A wave of excruciating pain shot through his entire body, jolting Ethan awake.
The first thing he saw was the interior of a dilapidated cave.
His body was covered in bandages, and he was clearly badly injured.
“You’re incredibly lucky.
You took eight bullets, and not one of them hit a vital organ.
One of them missed your heart by just two centimeters.” A somewhat weathered middle-aged man’s voice came from nearby.
He was speaking English.
Yet, strangely enough, Ethan discovered that he could understand every word.
Ethan weakly opened his mouth.
“Where…
am I?” A balding man with glasses and a graying beard looked at him with pity.
“Where else?
The mountains of Afghanistan.” Ethan froze.
He had just been a struggling webnovel author.
All he’d done was get drunk.
How had he gone to sleep and woken up in a place like this?
The constant pain from his wounds reminded him that this was no dream.
It seemed he had transmigrated.
A moment later, unfamiliar and chaotic memories suddenly flooded into his mind.
They belonged to the original owner of this body.
Same name?
Same age?
Wait…
This wasn’t simply someone who happened to share his name.
It was him—or rather, a version of himself from a parallel world.
The original Ethan was the same age as him and worked as an outsourced PMC for Blackwater International.
He had accepted a job in Afghanistan escorting an important VIP and several military observers.
Then their convoy had been attacked by Atala militants…
PMC.
A private military contractor.
Put simply, a legally employed mercenary.
So not only had he somehow become a mercenary…
He had also been captured?
After sorting through the memories in his head, Ethan felt completely numb.
The United States had caused enough chaos in smaller countries that American military personnel who fell into the hands of anti-American militant groups rarely met a pleasant end.
And Ethan wasn’t even regular military personnel.
He was a PMC.
If these militants decided to kill him, he couldn’t exactly expect anyone to rush in and save him.
Worse still, he had fallen into the hands of the Atala militants.
He had transmigrated straight into what looked like a dead end.
Just then, Ethan heard rustling nearby.
A moment later, it turned into a fit of coughing.
He turned his head.
There, he saw a handsome man with a familiar-looking mustache.
Unfortunately, the man wasn’t looking particularly glamorous at the moment.
A medical tube ran beneath his nose, while several wires extended from his chest to what appeared to be a car battery.
Ethan stared at the newly awakened man.
The man stared back.
Then the mustached man tried to sit up, only to tug on the wires connected to the battery.
The bespectacled middle-aged man glanced at him.
“I wouldn’t do that.” Only then did the man notice the battery and the wires disappearing beneath the bandages around his chest.
Alarm flashed across his face.
He tore the bandages aside and stared at the device embedded in his chest.
Ethan’s eyes widened.
He swallowed hard.
“Iron Man?” Tony Stark turned toward him, apparently not understanding what he’d just heard.
“What?” “Mr.
Tony Stark?” Tony looked at Ethan.
More precisely, he looked at Ethan’s clothes.
Recognition immediately dawned on him.
“You were captured too?” Tony asked before turning toward the other man.
“What did he do to me?” “What did I do to you?” the man replied.
“I saved your life.” Ethan watched their exchange in stunned silence.
Everything suddenly felt surreal.
Of all the places he could have transmigrated to, he had ended up in the Marvel universe.
And not just anywhere in Marvel.
This was Iron Man.
The important person he had been assigned to escort was actually Tony Stark!
Yet the realization only made Ethan feel even more hopeless.
He was a PMC who had fallen into the hands of terrorists.
The U.S.
military wasn’t going to prioritize rescuing an expendable contractor like him.
And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, he had been captured alongside Tony Stark.
An ordinary PMC like him had no real value.
But he knew about Tony Stark’s whereabouts.
That alone was enough reason for the militants to silence him.
He was screwed.
By the time Ethan finished processing everything, Tony Stark had already finished talking to the doctor, whose name was Yinsen, and learned about his current situation.
Then— BANG!
The metal door was violently kicked open.
Voices speaking an Afghan language came from outside.
Yinsen immediately became nervous.
He lowered his voice and hurriedly told Tony and Ethan, “Get up.
Quickly.
Do what I do.
Put your hands up!” Ethan followed Yinsen’s example and raised his hands.
Several armed militants entered the cave.
Tony, somehow still looking remarkably calm, stared at the weapons in their hands.
“Those are my guns.
How did they get my guns?” The corner of Ethan’s mouth twitched.
As expected of Iron Man.
If an ordinary person acted this casually in front of a group of armed terrorists, they probably would’ve been shot already.
Unfortunately, the bearded militant leading the group suddenly glanced toward Ethan.
He barked several orders.
Two militants immediately walked over, grabbed Ethan by the shoulders, and dragged him toward the door.
Tony tried to stop them.
“Hey!
What are you doing?” Ethan could only look back with an expression that was equal parts innocent and miserable.
He didn’t even dare say anything.
If he irritated the bearded man, an insignificant nobody like him could easily end up with a bullet in his head.
Was he seriously going to die right after transmigrating?
At that exact moment, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded inside his mind.
[Ding!
Suitable host detected.
Foundation System binding initiated.] [The host can fabricate anomalies to accumulate Rumor Points.] [Once the host accumulates sufficient Rumor Points, anomalies can be summoned from the anomaly universe.] [After being summoned, anomalies will initially exist in an uncontained state.
The host must successfully contain them to obtain rewards.] [Current Rumor Points: 0.] [An anomaly may be summoned after accumulating 1,000 Rumor Points.] Anomalies?
Ethan’s heart skipped a beat.
In his previous life, despite being a struggling webnovel author, he had learned quite a bit about anomalies.
He knew exactly how terrifying some of those things could be.
If he had been given a choice, he would’ve gladly exchanged this system for almost anything else.
Unfortunately…
He didn’t have a choice.
If he didn’t fabricate an anomaly, then judging from the two terrorists currently dragging him away—and the numerous armed Atala militants throughout the cave complex— Were they taking him to be executed?
Ethan immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, “I’m a federal agent!
I have intelligence!” One of the militants apparently understood English.
Hearing Ethan’s shout, he immediately ordered the two men dragging him to stop.
“An agent of Uncle Sam?” The militant stared at him.
“You have intelligence?”