Marvel: Starting with Iron Man in the Apocalypse

The intense spatial tug-of-war receded like a tide, and the tactile sensation of solid ground finally returned. Chen Haotian and Tony staggered almost simultaneously before barely managing to regain their balance. Before them was no longer the technologically advanced laboratory of Stark Tower, but an unfamiliar street shrouded in dim daylight.

A complex, indescribable odor permeated the air—a faint smell of rust, a barely perceptible stench of decay, and the dusty scent of a city long neglected. The sky was leaden gray, oppressively so that it was hard to breathe. A few thin rays of sunlight struggled to pierce the clouds, but could not bring any warmth to this lifeless city. Most of the buildings lining the streets were old, with mottled walls, many broken windows, and shop signs leaning askew, covered in thick dust. Several abandoned cars were haphazardly parked on the roadside, some with their doors wide open and empty, as if the owners had vanished in an instant.

"Ugh..." Tony leaned against a rusty lamppost and gagged, his face pale. "Every experience is so 'surprising.' My balance system needs an upgrade." He shook his head, trying to dispel the dizziness. The nanotech armor covering his right arm quickly disappeared back into his bracelet, returning to the appearance of a normal sleeve, but the vigilance in his eyes remained undiminished.

Chen Haotian was slightly better off, but his expression was equally grave. He quickly scanned his surroundings; his genius-level brain, like a high-speed computer, combined the coordinate information forcibly implanted by the runes with the details of the environment before him, and immediately drew a judgment. "Raccoon City... we've been dumped on the edge of the city center. Judging from this desolate state, the T-virus leak has probably already occurred, but the large-scale outbreak may not have started yet, or... it's in its early stages." His tone was calm, but a hint of unease caused by the uncontrolled teleportation lurked deep in his eyes. His cunning nature made him accustomed to controlling situations, and this sudden forced teleportation was undoubtedly a challenge to his control.

"First, confirm the safety of the environment, then find the source of information and determine the specific time point," Chen Haotian said to Tony in a low voice, while his sharp eyes swept over street corners, windows, and other places where danger might be hiding.

Tony nodded and pulled a palm-sized, portable environmental detector—which he had modified—from the side pocket of his silver briefcase. The basic sensors came from the world of The Walking Dead, but the core algorithms and power source were upgraded by him personally. "Air quality...contains trace amounts of unknown volatile organic compounds, complex composition. Life signal scan...at the ten o'clock position, about eighty meters away, two weak, chaotic, asynchronous life responses. Wait, a few more..."

Before he finished speaking, a series of low, dragging footsteps, mixed with a kind of wild, guttural sound squeezed from the depths of the throat, came from around the corner of the crossroads ahead.

Chen Haotian and Tony held their breath, their bodies tensing slightly, as they disappeared into the shadows of an abandoned convenience store next door.

First to appear was a man in a tattered suit. He staggered, his body leaning forward in an extremely uncoordinated manner, one arm twisted unnaturally, his face bloodless, his pupils cloudy and dilated, and dark red stains remaining at the corner of his mouth. Then, a second, a third… a total of five similarly shaped “people” emerged, swaying unsteadily. They were dressed differently, some male, some female, but they shared common traits: ashen skin, vacant eyes, slow yet persistent movements, and a continuous, chilling hoarse sound emanating from their throats.

"Confirmed," Tony said in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of disgust at seeing an "old acquaintance." "A low-budget version of The Walking Dead, or rather... a special Resident Evil version. Seems a bit more aggressive?" He noticed that one of the female zombies had unusually long and sharp fingernails, covered in blackish-red bloodstains.

The group of zombies seemed to be wandering aimlessly through the streets, but two of them quickly caught a subtle movement at the convenience store entrance. Their murky eyes locked onto Chen Haotian and Tony in the shadows, and their hoarse cries suddenly became rapid as they dragged their stiff steps toward them. The other three were also drawn by their companions' movements and turned to join the group that was closing in.

"We've been discovered. A swift resolution is needed to avoid attracting more attention," Chen Haotian said succinctly, his eyes cold. He chose not to expose his potential "internal strength" or other extraordinary abilities, which he hadn't fully grasped, but instead handed the reins to Tony, whose equipment was more specifically tailored. This was the prudence of a highly intelligent individual.

"Perfect, let's try out the new toy I prepared for these 'old friends.'" Tony's lips curled into a smile that combined tech-geek excitement with a hint of coldness. The bracelet on his wrist glowed again, and nanoparticles flowed rapidly, but this time they didn't cover his entire body. Instead, they precisely constructed a compact, streamlined launcher on his right forearm. The device was entirely matte black, with a blue dot of light at its center where energy converged.

He raised his arm and aimed at the zombie in the suit who was charging at the front.

"call out--"

A faint, almost inaudible whooshing sound rang out. A blue pulse beam, barely perceptible to the naked eye, struck the zombie's forehead instantly. There was no explosion, no flying blood and flesh, only a soft "thud," like a ripe watermelon being punctured. The zombie's forward momentum abruptly froze; a charred hole the size of a thumb appeared on its forehead, piercing through the back of its head. It swayed, then fell forward without a sound, completely still.

"High-frequency pulsed energy beams are designed to instantly overload and destroy intracranial nerve clusters," Tony explained calmly, as if introducing a regular industrial product. "High energy efficiency, low noise, no risk of ricochets, and guaranteed 'cleanup' efficiency."

As he spoke, he subtly moved his arm and repeatedly pulled the trigger.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three more soft thuds followed. The other three approaching zombies were sliced ​​apart as if by an invisible scythe, each struck in the forehead with almost identical movements and instantly collapsing to the ground. The movements were clean, swift, and frighteningly efficient.

Only the last female zombie with long, pointed fingernails remained. It seemed unresponsive to its fallen companion, stubbornly extending its claws to grab Tony.

Tony didn't even aim carefully; he just swung his hand casually.

"Sizzle!"

A thin, hair-like high-frequency cutting line shot out from the side of the launcher, tracing a silvery arc in the air before precisely slicing across the zombie's neck. The zombie's head instantly separated from its body, rolling to the ground. The headless body took two more steps forward before collapsing with a thud. The cut was clean and smooth, with hardly any blood spurting out—the high-frequency technology had instantly sealed off the blood vessels at extremely high temperatures.

From the discovery of the five zombies to their elimination, the entire process took no more than fifteen seconds. The street returned to deathly silence, leaving only five gradually cooling corpses and a faint, lingering smell of burnt blood in the air.

The launcher on Tony's arm receded like a receding tide, reverting to a bracelet. He checked the energy reading: "Less than two percent consumed; excellent battery life."

Chen Haotian emerged from the shadows, his gaze sweeping over the corpses on the ground, his eyes devoid of any emotion. "Not bad. It seems your 'harvest' in the Walking Dead world has been quite successful." He walked to a corpse, crouched down, and carefully observed the color of the zombie's skin and the turbidity of its pupils, then looked at its long, pointed fingernails. "The mutation signs are obvious, but the corpse is not yet severely decomposed. The virus activity is very high, and the outbreak should have happened recently."

He stood up and brushed non-existent dust off his hands. "There's no need to clean up the traces. This city will soon be oblivious to these corpses. The priority is to find the exact time and... figure out why we were forcibly teleported back. Runes don't go out of control for no reason."

Tony's earlier relaxed demeanor from the weapon test vanished, his expression turning serious again. He surveyed the deathly silent streets, where a faint, similar groaning sound seemed to echo in the distance. "Agreed. I don't want to vacation in this godforsaken place. Information sources... newspapers, television, any working electronic device will do."

The two exchanged a glance and tacitly chose a path in the opposite direction from where the zombies had appeared. They quickly left the street where a brief conflict had just occurred, their figures blending into the deeper shadows of the city, and began searching for crucial clues in this city that was about to descend into true hell.