Racing Iron Man for Kills

Afghanistan, Gamila.

Su Ming, dressed in a Crimson Suit with a silver mask, looked at the scene before him and nearly cursed out loud.

After arriving at the airport, he had changed clothes and followed the direction Alisha gave him, flinging throwing knives to fly all the way here.

He had finally reached a small terrorist stronghold.

Yet when he arrived, smoke filled the air and corpses lay scattered across the ground—someone had actually cleared the place out ahead of him.

"Damn! I came all this way, don't tell me I'm leaving empty-handed..."

Su Ming felt somewhat frustrated. Before leaving, he had thrown Alisha two hundred thousand dollars just to have her remotely support his operation. If he could not even earn back his investment, he would be taking a huge loss...

Suddenly, he heard explosions in the distance.

Looking toward the sound, his enhanced vision swiftly brought the scene more than ten kilometers away on the plain into focus.

"So it was you!"

Realization dawned on him when he saw a metallic figure unleashing havoc in the distance—it was Iron Man.

"Did he really develop that mechanical armor so quickly..."

Watching Tony Stark, clad in red-and-gold Iron Man armor, mowing down enemies at another terrorist stronghold—

Su Ming hurriedly flung a throwing knife. Pulled by a specially made rope, he transformed into a streak of light and flew over.

"Hey, Tony! Save some for me..."

One day earlier, at a business gala.

Stark Industries had been caught in a scandal.

The reason was that Tony Stark had publicly announced at a previous press conference that Stark Industries would cease all weapons research, development, and sales.

Yet Stark weapons had appeared in riot-stricken Gamila.

Reports about Gamila were everywhere.

The warlords had forced people from their homes. The refugees had nowhere to go and could only live among the ruins of other villages.

A woman clutching a photograph of her husband wore a look of despair.

Her husband had been kidnapped by the warlords. Perhaps he had been forced into their army, or perhaps—he was already dead.

There were many others who had lost loved ones. Holding faded yellow photographs, they anxiously asked passing strangers for news.

A little boy with a face covered in dust asked in confusion, "Where are my mommy and daddy...?"

The people had little hope of survival. They could only dream that someone might come and save them.

The culprits were a foreign warlord faction known locally as the Freedom Fighters. They were fully armed and had clear objectives. Anyone who dared stand in their way faced certain death.

Because they possessed powerful weapons—made by Stark.

Tony looked at the photographs handed to him by the reporter Christine Elliott. They showed evidence of Stark weapons flooding the region.

There was even a close-up photo of a Jericho missile.

He endured the questioning of the woman who had once shared his bed.

"You still dare show your face here after all this? This is what you call responsibility?"

Tony could hardly believe what he was seeing either. He had been wholly focused on developing the armor lately and knew nothing about what had been happening outside.

He had indeed ordered the company to halt weapons production and sales.

But the evidence before him was irrefutable.

Clearly, there was a mole in the company openly defying his orders.

Even so, Tony had to explain himself, no matter how weak the explanation sounded.

"I never approved this..."

"You not approving it doesn't mean your company didn't."

Angrily clutching the photographs, Tony confronted Obadiah on the other side of the ballroom, only to receive hypocritical concern in return.

"Tony, you're too naive... Who do you think pushed you out?

—Me.

Only then could I protect you..."

When Tony returned home, he expressionlessly ran the final tests on the armor's arm-mounted weapon systems.

The news on television showed Gamila's suffering, fueling the fire in Tony's heart until the weapons test was complete and every system showed normal.

Tony could no longer suppress his rage. He stepped onto the armor platform, and the high-tech armor swiftly wrapped around his body.

Tony would not allow Stark Industries to become an accomplice to bloody colonial oppression!

Flames blasted from his hands and feet as Tony flew to Gamila overnight.

Iron Man—Tony Stark's first proactive strike.

Had begun...

In the air, Su Ming had only just approached the stronghold. Before he even landed, he hurled more than ten throwing knives toward the densest cluster of terrorists.

Eighty percent power.

The throwing knives were like missiles, tearing through the sound barrier as they blasted toward the terrorist stronghold.

A combat squad of more than a dozen men was reduced to severed limbs scattered across the ground beneath the throwing knives' unreasonable assault.

There were no flashy explosions. Amid flashes of cold light, the bodies of those bandits calling themselves Freedom Fighters were cleanly sliced apart.

[Killed Freedom Fighters wanted thug, bounty +$10,000]

[Killed Freedom Fighters wanted bandit, bounty +$8,000]

[Killed Freedom Fighters wanted thug, bounty +$10,000]

...

As the system notifications rang in his mind, Su Ming's eyes lit up.

"So it works!"

At the same time, his hands did not stop moving. He scattered playing cards as though they cost nothing.

That was right. Using throwing knives to kill ordinary people who only knew how to abuse weapons and violence was simply a waste.

Fortunately, Su Ming had brought plenty of playing cards. There was enough to go around.

He mercilessly harvested the lives of the rioting warlords over a wide area.

On the other side of the battlefield, Stark swiftly locked onto this uninvited guest through JARVIS's display.

His pupils contracted—it was him!

"That bounty hunter again!"

Tony's chest reactor gave a physiological jolt as he watched the playing cards ruthlessly reap the bandits' lives.

That familiar feeling, that familiar presence...

"Holy shit! This guy isn't here to kill me again, is he..."

A chill rose in Tony's heart, but he was not overly worried.

Experience told him that although the bounty hunter before him was ridiculously strong, he was still reasonable.

Well...

At least when money was involved, he was a gentleman.

His thoughts scattered after Su Ming's sudden appearance, and Tony's movements slowed for a beat.

At that moment, a tank fired a shell at him. Still distracted, Tony ignored JARVIS's warning.

"Clang~"

"Boom!!!"

The explosion kicked up a massive cloud of yellow sand and dust. Only afterward did Tony realize that JARVIS's warning had vanished from before his eyes.

"Hey, Tony! What a coincidence! Long time no see."

Su Ming landed beside Iron Man, his polite voice sounding by Tony's ear.

Through constant experimentation during his journey, he could now change direction in midair.

There was not much technique to it—he only had to throw another knife.

With Su Ming's current strength, he could do so easily.

Reviewing the footage through JARVIS, Tony discovered that the bounty hunter had flung a throwing knife the instant he landed.

The terrifying part was that after smashing apart the tank shell flying toward Tony in midair, the knife had not lost any momentum and had punched a huge hole straight through the tank farther away.

Even without watching the footage, Tony could now clearly see the scenery beyond the tank through its front.

"What the f... Is that even something a human can do?? He seems even stronger than last time..."

Hearing Su Ming's greeting, Tony was no slouch at social niceties.

"Hey, bounty hunter.

Oh, no, I should call you Mr. Crimson Silver Baron.

Long time no see.

Thanks for that.

Are you here to kill me again?"

As an artificial intelligence, JARVIS was still not intelligent enough at this point.

It could not understand why Mr. Stark would ask such an unreasonable question, especially when his tone even carried a trace of warmth.

Su Ming had not expected Tony to know his painfully cringeworthy nickname.

The corner of his mouth twitched before he gave a faint smile.

"My dear Tony, don't worry. Though I was surprised too, running into you this time was purely a coincidence.

For the sake of fifty million, I haven't accepted a job to kill you yet."

Tony froze briefly, and the weight in his heart temporarily lifted.

He clenched his back teeth. This guy's way of talking... was really irritating!

But there was nothing he could do. Who told him the man had the strength to back it up?

Thinking that it was fine as long as Su Ming was not here to kill him, Tony felt a spark of curiosity.

"Then what are you here for? A new job?"

Su Ming shook his head.

"I just don't like the look of these guys. Tony—

Let's make a deal. I'll take care of all of them! You can rest on the side..."

Tony immediately became displeased. The fire in his gut had not even been vented yet, and Su Ming wanted him to stop? No way!

"Then let's see who moves faster..."

Before his words had even faded, Iron Man suddenly took off and charged toward the warlord stronghold.