The Bald Leader stood behind the armed men, a victorious, 獰笑 on his face. He raised his right hand, and all the gun barrels simultaneously lifted, aiming at Tony's armor.
"I've been waiting for a long time, Mr. Tony Stark," the Bald Leader said in broken English. "Ever since that Longguo Boy entered the cave, I felt something was off. As expected..."
Tony subtly stepped back, his armor creaking. Facing so many heavy weapons, this crude armor would easily be penetrated.
"Listen, Mr. Bald," Tony deliberately drew out his words, "we can make a deal. You want more advanced weapons, right? I can—"
"Shut up!" the Bald Leader suddenly interrupted him furiously. "Do you think I'll still believe your nonsense?"
The Bald Leader's grin appeared particularly sinister in the firelight. He abruptly swung down his right hand: "Fire!"
In an instant, the entire cave was illuminated by gunfire.
Tongues of Fire spewed from the muzzles of the heavy machine guns, and bullets rained down on Tony's armor.
The 'clanging' of machine gun bullets hitting the metal armor echoed, and sparks flew everywhere.
"Damn it!" Tony grunted inside the armor, pushed back repeatedly by the immense Impact.
A bullet grazed the periphery of the arc reactor, exploding into a blinding flash of Fire before Tony's eyes.
He stumbled back to the corner, his metal boot soles scraping two deep marks on the rocky ground.
"Tony!" Chen Tian's voice came from not far away, tinged with obvious anxiety, "What's happening on your end?"
Tony leaned against the rock wall, breathing heavily: "Not good, Longguo Boy. These madmen ambushed us at the cave entrance. They have heavy machine guns and RPGs. We can't break through..." His words were cut off by another volley of bullets, and several 碎石 fell from above his head.
The Bald Leader's voice was particularly harsh amidst the gunfire: "Don't hide, Stark! How long do you think that pile of scrap metal can protect you?" He made a gesture, and two armed men carrying RPGs pushed forward from the back of the group.
Tony's pupils suddenly contracted. This crude armor might barely withstand rifle bullets, but it definitely couldn't take a direct hit from a Rocket.
When Chen Tian heard Tony's warning, his mind instantly went blank. He had originally thought that according to the movie plot, Tony should be able to break through the encirclement smoothly, but now the situation was completely beyond his expectations. Those heavy machine guns and RPGs didn't appear in the movie!
"Damn it, my little butterfly's wings flapped too hard..." Chen Tian muttered to himself, his palms covered in cold sweat. He was just an ordinary office worker; how could he have experienced such a life-or-death situation?
Just as he was in a daze, Tony had already rushed towards them, dragging his cumbersome armor. Metal joints emitted a grating friction sound, and the armor seemed to fall apart with every step.
"Run! What are you still standing there for!" Tony's voice was muffled inside the mask, "They're going to use RPGs!"
Ethan was the first to react, grabbing Chen Tian's arm: "Hurry!"
Chen Tian finally came to his senses and turned to run with Ethan. Behind them, the whistling sound of a Rocket launching was heard, followed by a deafening explosion. The Impact knocked the three of them to the ground, and 碎石 and dust rained down on them.
"Cough, cough..." Chen Tian struggled to get up, finding Tony's armor blown to pieces, the arc reactor on his chest flickering erratically. Ethan was desperately helping Tony remove the damaged armor.
Chen Tian's pupils contracted violently, the scene before him seemingly slowed down countless times. Tony's once imposing armor was now shattered like a toy broken by a child. The arc reactor on his chest flickered with an unstable blue light, like the last gasp of a dying person.
"No... this isn't possible..." Chen Tian's lips trembled, his throat feeling as if something was choking him.
He mechanically turned his head to look at the end of the passage—the Bald Leader, with a dozen fully armed Terrorists, was approaching step by step, their gun barrels gleaming with cold metallic light in the dim cave.
Tony struggled out of the damaged armor, a shocking wound on his forehead, blood sliding down his cheek. "Longguo Boy..." he gasped, "Do you remember that idiom you taught me? 'To be placed in a situation of certain death...'"
"...and then live," Chen Tian subconsciously finished, but his voice was so hoarse it didn't sound like his own.
His gaze swept around—the narrow passage, shattered armor parts, Ethan's pale face. Despair surged like a tide, almost drowning him.
The Bald Leader's sinister laugh grew closer: "What a touching scene!" He raised the AK-47 in his hand, "Mr. Stark, this is the price for betraying us!"
Chen Tian's fingers unconsciously dug into the 碎石 on the ground. He remembered his life before transmigrating—the 9-to-5 office worker routine, spending weekends in his rental apartment watching Marvel movies... And now, he was about to die in this dark cave, along with Iron Man.
Just as Chen Tian fell into despair, the surrounding air suddenly became unusually scorching hot.
Beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks, landing on the 碎石 with a 'hissing' sound.
Ethan's shouts echoed indistinctly in his ears: "Look out!"
Chen Tian looked up blankly, discovering that at some point, the entire passage had been enveloped in crimson Fire.
In the distorted heatwave, the rocks began to melt, dripping like lava.
The Terrorists retreated in horror, even the Bald Leader showed signs of fear.
"This... this is..." Tony struggled to prop himself up, the flickering Fire reflected in his pupils.
A deep, powerful voice came from the depths of the Fire, a voice that seemed to drill directly into everyone's bones, stirring the deepest Fear in their hearts: "An interesting World..."
The Fire suddenly surged, forming a giant vortex.
In the twisted vortex, a terrifying figure gradually emerged—dark red skin covered in scales, curved demonic horns gleaming with a metallic luster, spiky protrusions bristling on its back, and eyes burning with hellfire, as if they could directly scorch the soul.
The tall figure slightly bent in the narrow cave, but the oppressive feeling it brought filled everyone with Fear.
"Diablo..." Chen Tian's legs went weak. He couldn't believe his eyes. The Fear of the King from Diablo, appearing in the Marvel Universe!
The Bald Leader screamed hysterically: "Fire! Kill this monster!" Bullets rained down on the demon, but they turned to ash the moment they touched its skin.
Diablo let out a contemptuous sneer and lightly waved its massive claw. The five Terrorists in the front row suddenly let out agonizing screams; their bodies shriveled at a visible speed, finally turning into desiccated corpses.
"Fear... what a sweet taste..." The demon took a deep breath, as if savoring the Fear that permeated the air.
Tony's lips trembled slightly as he stared at the demon that had emerged from hell, muttering mechanically: "Well... this is definitely the worst Easter egg I've ever seen..."
Ethan's face was ashen, his glasses askew on his nose, but he didn't even have the strength to lift a hand to straighten them. His lips trembled incessantly, but he couldn't utter a complete syllable.
Chen Tian bit his lower lip hard until he tasted blood, only then realizing he had bitten too hard.
As a loyal player of Blizzard games, he knew better than anyone the horror of Diablo—this Fear of the King could not only devour souls but was also skilled at exploiting the deepest Fear in people's hearts. His legs trembled uncontrollably, and his fingernails dug deeply into his palms.
Diablo slowly turned, its eyes burning with hellfire locking onto the three of them. In that instant, Chen Tian felt as if his internal organs had frozen. The demon's mouth twisted into a bizarre arc: "Hello."
The Bald Leader had completely collapsed by now. He threw down his AK-47 and knelt on the ground, frantically kowtowing: "Great God! Please forgive us! We are willing to offer these three sacrifices!"
Diablo didn't even glance at him, simply snapping its fingers. The Bald Leader's body suddenly convulsed violently, as if countless insects were writhing beneath his skin. Under the terrified gaze of the three, his body swelled like a balloon, finally exploding with a 'bang' into a mist of blood.
"Noisy." The demon disgustedly shook its claw.
The surviving Terrorists screamed and scattered, but Diablo merely waved its hand lazily. The ground suddenly cracked with countless fissures, and crimson lava spewed forth, swallowing the fleeing individuals one by one. One armed man tried to jump over, but was impaled through the chest by a suddenly extending bone spike, hanging in mid-air and letting out an inhuman scream.
After dealing with the Terrorists in the cave, Diablo turned again, its massive tail sweeping against the rock wall, causing 碎石 to fall.
On its grotesque face, the corner of its mouth twisted upwards, revealing what it considered a friendly smile—an expression that, on a demon's face, was even more terrifying than pure malevolence.
"I'll deal with the trash outside." The demon's low voice echoed in the cave, each syllable scraping against the three men's nerves like a blunt knife.
As Diablo bent down and exited the cave, the outside World instantly plunged into terrified screams and dying commotion. Screams rose and fell, interspersed with machine gun fire and explosions.
An eerie silence fell inside the cave, leaving only the screams and explosions from outside. Tony, Chen Tian, and Ethan exchanged glances, their faces filled with disbelief.
Tony was the first to break the silence. He wiped the blood from his face, his voice trembling with the tremor of someone who had narrowly escaped death: "So... that big horned guy just said 'hello' to us?"
He forced a smile that was worse than a grimace, "I bet Jarvis can't even analyze what language that was."
Ethan shakily straightened his glasses, the lens already cracked: "I'd rather believe this is a hallucination from blood loss..."
His gaze swept over the armed men's corpses scattered on the ground, then moved away as if he'd received an electric shock, "But clearly it's not."
Chen Tian stared intently in the direction of the cave entrance, his throat tight: "That's Diablo... the Fear of the King."
His voice grew softer and softer, so low that others couldn't hear him, "But this doesn't make sense. How can a Blizzard game character appear in the Marvel Universe..."
"Wait, what did you say?" Tony frowned, suddenly grabbing Chen Tian's shoulder. "You know that... that Red-skinned Monster?"
Only then did Chen Tian realize he had let slip. He swallowed, hesitating how to explain, when a deafening explosion suddenly echoed from outside, shaking the entire cave. Stones rattled down from the cave ceiling, and the three instinctively ducked, covering their heads.
When the tremor stopped, the screams from outside had completely vanished, replaced by an eerie silence.
Occasionally, the sound of dripping liquid could be heard, whether it was Water or...
"It's safe outside, everyone." A female voice suddenly sounded from outside the cave.
The three exchanged glances. A Diablo had just gone out, so how did this female voice appear?
"Should we go out?" Ethan winked.
"Go out for what! I don't want to see that Red-skinned Monster again!" Tony's eyes widened.
"If we don't go out, he'll come in anyway...." Chen Tian sighed.
"Hey! It's already cleaned up outside." The female voice sounded again, but this time from inside the cave.
The three looked over, and a young woman in her early twenties appeared around the corner of the cave entrance.
She had neat brown short hair and wore a distinctive red leather jacket. Her face was beautiful, with a faint smile playing on her lips, but her eyes... deep within those eyes flickered an unnatural red glow.
"Li... Lia?" Chen Tian blurted out.
Tony and Ethan looked sharply at Chen Tian. Something's not right with you! How do you know everyone?
Lia raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "Emm, you can call me Lia, but I prefer to be called Fear of the King."
The three instantly understood that this girl named Lia was Diablo transformed.
Tony swallowed, his mouth twitching, "Hehehehe, it seems the Diablo's personality is somewhat... unique."
Lia ignored Tony's remark, her red-glowing eyes fixed intently on Chen Tian, a meaningful smile playing on her lips. She walked slowly closer, her leather boots making crisp sounds on the gravel.
"The chaos outside might attract your friends," Lia tilted her head, a gesture that should have been cute but looked incredibly eerie coming from her. "You can go out and wait." She paused, her eyes flashing red, "There's no danger left."
Tony vigilantly blocked Chen Tian. "Wait, who exactly are you...?"
Lia didn't give him a chance to finish. Her body was suddenly enveloped in crimson Fire, the flames licking every inch of the cave, yet strangely not burning the three. In the distorted heatwave, her figure gradually blurred, finally turning into a wisp of smoke and dissipating into the air.
"Holy shit..." Tony's eyes widened, and he mechanically turned to look at Chen Tian. "Are you sure this isn't some holographic projection technology?"
Ethan tremblingly took off his shattered glasses and wiped them with his sleeve. "If it's an illusion, the three of us couldn't possibly see the same thing... What's more..." Ethan looked at the corpses on the ground with lingering fear.
Chen Tian took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "We must leave here immediately." He pointed to the cave entrance. "If what she said is true, rescue might really be on its way."
The three carefully walked through the passage filled with corpses. With every step, Chen Tian could feel his heart pounding violently. The Terrorists' deaths were extremely gruesome—some looked as if all their Water had been drained, turning them into mummies; others looked as if they had exploded from within, their flesh and blood splattered on the rock walls.
When they finally walked out of the cave, the dazzling sunlight made the three squint their eyes in unison. The camp outside had become a ruin, all tents and vehicles were burning, but no living person—or rather, no complete corpses—were seen.
"My God..." Ethan covered his mouth, almost throwing up.
The three stood frozen at the edge of the camp, the scene before them making their legs feel as heavy as lead.
Tony was the first to give out, stumbling and kneeling on the ground. He had taken the brunt of an RPG Rocket explosion to protect Ethan and Chen Tian.
"This... this is simply..." Ethan's voice was fragmented. He mechanically leaned on a half-burnt jeep, the flickering Fire reflecting in his glasses.
Chen Tian felt as if his throat was stuffed with cotton, and even breathing became difficult.
He forced himself to look away, only to find that everywhere he looked was a hellish scene—a body severed at the waist hung on a barbed wire fence, its internal organs dragging over three meters; several charred human figures remained in a fleeing posture, their carbonized fingers still gripping triggers.
"Over there..." Tony suddenly pointed to the center of the camp, his voice hoarse. "There's a cleaner... spot."
Ethan and Chen Tian helped Tony move to the empty ammunition box Tony pointed to.
Chen Tian jumped up as soon as he sat down—half a finger was stuck to the box.
He frantically patted his pants, even though nothing was actually stuck there.
Silence pressed down on the three like a physical weight. The crackling of burning objects came from afar, occasionally interspersed with the harsh groans of deforming metal.
Tony suddenly laughed nervously. "Ha... You know what? Last month I just rejected an investment for a horror movie project..." His laughter abruptly stopped, as if someone had choked him.
Ethan took off his glasses, wiping them repeatedly with trembling hands. "This isn't real... This can't be real..."
Chen Tian stared at his trembling hands, the dirt from the cave still lingering in his fingernails. He suddenly realized that just minutes ago, they were struggling to survive, but now they were collapsing because they had survived. This irony sent a pang of pain through his stomach.
"That... girl..." Tony suddenly spoke, his voice low. "She said rescue would come?"
Ethan looked up sharply. "You believe a Diablo's words?"
"No." Tony twitched his mouth. "But I believe the explosion will attract my friend." He pointed to the sky in the distance. "Like..."
Three Black Hawk helicopters tore through the sky, the roar of their propellers growing closer. Tony narrowed his eyes, looking at the familiar Military emblem on the fuselage, and a genuine smile finally appeared on his lips.
"I knew you'd come, Rhodes." Tony weakly raised his hand and waved.
Before the helicopter had even fully landed, a fully armed Black Military officer jumped out.
Colonel James Rhodes quickly ran over. "Tony Stark!"
Rhodes' voice was mixed with anger and worry. "Where's your 'Happy Hummer'?" Rhodes' sharp tongue was as annoying as Tony's. "Next time, don't leave me again. OK?"
Tony tried to stand up but stumbled. Rhodes immediately stepped forward to support him, only then seeing his friend's terrible state—face covered in blood, clothes in tatters, and that strange metal device on his chest flickering with an unstable blue light.
"My God, you're..." Rhodes' voice choked.
Tony, however, pulled out a signature Stark smile. "New look, like it?" He pointed to the Arc Reactor on his chest. "Arc Reactor, I made it myself. Ten years more advanced than any Military equipment."
Rhodes shook his head, then suddenly pulled Tony into a hug, patting his back hard. "Bastard... Do you know how many times Pepper cried?"
Tony's smile froze on his face, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes. He gently hugged Rhodes back. "I owe her an apology... many apologies."
It was then that Rhodes noticed Chen Tian and Ethan standing nearby. His gaze swept back and forth between the two, finally stopping on Chen Tian. "This is...?"
"Chen Tian, a genius programmer from Longguo." Tony casually made up an identity. "If it weren't for him, I might have died in that cave."
Rhodes raised an eyebrow, clearly not entirely satisfied with the explanation, but now was obviously not the time to press. He turned to his communicator and said, "Survivors found, prepare medical support!"
Medical personnel quickly ran over with stretchers. Tony waved them off. "Take care of those two first." He pointed to Ethan and Chen Tian. "Especially Ethan, he saved my life."
Ethan tried to decline but suddenly coughed violently, a trace of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. The medical personnel immediately surrounded him.
Rhodes watched this scene, his brow furrowed. "What happened here? We received satellite images showing the entire camp suddenly caught Fire..."
Tony and Chen Tian exchanged a glance.
"Terrorists infighting." Tony said without changing his expression. "They wanted to use missiles I designed to attack civilians, and I disagreed, so..." He shrugged. "You know, Terrorists aren't very reasonable."
Rhodes ignored Tony's glib talk, instead supporting Tony and leading him towards the helicopter, still saying things like "I know, I know" to calm Tony down.
The three helicopters quickly took off. Inside the cabin, Tony leaned back in his seat, the rapidly passing desert scenery outside the window reflected in his tired but bright eyes.
"Listen, Longguo Boy," he suddenly turned to Chen Tian. "I owe you a life. Choose any high-end apartment in the United States, a Michelin three-star chef on call 24 hours a day, how about it?"
Ethan, who was being examined by medical personnel, couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. "Tony, are you recruiting employees or proposing?"
"Both are fine." Tony raised an eyebrow, but his expression suddenly became serious when he turned to Chen Tian. "Seriously, I need you. Not just because you saved my life... but because of your understanding of that Red-skinned Monster."
Chen Tian leaned back in his seat, his eyes abnormally blank, showing no reaction to Tony's words.
Because... he found himself in the Universe, surrounded by galaxies, and in front of him stood Lia, smiling sweetly at him.