Forced Shutdown in Progress!!

The gold-and-red humanoid armor that appeared on the screen was none other than—

Tony Stark, who had just announced that he was Iron Man not long ago.

Loren had never expected to run into Iron Man at a time like this. This was getting interesting.

"What is he doing out here in the middle of the night? Alice, secretly hack into his system and see what he's doing."

"Understood. Hacker program running. Beginning infiltration..."

"Ding. Infiltration successful. I have entered the other party's backend database and am retrieving information. Retrieval complete. However, the other party's artificial intelligence system—JARVIS—has detected my intrusion."

"He noticed that quickly? As expected of Tony Stark. The AI he built has some skill!"

Loren was not too surprised by Alice's words.

After all, Tony Stark was one of the three giants of the Marvel Universe, a top-tier technological genius.

His intelligence was far beyond what ordinary people could compare to.

Therefore, the JARVIS he created was naturally no ordinary product. It was perfectly normal for it to detect Alice's intrusion so quickly.

However, in terms of processing power and advancement, the current JARVIS could not be mentioned in the same breath as Alice. Otherwise, it would not have been so easily infiltrated by her. Detecting Alice's intrusion in time was already its best performance.

"It has some skill, but not much. Before me, it is like a child."

Hearing Loren praise Tony Stark's artificial intelligence, JARVIS, Alice gave her assessment dismissively, almost as if she were jealous.

After all, even the mechanical brain Loren had created for Miss 2B possessed the ability to imitate human behavior.

Naturally, Alice, whose processing power surpassed the mechanical brain by several levels, had no reason not to possess such a capability.

Of course, although Alice's processing power far exceeded Miss 2B's—

Loren had not implanted an emotional module into her, just in case.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, Alice would never develop self-awareness.

That allowed Loren to use her with greater peace of mind.

After all, once artificial intelligence developed self-awareness, it was hardly a good thing. He did not want to create an Ultron ahead of schedule.

So although Alice's tone sounded human, it was actually nothing more than a simulation generated by her programming.

"The other party's artificial intelligence is still in its early stages. It is only natural that it is inferior to you. But do not underestimate Tony Stark's intelligence. That guy is truly capable."

"Boss, is this Tony Stark you speak of really that impressive? Is his technological level even higher than yours?"

"He is definitely impressive, but I do not yet know how he compares to me. After all, we have never competed before. Now may be a good opportunity." Loren smiled, a trace of interest on his face.

"By the way, have you found out what Tony Stark is doing?"

"According to the information retrieved, it appears that, like us, he is also testing an Iron Man Suit."

"He is testing one too? What a coincidence. He can serve as a comparison sample!"

Loren muttered to himself, then seemed to think of something, a malicious smile appearing on his face.

"Warning. The other party has been detected attempting to counter-infiltrate us..." Alice issued a warning just then.

Loren merely smiled at this. "For JARVIS's current processing power, trying to invade us is nothing but wishful thinking. Alice, teach him a lesson! Let him see what a real artificial intelligence is."

"Understood!" Having received Loren's order, Alice immediately launched an even fiercer hacking operation.

Elsewhere, Tony Stark stared gravely at the screen before him.

The radar on the screen showed a light rapidly closing in on him, moving even faster than he was.

But that was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was that the other party had hacked into his system in an instant.

And easily retrieved a file from his database.

By the time JARVIS detected it, the other party had already slipped away without a sound.

Such hacking skills were simply unimaginable!

He was Tony Stark, after all, the technological genius who considered himself the smartest man of the century.

Before this, he had possessed unparalleled confidence in JARVIS, the artificial intelligence he had created.

He could even have JARVIS effortlessly hack into the Pentagon and leave them helpless.

Yet now, an existence as powerful as JARVIS had had its firewall breached with ease.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.

It was like getting slapped in the face in the field he excelled at most!

How could someone as proud as him accept such a result?

Thus, he immediately had JARVIS launch a counterattack, hoping to reclaim some face.

"JARVIS, have you breached the other party's firewall?" Tony Stark asked anxiously.

"Reporting, Mr. Stark. Not yet. The other party's defense mechanism exceeds expectations. I have not found a vulnerability and am still working on it..."

"..."

"What kind of joke is this? It has been so long, and you still have not found a vulnerability? Fine, then use brute force."

"That will also fail, because the other party's processing power exceeds mine. I cannot outcalculate it."

"What! How is that possible?!"

"Warning, warning. The other party is counter-infiltrating. My firewall has failed. The other party is initiating a forced shutdown..."

"What the fuck? JARVIS, JARVIS!!!"

In that instant, JARVIS's voice suddenly cut off. It had clearly been forcibly shut down by Loren's Alice.

Tony Stark had never expected events to develop into this situation.

The artificial intelligence he had created, JARVIS, had actually been forcibly shut down!

To him, it was no different from seeing a ghost in broad daylight.

"Damn it, just who the hell are they?"

Tony Stark looked grim. It was his first time encountering someone ahead of him in the field of technology, and it felt as if his world were collapsing.

However, Tony Stark was no ordinary person. Especially after the kidnapping incident, his temperament had become increasingly mature and steady.

So in only a moment, he regained his composure.

"Beep, beep, beep. Unidentified flying object approaching rapidly. Distance: ten kilometers, five kilometers, three kilometers..."

At that moment, the Iron Man Suit's built-in control system immediately sounded an alarm.

Tony Stark's expression grew even more solemn as he listened to the warning.

But he did not sit still and wait for death. While rebooting JARVIS, he manually controlled the Iron Man Suit and pushed its engines to maximum power.

In an instant, his flying speed broke through Mach 1.

A sonic boom cloud immediately appeared behind him, looking incredibly cool!

And his flying speed did not remain at Mach 1. It continued to climb.

In just a few seconds, his speed broke through once more, reaching Mach 2.

As his speed rapidly climbed, the light that had nearly caught up to him disappeared from the radar.

Seeing this, a proud look could not help appearing on his face.

"Trying to catch me? You are still too inexperienced!"

Tony Stark looked disdainful, thinking he had truly shaken off the Batwing.

But at that moment, an even more urgent alarm blared in his ears.

"Warning, warning. Unidentified aircraft detected directly overhead. The other party is twenty meters away from us!"

"What?!"

Hearing the alarm, Tony went completely numb.

He looked up and saw a pitch-black, bat-shaped fighter silently hovering directly above him.

At the same time, the light reappeared on his radar.

"How... is that possible?!"