Resolving Future Troubles

"You're still as stubborn as ever. Look at that beard you're always so proud of—it's grown into weeds."

"You're no better. I had no idea my little brother had a habit of running around shirtless and showing off." Tony never lost an argument verbally.

Or rather, he enjoyed bickering with Leon.

How should he put it? It felt different. It felt like having family.

After all, Leon was the only family he had left in this world.

"And next time, maybe try finding a different angle to pick at. Hearing my voice from a Zhou spaceship in outer space? Aha, not funny. Did you forget that sound can't travel through a vacuum only half a year after graduating?"

With his scientific literacy, Tony claimed he had seen through Leon's lie in a second.

"So what happened? Did you come back early because of an accident? Or did Pepper contact you? Hmm, Pepper... she's all right, isn't she?"

"No, she didn't contact me. Maybe she didn't want me to know the terrible news that you'd been attacked and were probably dead." Leon shook his head.

He explained, "But I really did hear your voice from the spaceship—you were calling my name, so I heard you. It's a new ability I awakened."

Tony opened his mouth. "That ability of yours really isn't scientific... Sound is produced by vibrations, and those vibrations generally can't travel very far, let alone through the vacuum of Zhou..."

"But that's the truth. I awakened quite a few unscientific abilities this time. I'll need you to test me again later."

As Leon spoke, he observed Tony.

He could see the shrapnel lodged in the arteries around Tony's heart.

He sighed. "Tony, you don't look so good. Those terrorists must have put you through hell."

He frowned. "The shrapnel pierced the arteries around your heart, and magnetism can only delay the damage temporarily. It's practically a blade hanging over your head at any moment... Those damned bastards!"

Tony froze for a moment. Seeing the cold look in Leon's eyes, he felt somewhat moved. His lips trembled, but in the end, he merely shook his head.

"This little injury is nothing. But your timing is perfect. I was planning to follow the plan and break out tomorrow. But now, we can just fight our way out without worrying about Yinsen's safety."

"Oh! Right, Yinsen!" He suddenly slapped his forehead and sprang to his feet, only then realizing Yinsen had been silent for quite a while. "Yinsen, are you okay? Are you... Ah, so you're here?"

Tony gave an awkward smile.

A somewhat balding middle-aged man in a vest, looking every bit like an engineer, stood quietly beside them.

Yinsen had been standing not far from them all along.

Tony had simply been so focused on Leon that he had overlooked Yinsen.

Yinsen spread his hands. "I wasn't asleep. Actually, I came over when this gentleman fell from the ceiling."

Tony nodded awkwardly, then, after an embarrassed chuckle, pulled Leon over by the shoulder to introduce him.

"Yinsen, this is my brother, Leon Stark. Leon, this is Yinsen, my... friend. He saved my life." Tony introduced the two to each other.

The two shook hands in greeting.

Leon knew Yinsen was a good man. "I didn't expect Tony to make a friend even in a cave. You must have been taking care of him all this time. With injuries like his, surviving wouldn't have been easy otherwise."

"Oh, no, I was only..." Yinsen shook his head.

Leon raised a hand to stop him. "No need for formalities. Yinsen, you saved Tony, which makes you my friend too."

"What we need to do now is fight our way out and send every one of those men outside where they belong." Leon's expression was calm as a lake, but his eyes raged with thunder and lightning.

"Perhaps we should come up with a plan first? Those men have heavy firepower." Yinsen hesitated slightly.

"A plan? No! We don't need a plan!" Tony cut in.

He walked smugly over to the armor he had built.

He patted the armor. "Look, Leon. This is the masterpiece I've spent the last few months creating. Even if you hadn't come today, Yinsen and I definitely could've slaughtered our way through those guys tomorrow!"

Leon looked at Tony, showing off like a child with a new toy, and shook his head helplessly.

"Save your little toy for later. I'll walk in front, and you two just follow me." He was concise. "I didn't spend the past half year soaking up the sun for nothing."

"A toy? Unbelievable. Leon, I know your grades weren't exactly great, so maybe you don't understand the greatness of this armor."

Tony could not accept his masterpiece being called a toy. "So when you don't understand the situation, you can keep quiet first and watch me show you just how outstanding it is!"

Leon pressed a hand onto Tony's shoulder. "Tony, maybe your little toy really is impressive, but I have to tell you—I flew straight here from a spacecraft wearing nothing but these pants."

Tony's eyes widened slightly.

He had flown back from Zhou with nothing but his own body?

And those pants Leon was wearing, which looked like they had not been washed in ages, were completely undamaged?

Tony understood all too well what that implied.

"What? You, you..." Tony was speechless.

It was over. His armor really did seem no different from a toy now.

"So you two just need to follow behind me." Leon smiled.

"But before that, there's one more thing." His gaze swept over Tony before stopping at his chest. "I need to take care of the trouble you'll have later."

"Trouble?" Tony did not understand for a moment.

But Leon had already moved.

His body did not sway in the slightest. His right hand rested on Tony's shoulder while his left hand suddenly blurred for an instant.

Then Tony felt a tightness in his chest. Intense pain was just about to hit him before vanishing instantly.

"One, two, three... There are quite a few fragments. Tony, surviving injuries like these really does prove you have a tough life."

"What are you talking about..." Tony instinctively touched his chest.

When he looked up again,

he saw Leon spread open his palm, where more than a dozen tiny pieces of shrapnel lay quietly.

"There. I just removed the shrapnel from your chest. Keep these pieces as a souvenir—something to commemorate how you finally grew up and learned to take responsibility after suffering a massive upheaval when you were nearly forty."

Leon stuffed the shrapnel into Tony's hand and turned toward the sealed entrance of the cave.

In less than one microsecond just now,

he had used his biofield to immobilize the shrapnel inside Tony's body,

then used the fingertips of his left hand to cut tiny openings in Tony's chest and swiftly remove every fragment.

After that, he used heat vision to stop the bleeding and heal the wounds.

The entire sequence had flowed like clouds and water, swift as lightning yet calm as still water.

Even the scene before Tony's eyes had not changed in the slightest.

But when he finally came back to himself and touched his chest, the Arc Reactor was still there, while more than a dozen holes had somehow appeared in his clothes.

"This! This!" Tony's gaze darted between Leon's palm and his own chest, leaving him speechless once more.

Leon had given him too many shocks today.

For a moment, he did not even refute his brother's jab about finally growing up.

"Come on. It's time to leave." Leon took the lead.