New York Citizens' Survival Rules: Never Look Directly at Iron Man!

On a desolate, retro street.

Jiang Li held the yellowed, blood-written flyer between two fingers, his gaze fixed on the third rule.

[Rule Three: Stark Industries is the city's only charitable institution. But remember, absolutely, absolutely never look directly at anyone wearing red and gold armor! If you find your skin starting to rust, you should end it all.]

"To end it all?"

Jiang Li's lips curled into a cold smile.

He crumpled the flyer into a ball, about to throw it away, when suddenly, an extremely piercing air raid siren blared abruptly over the entire retro-styled New York City!

Waaaaah!!

The moment the alarm sounded, pedestrians on the entire street stopped in unison, as if a machine had been suddenly de-energized.

The woman in the broken high heels froze on the spot.

The newsboy waving the newspaper shut his mouth.

At the same second, all the pedestrians made the exact same move—they all lowered their heads in unison, pressed their chins tightly against their chests, and covered their eyes with their hands.

On the entire street, only Jiang Li remained standing ramrod straight.

Click click... click click...

A sickening metallic scraping sound came from above.

Jiang Li didn't lower his head; instead, he raised his eyes and looked at the pale green sky.

Not far away in mid-air, a red and gold humanoid suit of armor was slowly descending.

That's Iron Man's Mark Armor.

However, it was unlike any high-tech combat suit Jiang Li knew. The surface of this armor was covered with dark red rust and dark green freckles. Its joints did not have precise mechanical engagement; instead, they leaked a strange liquid that resembled a mixture of black machine oil and viscous blood.

Its mask had no glowing eyes, only two deep black holes, inside which countless tiny gears seemed to be writhing wildly.

This is not a high-tech weapon.

This is an "abnormal entity" disguised in a mechanical shell.

Just then, not far from Jiang Li, a fat man in a trench coat seemed to be trembling so violently from fear that his hands were not properly covered, and his right eye accidentally peeked out from between his fingers.

His gaze happened to sweep over the red and gold rusted armor in mid-air.

"Ah..."

The fat man let out a very short, muffled groan.

He immediately covered his eyes tightly, but it was too late.

A bizarre scene unfolded. There were no laser beams, no physical attacks. The rusty armor didn't even glance at the fat man, continuing its slow patrol in mid-air.

But without warning, a dark red the Spot appeared on the back of the fat man's right hand.

That's rust.

"No... no! I didn't see it! I swear I didn't see it!"

The fat man screamed in terror, frantically trying to pick at the rust on the back of his right hand with his left. But the rust wasn't on the surface of his skin; it had grown from the deepest part of his flesh!

Sizzle sizzle--

A chilling change has begun.

Rust spread visibly along the fat man's veins. In just three seconds, his entire right arm withered away, the flesh turning into rough, rusty iron, and the bones becoming stuck, rusty gears.

"Kill me! Please, just kill me!"

The fat man rolled on the ground in agony, howling in pain. But the pedestrians around him, heads bowed, remained standing there lifelessly, ignoring him completely.

He tried to follow the rules on the flyer to "take his own life," but his rusty right arm was already immobile.

Rust quickly spread to his neck and half of his cheek. His eyeballs turned into two rusty iron nuts, and what came out of his mouth was no longer a sound, but the clattering of gears grinding together.

Less than ten seconds.

A living human being, right before Jiang Li, was completely transformed into a pile of rusty, blood-soaked scrap metal, no longer moving.

Causality is negated.

Once the rule of "direct observation" is triggered, one will be assimilated by the "Rust Concept." No physical contact is required.

"This method of killing is quite time-saving and labor-saving."

Jiang Li looked at the pile of iron lumps on the ground, feeling no fear, but rather a strong fighting spirit rising in his eyes.

He really wanted to know if this so-called law of causality that ignores defense could shatter his body, which was the most advanced in the universe.

Jiang Li turned around immediately.

Instead of bowing his head, he strode to the center of the street. He raised his head and stared intently at the rusty armored vehicle patrolling in mid-air.

Their eyes met.

Not only that, Jiang Li arrogantly raised his right hand and gave the middle finger to the indescribable armor.

"Hey, you piece of junk, all red-skinned and broken."

"I'm looking you straight in the eye. Come on, let me rust and see what happens."

Seemingly sensing Jiang Li's provocation, the armored vehicle paused in mid-air. The two deep black holes on its mask were now aimed at Jiang Li.

[Rule 3 has been triggered.]

[Punishment mechanism activated.]

There was no energy fluctuation, and no physical trajectory.

Jiang Li suddenly felt a slight itch on the back of his left hand.

Look down.

On the back of his hand, a dark red patch of rust, the size of a fingernail, was clearly visible!

The rules are in effect.

The moment the rust appeared, it attempted to devour Jiang Li's cells and turn them into rusty scrap iron.

However!

The terrifying genome belonging to [Ultimate Omnipotent Kryptonian Doomsday] within Jiang Li's body reacted with its most ferocious fury the instant it sensed the foreign invasion!

Boom!

A muffled rumble erupted from Jiang Li's body, like a nuclear reactor operating at full capacity. Krypton cells released extreme solar energy, Doomsday's healing factor instantly burned and peeled away the flesh and blood in the area where the rust was located!

The rust evaporated.

But before Jiang Li could even utter a cold laugh...

One-hundredth of a second later.

The evaporated rust reappeared in its original spot without warning! Not only that, it spread even further, completely covering the back of Jiang Li's hand!

The Doomsday cells incinerated it once again.

Rust has appeared for the third time!

Burn it down! It appears! Burn it down! It appears!

On the back of Jiang Li's hand, flesh and rust engaged in a high-frequency tug-of-war tens of thousands of times in just a few seconds. The intense pain and energy depletion caused Jiang Li's brows to furrow deeply.

"I see."

Looking at his left hand, which was constantly rusting yet constantly healing itself, Jiang Li finally understood the bizarre logic of this universe.

This is neither a toxin nor a virus.

This is the "Causality Code".

Because Jiang Li looked directly at Iron Man (cause), he had to rust (effect).

The Doomsday gene can destroy the rust an infinite number of times, but as long as the "Causality Law" of this universe continues to operate, the rust will be reborn an infinite number of times.

Jiang Li could use physical force to shatter this planet, or even tear apart the dimensional barriers of this universe. But he couldn't kill an "invisible rule" with a single punch.

This is like Jiang Li being a supercomputer with unparalleled hardware configuration, but he has now been infected with a low-level logic virus.

You can't kill a virus by smashing it with a hammer.

"Pure physical defense, in this universe with code vulnerabilities, will only lead to an infinite loop."

Jiang Li took a deep breath.

Although the rust couldn't really kill him, it was like a fly that wouldn't go away, making him extremely irritable.

He raised his rust-covered left hand and pressed his thumb against the [Multiversal Energy Core] on his wrist.

"Since you can't smash code with a hammer..."

"Then let's just uproot your underlying logic!"

Buzz--!

A blinding green light suddenly blazed on the desolate, retro streets of New York.

[Gene bank unlocking in progress...]

[Retrieves the highest IQ level matching the current anomaly rule...]

[Loading successful!]