Chapter 79: The Solution

Soon, Jarvis compiled an analysis report for Tony based on the information available, and Tony projected the data so everyone could see.

Level 5 contamination: over 3,000 people
Level 4 contamination: over 200 people
Level 3 contamination: more than 1 person
Level 2 contamination: no relevant intelligence yet
Level 1 contamination: no relevant intelligence yet

As the number of those aware of the situation grew, the count of contaminated individuals would inevitably rise. Hence, Jarvis appended a plus sign after each figure. Seeing so many people tainted by the dark god, Natasha immediately wanted to contact Director Fury, but Tony stopped her.

“I think, given Director Fury’s temperament, whether or not we inform him, the final outcome won’t change. In fact, it would only bring us trouble,” Tony said. Natasha understood perfectly—Fury’s suspicious nature meant he wouldn’t trust the word of a single family like Qu Yizhi’s, so the previous research project wouldn’t be halted. And if the intelligence were confirmed true, Fury would certainly push harder, wanting to find a solution through research.

But withholding information wasn’t Natasha’s style, so after a brief moment of thought, she said, “I won’t volunteer the information, but if he asks, I won’t hide it either.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, your director won’t do that.” Having dealt with Fury for so long, Tony knew how to delay Fury from asking directly. Ever since the Tesseract incident came to light, Tony had grown deeply distrustful of S.H.I.E.L.D., so he intended to handle this matter on his own.

Steve, equally troubled, naturally had no objections, and the others were even less likely to disagree. This was a top-secret matter, so the contamination numbers wouldn’t explode overnight. In fact, if the news leaked, it could cause international tensions.

It was best to resolve this swiftly and quietly—one of the reasons Natasha agreed to Tony’s plan. Given the involvement of world leaders, no detail was trivial.

With everyone in agreement, Tony’s gaze drifted toward a unique individual—the only surviving person recorded as level 3 contaminated in the data: Helaal.

Since they needed to find a solution, experiments and tests were indispensable. Apart from Qu Yizhi’s magical journey to recover memories, Tony, grounded in science, couldn’t let this exceptional talent slip away.

So, after the Avengers disembarked, Tony immediately focused on Helaal’s file and requested Fury to bring him over.

...

Tony sipped his coffee, eyes fixed on the lab’s data display. After returning to Avengers Tower, he conducted further scans of his own body. Aside from some heightened neural activity in his brain, no abnormalities were detected, leaving Tony momentarily perplexed.

Even as Earth’s self-proclaimed smartest scientist, he couldn’t research out of thin air. He was considering whether to increase his contamination level intentionally to facilitate experiments.

While pondering this, he suddenly noticed something odd in his coffee cup. Looking down, he saw strange bubbles swirling, and an eyeball rose slowly from the depths. Startled, Tony flung the cup away. The sound of shattering glass snapped him back to reality, but at that moment, Jarvis’ cold voice carried a rare warmth: “Sir, what happened? Should I contact the other Avengers?”

Calming himself, Tony immediately realized what had transpired. “Jarvis, compare my current body data with previous records. Contact the others and have them assemble here.”

“Yes, sir. The other Avengers have been notified, and I am projecting the comparative data now,” Jarvis responded meticulously, also retrieving prior surveillance footage for reference. Tony began the analysis promptly.

Others at the base arrived one after another. Once everyone was present, Tony explained the situation.

“So, the mental contamination has manifested in Tony. It looks like we need to hurry and find a solution,” Steve said, furrowing his brow. He felt helpless in this area; as a combat strategist, mental ailments were not his expertise.

Qu Yizhi looked apologetic toward Tony, blaming herself for not recalling protective spells sooner. Tony caught her gaze and waved it off. “From what I see, this mental contamination resembles delusions seen in psychiatric disorders. I plan to start there and see if we can find a solution.”

Dr. Banner also looked troubled. As a physicist, this was far from his domain, but he raised a concern. “Currently, many psychiatric illnesses remain incurable. If this contamination behaves like those disorders, then...”

Everyone understood his unspoken words. Even a genius like Tony couldn’t solve a century-old mystery in a short time. Qu Yizhi’s memory loss was somewhat akin to mental illness, so both challenges were equally daunting.

“Can we contact Thor? Asgard might offer more help,” Steve suggested, glancing at Tony.

Tony shook his head. “There’s no signal transmitter in the divine realm. Our comm devices only work when Thor returns to Midgard.” When Odin’s writings were delivered to Earth, Tony had hoped to get more intelligence from Thor but found no way to reach Asgard, so he gave up.

“Hey guys, maybe there’s another way,” Tony said, recalling his last encounter with Thor, the great battle, and someone else.

“What way?” The others were curious. Did Tony have expertise in mental health too?

“I thought of a bald—no, a lady. Never mind, you wouldn’t know her,” Tony said as he turned, tapping away on the big screen. He remembered a mysterious woman who appeared after a deity descended. Though her identity was unknown, Tony had never stopped searching for her.

“I compared a lot of data and finally narrowed the target to South Asia. The monks there might be hiding some secrets,” Tony explained. Based on the woman’s attire in his memory and Qu Yizhi’s clearly Eastern style, Tony believed that place held the key to a solution.