Long Island, New York is a large island located in Southeast New York, favored by the wealthy for its long beaches and high forest coverage. Many wealthy communities are situated here, though most are quite old. The famous Iron Man Tony Stark was born here.
The old mansion of the Stark household is located in the north of Long Island, a typical affluent area. The Hamptons District is a world-renowned gold community, where countless celebrities and wealthy individuals host parties. The Starks were once part of this circle. However, since Old Stark passed away, Little Stark rarely returns here.
"I seldom co back here." Stark’s hair fluttered slightly in the afternoon breeze as he turned the steering wheel, driving into the community, observing the streets that seed familiar yet sowhat alien.
"I can understand you," Dr. Banner nodded, "After my parents passed away, I rarely went back ho as well. Every ti I did, I would rember those bits and pieces of life with them. I can’t say I’m not saddened by it."
"Partly for that reason," Stark nodded. From the back seat, Dr. Ethan asked, "So that ans it’s not entirely this, what’s stopping you from coming back?"
"This place is not welcoming to the Starks," Stark replied. "Not only do I not co back, but I also won’t bring Pepper and Little Morgan here."
Peter and Dr. Ethan exchanged a puzzled look. Dr. Banner directly asked, "Why is this place not welcoming to you?"
"It’s not that they don’t welco , but rather they don’t welco the forr Starks," Stark smirked, seemingly unwilling to say more. The car drove further into the community, eventually stopping in front of a noticeably decayed house on the community’s edge.
Stark’s hand paused montarily on the car door. Just as Peter was about to speak, Stark abruptly pushed the door open and stepped out. Peter quickly got out as well, walked to the other side of the car, and said, "If you don’t want to go, we can leave. Tony, don’t force yourself."
"What do you think I am thinking? Feeling sad about this? Not at all," Stark sighed, "You’ll soon find out."
Everyone got out of the car, with Stark leading them into the old mansion. The scenery inside was even more desolate.
Although it’s winter now, Long Island’s temperature is more temperate than most parts of New York, generally not falling below minus 5℃ in winter. It’s dayti now, and the temperature remains around 10℃.
Since New York is not as warm as the West Coast, the seasons are reasonably distinct, so most affluent estates consider temperature variations when designing gardens, planting suitable plants for different seasons, ensuring there’s scenery to admire year-round. Even in winter, there are many evergreen trees, and even holly bushes. Although the garden isn’t as lush as in spring or sumr, it’s still verdant.
On their drive here, every household was like this. Although the tone of the evergreen trees is cooler, almost every household lays down fake grass before winter, making it look acceptable.
But the old mansion of the Stark household didn’t seem to consider this. The lawn is bare, displaying a muddy color, and all the trees are just bare branches, with shrubs twisted all over. The climbers on the walls are wilting beyond recognition.
It’s hard to imagine a billionaire’s old mansion being like this, likely neglected for several years. It’s not even that no one was hired for maintenance; there hasn’t even been basic cleaning, which is simply unbelievable.
Walking into the front hall, dust covered everything, and Ethan couldn’t help but cough twice. Stark turned to look at him and said, "Sorry, this hasn’t been cleaned for a long ti."
Ethan seed slightly worried, saying, "I don’t believe you don’t even have the ti to call a butler to tidy up. What makes you so repelled by this place?"
"This place is not welcoming to the Starks," Stark reiterated, "All the beautiful mories I have here weren’t created by this community or this house, but by my family and friends."
Peter seed to realize sothing, but just as he was about to speak, he suddenly looked outside and said, "Soone’s coming."
"Hey, is anyone inside?!" Suddenly, a flashlight beam ca over, montarily dazzling Peter’s eyes, causing him to squint in discomfort. He couldn’t help but complain, "Daylight, and they’re using flashlights?"
Upon getting closer, they realized several people were in police uniforms, coming assertively. Flashing a light in soone’s eyes was obviously intentional. But when they burst in and saw Tony Stark standing in the center, they suddenly went silent as if their throats were constricted.
"What are you doing?" Dr. Banner was the first to express dissatisfaction. Aside from The Hulk, he is not a person with a great temper, to be precise, he has a sowhat upright nature, intolerant of those who are bullying.
These few police officers flashed lights in people’s eyes and barged into soone’s house so brazenly, which is a very rude and offensive act. Their silence upon realizing Stark’s presence made Dr. Banner even more displeased.
All present understood what was happening. These police officers probably saw a car driving here, thinking it was people sent by Stark, but hadn’t expected Stark himself to co.
It’s also possible that Stark didn’t drive his own luxury car but was using Dr. Ethan’s commuting car. As Dr. Ethan works for Stark Group, his car is a company-issued vehicle, looking as though it was a few Stark Group employees visiting.
"Sorry, Mr. Stark, we didn’t know it was you..."
Stark’s expression was one of annoyance, even unmistakably so. Though Stark is quite proud, he isn’t a person lacking basic manners. Though his words often infuriate people, he does have fundantal courtesy.
But now his expression could be considered extrely rude, the kind of disgust couldn’t be concealed. He opened his mouth, and Peter could imagine what he was going to say, so Peter quickly said before him:
"What are you breaking in here for?!"
"Oh, Mr. Parker." The police also recognized Peter, and now Peter is regarded as a world-renowned scientist. Then imdiately following were Banner and Ethan. The two of them were actually not too famous, but had a heavy scholarly air, which made it clear they were not simple characters.
"Sorry, sorry, we’ll leave right now." The police were about to slip away with their tails between their legs. Of course, these few would not let them go easily.
"Wait, don’t leave." Ethan stopped them. Don’t forget he has been to the battlefield. If the other party doesn’t make sense, he knows a bit of physics, and if the other party doesn’t understand physics, then he has the truth. Ethan was carrying a gun.
The police had no choice but to stop. Ethan walked to their side, seemingly as a casual move, but actually blocking their retreat route. He asked, "What are you here for?"
"Well... this is a gated community." The police explained, "With outside vehicles, we need to conduct inspections."
Actually, if they had just stood outside and shouted, this reason could have been accepted. None of this group intended to trouble ordinary enforcers. But the problem was these police not only dazzled people with strong flashlights but also directly broke into the house.
Although the Castle Doctrine in New York State is virtually obsolete and doesn’t support any form of ard self-defense killing, the police union is powerful and relatively tough. But don’t forget, this is a rich people’s district among rich people’s districts. To mix in here, the police are all sharp wits, how could they be so careless? Don’t they fear offending people?
Or could it be that this ti so Stark Group employees ca, so they can act like this? Aren’t they worried about offending Stark?
"Don’t ask anymore." Stark waved his hand and said, "Let them go."
Banner still wanted to say sothing, but Peter stopped him. Finally, the few police ran away dejectedly, and the group all turned to look at Stark.
"Do you know the history of the Stark family?"
The group looked at each other; they really didn’t know. Peter thought for a while and said, "I heard your father, Old Stark, founded Stark Industries. Did he start from scratch?"
Stark shook his head and said, "My grandfather was a railroad tycoon. During the most glorious period of the Stark family, we built almost all the railroads on the East Coast. Although most are now abandoned, it indeed brought considerable wealth."
"My father inherited all these and founded Stark Industries together with my grandfather. He’s a genius and a master at managent. Under his leadership, Stark Industries gradually developed into a giant capable of influencing world affairs. But this doesn’t an we’re welcod by the upper class."
The sudden twist left the group stunned. Besides Stark, the remaining people’s backgrounds were not great, barely civilians, not even reaching middle class, so this logic seed very illogical to them.
"I don’t understand." Dr. Banner was the first to ask, "When you were vigorously developing railroads in Arica, you were already famous wealthy individuals, and your industrial group was thriving, you have technology, industry, and then you say you’re not welcod by the upper class?"
Stark nodded and said, "New York is the domain of the Jewish consortium. They didn’t steal this city and the entire country overnight. Stark was the most difficult opponent they encountered."
The group was sowhat speechless, clearly, this was beyond their knowledge scope. Peter seed to have so impression because Doctor Schiller had ntioned sothing about this, but since he wasn’t interested, it went in one ear and out the other, not rembering much.
"To you, finance and industry should complent each other. Without industry, finance is just foam. But in reality, so people are keen on creating foam, even more keen on destroying all industry to make room for the foam. This is a long, drawn-out battle."
With such words, the group sowhat understood. Because whether it was Stark’s grandfather or father, they were all focused on real industry. Without even ntioning the king of industries, the railroad, Stark Industries initially produced cars and later military weapons; these projects are industrial kings, requiring a complete industrial base.
And clearly, in the latter half of the 20th century, Arica gradually transford from an industrial nation to a financial nation. Various industries declined, with many industrial cities, like Detroit, began to go bankrupt. Various industrialists had no choice but to enter the financial wave, starting to embrace the foam proactively.
But the Stark family is an exception. They always insisted on industry as the foundation, dedicated to basic industry, maintaining the production line, steadfast for three generations, without wavering.
This is actually a very, very difficult thing, even can be said to be rare. Because even if the first two generations could recognize the importance of industry, Little Stark, born and raised in the latter half, is too easily influenced by the rapidly expanding financial bubble.
Spending the sa money on the production line might not yield results for years, but investing in the stock market could double overnight, few can resist such temptation.
But coincidentally, Howard Stark resisted it, and Tony Stark resisted it too. In the midst of one financial wave after another, the Stark family was like a nail, always firmly pinned in the industrial heart of New York, remaining unmoved.
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