False Appearances and Truth

Shendu raised his right hand and gently brought his fingers together.

Thirty kilometers away, at the military command center, the control panels of every missile silo lit up at once.

No external signals had been received. This was not an outside intrusion, nor were the systems being controlled. It was as though they had come alive and activated themselves.

A massive warning window appeared on the screens.

[Targets locked: all nuclear weapon silos worldwide]

[Launch countdown: 60 seconds]

Ross's communicator suddenly rang, and the commander's heart-wrenching roar came through. "General, all nuclear warheads have been activated! Not just the United States'! Globally! We can't stop it! We can't stop it at all!"

Ross did not respond as the countdown continued through the communicator.

"56... 50... 45..."

Shendu lowered his hand and swept his gaze around the room before finally settling on Fury.

"Worm, let me teach you how to use this power."

Ross abruptly rose to his feet, his face livid. "Stop! Do you know what you're doing? Global nuclear radiation—this is the end of civilization!"

Shendu looked down at their terrified expressions, his face wearing an intoxicated smile. "The end of civilization? No. This is civilization's reordering."

The countdown in the communicator continued.

"38... 30... 25..."

Fury gritted his teeth. The desire in his heart had now been completely overwhelmed by fear. "If you really detonate every nuclear weapon in the world, you won't survive either. Have you gone mad?"

Shendu lowered his head and looked at Fury, who was kneeling on the ground. "You failed to accomplish the goal I gave you, so let me give it a push."

Shendu raised his left hand and gently brought his fingers together. The lights in the room began to flicker, while every electronic device let out a violent hum at the same time.

"On this planet, nuclear weapons are the most powerful weapons—and currently the weapons that pose the greatest threat to me."

The room fell silent once more.

[System self-check complete. All systems normal.]

"W-what is this? How can an order be withdrawn after it's been issued?" Ross muttered.

Shendu walked to the window, his back to everyone as he looked in the direction of Stark Industries.

"Tony Stark," Shendu said softly. "An ant with a slightly louder voice. He thinks he's playing a game against me, thinks his little cleverness can interfere with my plans."

Fury tried to rise from the floor, only to discover that his Achilles tendon had been severed. "Aren't you on the same side?"

Shendu did not turn around. "He's much smarter than you."

"I truly did not expect technological systems to be affected."

Shendu's expression remained unchanged. "But he only intercepted what I wanted him to intercept."

At the top floor of Stark Industries.

Tony lounged on the sofa, looking confidently at the screen before him. "This kind of cheap trick can only fool idiots like Fury."

"Sir, the situation has changed. Several missiles bypassed the system and launched directly." JARVIS's voice echoed through the room.

Tony's hand, which had been swirling his wineglass, froze instantly.

"JARVIS, analyze the trajectory data of every missile."

A few seconds later, JARVIS spoke again. "Sir, the trajectory data for all missiles has been analyzed, but the results do not conform to any known ballistic calculation model."

Tony sat up from the sofa, but JARVIS had not finished speaking.

"The presumed targets of these missiles are the coordinates of every nuclear weapons launcher in the world."

Tony's pupils contracted slightly. He stared at the screen as the lines representing missile trajectories spread and crossed, eventually converging at several critical points.

Tony stared at those lines, his mind racing. "This isn't an attack. This is..."

JARVIS continued for him. "The warheads of these missiles are all equipped with electromagnetic pulse devices. Upon striking their targets, they will not trigger nuclear explosions."

"Every nuclear weapons command system in the world will be paralyzed. Every nation's nuclear arsenal will become a pile of scrap metal."

Tony shot to his feet and walked to the global projection. "That's impossible. Other countries will definitely retaliate."

Tony stared at the lines and committed them to memory. In the end, they formed a sentence.

[What you see is only what I want you to see.]

Tony's breathing stopped for a moment. He stared at the words, his pupils contracting again.

"JARVIS, what are the technological possibilities of that sentence appearing in front of us?" Tony took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Analyzing..."

JARVIS paused for a second. "Theoretically, there are three possibilities: a deep system intrusion, remote hijacking of the projection, or quantum-level display tampering."

"But all three possibilities would require passing through Stark Industries' firewall. However, I detected no attack."

"Just give me the conclusion."

"The conclusion is that it is technically impossible." JARVIS's tone was absolute.

Tony thought of Shendu's ability to control inanimate objects. "Then this isn't a matter of technology."

"This isn't technology."

Tony repeated the words, a faint smile rising at the corner of his lips. "JARVIS, do you know what this means to me?"

"Sir, according to logical analysis, it means the other party's form of existence exceeds the scope of current technological understanding and would usually be classified as a threat," JARVIS replied.

Tony turned and stared at the scenery beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. "Wrong. It means he has limits too."

JARVIS fell silent.

Tony slowly walked over to the workbench, his fingers lightly tapping the tabletop. "If he were truly omnipotent, he wouldn't need to play these tricks."

"He needs me to see what he wants me to see, which means there are things he doesn't want me to see."

"He needs to control nuclear weapons, which means nuclear weapons really can threaten him."

"He needs to use Fury, which means there are things he cannot do."

Tony picked up a box and stared intently at its edges. "He has power, but it seems that power is currently restricted by something. Where there are restrictions, there are loopholes."

"JARVIS, I remember I still have four private nuclear weapons. Where are they now?"

"Sir, according to the records, they are still in your private warehouse, under continuous twenty-four-hour surveillance."

"JARVIS, I have a question."

"Go ahead, sir."

"Do you think Valmont can control the world's electronic systems?" Tony asked.

JARVIS was silent for a while. "Analyzing, sir. Based on the current situation, no."

Tony agreed. "Exactly. If he could really do that, he could make the nuclear weapons destroy themselves. He would never leave behind things that could threaten him."

Thinking of something, Tony continued, "Was the targeted weapon developed after reanalyzing Valmont's blood successful?"

"Sir, it is ready for deployment at any time."