Heart-to-Heart

"Sigh, I knew it..." Fang Bie sighed, discovering that the electronic devices he had brought back were essentially useless. "Wait, this small Arc Reactor he gave me seems to still work..."

Although they had anticipated this result from the very beginning, seeing it happen right before their eyes still left him feeling disappointed.

Back when Tony and his companion first brought firearms into this world, they had spent some time studying the weapons.

They were shocked to discover that once the guns entered this world, they immediately turned into piles of scrap metal. While they maintained the shape of firearms, their internal structures had been completely rewritten by the rules of this world.

All the iron in the guns had transformed into the standard iron he used for crafting, and while some of the various metal components simply dissipated, others shifted into different materials. Even though they still looked like guns, they had lost all ability to threaten anyone.

Therefore, when they brought these items back, they had already expected that many things would become unusable upon entering such a unique world.

However, Fang Bie still held onto a sliver of hope. After all, their clothes and the small amount of food they carried hadn't been eroded by these laws, so he wanted to test what exactly governed this rule.

"Yinsen, is there anything you brought that still works?" Fang Bie turned to ask the doctor, who was silently tidying up their belongings.

"All the electronic devices have lost their functionality, but the batteries seem to still work. The clothing and food weren't significantly affected, and while the base materials seem to have been swapped for different substances, it doesn't hinder their use. Other than that, there's nothing else..."

Yinsen was sorting the items into chests, a task he handled with ease. He was someone who had volunteered to come to this world.

In his own words: "I have no parents or family left, and I don't intend to go looking for any. I had already lost all hope and interest in living, but your world has reignited that hope in me. So, let me go back with you!"

Fang Bie certainly wouldn't refuse a doctor he knew well who also possessed powerful research capabilities. With his nod of approval, this doctor became the first Villager in his world.

"Ah, forget it!" Fang Bie shook his head slightly, pushing those distracting thoughts aside. This setback wasn't a huge blow; he had expected it, and at most, it was just a bit disappointing.

He looked up at the screen that had appeared before him once again. It remained unchanged, looking just like the interface of a game he usually played.

However, when he faced Yinsen, the screen displayed a rather intelligent prompt: "Would you like to register this member as a permanent resident?"

Fang Bie gently tapped the box representing "Yes" below. A faint green glow enveloped Yinsen, and the permissions that had previously been only temporarily granted to him now became his unique ability.

Fang Bie could clearly feel that, from this moment on, the other man could no longer cause him any harm, and he, in turn, could see all the attributes of the other's body.

"Oh, Fang Bie, did you do this?" Yinsen clearly sensed it too, looking up in surprise to ask.

"Yes!" Fang Bie nodded. "Since you want to live here permanently, this is the permanent residency permission!"

Looking at Yinsen now, he was no different from a Villager, though he existed somewhere between a common Villager and a player—possessing all the buffs of a player while simultaneously holding the status of a Villager in this world.

"Record all of this down; we'll have a reference and comparison the next time we encounter this situation," Fang Bie said, his mind wandering further.

Looking at it this way, the level of his world was truly higher than he had imagined.

Everything from this world brought into Tony's world didn't deteriorate, but many things from that world were forcibly altered by the rules upon entering this one. Aside from the fact that the rules of MC were stronger, he couldn't think of a more logical explanation.

It had been morning when they left, but now the sky was approaching dusk. This indicated that the issue of inconsistent time flow they had previously judged had been resolved, so Fang Bie temporarily sealed the stone portal.

Only when Tony was near the gate could Fang Bie feel the displacement—like a player wanting to join the fray—through the screen in front of him. If anyone else walked up to this gate, they would likely just mistake it for a few blocks of stone.

Furthermore, before leaving, he had filled the entire area with stone, leaving no impression of a gate at all. From this moment on, his experiences in the Marvel world had come to a temporary close.

Yet, a vague intuition told him that this matter hadn't truly ended. That disaster-prone and bizarre world would always have plenty of things waiting for them.

And as friends of Iron Man, they wouldn't sit idly by while he fell into danger.

Of course, that was a matter for the future. For now, they needed to consider what to do next.

"Yinsen, since you've decided to live here long-term, why don't you tell me your plans for the future?" Fang Bie casually took a cake out of a nearby chest.

This certainly wasn't something he had made in this world; he hadn't even found a cow yet, so how could he make a cake?

This was one of the food items they had brought from Tony's side. Since they had guessed that many electronic devices wouldn't work, they had brought more daily necessities than tools.

Things like common blankets, clothes for changing, various toiletries, and all sorts of food and basic tools.

Money really can do anything, Fang Bie couldn't help but sigh. Even though they had filled both of their inventories to the brim, they hadn't even spent a fraction of the money on the card Tony had shoved at him.

"I need to build myself a house—a house where I can live and study this world!" Yinsen's understanding of this world was still not very deep, and his eyes were filled with endless curiosity.

"Fang Bie, you are a miraculous person, and this is a miraculous world. I will live here; as long as you don't drive me away, I will stay forever!" A sunny smile appeared on his somewhat weary face.

Fang Bie laughed, "I should be the one thanking you for choosing me. Why would I drive you away? From now on, you are the doctor of my village. Nice to meet you, Dr. Yinsen!"

"Nice to meet you, Mayor!" Yinsen also smiled and reached out to shake his hand, the scene seemingly freezing in that moment.

And so, Fang Bie had his first permanent resident in his village.