Ch@pter 1 – Awakening in Hell
"Where… am I?"
Chen Tian pushed himself up. Once his eyes adjusted to the blinding light, he froze completely.
An endless stretch of rocky desert stretched before him. Several charred military Humvees smoked in the distance. Bodies of American soldiers lay scattered across the sand.
He snapped out of his daze and frantically checked his own body. He was still wearing the wrinkled blue-striped shirt and black dress pants from his morning commute on the subway. Now they were covered in dust and sand.
But his laptop bag and the phone in his pocket were gone.
"I… I transmigrated?"
His mind filled with questions. He remembered heading to work, rushing to save a child who had run into the street, and then getting smashed by a dump truck. He lowered his head, trying to recall the exact moment.
Only a few blurry voices remained in his memory.
"I thought it was a speed bump." "Because we're all working so hard…"
Chen Tian shook his head with a bitter laugh. He had no idea where a socially anxious shut-in like him had found the courage. Whatever. At least he was still alive — apparently now in some kind of desert.
He looked up, searching for any landmark.
Suddenly, the sunlight was blocked. Chen Tian turned his head in confusion — a bearded terrorist wearing a red keffiyeh stood right behind him, flashing yellow teeth.
"Hello, American pig," the man said in broken English, then raised the butt of his AK-47.
Bang!
Everything went black. Chen Tian lost consciousness again.
"Clang… Clang…"
Rhythmic hammering pulled Chen Tian back from darkness. He blinked, his blurry vision focusing on the low stone ceiling of a damp cave. The air smelled of rust and sweat.
"Hey, our sleeping beauty is finally awake."
A sarcastic male voice rang out. Chen Tian turned and saw a muscular man in a dirty white tank top hammering a piece of glowing red metal at an anvil. His back was turned, but his movements were precise and powerful.
"Tony, go easy on him. He looks pretty badly hurt," said a calmer voice.
Only then did Chen Tian notice a middle-aged man with round glasses and a worn suit sitting in the corner, typing on an old laptop.
Tony? Glasses guy? Cave? Blacksmithing?
Lightning struck Chen Tian's brain — he knew this scene all too well. It was the opening of Iron Man (2008)!
"Tony Stark?" he blurted out.
The man hammering paused, then slowly turned around.
Chen Tian was stunned again. That face — it was Robert Downey Jr.
"Whoa, my fame has already reached the Dragon Country?" Tony raised an eyebrow and wiped his oily hand across his face. "Though you don't exactly look like a fan."
Chen Tian's mouth hung open. He didn't know whether to be shocked that he had transmigrated into the Marvel Universe or to roast Tony for being exactly as narcissistic as in the movies.
"I'm Ho Yinsen, a doctor," the man with glasses approached and checked Chen Tian's injuries. "You took a heavy blow to the head. You need rest."
"Wait — where is this? What year is it?" Chen Tian asked urgently.
"Some godforsaken cave in Afghanistan. 2008, I don't know which month. I've been here for…" Tony stopped hammering and glanced at the tally marks scratched on the cave wall. "Thirty days!"
At that, Tony grabbed his hair in frustration.
"Damn it! I haven't had a cheeseburger in thirty days!"
After his brief meltdown, Tony went back to hammering.
"I have to get out of here fast! My cheeseburgers! When I escape, I'm eating two at once!"
Tony suddenly remembered something and turned to Chen Tian.
"By the way, we've been kidnapped by a group called the Ten Rings. They want me to build a missile. I'm building an escape tool instead. Welcome to Hell Club. Membership perks include daily beatings and occasional execution threats."
Chen Tian's mind raced. According to the movie, the first Iron Man suit was about to appear, and Tony would escape with Yinsen — though Yinsen would sacrifice himself…
That's right! He was a transmigrator. Didn't he come with the mandatory golden finger?
"System? System daddy? System grandpa?"
Chen Tian sat cross-legged in the corner, eyes closed, desperately calling out in his mind.
Yinsen saw that Chen Tian seemed stable and returned to his laptop.
Ten minutes passed. Chen Tian was still frantically begging his system. The only replies were Tony's hammering and Yinsen's typing.
"System ancestor! Please show yourself!" Chen Tian was almost in tears. "I don't need an invincible system — just a newbie gift pack!"
"Tony, I think his condition is worse than we thought," Yinsen whispered, adjusting his glasses. "He's talking to himself in Chinese. His expressions are… very animated."
Tony stopped hammering and watched Chen Tian with interest. "Let me guess — PTSD plus DID?"
"Or acute stress reaction causing brief psychotic disorder," Yinsen added professionally.
Chen Tian was on the verge of breaking down. Even without a system, as long as he didn't let Yinsen sacrifice himself like in the movie, Tony could still get them out.
But this was the Marvel Universe. What waited outside? Becoming a salaryman again, only to die to Thanos's snap?
His face twisted between crying and laughing. Anyone watching would think he had lost his mind.
That "anyone" included Tony and Yinsen.
"Tony, I think he needs a sedative," Yinsen said worriedly.
"No, what he needs is this." Tony pulled out a rusty iron can from under the workbench and poured the last of the murky liquid. "Afghan specialty. Guaranteed to make you forget all your troubles."
Tony sat beside Chen Tian and handed him the can.
Chen Tian snapped out of it and took the can on reflex. "Thanks."
He brought it to his lips. A pungent alcoholic stench hit him, and his face instantly twisted in disgust.
"This… this is alcohol?"
"We call it 'Cave Happy Water'," Tony grinned. "Drink up. It'll fix your brain right up."
Just as Chen Tian hesitated, heavy footsteps echoed from the cave entrance.
Three armed terrorists entered. The leader was the same bearded man from earlier.
"Stark! Where the hell is that missile?!" the bearded man roared at Tony.
"Ah, Abu, my dear overseer. The great Tony Stark doesn't work on anyone else's schedule," Tony replied lazily, crossing his legs.
The bearded man's face turned purple with rage. He raised his rifle butt to smash Tony.
At that critical moment, a cold voice came from the entrance:
"Stop!"
Everyone turned. A bald man in an elegant white robe walked in. He looked completely out of place in the filthy cave.
"Boss…" The bearded man immediately lowered his weapon and stepped aside respectfully.
The bald man ignored him and walked straight to Tony. "Mr. Stark, it seems my men have been too lenient with you."
Tony shrugged. "True. They don't even provide cheeseburgers."
The bald man smiled — a smile that sent chills down Chen Tian's spine. He waved his hand lightly. Two strong men rushed forward and pinned Yinsen and Chen Tian to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Tony's voice lost all its sarcasm for the first time.
The bald man took a red-hot branding iron from the fire pit and said slowly, "I heard… the Orientals have an old saying: 'Kill the chicken to scare the monkey.'"
The iron hissed in the air. Chen Tian could feel the heat getting closer.
Damn it. I know I won't die, but if they brand my face, I'll become ugly! System! Are you coming out or not?
Chen Tian tried one last time to summon his golden finger. Nothing.
"Wait!" Tony shouted.
The bald man looked at him. Tony took a deep breath, his eyes darting between the branding iron and the two pinned men.
"I need assistants to build the missile," Tony said, staring directly into the man's eyes.
The bald man tossed the iron aside and approached Tony. He glanced at the crude arc reactor in Tony's chest, then back at his face.
"One week. I'll give you one week. If I don't see a missile by then, you will all enjoy the 'skinning' punishment."
With that, the bald man and his men left the cave.
A deathly silence fell inside. Sweat beaded on Yinsen's forehead. Chen Tian's back was completely soaked. Tony stood frozen, chest heaving — clearly shaken by the threat.
"Uh… thank you," Chen Tian said quietly, his voice still trembling.
Tony turned, his expression unusually serious. "Don't thank me yet. We only have one week." He walked to the workbench and picked up some crumpled blueprints. "I need to redesign the escape plan."
Yinsen wiped his sweat and joined Tony. "We have to speed things up."
Chen Tian took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He walked over and looked at the blueprints Tony was drawing — the early design of the Mark I armor.
"I can help," Chen Tian said suddenly. "I'm a programmer. I might be able to ease some of the coding load for the suit."
Tony looked up, skeptical. "A programmer from the Dragon Country? Don't you guys only do websites and games?"
"That's a stereotype," Chen Tian shrugged helplessly. In 2008, programming levels from his home country might seem behind, but he came from 2025.
He decided to prove himself with action. He took over Yinsen's spot, pulled up the suit's control program, and pointed at the screen. "This section can be optimized. If we do this…" He typed a few lines. "It will make the armor's energy management far more efficient."
Tony's eyebrows shot up. "Interesting…"
Over the next several hours, the three men huddled around the workbench in intense discussion.
Chen Tian was surprised to find that the knowledge he learned on Earth worked perfectly here.
He pointed out several flaws in Tony's designs from the movies and even suggested improvements.
"Are you sure you're just an ordinary programmer?" Tony narrowed his eyes. "These suggestions are… quite professional."
Chen Tian shrugged. "Hobby." He didn't dare say he had watched every Iron Man movie and knew each suit inside out.
Late that night, after the guards changed shifts, the three finally had a chance to discuss their escape plan quietly.
"At this rate, we can finish the armor in five days," Tony whispered. "But there's a problem — the power source is only enough for one person."
Chen Tian's heart tightened. Just like the movie — Yinsen would sacrifice himself…
He didn't say anything. He planned to convince Yinsen otherwise when the time came, or have Tony build extra explosives.
The next few days, the three worked almost without sleep. Chen Tian handled the control system coding, Tony the mechanical structure, and Yinsen the assembly of parts. Guards checked on them multiple times, but Tony dazzled them with technical jargon.
On the fifth night, the armor was nearly complete. Chen Tian was debugging the final control program when he heard Tony and Yinsen arguing quietly.
"No, this plan is too risky!" Yinsen said firmly.
"It's the only way!" Tony whispered back.
Chen Tian crept closer and heard Tony say:
"Listen, I'll wear the armor and charge out to draw their fire. You and Chen Tian escape through the side entrance."
"What about you?" Yinsen asked anxiously.
"I have the armor. I'll be fine."
Chen Tian was shocked — this was completely different from the movie! In the original, Tony should wear the armor and escape with Yinsen, while Yinsen sacrificed himself to buy time.