Jarvis’s words struck like a thunderbolt, leaving Tony Stark utterly dumbfounded, wondering if he had misheard.
“What did you say?
What was their flight speed?” “The last detected flight speed was Mach 4.3.
However, this is likely not its limit.
Based on the acceleration rate, it is capable of going even faster.” “What the fuck, Mach 4.3!
That is pushing the boundary of hypersonic flight.
How could a human possibly withstand that kind of G-force?
Is it an unmanned aircraft?” “No, sir.
Based on the scan just now, there is a humanoid heat signature inside.
It is definitely manned.” “Manned?!
Just how strong would someone have to be to survive that?
Is that guy a fucking monster?
Dammit, when the hell did our world get another freak like this?
Unbelievable!” “Mr.
Stark, now is not the time to ponder this.
The Iron Man armor has been flying under overload conditions for too long, and its structural stability is rapidly declining.
Furthermore, the Arc Reactor’s power is down to less than ten percent.
You must decelerate and descend immediately.
Otherwise, there is a risk of disintegration or stalling, either of which would threaten your life.” Hearing Jarvis’s warning, Tony did not try to save face and push through this time.
After all, in this technological duel against Loren, he had lost.
And it wasn’t just a regular loss—he had been utterly crushed.
It was a massive blow to his ego, but he was not one to give up easily.
This setback would only drive him to work harder on upgrading the performance of his Iron Man armor.
Secretly, he vowed that he would find Loren and surpass him the next time they crossed paths!
With that in mind, he immediately ordered Jarvis to decelerate and lower their altitude.
But just then, a frantic, high-priority warning blared in his ears.
“Warning!
Warning!
High-frequency vibrations have caused the shoulder joints to loosen.
The left arm of the armor has begun to disintegrate!” “Fuck!
Shut down the thrusters immediately!
Reduce flight speed to the absolute minimum!” The moment Jarvis issued the warning, Tony watched in horror as the left arm of his Iron Man armor broke completely free.
Instantly, a biting, bone-chilling cold swept over his left arm.
He was currently at an altitude of 25,000 meters.
At this height, the air was extremely thin, and the temperature hovered around minus fifty degrees Celsius.
Without proper insulation, severe frostbite would set in within minutes.
“The thrusters have been shut down!
However, due to gravitational acceleration, the armor’s speed cannot be brought down to a safe range immediately.
Disintegration is still in progress.
Mr.
Stark, please prepare yourself mentally.
If the propulsion system suffers further damage, you will be leaving this world via free fall.” “…” “Jarvis, this is when you should be thinking of how to save me, not detailing how I’m going to die.” “Mr.
Stark, I do not mean to frighten you, but under these conditions and without external assistance, your survival probability is only ten percent.” “Yeah, yeah, shut your jinx of a mouth!” “If there’s still ten percent, then I’ll bet on that ten percent!
Restart the thrusters immediately and initiate reverse thrust!” “Warning.
Warning.
The thrusters have iced over due to the extreme low-temperature environment.
Unable to restart at this time.” “What?!” “Mr.
Stark, I regret to inform you that your survival probability has dropped to five percent.” “…” Hearing his AI system continuously ticking down his chances of survival, Tony Stark nearly laughed out of sheer frustration.
He had always taken immense pride in Jarvis, boasting that he had created the most advanced artificial intelligence on Earth, but now he just wanted to slap himself.
What kind of artificial intelligence was this?
It was more like artificial idiocy!
At a life-or-death moment like this, it was actually reading out his survival rates.
Even if he didn’t plunge to his death, he was going to get scared to death by this thing!
“Shut up!
Shut your mouth and restart the thrusters!” “Severe icing detected on the thrusters.
Unable to start at this time.” “Fuck!!!” Hearing Jarvis say the thrusters were frozen solid, Tony truly felt his hope wither away.
If he fell from this height, he would be reduced to a pile of mush upon impact.
To say he wasn’t terrified would be an absolute lie.
“Warning!
Warning!
Your current altitude is 18,000 meters.
You are falling rapidly at a speed of 330 meters per second.
Calculations indicate you will impact the ground in fifty-four seconds!
Please attempt to manually restart the thrusters immediately!
Please attempt to manually restart the thrusters immediately!” Hearing Jarvis’s instruction to try a manual override, Tony Stark didn’t hesitate.
He immediately used his remaining armored right arm to strike the propulsion thrusters on his boots, trying to force the power system to reboot.
However, after over ten seconds of desperate effort, he still met with no success.
Instead, the frantic movements drained a massive amount of his physical strength, making his situation even more dire.
His left arm, exposed to the sub-zero temperatures for too long, was already suffering from severe frostbite.
Now, with his stamina completely depleted, things had truly gone from bad to worse.
Staring down his impending doom, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of despair.
But just then, a dark figure descended from the heavens, firmly catching him by the arm.
Startled, Tony instinctively looked up.
The figure hovering above him was wrapped in a suit of sleek, black mechanical armor.
He couldn’t even be sure if the entity was human, so he could only think of it as a humanoid figure.
The mechanical armor worn by this figure was pitch-black, adorned with glowing, pale-yellow accents that gave it an incredibly sleek and futuristic appearance.
Moreover, emblazoned across the chest was a glowing yellow bat emblem.
Seeing this bat symbol, Tony froze for a second, a realization suddenly dawning on him.
He immediately cast his eyes further up into the high-altitude sky.
Just as he expected, there it was—the Batwing, which had previously left him miles behind in the dust.
Yes, the person who had suddenly swooped in to save Tony Stark was none other than Loren, clad in his Batsuit.
After easily catching Tony Stark, Loren wasted no time.
He quickly melted the layer of ice covering the Iron Man armor.
With the ice thawed, Tony Stark immediately initiated a reboot sequence.
This time, he succeeded.
As his propulsion system roared back to life, Tony Stark’s terminal velocity dropped sharply.
Before long, he stabilized his descent and leveled out at an altitude of 5,000 meters.
“Who the hell are you?
Why did you save me?” The newly rescued Tony immediately asked, staring in confusion at Loren, who was hovering nearby.
Hearing this, Loren ignored him completely.
Instead, he transformed into a dark blur, soaring straight back up into the sky and quickly slipping back inside the Batwing.
Only after this was done did a synthesized electronic voice suddenly crackle to life inside Tony Stark’s helmet.
“Remember, you owe me a favor.
And it’s one you’ll have to pay back.
We will meet again.” “????”