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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Forty-Eight: The Phone Booth and the Sniper
Tony Stark found himself in a series of serious troubles.
According to his original schedule, he had come to Afghanistan merely to demonstrate and sell weapons. However, the reality was that after finishing the demonstration, he was ambushed on his way back and became a prisoner of an organization called the Ten Rings.
For Tony, his wealth and status had become meaningless at that moment; the only thing that could ensure his survival was his intellect and skills.
The bald leader of the Ten Rings had captured Tony because of Howard Stark's advanced military technology. He believed that as long as he could keep Tony under his control, forcing this talented executive to continuously create new weapons for him, he would possess an unstoppable military power.
In the past, Tony would have reveled in such praise, but now... he truly felt the weight of death.
Tony Stark began to reflect.
Just two days ago, he was a staunch egoist, convinced that his weapons would only be sold to the U.S. military or other righteous entities. He believed that those who died by his weapons deserved their fate; all he needed to do was sell the arms and collect his money.
But now... Tony's perspective had changed.
He witnessed true death and saw the crates marked with Howard Stark's name scattered throughout the secret base of the Ten Rings.
He finally realized the mistakes he had made. His self-deceptive thoughts had led countless innocent people to die at the hands of weapons developed by his company.
Even he himself was being threatened by the firearms produced by his own company.
But Tony Stark was undoubtedly a genius. He was a playboy, no doubt, but his talents in the field of science were unmatched. Under the control of the Ten Rings Organization, he devised a plan to help him escape.
That plan involved creating an external armor capable of withstanding gunfire, with weaponry installed on the arms. This would ensure his safe exit from deep within the Ten Rings' base. Additionally, he needed a jet propulsion system to allow him to take off immediately upon reaching the surface, evading any subsequent pursuit by the terrorists.
As is well known, what Tony created within this terrorist organization was the prototype of the Iron Man Suit.
The situation went smoothly; Tony successfully built the Iron Man Suit and burst out from the depths of the base. In fact, this suit was even more formidable than he had imagined. Wearing this powered metal armor made him feel almost like a mutant; ordinary people posed virtually no threat to him, and even heavy-caliber machine guns could not tear through his body.
However, there was a slight issue during flight.
As Tony ascended amidst the flames of an explosion, his thruster malfunctioned, causing his body to trace a long arc in midair before crashing into the sandy ground like a projectile, leaving his armor in ruins.
When Tony stood up again in the vast desert, all he saw was a pile of scrap metal.
Moreover, he was still not far enough from the Ten Rings' base, so he had to embark on another journey, hoping to find someone who could give him a lift—anyone would do. He was willing to offer one million dollars as a reward for any assistance at that moment.
Unfortunately, this desolate area was too close to the terrorist organization's stronghold for anyone to be around.
He could only drag his weary body through the desert, moving forward bit by bit.
However, those who have seen the movie know that Tony was eventually found by Rhodes, who was searching for him in the desert.
But... the situation was somewhat different this time.
Because as soon as Tony climbed over a sand dune, he spotted a telephone booth.
Indeed, it was a telephone booth.
A vintage, fully transparent telephone booth with glass walls stood starkly atop the sand dune, appearing extremely out of place.
When something is unusual, there must be something amiss.
Tony may not have heard that particular Eastern proverb, but he understood the principle, especially after just escaping danger. He wanted to avoid any unnecessary complications—even if that telephone booth might connect him to rescuers.
However, at this moment and in this location, it was best to keep his distance from the booth.
That was what Tony thought, and that was what he intended to do.
But just as he took two steps away, a somewhat jarring ringing sound echoed from within the booth—someone seemed to be calling.
This also meant that the solitary telephone booth standing on the dune was indeed functional.
Now, Tony faced two choices: first, he could use the definitely working phone to call for reinforcements. This would mean he could get rescued in the shortest time possible and leave this hellish place without worrying about the terrorists catching up to him. The second option was to steer clear of the booth; its sudden appearance felt too coincidental and strange. No government would build a telephone booth in the middle of a desert and stretch a phone line thousands of miles just to ensure it worked—especially right on his path. However, choosing this route could very well lead Tony to wander aimlessly until he perished in this desert.
While anyone who had watched movies knew that Tony would eventually be saved, at that moment, Tony himself had no such assurance.
He stared at the booth for quite some time before ultimately deciding to walk away.
He had an unsettling feeling that this unexpected telephone booth might very well be a trap.
And so he moved forward.
The phone rang incessantly.
Then...
The ground in front of Tony exploded.
He saw a beam of light shooting from a distance, landing right before him, resembling a missile striking the ground. The sand beneath him was violently disturbed, and amidst the swirling dust, Tony was thrown to the ground.
Tony reacted quickly; he immediately got up and dashed in another direction. However, just like before, he had barely taken a few steps when another deafening roar echoed through the air. The sand in front of him erupted as if it had been rigged with explosives, and once again, Tony was knocked over by the shockwave and gust of wind, getting covered in flying sand.
Then Tony spotted a red dot.
It was a red dot that had come from who knows how far away, now fixated on him. As if it sensed Tony's awareness of its presence, it began to move slowly. Tony gasped in surprise as the red dot traveled to a nearby phone booth.
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