Biological Field

"Arcee, be a good girl and stay home. I'm furious right now and going to settle some scores, so you'd better stay out of harm's way."

"Alright, just go easy on her—don't go killing anyone."

"Of course, I promise."

After talking with Arcee, Leon went down to the basement level. Tony was still energetically tinkering with his Mark 4, seemingly having skipped sleep the entire night.

"Morning, Tony."

"Morning, Leon."

"Who on earth are you planning to go after with such a fierce look on your face?"

Tony put down the screwdriver in his hand, took the coffee handed over by Dum-E, and asked.

"Don't ask. You haven't seen today's news headlines yet, have you?"

Leon's mouth twitched as he told Tony to check for himself, while he walked over to the glass display case housing the Iron Man armor and reached out to touch the Mark 3.

[Question: Would you like to check in today?]

System, do I even need to spell it out?

"Open!"

[Ding, today's check-in complete. Congratulations to host for acquiring "Biological Field".]

[Biological Field: Superman's signature gear, you deserve it. Specific performance scales with vitality and physical constitution.]

[Introduction: Leave it to me, you can entrust anything to me.]

"Yes!"

"Bro, I love you to death!"

System, love you three thousand times!

With that said.

Under Tony's baffled gaze, Leon smashed through the window of Tony's Wonderful Workshop and eagerly made a Leap of Faith, plunging straight into the Pacific Ocean.

Then.

After a brief moment of silence.

Leon let out an excited shout, soaring straight up into the sky from the depths of the ocean. He kicked up towering waves dozens of meters high, and the clouds in the heavens obligingly parted ways for him!

This time.

His body emitted no glowing light whatsoever—meaning he used none of the Starlight Template's superpowers—yet he still streaked through the air at incredible speed.

This was the Biological Field.

Aside from defying various laws of physics, its greatest function was to let Leon completely break free from Earth's gravity and his reliance on external energy sources, allowing him to soar freely through the skies.

However, the Biological Field and the Starlight Template's superpowers were not mutually exclusive.

Right then.

With his speed already exceeding Mach 5 and continuing to climb, golden light began to flash over Leon's body. With a mid-air double acceleration, his flight speed instantly rocketed past the Mach 10 threshold!

"Woohoo!"

"Flight is the ultimate state of enjoying freedom!"

A certain detached apartment in the Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York.

Christine, busy and exhausted from rushing to finish her article all night, was taking a blissful bath in her own tub.

She was immersed waist-deep in a milky pool of water, with only her head and a pair of delicate feet exposed, resting against the two ends of the tub.

Her beautiful blonde hair was rolled up into a bun and secured with a purple Butterfly hair clip.

She hummed softly with her eyes closed, completely content.

After soaking for a full hour, Christine finally got out of the bathtub in satisfaction. Once she finished drying herself off, she walked out of the bathroom using only a face towel to simply cover her vital spots.

After all, she was in her own home, and there was nothing to hide from.

However.

"Ah—mph!!!"

The moment she stepped out of the bathroom, Christine instinctively screamed.

Because a man had materialized out of thin air inside her home, standing with his back to her as he flipped through the draft manuscript she had worked on all night.

Before Christine could even finish her scream, the man teleported behind her with near-instantaneous speed, wrapping one arm around her waist while clamping his other hand over her mouth.

"Shh~"

"Calm down, take a deep breath, Christine."

"Leon?"

As soon as Leon spoke, Christine recognized him instantly.

"It's me."

Leon lowered his hand and turned the startled Christine around to face him, causing the modesty towel in her hand to drop to the floor.

Suddenly.

Everything was laid bare.

"I... you... this..."

Christine stammered incoherently, her brain still struggling to process the information before her eyes.

"How did you get in?"

Even though she was in her own home, Christine asked in a low voice, feeling inexplicably guilty like a thief caught in the act.

"I opened the door with a key, of course. How else did you think?"

Leon flicked the keychain in his hand to help jog Christine's memory; she had given it to him along with the photograph of Gemira after their last conversation.

"So—"

"How could you be so sure it was me? If you'd gotten the wrong person, didn't you ever think about the consequences? The legal department at Stark Industries isn't just for show—you should know what I'm talking about!"

With somewhat rough movements, Leon hoisted Christine over his shoulder and threw her onto the living room sofa, then towered over her to interrogate her.

"The moment I got that photo, I knew it was you at first glance. Does something like that even need a reason? I'd recognize you even if you turned to ashes."

"Besides..."

"Even if by some chance I got it wrong, I wouldn't lose a single piece of flesh—in fact, I might gain an extra one."

After a brief flash of panic, Christine quickly adapted. Color returning to her usual calm and collected demeanor, she leaned back against the sofa, crossed her legs, and smiled up at Leon.

"Even if it was me, why on earth did you name yourself Shield Boy? Shield Hero, Superman, Steel Body... wouldn't any of those sound better than Shield Boy?"

Leon pressed.

That superhero alias of Shield Boy was an absolute joke.

"Darling~"

"That was just a little game~"

Her crossed legs shifted positions, an absolute territory drawing the eye.

Christine bit her lower lip and complained, "Who told you to have such massive news without giving me a heads-up, forcing me to pull an all-nighter rushing to write your article."

"Could it be... you're so petty that you won't even let a girl be a little willful~"

"Petty? Heh—"

Leon reached out to hook Christine's chin, forcing her to look up and meet his gaze. "You exposed my identity just like that. Weren't you afraid of making me angry?"

"Of course not."

"Oh?"

"You never intended to hide your identity anyway. That half-helmet of yours is no different from the towel I used to cover myself just now—the psychological effect far outweighed the practical one."

"Anyone with half a mind running facial recognition data could figure out it was you in no time."

"I just sped up the timeline a little bit."

"Darling, am I right?"

Christine proactively pressed her chin further into the palm Leon was about to withdraw, blinking her pitiful, pleading eyes at him as she spoke in a sweet voice.

"..."

She had to hand it to Christine; she was practically a roundworm living inside Leon's belly, guessing pretty much everything he was thinking.

Leon genuinely hadn't planned on hiding his identity from the start, and Tony shared that exact same sentiment.

The two brothers had originally planned—

To wait until their stock prices plummeted to rock bottom, take the opportunity to buy back as many shares as possible from the traitors on the company's board of directors who had originally sided with Obadiah, and then finally play this ultimate trump card.

Using the celebrity effect of superheroes, they would make Stark Industries bounce back from the bottom and come back to life.

And seize the opportunity to launch a massive promotional campaign centering around the Arc Reactor as their flagship clean energy technology.

Still, the timing was close enough.

Riding the wave of Christine's assist, Leon planned to drop the net entirely and reveal his true name.

After all, he had no intention of going around weighed down by such a folksy superhero moniker as Shield Boy.

Being too grounded was no good at all.

It completely failed to showcase his dashing nature.

He had to nip it in the bud and steer everything back on track before the general public's impression of him as a superhero completely solidified.

Only.

Before that.

"Christine, I'm furious right now. Are you ready to weather my full wrath?" Leon's large hand stroked Christine's damp hair, pressing down upon her head like the Five Finger Mountain.

Christine cast a seductive glance up at Leon and quipped playfully:

"Have mercy on your humble servant, Your Majesty~"