In front of the surveillance monitors inside the cave, a member of the Ten Rings was watching Tony and the other two closely.
“What’s he doing?” the fat man sitting behind him asked.
“Working,” the Ten Rings member replied, resting his chin on his hand.
…
Inside the cave, Yinsen used a crucible tongs to remove a container from the furnace.
Inside was 1.6 grams of palladium that had just been melted down.
Yinsen carefully walked toward the table.
“Careful. Take it easy. That’s the only batch we have!” Tony reminded him nervously.
Yinsen rolled his neck and said, “Don’t worry. My hands are steady! Otherwise, do you think you’d still be alive right now?”
The moment he finished speaking, the container slipped right before their eyes.
Both their hearts leapt into their throats.
“Whew!”
A hand suddenly reached out from the side and caught the container.
The two immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Tony rolled his eyes at Yinsen.
“Weren’t you saying your hands were steady?”
“You didn’t see it? The cup just slipped! It went whoosh straight down. I never even let go!”
“I’ll whoosh your grandpa! Didn’t you see it whooshing onto my hand?! Hurry up and take it! It’s hot!” Yadan roared.
Yinsen hurriedly grabbed another pair of crucible tongs.
Remember, the important part was another pair.
By the time he picked up the container, Yadan’s left palm had already been burned so badly that the flesh was a bloody mess.
“Yadan, are you okay? Here, let me bandage it!” Tony hurriedly grabbed Yadan’s left hand.
“I’m fine. Go take care of your work. I can handle this myself.”
Yadan smiled and pushed Tony away.
Something miraculous soon happened right before Tony’s eyes.
He watched as the wound on Yadan’s left hand slowly healed.
It was healing right before his eyes.
Although the process was slow, it was undeniably healing.
“This…”
Tony stared in disbelief, wanting to ask what was going on.
But Yadan interrupted him.
Placing one hand against Tony’s shoulder, he said, “Go get back to work! Staying alive is important!”
Tony looked back at Yadan’s face but said nothing.
He buried his doubts deep in his heart.
Sure enough, this playboy, who was still completely absorbed in women and scientific research, really knew nothing about these things.
Yadan was beginning to understand why Tony Stark, the world’s largest weapons manufacturer and the son of one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s founders, had initially known absolutely nothing about magic and similar matters.
He had always lived inside his own world.
“Hey, what’s your name?” Tony asked Yadan.
Judging by the looks of things, he had already introduced himself to Yinsen.
“My name is Yadan.”
Come to think of it, they had known each other for more than two days, yet Tony still hadn’t had a chance to properly introduce himself.
Although both Yadan and Yinsen knew who Tony was, Tony knew almost nothing about either of them.
“Yadan. Nice to meet you!”
“Nice to meet you too.”
…
“WOW~”
Yadan and Yinsen walked over.
On the table, after Tony finished making his adjustments, a circular device was emitting a white glow.
As the light continued growing stronger until it stabilized, the electrical current inside the cave began behaving erratically, causing the lights to flicker constantly.
“Wow. That doesn’t look much like a Jericho missile,” Yinsen said as he approached Tony, looking puzzled.
Although he knew what this thing was for, seeing it with his own eyes for the first time still left him amazed.
Tony Stark truly deserved his reputation as a genius—a one-of-a-kind genius.
He had actually managed to create something this extraordinary inside a cave like this.
This was the pinnacle of what a mortal could achieve.
It was a breathtaking work of art.
“This is a miniature arc reactor. There’s a larger one back at my factory.”
Tony casually played with the reactor in his hand.
“This should be enough to keep the shrapnel from getting any closer to my heart.”
But beneath his calm expression was excitement and pride.
“But how much energy can it produce?” Yinsen asked.
Tony placed the reactor on the table.
“If my calculations are correct—and I’ve never been wrong…”
“Three joules per second.”
“OMG!” Yadan suddenly exclaimed.
The other two turned around and stared at him in unison.
“Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Three joules per second… how much is that?”
Yadan tilted his head, pretending to be nonchalant.
How embarrassing.
“It could keep his heart beating for fifty lifetimes,” Yinsen explained.
“Exactly. Or it could keep some big guy running for fifty minutes,” Tony said, lowering his head as he fiddled with something else.
Big guy?
Wow.
Yadan looked at Tony’s figure and smiled.
Sounds like that must be pretty impressive.
“Oh, right, Yadan. Give me a hand putting this thing in.”
Tony walked over and lay down.
“What?! Are you kidding me, man?!”
Yadan looked at the reactor in Tony’s hand, then at the huge hole in Tony’s chest, and asked incredulously.
“I don’t trust Yinsen’s ‘steady’ hands anymore. It’s simple. Just like performing surgery.”
“Surgery?!”
“No, no. It’s just a simple game.”
“Fine, fine. But I’m already feeling a little sick.”
Yadan walked over with a miserable expression, took the reactor from Tony, and asked him what exactly he was supposed to do.
“You just need to put your hand inside, gently pull out that wire, and that’s it. Gently.”
Tony emphasized the word again.
“Okay, okay. Gently…”
Yadan reached inside.
“Ugh~ That’s disgusting! What is this stuff? It’s all slimy!”
His entire face twisted in disgust.
I hate science!
“That’s just protoplasm. Don’t worry, it’s from the machine. It definitely didn’t come out of my body. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t touch—”
“ZZZT~”
Before Tony could finish, Yadan had already done exactly what he had warned him not to do.
A strange, viscous liquid suddenly sprayed out of the hole in Tony’s chest, splattering all over Yadan’s face.
“FUCK!!!”
Who exactly said that, no one knows.
…
After replacing it with the arc reactor, Tony looked completely revitalized.
He could feel his body filled with energy.
Yadan, on the other hand, looked rather weak.
His face was pale.
Perhaps it was because he had just…
Well, vomited quite a bit.
“Come, come over here. Take a look at the magic weapon I built to help us escape this prison.”
Tony beckoned Yadan and Yinsen over.
Then Tony stacked several blueprints for what were supposedly Jericho missiles on top of one another and showed them to the two men.
A massive armor-like shape gradually became visible beneath the overlapping blueprints.
“What is this?” Yinsen asked, confused.
“The Flying-Over-the-Valley Model.”
Tony turned around and placed the blueprints over the lamp.
The design on the paper became clearly visible.
Only then could Yadan and Yinsen get a proper look at the armor.
“Incredible. Absolutely incredible! So that thing in your chest… is what’s going to power this big guy!”
Yinsen exclaimed.
“Looks like I finally have a chance to shave my beard.”
Yadan stared at the blueprint and patted Yinsen on the shoulder.
Yinsen turned to him with a smile but said nothing.
His eyes were already slightly red, and there was a hint of moisture in their corners.
He affectionately touched the beard on Yadan’s face, then patted him firmly on the shoulder and nodded heavily.
Over the next few days, the three of them worked every day on the armor’s components and wiring.
Whenever they had some free time, they would sit together, chat, and play dice.
As it happened, the rules of this dice game were exactly the same as a game Yadan had played in his previous life.
Moreover, during those endless years, Yadan had often used this game to pass the time.
Combined with a little assistance from his abilities…
No. More accurately, Yadan had conveniently used the game to train his abilities.
As a result, he won every single time, crushing Tony and Yinsen so thoroughly that they were left completely helpless.
“Tony, you owe me seventeen million dollars now. Get out of here and figure out how you’re going to pay me!”
Yadan waved his hand grandly.
“And Yinsen… I don’t think you have that kind of money. Come work for me after we get out. I’ll pay you the salary of a presidential bodyguard—five hundred thousand a month. If you calculate it, you’ll only have to work for twenty years!”
Yadan spoke with tremendous generosity.
“I’m done! I’m done playing! Let’s get back to work!”
Yinsen pushed Tony toward the workbench.
“No! I don’t believe this!”
Tony was practically bursting with frustration.
Damn it!
Isn’t my character supposed to be someone who’s never wrong when calculating things?
Why have I been wrong every single time I’ve played dice with Yadan these past two days?!
“Stop, stop! If you keep playing, I’ll never be able to leave this place for the rest of my life!”
Yinsen hurriedly pulled Tony away.
Tony could at least win a couple of rounds thanks to his genius brain.
Yinsen, on the other hand…
He had never won.
Not once.
No matter who he played against, he never won!
Meanwhile, through the trio’s tireless efforts and careful deception day after day, every component of the armor apart from the outer shell was gradually completed.
The entire process had taken place right under the noses of those people.
And yet, everything had gone perfectly.
The fake Jericho missile they had assembled from excess, otherwise useless materials seemed to have genuinely fooled the guards who had been keeping the three of them under constant surveillance.