Chapter 77: The Traits of a Hero

To become a superhuman hero, one must possess a certain trait: the courage to step forward.

This is why, even with Kryptonian abilities, Henry does not feel he can become the second Superman. Because when faced with trouble, his first thought is self-preservation.

Although nearly twenty years since his transmigration have been like a blank, either kept in captivity or merely tortured, he lived thirty or forty years before transmigration and long lost the youthful exuberance of a young man.

But Tony Stark is indeed someone destined to become a superhuman hero.

Perhaps many think he is merely a hero hiding behind an Iron Man suit, yet they fail to realize his birth occurred while surrounded by enemies, forging his first crude suit for self-rescue.

And while the Mark Forty-Two was still charging, he dared to enter the enemy camp alone, armed with weapons cobbled together from a hardware store, to hunt down the mastermind.

The Iron Man suit is merely a manifestation of his wealth; even without the suit, he lacks no courage.

But honestly, Henry feels that this teenage Tony Stark possesses only the recklessness of a calf unafraid of tigers. Eager to prove something, he easily disregards life and death.

When such a person runs again toward the area of dense gunfire, Henry seriously considers whether shooting this guy in the foot might make him quiet down.

But in the end, Henry followed, guarding Tony's rear.

Now, with his Kryptonian senses fully active, like a human wall-penetrating radar, he locked onto all suspected enemies.

This action made Henry detect a slight incongruity from the enemies.

They came with a purpose, and the target is within this banquet; this is beyond doubt.

Yet so many are attacking, but there is no command center. Though there is tactical coordination, it feels more like spur-of-the-moment action.

The evidence is that the encirclement is imperfect; as long as one finds the right direction and runs hard, there is still a chance to escape alive.

And their room searches merely avoid hindering each other; there are always some unintentional oversights.

This reminded Henry of a gold coin he had picked up from a fallen gunman while scavenging for a replacement pistol just now.

He had seen the same gold coin at Tom, the broker and human trafficker in Alaska.

When he found this gold coin, he took it as a trophy and put it in his pocket. Henry was unsure if Tony had noticed.

Perhaps a mere gold coin means nothing to someone of his wealth. Besides, since it was found on a gunman, Tony paid it no mind.

Now that he thinks about it, it is not strange for a high-risk world like the Marvel Universe to have an assassin organization. And for this assassin organization to have a world-class scale and system also seems normal.

For instance, the Continental Hotel, which uses gold coins as transaction chips...

And a feature of the Continental Hotel's bounty system is that it does not forbid multiple assassins from hunting the same target. The one who provides proof of the kill receives the entire bounty.

So assassins must cooperate to split the bounty; or betray each other, swallowing it all, or stealing the head; all are allowed under the rules.

Only after entering the Continental Hotel is the iron rule that assassins are forbidden from killing each other.

Usually, overly difficult targets or targets with too low a bounty do not attract many assassins.

But in today's situation, if it is truly the Continental Hotel assassin organization behind this, it can only mean the target's bounty is high enough to attract so many people.

If the above speculation is true, the only comforting part is that the quality of Continental Hotel assassins varies. Not everyone has the skills of Baba Yaga, that is, the Killing God John Wick.

Like the two gunmen encountered in the front courtyard. Even though they were close enough to reach out and touch, they still dared to casually move their gun barrels. This is practically inviting resistance; a veteran assassin would never do such a foolish thing.

Besides, the six people just taken down were similar. Holding rifles and spraying bullets, they somehow emptied their magazines at roughly the same time and reloaded simultaneously, giving Tony Stark an opening to charge out.

Perhaps these people all lack no courage to kill, but if their experience were just a bit richer, they would not have been easily taken down by this reckless young man, Tony Stark.

Hoping the coming enemies are as easy to deal with, Henry thought this, while firing a shot at the window of a dark room to the side!

"Walter!" Tony immediately took cover against the wall and asked from behind.

"Yeah, I just saw a shadow, so I fired. But nothing happened; maybe I saw wrong," Henry said.

In fact, a unlucky fellow had just climbed through the window, and Henry shot his supporting hand, causing him to fall.

Hmm, the heart is still beating; he is not dead.

Tony said dissatisfiedly, "Be careful; do not expose us."

"Yes, Mr."

Tony Stark, who had just turned his head, took only two steps forward when, passing a room doorway, Henry grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him back violently!

At the same time, a wave of bullets shot from the doorway. Tony Stark narrowly avoided being turned into a sieve.

Henry offered no explanation; this pull dragged both himself and Tony to the ground. At the same time, the bullet sweep extended to the wall they had been pressing against, piercing through the partition wooden wall.

Only by lying on the ground did the two escape disaster.

Tony rolled to the side, no longer pressing on Henry. He asked, "What room is this?"

"A smoking room."

"A smoking room? Why does the smell feel off?"

"You know, that kind of 'smoke' with a particularly strong kick that is addictive."

Tony understood, but offered no criticism. Instead, he quickly switched his head and feet direction, lying on the ground, and said to Henry, "Push me out!"

Hearing this, Henry understood, grabbed Tony Stark's lower legs with both hands, and pushed forward.

Tony, appearing from under the doorway, raised his rifle and sprayed those standing with guns inside the room; the sound of the firefight immediately stopped.

Just as Tony Stark was about to stand up, Henry timely slipped through the doorway and fired two follow-up shots at the gunman who had just jumped out from behind the sofa cover.

Actually, the first shot knocked the man down; the second was just for show.

Seeing this, Tony, changing from lying on the ground to a crouching-kneeling position, did not say the word "thank" aloud, but at least stopped his poisonous tongue from insulting people.

Tony stood up, circled the room, and found that the people inside were either high and unconscious or had bullets to their foreheads, never to wake up again.

However, gunfire from other places did not let Tony waste much time in this room. He zoomed out, heading toward the direction of the shots.

Henry, following behind, could only sigh: Is this the gap between a salted fish and a hero?

(End of Chapter)