A race?
Li Ang was fine with it. "Sure. Give it a shot whenever you want."
Even now, Li Ang could easily break the sound barrier in flight, let alone after adding points. According to his tests, if he flew with everything he had, he could reach Mach 10-ten times the speed of sound!
Estimates put the speed he had shown when rescuing Butcher and the baby from the explosion at Madelyn's house in the show at about that level. And now that Li Ang had upgraded his Man of Steel, he was even faster.
As for Iron Man's current Mark II, its top speed could only match an F-22, far short of Li Ang's.
To catch up with Li Ang's speed, he would probably have to develop the Mark LXXXV. But by then, Li Ang's strength probably would have long since passed the point of being measured in Mach.
Tony knew none of this. All he knew was that his brilliant brain was telling him it was time to show the man before him what superintelligence meant.
With his competitive spirit fired up, Tony Stark picked up his tools and threw himself into development once more.
Palm thrusters to stabilize flight and propulsion units to increase speed were painstakingly built by hand, piece by piece.
After several days, Tony finally finished the propulsion system and began testing it.
With all the equipment on and the propulsion units under his feet, he gradually activated the power and hovered in midair. For the first time in a while, Tony smiled.
He was flying! Not with some mutated wings, but with the technology he was so proud of!
Feeling smug, he wanted to see Li Ang's reaction.
To his surprise, Li Ang was floating on his back in midair with both hands behind his head. The sight made Tony lose his balance and topple backward!
Propelled by his thrusters, he went flying around the floor headfirst like a robot vacuum!
"Shit!" Tony yelled. Before he could shut off the engines, he felt his whole body lift. Li Ang had flown over and pulled him upright.
"Looks like our genius needs a little more time," Li Ang teased, making Tony even more annoyed.
Time passed little by little. During this period, Li Ang moved all kinds of equipment around and even helped Tony weld plenty of things with his Heat Vision.
"That ability of yours really is handy. Do you even need a microwave to heat things up?"
Tony's teasing earned him Li Ang's middle finger.
Things continued like this until a month had passed...
All that time spent hard at work finally bore fruit. Thanks in large part to Li Ang, Tony had also avoided ending up battered and bruised from testing the armor's functions.
At last, the armor was finally complete.
The Mark II was finally born.
Its bare silver body showed off its flawless design in full. Looking at the armor before him and recalling how he had personally taken part in every step of its creation, Li Ang felt quite a sense of accomplishment too.
On the sofa a short distance away, Tony admired his masterpiece with satisfaction.
"She's beautiful." Tony never took his eyes off his armor as he spoke.
Not until Li Ang beside him asked curiously, "By the way, what did you mean earlier about the military making moves?"
Before the armor was finished, during one of their chats, Tony had mentioned that the military had been making a lot of moves lately. Stark's satellites had seen it all clearly.
Tony picked up his glass and shook his head. "I don't know the details. It's the military, not a nightclub."
"All I know is that they seem to be hunting something."
"As for Yinsen... he recently said some Strategic Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division had contacted him." Tony set down his glass and challenged Li Ang. "Well, neighborhood boy, how about a race?"
He hadn't forgotten what Li Ang had said a month and a half ago.
"We have an old saying that's perfect for this." Li Ang stood up and straightened his clothes.
"What is it?"
"You won't give up until you hit a dead end!" With that, Li Ang gestured for Tony to put on his armor.
He also really wanted to see whether, with his help and a little inspiration, Tony's armor would be stronger than the original.
"Then let's do it!" Tony walked toward the armor, his face full of excitement.
As he stepped up to the armor, a platform rose beneath him. Mechanical arms emerged one after another, quickly dismantling the armor and fitting it onto Tony's body.
Clang!
As the faceplate closed, a full virtual UI appeared before Tony's eyes, and a map unfolded.
"How about we meet at the docks a hundred kilometers away?" Tony's voice sounded a little muffled beneath the faceplate.
Li Ang made an inviting gesture. "Ladies first."
"Try not to lose sight of my exhaust!" A whooshing sound came from beneath Tony's feet, and he flew out through the passage!
The faceplate's real-time monitoring figures jumped wildly!
His speed kept climbing. Feeling the sensation of flight, Tony couldn't help breaking into a grin.
The data showed him going faster and faster, even reaching Mach 1.5!
"Woo-hoo!" Tony shouted in excitement.
The scenery before him raced backward. The power of technology was on full display!
"JARVIS, activate data monitoring and comparison."
As soon as Tony finished speaking, an F-22 data comparison appeared on the UI panel before him.
"Raptor 22 cruising speed: 1,590 km/h. Mark II cruising speed: 1,400 km/h." Tony was somewhat dissatisfied with what he saw.
Before he could think of improvements, a notification appeared on the panel before him.
"High-speed moving object detected approaching from behind."
"Mach 5?! What a freak." A trace of frustration arose in Tony's heart as he spoke.
Who knew what expression Tony would have made if he had known that Li Ang wasn't even flying at full speed?
By now, Li Ang had reached his side, still looking as relaxed as if he were taking a leisurely stroll. Tony's eyes widened. This guy simply wasn't human!
How on earth did he do it?
Looking at Li Ang's smug smile, Tony really wanted to fire a laser cannon at him.
The feeling that the first half of his life had all gone to waste was deeply unpleasant. He made up his mind to build a suit of anti-Li Ang armor!
It would crush him not just in speed, but in strength too!
His refusal to admit defeat made him change direction and fly toward the sky!
Seeing this, Li Ang understood that Tony now wanted to compete over who could fly higher.
3,000 meters...
6,000 meters...
9,000 meters!
Even now, Tony was still flying upward with all his might. JARVIS's warning had already sounded.
"Sir, if you continue ascending, the exterior is very likely to ice over severely!"
Tony didn't care. "Keep going!"
At an altitude of ten thousand meters, Tony's armor lost power without warning!
The interface before his eyes vanished instantly, as though the electricity had been cut.
Tony's heart lurched. This is bad!
His upward momentum quickly faded. If he dropped straight down like this, he would probably end up cosplaying Laoda!
Despair suffocated Tony. Feeling the weightlessness of the fall, he kept pounding the thigh of his armor, trying to deploy the parachute.
But he couldn't break through the thick layer of ice!
"JARVIS?!" he called, hoping for a response.
But the voice that answered him belonged to someone else. "You really like bungee jumping without a cord, huh?"