Gatling Gun Goes Rat-a-tat-tat

"Kid, just who are you?" The Mandarin asked hatefully, seeing that Tony Stark had already gone far away.

"Ximen Chuixue," Xia Yu said. Only an idiot would give his real name. Who knew if The Mandarin had any curse-type abilities?

The Mandarin did not care whether it was true. He continued, "What's your relationship with Tony Stark? Why are you protecting him so much?" The Mandarin was at a loss too. The Ten Rings had forces all over the world, countless operations both open and covert. He had merely been passing through when he saw people being slaughtered on his men's turf, so he wanted to catch up and see who had done it. As a result, he had unexpectedly found Tony Stark as well. (In the movie, Obadiah Stane had only hired that bald man from the Ten Rings to assassinate someone. After making his move and discovering that Tony was still alive, the bald man learned that the target was Tony Stark. He then grew greedy and wanted Tony to produce weapons for him. The Mandarin might really not have known that Tony Stark was in his men's hands.)

He had thought he could easily deal with a few ordinary people, only for this kid to come out of nowhere. The Mandarin was not afraid of Xia Yu, but there were many restrictions on the use of his rings, and he had recently been injured. There were several rings he could not use at all. In a straight hand-to-hand fight, he really was no match for Xia Yu.

So he decided to talk first, see what Xia Yu was about, and wait for the cooldown on a few of his ring skills at the same time.

Xia Yu was naturally happy to go along. As long as the system notified him that the mission was complete, meaning Tony was safe, he could leave. He could not have asked for more. So Xia Yu casually stabbed his sword into the ground and said, "There's no relationship. I'm just doing a job for money. Someone paid me ten million US dollars, and I promised to get him out."

The Mandarin was delighted to hear that. He was a hired hand! He immediately said, "I'll give you thirty million US dollars. Help me capture him and bring him back."

"No, I can't do that. I promised to save him, so that won't work. Unless... unless you give me a hundred million. Then I promise I won't stop you. My master told me that when you take someone's money, you have to do the job, unless someone else offers at least ten times the price." Xia Yu wore a proud, haughty expression.

The Mandarin thought, You lowlife, willing to sell out your employer for money. What are you so proud of? But this kid has a master behind him. Another hidden big shot. If I can avoid a fight, I should.

"All right, a hundred million it is. Let me through." Having made up his mind, The Mandarin agreed readily.

Who would have thought Xia Yu would swish his sword up and point it at him? "Cut the crap. Pay first."

"All right, all right. Give me an account number, and I'll send you the money." The Mandarin was very pleased. A hundred million for Tony Stark was well worth it.

Xia Yu reached behind himself and actually took a notepad and pen out of his spatial ring. He quickly wrote down the number of an anonymous account at a Swiss bank. He had asked Natasha to arrange it before coming to Afghanistan. His own hundred million US dollars was in there too, for Natasha to use to buy Stark Industries stock.

The Mandarin stared. Where on that suit of armor was there a pocket? Xia Yu did not care what he was thinking. He tore off a sheet of paper and handed it over. "Hurry up and transfer the money. If he gets away in the meantime, that's not my problem."

After speaking, he stuffed the notepad and pen he had just used behind himself with one hand, and they disappeared again.

The Mandarin, who was taking out his phone to call someone and have the money transferred, stared in amazement again.

The Mandarin's men worked quickly. In less than two minutes, he hung up and said, "The money's been sent. I can go through now, right?"

Who would have thought Xia Yu would draw his sword with another swish and hold it across his path? The Mandarin said angrily, "Kid, what's the meaning of this? Don't think I can't deal with you."

Xia Yu answered even louder, "What do I mean? I should be asking you that! You just took out your phone and made a call. You say you sent it, but who knows if you were putting on an act for me? This is the desert. Where would you get a signal? You're definitely lying to me."

The Mandarin was so angry he almost laughed. Someone of my standing, lying for money? He said, "Can't you see this is a satellite phone? Why don't you call and check?"

Xia Yu waved a hand behind himself, and a Nokia phone appeared in it. The Mandarin thought, Huh, where did that phone come from now?

He had no time to ask Xia Yu, because Xia Yu had already shoved the Nokia almost into his face and was blasting him with words. "Look! Look! Where's the signal? You're definitely lying to me, you old fraud!"

The Mandarin felt terribly wronged. He reached up and wiped the mask on his face beneath his black robe, feeling as though Xia Yu had sprayed his whole face. He could not drag this out any longer. If he did, he really would not be able to find Stark again. Helplessly, he said, "My satellite phone works. Take my phone and check, all right?"

Xia Yu looked at The Mandarin warily and said, "Don't try to fool me. You're not trying to trick me into coming over so you can ambush me, are you?"

Hearing Xia Yu's words, The Mandarin suddenly had the urge to tear his own hair out. He shouted, "If I wanted to ambush you, I would have done it when you gave me the account number! Why would I wait until now? Why weren't you afraid I'd ambush you when you gave me the account number? Kid, are you checking or not? If you don't, I'll do whatever it takes to keep you here today!"

Xia Yu laughed inwardly, because the system notification had arrived. Tony Stark was safe.

He was delighted, but he muttered, "Fine, I'll check. Why the hell are you yelling? Give me the phone." With that, he walked toward The Mandarin.

The two of them were less than six or seven steps apart. Xia Yu went over with the Heaven Reliant Sword in hand. After two steps, he stuffed the sword behind his backside, and when he brought his hand out again, it was gone.

The Mandarin thought, Fuck, where did it go?

Xia Yu reached for the phone in The Mandarin's hand. The Mandarin was waiting for Xia Yu to take it, still wondering where he had put the sword, when an M134 six-barrel Gatling gun with an ammunition belt suddenly appeared in Xia Yu's hands.

"Where did that come from now?" The Mandarin was still wondering where the gun had come from. Xia Yu's series of actions had truly left him unable to react. Simply put, his mind had not gone in that direction at all.

Clearly, Xia Yu would not give him a chance to figure it out. Neither would the Gatling gun.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat...

The tremendous impact made The Mandarin spit out a mouthful of blood. Already injured, he suffered further harm, and his body was driven steadily backward. But that was all, because a red light had appeared in front of him, shielding his body tightly. This time, Xia Yu did not see one of the four rectangular rubies arranged side by side on The Mandarin's left index finger shatter.

Held steady by Xia Yu's powerful physical strength, the Gatling gun seemed to have no recoil at all. Every round struck the red light in front of The Mandarin.

The Mandarin knew martial techniques, but he was nowhere near as skilled as Xia Yu. His strength lay in mental power, since that was what he used to activate his rings. So now, his entire focus was on resisting the Gatling gun's violent onslaught.

The ammunition belt was soon spent. Xia Yu had spotted the protective red light long ago. Tony was already safe, so there was no reason to keep fighting. After emptying the belt, he picked up the Gatling gun and threw it at The Mandarin. Off you go!

As soon as he threw it, he turned and ran without looking back.

The red light around The Mandarin had just faded when the Gatling gun came hurtling down through the air, smashing into him and sending him flying more than ten meters.

The Mandarin was so angry his head was about to explode. He had never suffered such a loss before. More importantly, he had never met anyone like this. The man could stuff anything behind his backside, and after they had agreed on a price, he had suddenly ambushed him. The main thing was, neither of them was an ordinary person! Shouldn't they have settled their differences with the bearing of true experts?

They had stopped fighting because they had agreed on a price! They had agreed on a price, and he had still ambushed him. Even if he was going to ambush him, couldn't he at least have slashed at him with his sword? What was with suddenly pulling out a Gatling gun?

The more The Mandarin thought about it, the angrier he became. In the end, the reason was that he had brought it on himself. Why had he started talking to the man in the middle of a fight? If he had kept his mouth shut, none of this would have happened. At that thought, blood surged up, and he spat out another mouthful. "Pfft!"

"Ximen Chuixue, I will kill you! Aaaaaah!!!!"

Having lost his reason, The Mandarin disregarded his injuries and forcibly activated the ring on his left thumb. With a whoosh, he chased after Xia Yu, leaving an afterimage behind him. His speed was actually a notch faster than Xia Yu, who was fleeing using Lingbo Weibu.