The blooming golden light resembled countless red-hot iron wires, scorching John Li's copper-colored skin.
The intense pain surged to his brain as if he were being submerged in molten iron, his entire upper body consumed by agonizing pain.
His small vest had long since been burned to ashes, and his previously smooth skin was now marred by countless blood-red, ugly lines that crisscrossed his entire body.
Outside the door, Tony and Pepper heard John's anguished cries, and Tony felt a wave of dread.
What could be causing this powerful boy such unbearable pain?
Pepper anxiously stared at the door, wanting to kick it open.
Tony, realizing that the door was too sturdy to be opened by force, rushed to the workshop and returned with a micro cutter, two crowbars, a stun gun, and a handgun.
He quickly used the micro cutter on the door, and within half a minute, the part connected to the wall was sliced in half.
Meanwhile, inside the room, John had absorbed the golden light into his body. The numerous pattern marks now covered his entire upper body, as if he had been slashed by hundreds of knives.
The pain continued to assault John's nerves, and the metal surrounding him began to vibrate, encircling his body.
The metal lifted John into the air. In that instant, in addition to the pain, a terrifying hunger overwhelmed his mind.
It felt as though every cell in his body was screaming to be fed, and if they weren't, they would self-destruct.
This was more than just hunger—it was a primal survival instinct.
The threat of death loomed heavily over John. His stomach twisted painfully as if trying to extract the last bit of energy remaining within him.
This intense sensation made John's eyes flush with desperation. At that moment, if anything edible—or even a living person—had appeared in front of him, he might have attacked out of sheer instinct.
"Ahhh!!!" John screamed, pouring all his despair into that cry.
At that moment, the light bulb above his head shattered, and two bolts of electricity shot directly from the ceiling into John's body.
Suspended in the air, John instinctively grasped the electric currents, absorbing them into his body like a gluttonous beast.
The electricity flowed into John through the air, making it appear as if two blue-silver antennas had sprouted from his head.
Outside the room, Tony, who was about to cut the other half of the door, suddenly stopped and noticed the flickering lights above his head. The lights in other rooms were flickering as well.
"Jarvis, what's going on?" Tony asked.
"Sir, a large electrical surge has been detected in Mr. John's room. It has invaded the main power line, causing an overload and voltage instability," Jarvis replied, his voice trembling slightly due to the interference.
Tony looked at the door with concern, then continued to work, cutting through the last connection.
But the door still wouldn't open. An inexplicable force was holding it shut, jamming it against the doorframe.
"Pepper, step back," Tony said, eyeing the unyielding door.
Pepper moved aside, worry etched on her face. "Should we call for help? This feels really dangerous!"
"I think John might be in even more danger right now," Tony replied.
Using a crowbar, Tony wedged it into the door crack and leveraged it with another crowbar. With a fierce effort, one side of the door finally broke open.
They could finally see into the room. Tony Stark peered inside and saw the two electrical currents connected to John's head. His body was glowing red, covered in countless cracks, and smoke was rising from him.
Tony hurriedly continued to pry the door open. "John looks like he's been electrocuted. It's serious, maybe even..."
Pepper's panic deepened, her eyes welling up with tears as she reached for her phone, ready to call for emergency assistance.
Meanwhile, after absorbing some energy from the electric current, John managed to recover slightly. He fell from mid-air, and the metal pieces that had been surrounding him clattered to the ground.
The strange energy field in the room dissipated, and the door, no longer held shut, fell open, allowing Tony and Pepper to rush in.
"John, John, wake up!" Tony called out as he reached John, who was still smoking. He began patting John's face, trying to rouse him.
Pepper, still on the phone, was on the verge of tears as she watched John in such a dire state.
John fainted for a moment but slowly came to his senses. He opened his eyes to see Tony pressing on his chest and Pepper talking on the phone nearby.
Pepper's call connected. "Happy, please contact the emergency center! There's been an electrocution—it's really serious. Hurry—"
"Wait, Pepper, I don't need to go to the hospital!" John's sudden voice startled Tony, who was focused on performing CPR. Pepper also froze, staring at John as he struggled to sit up.
"Pepper, could you get me some food? Uh, the more, the better. I'm really hungry—really hungry," John said, his voice weak but insistent.
Tony stood up, surveying the room, which was now charred black from the intense heat. The bed and bedside lamp looked as though they had been burned in a fire.
The sight of the broken metal pieces caught Tony's attention.
The metal in the room had come from the four tons of metal plates that were moved in five days ago, but now it had all been reduced to dim fragments.
This had to be John's doing—so what exactly happened?
Pepper looked at John, who was still burnt and battered. "Are you sure? I think it might be better to go to the hospital for a check-up!"
"No, Pepper, I know my body. I just need food!" John insisted.
"Alright. Happy, cancel the ambulance. But you might need to bring some food here," Pepper said into the phone.
"How much? Bring back some fast food—hamburgers, pizzas, that sort of thing. Yes, bring a lot. Enough for ten people—no, make that twenty. And please, hurry, Happy!"
As Pepper hung up the phone, John looked embarrassed. "Thanks, Pepper. This was an accident. I didn't expect any of this to happen."
Tony cautiously touched John's cracked upper body.
"You don't seem to be burned through, but more like burned out. I just ran tests two days ago—what the heck happened?"