1 The Mysterious System

Stark House.

　　Press conference site.

　　Click, click, click!

　　The limelight flashed incessantly, shining from all directions on Tony Stark's face.

　　Tony Stark stood on top of a high platform, facing reporters from various media outlets, and spoke with such eloquence.

　　"You can certainly question the official statement, but please don't insinuate that I'm a superhero."

　　"I'm simply not superhero material, I have so many flaws as a person and have caused so much trouble for everyone."

　　...

　　Coulson, who was located at the very back of the scene, was getting more and more upset the more he listened, didn't he say he was going to read from the script?

　　This Stark guy was being cynical again!

　　"Tony, could you please read from the script?"

　　Rhodes, who was standing next to Stark, couldn't help himself, he came over and whispered a reminder in Tony Stark's ear.

　　Tony Stark nodded and said ok no problem, he would honestly cooperate next.

　　But the next second.

　　"The truth is ... I am Iron Man!"

　　Tony Stark tossed the script straight to the side, tossing out the old truth that both the military and S.H.I.E.L.D. had told him to try so hard to hide.

　　Coulson couldn't help but cover his face.

　　Rhodes also had been surprised.

　　The press conference floor, on the other hand, exploded with a crash.

　　The news was so explosive that it was like a heavy bomb that blew everyone over.

　　"Mr. Stark!"

　　"Mr. Stark!"

　　"Mr. Stark!"

　　All the reporters could no longer remain calm and rushed towards the Iron Man in a swarm, scrambling to ask him questions.

　　But suddenly.

　　The noisy scene suddenly became silent, and all the voices disappeared instantly.

　　Not only that, all the reporters who were coming towards Iron Man also seemed to have been struck by the magic of immobilisation and did not move at all.

　　It was as if someone had pressed the pause button, freezing everyone in place.

　　"What's going on?"

　　Iron Man was completely dumbfounded and confused as he surveyed the frozen people around him.

　　He was completely confused as to what the hell was going on here.

　　"Tony, what have you done?"

　　Rhodes' voice rang out, he was not fixed like the others, still remaining normal, and at that moment looked at his old friend and asked.

　　Although the scene before him was inevitably a little magical, Rhodes knew how advanced the technology of Stark Industries was.

　　If there was anyone who could have done this, there was no one else but Iron Man, with his high technology and his particular penchant for making things happen.

　　"I've checked, and everyone on the scene is hit except for the three of us." Coulson came over with a stony face.

　　"Tony, if it's true that you did something, then I must warn you not to go too far." Coulson also said to Iron Man with a straight face.

　　At this point, Coulson and Rhodes were on the same page.

　　"Come on, what makes you all think I'm the one who did that?" Iron Man looked speechless, "Even though I'm a genius, there are some things even a genius can't do, Jarvis, scan the scene ... Jarvis?"

　　While answering, Iron Man gave orders to his AI, Jarvis, to see if he could find out some clues.

　　But Jarvis was surprisingly malfunctioning at this moment as well, unable to respond at all.

　　Iron Man's face, began to turn incomparably grave.

　　What on earth was it that had managed to stop time that much that even Jarvis couldn't answer?

　　In terms of artificial intelligence.

Jarvis was as far ahead of his time as Iron Man's Iron Gauntlet!

　　Iron Man didn't think anyone could have done all that.

　　"Something's not right."

　　Coulson and Rhodes soon noticed something suspicious as well.

　　After they had examined them, they found that the people at the scene were not simply immobile; these people's hearts, their breathing, all their every physiological function had stopped.

　　By definition, they were as good as dead.

　　However, these people did not show any corresponding physiological manifestations; each one had a rosy complexion and normal body temperature and was completely alive.

　　Furthermore, these people were also in a state of absolute stillness, not moving at all, and even some of them spurted out saliva that remained in the air.

　　This was not at all something that could be done by any technological means.

　　Instead, it was like something out of a science fiction movie. ... Time stopped!

　　[Please listen to the question: Who left a wound on the face of the overlord of the universe, Thanos?

　　[A. Captain America]

　　[B. Hulk]

　　[C. Iron Man]

　　[D. Thor, the god of thunder]

　　[Friendship note: Those who answer the question correctly will be rewarded with an Allspark fragment.

　　Those who answer the question incorrectly will have one of their attributes randomly deducted, including but not limited to knowledge, experience, skills, everything, etc. ...]

　　Just as the three people were staring wide-eyed, an electronically synthesized sound suddenly rang out.

　　At the same time, a huge fluorescent screen hovering in the air appeared in front of several of them, and words corresponding to that voice appeared on the screen.

　　The three men looked at each other thinking what the hell is going on?

　　"So ... this doesn't look like a prank." Rhodes opened up first, turning to both Iron Man and Coulson with a straight face.

　　"Even if this is a prank, I wouldn't mind playing along with a prank that could do that." Iron Man had an arrogant look on his face.

　　"So ... we'll answer the question and see what happens." Coulson came to a decision with a hammer.

　　"According to the scenario described in this one question, Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man ... that's me, and this Thor, the God of Thunder, battled this cosmic overlord called the Thanos."

　　Iron Man began to methodically analyze the situation, "So of the four of us, who left a wound on the Thanos?"

　　"To know the answer to that, we need to have some idea of the strength of both sides of the battle." Rhodes took over on the side, "The Thanos we don't know, but the title says that the other he is the overlord of the universe."

　　"Is this cosmic overlord to be interpreted as one of those scary aliens from sci-fi movies who fly starships and are powerful and aggressive?"

　　"We can assume that for now." Coulson nodded off to the side.

　　As a veteran agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson had to know the truth about the world better than the average person.

　　He knew that this world was not as simple as it appeared and that there were many, many supernatural forces.

　　Aliens, moreover, are unquestionably certain to exist.

　　When their director Nick Fury was young, a guy called Ronan tried to invade Earth and was fought off by one of Earth's heroes.

　　That Ronan, in fact, could have been called the Overlord of the Universe.