Preparations Before Battle

The desert night was bitterly cold, temperatures below zero seeming to burrow through skin and flesh into the bone. Even with the windows shut tight and the air conditioning running, the chill refused to be kept out.

Frank wrapped himself in a sleeping bag and closed his eyes to rest.

Hong Fei, meanwhile, had a faint red glow in his pupils as he sped through the pitch-black early morning.

In the open wilderness, aside from nocturnal animals hunting for prey, there was almost no trace of other life.

This, ironically, made Hong Fei's tracking easier.

Driving onto a nearly straight road, Hong Fei's eyes never stopped feeding all the information from his surroundings into his mind for analysis.

After a long while, he spotted a cluster of yellow-light particles by the roadside.

In the game, this usually represented excrement left behind by some creature.

Locking onto this trace, Hong Fei wrenched the wheel, and the vehicle lunged off the road like a wild beast into terrain thick with weeds and gravel.

The violent jolts woke Frank. Seeing Hong Fei's energized expression, he couldn't help asking, "Found them?"

"Close enough." Hong Fei gave a slight nod.

Ahead of the vehicle, rows of footprints were crystal clear.

After crossing a low hill, Hong Fei drove into a cluster of boulders and slowly came to a stop.

"We're close. They should be nearby. You set up concealment; I'll go find them."

Frank nodded immediately. Their division of labor was very clear. He had been a Marine Corps member, so concealment was perfect for him, and since Hong Fei excelled at tracking, he was naturally the best choice for locating the enemy.

Getting out of the car, Hong Fei didn't bother carrying a rifle or putting on a helmet, as he already had a dagger and a pistol holstered on his right leg.

Climbing onto a rock, he saw that the glowing footprints ahead had suddenly multiplied, meaning the enemy had been active here frequently.

Bending low, lightening his steps, he followed the direction of the footprints. Before long, he spotted a red figure lying prone in a patch of bushes.

Without the Shinigami Eye activated, under the dim light, it would be hard to spot them without an infrared thermal imager.

Hong Fei lay flat on the ground, straining his eyes to continue observing. Soon, he found five more enemies scattered around the perimeter. Connecting their positions into an arc and finding the center point, it pointed to a bare rocky hill.

Hong Fei didn't dare be careless. He stared unblinkingly at the hill, and sure enough, he eventually caught a fleeting figure.

The red body only flickered briefly before vanishing as if invisible.

A cave!

Hong Fei realized immediately.

This was a bit troublesome. Since the enemy was using a cave as a hideout, Hong Fei couldn't quickly determine the exact number of people. Judging from the six sentries scattered around, a rough estimate put about twenty people gathered inside the cave.

After memorizing the location, Hong Fei crawled backward slowly until he was dozens of meters away before standing up and sprinting back.

Returning to the car, Frank had already set up the concealment. Seeing Hong Fei come back, he asked, "Found them?"

"Yeah." Hong Fei told him exactly what he had discovered.

Frank pulled out a tablet, opened a map, and looked at it. "You said they're definitely going to attack that arms dealer. Their best ambush point would be the road about two hundred meters from here. There's a patch of sparse grass, some rock piles, and a small hill that's good for hiding. Plus, it's the end of a straight stretch of road, which makes people let their guard down more easily."

Hong Fei nodded and asked humbly, "You're right. So where should we set up our trap?"

Frank raised an eyebrow. "If you really want to save that arms dealer, our best bet is to wipe out these militants right now. We have mortars in the car. I'm confident I can bury them in that cave."

Hong Fei shook his head vigorously.

"No, no. If we kill them now, who can prove they were going to attack the convoy tomorrow? If they don't fess up, wouldn't we be turning from rescuers into hijackers?"

Frank looked a bit shocked, his expression seeming to say: Isn't that the point?

Hong Fei clicked his tongue. There was no way to explain this.

The key was, if Tony didn't get blown up by his own weapons and didn't have the threat of shrapnel killing him, would he have the motivation to develop the reactor? Without the reactor, what was Hong Fei looking for Tony for?

To ask for an autograph?

What a joke!

Hong Fei pondered for a few seconds, then said, "Let's stick to the original plan. We're not bodyguards. We don't need to clear the road for him. We'll show up after these militants make their move."

Frank had no objection to this, or rather, he had already guessed Hong Fei would decide this way. He pointed at the map. "Then our ambush spot is here."

Hong Fei glanced at it, then turned to look at the cliff behind them.

"This spot has the most open view. The straight-line distance to where they might strike is no more than five hundred meters. And when the enemy starts their attack, they probably won't pass through this area, so the risk of exposure is extremely low. As long as we hold this position, whether we use mortars or sniper fire, they'll have nowhere to hide."

"Good. Let's do it!"

Then, each of them carried a sniper rifle, and together they hauled the mortar and shells to the top of the cliff. Seeing there was still time, Frank offered, "You've been driving all night. Get some rest first. I'll keep watch."

Hong Fei didn't stand on ceremony. He crawled into his sleeping bag and put on an eye mask.

The moon set and the sun rose. The temperature began to climb rapidly, and Hong Fei was soon woken by the heat.

Crawling out of the sleeping bag, he saw Frank sitting on the ground, carefully wiping down his sniper scope.

"Looking like that, aren't you afraid they'll just shoot over here?"

Frank said calmly, "They've already gone to set up their ambush. Twenty-four men. They've laid mines on the road, have machine guns, rocket launchers, and even a missile vehicle."

"That diligent?" Hong Fei raised his binoculars to look around. Activating the Shinigami Eye, he immediately spotted the enemy figures several hundred meters away. The twenty-four men were hidden on one side of the road, near and far, leaving no trace. Their missile vehicle was parked at the foot of a mountain a kilometer away, perfectly concealed by several intersecting, undulating hills.

Frank raised an eyebrow slightly. "Looks like they're not here to kidnap him—they're here to silence him."

Of course it was a silencing job. Obadiah didn't want Tony coming back alive. But those militants hadn't killed the absurdly lucky Tony at first; instead, they recognized him. So they used that as leverage to demand more money from Obadiah. Meanwhile, sticking to the principle of getting full use out of him, they forced Tony to build the Jericho Missile that had just caused such a huge commotion.

Who would've thought? No Jericho in sight—Tony went straight to building the Mark I Armor and sent them to meet Marx.

"You're right, they came to kill. But they had no idea their target was Tony Stark, the weapons expert. If they did, they'd never have been willing to let him go."

"And you weren't afraid he'd actually die? Then everything you've done would be wasted."

Hong Fei smiled. "He will die, sure. But I don't think it'll be this time."

This was a risk he had to take. If Tony really died, Hong Fei would just accept it—call it paying to witness a hero who fell before he could rise. A bit painful, sure, but the ticket price wouldn't be a total loss.

Hong Fei had thought this through carefully.

After all, he couldn't just trot up to Tony and say, "I need to make sure you don't die, but also let you get blown up by a missile?"

That would be too stupid.

Even if he stepped in to clear the threats for Tony and then found a way to get him to invent a miniature reactor, Tony still wouldn't just hand the reactor over to Hong Fei. And on top of that, the whole process would take too long, with the probability of unexpected events skyrocketing—extremely inefficient.

So, lying in wait at the moment after the attack and snatching the man directly—that was the best move.

Time rolled around to two in the afternoon. Hong Fei, gnawing on some dry rations, suddenly twitched an ear. He dropped his food and grabbed his binoculars.

Sweeping the distance, he said, "Here they come."

Frank followed his gaze and immediately spotted three armored vehicles speeding toward them from afar.