Watching television only gave you an image. Some things had to be experienced firsthand to give you the most direct and accurate impression.
For Tony, it was war, weapons, death, and blood. When God placed all that bloody reality right beside him, laid it out before him,
only then did Tony Stark transform from a playboy into Iron Man.
For Qin Xiao, perhaps it was his game-like attitude toward traveling to another world.
Or perhaps, with his god's-eye view and knowledge of what would happen, he had no particular feelings or convictions about killing or the fighting in Afghanistan.
But that did not affect his other perceptions, such as when he first saw Tony Stark put on the Iron Man Armor.
Compared to watching a movie, reality delivered the greatest impact.
He watched several metal arms extend simultaneously from the assembly platform Tony had built, fitting armor onto each part of his body.
Even though Tony had not painted it yet, even though Qin Xiao had seen absurdly powerful nanotech armor like the Mark 85 in the movies,
Qin Xiao was still deeply captivated by the suit before him.
On the feet, hands, back, and joints, countless ingeniously designed components unfolded and moved independently.
They revealed the faint blue glow of energy within!
"This is so fucking cool! Fuck, this is every man's ultimate dream!"
Qin Xiao shouted excitedly.
That was right. This was a man's toy. Sports cars and guns were utterly lame by comparison.
"Don't get excited yet, buddy. The ultimate dream is still ahead. You'll scream at what I do next! JARVIS, activate the propulsion system. I'm taking it out for a real flight!"
"Sir, that will require trillions of calculations first!"
JARVIS advised him with considerable diligence.
"JARVIS, sometimes you have to learn to run before you walk. Come on!"
As Tony finished speaking, the thrusters beneath the armor's feet suddenly blasted out red flames.
The armor slowly lifted off the ground, rising about half a meter.
After hovering in midair for several seconds,
the armor's palms shifted, and all four thrusters blasted flames at once.
Whoosh!
Qin Xiao saw nothing but a silver bolt of lightning streak past his eyes, flying straight out of the house through the garage passage.
It shot into the sky!
"HO! HO! HO!"
Tony's excited voice came through the room.
"Qin, you have absolutely no idea what this feels like! Hahaha! WOO~~~~~"
Tony laughed with unbridled swagger.
"Tony, be careful. There's a saying in China: extreme joy turns to sorrow. Ever heard it?"
Qin Xiao spoke sourly.
"Haha! You're jealous. You're definitely jealous! I'm Tony Stark! JARVIS, what's the altitude record for the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft?"
"The official record is 85,000 feet, sir!"
"All right, Qin, today you're witnessing a new flight record!!!"
Tony cheered. In the night sky over Los Angeles, a streak of fire swept through the air, then turned straight upward and shot toward the heavens.
Familiar with the movie's plot, Qin Xiao naturally knew what would happen next.
He simply pulled over a chair and sat down with a bottle of something to drink in front of a blue-and-white vintage sports car in the garage.
Sure enough, less than two minutes later, there was a tremendous crash.
Tony, wearing his armor, smashed down from the sky through two ceilings and flattened the sports car in front of Qin Xiao.
"Sigh!!!"
Qin Xiao heard Tony's mournful sigh through the room's speakers.
"Dum-E! Get to work! Spray him!"
Tony's intelligent robotic arm for household chores slowly rolled over to Tony.
Raising his modified mechanical arm, he unleashed a huge cloud of fire-extinguishing spray at the armor lying on the floor!
Hiss~~~~~~
Qin Xiao remembered that in the original plot, Obadiah had furiously berated a Stark Industries scientist.
He had said that Tony Stark had built a miniature Arc Reactor in a cave out of a pile of scraps.
Yet an entire laboratory of scientists working for Obadiah, with the large prototype at Stark Industries right before them,
could not even figure out where to start.
In fact, even setting aside his overwhelming technological superiority and genius intellect,
Tony Stark's sheer hands-on ability, together with JARVIS and the many mechanical arms he had built, could rival a large assembly-line factory.
After the icing incident at high altitude, he had built an entirely new suit of armor in just three days.
That did not even count the day spent placing orders and transporting materials.
The familiar red-and-gold color scheme, thrusters that could serve as laser cannons, and the glowing Arc Reactor in the chest.
For a moment, Qin Xiao felt a little dazed.
There were many superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Iron Man and Captain America probably had the most fans.
But if asked which hero they most enjoyed seeing appear, most people would say Iron Man.
From the bulky Mark 1 in the cave to the Mark 2 he now wore, which required mechanical arms to help put on.
Then the portable suitcase-style Mark 5, followed by the tracking suit in The Avengers and the disassembling and reassembling suit in Iron Man 3.
And finally, the incredibly stunning nanotech armor in Endgame.
It seemed that every appearance Iron Man made offered an entirely new visual delight.
"How do I look?"
With the armor finally complete, Tony turned around with exaggerated flair and asked Qin Xiao.
"Hmm!"
Qin Xiao assumed the air of a fashion designer examining a model.
Looking thoughtful, he rubbed his chin and nodded.
"Pretty good. Congratulations, Tony. You look almost as tall as me now."
Qin Xiao raised a hand to compare the heights of their heads.
Tony: (╬￣皿￣)
What had happened in Gulmira, including Yinsen's death, and the large quantities of Stark Industries weapons still in the terrorists' hands.
All of it left Tony burning with rage. Before dealing with Obadiah, he had to eliminate those terrorists first.
He had to do this himself. That was also why he had built the armor so quickly.
But because of Qin Xiao, Tony had no choice but to abandon the idea of operating alone.
Originally, Tony had not intended to bring Qin Xiao along. First, he felt he was enough on his own.
Second, he felt that Qin Xiao was no longer a match for him.
That thought came to an abrupt halt after Qin Xiao squeezed his leftover armor materials into a ball with his bare hands.
"I thought super soldiers weren't supposed to be that powerful?"
Faced with Tony's question, Qin Xiao turned around with his hands behind his back and his face tilted toward the sky, striking the lonely pose of a supreme expert as he said with thoroughly pretentious flair,
"I don't know about anyone else, but I! Qin-Xiao!"
"Am simply this powerful!"