The gold-and-red humanoid armor appearing on the screen was none other than— —Tony Stark, who had only recently announced to the world that he was Iron Man.
Loren had absolutely not expected to run into Iron Man at a time like this.
This was turning out to be quite interesting.
“What is he doing out so late?
Alice, hack into his system covertly and see what he’s up to.” “Understood.
Hacking program running.
Initiating intrusion…” [Ding!
Intrusion successful.
Breached the target’s backend database.
Retrieving data…
Retrieval complete.
However, the target’s AI system, Jarvis, has detected my intrusion.] “He noticed so quickly?
As expected of Tony Stark.
The AI he built has some real capability!” Hearing Alice’s words, Loren wasn’t too surprised.
After all, Tony Stark was one of the big three in the Marvel universe, a top-tier technological genius.
His supreme intellect was far beyond what ordinary people could match.
As such, the Jarvis he built was naturally no ordinary product.
It was only normal that it could detect Alice’s intrusion in such a short amount of time.
However, in terms of computing power and advancement, the current Jarvis was no match for Alice.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been breached so easily.
Detecting her intrusion in a timely manner was already its peak performance.
“It has capability, but not much.
Before me, it is like a mere child.” Hearing Loren praise Tony Stark’s AI, Jarvis, Alice gave her evaluation rather dismissively, almost sounding a bit jealous.
One had to know that even the cybernetic brain Loren had built for 2B possessed the function to mimic human behavior.
Alice, whose computing power was several tiers higher than that cybernetic brain, naturally had no reason to lack such capability.
Of course, although Alice’s computing power far exceeded 2B’s, Loren had not embedded an emotional module in her just to be safe.
Thus, theoretically speaking, Alice would never develop self-awareness.
This allowed Loren to use her with peace of mind.
After all, it was never a good thing for an AI to develop self-awareness.
He had no desire to prematurely birth an Ultron.
Therefore, although Alice’s tone sounded like a human’s, it was actually just simulated by her programming.
“Their AI is still in its infancy.
It’s only normal that it’s not as capable as you.
Still, don’t underestimate Tony Stark’s intellect.
The man definitely has some tricks up his sleeve.” “Boss, is the Tony Stark you speak of really that impressive?
Is his technological level higher than yours?” “He’s certainly impressive.
But how he compares to me, I don’t know yet.
After all, we haven’t tested ourselves against each other.
Right now might be a good opportunity.” Loren smiled, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.
“By the way, have you found out what Tony Stark is doing?” “According to the retrieved data, the target seems to be doing the same thing we are—testing his Iron Man armor.” “Testing too?
What a coincidence.
This is the perfect chance to use him as a comparative benchmark!” Loren muttered to himself.
Then, as if thinking of something, a mischievous smile played on his lips.
[Warning: The target is attempting a counter-intrusion…] Just then, Alice issued a warning.
Hearing this, Loren merely smiled.
“With Jarvis’s current computing power, trying to hack us is nothing short of a pipe dream.
Alice, teach him a lesson!
Let him see what a true artificial intelligence is.” “Understood!” Having received Loren’s order, Alice immediately launched a much more aggressive cyberattack.
On the other side, Tony Stark was staring at his screen with a grim expression.
The radar on his screen showed a blip rapidly approaching him.
Its speed was actually faster than his own.
Yet that wasn’t even the most terrifying part.
The truly terrifying thing was that the opponent had actually hacked into his system in the blink of an eye moments ago, and effortlessly retrieved a file from his database.
By the time Jarvis detected it, the intruder had already departed without a trace.
Such hacking skills were simply mind-boggling!
He was Tony Stark, after all—a man who considered himself the most brilliant technological genius of this century.
Before this, he had absolute, unparalleled confidence in the AI he had built, Jarvis.
He could easily have Jarvis hack into the Pentagon while leaving them utterly helpless.
Yet now, an entity as powerful as Jarvis had its firewall easily breached.
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.
This was a resounding slap to his face in the field he excelled at most!
Proud as he was, how could he possibly accept such an outcome?
Consequently, he immediately ordered Jarvis to launch a counterattack to reclaim his honor.
“Jarvis, have you breached their firewall yet?” Tony Stark asked with some urgency.
“Report, Mr.
Stark.
Not yet.
The opponent’s defensive mechanisms are far beyond expectation.
I have yet to find any vulnerabilities.
Still attempting…” “…” Tony Stark was speechless.
“Are you kidding me?
How long has it been, and you still haven’t found a single vulnerability?
Forget it.
Use a brute-force attack.” “That will not succeed either.
The opponent’s computing capacity exceeds mine.
I cannot outcompute it.” “What?!
How is that possible?!” [Warning, warning: Counter-intrusion detected.
My firewall has failed.
The opponent is forcing a shutdown…] “What the fuck?
Jarvis?
Jarvis?!” In that split second, Jarvis’s voice suddenly cut out.
He had clearly been forcibly shut down by Loren’s Alice.
Tony Stark had never in his wildest dreams expected things to unfold this way.
The AI he had built himself, Jarvis, had actually been forcibly shut down by someone!
To him, this was no different from seeing a ghost in broad daylight.
“Damn it, who on earth is this?” Tony Stark’s expression was grim.
This was the first time he had ever encountered an entity that surpassed him in the field of technology.
It felt as though his entire world was crashing down.
However, Tony Stark was no ordinary man.
Especially after his kidnapping experience, his character had become far more mature and steady.
Thus, in just a brief moment, he regained his composure.
[Beep, beep, beep.
Unidentified flying object rapidly approaching.
Distance: 10 kilometers, 5 kilometers, 3 kilometers…] At that moment, the built-in operating system of the Iron Man armor immediately sounded an alarm.
Hearing this alarm, Tony Stark’s face grew even more solemn.
But he didn’t just sit and wait for death.
While initiating a reboot of Jarvis, he manually controlled the Iron Man armor, pushing its output to the absolute maximum.
In an instant, his flight speed broke Mach 1.
Immediately, a sonic boom cloud materialized behind him, looking incredibly cool!
Yet his speed did not plateau at Mach 1; it continued to climb.
In just a matter of seconds, his speed broke through once more, reaching Mach 2.
As his speed climbed rapidly, the blip that had been on the verge of catching up with him vanished from the radar screen.
Seeing this, a look of pride couldn’t help but appear on his face.
“If you want to catch up to me, you’re still too green!” Tony Stark sneered, truly believing he had managed to lose the Batwing.
But right at that moment, an even more urgent alarm blared in his ears.
[Warning!
Warning!
Unidentified flying object detected directly above.
Distance to target: 20 meters!] “What?!” Hearing this alarm, Tony went completely numb.
He looked up, only to see a pitch-black, bat-shaped jet hovering silently directly above him.
At the same time, the blip reappeared on his radar.
“How…
How is this possible?!”