But while Tony wasn't interested in the Symbiote, Ryan had no intention of letting him off the hook.
Ryan smiled and said, "The two of you stepped up to support me this time and invested a large amount of startup capital into Parker Industries, only to receive 10% of the shares each. This is clearly unfair to you..."
"So, let me give you a little something extra as my way of giving back."
Ryan first looked toward Kingpin:
"Wilson, I owe you a favor. I'll waive the fee for your next mission. As long as it doesn't cross my bottom line, you can even put out a hit on the President if you want!"
Hearing this, Kingpin immediately nodded with a smile. To him, this benefit was far better than being given money directly!
He was already thinking if there was a powerful enemy he had always wanted to deal with but found difficult to handle... Seeing that Kingpin had no objection to this benefit, Ryan turned his gaze to Tony.
But before Ryan could even speak, Tony waved his hand and said:
"I don't need it. You already took out my enemies for me before, and I don't have anyone else I want to kill. Supporting you wasn't just because of our friendship, but also because your Parker Industries is indeed worth my investment."
When Tony said this, the smile on Kingpin's face vanished.
Didn't these words make it seem like there was no friendship between him and Ryan, only business, and that he didn't have faith in Ryan's Parker Industries?
Kingpin gritted his teeth, just about to say he didn't need it either, but Ryan raised a hand to interrupt him first.
"Tony, I'm giving you a benefit; I'm not asking for your opinion. I'm informing you to accept it."
As he spoke, Ryan flicked his finger, launching the small Symbiote snake he had been playing with onto Tony's chest.
Before Tony could pull the small Symbiote snake off his chest, it had already burrowed into his clothes and merged into his skin.
Terrified, Tony pulled open his shirt, revealing the reactor on his chest, and felt around frantically, saying, "Holy shit! Ryan, where did that slimy thing go? It didn't crawl inside my body, did it???"
"Bingo!" Ryan snapped his fingers. Looking at the deep purple veins around the reactor on Tony's chest, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, Tony. It didn't go in to suck your blood; it went in to help you detox..."
Hearing this, Tony relaxed. Looking closely, he found that the deep purple veins caused by palladium poisoning were actually receding. At the same time, he felt his body gradually becoming lighter!
As Tony's expression became one of enjoyment, there was finally a 'clack' sound, and the arc reactor on his chest actually fell to the ground!
It was accompanied by several bloody shrapnel pieces!
Clearly, the Symbiote had expelled the lethal shrapnel near Tony's heart and even repaired the large hole in his chest where the arc reactor had been installed!
Feeling his smooth chest and the sense of health as the dull ache near his heart vanished, Tony was stunned for a moment.
To be honest, he had known about his palladium poisoning for a while.
He also knew that palladium poisoning was incurable with current medical technology, so he had even prepared to write his will.
He planned to divide Stark Industries among his few friends after his death.
But who would have thought he would regain his health so easily!
This was equivalent to Ryan saving his life once again!
Tony looked up at Ryan with a complex expression: "How about I return that 10% of Parker Industries shares to you and give you another 10% in Stark Industries? Otherwise, I feel like I owe you another huge favor!"
Ryan's response was to raise a middle finger at Tony.
Ryan said indifferently, "You don't need to return my shares, nor do you need to give me more of your company's shares. Money used to be quite important to me because even if I had it, I couldn't make it grow; one day, it would run out."
"But now that my Parker Industries is established and the regeneration serum is on the market, I'm destined to never lack money even if I do nothing."
"So now, compared to money, I'm more in need of business favors. If you talk to me about money now, it'll really hurt our feelings—unless you don't consider me a friend anymore?"
Hearing this, Tony's sense of debt instantly vanished. He squinted and returned the middle finger to Ryan:
"Since you put it that way, what else is there to say? Give me a batch of your regeneration serum to drink like juice, and give me one of those Symbiote things to play with~"
Wants it all, doesn't he?
Ryan looked at the shameless Tony with disdain:
"Once the production line for the regeneration serum is up, you can just go to the warehouse and take as much as you want. But forget about the Symbiote. There are only two of these things in total—one is with me, and the other is with Harry. There aren't any extras for you to play with."
As he spoke, Ryan beckoned toward Tony. Riot instantly left Tony's body, returned to Ryan's hand, and merged back into his body.
Ryan then looked back at Kingpin: "Wilson, same for you. The next time I help you, it will be as a friend, not as a hire."
"Of course, we have always been friends. We were in the past, and we always will be in the future." Kingpin had a smile on his face, but he sighed inwardly.
Although he had long suspected that someone like Ryan would never be content being a Hired Assassin for life and would eventually create his own empire,
he hadn't expected this day to come so quickly and suddenly.
Ryan's phrase 'helping as a friend' was clearly telling him that in the future, he couldn't simply pay money to have Ryan solve his troubles.
Between friends, helping out is a matter of favors.
In the future, if he asked Ryan for help, it wouldn't be about paying money; it would be about owing a favor.
And at his level, a favor was much harder to repay than a debt of money!
In other words... the price of asking for Ryan's help had increased!
But at least Ryan hadn't chosen to wash his hands of the business entirely. He could still ask Ryan for help; even if the price had gone up, it was already very good.
With the matters regarding Tony and Kingpin settled, Ryan intended to leave. He set down his teacup and said bluntly:
"Alright, Parker Industries has just been established, and I have a lot of crap to deal with. You two shareholders can head back to your own homes and find your own mothers. I'm out."
Kingpin and Tony naturally had no objections. They had only come to make an appearance anyway. Although they were shareholders of Parker Industries, they had no intention of interfering in any of its affairs.
Therefore, the two of them also left quickly.
Ryan then took Harry back to Oscorp Tower—oh no, it should be called Parker Building now—to carry out drastic reforms within the company.
First, he kicked out all the cronies related to the previous Osborn directors. Since Harry had directly closed down Osborn Enterprises, Ryan didn't even have to pay contract termination fees.
However, Ryan still kept the rank-and-file employees of Osborn Enterprises who had no connections, as well as the researchers who had entered the company based on their own merits, at his Parker Industries.
After all, his Parker Industries was also a biopharmaceutical company, and these were ready-made veteran employees!
Furthermore, Ryan made reasonable job changes and promotions based on the individual abilities of those who remained.
Remove the dross and keep the essence; those with ability rise to the top!
For example, Max Dillon—Ryan promoted him directly from an ordinary grunt to the position of Security Supervisor of the Electrical Department.