[Note: In this game, both ordinary people and players can participate. Based on the points obtained, you can go to the nearest weapon store and modify the store to purchase supplies.][If you reach 100 points, you can become a player][Here's wishing everyone a happy time.]
After more than three months, when the Lizard Incident hadn't subsided, the Rockstar platform launched a new game. Fortunately, this time it wasn't set in New York but in Los Santos. However, the number of players covered by the game increased by tens of thousands.
New York originally had nearly 100,000 players, but since the Lizard Incident, the number dropped sharply to over 50,000. In the past three months, about 30,000 more players joined, bringing the total to over 80,000. In Los Santos, despite the server being open for just over a month, player numbers quickly surged due to the experience gained in Liberty City and the increased productivity from Marvin robots and androids. The initial chaos in Los Santos contributed to its rapid transformation into a freer city, and players quickly grew to 30,000.
As Rockstar missions appeared on big screens, TVs, computers, and movie theaters citywide, both Liberty City and Los Santos momentarily fell into silence. In Liberty City, the trauma of the Lizard Incident still lingered, and the mere mention of monsters caused anxiety, while Los Santos citizens, who had only seen the incident through movies and TV, were struck with panic at the thought of monsters invading their city.
In the vast exhibition hall, everyone's expressions changed drastically upon seeing the vampire alien monsters and missions displayed on the big screen, reminiscent of the traumatic Lizard Incident a few months prior. Hidden in the crowd, Ivan's heart sank, recognizing a task that affected him directly:
"To ensure fair competition, steel armors will be stationed in Los Santos before Liberty City players arrive."
The number of units was sixty — the exact number he'd produced over the past few months. With twenty units on display and forty stored in Hammer Industries' warehouse, Ivan felt a chill down his spine, wondering how the platform knew this information. Quickly, he activated a backup control system to take command of all the steel armors.
Ivan pressed the control button, locking his system onto Stark. Regardless of the platform's motives, he was determined to eliminate Stark. As soon as he activated the control, the Iron Legion, including Rhodes' War Machine with its Vulcan machine gun, turned to target Stark.
"Oh, no! Get out of here — the entire system is compromised!" Rhodes shouted, staring at the warning lights flashing red on his control panel. Stark, seeing all the armors aiming their weapons at him, immediately activated his thrusters and took off into the sky.
"Da da da da da!!!"
Bullets trailed behind Stark, shattering the glass ceiling into a cascade of fragments that rained down like sand. The entire hall erupted into chaos as people screamed and rushed for the exits.
Merlin's steel backpack transformed into armor that enveloped him. He quickly grabbed Pepper, flying her to safety at the back of the exhibition hall. Meanwhile, Justin Hammer had already fled, urging his engineers to escape as well.
"Melinda will protect you; I'm heading out!" Merlin said quickly. Before Pepper could reply, he activated his thrusters and sped away.
"Sol, send Chief George the evidence that Ivan is controlling the armor, then receive all the armors and send them to Los Santos."
"Received!" Sol replied.
In the night sky, Stark looked behind him, anxious at the sight of the Iron Patriots from the Legion in pursuit.
"Jarvis! Can you hack into their system?"
"No, sir. They've changed targets," Jarvis replied.
"What?" Stark glanced back and noticed that the Iron Legion was veering off, heading in a different direction across the darkened sky.
"Where are they headed?" Stark asked, realizing something important.
"…Los Santos!"
At that moment, over forty steel armors rose from the city, heading toward Los Santos. Realizing what this implied, Stark turned and chased after them.
"Mr. Stark, care for some backup?" Merlin's voice crackled in his headset as he caught up to Stark, clad in black and white armor.
"Merlin, what are you doing here? Is Pepper safe?"
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