Chapter 3: Hammer's Recognition, Promotion and Raise
"So he wasn't bluffing after all. Hammer Industries really found a genius! Could it be… this long-time third-place company is finally about to rise?"
The employees, who had never felt much loyalty, now had expressions shifting unpredictably.
If Hammer Industries truly managed to develop Iron Man suits and became the military's new partner, it would skyrocket.
Employee benefits and salaries would definitely rise along with the company.
Of course...
That all depended on whether they could survive this shake-up and remain at the company without being eliminated.
Faced with the various surprised and excited looks around him, Jiang Feng knew exactly what they were thinking but didn't care.
"So, Mr. Hammer, does this meet your expectations? If I'm given sufficient funding, I'm confident I can build you a complete Iron Man suit."
At this moment.
Hammer's expression had completely changed.
His earlier anger and dissatisfaction had completely vanished, replaced by uncontrollable excitement.
A smile spread across his face, and admiration filled his eyes.
"No problem at all. There will be no shortage of funding. For a talent like you, Hammer Industries will allocate resources heavily in your favor."
Hammer adjusted his glasses and looked Jiang Feng up and down once more.
Such a rare talent had to be held onto tightly.
Hammer immediately spoke, clearly ready to promote and reward him.
"Young man, how about we talk in my office? It's fairly spacious."
Hearing this, Jiang Feng nodded to himself.
He knew his actions had successfully earned Hammer's recognition.
The plan had succeeded.
Jiang Feng smiled. "I believe we have much to discuss moving forward."
He then left with Hammer, leaving behind a group of minor employees.
Once the three of them were gone, the previously silent crowd began to stir, erupting in chatter and noise.
"Who exactly is that guy? Jiang Feng? What school did he graduate from?"
"No idea, never heard of him. Maybe he's an immigrant from Huaxia. There are plenty of Chinese scientists."
"This isn't good. Asians are notorious for being hyper-competitive. That guy's a standout—will we even get a chance to shine now?"
Many of them instinctively felt a crisis—like their resources were being stolen away.
Just one look at that exoskeleton arm made everything clear.
None of them were even close to being on Jiang Feng's level in terms of research and development—he had left them all in the dust.
These days...
Even Indian techies were making it into executive roles at American companies.
There was no reason for Hammer to discriminate against Jiang Feng because of his race or nationality.
If nothing unexpected happened...
This newcomer, who had appeared out of nowhere, would soon become one of Hammer's top people.
He would soar to the top and gain a powerful position.
The very same people who had just looked down on Jiang Feng were now already wondering if they should prepare a gift and try to curry favor with him.
They all worked at the same company anyway.
No matter how powerful Jiang Feng was, he couldn't do everything alone. Aligning with someone who would soon hold real power seemed like a smart move.
"I believe in you, young man. Trust in the strength of Hammer Industries, and you will rise to greatness."
"Together, we will defeat Tony Stark."
Hammer spoke with complete confidence.
When Jiang Feng was first hired, Hammer still had some doubts about his abilities.
But after witnessing the exoskeleton arm's performance firsthand, all his doubts vanished—he now had full faith in Jiang Feng.
Now, Hammer was ready to allocate a vast amount of resources to him.
As long as he could bring Tony down.
"I believe that day will come soon, Mr. Hammer."
Jiang Feng smiled as well, nodding in agreement with Hammer's words.
All he wanted was access to the company's resources.
Of course...
If there was truly a chance to crush Iron Man underfoot, Jiang Feng thought it might be a rather interesting experience too.
A moment later, their conversation ended.
Having secured Hammer's promise of resource access, Jiang Feng excused himself, saying he still needed to refine the power source tech before he could build a real Iron Man suit.
He left the office.
Watching Jiang Feng's departing figure, Hammer couldn't help but sigh emotionally.
"I didn't expect a true talent to just pop up like this. Looks like Lady Luck is on my side."
"Hahaha! I can already smell her perfume. In this arms race, everyone else is just a bunch of losers!"
Hammer Industries had once been nothing special.
Though it looked like a large company, it lacked truly cutting-edge products and couldn't handle major events.
Hammer had desperately courted the military, but they only wanted to cozy up to Stark Industries, which drove Hammer crazy.
If Tony hadn't stuck to his word...
And truly ended all military partnerships after returning from Afghanistan...
Then Hammer Industries would have stayed in the backup position forever—completely stuck.
Fortunately, the tides had turned.
Just as Stark Industries withdrew, Hammer found a gem in Jiang Feng.
To defeat that playboy Tony and knock him off his pedestal—taking his place as the new leader of the arms industry...
Hammer had already made up his mind to pour enormous resources and funding into Jiang Feng.
Even if Jiang Feng might not be as good as Tony...
Hammer would throw money at the problem if he had to, and forge a golden-plated armor set that could rival Iron Man's—to crush him completely.
"Just wait, Tony. I'll show you who has the last laugh."
"Perfect. Now I can use Hammer's resources to quickly farm experience."
Under the curious stares of his coworkers...
Jiang Feng temporarily returned to his personal workspace, quietly relieved.
Everything had gone exactly as expected.
He had revealed just a glimpse of his strength, pulling out a casually made exoskeleton arm—and successfully gained Hammer's favor.
Hammer had agreed to give Jiang Feng a better workshop, promote his position, and appoint him Head of Weapons Development—giving him control over numerous resources.
In all of Hammer Industries...
That position was second only to the top—above all others.
"I'll start by drafting the armor blueprints, slow down the forging process, and hand in results bit by bit."
Even though he could realistically finish everything in three days, slowing it down would make it easier to skim resources later.
After achieving initial success, Jiang Feng didn't relax.
Right after...
He got back to work. This time, he was even more focused than when he made the exoskeleton arm.
Aside from the suit he promised Hammer...
Jiang Feng also planned to use the company's resources to make something for himself.
He even wanted to make several sets of armor, trying to trigger his "Forging Genius" trait—to get an upgraded Iron Man suit.
The third trait of the Mechanic class...
Gave Jiang Feng a 10% chance of upgrading item quality, and a 1% chance to exceed the item's limits.
Naturally, he wasn't content with ordinary armor.
Even if he didn't get the rare 1% limit-breaking version, he still wanted at least one 10% upgraded version.
This would definitely consume a massive amount of resources—after all, building Iron Man-level tech in the current era was incredibly expensive.
Fortunately, with Hammer footing the bill, Jiang Feng believed things would go smoothly.
"Master, I've accessed Hammer Industries' system. I can now control all the computational power of their network."
While Jiang Feng worked...
A clear, ethereal voice rang out—not the system prompt, but the voice from his glasses.
The glasses looked ordinary, making Jiang Feng appear unremarkable.
But in truth...
They were anything but ordinary.
Inside was an AI Jiang Feng had brought from Night City—his most reliable assistant.
"How long would it take to breach the firewalls of military, S.H.I.E.L.D., and other such organizations, Linglong?"
Jiang Feng didn't pause in his work as he asked.
"Master, if we proceed slowly and infiltrate all organizations simultaneously, it would take about half a month."
"If we breach them one by one, we could get it done in a single day—excluding Hydra. But doing it that way would increase the risk of exposure later."
The AI named Linglong immediately replied.
After analyzing this world, she found that apart from Stark Industries and Hydra—both of which had their own AIs and were harder to deal with—
The firewalls of other factions were riddled with flaws, practically useless.
With a little effort, she could break through them all.