Because it had been rushed out in a race against time, and the steel plates had been thickened for bulletproofing, Tony found the armor cumbersome to wear.
However, in this urgent situation, Tony didn’t care about how it felt.
Ethan grabbed a wrench and asked as he tightened a screw, “Alright, say it again.”
Tony began to repeat their planned route: “Walk 41 steps forward, reach the door, walk 16 steps…”
At that moment, the terrorist leader, seeing no sign of Tony on the monitors, noticed Ethan busy at a workbench.
The workbench’s back was to the camera, obscuring Ethan’s actions.
Sensing something was amiss, the leader immediately dispatched two men to investigate.
The two men arrived at the door of Tony and Ethan’s workshop.
They slid open the observation port and peered inside, but only saw Ethan busy at the workbench.
They then shouted questions in their native tongue.
Seeing that Ethan wasn’t responding, Tony looked even more anxious than the two gunmen outside.
“Say something! Answer him!”
“This is Hungarian, I don’t know—” Ethan’s expression grew even more frantic, but his hands never stopped moving.
“Then just say any Hungarian word!”
In his desperation, Ethan’s mind raced.
He blurted out the first word that came to him: “#&%…”
As it turned out, this particular Hungarian word—the meaning of which even Ethan had forgotten—instantly enraged the two terrorists outside.
One of them ripped the door open, triggering the homemade bomb Tony had rigged to the handle…
Boom!!!
The two terrorists were blasted backward by the explosion, killed instantly.
Though the two gunmen were dealt with, the iron door—their last line of defense—was now destroyed.
Other terrorists, seeing this on their monitors, were already rushing over in a fury.
Tony and Ethan were running out of time.
Ethan peeked out and saw the two charred corpses outside.
He shuddered.
“Activate the power system!” Tony urged.
Ethan immediately tossed the wrench aside and turned around.
Under Tony’s direction, he sweated profusely as he pounded the keyboard, entering commands.
A progress bar appeared on the computer screen, advancing slowly.
To activate the armor, it needed to be fully charged.
Watching the agonizingly slow charging bar, Tony grew increasingly anxious, muttering “Faster, faster, faster” under his breath.
But with the progress bar barely halfway, the terrorists were drawing closer.
Ethan glanced at the sluggish bar on the screen.
“There’s not enough time…” He gritted his teeth, turned to Tony, and said, “Hey, I’ll go buy you some time!”
With that, Ethan rushed out the door and grabbed the machine gun from one of the bodies.
“Stick to the plan!…” Tony cried out in alarm, trying to stop him.
The Iron Man armor hadn’t finished charging, leaving him immobilized.
Ethan ignored Tony’s warning, fired a few shots to draw the enemies’ attention, and then charged out without looking back.
“Ethan!!!” Tony roared, his eyes fixed on the progress bar, his heart racing with growing desperation…
***
Ethan ran like a madman, spraying his machine gun wildly at the ceiling.
The terrorists who had rushed to the sound of the gunfire turned and fled in disarray.
Without a second thought, Ethan pursued them relentlessly, chasing them all the way into the cave… only for the situation to take a sudden turn.
Finding himself facing a row of terrorists, all with their guns aimed squarely at him, Ethan’s heart sank.
It seemed he could only hold them off for so long…
Meanwhile, as the progress bar reached its end, a series of “beeps” sounded.
Tony stepped down from the platform in silence, having already donned the crude iron helmet.
They grew wary, cautiously approaching the now-dimly lit workshop.
The small-time leader shoved one of his men forward to scout.
The man scanned the room uneasily, but when a light flickered behind him, he spun around to face a towering figure in iron armor.
Startled, he didn’t even have time to raise his machine gun before the iron giant struck, sending him flying with a single, powerful punch!
The other terrorists, who hadn’t yet entered the room, were like startled birds, frantically pulling their triggers.
The “rat-tat-tat” of gunfire echoed incessantly.
A moment later, their magazines ran dry.
When the room fell silent, several henchmen relaxed their guard.
But as they turned, they saw their boss’s face contorted in shock, his eyes widening as if he were witnessing something utterly terrifying.
Realizing something was wrong, the henchmen spun around.
Before they could even see what was happening, they were sent flying one by one, knocked unconscious.
The only small-time leader left standing fired wildly at the steel giant before him, but the thick armor plating deflected the bullets.
The giant retaliated with a heavy punch, smashing him to the ground.
The terrorists at the end of the corridor continued their desperate assault, but it was all in vain.
The steel giant advanced steadily, completely unscathed, swatting aside the attackers who tried to swarm it.
Seeing their attacks were useless, the remaining terrorists instantly lost their will to fight and scattered in panic.
Tony, his footsteps heavy, pressed forward step by step, eliminating the stragglers one by one.
At the cave entrance, the terrorist leader stood alone, gripping a rocket launcher, waiting for Tony to emerge from the darkness.
Though he appeared unperturbed, terror and dread filled his heart.
Yet, his pride as a leader and the raw courage of a lawless outlaw forced him to stay and face the enemy.
Tony finally reached the cave’s exit after fighting through layers of resistance, only to see Ethan lying beside him, gasping for breath.
“Ethan!” Just as Tony was about to reach him, Ethan let out a pained cry: “Tony!”
Tony then spotted the Bald Leader standing at the exit.
The Bald Leader fired a rocket from his arm at Tony, but thanks to Ethan’s warning, Tony dodged aside just in time, narrowly avoiding the lethal blast.
After evading the sneak attack, Tony raised his arm to aim at the Bald Leader.
He was about to fire the missile mounted on his arm but suddenly shifted his aim, pointing it to the Bald Leader’s left.
Before the Bald Leader could understand what was happening, he heard the rustle of footsteps behind him.
He spun around to see a man in a white bodysuit strolling into the cave, his face completely concealed by a full-head helmet.
The uninvited guest seemed unbothered by the Bald Leader pointing a gun at him.
He spoke in a friendly tone, “Hello, I’m looking for Tony Stark…”
Hearing this, Tony froze.
He didn’t know any weirdo in a strange outfit, but the Bald Leader, mistaking him for Tony, immediately launched an attack.
Having just fired a shell and not yet reloaded, the Bald Leader swung his arm-mounted launcher like a club, smashing it toward the newcomer.
Facing the Bald Leader’s attack, the newcomer seemed to have failed to react.
Tony couldn’t help but raise his hand, preparing to shoot the Bald Leader.
However, the Bald Leader’s strike missed.
The figure before him had vanished.
He looked around in panic, only to find the newcomer standing behind him with arms crossed, watching him with a relaxed expression.
*So fast!*
The thought flashed through both Tony’s and the Bald Leader’s minds.
Neither of them had seen the speedy visitor dodge; he had simply appeared abruptly in another spot.
The Bald Leader demanded warily, “Who are you?!”
The newcomer stroked his chin, seemingly lost in thought.
After a few seconds, he said with a certain tone, “Hmm… you can call me… GodFather?”
*GodFather?*
The Bald Leader felt a sudden tightness in his chest.
Was he mocking him?
“Are you kidding me?” the Bald Leader roared, his fury unrestrained.
Tony, who had crouched down in front of Ethan to assess the situation, looked on with a bewildered expression.
*Could this guy be an old pro at sarcasm?*
Heaven could witness that Gao Ming had absolutely no intention of mocking anyone.
To find Tony Stark’s whereabouts, he had been flying at high speed for the past few days, stopping only occasionally to hydrate or eat.
Afghanistan was no small place; even after narrowing the search area, it still took him a considerable effort to locate the target.
The place where Tony was imprisoned was too remote and lacked any distinguishing features.
Afghanistan was practically covered in bases filled with munitions.
Gao Ming had already searched several terrorist strongholds over the past few days.
Two of them had even drawn his attention during the search, leading to the terrorists spraying him with gunfire, after which… he rewarded each base with a Dragon Blast.
Fortunately, Gao Ming hadn’t been foolish enough to search for the man by counting bullets.
After spending several days on the search, he finally caught up with the plot just as Tony Stark was about to break out of the encirclement single-handedly.
With time running so short, Gao Ming didn’t have the luxury of pondering a codename.
He needed something imposing on the fly.
He’d initially considered leaning into the plagiarism and going with “GodSpeed,” but after a moment of rapid deliberation, he settled on “GodFather.”
He wasn’t planning to exclusively follow the path of a speedster, after all.
He would eventually reveal every one of his runes to the world.
The title “GodSpeed” would only limit the perception of his abilities.
“GodFather” sounded far more formidable.
Of course, Gao Ming would never admit that he’d been influenced by the gangster bible, *The Godfather*…
“Yes, I am the GodFather,” Gao Ming repeated, this time with absolute certainty.
Bald Leader: “…”
Tony: “…”
Ethan, lying on the ground: “Ah… uh…”
Gao Ming had always admired Ethan’s character in the movie.
Seeing him on the verge of death again, he couldn’t just stand by and watch him kick the bucket for a second time.
“I’d like to give you a few more lines, but it seems we’re out of time.” The words had barely left his lips when Gao Ming vanished, reappearing instantly in front of the Bald Leader.
He flicked the man’s bald head with a fraction of his strength.
*Splat!*
In an instant, the Bald Leader’s head exploded like a ripe watermelon.
The scene… well, it was the kind of thing that would be cut from a movie or blurred out with a mosaic.
I won’t describe it in detail.
The Bald Leader’s headless body slumped to the ground, thick blood gushing from the severed neck.
Gao Ming immediately regretted it.
He’d tried to act cool with that move, but instead, he’d covered his own hands in a sticky, “indescribable substance”—a nauseating mix of red and white that made his stomach churn.
Tony had already ripped off his mask and was vomiting uncontrollably.
This was pushing the limits of his psychological endurance…
*I’ve killed a robber before…* If Gao Ming hadn’t been trying to maintain his composure in front of Tony Stark, he would have been sick too.
He vibrated his entire body at a high frequency to shake off the filth.
Glancing at the headless corpse on the ground, a wave of nausea washed over him again.
He quickly looked away, only to see Tony vomiting without any regard for his image.
Gao Ming’s mood finally improved, and he watched the rare spectacle with newfound interest.
*What a shame I didn’t bring a camera to capture this…*
Gao Ming walked toward Ethan.
Seeing this, Tony forced himself to stop gagging and raised his arm, his face contorted in disgust.
The missile on his arm locked onto Gao Ming as he snarled, “Stop! What do you think you’re doing?”