Leaving Amid the Chaos

"The US military has cut off all signals within dozens of kilometers. We can't send out a distress signal at all."

Xu Jia spoke coldly. Inside her armor, the usually blue control interface had switched to red, indicating that it had entered combat mode.

"Don't count on luck. I'll launch a surprise attack on those two F-22s shortly. Take that chance to leave at full speed. Don't worry about me."

The Kirin Armor could easily handle two F-22s, but they were on the enemy's turf.

After taking down those two, even more fighters would arrive in an endless stream of reinforcements.

The armor's energy would eventually run out, and that would be the moment Xu Jia prepared to self-destruct.

Xu Jia had never forgotten her mission. She had to ensure Chen Mu's safety, even if it meant sacrificing herself.

"Since when did I need a girl to protect me?"

Chen Mu was somewhat speechless, but also touched. After all, the US military had targeted him this time because he had been too conspicuous.

The day before, he had openly flown his armor to Stark Tower and had naturally drawn attention long ago.

Then yesterday afternoon, he had gone crazy with Tony Stark, flying openly from New York to Los Angeles, racing him for speed, and even going on dates with twin sisters from a fashion magazine that night.

It would have been impossible not to attract attention.

In America, the intelligence networks of the FBI and CIA covered the entire country. It could be said that every move Chen Mu made had long since caught those departments' attention.

There was also another intelligence agency, S.H.I.E.L.D., which had certainly noticed Chen Mu long ago as well.

Although S.H.I.E.L.D. was an organization under the United Nations Security Council, after the maneuvering of several Directors, it had quietly become a subordinate department of America.

Though it remained nominally under the Security Council and enjoyed resources from the United Nations Security Council while drawing a United Nations salary, it was in fact working for America.

That particularly annoyed Chen Mu.

China was also one of the Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council, and China participated in the Security Council as well. In other words, S.H.I.E.L.D. should also be under China's jurisdiction. Why should they take the money and do nothing?

Come to think of it, his current status in China should be quite important. S.H.I.E.L.D. definitely knew about the US military's operation, yet it had chosen to turn a deaf ear and ignore it entirely. That made Chen Mu very unhappy.

So another target had been added to the list for framing: S.H.I.E.L.D.

And in Chen Mu's view, S.H.I.E.L.D. truly had no need to continue existing.

"Your armor doesn't have any weapons systems. When the time comes, leave at full speed. As long as you get out of America, you'll be able to return safely to your homeland."

Xu Jia ignored Chen Mu's words and continued giving instructions as she watched the F-22s draw closer and closer.

Xu Jia had also made up her mind.

"..."

Although he was extremely speechless, Xu Jia's actions still moved Chen Mu somewhat.

This girl truly intended to sacrifice herself to protect him. That was what Chinese soldiers were like. In the face of righteousness, they had always placed their own lives and deaths aside.

"Warning. Four more fighters have taken off from the ground ahead and are approaching at high speed."

At that moment, another warning came from Xu Jia's armor, making her heart tighten.

Just what she feared most had come true?

On American soil, what Xu Jia feared most was a constant stream of enemies appearing. The two F-22s had not even been dealt with, yet another four had emerged. It was simply terrible news for them.

"Leave now! Don't delay any longer! Full thrust!"

Seeing this, Xu Jia anxiously urged Chen Mu again.

"The ones ahead don't seem to be our enemies."

Chen Mu instead slowly reduced his speed and hovered directly in the air. Xu Jia had no choice but to stop alongside him. She could not make sense of his words, but she remained highly alert.

The four fighters ahead had actually been deployed by Chen Mu, so he was not worried in the slightest.

Using F-22s to deal with F-22s would make it easy to clear themselves of all suspicion.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

In reality, a few kilometers were nothing more than an instant to supersonic fighters.

The four Hongmeng-controlled fighters took off and, with a slight acceleration, rapidly closed in. After passing Chen Mu and Xu Jia, they immediately fired missiles at the two pursuing F-22s behind them.

Boom!

One F-22 was caught off guard and was directly hit, exploding in midair.

Seeing this, the other F-22 performed a rolling maneuver to evade the attack. Its pilot frantically sent out distress signals and radioed the four F-22s with questions.

The pilot could not understand it. The fighters on the other side were clearly F-22s too, so why were they inexplicably attacking their own aircraft on American soil?

Naturally, the fighters controlled by the Hongmeng System would not respond to his radio calls and continued pursuing him.

At that moment, the pilot had completely forgotten his mission. Staying alive was what mattered now. He turned around and continued fleeing.

But how could Chen Mu allow him to get what he wanted? He had the four fighters follow after him.

He did not have the fighters shoot him down immediately. Instead, they kept maneuvering around him, giving him ample time to send distress signals and report the current situation.

The ones who had shot them down were F-22 fighters, not Chen Mu's people.

"This?"

Xu Jia was dumbfounded at the sight. She simply could not understand what was happening. Why had the F-22s started fighting each other?

"Don't worry about it for now. Let's leave while we have the chance!"

Now that their targets had been delayed, Chen Mu immediately spoke to Xu Jia beside him.

Xu Jia knew this was not the time to stand around in a daze. Without hesitation, she flew rapidly away with Chen Mu in one direction.

For them now, leaving America was the most important thing.

"Have you found out which base the F-22s that shot down our aircraft took off from?"

Elsewhere, inside a nearby US Military Base, a general was berating his subordinates.

General Ross was the man who had always ordered the capture of the Hulk. He was a typical Hawk within the US military who believed in the supremacy of force.

He had long coveted Tony Stark's Iron Armor, but Tony Stark's identity had prevented him from acting against him.

But recently, he had received news that two people from China were wearing Iron Armor similar to Iron Man's.

That gave General Ross ideas. No matter what methods he had to use, he would seize their armor for himself.

In General Ross's view, Chen Mu and Xu Jia's armor had definitely been given to them by Tony Stark. If so, he had a responsibility to reclaim the armor that belonged to America and convict Tony Stark of treason.

In General Ross's view, backward China could not possibly manufacture Iron Armor.

The only possibility was that Tony Stark had committed treason and handed his technology over to China.

For the US military, that was simply intolerable.

Therefore, after learning that Chen Mu and Xu Jia had left Stark Tower, General Ross had unhesitatingly dispatched two fighters after them, intending to seize their armor by force.

But the current situation puzzled him somewhat.

The two F-22s had come under attack, but the attackers were not Chen Mu and Xu Jia. Instead, they were several F-22s.

General Ross found that extremely strange. Who would dare order F-22s to attack their own aircraft on American soil?

"Send another ten fighters into the air. Go reinforce our aircraft, and make sure those two people don't get away!"

Watching Chen Mu and Xu Jia leave amid the chaos on the satellite feed, General Ross issued another order without hesitation.