The Arrival

Bombers are infallible against civilian vehicles—a conclusion drawn from countless trials—but the high command was still uneasy and dispatched ground troops to search for and confirm that Doom was indeed dead.

After all, Doom was able to hide for nearly a year despite being wanted globally, until a chance encounter exposed his identity. Such a skill in escaping cannot be ignored.

Even with the most extreme and conservative thinking, Doom was incredibly lucky to have survived the air raid. This squad of soldiers was there to finish him off; a few shots from their automatic rifles would see if he was still alive.

"What is that?!"

"An object is rapidly approaching from above!"

"Fire! Fire now!"

"Damn it, we should have brought Rocket."

After the soldiers exchanged a few hurried words, the surveillance footage was cut off. The last image was of a tall figure emerging from the flames of the burning bus. Illuminated by the firelight, its mechanically beautiful shape was clearly visible; it was obviously an Iron Man suit.

"Quickly find out which country this Iron Man suit belongs to!" a high-ranking military official shouted hurriedly.

In the military industry, everyone copies each other. After Osborn Group's Knight Armor System and Stark Industries' Mark I Iron Man suit were sold and put into actual combat, such epoch-making weapons could not be kept secret, and countries certainly had the idea of imitating them.

However, according to Tony Stark, the Iron Man suit is a miracle born from the combination of his advanced wisdom and Stark's representation of the world's most advanced productivity. Without his wisdom and Stark Industries' technological strength, other United States tech giants combined could only produce a low-end version. Lucia, inheriting the CCCP legacy, has been resting on its laurels and has made little progress in high technology, making it unlikely to develop its own. Europe, while potentially capable, is ultimately just a multinational alliance, not a truly powerful nation like the CCCP, prioritizing its own national interests. After all, both the Arc Reactor and J.A.R.V.I.S., the central control system, represent world-class technology. Even selling the Mark I to the US military would ensure that other countries wouldn't catch up for ten years, and ten years is enough time for him to upgrade the Iron Man suit to Mark IV.

As for that mysterious country across the ocean, Tony Stark said he couldn't understand it. As one of the four ancient civilizations, it has a long history, vast territory, and a huge population. Its people are good at creating miracles, and its top talents have even secured a place in the United States —yes, you, Third Brother.

As for the Knight Armor System, a competitor, Tony Stark set aside his pride and studied the disassembly data he had previously left behind. He even asserted that even he could not replicate it without in-depth research, because the Knight Armor System was a perfect combination of biological science and electromechanical engineering. With the current technology of Earth, developing it in this direction would only be a futile waste of money and time. It belonged only to Kent Clark.

But just now, right before their eyes, an unfamiliar Iron Man suit attacked their army. How could they not be surprised? At this critical moment, they could only find out which country the Iron Man suit belonged to as soon as possible.

"Notify the local garrison that all ground troops have been killed in action, and order a saturation bombing raid on the area. Don't worry about international repercussions!"

The military leader's statement was echoed by the others. Compared to allowing other countries to acquire advanced weapons, the little bit of dirt that Doom possessed was nothing.

Meanwhile, Wei Xiuming, who had flown at high speed to the location where Doom's cell phone signal disappeared, stopped in the air and saw only a bus burning fiercely and five military Humvees blocking it from both ends of the road.

"Magnetic Field Rotation, Magnetic Field Sky Blade!"

Because this Destroyer Armor was an experimental model built to fit Wei Xiuming's physique, it was not equipped with any weapons. This was one of the reasons why Zheng Xian was able to lend it out, but Wei Xiuming himself was a powerful weapon.

An invisible blade of energy, compressed and condensed by magnetic force, sliced the bus in two. Destroyer Armor descended from the sky, landing on the ground between the two halves. "Five Extremes Power, Ice and Snow!"

Under the Magnetic Field Rotation, the heat energy released by the burning material was quickly drawn and gathered into the palm of the Destroyer Armor. The temperature in the air dropped rapidly below the ignition point of the flammable material, and the fire was extinguished almost instantly. If it weren't for the few wisps of smoke still floating in some places, no one would have been able to tell that the vehicle was still burning fiercely just seconds before.

The life monitoring system attached to the armor was able to function normally without interference.

"There are three people with weak signs of life, but their vital signs are rapidly declining. If they are not treated quickly, they will be beyond saving." Although he didn't know if Doom was among the three survivors, Wei Xiuming would not let the group of United States soldiers outside go—just like their purpose for this trip: to kill them and silence them.

The force of the Magnetic Field Rotation erupted once again, burning out all the electronic equipment on the bodies and vehicles of more than twenty soldiers. The Humvee, whose spark plugs had burned out, was completely broken down. The soldiers could not outrun the Destroyer Armor.

Before that, the squad commander had already ordered them to prepare to fire, and the machine gunners had turned the muzzles of their vehicle-mounted machine guns toward the Destroyer Armor. But facing this kind of enemy, the commander, who was used to receiving intelligence from the homeland, knew that without anti-materiel weapons, they were very likely to be unable to do anything to the enemy.

Despite their long period of peace and constant training, their orders before departure were to arrange for a bus.

After the firelight illuminating the night sky went out, the vehicle-mounted machine gun opened fire without the commander's order. Bullets slicing through the air surged towards the Destroyer Armor, but couldn't even leave a scratch on the outer armor.

"Don't get in my way!"

Without needing to make many moves, Wei Xiuming no longer needed to take this level of enemy seriously. He simply threw out the heat he had extracted earlier, and the Humvee that was directly hit was like it had been hit by an RPG, instantly destroyed. The soldiers who were using the vehicle as cover were also blown away, and upon landing, they were either dead or knocked unconscious. After repeating this several times, the gunfire finally stopped.

The Destroyer Armor unfolded its outer layers like a blooming flower. Wei Xiuming stepped out and walked towards the half-burnt vehicle body, carefully using magnetic force to pull out the three survivors and place them aside.

"There are two girls and one adult male."

Although all three were unconscious and had burns of varying degrees, Wei Xiuming was still able to easily identify that the surviving adult male was the Doom he was looking for.

Looking at Doom, who was almost charred but still alive, Wei Xiuming revealed a villainous smile.

"You've really given me a pleasant surprise, Victor Doom. From today onwards, you are Doctor Doom!"