Upon arriving at the exhibition, Tony suddenly dove from midair, flying more than two meters above the ground.
Leading a squad of armored soldiers, he headed straight toward Qin Xiao.
Bullets rained behind him, forcing Qin Xiao to instinctively raise his hands to protect his head.
The sheer intensity of the assault made Qin Xiao squint, unable to fully open his eyes.
He waited for Tony to roar past overhead, relying purely on instinct to grab a piece of armor and slam it hard onto the ground.
"Uh-oh, that was wrong!"
Qin Xiao stared at the armor lying on the ground, arms still outstretched, continuously firing.
With a flick of his right hand, he plunged a Tang sword directly into the armor's arc reactor, shutting it down immediately.
"Can you locate it more accurately next time?"
"I don't have a protective mask—let's go again!"
The two of them exchanged frantic complaints, while Tony stretched lazily, turned around, and charged at Qin Xiao again.
This time, Qin Xiao didn't disappoint—Tony's armor flew straight over his head.
He leapt forward and knocked down Rhodes' armor.
To ensure Rhodes' armor didn't resist, Qin Xiao plunged a Tang sword directly into its reactor.
With a sharp click, the normal outer metal alloy of the armor was easily pierced.
However, the inner gold-titanium alloy firmly resisted the blade's sharp edge.
"Looks like I need to earn some points quickly to upgrade my weapons!"
Qin Xiao muttered under his breath, pounding the sword's hilt with all his strength.
Thunk! The Tang sword sank more than ten centimeters into the body.
The blade made direct contact with Rhodes' T-shirt, nearly gutting him.
Fortunately, the reactor area only had a thin layer of gold-titanium alloy. In other spots, it would have been far harder for Qin Xiao to penetrate.
Without that thin alloy sheet, Qin Xiao might have lost control of his strength and killed Rhodes outright.
"Qin, Rhodes, are you okay? Problem solved?"
"No worries… Qin Xiao almost stabbed me!"
Rhodes stared at the blade lodged in his chest, carefully inhaling to avoid pushing it further in.
"You two better lie down and look at the stars for a while—don't get up!"
Tony said, circling in the air a few times before landing not far from them.
As the armor behind him fell one by one, Tony stretched and turned, activating two red laser lines that spun twice, slicing nearby armor into three flat pieces.
Following the laser's sweep, Qin Xiao noticed that even trees a hundred meters away were cut into three sections.
"This technique is amazing. Can it last a bit longer?" Qin Xiao sighed.
"Nope. That's the trick—if it could be used freely, it wouldn't be a trick."
Tony shrugged.
"Can you at least pull the sword out first? Looks like the villain hasn't appeared yet," Rhodes said, lying frustrated on the ground.
"Alright!"
Qin Xiao stepped forward, pressing a foot on Rhodes' chest. With the screech of metal scraping, he slowly withdrew the Tang sword from Rhodes' chest.
"All done? Tony! Are you both okay? Rhodes, you're fine?"
Pepper Potts suddenly appeared, dressed in a white professional suit, with Black Widow at her side.
"Pepper? What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay at the company?" Tony asked, puzzled.
"You didn't tell me today was a setup. I thought it was just a normal exhibition. There was an accident, armor flying everywhere—I had to come see! Wait… are you blaming me?"
Tony looked at Black Widow.
"Can someone help me get out of this armor first?"
Rhodes tried to interrupt, but nobody paid attention.
"Could I hide anything in this situation? She's already here!" Black Widow spread her hands in protest.
"Tony, stop changing the subject and blaming others. Next time you make a decision, let me know beforehand—I don't want to sit in the office like an idiot watching TV to see what happens!" Pepper said firmly.
"I'll try not to worry you, Pepper. You know this is dangerous!"
"Hey! I want to get up!" Rhodes' voice was ignored again.
Tony and Pepper argued, while Qin Xiao and Black Widow watched the spectacle, leaving Rhodes unnoticed.
"Oh! Your reasoning is great. To avoid worrying, you worry so much that you can't even sit in the office and had to rush over. So next time…"
Suddenly, a sharp, piercing sound cut through the sky.
"Ivan Vanko is here—get ready—"
Before Tony could finish, the armor in midair opened fire toward the ground.
Qin Xiao leapt forward to protect the two of them!
Without waiting for their consent, Qin Xiao grabbed them under the armpits—one left, one right.
With a single massive leap, they soared hundreds of meters away and were released safely.
"Stay safe. Better run farther!"
Qin Xiao exchanged a glance with Black Widow, observing carefully, then returned to the battlefield.
As expected, even at full power, Tony was no match for Ivan Vanko here.
Vanko's armor was stronger than in the movies.
His chest and shoulders housed three arc reactors simultaneously—one for mobility, two dedicated to powering the energy whips in his hands.
After all, his nickname was Whiplash, and using the whip was his specialty.
When Qin Xiao returned, Tony was entangled by two whips, one around his neck, one around his feet.
The whips emitted wild, crackling energy, causing every inch of Tony's armor to fracture.
"To fight you, I sacrificed mobility. If you somehow escape, I have no special countermeasure. What a shame…"
You have to understand—the energy output of an arc reactor is massive. Carrying three simultaneously strains the armor's output circuits enormously.
It's like a Gatling gun—the extremely high fire rate rotates six barrels for continuous shooting, requiring pauses to cool down.
The armor's design is even more complex. Adding two extra reactors doubles the complexity of the output circuits.
Qin Xiao didn't understand this as well as Tony. He could only watch as Tony was methodically subdued by Ivan Vanko.
Qin Xiao leapt forward, plunging his Tang sword straight into the back of Ivan Vanko's neck.
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