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Chapter 5 - Chapter : 5 : I Am Iron Man

At this time, Tanner's stream had nearly 400,000 viewers. The hourly leaderboard in the upper left corner soared directly to fifth place. Even before the captured footage began, the barrage of comments was already flying wildly.

"Is anyone there?"

"Come and report!"

"Reporting! Over 10 million actives, don't underestimate him!"

"No. 1 on all lists! Incredible!"

"But he's only 8 years old. This is too dangerous."

"His parents are getting roasted to death on the forum. People aren't taking this kid seriously."

"And it's so early… how could a child possibly handle the backlash?"

"Hasn't it started yet?"

"Did you fail to capture?"

"Coming!"

Suddenly, the screen lit up. The massive steel creature roared, and swarms of smaller entities flew from its sides. Signs of a fierce battle were evident everywhere.

"Hey! What the heck is this?"

"Whale?"

"How have I never heard of this in Terra's history?"

"Nonsense! His past life must not intersect with anyone else's!"

"A new historical era?"

"No! Modern society?"

"There are high-rise buildings around!"

The audience in the stream room went nearly silent. Capturing past life memories is graded by level, and the Network evaluates fragments and assigns ratings. Generally, fragments not from the same era as known past lives, rich in high-value content, and associated with a high-status individual in their past life receive top ratings. Usually, forum discussions revolve around these captured memories, but nothing like this had ever appeared.

The first past life memory captured by Tanner was an entirely new historical stage in Terra. The emergence of a new historical stage: what could it mean? You don't even need to think: it's because Tanner is only 8 years old!

In a Federation where the average capture age is 16, an 8-year-old child capturing a new stage of history was unprecedented. Tanner himself didn't yet understand the role he played in this historical period.

Meanwhile, at the Administration, the Director's Office had activated a massive holographic projection installation. Dozens of experts assembled to analyze Tanner's live capture. Seeing the enormous, terrifying steel creature on the screen, the experts were stunned.

A senior biologist whispered in shock, "Is this even alive?"

"I thought Aldice's vampires were incomprehensible," another added. "But this… this is on another level." Other experts were equally stunned.

"It might be a spaceship," One suggested. "I see humanoids emerging from it."

"Energy source? Structural design? Propulsion?"

"Judging by the surrounding environment, these are modern-style buildings. Johan, have you seen anything like this in historical texts?"

"I haven't," Johan admitted. "Seeing this, I question everything we know about history!"

"Impossible," Someone argued. "We've thoroughly studied 3 to 4 thousand years of Terra's history."

"I agree," Tonio said. "This must represent the scientific and technological achievements of Terra in this era!"

"Impossible! Terra never had such advanced technology!"

"Historical records clearly show: the further forward in time, the lower the technological level!" The experts trembled at the implications.

"Could it be a living organism?" Tonio continued. "Viviparous? Oviparous? Self-replicating?"

Excitedly, Kasey said, "If it is a creature, we must locate its remains to analyze its genome. Could we clone such a monster?"

His words struck like a bomb in everyone's minds. The image of a colossal creature roaming the city haunted even the director.

Johan paused before saying, "Whether it is possible or not, the most important takeaway is this: it represents a new historical stage."

Johan looked at the director. "Have the fragments been matched yet?"

The director nodded, "Over 10 million fragments have been screened, but no matches at any time point."

Advanced technologies allow past-life fragments to be filtered and aggregated, facilitating management. Suddenly, someone shouted, "Not good! The feed is fluctuating!"

"Backlash! He must be too young!" The chief was startled. The mechanical creature had appeared only briefly, and now the screen flickered and vanished.

Tanner appeared slightly blurred. Wasn't this supposed to capture past life memories? Why did it show Marvel? On the screen, the massive Leviathan lined up troops.

"So I'm in Marvel?" Tanner's head throbbed.

Suddenly, the footage jumped, becoming slightly blurry, before stabilizing on a huge military base, as soldiers and armored vehicles came and went. A young man wearing sunglasses disembarked from a plane.

Tanner froze in surprise, "Damn, I'm Iron Man?!"

He had thought he was a Leviathan, but it was Iron Man! The scene depicted Tony presenting his weapons.

"Perfect! Hahaha, can I gain the ability to make Iron Man suits?"

On the Network, capturing memories of past lives sometimes grants the abilities associated with them. If he could craft Iron Man suits, that would be incredible!

But then Tanner remembered: "I'm only 8 years old! Even if I develop them, I can't wear them!"

Despite his frustration, the past life memory remained alive.

[ Tony walked down confidently, with a general waiting beside him. ]

[ Tony extended his hand: "Hello, General." ]

[ The general smiled: "Welcome, Mr. Tony. I'm looking forward to seeing your weapons." ]

[ Everything ready, Tony smiled lightly while standing among the desert and mountains: "Which is better: Be feared or be respected? Can't we have both?"

[ "It's an honor to present the weapon made for this purpose." ]

[ "Stark Industries' flagship: the first anti-gravity missile ejection system, integrated with our R&D in rapid counterattack technology." ]

[ "Some say the best weapon doesn't need to be fired. I disagree." ]

[ "The best weapon only needs to be fired once!" ]

[ "Once you launch this missile, I guarantee the enemies will hide in caves, too scared to come out. "]

Tony extended his hand as the missile pad and targeting system activated. A missile blasted into the sky, exploded midair into multiple mini-bombs, and rained down on the mountains below.

[ "For reference: Jericho Missile." ]

Tony stood proudly as explosions tore behind him, airwaves rippling through the scene.

[ "For every transaction, we will send a case of wine." ]

Tony opened the freezer, walked into the armored vehicle with a glass of wine, and returned to the city.

The stream audience flared with comments:

"Damn! This kid was an arm dealer in his past life?"

"Thousands of actives… this identity… unbelievable!"

"Strange, there's a war during this period? The Federation has been peaceful for thousands of years."

"This is amazing, giving props to the kid!"

"The Jericho Missile? Never heard of it. Terra's old missile?"

"His expression… I don't like it."

"No, is this a new version? Where's the big whale?"

"One capture, one past life memory at a time."

"Showing off weapons and frozen beer? Too flashy!"

"It looks no different from modern Terra. Similar planes exist."

Viewers began doubting the authenticity of the activities. The audience started to decline, with no rewards given. Suddenly, the returning team in the footage exploded violently.

"That's it?"

"This must be fake!"

"The Immortal Warrior… what a mocking ID."

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