Iron Monger

A blue sedan sped down the highway. Fortunately, there were far fewer cars on the road at night, or it would have caused an accident. Meng Zu drove expressionlessly. Being ambushed by the Ten Rings had truly infuriated him. Though the Ten Rings were terrorists, they posed little threat to him.

He spent most of his time in the United States, while the Ten Rings mainly stirred up trouble in chaotic places in the Middle East. He did not need to worry about being attacked by them. This time, it had all been because of Obadiah. Only then had the Ten Rings learned of his whereabouts. Obadiah had set his sights on him now, and he was far more dangerous than the Ten Rings. Meng Zu decided to strike first and eliminate Obadiah directly.

Meng Zu did not have JARVIS like Tony Stark, who could easily obtain Obadiah's location. However, he had the Clue Guidance skill. By following the direction indicated by Clue Guidance, he could naturally find Obadiah.

Following Clue Guidance, Meng Zu arrived at the Stark Industries complex. He got out of the car, found a spot that avoided the cameras, and climbed over the wall. As soon as he entered, Meng Zu, standing in the darkness, saw Pepper standing alone not far ahead.

"Why is Pepper here?"

A sudden commotion sounded. The ground behind Pepper broke apart, and a massive steel robot emerged from beneath it. Seeing this, Meng Zu immediately understood. It seemed Obadiah had still obtained Mark One, and had even stolen Tony's Miniature Reactor to power his Iron Monger. Meng Zu himself had probably only been someone Obadiah had casually ordered the Ten Rings to deal with.

"Where do you think you're running?"

As Pepper stood there, terrified and at a loss, Obadiah Stane's voice came from Iron Monger's loudspeaker.

"You're useless now!"

Iron Monger raised the Gatling gun on its right arm and aimed it at Pepper. The gun began spinning as it warmed up. At that critical moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out. A spark burst from Iron Monger's head, causing it to tilt slightly to the left.

Seeing the electronic display show five percent damage to the head, Obadiah was startled. What kind of bullet could cause such damage? He hurriedly turned toward where the shot had come from, but the moment he turned his head, another bullet struck Iron Monger's head. The impact made its head jerk back slightly, and the display once again showed five percent damage.

"It's you!" Through an electronic scan, Obadiah discovered Meng Zu standing in the darkness with a sniper rifle in his hands. He recognized him as the guy who had rescued Tony.

Without another word, Obadiah opened fire. "Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat..." The machine gun sprayed bullets at Meng Zu. The instant Iron Monger raised its arm to aim, Meng Zu turned and ran to the side, bullets streaking past right behind him.

Meng Zu did not dare stop, because Danger Sense kept warning him. Then a familiar voice came from the sky. "Stan!"

Iron Monger looked up at the sound and saw a red armored suit flying rapidly toward it through its electronic eyes. It exclaimed in surprise, "Tony! You're still alive?"

Iron Monger abandoned Meng Zu. With a swing of its arm, it fired the machine gun at Tony in the sky. But before it could hit him, Tony's Mark III had already charged before it.

Worried about Pepper's safety, Tony had Mark III grab Iron Monger and rush away. The two smashed through the wall surrounding the Stark Industries complex and vanished from sight.

When Iron Monger had turned to attack Mark III, Meng Zu had decisively thrown himself to the ground. Bullets swept over his head. Now that Iron Monger had been taken away by Tony, Meng Zu stood up, returned his gun to his Storage Space, and brushed the dust from his clothes.

Meng Zu's expression darkened in the shadows as he reflected on what had just happened. What was wrong with me? Did my brain short-circuit? I actually fired at Obadiah without even finding a place to hide. If Tony Stark hadn't arrived in time, I definitely would have been hit.

Pepper cautiously walked toward the darkness by the wall and called out, "Are you all right?"

Although she did not know who was in the darkness, she would already be dead if the other person had not suddenly fired at Obadiah. Obadiah had shot in this direction earlier, and she did not know whether the person was still alive. But no matter what, she needed to check on them. If they were alive, perhaps she could help.

Pepper's call brought Meng Zu back to his senses. Seeing Pepper walking toward him, he simply stepped out of the darkness.

Meng Zu's sudden appearance from the darkness startled Pepper. Once she saw his face clearly, she recognized him at once. "You're Evan!"

"Good evening, Ms. Pepper!"

Seeing that Meng Zu appeared uninjured, Pepper let out a breath of relief. "Evan, thank you for saving me just now."

Meng Zu shook his head slightly. "It was nothing. Just lending a hand."

Looking at Meng Zu, Pepper asked curiously, "Evan, why are you here?"

Meng Zu looked at Pepper and said calmly, "I came to kill Obadiah."

"Ah?" Pepper froze at that answer.

Meng Zu explained, "When I returned home tonight, I was attacked by the Ten Rings. After interrogating them, I learned that Obadiah had sent them to kill me. Since he wanted to kill me, I could only come kill him."

Though she knew Obadiah had gone mad, Pepper could not help asking, "Why would he do that?"

"Because I rescued Tony Stark."

Pepper understood then. Earlier that day, while copying files from the computer in Obadiah's office, she had discovered that three months ago, Obadiah had hired the Ten Rings to kill Tony. However, the Ten Rings had not killed Tony as ordered. They had merely imprisoned him and forced him to build weapons, until Meng Zu rescued him. That was why Obadiah had come to hate Meng Zu.

If she had not sought out Meng Zu, Obadiah would not have sent people to kill him. Thinking of this, Pepper said apologetically, "Evan, I'm sorry for dragging you into this."

"This has nothing to do with you. It was my job."

At that moment, two trails of fire shot into the sky one after the other. Meng Zu looked up and saw that Mark III and Iron Monger had flown into the air. Watching them rise higher and higher, Meng Zu, who knew what would happen, knew that both of them would soon fall. He said to Pepper, "Pepper, find somewhere to hide. The two of them will be coming down soon."

Hearing that, Pepper hurried toward Area 16, while Meng Zu ran toward another building. The door was locked, and Meng Zu had no employee card, but that was no problem. He pulled out his pistol, aimed at the lock, and used Multifunctional Bullets to turn the rounds into armor-piercing bullets. With two shots, he blasted the lock apart. After pushing the door open, he quickly climbed the stairs to the top floor.

After hiding in a corner on the top floor, Meng Zu took out the M99 sniper rifle. He found Iron Monger to be incredibly sturdy. He had no idea what material it was made from. When he had attacked Iron Monger with the M99 earlier, he had used his skill to turn both bullets into armor-piercing rounds. Yet after two shots, let alone penetrating it, they had not even left deep dents.

However, that did not mean Meng Zu had no way to deal with Iron Monger. He remembered that Iron Monger seemed not to have solved the issue of its armor freezing. If armor-piercing bullets did not work, he could use freezing bullets to freeze it, then deal with it afterward.

Soon, Meng Zu saw Iron Monger falling from the distant sky. He had originally thought Obadiah would simply fall to his death, but when Iron Monger was still about ten meters above the ground, a burst of fire suddenly erupted and stopped its descent. The flames immediately went out, however, and Iron Monger ultimately crashed onto the ground in the distance.

(Happy Year of the Ox, everyone! May you soar like a bull!)

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