SUP Chapter 102: The Omnipotent Sentinel, That Snap! (Part One)

Ian remembered the way to the base and he didn't need Gwen's broken bicycle either.

As a millionaire from another world, Ian had bought the book "Things the Rich Should Know," so he knew very well that boys like himself should be wary of others.

"Today Gwen dares to lend me her bicycle, tomorrow she'll dare to ask me to be the new Spider-Man... How naive of her to think that." Ian wouldn't casually give others the chance to curry favor with him.

He had to guard against any situation where he might be held hostage by gratitude. Full of the teachings that Zhang Wuji's mother had imparted to transmigrators, Ian continuously used [Bounce Flight] to reach the familiar alley.

He lifted the manhole cover.

Ian dropped down like free fall.

Perhaps due to muscle memory, he subconsciously wanted to bounce in the low, wide sewer. Only after jumping did he realize his head nearly crashed straight through the concrete ceiling above.

"Stark Industries' product quality is really good, probably more blast-resistant than planes from Curry Country." Ian's hands were firmly stuck in the concrete ceiling above his head.

He saw a thick metal pipe with [Stark Industries] markings on it. He wanted to use his fingernails to scratch it off and write [Doomsday Joy] instead, but found he couldn't do it.

Therefore, his ancestral identity came online.

Golden light naturally arose in his frustration.

"Heat vision still works best~" When Ian landed back on the ground, the golden glow in his eyes slowly faded.

After carving a few letters on the metal pipe and drawing a stick figure with a perky butt, he confirmed that the metal material used here might indeed be quite special.

Definitely very suitable for intercepting missiles.

"Teacher Tony must know the formula." Ian ran through the damp sewers. The absence of rats made this place look completely clean.

Soon, the familiar steel door appeared.

The base's door recognized Ian's face, then beeped with a green light and slowly opened. Inside was empty, or more precisely, there wasn't a single living person.

The busy researchers had all disappeared.

It seemed they had gone with the other soldiers and printed people to study Galactus.

The entire base was very quiet.

Only the base's core remained in its massive mainframe, the holographic Tony Stark facing away from the entrance, seemingly lost in thought as he stared at a display screen.

The display screen showed not surveillance footage but a mass of meaningless static.

Just meaningless static in Ian's view, like the kind of snowy dots that everyone could see on their home TV after forgetting to pay the cable bill.

"Hey, Teacher Tony, have you eaten?" Ian waved his hand. The water stains from his boots left mud prints on the floor, which were quickly absorbed by the floor as if it had self-cleaning functionality.

Tony's projection didn't turn around.

"Do I look like I can still eat?" He seemed to have known Ian would come at this time, possibly having calculated the most precise timing.

He showed no surprise at all.

"It's okay, I brought you some computer viruses, maybe they taste good?" Ian knew what it meant to be polite. He pulled out a USB drive he had copied from his home computer.

There was nothing else on it.

Just lots of viruses.

When asking for favors, one should carry appropriate gifts.

"..."

Digital Tony caught the very real gift with his virtual body, directly throwing it into the trash can. He didn't seem to like Ian's customized present very much.

However, this digital god didn't correct Ian's way of addressing him either. This made Ian feel that Tony definitely still liked his gift, and would probably go through the trash after he left.

Teachers who liked to put on airs were all like this.

Ian had already felt the tacit understanding between teacher and student. Just like how Ian could taste that demons really weren't bad, he didn't believe any intelligent life could refuse delicious computer viruses.

"Teacher, what are you looking at?"

Ian brazenly moved closer.

He tried hard to use the static on the screen to piece together patterns, but whether it was an imagination problem or Digital Tony had hidden his electronic lady too deeply.

The hardworking boy's eyes went blurry, but he couldn't piece together anything.

"This is a recording."

Digital Tony spoke softly, "Radio wave recordings from before the universe collapsed, do you know? As the universe expands, electromagnetic radiation's wavelength gets stretched while its energy gradually decreases."

"They eventually form the radio waves everyone's familiar with. When these radio waves are captured by human instruments and displayed on screens, this is what appears."

Digital Tony spoke in a leisurely narrative voice.

"So, do these static dots hide some secrets about aliens?" It had to be said, Ian was heavily influenced by the book "World's Unsolved Mysteries."

Tony glanced at him.

"Do you think I'd be that bored?" His tone was helpless.

He felt Ian was treating him like some illiterate who hadn't read for a PhD.

"They're not static dots, they're the afterglow of the universe's birth... a brat like you can't understand their beauty." Tony's voice was extraordinarily gentle.

Even somewhat incomprehensible to others but Ian could understand.

Who told him he had super intelligence?

"I see."

Ian roughly understood Tony's meaning, but he wasn't interested in such romance. He only knew his guess was right, after becoming electronic, Tony had indeed changed in all aspects.

Even his orientation was affected.

It was more serious than the condition he had previously guessed, where electronic people would fall in love with electronic ladies.

Ladies?

No ladies at all! Tony seemed to have directly transformed from a playboy who only slept with the most beautiful women to someone who now seemed to only want to make love to the most beautiful radio waves!

Yes.

Such a lamentable transformation.

Being a digital person really shouldn't be attempted.

"I admit the radio waves you're fixated on are indeed beautiful, and perhaps they have personality that could successfully arouse your CEO interest, but actually the corpses of Sentry and the All-Man are not bad either?" Ian frantically and stiffly hinted at Tony, of course remembering what he had come to the base to do.

As Ian winked and gestured.

Tony chose not to pretend he didn't see.

He withdrew his gaze from the display screen, seriously and solemnly staring at the boy beside him. The holographic image's facial details suddenly became clear enough to show pores.

"I can let you touch their corpses, but you need to promise me one thing." Obviously, this was Digital Tony hoping to negotiate some exchange conditions with Ian.

"Equivalent exchange, very reasonable, but don't treat me like Dormammu." Ian nodded, not surprised, but still emphasized that Tony shouldn't go too far.

"For you, this is a very simple thing."

Tony nodded and spoke softly.

"You want me to help you snap your fingers?" This was something Ian had actually guessed long ago. He wasn't really someone who didn't like to use his brain, the previous information could all lead him to this conclusion.

"Yes, you need to help us reestablish the universe's order. This is the last chance and cannot tolerate any failure. Otherwise, we'll fall into true abyss and be shattered and lost."

"Eventually we'll become part of those toxins that poison other universes." Tony's words contained a lot of information. He obviously knew many secrets unknown to others.

"You trust me that much?" Ian's eyes flickered slightly.

He thought again about the information Death had given him. Parasitic invasion and fusion were two invasion methods, but these days' experiences made Ian suspect he was encountering a third situation. The people here seemed to only want to rebuild their homeland, with no intention of seeking new homes.

Could it be a disguise?

Hard to say but one thing could probably be confirmed, if this world's entities wanted to invade DC, they definitely wouldn't choose the Infinity Stones, as those things could only function within the Marvel universe.

"Who else can I trust?"

Facing Ian's inquiry, Tony only gave a counter-question, "I carry not just souls, but the universe's remaining laws, and they're decreasing bit by bit."

"Overly powerful individuals, my remaining resources can no longer support. You can't expect my remnant form to still have the right to unleash the Infinity Stones' power, can you?"

This looked like playing the victim, but also had an indescribable helplessness.

"Last chance... meaning you've tried not just once, but many times? How many times?" Ian was still pondering the information Tony had revealed earlier.

Hearing this, Digital Tony didn't give an exact answer.

"How many times? I'll give you a hint, you can guess." He just raised his hand, extended one finger, making a gesture that seemed somewhat out of character.

"Hmm? Am I Iron Man now?" Ian walked around to behind the virtual image, taking a look at Digital Tony's rear. He didn't have any Sorcerer Supreme cloak either.

"Only you can do this."

Digital Tony spoke seriously.

"No, I don't think I can do it. You should have monitored this already." Ian seized the opportunity and walked toward the weapon display cabinet nearby.

Tony cooperatively helped him open the cabinet.

"Zzt zzt zzt~"

Ian aimed at his own temple and fired dozens of shots in succession.

[You attempted to learn bullet-catching by hand. Although practical learning failed, you still gained some death-defying techniques. [Student] profession experience +1]

[You attempted to learn bullet-catching by hand. Although practical learning failed, you still gained some death-defying techniques. [Student] profession experience +1]

[You attempted to learn bullet-catching by hand. Although practical learning failed, you still gained some death-defying techniques. [Student] profession experience +1]

...

He still couldn't successfully catch laser bullets.

This was too difficult.

What made Ian more uncomfortable was that as his physical attributes increased, the experience gained from this reasonable grinding mechanism decreased, no longer giving him that surging improvement feeling.

Of course, there were still gains this time.

[Student lv8 (1/1280)]

Ian's [Student] profession leveled up.

He gained another general skill point. Honestly, Ian was recently torn between whether to put general skill points into [Learning] or improve his [Ian Kent Defense Technique].

Both skills had a conceptual flavor. The former had higher growth returns, while the latter was a noble percentage-based skill. Both were skills that could have stronger positive effects on Ian once upgraded.

Beginner, Basic, Excellent, Elite, these were the skill level divisions Ian already knew for ordinary skills. Beginner to Basic required 1 general skill point, Basic to Excellent required 2 general skill points, Excellent to Elite required 4, and Elite upward required a full 8 general skill points.

Due to the appearance and leveling of the [Writer] profession, combined with the [Student] profession leveling up again, Ian had accumulated a full 9 general skill points.

The general skill points needed to upgrade [Learning] were indeed enough, but precisely because of [Writer]'s appearance, Ian felt it might birth a specialized skill after leveling up a few more times.

This was just speculation and intuition.

Since he had no similar experience.

Ian couldn't make a definitive judgment either.

Anyway, he was slightly conflicted.

"Zzt zzt zzt~"

Of course, conflicted as he was, Ian didn't stop his leveling pace. After another fifty or sixty experience points, Ian, who had planned to make good use of resources, was stopped by Tony. Tony directly shut down all weapon systems, and Ian saw the gun in his hand turn into a toy-like model.

"Don't be so stingy..."

Ian was slightly regretful.

"Like I said, our resources are gradually decreasing." Tony sighed, "This also means the physical laws I preserve are being depleted."

"Haven't you noticed you can only move around in this city?" His words made Ian slightly stunned. This truth was quite subversive to Ian's original expectations.

"So, beyond Earth, there's no universe left?" Ian's eyes widened.

He realized even Earth might no longer be complete.

"It is a universe, but also chaotic void. Now, the existence here is my last remaining strength, but even so, we're already in the countdown to the end." Tony's projection flickered, "Being able to persist this long is thanks to help from that friend whose corpse you want to defile."

"Otherwise..." His words weren't finished, but the meaning was already clear: without Sentry's help, this world would probably have lost even its current spark long ago.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely say thank you to him, nine times." Ian didn't know how to respond, only making a solemn promise.

Three times meant importance.

Nine times meant triple importance, the floral meaning of being more grateful than grateful.

"..."

Tony was silent precisely because he could understand Ian's logic.

"Click~"

The base's door slowly opened. Gwen escorted a large box inside, looking dusty and dirty all over, obviously having just experienced an unpleasant gem recovery operation.

"Gwen! Want some peanuts?"

Ian's attention focused on Gwen's seemingly eternally unchanging leather pants.

Accompanied by the "rustle rustle" of plastic packaging, he pulled out a bag of peanuts printed with "Quinn Foods" from his pocket. The golden-brown kernels gleamed enticingly under the base's cold white light.

Gwen's nose twitched.

She smelled the fragrance of natural food.

Different from the synthetic snacks and food in the base. Her fingers reacted before her brain, and when she came to her senses, she had mechanically accepted three peanuts.

Gwen's shell-peeling movements were pitifully clumsy.

"Thank you."

The moment the peanuts cracked between her teeth, Gwen had a fleeting vision of corn fields under sunlight. She quickly snuffed out this weak association and thanked the boy who had shared precious natural food.

This was necessary.

The last encounter had made Gwen clear about what would happen if she didn't give thanks.

"It's nothing, eat more." Ian stuffed the entire bag of peanuts into Gwen's hands, making her somewhat unaccustomed to his enthusiastic attitude.

"Um, the last Infinity Stone is being received, Betty has made preparations." Gwen was confused for a while before reporting the outside situation to Digital Tony.

"There won't be problems, I've arranged everything."

Digital Tony nodded gently, looking again at the static screen, "Whether it's success or failure depends on whether our initial assumption was built on the right path."

His sigh was somewhat inexplicable.

Gwen walked toward the testing laboratory in the back.

"So, since everything sounds so urgent, why are there still only Betty and Gwen... I'm not looking down on them, but according to my theory, this kind of thing should need some truly weighty people to participate, right? Besides you, what about other heavyweight figures from this world?"

Ian felt that if it were him, even if he could only choose among ordinary people, he would definitely revive the ordinary version of Captain America. After all, Gwen and Betty could at most be considered plot-level NPCs, not even as prestigious as his independent NPC status, not really looking like they could carry such events.

"During multiversal fusion, most heroes' consciousnesses became hodgepodge, but these two girls... their pure souls are the clearest in my records."

Tony gave the answer that had puzzled Ian for so long.

Ian suddenly understood.

"Oh~ I get it! I was wondering why in some universe in my memory, you liked Peter Parker so much... Tsk tsk, so that's the reason."

"Looks like Peter Parker wasn't comfortable being your godson either, by the way, does Pepper know about your taste?" Ian looked like he truly understood thoroughly.

He didn't need to hide the fact that he wasn't a local and knew many Marvel "stories." This was normal, because hiding would be purely self-entertainment.

Tony was now omniscient Tony God, impossible not to see through Ian's peculiarities. After all, Ian was just an independent NPC, he believed what happened to [Arrogant Heaven-level NPCs] wouldn't happen to him.

Those who understand, understand.

Obviously facing big bosses described as incredibly powerful, with wisdom described as incomparable, ancient monsters, yet protagonists could still fool them with slightly cunning tricks.

Afterwards, there would be wise men from their own faction crazily praising these intelligence-reducing tactics, it could only be said, Ian had tried it too and was beaten badly by reality, so he chose the most suitable method for himself.

I don't keep secrets at all.

How can you spy on my secrets then?

Honestly speaking this trick, combined with the fact Ian had verified that his soul and memories couldn't be seen through by big bosses, he could really be a pest that wouldn't be judged as an extraterrestrial demon.

His self-positioning in this area.

Ian was extremely clear.

How could this not be considered a kind of wisdom?

"?????"

Tony was now feeling the power from Ian, he obviously had emotional fluctuations, emotions that didn't seem like simulated fake emotions at all.

"Just because they didn't merge thoroughly with other multiversal individuals, making me very easy to separate, you devil, what the hell is in your head!?"

Tony's projection rippled, frantically gesticulating at Ian. It was real gesticulating, if he could attack Ian, he probably would really rush up and scuffle with Ian.

"My head naturally contains abundant super intelligence."

Ian looked suspiciously at Tony. The other party couldn't even see such a simple thing, making him doubt that Tony wasn't as smart as others said.

"Shut up, stop insulting intelligence."

Digital Tony sighed toward the sky.

"Heh... Teacher Tony seems to have gained some emotion?" Ian didn't intend to convince Tony to believe him, keenly noticing some changes in Teacher Tony.

"The time is just approaching."

Tony returned to his silent appearance.

"The corpses you wanted are over there."

He seemed unwilling to continue communicating about this with Ian, raising his hand to point toward the room on the left side of the base hall. The tightly closed door there also slowly opened.

Cold mist drifted out like dry ice.

Ian walked in, as if entering a morgue. In the center of the room, two corpses lay on anti-gravity suspension beds, white frost covering their eyelashes, with no rising and falling in their chests.

It was Sentry and the All-Man.

Both corpses looked lifelike, as if they had just died, or rather, as if they weren't dead at all. Ian stepped forward and pinched both their noses, waiting several minutes.

"Looks like no April Fools' surprise."

Ian still remembered the Marvel time he had seen on the electronic calendar outside earlier.

He always liked to keep an eye out.

So he listened to both their heartbeats again, no movement whatsoever.

"Let me see how to proceed." Ian was about to look for tools to perform autopsy on the corpses, but found that considerate Teacher Tony had already opened small wounds on both their foreheads.

It’s really small, about the same as mosquito bite wounds but there was still very fine blood congealed on Sentry and the All-Man's forehead surfaces.

As if it had been extracted.

"Praise Omni-machine Tony God." Ian glanced at the surveillance ahead. This situation also proved again that Tony had really analyzed a lot of information about Ian.

He might have even calculated exactly how much blood Ian needed to trigger special mechanisms.

As Ian's hand touched them, system prompts rang again, but somewhat contrary to Ian's expectations. Sentry and the All-Man didn't bring new profession unlocks. In his currently unlockable professions, there was still only [Entropy Annihilation Lord], the two superhero corpses brought system function unlocks.

[Obtained intermediate correction data.]

[Obtained advanced correction data.]

[Updated [Savage Tyrant] basic information.]

[Profession characteristics being recorded...]

No severe pain.

No cold and shaking either.

Ian felt like he had normally unlocked a new profession or leveled up, experiencing sudden changes in himself, his physical attributes rapidly increasing.

[Strength: 26→44]

[Constitution: 44.3→60]

[Intelligence: 3.5→4.2]

[Spirit: 21→31]

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