At the same time.
Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.
At this weapons testing ground in the United States affectionately nicknamed the “Junk Yard,” Tony perfectly demonstrated his newly developed Jericho missile to the military brass.
Both parties were thrilled, and champagne was already flowing.
Popping a crate of champagne for every deal exceeding five hundred million dollars was a habit of Tony’s—his way of showing respect and appreciation to high-value clients.
“To peace!”
“To peace!” × N
Tony raised his glass in celebration, and the officers present chimed in one after another, making for a lively scene.
“Tony.”
Obadiah initiated a video call.
“Hey, Obie,” Tony said, stepping to the side with his swivel-screen phone in hand.
On the other end, Obadiah was leaning against his headboard, looking like he had just woken up.
“What are you up to?”
“I couldn’t sleep without knowing the outcome.
How did things go?”
“It’s Tony Stark.
No surprises.”
“It’s like Christmas over here right now.
Take a look.”
Tony flipped his phone screen around, sharing the live view of the site with Obadiah.
“Then I can rest easy.”
After concluding the call, Tony casually climbed into a nearby armored vehicle scheduled for the return trip.
However, this armored vehicle was not the one originally assigned to carry him.
Rhodes suggested it would be better if Tony rode in the same vehicle as him, but Tony shut him down: “I’m already in the truck, and now you bring this up?”
Unable to sway Tony, Rhodes had no choice but to let him be.
Surely no one would be insane enough to kidnap the world’s most famous weapons dealer right outside an airbase.
And yet.
Reality proved absurdly unpredictable.
On the road back.
The armored convoy carrying Tony ran straight into a heavy ambush.
*Rat-tat-tat!
Rat-tat-tat!*
*BOOM—BANG!!!!!*
Before most of the soldiers in the convoy could react, they were turned into bloody sieves by a hail of armor-piercing rounds.
Tony managed to escape through the opposite door by sheer luck.
He tried to call for help on his phone, only to find zero signal.
The ambushers were clearly prepared.
“Shit!”
“Will somebody tell me what the hell is happening?!”
Tony cursed angrily when suddenly, with a loud *BANG*, a missile slammed down right next to him.
His pupils shrank in terror.
Printed right on the shell of the missile was an excruciatingly ironic logo: *Stark Industries*.
“Leon, you total jinx!”
Only able to scream out those words, Tony was blown off his feet by the blast.
Because he was so close to the detonation, stray shrapnel pierced right through his body armor.
Before long, blood poured profusely from Tony’s chest, and he quickly lost consciousness.
…
Driven by interested parties, the news that “Tony Stark was attacked by terrorists and his status is unknown” spread rapidly.
It reached Pepper, who was keeping close tabs on Tony, almost immediately.
At the seaside villa.
Leon, still sound asleep in bed, was awakened by soft sobbing.
“JARVIS, what’s going on?”
“Sir…”
Before JARVIS could finish answering Leon’s question, Pepper, dissolved in tears, threw herself into his arms like a drowning person clutching a lifeline.
“Leon, Tony…
he might already be…
*sob, sob!*”
Pepper wept hysterically.
JARVIS took over, informing Leon of the news that Tony had been attacked by terrorists and might currently be dead.
“What?!”
Waking up to the sky falling.
Leon’s face turned terrifyingly calm.
He really couldn’t imagine how terrible a future without Tony would be!
“Pepper, don’t worry.
A bastard like Tony will definitely be fine.
I’m going to find Stane right now.”
“*Sob, sob…* Okay…”
Pepper was so panicky she could barely walk.
Leon carried her over to rest on the living room sofa, then jumped into his supercar, flooring the gas pedal all the way toward the Stark Industries headquarters building.
“JARVIS, call Stane.”
“Right away, Master Leon.”
*Ring, ring, ring—Connected!*
“Hey, Leon.”
“Stane, you must have heard about Tony right away.
Any news yet?
I’m on my way to the office…”
As Leon was speaking…
He suddenly saw a fully insured, heavily loaded Dayun freight truck driving the wrong way down the road ahead, hurtling straight toward his supercar.
“!!!”
Seeing this, Leon violently jerked the steering wheel, throwing the car into a sideways drift while slamming on the brakes with all his strength.
JARVIS also took control of the supercar’s internal steering servo system to help maintain balance as much as possible.
*SCREECH!
SQUEAL!*
The supercar’s brake discs and tires let out ear-splitting shrieks under the extreme stress, but the vehicle managed to come to a full stop.
Yet that Dayun truck seemed to have locked onto Leon, showing zero intention of slowing down.
“Shit!”
With a deafening *CRASH*, Leon’s supercar was brutally slammed off the cliff by the heavy truck.
The airbags deployed immediately, but Leon had already been knocked unconscious before that.
…
“Boss, the target has been eliminated.”
Staring at the supercar tumbling relentlessly toward the bottom of the cliff, the masked driver of the Dayun truck immediately dialed a number.
“Are you sure he’s dead?”
A skeptical voice came from the other end of the line.
“I’ll go down and double-tap him.
Don’t worry.”
“Hurry up.
The police will be here soon.”
“Understood!”
Hanging up, the assassin rode an amphibious jet-ski motorcycle prepped in the back of the truck down to investigate.
He discovered that Leon actually still had a breath of life left in him.
To leave nothing to chance, he dragged Leon out of the supercar wreckage, pointed a .50-caliber Desert Eagle at his head, and emptied the entire magazine into it.
The resulting carnage was so brutal that even his own mother wouldn’t have recognized him.
Then, using the jet ski, he hauled Leon’s corpse out to a sea area far removed from the accident scene, bound it to a heavy rock with iron chains, and dumped it directly onto the ocean floor.
That way, by the time the police managed to track their way here, Leon’s corpse would have long been torn apart and eaten by bloodthirsty fish, leaving nothing behind but digested waste.
What the assassin didn’t know was that after he left, deep beneath the ocean, Leon’s heart never stopped beating.
It was as if he were protected by a mysterious force.
The power of the system, baby!
[Ding!
Congratulations, Host, on completing the system unlock quest “Getting Hit by Dayun Twice.” The Daily Sign-In System has been activated, and Novice Protection is now enabled.]
[Prompt: Is the Host willing to bind this system?
Please answer yes or no.]
*Or?*
[…
…]
[Severe head trauma detected.
Host’s conscious mind is impaired, lacking independent thought or decision-making ability.
Binding Daily Sign-In System by default.]
[Ding!
Binding complete.]
[Extracting Novice Gift Pack…]
[Ding!
Novice Gift Pack extraction complete.
Congratulations, Host, on obtaining the “Soldier Boy Template,” with a bonus Soldier Boy Set including a blast-proof tactical uniform and a tungsten-steel alloy shield.]
[Notice!]
[Novice Protection will expire when the Host’s consciousness fully recovers.]
*What the hell…*
Leon’s consciousness flickered back for a brief moment before sinking back into darkness.
Without Novice Protection, even having fused with the Soldier Boy Template, he would have died instantly.
The trauma to his head was simply too severe—it had been physically turned into a gory mess by bullets.
However, under the combined effects of Soldier Boy’s self-healing ability and the system’s Novice Protection, Leon’s fatal injuries began to heal at a steady pace.
During this process, the memories of his past life that Leon had forgotten were systematically pieced back together by the grand power of the system.