than what I just listed?"

He didn’t get to finish.

Lorien returned carrying two covered plates. This wasn’t just any meal—it was the "Explosively Delicious Fried Rice" he’d won in a system draw. It had been sitting in his storage space for days, and there was no reason to let it go to waste.

Tony’s eyes widened even more.

"Lorien! You’re not eating the luxurious food... and you want me to eat fast food with you?!"

It wasn’t hard to see why Tony thought fried rice was fast food—it had come out so quickly. And yet Lorien was ignoring the "good stuff" for this. That was the part Tony couldn’t wrap his head around.

Lorien set the plates down, sat back at his seat, and started preparing to eat.

"If you’re not eating, I’ll eat it myself," he said without looking up.

Tony eyed the fried rice. In the end, he sat down like a man resigned to fate.

"Alright. Let Tony Stark see what this is about. If it’s bad, I’ll buy this building and raise your rent!"

They picked up their utensils and dug in.

The fried rice looked ordinary, but the moment the egg-coated grains hit the tongue, it was like they had been enchanted. A wave of satisfaction and explosive flavor surged straight into the brain, triggering the primal urge to shovel in more.

Lorien ate at a steady pace.

Gulp!

Then he heard it—someone was wolfing down their food.

Who?

Surely not... Tony?

He turned his head and saw Tony hunched over, digging into the fried rice, face almost buried in the plate, completely abandoning his image. This was supposed to be a superhero and a billionaire?

Lorien just smiled and went back to eating.

Less than a minute later, Tony wiped his mouth... with the sleeve of a suit worth tens of thousands of dollars. He looked up, nodded seriously, and said,

"What’s this called—egg fried rice?

Do you have the recipe? Or will you sell it?

I’m confident I could take fifty percent of the U.S. fast food market within a year!"

Lorien: ...

Hadn’t he heard that line before?

Oh right—just now.

...

(80 Chapters Ahead)

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