Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions erupted, engulfing Hammer Industries in flames.
Fortunately, Hammer wasn't there. Witnessing his tower reduced to ashes might have been enough to send him into cardiac arrest.
"What do we do now? Ivan isn't here."
"The convention."
Batman reacted instantly. "Ivan must have gone to the convention!"
However, their reaction was far too late.
After setting the final commands for the robots, Ivan had already donned the Iron Monger suit and flown to the convention.
Switching scenes, Tony, clad in his Iron Man armor, stood in a pleasant-looking small garden. Beside him lay Rhodey, who was in the process of rebooting.
Tony tapped the lid of the War Machine armor and opened it, revealing Rhodey's soot-covered face.
"How do you feel?"
"Oh, God," Rhodey sighed. "You should probably take this suit back."
It wasn't that Rhodey was unintelligent. As an Air Force major, he was perfectly capable of flying a jet and facing enemies head-on. But the Iron Man armor was another matter. Despite his best efforts, Rhodey's intellect struggled to grasp its complexities, especially after Ivan had infiltrated and seized control.
Tony didn't seem too concerned. He smiled gently and helped Rhodey up.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"Uh, Tony, I'm so sorry, I really..."
"No, no, no, don't apologize. This is my fault, putting you through this."
"No, I should have trusted you."
"Okay, so what's the plan now? They could come at us with full force at any moment. What do you have in mind?"
Rhodey surveyed their surroundings. "We need to take the high ground and set up our heaviest weapons on the ridge."
"Oh, okay. And where do you plan to stand?"
"What? I'm the heavy artillery."
"Come on. Those flashy gadgets you're wearing don't exactly qualify as heavy artillery."
As they argued about whose firepower was superior, a robot suddenly descended, followed by more and more, until they were completely surrounded.
Just as the two stood back-to-back, ready for a fight.
Boom!
A lightning bolt split the sky.
"Whoa, is it going to rain?"
Then, a thunderous bolt of lightning struck directly into the small courtyard.
All the robots preparing to attack them went offline. The War Machine armor also temporarily shut down due to the lightning strike, leaving only Tony struggling.
"Jarvis, remind me next time to equip the armor with lightning rods."
"My apologies, sir. Just as you were speaking, I detected a massive energy reaction in the southeast."
"Southeast! The exhibition hall? No!"
The scene shifted to the exhibition hall, where police had arrived and were evacuating the crowd.
"No, Old Man can't leave! There are demons in there, very dangerous!"
"I understand, sir, but it's quite chaotic here now. Could you please evacuate to a safe zone, and we can discuss the demons later?"
Boom!
The moment the policeman finished speaking, a violent tremor shook the entire sky, feeling as if it were tearing the heavens apart.
"This is bad! It's a demon! A new Hellgate has been opened!"
Meanwhile, Shaina had reached the thirty-first floor of Stark Tower.
"I never expected the Hellgate the master spoke of to be in a place like this."
Upon opening the door, Shaina found herself facing rows of washing machines. According to the guidance of the Pangu Box, the Hellgate was located right here.
A Hellgate in a laundry room was something few could believe.
But none of that mattered. Even if the Hellgate were on a toilet seat, it was important to complete the mission quickly.
With that thought, Shaina's abdomen opened, revealing the Pangu Box hidden within.
The moment the Pangu Box appeared, it seemed to sense a pull and rapidly flew out of Shaina's body. After spinning a few times in the air, it shot out a green beam of light, illuminating a front-loading washing machine. In the next instant, a lock shaped like the trigram "Zhen" appeared in the center of the washing machine's drum.
Click.
As the Pangu Box was inserted into the lock, a Hellgate slowly rose.
The moment the Hellgate appeared, Shaina quickly took out a small, palm-sized box. The box was engraved with dense demonic script. As the Hellgate opened, Shaina pressed the button on the box.
A small opening emerged from the box and began to absorb the black energy spewing from the Hellgate in large quantities.
Despite its small size, the box was incredibly efficient at absorbing the dark energy, acting like a bottomless pit, constantly drawing in the surrounding miasma.
With the small box's relentless efforts, most of the dark energy gushing from the Hellgate was drawn into it, with only a small amount scattering.
Zhong Su was not Bo Gang and did not waste much time. As soon as the Hellgate opened, he quickly took action.
Less than five minutes after the Hellgate opened, Zhong Su's colossal figure emerged from the portal.
"I, Zhong Su, have resurrected!"
Zhong Su, emerging from the Hellgate, was in high spirits. He relished the active dark energy in the air, breathed in the fresh atmosphere, and felt the presence of living beings outside, things absent in hell.
It was just this place, however, that Zhong Su found unsatisfactory. The ceiling was too low; his head hit it before he could even stand up straight.
After Zhong Su exited the Hellgate, it automatically closed. Shaina quickly rushed out, caught the falling Pangu Box, and returned it to her body.
Shaina's actions did not escape Zhong Su's notice. Curious, Zhong Su grabbed Shaina and brought her close for a careful inspection.
"A human? After all these years, still such a repulsive creature."
Zhong Su was a demon who detested humans. Even when demons ruled the world, Zhong Su rarely interacted with humans, spending most of his time in his lightning palace.
"You-you-you can't kill me! I'm a subordinate of the Holy Lord."
Seeing Zhong Su, who was so enormous and openly despised humans, Shaina, desperate to save her life, immediately invoked Bai Qi as her backer.
Indeed, upon hearing Shaina claim allegiance to the Holy Lord, Zhong Su's reaction visibly softened. Especially after seeing the box with demonic script in Shaina's hand, he scoffed, "The Holy Lord does enjoy mingling with you worms."
With that, he disdainfully tossed Shaina aside. Turning to the wall behind him, he raised his massive arm, gathering a surge of powerful electricity in his palm. He unleashed a forceful blast. The immense destructive power tore through the entire wall, along with everything behind it, and he swiftly flew out of the laundry room.
Shaina got up from the ground, startled by Zhong Su's devastating power. However, after a brief moment of awe, Shaina recovered, found the small box that absorbed the dark energy, and breathed a sigh of relief when she confirmed it was undamaged.