Morals? Do Players Even Have Such a Thing?

"What the f*ck!?"

Tony Stark and Yinsen were so startled by this sudden scene that their hearts nearly stopped.

Tony, in particular, hadn't closed his eyes for two days to keep up with the progress, and this scare nearly caused him to pass out on the spot.

Under their shocked gazes, Du Mu nimbly climbed out of the pit, brushed the dust off his body, and casually slung a pixel-style pickaxe over his shoulder.

[Item: Diamond Pickaxe]

[Effect: Greatly increases mining efficiency; can quickly harvest/destroy most minerals and rocks.]

[Evaluation: If Shawshank had this pickaxe, he would have saved at least 27 years of detours.]

"Who are you!?"

Tony was the first to regain his senses, his eyes fixed warily on this mysterious stranger.

Du Mu grinned: "You must be Tony Stark. I'm here to rescue you."

"Did the military send you?"

"No, I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Here is my business card."

Tony took the card and looked at it.

FBI, Senior Agent Du Mu.

"?"

"Uh, sorry, wrong one."

Du Mu retracted the card with extreme naturalness, then pulled a large handful of various business cards from his pocket.

Department of Defense, CIA, NYPD, IRS...

Tony: ಠ_ಠ

"Found it."

Du Mu finally found the right card and handed it over.

Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, Senior Agent Du Mu.

Tony looked at the long, convoluted name of the agency, feeling as if it were something made up by a novelist just to pad the word count.

He looked at Du Mu suspiciously: "How many people did your Strategic Homeland... agency send?"

Du Mu smiled confidently: "Just me."

"???"

Tony's face turned black.

Is this guy here to mess with me?

Du Mu didn't care about Tony's reaction; his eyes were firmly locked onto the rugged steel armor on the other man's body.

[Mark I Armor (Bound to Tony Stark)]

[Description: A power armor hand-crafted by Tony in a cave using scrap materials; requires a massive amount of energy to operate.]

"Good stuff!"

Du Mu's eyes lit up.

No man could resist the temptation of armor, and he was no exception—this was the ultimate romance for a man!

It was just a pity that it was bound to Tony, a main plot character; otherwise, he could have tried to see if it would drop as loot.

Du Mu sighed with regret.

He had long since verified that the NPCs in this game did not have a respawn mechanism.

Once an NPC died, they would disappear permanently, never to appear again, and the associated quests would become invalid.

Therefore, it was better not to lay a hand on main plot characters if possible.

Though, he could try it during a second playthrough.

Du Mu calculated silently.

Tony felt his skin crawl under Du Mu's eager and dangerous gaze. Just as he was about to speak, a noisy commotion suddenly erupted outside the cave!

Tony's expression changed drastically, and he looked sharply at the monitor in the corner.

Clearly, the terrorists had monitored the situation here and were rushing toward them.

"They're here! Hurry up!"

Tony ignored Du Mu and shouted at Yinsen.

Before long, terrorists had arrived outside the cave, banging on the iron door and shouting in a language they couldn't understand.

"BOOM--!"

The moment the terrorists forcibly pulled open the iron door, a deafening explosion rang out!

The bombs Tony and Yinsen had pre-set at the entrance detonated, leaving several charred corpses on the ground amidst the swirling smoke and rubble.

Before the two could catch their breath, the sound of denser footsteps approached rapidly from the distance!

"Damn it!"

Tony Stark was burning with anxiety; these terrorists had arrived much faster than expected.

"Yinsen, start the power system immediately!"

"But the armor hasn't finished calibrating yet..."

"There's no time for that! Hurry!"

Tony Stark knew the risks of force-starting the iron armor were immense, but he had no other choice.

If he didn't start it now, once the terrorists stormed in, they wouldn't even have a chance to resist!

Yinsen gritted his teeth and, under Tony Stark's direction, initiated the power system as the progress bar on the computer screen began to crawl forward.

Outside the cave, the roars and footsteps of the terrorists grew ever closer.

"It's too late!"

Yinsen took a deep breath, grabbed a rifle from beside a corpse, and his eyes turned incredibly resolute: "I'll go hold them off!"

With that, he rushed out of the cave without a moment's hesitation.

"Yinsen! Come back! Stick to the plan!"

Tony Stark shouted anxiously, but Yinsen's figure had already vanished at the cave entrance.

Click-clack...

At this tragic and tense moment, an out-of-place sound rang out.

Du Mu was seen munching on melon seeds he had pulled from who knows where, watching this scene of life-and-death separation with great relish.

"The cutscene is decent, though the plot is a bit cliché."

Du Mu spat out a seed shell and commented.

Based on his extensive experience immersed in countless game plots, this NPC named Yinsen was highly likely to be sacrificed.

Wait, why did this plot progression feel so familiar?

Du Mu suddenly realized something was off and looked at Tony Stark with suspicion.

Come to think of it, hand-crafting power armor out of scrap metal in a cave was inherently unscientific—it was practically blatant cheating.

Add in the "sacrificing a companion" trope.

This kind of treatment usually only belonged to the protagonist, right?

"System, don't tell me the protagonist is this guy with the mustache, and I'm just a passing camera."

[Please rest assured, Player. This game has no preset protagonist. The system will not interfere with any of your decisions; you are free to participate in the plot.]

[Whether you become the protagonist, a supporting character, or a bystander is entirely your choice.]

"That's good."

Du Mu breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't want to be some mobile camera, falling asleep every single day.

Tony Stark watched Du Mu leisurely cracking melon seeds and felt his lungs were about to explode with rage.

We're out here risking our lives, and you're just sitting there cracking seeds and watching the show!?

But then he reconsidered; since this guy claimed to be an agent, he should have at least some combat capability.

Clinging to a final shred of hope, Tony Stark shouted urgently at Du Mu: "Hey, Agent! Help me stop Yinsen! Don't let him do something stupid!"

Yinsen was a scientist with no strength to truss a chicken; against a group of vicious terrorists, the outcome was obvious.

He was a dead man walking!

Hearing Tony Stark's words, Du Mu scoffed: "Heh, who do you think you are? I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. If I did whatever you told me to, wouldn't I lose face?"

[NPC Tony Stark has issued a new quest]

[Quest: Save Yinsen]

[Objective: Ensure Yinsen survives]

[Reward: 1000 EXP, Tony Stark Favorability +20, Random Rare Quality Item *1]

"But then again, as a model citizen, how could I stand by and watch someone die? Don't worry, this quest is on me!"

The disdain on Du Mu's face vanished instantly, replaced by an expression of righteous indignation.

The speed of this face-turn left Tony Stark dumbfounded.

As for integrity?

Du Mu would argue that game players don't have such things.