Sherlock and Tony's Completely Different Daily Lives

Sherlock did not take Helen's teasing to heart. After all, something like building a house was merely a beginner-level application of alchemy in his hands.

After driving the car into the garage and waking John Wick, Sherlock left behind plenty of food and water. Then they each picked a room and fell into a deep sleep once more.

It was not until the sky darkened again that Sherlock was awakened by the aroma of food.

After a quick wash, Sherlock headed into the dining room. John Wick and Doro had clearly been sitting at the table and feasting for quite some time. Seeing this, Sherlock nearly cursed.

"John Wick, you bastard! You didn't even call me for dinner!"

Before John Wick could say anything in response to Sherlock's complaint, Doro swallowed the food in his mouth and kept waving at Sherlock with his greasy little paws.

"Human, come quickly! There's lots of delicious food here!"

Seeing how adorable Doro looked, Sherlock did not know what to say for a moment. He could only glare fiercely at John Wick before joining the fight for food.

After several rounds of drinks and dishes, the three at the table finally rubbed their overstuffed bellies in satisfaction and slumped back in their chairs.

Only then did Sherlock realize that someone seemed to be missing from the table.

"Where's Helen?"

At Sherlock's question, John Wick rolled his eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky. Why had he not remembered Helen while fighting him for chicken legs? Now that he was full, he remembered her.

Still, complaints aside, John Wick answered Sherlock's question.

"She's taking a bath. Don't worry, Helen already ate."

Hearing that, Sherlock was finally relieved. Once Helen appeared before him again and carried Doro away, Sherlock began discussing his ideas and their next plans with John Wick.

Sherlock was not particularly anxious about rescuing Tony. After all, they had to give Tony time to finish the Iron Monger, didn't they?

Otherwise, with Obadiah Stane's level of intelligence, how could there possibly be that spectacular Iron Man battle later on?

Although Sherlock cared deeply about his peaceful life, honestly, he could not find even the slightest reason to refuse something that was so obviously going to be entertaining.

More importantly, this kidnapping was Tony's transformative journey toward becoming Iron Man. Sherlock did not want his own interference to cause the future Iron Man to lose something and alter the future.

Thus, after the two discussed it, a plan that was more like an outing than a rescue was quickly born.

Early the next morning, after everyone had packed up and gotten into the car, Sherlock waved his hand and turned the house back into yellow sand. Then, under John Wick's lead, the group set off toward the depths of the desert.

The reason there had been no news of Tony for so long was partly because the Ten Rings had acted carefully and decisively when they kidnapped him.

Another reason was that the valley where Tony was being held was located deep within an uninhabited desert.

After Sherlock used alchemy to give their vehicle a desert paint job, the group traveled through the desert while playing around, utterly carefree.

During the day, Sherlock and John Wick, the two grown men, fully exploited the Raptor's advantages and had an absolute blast playing in the sand.

Even Helen, despite being a woman, was talked into it by Sherlock's nonsense about traditional Chinese medicine removing dampness. Whenever Sherlock and John Wick suddenly started competing in driving skills, she would quietly lie in the sand and enjoy sand therapy.

After several days, Helen's skin had genuinely improved quite a bit. She had even unintentionally slimmed down considerably, which delighted her greatly. She planned to study traditional Chinese medicine once they returned.

As for Doro, although he had a human head with a rather bizarre art style and could speak, his personality still retained the traits of a puppy.

On top of that, Doro had never seen so much sand before. He went completely wild with excitement, and even when playing by himself, he was thrilled every day.

In an open, deserted place like the desert, Doro's speed advantage was fully unleashed. John Wick was even surprised to discover that if Doro went all out, he was nearly as fast as the car.

Of course, fast was fast, but given Doro's size, his endurance was terrible despite his speed. After only a short while, he would collapse onto the ground and pant heavily.

After the sun set, Sherlock would use alchemy to build a comfortable house amid the endless desert. The group would hide inside, eating, drinking, bathing, and enjoying the good things in life.

The whole journey was incredibly relaxing and carefree. Every now and then, Sherlock and Helen would even hold a cooking contest, though Doro and John Wick were the ones who benefited every time.

Unlike Sherlock's leisurely comfort, Tony, trapped inside the cave, was living in utter misery.

Because of the injuries he had suffered during the attack, Yinsen had no choice but to fix an electromagnet to Tony's chest in order to keep him alive. As a result, Tony had to carry a car battery around with him.

Later, Tony built a miniature Arc Reactor to replace the electromagnet in his chest. Only then was he freed from that damned car battery.

But this act completely enraged the leader of the Ten Rings. He had brought Tony here to manufacture weapons and missiles, not to build some Arc Reactor!

Even though Tony had a perfectly good excuse—that he had no choice if he wanted to work more efficiently—the Ten Rings leader had no intention of letting him off and brutally tortured Yinsen.

In the end, Tony had to threaten death and bluntly state that he could not build it alone before Yinsen, a highly educated man, was spared execution.

Tony also began working on an escape plan.

After all, if rescue had truly been coming, the rescuers would have arrived while he was building the Arc Reactor. Instead, his chest had changed from an electromagnet to an Arc Reactor, yet there was still no news at all. There was not even any sign of fighting at the base.

What Tony did not know was that after the cave door closed again, the Ten Rings leader returned to his room and received a call from someone Tony knew very well.

Obadiah Stane!

"Raza Hamidmi, I saw in the military's report that they did not find Tony's body. Are you sure you killed him?"

Faced with Obadiah's question, the smile on the face of the Ten Rings leader named Raza Hamidmi grew increasingly sinister, though his voice remained utterly cheerful.

"Of course, my dear Obadiah. We took Tony's body. Rest assured, at the appropriate time, I will make Tony Stark's body appear. Everything is for greater profit."

Hearing this, Obadiah on the other end clearly did not believe him. His voice turned icy as he spoke into the phone.

"You had better have truly killed Tony. The military and every major force are already desperately searching for clues about him. If anything goes wrong, my dear Raza Hamidmi, believe me, you will never receive another bullet manufactured by Stark Industries!"

With that, the call was cut off. Yet as Raza Hamidmi looked at the disconnected phone, his expression turned utterly cold, and a sneer appeared at the corner of his lips.

"Bullets? Heh heh, foolish Americans. What we possess is far more than just bullets!"