Chapter Ninety-Six: Bioelectricity

The weapons development division of Stark Industries.

By the time the security personnel realized that the mysterious silver-and-black robot before them had already been driving them steadily away from the weapons development division, it was too late.

They knew it might be a diversionary ploy, yet there was nothing they could do to undo it.

Because that robot was absurdly, outrageously unfair.

Whether they used sniper rifles, assault rifles, rocket launchers, bombs, or any other mass-casualty weapon, or even tried to pin it down by sheer numbers, they could not move it even an inch.

It seemed to wear an invisible electromagnetic shield around its body; none of their attacks had even once struck the iron shell beneath.

And if it had only been formidable in defense, these battle-hardened security men would not have been driven to despair.

The worst part was that it was not merely tough, but terrifyingly lethal as well.

With a casual wave, the robot unleashed a streak of blood-red light, its tail trailing like a tassel, shooting through the air with a shrill whistle like a bullet.

Each crimson flare seemed to home in on its own target, finding one of their comrades with ruthless precision.

The moment the red light entered a body, that man would drop instantly, his fate unknown, falling faster than if he had been shot.

After a few rounds, the robot had driven them farther and farther back, and fewer and fewer of them could still stand. Gradually, their fighting spirit had long since collapsed, leaving only the urge to flee to safety...

The robot the security personnel regarded as a nightmare was, of course, Zhong Shenxiu, fighting alone in a suit of silver-black mechanical armor.

He realized that he may have underestimated himself.

Once he activated the magic shield, none of the security men’s weapons could harm him at all. The mechanical armor he wore did not even bear a single bullet mark.

Then, from time to time, he would send chaotic magic into their bodies. He did not even need any advanced spell; he simply ran a little magical frenzy through their brains.

Under the violent tremors of that magic, the security personnel fell one after another, like chives being cut down in rows.

Watching them lose all will to fight and scatter in panic, Zhong Shenxiu had no intention of pursuing them. As long as they did not return to the weapons development division, that was enough. His task was only to hold every security guard in place and create a good opening, as well as enough time, for Ivan and Peter to move the palladium and the other materials.

At this point, the mission had turned out to be almost too easy.

He checked the time. Only twenty minutes had passed since he had sent the message telling the two of them they could go in.

His original plan had been to give them thirty to forty minutes to transport the materials. There was still some time left... but when he looked up at the security personnel, already stripped of all resolve and desperately running for their lives, Zhong Shenxiu felt bored.

It was like a max-level account in divine gear sweeping through the beginner village, mowing everything down in one unstoppable pass. At first, it was a little exhilarating; after too long, nothing remained but a deep emptiness.

Seeing that the guards could no longer muster any effective force, Zhong Shenxiu shifted his gaze to a tall wall.

The wall was covered in stone bricks, and the glaze on its surface looked exceptionally smooth in the moonlight.

Zhong Shenxiu walked slowly toward it.

Then...

with a light leap.

He actually seemed to break free of gravity, standing upright directly on the vertical wall, his entire body perfectly parallel to the ground.

He kept going, using the wall as a road, stepping steadily upward!

This was the superpower Zhong Shenxiu had finally obtained from Peter a few days earlier: bioelectricity.

Although the one-percent spider-sense still had not appeared, that fifteen-percent bioelectricity, after the tireless efforts of Peter and Zhong Shenxiu, had finally been unlocked by Zhong Shenxiu.

The electromagnetic fields hovering over his limbs were the fundamental reason Spider-Man could climb walls.

It was never, as people in his past life had said, because Spider-Man’s palms and soles had barbs that could hook into walls... If that were true, then Spider-Man would have to wear gloves and shoes, not leave his hands and feet bare.

Although bioelectricity was a passive ability, it had no direct rank. Zhong Shenxiu guessed that it must be a kind of superpower, one that could not be judged by ordinary standards of classification.

That was why it did not have a rank, just like spider-sense... impossible to grade.

But lacking a rank did not mean it was weak. On the contrary, it was an extremely formidable ability. Zhong Shenxiu had not yet become fully skilled with it... but from his perspective, once developed further, it would definitely be more than simple wall-crawling.

That would all have to wait for him to work it out slowly.

For now, he was merely following Spider-Man’s example and practicing wall-crawling, though he was growing more and more adept at it. A good sign.

“Well, well, a Jedi who crawled out of a theater, putting on acrobatics out here?”

Hearing the mocking voice suddenly behind him, Zhong Shenxiu instantly went on alert. He looked up...

And saw a familiar figure.

Silver-white armor, even thicker and more high-tech than Zhong Shenxiu’s own, with flames blasting from the palms and soles to keep the iron man floating in midair.

It was Tony’s Mark Two from Iron Man.

The Marvel world, New York, Stark Industries, Tony’s Mark Two... everything looked normal enough.

Except... why was it so fast?

Zhong Shenxiu could not make sense of it. By rights, Tony had only been back for about a month; there was no way he could have invented the Mark Two this quickly... Was the man on some kind of stimulant?

What he did not know was that the reason Tony had worked so frantically was precisely because of those very words.

And Tony, suspended in the air, saw that the man before him, likewise encased in armor, did not answer...

Yes, Tony’s visor had thermal imaging. Unlike those security personnel, who had mistaken Zhong Shenxiu for a robot, Tony could see the heat signature and knew that inside that armor was a human being, one exactly like himself.

So Tony spoke again. “Stop pretending. I understand every little trick of yours.”

“Your armor is actually pretty good, by the way. At least your balance across every part is handled very well. So tell me—who sent you?”

Tony rose a little higher, interrogating him from above.

He knew the armored man before him did not possess flight like he did, so by keeping this distance Tony was certain the other could not touch him... could he?

Zhong Shenxiu did not have Tony’s habit of trading banter before battle. Without another word, he controlled the chaotic magic in his body and surged toward Tony like a cannonball.

Boom—

With a hundred-point magic lightning-cut technique, Zhong Shenxiu instantly closed in and hurled a fierce punch at Tony’s abdomen!

And Tony, who had only moments ago been brimming with confidence, was instantly sent flying like a kite with its string cut, tumbling away in a perfect parabola, utterly disheveled as he crashed into the distance...