Tony Stark's Self-Rescue

After Chen Changsheng pacified Dr. Otto and dealt with the New York City Government's questioning, he heard from the military that Tony Stark had been kidnapped by terrorists in Afghanistan.

There seemed to have been far too many things happening lately, one after another. Chen Changsheng felt he was struggling to handle them all.

Umbrella Corporation had also received plenty of criticism because of Dr. Otto's incident. After all, with such a huge commotion and so many reporters at the scene, how could it possibly be kept secret?

Fortunately, all of Umbrella Corporation's revenue came from military orders and wealthy consumers.

If Umbrella Corporation had been a publicly traded company, its stock price would probably have already fallen to rock bottom... The examples of Osborn Industries and Stark Industries were still fresh in everyone's memory.

Even so, Umbrella Corporation's cash flow was already showing some problems. The remaining tens of millions of US dollars were a mere drop in the bucket for a company that relied on scientific research for profit.

Tony Stark had been kidnapped. As Tony Stark's good friend, Chen Changsheng felt that he had to rescue him.

But after carefully considering the news, Chen Changsheng seemed to have come up with an idea—a wonderful idea for shearing the capitalists.

It would be somewhat bad for Stark Industries, but Tony Stark was his good friend and probably would not mind. His uncle Obadiah, the second-largest shareholder, might care, but Obadiah was not his friend.

Chen Changsheng felt perfectly at ease and completely aboveboard about what he was doing...

It was now a fact that Stark Industries' stock price had plummeted. Chen Changsheng planned to take advantage of the stock's recent volatility to make a fortune—to multiply the tens of millions in his hands several times over.

Once Tony Stark returned and stabilized the situation, Chen Changsheng would withdraw. After all, profiting from his friend's misfortune was hardly something to be proud of.

There were still many things he would help Tony Stark with in the future. It should not be excessive for Chen Changsheng to collect a little payment in advance, right? Besides, Stark's losses would mainly be paid for by retail investors.

That was right. Chen Changsheng planned to invest all his remaining funds in the stock market, use the recent news about Tony Stark to fleece the market, and make enough money to accumulate some liquid funds for continuing Dr. Otto's experiments.

This was for the advancement of humanity, wasn't it? If Nuclear Fusion was successfully developed, humanity would take off, wouldn't it? Chen Changsheng kept brainwashing himself, making himself feel that he was not stabbing his friend in the back.

There were no walls without ears. Not long after Chen Changsheng invested a large amount of money in shorting the stock market, news that Tony Stark had been kidnapped spread like wildfire, and Stark Industries' stock began to fluctuate violently.

"The soul of Stark Industries, genius inventor, and playboy Tony Stark has met with an accident in Afghanistan and is missing." It was indeed an attention-grabbing headline.

Capital from all sides, along with Stark Industries' shareholders and retail investors, frantically sold their stocks. The plunging share price made Obadiah feel miserable as well. After all, aside from Tony Stark, he was the one most affected by this fluctuation.

Chen Changsheng invested all his US dollars in the stock market, buying up unlimited quantities of Stark Industries shares on the market. Many speculators were doing the same thing as Chen Changsheng. However, they were nowhere near as well-informed as he was, and it was hard to say how things would end for them.

After all, Chen Changsheng was at the scene of the military's rescue operation. The military had contacted Chen Changsheng first for a reason. During the Lizard People incident, the Tyrants' formidable firepower had made the military practically drool with envy.

Although General Ross had already obtained a batch of Tyrants from Chen Changsheng, once they fell into Ross's hands, there was no reason for them to come back out. General Ross had a powerful background and real authority. The military leaders could do nothing about him, so they turned their attention back to Umbrella Corporation.

The military wanted to send the latest batch of Tyrants to Afghanistan to wipe out the terrorists. This batch of Tyrants depended on Chen Changsheng. After all, advanced weapons were a seller's market. Even if the customer was king, the military still had to humbly ask Chen Changsheng to speed up production.

Of course, some of the Tyrants already belonged to the military, and the military had already paid for them. Chen Changsheng naturally had no reason to obstruct their transfer. However, the military's Tyrants and nutrient chambers were still under construction. Even if Chen Changsheng delivered the Tyrants on time, the military had no way to sustain them for long periods. Umbrella Corporation would have to provide technical support.

Umbrella Corporation had shown considerable foresight and had researched mobile nutrient chambers long ago. This time, the Tyrants could be flown directly to Afghanistan.

After receiving Chen Changsheng's permission, the military breathed a sigh of relief. This rescue operation would be a full assault. If they relied on ordinary soldiers, no one knew how many casualties they would suffer. Tyrants were better—stable, reliable, and when they died, there was no need to pay compensation.

The equipment cases developed by Dr. Otto had also already been produced in batches. Chen Changsheng brought all of them this time. Since he was going to put on a display, he naturally had to present them in their best condition.

The military paid a hefty customization fee, and Chen Changsheng was very accommodating, adding more colors to the coffins on the Tyrants' backs and making their exteriors look even more futuristic.

Their futuristic appearance and blue-and-white coloring made them look even more American.

Chen Changsheng also had some ulterior motives for this trip to Afghanistan.

The terrorists who had kidnapped Tony Stark were not ordinary terrorists. They were a group from the distant East—the legendary Ten Rings.

Legend had it that they possessed ten rings with various abilities, as well as a leader with extraordinary powers and a long lifespan. Although Chen Changsheng was very interested in the Ten Rings, deep down, he did not want the slightest connection with these strange people.

Therefore, Chen Changsheng removed anything linking the Tyrants sent to Afghanistan with Umbrella Corporation. Even their equipment consisted of standard-issue US military firearms, and their paint schemes were the regular ones used by the US military.

If trouble arose later, they could go find the American military. What did it have to do with Umbrella Corporation?

Even with America's strength, locating the terrorist base where Tony Stark was being held had taken considerable effort.

The main reason was that the terrorists had to rescue Tony Stark, and Tony had also spent quite a while recovering. During that period, the terrorists had holed up in their mountain caves.

In the end, only after money paved the way and military force was brought to bear did the American military obtain Tony Stark's exact location.

After that came the plan to rescue Tony Stark.

As Umbrella Corporation's technical support representative, Chen Changsheng participated in the entire process. He could be said to know the course of events like the back of his hand.

Can't find it by searching the book title? Try searching for the author instead. Maybe it was simply renamed!

Of course, this was also intentional on Chen Changsheng's part. After all, a technician normally should not have participated in planning the operation.

But in order to reap profits from the stock market, Chen Changsheng had shamelessly listened in on some internal information. Still, what internal information could compare to taking part personally?

At that moment, far away in the mountainous region of Afghanistan, Tony Stark was studying his Arc Reactor in a pitch-black cave. Tony Stark had long since been unable to tolerate the huge battery hanging from his chest.

Who could have imagined that not long ago, Tony Stark had still been drinking fine wine and embracing models in the bustling city of New York, enjoying the ultimate pleasures of life?

Yet a simple weapons demonstration had landed him in the hands of a group of terrorists.

The money he had earned was nowhere near enough to make up for this suffering...

At first, Tony Stark arrogantly assumed that since the terrorists had kidnapped him, they must need something from him.

Whether they wanted money or something else, he would have leverage and could negotiate without fear.

But after being beaten senseless, Tony Stark came to his senses. The terrorists had truly meant business, and their punches had truly hurt.

The reason Tony Stark was still alive was, first, because of Dr. Ethan's timely rescue, and second, because of the new rapid-recovery serum Chen Changsheng had given him before leaving.

At the time, a shell bearing the Stark Industries logo had landed right beside Tony Stark. The violent explosion had directly shredded the latest bulletproof vest he was wearing.

Blood had poured from Tony Stark's body like water from a faucet. Within a minute, Tony had collapsed unconscious.

If he had not injected the recovery serum Chen Changsheng had given him beforehand, Stark would probably have been dead already.

It was precisely because Tony Stark had absorbed the recovery serum Chen Changsheng gave him that he had survived Dr. Ethan's surgery, despite Dr. Ethan not being a professional surgeon.

After all, Dr. Ethan had cut open Stark's chest again and again, and the process of removing the shrapnel had been extremely dangerous.

Perhaps it was because he had absorbed the medicine, but regardless, injuries that originally should have required a year or two of recovery had mostly healed in a short time. If not for the remaining fragment lodged in Tony Stark's heart, he would probably already have been jumping around energetically.

Because he was in the terrorists' lair and constantly facing the threat of death, Tony Stark's mind was unusually clear. Ideas he had never considered before emerged one after another, and concepts for all kinds of weapons came pouring out.

He could blame the terrorists for this. They had insisted that Tony Stark manufacture the Jericho Missile, so Tony periodically found himself wanting to build weapons and slaughter every last one of them.

With a clear mind, anything was possible. A smaller Arc Reactor—before this, Tony Stark probably would never have considered such a thing. It was his father's masterpiece, and the Arc Reactor had already been developed to its peak.

But in this wretched place, Tony Stark miraculously created a miniature Arc Reactor, replacing the bulky battery he had originally been using.

Of course, during those few months, Tony Stark had not only built a miniature Arc Reactor. Among the pile of scattered parts in one corner of the cave was also his latest escape weapon: the Mark I Iron Man Armor.

He had assembled the Iron Man suit by hand. A genius truly was beyond ordinary people's imagination. If Chen Changsheng had possessed that ability, he probably would not have wanted a hive, either. It was terribly ugly.

The terrorists had supported Tony Stark for several months for nothing, and their patience was nearly exhausted.

Whatever Tony Stark wanted, they provided, yet he had produced no results at all. It really seemed as though Tony Stark was playing them for fools.

The terrorist leader decided to teach Tony Stark another lesson while setting him a deadline and reminding Tony Stark why they were called terrorists.

According to Tony Stark's plan, his armor would be finished in a few more days. Then he could put it on and slaughter all the terrorists. Thus, Tony Stark and Yinsen had been unusually relaxed lately. Sometimes, the two of them could even happily play a few games of chess.

Tony Stark had beaten Yinsen yet again and was just about to happily taunt his friend when the terrorist leader stormed into the cave with his men.

With a wave of his hand, two underlings dragged Dr. Ethan aside and pinned him firmly to the ground.

It had happened too suddenly for Tony Stark to react. But when he saw the dark muzzle pressed against Ethan's head, Tony Stark forced himself to calm down and said as evenly as possible, "What are you doing? Let him go. I need his help."

The terrorist leader did not beat around the bush. He directly told Tony Stark what he had decided: Tony had to complete the Jericho Missile within three days, or he would die.

To placate the terrorists and save Dr. Ethan, Tony Stark could only agree to their demand. Tony Stark knew they were not joking. To them, killing someone was truly nothing.

After the terrorists left the cave, Stark realized that this was no place for a vacation. Leaving as soon as possible was the only sensible course.

As for building the Jericho Missile in three days, that was nonsense. After all this time, Tony Stark had not even begun.

In the days that followed, Tony Stark accelerated the construction of his Iron Man Armor. In just two days, he completed the armor, which had already been nearly finished.

Following his plan, Tony Stark began uploading the program into the Iron Man Armor. However, the cave's limited conditions and its outdated computer made the upload exceptionally slow.

Tony Stark and Yinsen had also been absent from the surveillance cameras for a long time, which drew the terrorists' attention. Soon, someone came to see what the two of them were doing.

The terrorist who came to check on them accidentally triggered the trap Tony and Yinsen had set. The enormous explosion attracted even more terrorists.

The Iron Man Armor's program had not finished uploading, but if the two of them stayed there, they would be blown to pieces.

To buy Tony Stark a chance to escape the terrorists' lair, Dr. Ethan resolutely picked up the rifle on the ground and charged into the cave, preparing to buy Stark some time.