Who Surrounded Whom? The Symbol of Peace!

‘Beep, beep—’

Stanny stood at the entrance to the banquet venue, watching Tony speak with a crowd of media reporters when the communicator in his suit pocket suddenly sounded. He took it out, connected the call, and asked in a low voice, "How is it inside? Has that card disciple completed the mission?"

"No. For some reason, the card disciple’s assassination was only halfway through when he…" The waiter on the other end of the communicator hesitated.

"And then what? Spit it out!" Stanny demanded coldly.

"He just ran away," his subordinate answered. Even he had found it unbelievable. Wasn’t he supposed to be a professional assassin?

"The card disciple ran off before even taking action?" Stanny’s mouth fell open in shock. That was possible?

"Was he a scammer? I already wired him a hundred million dollars! That bastard Dagu even said he was reliable!"

Stanny angrily blew at his mustache. After thinking for a moment, he said in a deep voice, "Good thing I never pinned everything on someone else. Tell the people planted in the ballroom to move. No need to keep acting—kill the target directly, then withdraw from the ballroom!"

"Yes!" his subordinate acknowledged.

Inside the ballroom.

A classical song was nearing its latter half. Kyle and Black Queen danced with practiced skill, he tall and she beautiful. Their technique was no less impressive than that of professional dance masters, transforming an ordinary ballroom dance into something with entirely new charm and beauty.

Ellie sat at a nearby table, watching in a daze and regretting that she had not brought along a camera crew.

The music was close to its end, and their dance had reached the climactic final stretch.

Just then, from the corner of her eye, Ellie sharply noticed several tall men in suits suddenly rushing out from among the surrounding VIP guests. They wore black hoods, and each had one hand tucked into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, clearly gripping something.

Guns!

As a New York Times reporter, Ellie made a swift judgment. She cried out in alarm, "Watch out! Terrorists—"

Before her words had faded, the men in suits had drawn black pistols, surrounded Kyle at the center of the ballroom, and decisively pulled their triggers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several gunshots rang through the ballroom. In an instant, the banquet guests screamed one after another, ducking their heads and bodies in terror as they frantically fled toward the ballroom exit.

Outside the banquet entrance.

Gunfire erupted inside the ballroom, and VIP guests fled out. Everything had happened too suddenly. The media reporters hurriedly stepped aside while aiming their cameras at the escaping guests, immediately switching to live coverage.

Tony instinctively looked toward his sports car. When he saw that Kyle was not in the back seat, he hesitated for half a second before gritting his teeth and running in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowd—into the ballroom.

For some reason, after hearing the media mention the Demon Card incident from that morning, Tony gradually recalled Mr. Karr’s manner and words over the past few days. That inexplicable sense of familiarity grew stronger and stronger.

At the entrance to the banquet venue, Tony collided head-on with the stream of VIP guests fleeing from inside, making every step difficult.

"Damn it, why didn’t I bring the Iron Man Armor with me?" he grumbled, though his gaze became increasingly resolute.

Inside the ballroom, where gunfire continued to erupt.

Ellie immediately hid behind a table, worried for Kyle and Black Queen. When she nervously turned her gaze back toward the center of the ballroom, she froze again as her understanding of reality was overturned.

After enduring several waves of gunfire, Kyle and Black Queen remained completely unharmed. The two continued dancing to the rhythm of the music as if they intended to finish the entire song, treating the surrounding gun-wielding terrorists as mere decorations.

Ellie was not the only one stunned. Even the five or six terrorists froze, staring blankly at the pair who did not even regard their enemies as people.

Even more shocking, all the bullets fired at Kyle earlier appeared to have stopped in midair, suspended three meters away from the two of them.

No one noticed the faint silver-white glow emerging in Black Queen’s beautiful eyes.

Outside the banquet venue.

Media reporters and VIP guests had descended into chaos, with screams rising and falling one after another.

Stanny stood with his hands behind his back, hiding in a corner and watching coldly. Seeing Tony risk his life to charge into the ballroom, he did not stop him. Instead, he sneered repeatedly.

"Perfect. You can go in and collect his corpse for him. Let that serve as my warning!"

Stanny smiled, certain that Mr. Karr had essentially been killed the moment the gunfire began.

"Everyone, please calm down. I’ve already called the police. I’m sure they’ll be here soon…" Judging that the timing was about right, Stanny coughed and stepped out of the corner, preparing to calm the crowd.

He had barely spoken halfway when a dense chorus of police sirens suddenly sounded in the distance.

"This response is way too fast, isn’t it?" Stanny’s expression changed slightly. He turned to look down the road, and in the next moment, his eyes widened in shock.

The police cars with flashing lights and blaring sirens were merely clearing the way… Behind them came more than a dozen army-green armored vehicles equipped with turrets, followed by officer-grade bulletproof vehicles reinforced with thick steel plating.

Stanny stared in a daze. Then a droning sound came from overhead. He struggled to look up and saw army-green helicopters converging on the venue—dozens of them, an absurd number spread across the night sky.

Was this the scale of a war?

While Stanny was still stunned, all kinds of vehicles had already densely filled the road outside the venue. Fully armed police officers and soldiers poured from the opened doors, guiding the crowd outside away from the area.

The helicopters hovered at a fixed altitude, dropping ropes from their cabins as special forces soldiers and agents descended. Armed with sophisticated firearms, they swiftly sealed off and took control of the scene.

The bulletproof vehicles stopped last. A young Black man in an officer’s uniform quickly stepped out, swept his commanding gaze across the area, and shouted, "I’m Colonel Rhodes. Who is the person in charge of this venue?"

Stanny jolted and hurried forward. "That would be me, the president of Stark Industries. Colonel Rhodes, we’ve met before…"

Rhodes ignored his attempt at familiarity and said quickly, "Fine. On behalf of the military, I’m taking over this venue. You have no objections, right?"

"Of course not." Sensing that something was wrong, Stanny nervously asked, "Colonel Rhodes, isn’t this a bit excessive for a terrorist attack?"

"Terrorists? I’m not here because of that. Tell me first—where is Mr. Karr right now?" Rhodes asked in a deep voice, his trembling words carrying unprecedented respect.

"He’s… he’s inside the ballroom." Stanny barely managed to keep his expression calm, but waves of shock crashed through his heart. His palms sweated as his ominous premonition grew stronger.

Just then, various people continued arriving from the vehicles and helicopters. They walked up to Stanny and presented their identification.

"I’m a CIA representative!"

"FBI representative!"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. agent!"

Those who had arrived were undoubtedly elites among elites. Gathered together, their faces carried excitement. After greeting one another, they quietly cautioned, "Don’t disturb the old man too much later. I’m only here to meet him on behalf of my agency."

"It’s rare for him to make an appearance. I’m also here to pay my respects on behalf of my agency."

"He still holds the position of Chief Advisor at S.H.I.E.L.D. If you want to see him, you should at least report it to our agency first."

Listening to their eager discussion, Stanny’s face grew increasingly pale and ugly. He asked hoarsely, "Just who is that Mr. Karr?"

"Who is he?" The military and agency representatives were slightly taken aback, then answered in unison:

"The Symbol of Peace!"