Siberia, a land of ice and snow.
Deep within an abandoned heavy industry base lay a secret stronghold, hidden from the world.
The bone-chilling wind howled through the steel ruins, but inside the stronghold, the scene was starkly different.
Ivan Vanko was shirtless, his torso covered in old scars.
His knotted muscles bulged with every movement, glistening under the dim light.
Sweat trickled down his fierce face, dripping onto the cold metal workbench.
Sparks flew, and the sound of hammering echoed through the empty workshop, keeping a primal and violent rhythm.
On the workbench before him lay a scattered array of metal parts and complex cables.
Beside it, a yellowed blueprint outlined a sophisticated and dangerous design.
It was the life’s work left behind by his father, Anton Vanko—and the foundation of his revenge.
*Sizzle—*
The welding torch sliced through metal, leaving a blinding arc of light in its wake.
Beside him, an old CRT television flickered.
Its screen, a static-filled haze, played a choppy news broadcast from across the ocean.
The image froze.
Washington, a Senate hearing.
A chaotic crowd, the flash of cameras.
And there, at the center of the storm, stood the young Asian man, Lin Xuan.
Hovering in his hand was the perfect device, radiating a ghostly blue glow.
The Arc Reactor Core.
Ivan Vanko froze.
His breath came in heavy, ragged gasps.
Bloodshot eyes locked onto the screen—on that young face, and on the technological masterpiece that should have belonged only to his father, only to the Vanko family.
His gaze, cold as Siberian ice, seemed to freeze the very air around him.
A sneer twisted his lips, a chillingly sharp expression laced with bottomless hatred.
“Stark…”
The name tore from his throat, a hoarse rasp like sandpaper on stone.
“You thief… You stole everything from my father… his honor, his wealth, even his life…”
His chest heaved violently, the flames of revenge nearly consuming him.
“And now… you just… just *hand* it over to a nobody like this?!”
“Unforgivable!”
CRASH!!
Ivan slammed the heavy hammer in his hand down onto the metal component before him.
Sparks flew, mirroring the explosive rage in his heart.
A mad glint flickered in his eyes as he seized his tools once more, hammering, welding, and assembling with even greater speed and force.
The two energy whip prototypes crackled with dangerous electrical arcs.
On his chest, a miniature Arc Reactor core—rough-hewn and industrial, yet pulsing with the same eerie blue glow—began to take shape.
His “Whiplash” armor was accelerating toward completion.
*And that kid, Lin Xuan… just you wait.*
***
Meanwhile.
Near Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.
Lin Xuan stepped out of the Senate Building, a structure symbolizing power and strife.
The afternoon sun was blinding, and the air still seemed to vibrate with the noise and tension from the hearing.
Though most reporters were held back by security behind the cordons, many still tried to break through, swarming toward anyone who might be connected to the event.
Lin Xuan ignored the chaos.
He walked down the street with his hands in his pockets, strolling unhurriedly like an ordinary tourist or a staffer who had just finished a boring meeting.
As he rounded a corner, he casually glanced at the polished window of a nearby boutique.
The glass reflected the scene behind him with crystal clarity.
Several men in plain jackets or trench coats were scattered among the crowd, seemingly at random.
Yet their movements and the occasional, feigned-casual glances they cast toward his back all carried the disciplined focus of trained operatives.
The Super Soldier Serum’s enhanced senses gave him a god-like perspective.
To him, their clumsy tailing techniques were completely transparent.
A faint, imperceptible smile touched the corners of Lin Xuan’s lips.
He knew exactly what was happening.
*So, they’ve arrived,* he thought.
*Heh, it seems my “bait” was quite an effective lure.*
Lin Xuan chuckled inwardly.
He could even clearly distinguish that his pursuers came from at least two different groups.
One wave was a bit clumsy, their coordination stiff and forced—a ragtag bunch thrown together at the last minute, or perhaps just some hired thugs.
The other group was markedly more professional.
They kept their distance perfectly, their movements and gazes disciplined, betraying the training of soldiers or special agents.
*It seems more than one party is eyeing this “fattened calf,”* Lin Xuan sneered inwardly.
*So, Hammer, that clown, couldn’t hold back after all?*
*Good.*
*Saves me the trouble of hunting them down one by one.*
*This system mission is going to be a perfect success.*
He avoided the bustling main street with its wide-open vistas.
That wouldn’t be conducive to the “cleanup” work.
Instead, he turned a corner, unhurriedly stepping into a relatively quiet side street.
Tall office buildings and old-style apartments lined both sides of the road.
Pedestrians were few, and the sunlight was sliced into mottled patches of light and shadow by the architecture.
More importantly, there were plenty of blind spots here—areas the surveillance cameras couldn’t reach.
It was the perfect “hunting ground.”
He walked like oblivious prey, stepping deeper into the trap he had meticulously chosen for himself.
When he reached the middle of the alley—a relatively open area with no pedestrians in sight—he came to a sudden halt.
Nearby, several overflowing trash cans emitted a faint, sour stench.
He slowly turned around.
His calm gaze, like a sharp blade piercing through the shadows, swept across the space behind him.
The pursuers, who had just emerged from the corners of buildings and the darkness of doorways, froze instantly.
They hadn’t expected their target to stop so abruptly, nor had they anticipated his gaze to be so sharp, as if he had seen through everything all along.
This was the less skilled group of pursuers.
Their leader was a burly, bald man with a fierce expression and a face full of scars.
He stared in shock for a moment, then, realizing they had been exposed, a murderous glint flashed in his eyes.
“Damn it! He spotted us!” he cursed under his breath.
He dropped all pretense of stealth and signaled his companions with a sharp gesture.
“Get him! The boss wants him alive!”
Before the words had even faded, seven or eight burly men—who looked like trouble from a mile away—immediately fanned out in different directions, forming a loose circle as they closed in on Lin Xuan.
They were thugs hired by Justin Hammer.
Their mission was to “invite” Lin Xuan back and force him to reveal the secrets of the Arc Reactor technology.
Just as the thugs were about to launch their attack, Scarface’s pupils constricted.
He instinctively reached for the gun in his jacket, but it was already too late.
*Thud!*
Lin Xuan’s fist had struck first, cutting through the air with a dull whoosh and slamming precisely into Scarface’s abdomen.
Scarface felt an irresistible force surge through him, sending him crashing to his knees, completely neutralized.
Two other thugs, wielding a knife and a baton, charged forward.
Lin Xuan dropped his center of gravity, dodging the baton’s swing.
In the same motion, his left hand shot out like lightning, seizing the wrist of the man with the knife and twisting it with a sharp wrench.
*Crack!*
The crisp sound of breaking bone echoed, followed by a short, sharp scream as the knife flew from the man’s grip.
Lin Xuan’s right elbow followed immediately, slamming into the man’s chest like a battering ram.
*Pfft!* The man spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed.
The whole encounter had lasted barely a minute.
In a few swift moves, the four menacing thugs were now sprawled across the ground, groaning or unconscious, completely neutralized.
The entire process had been so clean and efficient that it had barely stirred any dust.
Lin Xuan stood his ground, brushing non-existent dust off his clothes as if he had just performed a trivial task.
His breathing remained perfectly steady.
He looked up, his gaze sweeping toward the hidden observers he had sensed earlier.
“Alright, warm-up’s over,” he said, his voice calm and echoing through the silent alley.
“The rest of you can come out now.”
“Stop hiding. I’m on a tight schedule with some personal matters to attend to.”
“If you’re going to make a move, do it all at once.”