Back to Big Apple City

"Hey!" A burly Black officer got out of the vehicle and immediately embraced Tony. "You rascal, I knew you weren't dead!"

"Haha!" Compared with the half-dead state he'd been in the desert in the original story, Tony was now incomparably relaxed. "I've still got so many wonderful things to enjoy, and so many beautiful women I haven't had enough of. How could I possibly die?"

"You rascal. You nearly died, and you're still being so shameless?" Rhodey patted his back. "So, how was the Jinhai Jeep?"

A strange smile spread across Tony's face, as if he were reminiscing about something. "Hahahaha..."

Then the two clung tightly to each other, leaving the people watching behind them utterly bewildered.

"This..." Fang Bie looked at the scene in surprise, then turned to Yinsen.

Yinsen discreetly shook his head to show that he didn't know either. Who would've thought that Tony, our Iron Man, had this side to him that no one knew about?

"So this is male friendship?" Fang Bie asked curiously, then slowly raised his hands.

Several armed soldiers had arrived along with the helicopter. Tony had passed through without any trouble, but the two men whose identities were unknown weren't going to get through so easily.

"Looks like neither of us has any identification. What do we do?" Fang Bie whispered to the person beside him. They were speaking Chinese, so there was no need to worry about the soldiers understanding them.

"No, I have an identity. At most, the records will say I'm missing, so they should be able to look me up. You definitely have no identity." Yinsen raised his hands too.

Fang Bie stared at him in shock. "You're just abandoning our revolutionary friendship like that?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Tony will definitely find a way to get you out. I just can't help you myself." Yinsen winked, then went with a pair of soldiers toward the helicopter to have his identity checked.

Fang Bie followed another pair of soldiers elsewhere, feeling rather helpless. In truth, he wasn't too worried about his safety. Tony was one of the wealthiest men in the world, with a level of influence in that country of capital that ordinary people could hardly dream of. If he couldn't even bail one person out, then he'd be a pretty pathetic tycoon.

Once the two men had finished embracing, Tony turned and saw his two companions being led away by the soldiers.

"Let them go. They're my friends!" Tony said. "If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have escaped so easily."

His words brimmed with the relief of someone who'd made it through a catastrophe, but everyone could also hear his terrifying confidence that he would have escaped no matter what.

"No. They could be spies planted by the terrorist organization to keep an eye on you. They have to be checked before they can come in!" Rhodey immediately rejected his suggestion, his expression stern.

"They were ordinary people captured and taken to the base with me. They don't have any identification. They're coming with me, and I'll vouch for their safety!" Tony's tone suddenly turned firm.

Rhodey hurriedly pulled him aside. "Brother, do they have something on you? Don't worry. Once they're in our hands, no one can keep their secrets!"

"Ha!" Tony sighed. He'd known it wouldn't be that simple, but there was no way he could tell Rhodey what had happened in that other world. So he had to steer the conversation in another direction.

"They saved my life at that base. They were the ones who helped me escape!" At last, he came up with a decent excuse.

"Where's the base? I'll go destroy it!" Rhodey said at once, no longer concerned with questioning the other two. He even raised the walkie-talkie in his hand, ready to send his men to bomb the place as soon as he got its location.

"Somewhere in a mountain in the desert, I think?" Tony said, as if trying hard to remember. "I can't recall clearly. There were some canyons, and it was very dry, with hardly any water. I think there were some plants growing around it..."

What he described was almost the exact opposite of what the base had been like, but that had been one of the key points they'd agreed on beforehand.

They'd destroyed nearly everything at the base, leaving little for anyone else to find. But they'd have a hard time explaining how the three of them had managed to wipe out everyone at a terrorist base so easily.

So they might as well keep the whole thing to themselves and let the others search for a military base that had never existed. Before leaving, Fang Bie had filled the entire cave with lava. Even if the army found the place, they probably wouldn't be interested in a volcano that was still forming.

Thanks to Tony vouching for them, the two got into the vehicle without a hitch. There was no melodramatic scene where someone picked a fight with them. After a short rest at the military base, the three were in good condition, so they boarded the private plane that had been waiting nearby for its owner for quite some time.

"Fang Bie, since you're here, you'll need to learn some English. Otherwise, it'll be a hassle when you can't understand us," Tony said, chatting with him beside him.

Tony had thought of this as one of the difficulties Fang Bie might face here. As a top genius, Tony knew all sorts of languages, so it didn't matter to him. But English was a necessary skill for surviving on this planet, especially in their country.

Fang Bie nodded. "I know. I'll do my best to learn. Is there anything you can give me to help?"

"When I get back, I'll have Jarvis make you a simple English-assistance app. Just carry it with you. Until you can read and write, it'll help you recognize the language around you and provide simultaneous interpretation," Tony replied casually. Many products that would normally exist only in a laboratory sounded like everyday household items when he talked about them.

"Sure enough, you've got nothing but high-tech stuff," Fang Bie marveled. From that one simple sentence, he could already sense Tony's confidence and deep pockets.

Rhodey, meanwhile, was making phone calls nonstop. The news that one of the world's most powerful tycoons had reappeared on Earth was sure to send shock waves through the world.

If Tony hadn't wisely avoided answering any calls, and if his phone hadn't been charging, he probably wouldn't have had a single free moment by now.

The private plane was fast. It didn't take long after takeoff to cruise smoothly into the stratosphere. After a day of activity, the three of them were exhausted, and they soon fell asleep on the plane.

A day later, the plane landed again at Tony's private airport. By then, many people were already waiting below.