So once his Rumor Points reached 1,000, he could summon an anomaly into existence?
But judging from the system’s description, the anomaly that appeared would be determined by both the story he had fabricated and the area connected to that rumor.
More importantly, whatever anomaly he summoned would appear in an uncontained state.
Ethan could only wish the militants good luck.
At this point, it was better for them to suffer than for him to die.
Who knew whether the anomaly that appeared would be harmless or catastrophically dangerous?
From what Ethan knew, the overwhelming majority of anomalies in the anomaly universe were dangerous.
Still, with only 1,000 Rumor Points, he probably wouldn’t summon anything belonging to the truly high-level category.
[Confirming anomaly summoning within the rumor-affected area.] [Ding!
Anomaly successfully summoned.] [Reward obtained: Foundation Agent Service Pistol.] Foundation Agent Service Pistol.
According to the information transmitted into his mind, this was a special anomaly originating from the world of Control and was an exclusive weapon assigned to high-ranking Foundation agents.
It was, in a sense, a living firearm.
The weapon could devour various forms of energy or metallic matter and convert them into ammunition.
As long as energy or metal was available, the pistol effectively possessed unlimited ammunition.
Even in open air—or within a vacuum—it could absorb free-floating energy and convert it into physical ammunition.
There was one important restriction.
It could not directly devour living beings.
However, whenever its agent used it to kill a living target, the weapon could absorb the target’s life energy and use that energy to strengthen itself.
After accumulating enough life energy, it would evolve and unlock additional forms.
[Would you like to claim the Foundation Agent Service Pistol?] Ethan looked at the prompt in his mind and immediately selected— No.
Was that even a question?
There was absolutely no way he could materialize a weapon like that in his current situation.
Wouldn’t that just amount to delivering free equipment to the Atala terrorists?
Ethan certainly didn’t believe that simply obtaining a special pistol would suddenly allow him to wipe out every militant in this base.
After all, in his previous life, he had only been a struggling webnovel author with absolutely no combat training.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark, who had been reflecting on his life, and the kindhearted Dr.
Yinsen both stared in astonishment when Ethan was escorted back into the cave.
During the time Ethan had been taken away, the playboy billionaire had suffered quite a bit himself.
After enduring repeated waterboarding, Tony had ultimately been forced to outwardly agree to manufacture a Jericho missile for the Atala militants.
Tony might have been a notorious playboy with a mouth that rarely knew when to stop, but anyone familiar with the movies knew that beneath all of that, he was someone who deeply valued the people he cared about.
Put simply, Tony Stark was the kind of man who would genuinely put himself on the line once he accepted someone as a friend.
In the first Iron Man movie, Dr.
Yinsen had sacrificed his own life to save Tony.
Although Yinsen died, his sacrifice ended up influencing Tony for the rest of his life.
And now, in a sense, Ethan was also one of the people who had saved Tony.
No matter how one looked at it, Ethan had been captured because he had been part of the team protecting him.
Nearly all of the American soldiers and other PMC personnel who had accompanied them were already dead.
For a playboy who had never truly experienced anything like this before, seeing someone talking to him one moment and lying dead the next had been an enormous psychological shock.
Then Tony himself had been wounded by a Jericho missile.
After everything that had happened, Tony had begun to deeply despise the title he once wore so casually— A weapons manufacturer.
A merchant of death.
Because of that, when Ethan had been dragged away earlier, Yinsen had explained that his chances of surviving were extremely low.
That only pushed Tony deeper into guilt.
So when Ethan unexpectedly returned alive and apparently unharmed…
The usually eloquent playboy was so relieved that he practically stumbled over his own words.
“Oh my God, man!
Weren’t they taking you out to…” Tony stopped himself.
“Uh, I mean, I thought you were dead.
Thank God!
You’re alive.” Seeing Ethan alive again almost made Tony feel as though a small part of himself had been saved as well.
Ethan, of course, had no idea what kind of emotional turmoil Tony had gone through while he was gone.
He merely stared in surprise at the visibly overjoyed Tony and at Yinsen, who was clearly breathing a sigh of relief beside him.
But after seeing their expressions, Ethan—who knew the movie’s plot well—roughly understood what they were thinking.
An idea immediately came to him.
“I thought I was dead too.” He paused.
“But because I’m a Foundation agent, they didn’t kill me.” Tony’s eyes immediately lit up.
Curiosity and excitement replaced some of his earlier tension.
“A Foundation agent?” “You mean you’re some kind of federal secret agent?
Like James Bond?” Ethan carefully explained, “Not exactly.” “I don’t work for the federal government.
Strictly speaking, the Foundation and the federal government have a cooperative relationship.” At that point, Ethan sighed.
His expression became visibly dejected, as though he had finally resigned himself to revealing a deeply guarded secret.
“There’s no point hiding it anymore.” “Aside from taking part in your escort mission, I was also heading toward Bagram Air Base to investigate reports concerning an anomaly.” “I just didn’t expect all of this to happen first.” Yinsen looked puzzled.
“An anomaly?” “What is that?” Ethan paused before explaining what he had already fabricated about anomalies and the Foundation.
By the time he finished, both Tony and Yinsen were still visibly stunned.
Ethan shook his head and deliberately allowed his expression to become grim.
“The reason I’m telling you about anomalies is because the one involved in this incident could cause catastrophic damage.” “If it isn’t investigated and reported in time, there could be heavy casualties.” “It could even affect us.” “After all, this entire mountain region is relatively close to Bagram Air Base.” Ethan lowered his voice.
“I was forced to tell those terrorists about the anomaly.” “Even though it’s dangerous, I had no choice but to use them to conduct the investigation in my place.” “If an anomaly incident is allowed to spiral out of control, the consequences could be comparable to a nuclear accident or a large-scale natural disaster.” “We could all die because of it.” He paused before adding, “I’m hoping that whatever anomalous activity occurs will attract the Foundation’s attention.” “If we’re lucky, they’ll deal with the anomaly…” “…and rescue us while they’re here.” Perhaps because of their cultural outlook, neither Tony nor Yinsen blamed Ethan for revealing information under such circumstances.
Instead, they immediately tried to reassure him.
“It’s not your fault, my friend.” “When you’re dealing with terrorists like these, staying alive comes first.” At that moment, another system notification appeared in Ethan’s mind.
[Ding!
You have informed Tony Stark and Dr.
Yinsen about anomalies.] [Tony Stark and Dr.
Yinsen now believe in the existence of the Foundation and anomalies.] [Rumor Points obtained: 1,000.] Ethan was stunned.
As expected of one of the protagonists of the Marvel universe.
Just convincing these two had earned him another 1,000 Rumor Points?