"Ha, I never thought I'd end up being brought down by my own company's weapons." Stark muttered self-mockingly, feeling a wave of bitter irony.
As the CEO of Stark Industries, he had ultimately been driven to the brink by his own weapons.
Now, he could only cling to life with a battery and the electromagnet in his chest. The cold, dark cave and the rings upon rings of Ten Commandments Gang members outside left him without the slightest hope.
"Mr. Stark, pull yourself together. Things must be in complete chaos outside by now. Everyone is looking for you."
"You've seen the Ten Commandments Gang's weapons. Your life's work has fallen into the hands of these murderers, and now it will become your legacy."
"Are you really willing to accept that?" Yinsen pushed up his glasses and said gravely as he looked at the dejected Stark.
His hometown was still waiting for him, but he knew he lacked the ability to escape. The only person he could rely on was Tony Stark before him.
"Don't you want to do something?"
Tony kept his head lowered in silence. Just as Yinsen could not help but speak again to encourage him, Tony finally spoke in a pessimistic tone.
"What else can I do? No matter what I do, they'll kill me." His calm voice carried a deep despair. "Even if they don't kill me, I won't live longer than a week."
As he spoke, he agitatedly lifted the battery in his arms.
The battery had less than a week's worth of power left. Once it ran out, the crude electromagnetic device in his chest would lose its magnetism, and the fragments left inside his body would flow through his blood vessels into his heart.
By nightfall, the cave gradually grew cold. Yinsen found a pile of firewood from somewhere and lit a bonfire in an open area.
Stark sat across from Yinsen with a thin blanket draped over him. The flickering flames cast shifting shadows across their faces.
"This is a crucial week, isn't it?" Yinsen suddenly broke the silence.
Stark said nothing. Flickering flames reflected in his pupils, but he seemed to have thought of something, and his eyes gradually brightened.
"Maybe you're right..."
He acted as soon as the thought came to him. He immediately summoned the Ten Commandments Gang members and said he was willing to build them a Jericho Missile, but he needed a computer panel and missile parts.
Hearing that Stark, this tough nut, had finally agreed, the Ten Commandments Gang leader was naturally ecstatic. He received him like a long-lost relative and fulfilled all his demands.
He hesitated only over the computer panel, but after Stark stated that it was merely for calculating the separation of the Cluster Missile, the Ten Commandments Gang leader agreed.
In this godforsaken place, he did not believe there could be any signal.
Over the following days, Apple City was still flooded with news about Stark. However, as time passed, many people began to believe that Stark was dead.
During that time, in the Brooklyn District, John single-handedly wiped out the Russian Gang that ruled an entire block. No one survived.
John, the top-ranked Assassin who had not appeared in a long time, had made another move, causing a stir throughout the assassin world.
Meanwhile, Merlin and Gwen went to Osborn Industries every night to research the Lizard Serum. During the day, Merlin went to the aviation manufacturing plant to adjust the first intelligent assembly line.
With his experience in Hell's Kitchen, the first Stealth Annihilator Attack Helicopter production line was completed in three days. The materials and components were now in place, and the first unit had entered production.
Many of the Annihilator Attack Helicopter's components already existed in reality, so there was not much that needed to be manufactured separately. The main issue was the outer Invisible Coating technology.
George was also busy tracking down the Lizardman. Although he had received word from his teacher, he had no time to spare.
For a time, Apple City was abuzz with activity, yet it had fallen into a strange calm, like a powder keg that could explode at any moment.
Yet everyone's attention remained fixed on the news of Stark's disappearance.
Saturday night, Osborn Industries.
Merlin and Gwen stood before the experimental projection platform, watching the yellow genetic data chart displayed by the Virtual Projection with tense expressions.
According to the experimental sequence, this strand of genetic data was the Lizard's Regeneration Gene.
At that moment, the stem cells affected by the gene were continuously dividing and expanding, forming new cells.
"Begin." Merlin looked at the rapidly dividing gene cell cluster and nodded.
At his words, Gwen immediately threw the blue genetic data in front of her into the Lizard's Regeneration Gene sequence.
The moment the two came into contact, the blue genetic data spread rapidly like ink dropped onto white paper, merging into the Regeneration Gene.
Then, under their watchful eyes, the Regeneration Gene sequence began to tremble violently under the contamination of the blue genetic data.
"Pop!" The instant a crisp electronic sound rang out, the Regeneration Gene sequence collapsed and scattered like a crumbling bridge.
At the sight, their tense expressions instantly turned to excitement.
"Ah! Wonderful! We succeeded!"
"Merlin! Did you see that? We did it! We succeeded!" Gwen shouted excitedly, her eyes shining.
After nearly a week of work and nightly all-nighters, they had finally succeeded.
"Wait, wait, wait... We still need to keep testing. Don't get ahead of yourself." Although Merlin was excited as well, he had expected this, so he was not as worked up as Gwen.
"Right, right, right. Hurry and test it. Whether we can pull this off depends on tonight." Gwen came back to her senses and hurriedly returned to the projection experiment platform.
In truth, after achieving success, they only needed to continue experimenting according to the decay-rate algorithm.
Near midnight, Gwen carefully removed the completed Green Serum from the Thermostat.
Merlin, standing beside her, was about to speak when his phone suddenly vibrated.
He took out his phone. After seeing the message on it, the corner of his mouth curled upward.
"Looks like double happiness."
Afghanistan, inside a cave in the Gobi Desert.
Stark held a palm-sized computer in his hand. The battery he had been holding had been discarded at some point, replaced by a ring of White Halo Energy.
He was covered in oil and grime, but compared to several days ago, his state of mind was vastly different.
"What are you doing?" Yinsen asked curiously as he leaned closer.
"An iron shell alone isn't enough. I also need to find a way to call for support." Stark glanced at the armor parts made from Missile Shells and shook his head.
"Call for support? There isn't any signal here." Yinsen looked puzzled.
"We just need to try. At worst, I'll put on the armor and charge out." As Stark spoke, he placed the palm-sized computer panel atop a missile, pretending to calibrate it.
"RG003******"
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