"What the fuck!?"
Tony and Yinsen were scared to cardiac arrest by this sudden scene.
Especially Tony, who hadn't slept for two days to rush progress—this scare nearly made him faint on the spot.
Under their shocked gaze, Declan nimbly climbed out of the hole, dusted off his clothes, and casually shouldered a pixelated pickaxe.
[Item: Diamond Pickaxe]
[Effect: Greatly increases mining efficiency, can rapidly collect/destroy most minerals and rocks]
[Assessment: If Andy Dufresne had this pickaxe, he could have saved at least 27 years]
"Who are you!?"
Tony was the first to recover, eyeing this mysterious stranger warily.
Declan grinned: "You must be Tony Stark. I'm here to rescue you."
"Are you sent by the military?"
"No, I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Here's my business card."
Tony took the card and looked at it.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Senior Agent Declan.
"?"
"Uh, sorry, wrong one."
Declan naturally pulled back the card, then pulled out a large handful of various business cards from his coat.
Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, NYPD, Federal Tax Bureau...
Tony: ಠ_ಠ
"Found it."
Declan finally found the right card and handed it over.
Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, Senior Agent Declan.
Tony looked at this absurdly long agency name, feeling like it was something a novelist made up to pad word count.
He looked at Declan suspiciously: "How many people did your Strategic Homeland... send over?"
Declan smiled confidently: "Just me."
"???"
Tony's face darkened.
Is this guy here to mess with me?
Declan paid no attention to Tony's reaction, his gaze already fixated on the crude iron armor on Tony's body.
[Mark I Armor (Bound to Tony Stark)]
[Description: Powered armor handcrafted by Tony in the cave using scrap materials, requires massive energy to operate]
"Good stuff!"
Declan's eyes lit up.
No man could resist the temptation of armor, and he was no exception—this was the ultimate romance of men!
Too bad it was bound to Tony, this main storyline character, otherwise he could try to see if it would drop.
Declan sighed regretfully.
He had already verified that NPCs in this game had no respawn mechanism.
Once an NPC died, they would permanently disappear and never appear again, and related quests would become invalid.
So it was better not to attack main storyline characters.
Though he could try it in New Game Plus.
Declan calculated silently.
Tony felt creeped out by Declan's eager yet dangerous gaze. Just as he was about to speak, chaotic sounds suddenly came from outside the cave!
Tony's expression changed drastically as he looked toward the monitor in the corner.
Clearly, the terrorists had already spotted the situation here and were heading their way.
"They're coming! Hurry!"
Tony ignored Declan and shouted at Yinsen.
Soon enough, terrorists had reached the cave entrance, banging on the iron door while shouting in an incomprehensible language.
"Bang—!"
The moment the terrorists forced open the iron door, a deafening explosion erupted!
The bomb Tony and Yinsen had preset at the entrance detonated, leaving several charred corpses on the ground amid smoke and debris.
Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, denser footsteps rapidly approached from the distance!
"Damn it!"
Tony was frantic—these terrorists had arrived much faster than expected.
"Yinsen, start the power system immediately!"
"But the armor hasn't been calibrated yet..."
"Can't worry about that now! Hurry!"
Tony knew the risks of forcibly starting the iron armor were enormous, but he had no choice.
If they didn't start it now, once the terrorists rushed in, they wouldn't even have a chance to resist!
Yinsen gritted his teeth and started the power system under Tony's direction. The progress bar on the computer screen began slowly advancing.
Outside the cave, the terrorists' roars and footsteps grew closer.
"There's no time!"
Yinsen took a deep breath, grabbed the rifle from beside the corpses, his eyes incredibly determined: "I'll hold them off!"
With that, he rushed out of the cave without hesitation.
"Yinsen! Come back! Stick to the plan!"
Tony shouted anxiously, but Yinsen's figure had already disappeared at the cave entrance.
Crack crack crack...
At this tragic and tense moment, an inappropriate sound rang out.
Declan was cracking sunflower seeds he'd pulled from who knows where, watching this scene of life and death separation with great interest.
"The cutscene animation is decent, just the plot is a bit clichéd."
Declan commented while spitting out seed shells.
Based on his rich experience immersed in countless game plots, this NPC named Yinsen would most likely be sacrificed.
Wait, this plot development seemed familiar somehow.
Declan suddenly realized something was off and looked at Tony suspiciously.
Speaking of which, handcrafting powered armor from scrap materials in a cave was inherently unscientific—it was blatant cheating.
Add to that the companion sacrifice plot.
This kind of treatment seemed to be reserved only for protagonists, right?
"System, don't tell me the protagonist is this mustachioed guy and I'm just a passing cameraman."
[Please rest assured, this game has no preset protagonist. The system will not interfere with any player decisions. Players may freely participate in the plot]
[Becoming the protagonist, supporting character, or passerby is entirely the player's choice]
"That's good then."
Declan breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't want to be some mobile camera, sleeping all day.
Tony watched Declan leisurely cracking seeds there and was about to explode with rage.
They were fighting for their lives here, and this guy was sitting there cracking seeds watching the show!?
But thinking about it, this guy claimed to be an agent, so he should have some combat ability, right?
Tony clung to his last shred of hope and urgently shouted at Declan: "Hey, whatever agent! Quick, help me stop Yinsen! Don't let him do something stupid!"
Yinsen, a scientist with no combat ability, facing a group of vicious terrorists—the outcome was predictable.
Dead for sure, brother!
Hearing Tony's words, Declan scoffed: "Heh, who do you think you are? I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. If I do whatever you tell me to do, wouldn't that make me lose face?"
[NPC Tony Stark has issued you a new quest]
[Quest: Save Yinsen]
[Objective: Ensure Yinsen survives]
[Reward: 1000 experience points, Tony Stark favorability +20, random rare quality item x1]
"But then again, as a model citizen, how could I stand by and watch someone die? Don't worry, this mission is on me!"
The disdain on Declan's face instantly vanished, replaced by a righteous expression.
The speed of this face change left Tony dumbfounded.
As for integrity?
Declan indicated—do game players have that thing?