“You’re absolutely ridiculous,” Tony said with a chuckle.
“This is all so unrealistic. How am I supposed to believe you?”
Zhang Xi continued, “There’s something called the Extremis virus. That’s his trump card. If you don’t get it under control, I’m telling you, Pepper will be in danger!”
Tony might have brushed off anyone else, but the mention of Pepper instantly hardened his expression.
Zhang Xi pressed on, “Even if you don’t believe me, you need to put on the armor at the very least. It’s too dangerous otherwise.”
“No, you need to explain it to me first. What the hell is—”
“There’s no time to explain! Go, now!”
Before Zhang Xi could even finish his sentence, a dark shadow streaked across the top floor of Stark Tower.
A deafening explosion followed, shaking the entire building to its foundations as if it were about to collapse.
Tony was momentarily stunned, but his countless battles had honed his instincts, and he recovered quickly.
“Put on the armor!” Zhang Xi shouted.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Tony nodded.
He turned and waved his hand, sending a red beam of light shooting from his palm.
One by one, the armor pieces flew toward him and latched onto his body.
*Wait, was he already used to this method of donning the armor?
It had been so long, he couldn’t remember.*
Tony was stylishly assembling the armor piece by piece, and just as he was about to finish—the last piece crashed down…
*Well, okay, that’s a bit awkward.
But in this timeline, shouldn’t he be able to put it on like this?*
Zhang Xi realized that because of his intervention, the timeline of the Marvel World had already undergone some changes.
Whether Iron Man would die or not was now truly uncertain.
*Alright, if that’s the case, I really have to step up.
Everyone who has seen Avengers: Endgame knows what Tony means to the Avengers—he’s practically their father.*
Zhang Xi ran over, scooped Tony up in his arms, and bolted outward.
Tony’s head was still spinning, but he couldn’t resist quipping, “Bro, you’re carrying me in a way that’s bound to cause misunderstandings.”
“What the hell do you mean, ‘misunderstanding’?” Zhang Xi snapped.
“If you’d just listened to me, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
“Oh, you’re right.”
Zhang Xi didn’t have time to argue.
His focus was razor-sharp, and Hawkeye’s Agent Fragment was proving invaluable, allowing him to detect the slightest rustle in the surrounding chaos.
The current situation was already deviating from the original plot, but Zhang Xi couldn’t worry about that now.
*Screw it,* he thought, *I’ll just wing it and adapt on the fly.*
This time, without a hitch, the suit finally assembled around him.
Once fully armored, Tony tossed Zhang Xi a bracelet.
“Here, summon an armor and help me save people!”
Zhang Xi was stunned.
Tony had countless suits, but he almost never let anyone else wear them.
The fact that he was offering one now showed he completely trusted Zhang Xi.
This attack was even more severe than in the movie.
Stark Tower was already on the verge of collapse.
Without hesitation, Zhang Xi quickly put on the bracelet and activated the Fusion Mode.
In his excitement, he even shouted a rather chuunibyou line:
“Iron Man Armor, combine!”
*Well, I guess I got my shows mixed up.*
Countless armor fragments flew toward Zhang Xi.
The moment they fused, he felt as if he had been reborn.
Simultaneously, the artificial intelligence’s voice rang out:
“Hello, Mr. X. Would you like me to introduce the functions?”
“As much as I’d love to hear it, I’m sorry, there’s no time. Let’s go!”
Zhang Xi stretched his limbs and then flew straight out.
By absorbing the Iron Man fragments, he was able to control the armor.
Zhang Xi and Tony darted through the crowd, continuously rescuing people while also keeping a close eye on Stark Tower to prevent it from collapsing.
Zhang Xi said to Tony, “Mr. Stark, wait here for a moment. I’ll go out and check. We can’t let those helicopters launch another sneak attack.”
“Buddy, that’s a bit dangerous!” Tony replied.
“It’s fine, I can handle it.” After saying that, Zhang Xi ignored Tony and flew straight out the window.
The feeling of soaring through the sky in the Iron Man suit was truly indescribable.
Zhang Xi felt like he could take on ten people at once.
*Beep, beep, Alchemist Shard absorbed.
Beep, beep, Iron Shard collected.* The system’s prompts flashed frantically.
Zhang Xi knew his strength was growing stronger and stronger.
But now wasn’t the time for that.
Zhang Xi wouldn’t be foolish enough to rely on his eyes alone.
He simply asked, “Jarvis, tell me where the helicopters are.”
Zhang Xi trusted Jarvis’s feedback completely and flew straight toward them.
Sure enough, before he had flown far, the two helicopters appeared before him.
Zhang Xi had forgotten which Mark-number armor he was wearing, but it didn’t matter.
He raised his hand, aimed at the two helicopters, and was about to open fire.
“No!” Jarvis warned just in time.
“Miss Pepper is on the aircraft!”
Zhang Xi was stunned.
*My God, Pepper is on the plane?
When was she captured?
Was this in the script?*
Countless thoughts flashed through Zhang Xi’s mind.
The script seemed pointless now.
*Alright, in that case, I’ll just have to wing it.*
Zhang Xi stopped in his tracks.
He ceased his pursuit and simply watched the two helicopters fly away.
As long as they didn’t come back to cause trouble, everything would be fine.
After they left, Zhang Xi returned to Stark Tower.
By then, Tony had already mostly handled the situation.
The evacuation was complete, and the building was under repair.
The efficiency was truly remarkable.
Seeing Zhang Xi return, Tony rushed forward and hoisted him into the air.
“Hey, buddy. Calm down,” Zhang Xi said.
Tony asked coldly, “How do you know all this? Who are you? Tell me right now—where is Pepper? And what is the Extremis virus?”
There was no real malice in Tony’s words, but he was desperate and anxious because Pepper was missing.
“Put me down first, and I’ll tell you everything slowly.”
Tony took a deep breath and then set Zhang Xi down.
Zhang Xi said, “I’ll say it again: even if I told you who I am and how I know all this, you wouldn’t believe me. So let’s just skip that. I’ll tell you something else instead.”
“Pepper was probably taken by Gilian. He’ll use her to blackmail you, and he’ll also inject her with the Extremis virus. You can think of the Extremis virus as something that makes a person burst into flames after injection, which can greatly enhance their combat capabilities.”
“Are you saying that Gilian has this ability too?”
“Yes. Gilian will be your enemy this time!”
(End of Chapter)