At that moment, a shout echoed from upstairs. As the footsteps grew louder, Tony Stark sighed in relief when he saw Rhodey running down. Rhodey, too, was relieved to see Tony was okay. He then turned to Qin Li and asked, "Li, did Pepper contact you to find Tony as well?"
Qin Li nodded and replied, "Yes, I got here late, or he might still be lying there."
Hearing Rhodey mention Pepper, Tony immediately asked, "Where's Pepper?"
"She's fine. She's taking five agents to the lab to catch Obadiah Stane," Rhodey reassured Tony.
"Five people aren't enough," Tony muttered, then, with Rhodey's support, walked toward the lab.
Meanwhile, Pepper, with Coulson and other agents, had already arrived at the lab, swiping her card to open the door. She walked in while speaking to Coulson, "It's in Zone 16, right here!" Seeing the yellow-painted iron door, Pepper led Coulson directly to it.
After swiping her card twice with no success, she turned to Coulson and sighed, "My magnetic card's expired, I can't open it!"
Coulson calmly extended his hand, and one of the agents quickly handed him a micro bomb, which he placed on the door. Pepper curiously asked, "What's this? Can it open the door like the card?"
As Coulson attached the bomb to the door, it began to flash with red lights, and Coulson said, "Please step back a few steps." Pepper realized it was a bomb and quickly turned to distance herself from the door, covering her ears with her hands.
Coulson remained unfazed, stepping in front of an agent, folding his arms. After a few seconds, the explosion went off, and the door was blown open.
Obadiah Stane, who had just installed the reactor into the Iron Monger suit, heard the blast and knew someone had found him. He quickly entered the final data and rushed toward the Iron Monger.
At the same time, Tony, with Rhodey's help, had arrived at the armor bay and, with the help of the mechanical arm, began to put on the Mark armor. Rhodey watched in awe and remarked, "This is seriously the coolest thing in the world."
Qin Li nodded in agreement, "I completely agree, especially for men—this is more attractive than women." Rhodey nodded in approval, then raised his fist towards Qin Li. Qin Li instinctively raised his fist and bumped it with Rhodey's.
Tony Stark rolled his eyes at the two. After Tony finished donning the armor, Rhodey asked, "Do you need me to do anything else?"
"Disable all flight," Tony replied, and then closed the faceplate and flew out of the basement.
Watching Tony fly off, Rhodey looked at the fully silver armor next to him and muttered, "Damn, that's cool. Next time, I'm doing that!" He then hopped into his car, noticing that Qin Li was still standing in place, and asked, "Need a ride?"
Qin Li smiled and shook his head, "I'm good, I'll head over myself. You'd better hurry, or you'll just be dealing with a minor issue." With that, Qin Li used a teleportation potion and disappeared in an instant, leaving only a golden magic circle that faded with the wind.
"Damn, next time I need to come up with something cool and fast too," Rhodey muttered as he slapped his forehead, then drove off.
Meanwhile, Pepper and Coulson had entered Zone 16. There, they found a crudely made suit. Looking at the suit, Coulson said seriously, "Looks like you were right, he's definitely building suits."
Pepper responded solemnly, "And they're even bigger." As Coulson arranged for the team to search the area, Pepper walked over to an electric cable, which was sparking and severed. Curious, she approached, but she heard something moving inside and decided to investigate.
As two white lights illuminated the darkness, Pepper realized it was Obadiah Stane's suit. She screamed and quickly ran outside.
As she ran out, several agents saw her and immediately opened fire, but how could ordinary humans fight against a steel monster? One punch from Iron Monger sent each agent flying like ragdolls, buying Pepper a little time to escape.
However, the computer servers in the basement could not stop Iron Monger. After taking out the agents, Iron Monger sprinted and smashed through row after row of computers. Its massive fist was about to crush Pepper when suddenly, Qin Li appeared behind her and caught the deadly blow with one hand. The force of the punch slid him back a meter.
Pepper turned around, shocked to see Qin Li blocking Iron Monger's punch with just one hand. Qin Li, seeing Pepper stunned, sighed and said, "Miss Potts, I suggest you head upstairs instead of staying here to get killed."
Pepper snapped out of her stupor upon hearing Qin Li's remark, thanked him, and quickly ran upstairs.
"Damn you, yellow-skinned monkey! How many times can you save Tony? He should've died at home by now!" Obadiah Stane's voice came from inside the suit, mocking Qin Li.
Unfazed, Qin Li replied, "You might be disappointed, but Tony still has an old reactor to use. I just came from there. As for you, have you figured out how you want to die?"
As Qin Li spoke, Obadiah Stane broke free from his restraints and raised his right hand. The Gatling gun mounted on his arm began to warm up. "How do you, a mere human, plan to fight me? You should die in a hail of bullets!" he taunted.
With a maniacal laugh, Obadiah Stane unleashed a barrage of bullets like a chain of fire aimed at Qin Li.
Qin Li gritted his teeth and shouted, "Holy Light Shield!" But this time, instead of forming a light wall in front of him as usual, he condensed it around his arm, still enveloping his entire body. As his arm blocked in front of him, the light shield followed, guarding him.
After a few seconds, Iron Monger stopped shooting, and Obadiah Stane's manic laughter grew louder. However, the sound coming from behind him made him pause, realizing that his arrogance had been abruptly cut off.