Chapter 1
: I didn't enjoy a single bit of the blessings; I suffered all the sins.
"Are you really just going to sit here and wait to die? Is this Tony Stark's final, arrogant farewell performance? Don't you want to do anything?"
"I want to do something too! But I don't know how to build mechs!" Tony Stark said with a look of utter despair.
Tony Stark, an inventor, genius, patriot, and descendant of the legendary weapons developer Howard Stark, distinguished himself at a very young age with his exceptional intelligence. He designed his first circuit board at age 4, a V8 engine at age 6, graduated top of his class from MIT at age 17, and became CEO of Stark Industries at age 21. He developed intelligent weapons, advanced robots, and satellite targeting systems, establishing Stark Industries' dominant position.
But the current Tony Stark is a time traveler who just got off work, was lying in bed playing on his phone, and then inexplicably died.
Ethan didn't understand Tony's words and continued to encourage him, "Tony! Cheer up, do something, or they'll kill us."
"What am I supposed to do? What can I possibly do? What the hell can I do? I was just playing a game! How did I end up transmigrating?! Transmigrating is bad enough, but to Tony Stark?! You could have at least transmigrated sooner! Yesterday I could chat with some pretty reporters, but what happened? I didn't get to do anything, and they subjected me to torture and waterboarding! I didn't get a single moment of enjoyment, and all the suffering is on my hands!"
Tony got more and more excited as he spoke! He got so excited that he stood up, and as a result, the car battery pulled on the electromagnet at his chest.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Tony was in so much pain that he collapsed to the ground.
Although Ethan didn't quite understand the meaning of Tony's rambling (in his excitement, Tony spoke Chinese, and although Ethan knew many languages, most of them were from the Middle East, so he didn't really understand Chinese), he thought it was a good sign to see Tony getting angry.
Having finally shown some emotion, he was much better than before when he was completely silent, and continued to persuade him: "Tony, think of something. I know the military is looking for you, but they'll have a hard time finding this place. Are you really going to just sit here and wait to die?"
After the pain in his chest subsided a little, Tony calmed down a bit and recalled the memories his brain had received. There were so many; one could only say that Tony truly deserved to be called a genius.
But he couldn't understand it at all! Tony felt like he was back in his previous life, taking a calculus class in college. He had taken a nap and was now looking at a blackboard full of formulas. They were all numbers, but he just couldn't understand a thing!
But in my memory, those twelve cover girls were really great! Their figures! Their technique! Their cooperation!
Clearly, compared to formulas that are incomprehensible and hard to understand, these straightforward stimuli are more memorable. Tony couldn't help but drift off into a daze, his gaze fixed on the beautiful, white memories.
"Has he gone mad?" Ethan began to worry about Tony's mental state, reaching out to pat Tony on the head. "Hey, Tony!"
Tony snapped out of his daze after Ethan's slap. This wasn't the time to think about such things; he should focus on how to get out of here alive.
"What should we do?" Tony looked at Ethan with clear eyes and asked sincerely.
Ethan was completely dumbfounded by the question. No, shouldn't you be the one to figure it out? You're Tony Stark, a genius, an inventor!
Although the question came as a bit of a surprise, Ethan had some ideas and had considered how to escape: "Didn't they ask you to build the Jericho missile? I was thinking, could I secretly build a signal transmitter while building the missile to notify the army to rescue you?"
"That's a good idea, will you make it?" Tony asked sincerely.
"I can build signal transmitters, but I don't have any good ideas on how to contact the military or how to transmit information." Ethan thought Tony was asking about his abilities and wanted him to help out.
"Then let's change our idea!" Tony said seriously.
"Other ideas, let me think." After a moment's thought, Ethan tentatively asked, "Shall we secretly make some weapons and fight our way out?"
"Good idea. Can you build mechs?"
"Mechs? Those large powered armors you wear?" Ethan thought for a moment, recalling seeing them in movies and TV shows.
"Yes, can you?"
Ethan shook his head and said, "Although I have several doctoral degrees, I'm not very good at mechanical design."
Tony stood up helplessly, grabbed the car battery, and wandered aimlessly through the cave, muttering to himself:
"If we can't build missiles, we die; if we do build missiles, we die; we can't build signal generators; we can't build mechs! Why is my transmigration so miserable?! There's no system! Right, a system!"
"System, come out! Come out, any system will do, whether it's a sign-in system, a redemption system, a lottery system! Even an old man will do."
After a long period of hysterical roaring, Tony helplessly realized that he didn't seem to have a system, so it seemed like a dead end. Maybe he should just lie down and reminisce about his happy past.
"Damn it! Fuck!" Tony finally broke down and began to vent his anger on the simple furniture in the cave.
Smash the makeshift four-poster bed, smash the makeshift workbench, smash the broken stool, to hell with it.
A magnificent treasure chest, I'll smash it!
Wait, what's this?!
Tony rubbed his eyes hard, still unsure if he was seeing things, and turned to Ethan, who was watching him frantically, and asked, "Did you see this box?"
Ethan nodded and said, "I see it, my suitcase, with my clothes inside."
"Impossible, I've seen this box before," Tony muttered, then continued in a voice only he could hear, "in the game I played in my previous life."
"What's your suitcase made of?" Tony pressed.
Ethan was starting to look at Tony like he was crazy. Even though he had been relatively normal at the technical conference in Bern, he still answered, "A box I pieced together from wood. Oh, and it has the Stark Industries logo on it. I think it was originally for storing hand grenades."
Listening to Ethan's words, Tony realized that what he saw was different from what Ethan saw. From his perspective, there was a treasure chest in the corner, which was mainly gold in color, decorated with exquisite patterns, inlaid with gems, and emitted a soft light. The key point was that a treasure chest symbol was floating above the chest.
This must be my cheat code! People who play games are always lucky. But there's still a problem. According to the rules of the game I played before I transmigrated, opening treasure chests doesn't seem to help my current situation. Could it be that I can slowly accumulate enough resources to draw one?
Never mind, let's open the box first.
Tony walked straight to the magnificent treasure chest. The moment his hand touched it, a system notification appeared before his eyes: the money had been credited to his account.
"Open the magnificent treasure chest to obtain the following items: T-virus stock solution, T-virus enhancement agent, and T-virus serum."