Novice Village Chief

The next day, a Quinjet quietly arrived over the Middle East.

Inside the cabin, a middle-aged man pointed at the desert outside the porthole and said in a deep voice, "The area below is the last confirmed location where Tony Stark went missing. The complex political environment limits us, preventing any large-scale search operations. We can only investigate covertly, so this mission must be kept low-profile."

Du Mu nodded. "Don't worry, Village Chief. I'm famous for being low-profile."

"I'll reiterate: I am Coulson, not some village chief."

"Stop pretending. You're the starter village chief; I can even see the title above your head."

"..."

Coulson subconsciously glanced at his empty head, left with nothing but a helpless expression.

He had read Du Mu's file and knew his style and history like the back of his hand.

Du Mu, an outstanding graduate of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, had displayed extraordinary personal ability and execution since joining S.H.I.E.L.D. two months ago.

No matter how difficult the mission, he could always handle it alone, never formulated an extraction plan, and never required support.

In just two months, he had completed 48 missions with a staggering 100% success rate!

Such terrifying efficiency made even Coulson, known as the workaholic of S.H.I.E.L.D., feel outmatched. Because of this, Du Mu was exceptionally promoted to a Level 5 agent, setting the fastest promotion record in S.H.I.E.L.D. history.

However, Du Mu had a near-paranoid obsession with completing missions, one could even say he was unscrupulous.

During a secret infiltration mission, he once slaughtered nearly a hundred soldiers in a base. Not a single person survived, and even the two guard dogs didn't escape!

When this happened, Nick Fury immediately sealed the information.

Nearly a hundred soldiers dead—the scale of casualties was almost equivalent to a small-scale conflict!

They were S.H.I.E.L.D., not Hydra!

When faced with Nick Fury's stern questioning afterward, Du Mu's response was very righteous.

There were no witnesses throughout the entire process, and no alarms were triggered. Wasn't that the most perfect infiltration?

Yes, very logical!

The analysis report from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s psychological experts indicated that Du Mu was suspected of suffering from severe delusions.

To him, the entire world was a massive virtual game.

Everyone else was an NPC.

And he was the only player!

Under normal circumstances, such an extremely dangerous and uncontrollable factor should have been placed on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s highest-alert blacklist and kept under strict surveillance.

But Nick Fury did not do so.

After all, what boss would be willing to fire an employee who single-handedly raised the company's entire KPI?

Regarding Du Mu's style of conduct, Nick Fury ultimately chose to turn a blind eye.

Of course, he couldn't open both eyes anyway.

Since his own boss was like this, Coulson, as a subordinate, naturally wouldn't say anything more.

"If there are no issues with the mission plan, I'll notify the pilot to find a safe landing spot."

Coulson said, preparing to contact the cockpit.

"No need for that much trouble."

Du Mu waved his hand.

Before Coulson could react, he casually pressed the button to open the cabin door.

Coulson was horrified. "Wait! We're at an altitude of several hundred meters! You don't have a parachute..."

"Woohoo, takeoff!"

Before the words faded, Du Mu shouted, spread his arms, and leaped out of the cabin door.

Leaving only Coulson standing in the cabin, completely bewildered.

Yellow sand swirled.

Du Mu plummeted from hundreds of meters in the air. The violent airflow tore at his clothes, and nothing but the whistling of the wind remained in his ears.

The ground magnified rapidly in his field of vision; jagged rocks and undulating sand dunes were clearly visible.

There wasn't a trace of panic on Du Mu's face. His body spun violently in mid-air, shifting into a face-up position. He spread his arms, then quickly pulled them in to protect his chest.

Just as he was about to make contact with the ground—

Bang!

A large pile of dry, fluffy hay appeared out of thin air directly below him. Du Mu slammed into the hay with pinpoint accuracy, kicking up a sky full of straw.

Then, he hopped out of the haystack with ease, completely unscathed.

[Skill: Leap of Faith]

[Effect: When you fall from a great height, a haystack will inevitably appear below to catch you, granting immunity to all fall damage]

[Evaluation: Nothing is true, everything is permitted]

This was a skill Du Mu had obtained upon completing a certain mission; setting aside its practicality, the main point was that it was explosively cool.

So much so that now, whenever he stood on a slightly elevated spot, he felt an urge to jump down.

"Where the hell did this bring me?"

Du Mu looked around. Everywhere he could see were monotonous sand dunes. The harsh environment made it difficult to even identify directions, let alone find someone.

However, this was not a problem for him.

"System, track the mission target."

[Mission target "Tony Stark" location marked]

As the system's voice rang out, a conspicuous golden dot immediately appeared on the mini-map.

"Not bad, not too far," Du Mu muttered, picking up his pace and running toward the golden dot.

Dozens of minutes later.

Following the mission marker, Du Mu arrived at the edge of a valley surrounded by massive rocky mountains.

He lowered his body to peer down, where a crude, small camp was hidden at the bottom of the valley.

The perimeter was filled with fortifications built from sandbags and barbed wire, while the interior was stacked with various weapon crates bearing the Stark Industries logo, along with scattered wreckage of missile components.

Inside the camp, a group of armed militants with live ammunition patrolled back and forth; there were at least forty of them.

And the golden dot of the mission marker was located deep within the dark cave at the very back of the camp.

Du Mu observed that the only path leading to the cave was heavily guarded, making infiltration quite difficult.

Under normal circumstances, he would have already started a Battle Frenzy.

But this mission was relatively important.

It was better not to alert the enemy before finding the mission target.

"Looks like the front door won't work; I'll have to find another way."

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The crisp sound of hammering echoed within the cave.

Under the dim light, a man was working hard at the forge.

Don't misunderstand, this person wasn't a prisoner, but the Iron MAN, Tony Stark!

Ever since he was kidnapped by terrorists three months ago, he had been imprisoned in this isolated cave, suffering threats and humiliation from the terrorists, all to force him to build a new type of missile.

But who was Tony?

He had been rebellious since he was a child; if you told him to go east, he would definitely go west!

Thus, under the guise of building missiles, he requisitioned a large amount of materials and tools from the terrorists and, with the help of fellow prisoner Dr. Yinsen, secretly designed and built a suit of iron armor sufficient to help them fight their way out.

Tony used iron tongs to place a steel mask on the workbench, and Yinsen, who had been burying himself in work, looked up at the sound.

"The core components are almost ready; now all that's left is the final assembly and starting the power system."

Tony's voice was low and hoarse, carrying a trace of imperceptible exhaustion.

"Yinsen, we don't have much time left. Those guys seem to be getting suspicious; we must act as soon as possible!"

"Leave the rest to me," Yinsen nodded earnestly.

"Good. When the time comes, you hide here. After I clear out the scum outside and confirm it's safe, you can come out with me."

Tony's eyes were filled with determination.

The various hardships he had experienced over these days had turned this playboy, who indulged in gambling, drinking, and women, into someone mature and steady.

He swore to himself in his heart.

If he could make it back alive this time, he, Tony Stark, would never touch gambling again!

Next, with Yinsen's assistance, Tony began to put on the heavy armor components one by one.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump...

Just as the two were busy, a dull and strange digging sound suddenly came from the rocky ground beneath their feet.

"What's that sound?"

Tony and Yinsen's movements froze simultaneously, and they looked at each other in confusion.

However, before they could react, a shocking scene occurred!

Less than two meters from where they stood, the hard ground was wiped away as if by an invisible eraser, disappearing in an instant!

In its place was a perfectly square pit, about one meter on each side!

Suddenly, a head poked out from the pit.

His eyes stared straight at Tony.

"Found you!"