The beam of light struck the two terrified soldiers ahead in an instant.
Before they could even scream, they were vaporized under the terrifying heat, reduced to two fleeting wisps of dark smoke.
All that remained on the ground were two rifles melted into liquid iron and two scorched, deep craters.
Luca slowly closed his eyes, cutting off the flow of energy.
Though his eyes were closed, he could feel energy flickering beneath his eyelids, making his eyeballs ache with pressure.
It was a strange sensation, like something was bursting to shoot out.
“Damn superpowers don’t even come with a tutorial.
Gave me way too much energy—my vision’s almost glitched out.” Luca rubbed his eyes and grumbled silently to himself.
He knew it was because he had just awakened his body’s potential and hadn’t fully adapted to the power yet.
Fortunately, he was only having trouble keeping his eyes from glowing; he wasn’t spraying energy out uncontrollably anymore.
Visually, his eyes were a blazing white tinged with blue.
Taking a deep breath, he tried his best to calm down.
Sensing carefully, he realized his body was surging with explosive power.
It gave him the illusion of being invincible.
But beyond that, he felt something else inside him—something undefinable.
Yet when he tried to probe deeper, he couldn’t pin down what it was no matter how hard he tried.
With another deep breath, he began to focus, feeling the changes in his body.
Suddenly, a barrage of sounds flooded his ears.
The howl of wind rushing over rocks, the crunch of gravel shifting hundreds of meters away, the skittering of insects underground.
Luca blinked in surprise.
He quickly realized this was another new ability.
Because his physical capabilities had been comprehensively enhanced, his senses were amplified exponentially.
He could now hear sounds from vast distances.
*So…
I turned into Superman?!* Whatever the case, Luca knew he was saved.
Not only was he alive, but he had also become a Superman-like being.
But what about Tony?
How was he doing?
Was he still banging scrap metal for these bastards in that cave?
At the thought, Luca immediately closed his eyes and narrowed his focus to his hearing.
Filtering out the wind and rustling sand, he listened intently across the entire mountain range for Tony’s voice.
One second, two seconds…
Suddenly, a familiar voice drifted clearly into his ears.
“Ho Yinsen, hurry!
These guys are coming!” It was Tony!
Joy surged through Luca.
He snapped his eyes open, a flash of white light flickering in his gaze.
The guy was actually still alive!
Stuck with a terrorist organization for over two months with a junk battery hooked up to his chest, and he was still alive and shouting.
“Gotta hand it to Tony, he’s tough to kill.
I bet he just refuses to die because he’d miss all those cover models.” Luca chuckled, unable to resist poking fun.
But in the next second, his eyes turned deadly cold.
“Damned bastards.
Tortured us for so long.
Once I get Tony out, I’ll settle this score with you line by line!” Luca zeroed in on the direction of the voice.
Feeling the energy within him, he tried to manipulate the surrounding magnetic field.
He could feel a circular force field forming around him.
In the next second, his body turned into a blur, flying straight toward the outer perimeter of the cave!
…
Meanwhile…
In a cavern at the outer edge of the cave base.
Tony Stark stood before a crude iron frame, drenched in sweat.
At this moment, he was suiting up in armor put together from scrap iron plates.
This was the Mark I armor he had hammered out piece by piece over uncounted days and nights.
Trapped in this sunless cave with no concept of time, he only knew he had to move faster.
“Faster…
come on, faster.” Tony gritted his teeth, snapping a latch shut on his thigh.
Anxiety gnawed at him.
It had been far too long since those bastards took Luca away.
Ever since, he hadn’t heard a single piece of news about him.
In his eyes, Luca was just his little brother who spent all his time messing around with lab mice and test tubes.
He had no idea how to deal with cold-blooded terrorists like these.
As the older brother and current pillar of the Stark family, Tony had to step up.
And he absolutely couldn’t let his brother remain in danger.
But the more he worried, the more frantic he felt.
Tony took deep breaths, feeling a dull ache in his chest.
“Damn it, Luca, you better be okay.
If you dare die in a place like this, I swear I’ll go down to hell, drag you out, and beat you senseless!” What made him feel even more helpless was that he didn’t know if Luca had come up with any way to save himself.
“Hurry, Ho Yinsen!
They’re coming!” Tony glanced at the boot bar crawling across the screen and yelled to the man beside him.
Ho Yinsen trudged over, lugging a heavy metal helmet.
Hearing Tony’s anxious shouts, Ho Yinsen lifted the helmet in front of Tony’s face and teased softly between pants: “Tony, that’s the ninth time in ten minutes you’ve said your brother’s name.
Maybe he really is alright.” “Don’t you Starks always consider yourselves geniuses favored by God?” “Don’t talk to me about God.
If God were any use, He wouldn’t have let us get kidnapped to this godforsaken hole.” Tony shot back stubbornly.
As they spoke, Ho Yinsen started lowering the heavy helmet onto Tony’s head.
A second before the mask sealed shut, Tony stared through the slot toward the iron door of the cave, his expression turning viciously grim.
“If anything happened to Luca…” “…I’ll show those bastards out there what a fate worse than death really means!” *Clack.* The mask locked in place.
Just then, frantic pounding rattled the heavy iron door outside.
The terrorist guards shouted in Arabic, demanding to know what Tony and Ho Yinsen were doing inside.
They had just realized the surveillance cameras inside had been smashed, leaving their screens completely blank.
The pounding grew louder, turning into heavy thuds as gunstocks smashed against the iron door.
The terrorists were about to breach the room.
Ho Yinsen glanced at the computer monitor.
The initialization progress was at 70%.
“We’re out of time.” Ho Yinsen’s expression darkened.
He turned to Tony with a solemn look.
“I’m going to buy you some time.” “Don’t go, Ho Yinsen!
The program is almost done!
Just wait a little longer!
I don’t need you throwing your life away!” Tony yelled from inside the armor.
Ho Yinsen paused, turning back with a faint smile.
“Listen to me, Tony.
You’re the only one with a chance to walk out of here alive.
And you still have a brother to save.” His voice was calm, like a man giving his final farewell.
“Promise me, if you make it out, go visit my hometown for me.
It’s been so long since I last saw my family.” With that, Ho Yinsen decisively scooped up a piece of iron from the ground and headed for the door without looking back.
Outside, the terrorists were already placing explosives on the door.
Watching the slow progress bar and Ho Yinsen walking toward the door, Tony felt a wave of desperate panic.
Helplessness consumed him.
Luca’s fate was unknown, and now Ho Yinsen was voluntarily marching to his death just to give the armor time to boot up.
And he, the head of Stark Industries, could only stand here like a useless tin can.
Tony’s resolve wavered.
He wanted to force-abort the program and charge out right now.
He couldn’t let anyone else die for him!
*BOOM!* A deafening explosion shattered the cave entrance.
The terrorists blew the iron door wide open with explosives.
Through the swirling smoke, two terrorists wielding submachine guns stormed in with violent shouts.
Tony’s heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.
How could Ho Yinsen, holding a scrap of iron, possibly fight armed terrorists?
Right at that critical juncture— A crisp chime echoed from the monitor.
Progress bar: 100%!
Boot sequence complete!
Gears inside the armor locked into place as massive power surged from the chest reactor to his limbs.
Delight flashed across Tony’s face, and he bellowed at the top of his lungs: “Ho Yinsen, get down!” Over by the entrance, Ho Yinsen was raising his iron scrap, ready to fight for his life.
Hearing Tony’s shout, he didn’t even think—pure instinct dropped him flat onto the ground.
In the next second…
Tony raised his bulky arm and slammed the trigger on his left wrist.
*WHOOSH!* Two roaring streams of fire blasted forth.
The flames swept right over the ducking Ho Yinsen, engulfing the two terrorists who had rushed through the door.
“AAAGHHH!!!” The two terrorists instantly turned into human torches, shrieking in agony as they thrashed on the ground.
Tony stomped forward with heavy, clanking steps.
Bending over, he grabbed Ho Yinsen by his clothes and yanked him back onto his feet.
“Stay behind me, pal.
Go see your hometown yourself—I’m terrible at doing favors.”