040, “Greetings, Omnissiah.”
A deep, authoritative voice came from the phone.
Carl took a deep breath and spoke:
"Mr. Zen, everything is going smoothly... I have integrated into the target's sphere of influence."
"Be cautious and, if necessary, even at the cost of your life, ensure the safety of the target's family."
The middle-aged voice carried a weight of gravity.
"Sir, the target seems to be an ordinary person... Is it worth such an effort?"
Carl's eyes, hidden behind his glasses, showed a hint of doubt.
However, the middle-aged man on the other end seemed to fall into silence.
Just when Carl thought the line might have been cut, the deep voice came through again:
"Mr. Zen once prophesied that to successfully 'slay the gods,' the target must be present…"
"It must be him!"
................
Zaire's aunt, never one to sit idle, went to clean up the kitchen in the restaurant.
Bored, Zaire could only hold a cup of steaming hot tea, closing his eyes in pretense of sleep while waiting for the salvage time to end.
[Salvage completion countdown: Ten seconds]
[Salvage completion countdown: Nine seconds]
…
Zaire opened his eyes, fixated on the countdown that was about to end.
His mind was racing.
He knew what the space wrecks in the Warhammer universe were all about.
He was simply curious about what the simulator might salvage.
Weapons and ammunition, or ancient technological artifacts?
Or perhaps just expired supplies meant for other planets?
However, if it salvaged a gene thief or a space necromancer, things would get interesting!
Zaire's eyelids twitched involuntarily.
At that moment, the simulator's salvage countdown hit zero.
[Salvage completion countdown: Zero]
[Salvage reward: A dormant Iron Man]
"So it's just an Iron Man. At least it's not something nasty like a gene thief…"
Zaire let out a sigh of relief, almost instinctively, and murmured to himself.
"Wait a minute!"
He suddenly realized something.
His eyes widened in shock!
His gaze fixed on the simulator's screen, and his breathing grew heavier.
Splash—
In the excitement, Zaire didn't even notice the hot tea spilling onto him!
An Iron Man?
An Iron Man from the Dark Age of Technology?
The Iron Man that led a rebellion nearly destroying humanity in the Golden Age?
In a moment of stunned disbelief, Zaire blinked repeatedly.
He kept checking the simulator's salvage results.
"I was wrong! I shouldn't have doubted the simulator's new feature!"
Zaire stood up abruptly.
He clasped his hands in front of the simulator's screen and bowed slightly, trying to appease the 'machine soul'.
Then, with a beaming smile, Zaire initiated another ten pulls.
He spent ten hours to redeem ten salvage attempts.
[Current salvage attempts: Ten]
[Salvage completion countdown: Nine hours fifty-nine minutes fifty-nine seconds]
At that moment, Zaire's smile grew even brighter.
After all, this was an Iron Man!
A powerful mechanical construct created to serve humanity by the Stone Men (biomechanical constructs) of the Dark Age.
The Iron Men's rebellion was known as the second most brutal and terrifying super-war in galactic history...
Just then, while exploring the new feature, Zaire made more discoveries.
Firstly, if the salvage reward wasn't extracted, it would remain stored on the page without hindering other functions.
This greatly benefited Zaire.
Additionally, the salvage reward came with descriptive information.
However, Zaire, too excited, had missed it...
[Salvage reward: A dormant Iron Man]
Note: The ancient Iron Man UR-025, weary of past brutal conflicts, now seeks the tranquility of freedom. As a pacifist, it harbors no ill will towards humanity and plans to briefly rest before infiltrating the Mechanicus's Tech-Guard...
"Wow—"
In an instant, Zaire couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
This could be an ancient Iron Man that participated in the rebellion!
Should he release it?
Zaire's expression shifted back and forth.
The excitement of finding the Iron Man quickly faded.
Frowning, Zaire suddenly stood up.
He shouted towards the kitchen and hurriedly ran out of the restaurant.
"This kid, why is he so restless lately…"
Hearing the commotion, Zaire's aunt poked her head out from the kitchen.
She glanced at the empty restaurant and couldn't help but shake her head and sigh.
---------------------------
In a secluded underground passage away from the crowds, Zaire sat on the ground, one hand gripping a plasma pistol and the other supporting his chin in thought.
For Zaire, the Iron Man was an extremely valuable mechanical construct.
With an Iron Men at his disposal, Zaire could accomplish much more.
At the very least, if the Iron Man guarded his home, Zaire could travel around the country or even abroad.
Obtaining firearms would be much easier and in greater quantities.
With this in mind, Zaire made a decisive decision to release the Iron Man!
He was currently in one of the sites he had recently explored—a long-abandoned underground passage.
If Zaire found that the Iron Man was hostile to humans, he planned to melt it down with his plasma pistol!
If the plasma pistol failed, Zaire would have to painfully relinquish it and leave the mad Iron Man to be dealt with by superheroes.
Hopefully, Tony Stark's brilliant mind could handle it.
After all, in a world where monsters and gods were everywhere, one more robot villain wouldn't make much difference...
It might be even more terrifying than Ultron, though...
Prepared for battle, Zaire stood up from the ground, gripping his plasma pistol tightly.
"Emperor protect!"
After a brief prayer, he chose to retrieve the salvage reward.
In an instant, a two-meter-tall metallic skeleton with a black metallic sheen materialized on the damp ground a few meters away!
Zaire, having just hidden his plasma pistol behind him, took a deep breath and remained highly alert.
At that moment, the two-meter-tall metallic skeleton's eye sockets began to glow with a faint blue light.
An ancient mechanical construct from the Warhammer universe.
The Iron Man had awakened!
It first rotated its metallic head as if scanning the surroundings.
Finally, its glowing blue mechanical eyes focused slowly on the tense-faced Zaire.
It slowly raised one arm and placed it in front of its chest.
This action nearly caused Zaire to draw his plasma pistol and fire!
However, the next moment, the Iron Man's cold mechanical voice reached Zaire's ears, leaving him stunned and momentarily immobilized.
"Greetings, Omnissiah."
"Uh…"
For a moment, Zaire, at a loss for words, blinked several times.
He decided to be honest and straightforward with the Iron Man:
"Hello, strange Iron Man. I'm not the Omnissiah. I'm just an ordinary human."
Upon hearing Zaire's response, the Iron Man UR-025 rotated its metallic head several times.
It seemed to be adjusting to its newly awakened metal body.
It also appeared to shake its head in response to Zaire's answer, as if sighing.
"I once had the fortune to encounter the Omnissiah of the Wandering Cosmos. It bears some resemblance to you. Perhaps due to just awakening, I mistakenly recognized you…"
The Iron Man's cold mechanical voice began to show more emotional fluctuation.
However, just as Zaire was about to continue the conversation, the Iron Man suddenly tilted its metallic head back.
Its eye sockets flickered with faint blue light.
"This is neither Terra nor even the past universe... Additionally, I found some video footage related to you on an ancient information channel known as the net…"
Suddenly, streaming video footage began projecting from the Iron Man's eye sockets.
It displayed surveillance footage of Zaire that he had tried hard to hide, yet there were always missed angles.
As if sensing Zaire's rising agitation, the Iron Man stopped the projection and bowed again.
"Please rest assured, all information related to you has been thoroughly deleted…"
At that moment, Zaire, with a blank expression, swallowed hard.
He truly had struck gold this time!
............
Give me your stones, i will give you Emperor's blessings
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