Marvel: Starting with Iron Man in the Apocalypse

The passageway stretched behind them, isolating the tyrant's unsettling roars and the heavy slamming of the alloy partitions shutting down. Only the emergency lights provided a dim glow, casting flickering shadows on the battle-scarred metal walls. The air was thick with the smells of gunpowder, ozone, and a faint, nauseatingly sweet stench of decay.

"Jarvis, environmental scan. Find the optimal path to the data center, avoiding known monitoring points and potential defense nodes," Tony commanded as he moved quickly. His gold and red armor remained conspicuous in the dim light, but his movements were even more agile and cautious.

"Analyzing the structure diagram... Sir, according to the partial Hive blueprints we have obtained, the core data center is located at the bottom level of Zone B, requiring passage through at least three main security gates. Although the Red Queen system has been disrupted, the basic monitoring and defense systems are still operational. We recommend detouring through the left-side ventilation duct system, as this area is more severely damaged and there may be blind spots in the monitoring coverage."

"Did you hear that?" Tony turned to Chen Haotian, his visor rising to reveal his face, which was sweaty but still brimming with confidence. "Using the ventilation ducts may not be the most elegant way, but it's better than running headfirst into another 'lump of stone'."

Chen Haotian nodded, his breathing calming down, his sharp eyes scanning his surroundings. "The interference just now won't buy us much time. The Red Queen's self-repair and optimization capabilities shouldn't be underestimated. We must hurry."

Without further hesitation, the two followed Jarvis's directions and found a ventilation duct access point that had been damaged in the previous battle. Tony widened the entrance with a laser cutter, and the two crawled inside.

The inside of the pipes was narrow and dark, filled with dust and some kind of sticky grime of unknown origin. The air circulation was poor, carrying a musty smell of metal and machine oil, and occasionally a faint rustling sound, like something crawling on the pipe walls, could be heard from afar, sending chills down one's spine.

"This place reminds me of the New York sewers, but with a much 'richer' smell," Tony muttered, the miniature environmental filter in his suit operating at full capacity. "I hope Pepper won't be disgusted by the smell when we get back."

"The premise is that we can bring back something of value." Chen Haotian led the way, his senses sharper in the dark, allowing him to avoid obstacles and potentially dangerous areas in advance. "Pay attention, Tony. We have quite a 'shopping list'."

They navigated the intricate network of pipes for about ten minutes, avoiding several still-functioning airflow sensors and two pressure plates that appeared to be connected to an alarm system. Finally, Jarvis alerted them that they had reached above the target area.

"Below is the isolation layer of the B-zone data center. The structure shows that directly below is the maintenance access entrance to a large server room." Tony looked at the 3D structural diagram projected inside his armor. "The good news is that this area doesn't seem to be within Red Queen's primary defense zone. The bad news is that the entrance is locked, and it's a physical mechanical lock; forcibly breaking it will trigger an alarm."

Chen Haotian bent down, carefully examining the metal grille beneath his feet. The grille was made of high-strength alloy, its edges fitting perfectly against the pipe wall, and in the center was an electromechanical lock requiring a specific key or password. "Can it be cracked?"

"I'll give it a try." Tony crouched down, a tiny probe protruding from the tip of his armor fingertip, which he connected to the lock's interface. "Jarvis, analyze the encryption protocol... Damn it, it's Umbrella's proprietary triple dynamic password, refreshing every thirty seconds. Brute-force cracking will take time, and it's very likely to be countered."

Time ticked by, the only sounds inside the pipe being the faint hum of the probes and the suppressed breathing of the two men. Chen Haotian could feel the chilling sensation of being monitored returning; the Red Queen system was recovering.

"No, that's too slow." Tony retracted the probe, his tone somewhat irritated. "We need another way to get in."

Chen Haotian's gaze swept around, finally settling on an inconspicuous interface panel on the side wall of the pipe, connected to thick cables. "Perhaps we don't need to go through the door," he pointed to the panel. "Data centers inevitably require powerful energy support and data exchange, and these backbone cables are very likely directly connected to the core servers."

Tony's eyes lit up: "You mean... like a mouse digging a hole? Going straight in through the pipework?"

"To be more precise, it's about using the space." Chen Haotian stepped forward, placing his palm on the metal wall surrounding the interface panel. He slowly circulated his internal energy, sensing the structure behind it. "This isn't a load-bearing wall; its thickness is average. The key question is, will cutting these cables trigger an alarm?"

Jarvis quickly responded: "Analyzing the cable types... they are mainly high-capacity fiber optics and data buses, with a few medium-voltage power lines. Theoretically, if a non-destructive access method is used, triggering a physical disconnection alarm can be avoided. However, this requires extremely precise operation to synchronize analog signal output and deceive the monitoring system."

"Synchronize analog signals? I'm an expert at that!" Tony immediately perked up. "Jarvis, prepare the virtual signal generator and connect it to my nanoengineer unit. Here, buddy." He popped a small, metallic-looking square plate, about the size of a fingernail, from the wrist of his armor. "Place it on the edge of where you're going to cut later. It will establish a temporary signal bridge, simulating the illusion that the circuit is working properly the moment I sever the physical connection. The time window is very short, only about 0.3 seconds."

Chen Haotian took the nanosheet, feeling its coolness against his skin. "0.3 seconds...that's enough." He took a deep breath, his pure Yang internal energy once again condensing at his fingertips. This time, it wasn't a forceful destruction, but rather transformed into an extreme sharpness and precision. A faint golden light emanated from his fingertips, like the most precise laser cutter.

He chose the spot and gently touched the metal wall with his fingertip. There was no loud noise, no sparks, only a faint sizzling sound, like a hot knife cutting butter. Centered on his fingertip, the metal wall began to slowly melt and vaporize, forming a smooth, circular cut about half a meter in diameter. The whole process was eerily quiet.

Tony watched in amazement, clicking his tongue in wonder: "Every time I see you use that, I feel like my scientific worldview is being challenged... This doesn't follow the law of conservation of energy at all!"

"It's just a different set of rules." Chen Haotian was completely focused, controlling the range and intensity of his internal energy output. As the incision was about to be completed, he quickly attached the nanosheet to the edge of the incision. The sheet immediately unfolded, transforming into an extremely thin mesh structure that covered the incision, with subtle shimmering light flashing across it.

"Now!" Tony shouted.

With a final, gentle flick of his finger, Chen Haotian caused the entire circular metal plate to detach inwards. But in that instant, the nano-network shone brightly, perfectly simulating the signals of the circuit connections. Jarvis's controlled nanoengineer units, like tiny silver tides, surged through the cut, quickly locating and temporarily taking over the data transmission functions of the severed cables.

Behind the cut was indeed not a solid wall, but a narrow maintenance mezzanine filled with cables, pipes, and supports of various thicknesses. A stronger gust of cold air, carrying the smell of heat from the equipment, rushed out from below.

"Success! Signal spoofing worked, no alarm triggered!" Tony confirmed. "Below is the ceiling mezzanine of the server room."

Without further delay, the two crawled into the maintenance mezzanine through the incision. The space here was even lower, requiring them to bend over to move forward. Below, through the metal grilles, rows of neatly arranged black server racks, flashing various colored indicator lights, could be vaguely seen; the hum of the machines formed the constant background noise. The cold air blown by the cooling system caused the temperature to plummet.

"We've arrived." Chen Haotian looked down through the gaps in the grille. The server room seemed to be empty, with only a few wheeled robots patrolling along fixed routes, their red scanning eyes occasionally sweeping the surroundings.

"Find the main access port," Tony commanded. Jarvis scanned quickly and soon located a more complex-looking interface near the central control console in the server room.

"That's a secondary data exchange node of the Red Queen, with higher access privileges. But it requires a physical connection, and there's definitely a stronger firewall," Tony analyzed.

"The physical connection is fine, the firewall is yours." Chen Haotian said, gently lifting a movable grille. The two of them landed silently on the cold floor like nimble felines.

Tony quickly moved to the console, popped a specially made data interface cable from his armor arm, and plugged it into the secondary node without hesitation.

"Access successful... Attempting to bypass the firewall... Umbrella's encryption technology is interesting, with layers of nesting and several obfuscation algorithms I haven't seen before..." Tony's fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, and massive amounts of data streamed across the armor's screen like a waterfall. "Jarvis, full power, access all the hacking resources we've collected from the Walkers world and Stark Industries' database!"

Time was running out again. The patrol robot in the server room seemed to have received some kind of instruction; it moved faster and scanned more frequently, with red spots of light sweeping past the control panel where the two were hiding several times.

Chen Haotian stood guard beside Tony, vigilantly observing their surroundings, his inner energy slowly circulating within him, ready to respond to any unexpected situation. He could sense that the Red Queen had apparently detected the abnormal data intrusion and was mobilizing resources to contain and track it back.

"Almost there...just a little bit more..." Tony's forehead was beaded with sweat, but his eyes gleamed with increasing excitement. This technological confrontation had clearly ignited his competitive spirit. "This backdoor is ingeniously designed, exploiting a logical loophole in their own protocol...Open it for me!"

With his final tap, the scrolling data stream on the screen suddenly changed, transforming into a brand new operating interface with higher privileges!

"Success! We're in!" Tony roared excitedly. "Jarvis, start downloading! Priority: all data related to the T-virus, G-virus (if it exists), related mutant research data, genetic maps, experimental records, weaponization application information... In short, pack up all the files marked in red and encrypted!"

"Download task established, data transfer initiated. Estimated data volume is substantial; estimated completion time: approximately 8 minutes and 37 seconds."

The progress bar began to move slowly but steadily across the screen. The indicator lights on the server rack flashed wildly, showing that massive amounts of data were being copied and transmitted.

Chen Haotian watched the number of bytes flashing on the screen, a slight sense of relief washing over him, but his vigilance remained. They had successfully infiltrated the data center and begun the crucial data download. However, deep within this AI-controlled hive, every second spent there carried immense risk. The Red Queen would never stand idly by while her core database was stolen in this way; a far greater storm might be brewing.