“You okay?”
Yadan was shoved into the cave where they were being held and slammed hard onto the ground.
Ethan hurried over and helped him up, asking worriedly.
Before Yadan could respond, one of the guards tossed Ethan a bandage and a bottle of medical alcohol.
“Don’t let him die.”
With that, the guard shut the cell door.
“You all right?” Tony also came over and asked.
“I’m fine. I’m not going to die. It’s just a minor injury; there’s no need to bandage it.”
Yadan pushed Ethan’s hand away as he prepared to treat the wound.
But with Ethan’s insistence, he eventually gave Yadan a simple treatment.
What Ethan didn’t notice was that the moment he finished bandaging him, the wound on Yadan’s head had already healed completely.
Afterward, Yadan waved his hand at the two of them, then walked alone to his corner, lay down, and fell asleep.
Tony and Ethan exchanged a glance before walking over to sit somewhere else, leaning against the stone wall and closing their eyes in thought.
Nighttime.
Or at least, it should have been nighttime.
Perhaps it was.
In a cave where no sunlight could enter, day and night had no meaning anyway.
Yadan was still lying asleep in the corner.
If Tony hadn’t gone over at one point to check Yadan’s nose and found that he was still breathing, the two of them might have thought he had suddenly dropped dead.
In reality, Yadan was merely circulating the energy within his body.
The energy he had absorbed during his outing that day was almost enough to equal a year’s worth of accumulation inside this cave.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Far from enough.
It wasn’t even enough to get him out of this godforsaken place.
At the same time, Yadan couldn’t disturb Tony and Ethan.
At least, judging from the vague fragments of the plot buried in his mind and his own reasoning, this was a crucial moment.
By the fire, Tony sat there staring into the flames while Ethan paced nearby.
“I’m sure they’re looking for you, Tony Stark. But finding you in an area like this? Impossible.”
Ethan walked over and sat down opposite Tony, looking directly at him.
“What you saw just now… that’s your legacy, Stark. Your life is now in the hands of those murderers. Those demons. Do you really think this is going to get you out of here? Do you think they’re going to let you go?”
Ethan stood up and turned his back to Tony.
“Is this the great Tony Stark’s final act of resistance? Or are you planning to do something?”
“Do something… Why should I do what they tell me?” Tony stared expressionlessly at the fire.
“They’re going to kill me… you, and him. Even if they don’t kill us now, they could kill me a week from now.”
“In that case…” Ethan turned around and crouched down in front of Tony, speaking earnestly.
“Then this is going to be a very important week, isn’t it?”
Tony stared into the flames, his eyes flickering…
Over in the corner, Yadan was almost falling asleep listening to them.
Bro, you’re Tony Stark, Iron Man!
Hurry up and awaken that last bit of stubbornness!
Transform already, you pathetic excuse for a genius!
Yadan was waiting.
He was waiting to see whether Ethan’s completely non-combat-oriented skill—his ability to talk someone into action—could awaken Tony Stark’s will to survive and set him on the path he would eventually take.
The path where an ordinary human body would stand against gods.
But judging from the situation now, Ethan seemed to have succeeded!
…
“If this were my workshop, it would need plenty of light. And I’d need all these tools: welding equipment, acetylene or propane, whatever. I’d also need a soldering station, a helmet, goggles, a melting cup, and two sets of precision measuring tools.”
Tony’s face was filled with determination and confidence as he spoke to Ethan, who immediately translated his words for the fat man.
The cave became bustling with activity.
The terrorists carried in all kinds of tools and components and arranged them throughout the cave.
They even installed electric lights.
Lots and lots of lights.
Of course, they also installed several more surveillance cameras.
Yadan now couldn’t even find a place to stand.
Wherever he went, he felt like he was completely in the way.
So… can I go outside for a walk?
Get some fresh air?
Give these big brothers some room?
With the principle of not causing trouble for others in mind, Yadan walked toward the entrance of the cave.
Only to be sent flying back inside by the butt of a rifle.
Fine.
The day I get out of here, I’m going to shove a rifle butt up every single one of your asses.
…
To give them credit, these guys were remarkably efficient.
In less than a day, they had prepared everything Tony needed.
And once everything was ready, Tony immediately began his “work.”
And so, the three of them worked together for the sake of survival in that cave.
After two days of spending time together, they had also become friends.
At the well-equipped workbench, Tony was dismantling a missile while Ethan stood nearby, watching and ready to lend a hand whenever necessary.
And Yadan…
Yadan was in charge of holding the light.
Lighting was important!
“What languages do you speak?” Tony asked, his eyes fixed tightly on the missile.
“A lot of them. But apparently, it’s still not enough here. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Persian, and Russian.”
Ethan watched Tony’s every step as he dismantled the missile.
“Don’t they speak Chinese?” Yadan suddenly asked.
“Uh… probably not. Chinese is difficult. Do you speak it?” Ethan asked.
“Of course!”
Yadan sounded rather proud.
Language, even after traveling through countless worlds and experiencing endless years, remained deeply engraved within Yadan’s soul.
“You speak Chinese too? I do too, but only a little,” Tony said.
He had been here for more than two days now, and he had gradually grown familiar with Ethan and Yadan, even though Yadan was…
Well, Yadan clearly had some issues.
On the other hand, Tony felt that he actually had a greater affinity for Yadan than for Ethan.
Perhaps, somewhere in his subconscious, Tony could always find something similar to himself in Yadan.
Tony was terrified of dying.
Yadan, meanwhile, seemed to spend every waking moment wandering along the edge of death.
“Really? Hello.”
Yadan said those words in Chinese.
But they sounded extremely stiff.
It seemed Yadan had once again overestimated himself.
Endless years had worn away many things.
Even his soul.
“Haha.”
The three of them laughed at the same time.
But there was a hint of sadness in all their laughter.
Of course, Yadan’s laughter was completely carefree and shameless.
“Who are those people?” Tony asked as he removed the warhead from the missile.
“They’re your loyal customers, sir,” Ethan joked.
“They call themselves the Ten Rings.”
“I don’t see any of them wearing ten rings,” Yadan remarked.
Yadan vaguely remembered the Ten Rings, but only barely.
After countless years, his memories of the Marvel universe had long since become hazy.
Never mind the Ten Rings, something that was only briefly mentioned in the movies and appeared in the comics.
If Yadan hadn’t occasionally used magic to play 3D versions of movies inside his mind to entertain himself during those endless years, he probably wouldn’t even remember who Tony Stark was.
Even so, he only remembered the general outline of the movies’ plots.
And he still didn’t know whether this was the universe of the movies or the comics.
Did this world even have the X-Men?
Yadan had absolutely no familiarity with the X-Men.
While Tony continued dismantling the missile and modifying it, elsewhere…
Through the surveillance cameras, the fat man and several of his companions watched Tony Stark and the others closely from in front of two monitors.
The fat man patted one of his companions on the shoulder.
“Keep a close eye on them.”
After saying that, he went off with several others to play dice.
…
“Don’t you think it would be more efficient if you let me help?”
Ethan crouched beside Tony as he spoke.
As he said this, he glanced up at Yadan, who was standing overhead playing around with the lamp.
“Hmm.”
Tony bent over and continued working.
He punched the head of the missile, pulled out a component from inside, and then removed a small part from it.
Tony casually tossed the larger component aside, then held the tiny piece attached to the tweezers up toward Ethan.
“This is 0.15 grams of palladium. But we need at least 1.6 grams. So why don’t you go get eleven more?”
After saying that, Tony raised his head and looked at Yadan.
“Yadan, perhaps you can come down.”
“Of course.”
Yadan smiled and jumped down.
He simply wanted to see how Iron Man was born.