Chapter Summaries

Li Si tested Bumblebee’s upgraded weak AI and combat module, then ordered it to collect fighting data and run further simulations. Meanwhile, unidentified flying objects attacked an armed group in Afghanistan and clashed with U.S. interceptors, and Li Si watched Rhodey explain the incidents to the press.

• Li Si used remote servers and a large database to build a weak AI upgrade for Bumblebee.
• Li Si ran Bumblebee’s self-diagnostics and tested its revised combat module in a simulation against the Lizard, which ended in victory after eleven minutes and six seconds.
• Li Si added the simulation results to Bumblebee’s close-combat database and ordered it to gather fighting data online for more simulations.
• An unidentified flying object attacked an armed group in Afghanistan, while another engaged U.S. interceptor aircraft and caused a fighter jet to crash.
• Rhodey told the press that the F-22 crash had occurred during a training exercise and that the U.S. government was not involved in the Camilla incident, while Li Si watched and laughed.

Lee Si waited near the Stark Group for the Iron Man—Quality Dispute boss mission as Pepper Potts and Coulson moved to confront Obadiah Stane. When players arrived and speculated that Lee Si was related to Obadiah, Lee Si angrily denied having any connection to him.

• The system announced the Iron Man—Quality Dispute boss mission, and Lee Si drove Bumblebee to the marked location.
• Bumblebee detected Pepper Potts and Coulson entering the Stark Group with S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, and Lee Si got out to watch.
• A crowd of players arrived and recognized Lee Si as Merchant.
• The players speculated that Lee Si and Obadiah Stane were relatives because they shared a surname.
• Lee Si grabbed one player by the collar and insisted he had absolutely no connection to Obadiah Stane.

Li Si tried to stop the players from gossiping about his relationship with Obadiah Stane by giving Hastur Lahr a cursed Metal Playing Card. The players discovered the permanent bad-luck effect and backed away from Li Si.

• Bumblebee told Li Si that the players were still talking about his relationship with Obadiah Stane, and Li Si decided to use psychological persuasion.
• Li Si gave Hastur Lahr a Metal Playing Card called Smile of the Goddess of Fate.
• Hastur learned that receiving the card permanently increased his chance of bad outcomes and begged Li Si to take it back.
• Li Si threatened to give Hastur another card, which would worsen the curse, and Hastur retreated in fear.
• Nearby players appraised the card, discovered its curse, and backed away from Li Si.

Li Si enjoyed the players’ fearful reactions to his fake card before Li Ritian and Ye Xi unexpectedly thanked him for bringing them together. Li Si realized his attempt to mess with Li Ritian had apparently helped the pair, and he was left feeling that he had lost out.

• Li Si read the player forums and was pleased that players believed his forged card description and feared him.
• Li Si explained to himself how he had used players’ trust in the game system to make them believe the card could bring bad luck.
• Li Ritian and Ye Xi arrived, and Li Ritian gave Li Si a wad of cash as thanks.
• Li Ritian said Li Si had brought him and Ye Xi together, then left with her without doing his side quest.
• Li Si realized Li Ritian knew Ye Xi’s identity and had still accepted their relationship, leaving Li Si unsettled that his prank had helped them.

Tony Stark arrived in his Mark III Armor to fight Obadiah, whose Iron Monger Armor quickly overpowered him. Li Si and a crowd of players watched, debating whether to intervene or simply enjoy the fight, and the chapter ended with them waiting to see whether the Merchant would join in.

• Tony Stark flew to Stark Industries and crashed into Obadiah, sending both armored figures through the building and onto the road.
• Obadiah threw Tony aside, but Tony got back up and charged him again despite being badly outmatched.
• Li Si offered to help Tony, who ignored him and focused on fighting Obadiah.
• The players debated whether they could contribute, and some left after realizing the armored fight was beyond their abilities.
• The remaining players stayed to watch, speculating about the Merchant and whether he would bring out Bumblebee or another mech.

Lee Si watched Tony Stark lose ground against Obadiah’s Iron Monger, then arrived at the Stark factory and encountered Tony and Pepper Potts. As Obadiah advanced on the powerless Tony, Lee Si stepped out of Bumblebee and snapped his fingers, preparing to help.

• Obadiah’s Iron Monger overwhelmed Tony Stark’s Mark III with its greater firepower and strength, and the two flew high above the factory.
• Lee Si drove Bumblebee through the opening in the Stark factory and warned Pepper Potts to move away from the fight.
• Lee Si called out to Tony as he landed on the roof, distracting him long enough for Obadiah to punch him off the roof beside Bumblebee.
• Tony told Lee Si to take Pepper and leave, but Obadiah landed nearby while Tony’s Mini Arc Reactor was nearly depleted.
• Lee Si stepped out of Bumblebee and snapped his fingers, saying he could help in other ways.

Li Si used Bumblebee to protect himself and Pepper Potts from Obadiah’s attack, then agreed to fight the Iron Monger Armor in exchange for a one-billion-dollar loan from Tony Stark. Bumblebee overwhelmed Obadiah in combat, leaving the fight firmly in its favor.

• At Li Si’s command, Bumblebee transformed into a towering robot, and Tony Stark admired its design.
• Obadiah arrived in the Iron Monger Armor and fired at Li Si and Pepper Potts, but Bumblebee shielded Li Si while Tony protected Pepper.
• Li Si asked Tony for a one-billion-dollar loan, and Tony agreed to pay as soon as Bumblebee took apart the Iron Monger Armor.
• Li Si moved behind a cargo container as Bumblebee charged through gunfire and destroyed Obadiah’s missiles with flares.
• Bumblebee struck the Iron Monger Armor and then dodged and countered Obadiah’s attacks, leaving him on the receiving end of a one-sided beating.

Li Si directed Bumblebee to disable the Iron Monger Armor before its battery ran out, while Tony Stark watched the fight with Pepper Potts and a crowd of players. After Bumblebee defeated Obadiah, Li Si handed Tony a slip of paper for the payment and left with Bumblebee.

• Players gathered to watch Bumblebee overwhelm Iron Monger and cheered from a distance.
• Tony Stark complained to Pepper Potts that he could build a bigger suit with more missiles.
• Li Si ordered Bumblebee to target the cables at the back of Iron Monger's neck.
• Bumblebee knocked Iron Monger down, tore out its cables, and dismantled its armor until Obadiah could no longer fight.
• Li Si gave Tony Stark the payment details, called Bumblebee over, and left without taking Obadiah.

Tony Stark defeated Obadiah Stane but struggled with the loss of someone who had once been like family. A sniper killed Obadiah before the watching players could act, and Li Si later learned the mission had settled with him as its MVP.

• Tony Stark defeated the Iron Monger Armor and faced Obadiah Stane, reflecting on their history and the choices that had brought them there.
• Tony Stark declared victory and ordered Jarvis to transfer ten billion dollars.
• The watching players considered attacking Obadiah, but a sniper shot Tony Stark’s armor and killed Obadiah.
• Tony Stark ordered Jarvis to track the fleeing sniper, then took the Iron Monger Armor’s Arc Reactor and flew away.
• Li Si received notice that he had earned 86% of the mission’s contribution points, an MVP bonus, and three achievement points for [I Am Iron Man].

Li Si was ambushed by gunmen while traveling with Bumblebee, and they fought back with missiles, machine guns, and Metal Playing Cards. After Bumblebee eliminated the nearby attackers, Li Si told Nick Fury that the assailants had shouted “Hydra,” then refused Fury’s call so he could sleep.

• Bumblebee told Li Si that Tony Stark had transferred ten billion dollars, and Li Si ordered Bernie to begin the acquisitions before settling in to nap.
• Bumblebee detected a threat and stopped the car, allowing Li Si to duck as a sniper’s bullet pierced the window; Bumblebee transformed and fired missiles at the distant high-rise.
• Gunmen opened fire from nearby buildings, and Bumblebee shielded Li Si while Li Si used Metal Playing Cards to kill several attackers.
• Li Si ordered Bumblebee to fire every missile, and the volley set the surrounding buildings ablaze and killed the nearby enemies, though the sniper’s location remained unknown.
• Li Si told Bumblebee to message Nick Fury that he had been attacked by people who shouted “Hydra,” and he rejected Fury’s call so he could sleep.

Li Si examined Terry Angus’s unusual stats and recalled the Hound Organization’s pursuit of achievement points by hunting influential NPCs. He suspected the organization’s members had either found a way to maximize their stats in the game or had already reached ideal physical condition in reality.

• Li Si reviewed Terry Angus’s stats and found all four attributes set to 1, with a Commoner template at level 0 and an Office Worker identity.
• Li Si recalled that the Hound Organization comprised the Angus Hounds, Cross Hounds, and Modal Hounds, and had hunted conspicuous NPCs to collect achievement points.
• Li Si considered how achievement points were earned through affecting people and storylines, and how interference with major heroes or villains could bring penalties.
• Li Si reasoned that Terry’s stats were not explained by his templates and wondered whether the Hound Organization had discovered a universal enhancement method or its members were already physically ideal in real life.

Li Si reflected on the Hound Organization’s past pursuit of him and his rebirth, then went to sleep while New York erupted into a massive crackdown. The Angus Hound Organization was captured, but its members killed themselves before S.H.I.E.L.D. could question them.

• Li Si recalled how the Angus Hound Organization and a mysterious group of electricity-controlling hunters had nearly killed him in his previous life.
• Li Si remembered refusing to redeem Infinite Rage because he believed it would kill him, and explained how using the Time Stone and Space Stone had led to his rebirth.
• Li Si told Bumblebee to guard the door and went to sleep in his Underground Laboratory.
• Nick Fury, Tony Stark, the police, and the military mobilized across New York to hunt for the Angus Hound Organization and other targets.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. captured the Angus Hound Organization, whose players killed themselves, while the citywide crackdown swept up gangs and players across New York.

Li Si told reporters that Bumblebee had helped stop the previous night's battles and that he would intervene only when disaster or crime happened in front of him. When the press corps rushed to cover an upcoming military and Stark Group press conference, Mary stayed behind to continue interviewing him.

• Li Si emerged from the Underground Laboratory and faced a crowd of reporters gathered outside.
• Li Si told a reporter that Bumblebee had stepped in to stop the battles near the Stark Group factory district.
• Li Si said he would act as a concerned citizen in emergencies but would leave punishment and justice to the law.
• Reporters received word of a joint military and Stark Group press conference and hurried off to Stark Tower.
• Mary returned to Li Si, and he invited her and her cameraman inside for more questions.

Li Si gave Mary an interview about the Iron Men and criticized the Mark Armor for wasting space by carrying a human pilot. After Mary and the cameraman left, Li Si reflected that the stunt had helped build his reputation as a genius scientist by setting himself up as Tony Stark’s rival.

• Mary asked Li Si where the Iron Men came from, and he said they were from a Stark Group factory without revealing Tony Stark’s identity.
• Li Si praised the armor’s technology but called its design foolish because a human pilot took up space and limited its combat potential.
• When Mary asked whether he would develop similar armor, Li Si said he planned to build a larger version for an excellent Warrior to pilot.
• After Mary and the cameraman left, Li Si admitted he had used the interview to take a jab at Tony Stark and cultivate fame as a rival genius scientist.

At a press conference, Tony Stark abandoned his prepared statement and publicly admitted that he was Iron Man. Afterward, Mary realized her interview with Lee Stein could lead to an exclusive story about Lee and Tony’s clash of ideas.

• Mary and her cameraman arrived at Stark Group Tower just before Tony Stark’s press conference began.
• Colonel Rhodes read a statement saying that Tony Stark’s bodyguard and Lee Stein had stopped a malfunctioning robot, and that an explosion nearby had been an accident.
• A reporter challenged Tony Stark’s claim that he was not Iron Man and pointed out that Rhodes’s statement made Lee Stein sound like the superhero.
• Tony Stark stopped reading his prepared remarks and declared, “I am Iron Man.”
• Mary and her cameraman left the tower excited about their recorded interview with Lee Stein and planned to release it as an exclusive story.

Tony Stark and Lee Stein became the focus of a nationwide debate over their competing technologies, while Stark Group’s stock soared and Lee gained a ten percent stake. Pepper Potts urged Tony to attend to the company, but he reassured her that they could handle it.

• The media flooded the United States with coverage of Tony Stark’s identity reveal and Lee Stein’s role in the battle, then CBS aired Mary’s interview with Li Si and a debate about their technology.
• Supporters of Transformers and Mark Armor argued across the country over whether Lee Stein’s or Tony Stark’s designs were better.
• Stark Group’s stock price surged, and Lee Si profited from his ten percent stake in the company.
• Pepper Potts told Tony Stark that Lee Stein had become a major shareholder and urged him to pay attention to Stark Group’s affairs.
• Tony Stark ignored the tablet Pepper showed him and encouraged her to trust both him and herself.

Tony Stark reacted to Lee Stein’s criticism of the Iron Man Armor, while Lee watched Tony’s press conference and reflected on his declaration that he was Iron Man. Lee then found Tony’s analytical tweets about him and began preparing a Twitter response with Bumblebee.

• Pepper Potts showed Tony Stark Lee Stein’s video critique, and Tony demanded that Jarvis post a response before Pepper talked him down.
• Tony remembered that the armor had become a refuge from his fear and unease.
• Lee watched Tony’s press conference and reflected on the meaning behind his declaration, “I am Iron Man.”
• Bumblebee found Tony’s tweet analyzing Lee and his armor, and Lee guessed Tony had asked Jarvis to write it.
• Lee told Bumblebee to create a Twitter account and respond, then began programming while Bumblebee prepared for an online war.

Li Si turned Bumblebee and Jarvis’s online debate into a meme battle, giving Bumblebee the advantage over Tony Stark. Tony ended the chapter furiously trying to match Li Si’s meme-making skill.

• Tony Stark and Lee Stein’s debate on Twitter drew a crowd as people realized that Jarvis and Bumblebee were intelligent programs arguing on their own.
• Li Si installed an animated-image generator in Bumblebee, which sent Jarvis memes depicting Bumblebee defeating the Iron Man Armor.
• Jarvis showed the images to Tony Stark and asked him to handle the unfamiliar replies.
• Tony Stark created a meme system for Jarvis, but Li Si overwhelmed him by having Bumblebee produce memes at a rapid pace.
• Tony Stark shouted in frustration as he struggled to make memes as effective as Li Si’s.

After the meme battle with Tony Stark helped unlock the Genius Scientist template, Li Si examined its bonuses and skills and considered how to advance its Legend. The progress remained slow, and Tony’s impressive native templates left Li Si frustrated.

• Bumblebee and Jarvis’s meme battle with Tony Stark sparked a meme craze across the United States.
• Li Si unlocked the Genius Scientist template, gaining an Intelligence bonus, faster learning, and the Intensive Reading skill.
• Li Si reviewed how Intensive Reading could help him memorize knowledge without spending time on reading progress.
• Li Si saw that the Genius Scientist Legend had reached only 6% and expected the clash with Tony Stark to raise it to just 40 or 50%.
• Li Si compared his player templates with Tony Stark’s Legendary templates and reflected that natives gained templates as labels for abilities they had already developed.

Li Si spent his remaining Points Shop currency on the Ion Thruster and Mini Arc Reactor, then used his Universal Experience to raise the Commoner Template to level 4. He began the Spirit-based breakthrough assessment and settled in to endure it while processing the newly acquired technical data.

• Li Si chose the Ion Thruster and Mini Arc Reactor over the other shop technologies and converted his remaining points into Universal Experience.
• Li Si spent 50,000 experience to raise the Commoner Template from LV3 to LV4, increasing all his attributes by 1.
• Li Si started the breakthrough assessment and redeemed the two technologies, causing technical data to flood into his mind.
• The assessment placed Li Si in a dark, oppressive sand-filled space and tasked him with finding five gold grains before time ran out.
• Li Si recognized the test as a trial of perception and patience, then lay back and used the accelerated time to sort through the technical data.