Arc Reactor

Over the following ten-plus days, Hong Fei and Tony grew increasingly familiar, and it was clear that because Hong Fei was beaten openly or covertly by Frank every day, Tony's wariness was quickly fading.

Master Hong's self-sacrificing act was paying off.

Additionally, Frank had brought in all the materials Tony needed one by one, and the secret room had been transformed by Tony into a brightly lit space, even with an extra air conditioner installed.

Hong Fei was also busy keeping up.

Of course, his main work was physical labor, while Tony often sat by his newly built workbench, pointing and ordering him around.

"Hey hey, put that thing on the left, yeah, wait, don't touch that, put it back where it was, good..."

Usually at times like this, he'd cross his legs and make snide remarks: "Don't blame me for being harsh; our time is extremely tight. You're injured, but my injury is worse—there's a big hole in my chest someone dug out. Besides, compared to a bit of hard work, your life is more important, isn't it?"

Hong Fei smiled at his instructions and complied with everything, but in his heart, he was filling up a little notebook page after page.

This time, Tony's list of needed materials included a bunch of strange things, like a crate of bullets Hong Fei was carrying. Tony explained to Frank that he needed to extract substances used to make Jericho Missiles, and he rambled on about bullets and missiles without pause, sounding almost convincing at first glance.

Frank didn't believe it.

Hong Fei believed it even less.

He stopped Frank, who was about to unload a burst of bullets into Tony, and for the sake of the reactor, let him have it. After all, Hong Fei had held back a lot from Tony and wasn't worried about him causing trouble with the bullets.

The main consideration was that without the other plot character, Yinsen, Hong Fei didn't know if there would be surprises, so he could try his best to meet Tony's demands.

As time passed, once the secret room was set up and all materials arrived, Tony also joined the busy work. He often lost himself at his desk, forgetting to eat or sleep.

Clearly, outsiders couldn't see this effort; they only knew Tony partied every day, as if all his achievements fell from the sky.

During this period, Frank gradually showed up less, replaced by five new guys.

After changing their outfits, they often appeared in groups of three or five, threatening Tony and Hong Fei with their hands and weapons, which obviously made Tony more anxious about his situation.

Efficiency naturally improved without him noticing.

Frank's original plan was to take all of Tony's notes, but Hong Fei rejected that idea. Taking the notes would only heighten Tony's wariness, and Tony probably wouldn't write down the key stuff anyway.

Hong Fei occasionally asked questions like an illiterate person, and Tony, showing off, casually blurted out things that Hong Fei memorized. Among them were some key pieces of information, which were very important.

Finally, on the thirteenth day after Hong Fei entered the secret room, Tony personally activated a circular device, and the room lit up with a cold, pale blue glow.

Hong Fei: "It looks so beautiful."

Tony rolled his eyes: "It's an energy reactor. I have a big one at home that powers the whole building. This one can replace that damn magnet in my chest."

"Power? Does it have a lot of electricity?"

"Three billion joules per second, enough to last me a few thousand years. But if used elsewhere, it might only last a dozen minutes."

Hong Fei nodded blankly, his heart already aching.

Tony's list included a batch of missiles produced by Stark Industries. Hong Fei knew Tony only needed Palladium, but since Tony didn't say it, Hong Fei had to buy them as listed.

So he personally dismantled millions of dollars' worth of missiles, just to get the 0.5 grams of Palladium in each one.

Tony would have to pay for that money himself!

That night, Tony was taken out of the secret room for interrogation. After all, it had been nearly half a month, and he hadn't even produced the shell of a Jericho Missile. Although Hong Fei didn't actually want the Jericho Missile, they still had to keep up appearances.

Taking this chance, Hong Fei met with Frank again.

"Did you get the missile data?"

Frank shook his head: "He did give it, but I don't know if it's real or fake."

That was the downside of being uneducated.

"It doesn't matter; that stuff isn't important anyway. Now, you need to make him hand over the data for that thing in his chest."

Frank paused, his expression shifting again: "So this is your real goal?"

Hong Fei nodded: "Right. Don't underestimate that thing; the Jericho Missile is worthless compared to it. But Tony won't willingly hand it over. You need to..."

The two conspired for a long time.

The door to the Interrogation Room was suddenly kicked open, and Frank stormed in. Tony, tied to a chair, couldn't help but shrink back.

Ignoring everyone else, Frank plopped down on the table, his gaze unapologetically fixed on the glowing reactor in Tony's chest.

Tony sensed trouble.

Frank reached out and tapped the reactor's casing, smiling without warmth: "Now, we can make an extra deal."

Tony stayed silent, and Frank continued on his own: "Hand over the data for this little thing, and I'll let your little secretary off the hook."

Tony's eyes flew wide open, his gaze fiercer than ever before. He struggled violently and roared: "What did you do to her?!"

"I haven't done anything yet, but if I don't see that data by tomorrow, you can guess what I'll do."

Tony panted with rage, but Frank ignored him, waving a hand to have him dragged back. Throughout the process, Tony looked like he wanted to devour Frank alive.

Clearly, Frank's thug image didn't need any acting on his part.

Back in the secret room, Tony turned gloomy, looking like he was about to take on Thanos.

Hong Fei shrank into a corner, not moving. As the instigator, now wasn't the time to fan the flames.

The keyboard clattered loudly, and Tony's face, lit by the screen's glow, looked even darker.

That night, Hong Fei didn't sleep too soundly, while Tony stayed awake the entire night.

Early the next morning, Tony pounded on the door and started calling for Frank.

When he personally handed the disk to Frank, he couldn't help but say, "I know you're mercenaries. From the fact that you dared to move against the local armed militants, it's clear you're a bunch who'll stop at nothing for profit. You've got what you wanted from me, and I hope you don't have any other ideas. Otherwise, I swear I won't let you off easy!"

Frank glanced at the disk, then suddenly smiled.

With a dull thud, he kicked Tony to the ground, then silently closed the door and left.

Hong Fei winced from the sidelines—that bit was entirely Frank's own addition to the script.

Not long after, Tony was taken away again, and Frank came back to find Hong Fei.

"I still can't verify this data."

"Doesn't matter. I trust that the data Tony provided is at least enough to build a reactor, but he definitely won't hand over all the numbers honestly. Whether what we end up with is a reactor or a bomb, we can't say for sure."

"Then what do we do?" Frank's face darkened. "Looks like I haven't taught him enough of a lesson. I'll go find him right now."

With that, Frank actually stood up, looking like he was about to skin Tony alive.

Hong Fei quickly called him back. "Hold on, what's the rush! Whether that thing turns out to be a reactor or a bomb doesn't matter to us. What I need is just something that can be built from it. Whether it explodes or not is none of our concern."

Hong Fei did need the Arc Reactor technology, but not as a power source for developing any armor.

The armor technology was hard to reverse-engineer from that first-generation hunk of scrap, and developing it further would be even tougher. To say nothing of the cost of Tony's suits—Hong Fei figured that really wasn't something he could afford to play with.

Besides, with that much money, he'd rather do some good deeds to directly improve his own physical condition. Wasn't that more reliable than building armor?

So, the Arc Reactor's biggest use in his hands would be for some discreet exchanges of interest.

Hong Fei continued, "Next, Tony will probably start planning his escape soon. Is the plane ready?"

"Already arranged."

"Good. Start setting things up in Afghanistan. Whether it's re-entering or pulling out, especially that crate with my tools of the trade—it has to be foolproof."

After Frank left, Hong Fei made a phone call.

By now, Obadiah, already in Afghanistan, was getting anxious. In fact, he was nearly going crazy with impatience.

After receiving the first call, he immediately launched a location trace, but the US military dug three feet deep into the area pinpointed and found absolutely nothing.

On top of that, the armed militants he'd originally partnered with, reeling from their heavy losses, demanded an astronomical compensation from him, even threatening to expose their collaboration to extort more weapons and equipment.

Obadiah was a man of few words and ruthless action. He flew straight to Afghanistan and wiped out the entire group.

With that loose end cleaned up, he fell back into his dilemma.

On one hand, he hoped the US military would quickly find and eliminate the gang that had kidnapped Tony. On the other, he didn't want them to rescue Tony.

The best outcome would be if Tony had already been killed, with the US military finding only a corpse.

That way, he could eliminate the threat without paying any price. All he'd have to do was shed a few tears in front of the cameras—and what was that worth?

But now, with no news at all, it was the worst possible scenario for him.

So when the phone rang and he saw the number he'd been obsessing over, he picked up immediately.

"Mr. Stan, are you ready?"

Obadiah lowered his voice, feigning gentleness. "I'm ready, but I need to confirm Tony's safety."

"Of course, that's a perfectly reasonable request." Hong Fei grinned and walked toward the Interrogation Room.

Through a one-way mirror, Hong Fei placed a video call to Obadiah.

When that bald head appeared on the phone screen, Hong Fei aimed the camera at the Interrogation Room and laughed. "Take a look, Mr. Stan. Isn't this the famous Tony Stark?"

The whole thing about the transfer is purely fictional.