"Who the hell was that?!"
General Ross slammed his fist down on the desk before him, his face dark.
Earlier, those four F22 fighters of unknown origin had tangled with the ten fighters that came in as reinforcements.
After another seven fighters had been shot down and a considerable price paid, they had finally managed to bring down every one of the enemy planes. But the 2:1 loss ratio made General Ross's heart ache.
The F22 was currently the most advanced and most expensive fighter in the American military. Losing eight of them at once was agonizing for General Ross.
"Report, General. All of the enemy fighters exploded after being shot down. We suspect they activated self-destruct devices. Whether there were pilots inside remains unknown."
"Those damn lunatics!" General Ross smashed his fist against the desk again, fury written all over his face.
He simply could not understand where those suddenly appearing F22s had come from, or what military those pilots belonged to.
How could they be so reckless?
Kamikaze Special Forces?
"General, the other side never responded to our radio signals. I suspect there may not actually have been pilots inside those fighters."
After saluting General Ross, an officer beside him spoke in an uncertain tone.
"No pilots? Unmanned flight? Artificial intelligence?"
"Find them. Find the wreckage of those fighters! I refuse to believe that, if it was an intelligent program, we won't find any traces!"
General Ross gritted his teeth and continued issuing orders.
"General, two of the enemy fighters seemed to outperform our F22s. If they truly were unmanned, then the performance of those aircraft themselves must have far surpassed our F22s."
The officer beside him continued, "If we can find the wreckage, it will be a great help in improving the F22's performance."
"Then go find them. You must find those planes!"
General Ross snorted coldly and turned to leave.
He had just received word that a lead on Hulk had been found. Compared to Chen Mu and Xu Jia, the two Chinese nationals, he was clearly far more interested in Hulk.
However, among the organizations General Ross knew, only two seemed capable of operating fighters so sharply with artificial intelligence.
S.H.I.E.L.D. or Stark Industries. Only those two organizations had such a strong foundation in the field of artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, Chen Mu and Xu Jia had already flown their armor beyond America's coastline and rapidly entered international waters, meaning they had completely escaped danger.
Chen Mu had also left contingencies behind in the four F22 fighters.
Within a very short time after they were destroyed, the Hongmeng System would uninstall itself without leaving any traces. At the same time, Jarvis would be activated. If the electronic equipment had not been completely destroyed, clues could easily be found in the wreckage and point the finger at Stark Industries.
As long as they left American territory, the Kirin Armor's flying speed would get them back to their homeland within a few hours.
Only after returning to her homeland did Xu Jia finally relax completely.
"President Chen, since we're back home, you should head to the industrial park first. I need to report the details of this incident to General Zhang."
After returning to China, Xu Jia wanted to immediately return to the military district and report the specifics of this sudden incident to Director Zhang.
She was also extremely curious. Where had those four F22 fighters come from?
They had saved their lives.
"Fine. I'll head to the industrial park. Once you finish your report, come back to the company. You'll still need to handle the Xiao Mu Phone launch."
Chen Mu nodded indifferently.
In this world, he really had nothing else to do.
He might as well return to his workshop and study all kinds of advanced technology.
The Huaqiangbei System was, in fact, completely bound to Chen Mu.
Chen Mu could also master every technology obtained by the system. Of course, how deeply he understood those technologies depended on himself.
Chen Mu had not come from a technological background in the past, but now that he was exposed to this knowledge, he could absorb it incredibly quickly.
In his previous life, Iron Man had only been a movie. But now, Chen Mu was in the Marvel Universe and had the chance to come into contact with real Iron Armor.
It would have been a lie to say he was not excited. During this time, Chen Mu had essentially been catching up on lessons, using the system's assistance to study these advanced technologies.
By now, Chen Mu had basically mastered all the technology behind Mark 2 and Mark 3. Even without the system, he could recreate them perfectly from scratch.
He had genuinely, completely learned the principles of the Arc Reactor, the armor's designs, and even the production of its various weapons systems.
With the system's assistance, absorbing this knowledge was incredibly easy for Chen Mu.
If he kept studying like this, then in the future, Chen Mu could stand on equal footing with Tony Stark through his own knowledge alone.
Therefore, after returning to China, apart from going back to the industrial park to study, Chen Mu really had nothing else to do.
In any case, the company was now basically in the military's hands. He only needed to sit back and wait for the money to roll in.
Having come to the dangerous Marvel World, Chen Mu had grown less and less interested in petty cash.
What he wanted was power—power sufficient to protect himself, power to make China great and achieve rejuvenation!
"..."
What kind of boss was that?
How could he be so carefree? They had just escaped danger, yet he was not worried at all? He did not look like someone who had narrowly survived a disaster!
"Alright. I'll return to the industrial park after I finish my report."
Xu Jia nodded, changed direction, and flew straight off in another direction.
After glancing at Xu Jia's departing figure, Chen Mu also flew directly toward the industrial park.
The armor being produced in the industrial park was almost ready to be delivered to the military one after another.
Of course, he could not be bothered to deal with such matters. His main reason for returning to the industrial park was to shut himself away and keep studying.
He would arm his mind with knowledge, then use that knowledge to create powerful weapons to arm his body.
Learning brought happiness. Chen Mu simply loved studying to death.
From his previous life until now, Chen Mu had never loved learning as much as he did at this moment.
As the knowledge he mastered grew increasingly vast, Chen Mu found himself better and better able to understand Tony Stark.
No wonder Tony Stark had been so proud and arrogant. Having mastered such knowledge, he was already completely out of place among ordinary people, as though they belonged to two different worlds.
However, the greatest difference between Chen Mu and Tony Stark
was that Chen Mu's original intention had never changed.
He hoped his homeland would become strong. The deep-rooted national sentiment forged by China's thousands of years of history was what gave birth to something called patriotism.
Of course, a forest grew all kinds of birds. There would always be a small number of people who sold out their homeland for their own interests.
That was unavoidable, but such people would always be a minority.
But a country like America had existed for only a little over two hundred years. How could its people possibly possess feelings like patriotism?
If their country suffered a disaster, most of its people would be willing to abandon their homeland. Or rather, as an immigrant nation, America was not their "homeland" to begin with.
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