Afghanistan

As the boss's secretary, Caroline did not quite understand.

But she still nodded.

Over this period of time, she had already been thoroughly won over by this magical big boy.

He seemed to know everything, always bringing hope.

Noticing the beautiful woman's gaze, Noah chuckled.

This young lady really was quite charming.

Had he simply experienced too little?

Noah stroked his chin in thought.

As far as he knew, Tony Stark had spent a long time between being kidnapped and escaping.

But he could not remember exactly how long.

After all, he did not possess a photographic memory. Even if he remembered some of the plot, details were beyond him.

Especially questions involving specific timeframes.

Still, since it had taken a long time, he was not worried.

Let that smug bastard suffer for a while first.

Just like that, a month and a half passed in the blink of an eye.

Tony Stark was still missing.

After so much time, the stock price, which had already begun fluctuating, suffered a sharp decline.

A month earlier, Noah had already bought a large amount of Stark Industries stock.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would make an enormous profit from it.

In short, he was going to make a killing!

The only problem was that Tony Stark had better not actually be dead.

Though Noah did not think that was very likely, he was now in a real world.

And one that was also an unknown, unusual Marvel world.

Having lived in this world for so long, it was hard to say whether he had already caused some changes.

Seeing that there was still no news of Tony Stark, he began to grow restless.

"Set up a meeting with James Rhodes for me."

James Rhodes was Tony Stark's friend. As for Noah's strongest impression of him, it was naturally that he would one day become the superhero War Machine.

Although he did not know Colonel James Rhodes, getting his phone number was not difficult.

Soon, the call connected, and Colonel Rhodes asked in confusion, "Who is this?"

"Noah Allen. Let's keep this brief.

I may have a way to find Tony Stark."

Colonel Rhodes's breathing paused for a moment as he quickly searched his mind for the name Noah Allen.

"How am I supposed to believe you?"

Colonel Rhodes's expression and voice remained calm.

Noah smiled.

"It's only worth trying. After all, I don't want to lose money."

There was no need to explain the specific reason in any greater detail.

Naturally, Noah intended to use Fighting Wolves to conduct a carpet search for Tony Stark.

The method was indeed rather clumsy.

But Fighting Wolves never tired, and their sense of smell was exceptionally keen.

As long as there were enough of them, finding one person would not be too difficult.

Besides, this could also serve as publicity for his product.

Though he had proposed it himself, there was no way he would do the searching for free.

So Noah also intended to take the opportunity to secure some benefits for himself.

On the other end, after James Rhodes hung up, he immediately began verifying Noah's identity.

"Umbrella's owner? I hope he isn't just blowing smoke.

Tony, you have to come back."

Tony Stark was one of the world's greatest geniuses. Losing him would be a loss to the United States—and even to the world.

Moreover, Tony's disappearance had recently caused Stark Industries' stock to plummet, even triggering turmoil across the entire capital market.

Both publicly and personally, he was anxious to bring Tony Stark back.

With that in mind, he immediately reported Noah's situation.

Very soon, someone entered into negotiations with Noah.

Noah was very satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations, and the other side probably was too.

He secured a high-risk biochemical research permit for his company.

Although Anobella itself was engaged in this kind of research, the higher-ups maintained strict control over many areas of study.

Just like weapons production and development.

Umbrella had been able to resolve the issue easily thanks to the advantages left behind by its predecessor, along with the considerable amount of money Noah had spent afterward.

But Anobella itself did not have that permit.

So in truth, much of its research had been conducted under Umbrella's name.

Besides that, he had also obtained a tentative order.

Naturally, whether it became official depended on the results.

The opportunity to demonstrate those results was the search and rescue operation for Tony Stark.

So for the military, it was basically getting Noah's promise for free.

And for Noah, it was a free proving ground to demonstrate Fighting Wolf's capabilities.

Three days later, several large transport planes landed in Afghanistan.

Seeing the yellow sand stretching across the sky outside, Noah frowned before getting off the plane.

Colonel Rhodes walked over.

"Welcome to Afghanistan."

Holding down his hat and feeling the dry air, Noah said irritably, "If possible, I wouldn't want to come to a godforsaken place like this.

Let's get down to business as soon as possible. I already want to go home."

Colonel Rhodes laughed heartily.

"Then let's get moving. I hope you weren't bluffing."

Noah spoke to the people behind him.

"Get ready."

Very soon, seven or eight people immediately began making preparations.

"Colonel Rhodes, can you pinpoint Tony Stark's approximate location?"

Rhodes took out a map.

"Look here. We believe the people who kidnapped Tony are a well-known terrorist organization operating within Afghanistan.

This organization is mainly active in the northern region. After our searches, we've roughly narrowed the area down to this section."

Rhodes circled an area on the map.

The moment Noah saw it, he frowned.

The area was not small.

Colonel Rhodes noticed his expression as well and said helplessly, "The population here is too chaotic. Searching the area is extremely difficult.

To be honest, the people above are already close to giving up."

After nearly two months, no matter how much the military valued Tony Stark, they could not keep pouring massive resources into searching for him without limit.

Even now, the military's search-and-rescue efforts had already been scaled back considerably.

Clearly, they no longer held much hope.

Only Colonel Rhodes still remained steadfast here.

Otherwise, he would not have personally come to receive Noah.

"The area is so large that this may take quite a while."

Noah did not refuse. He merely said so.

Inside a cave in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Tony Stark sat beside a battered bed, gasping heavily.

"Who are you?"

"You can call me Yinsen."

Yinsen set down the razor and turned around.

Tony Stark touched his chest. There was a horrifying hole there.

"If I were you, I wouldn't touch that."

Seeing Tony Stark seemed about to pull the wires from his chest, he spoke up.

"There are a lot of shrapnel fragments in your chest. Although I did my best, some of them are still inside you.

If you pull that thing out, those fragments will enter your heart through your blood vessels within minutes.

As for that big thing, it's a car battery. It's what's keeping you alive."