Rescue Begins

Early the next morning, Sherlock brought John Wick to the top of the mountain.

After concealing themselves, Sherlock planted the Spear of Longinus into the ground, then closed his eyes and smiled with an especially lecherous look.

John Wick had originally thought Sherlock planned to sneak in with him, find Tony, and rescue him directly. He had even prepared himself to get hurt.

But to his complete surprise, Sherlock had brought him to the mountaintop and then simply stopped moving.

For the entire morning, John Wick urged Sherlock to act several times, but Sherlock turned him down every time, saying it was not yet time. Unable to understand what Sherlock was playing at, John Wick eventually gave up urging him and honestly stayed by Sherlock's side as a lookout.

As for Sherlock, he had to admit that today, he had once again discovered another use for Alchemy: watching movies!

That was right. For the entire morning, Sherlock used Matter Analysis from Alchemy to connect with the earth beneath his feet. It was like watching an immersive movie as he excitedly watched Mark One—or rather, Iron Monger—gradually take shape under Tony and Yinsen's construction.

More than that, Sherlock felt this immersive movie was even more enjoyable than watching one in a theater. He could not only sense Tony's movements inside the cave, but also the movements of the terrorists running around within it.

Sherlock could see almost perfectly clearly that when Tony and Yinsen began assembling the Mark One armor, the terrorist assigned to watch them was busy bragging to someone else.

Only when the two were nearly finished assembling it did the terrorist finally look at the monitor. He even searched around for a while and waited nearly a minute before realizing something was wrong, hurriedly calling for his companions to check.

Unfortunately for him, Yinsen ambushed him and knocked him out cold.

Seeing that the commotion of Yinsen knocking out the two men had drawn the attention of the others, and that the terrorists throughout the valley were beginning to gather toward the cave, Sherlock knew it was time to act.

Having spent the whole morning watching an immersive movie, Sherlock opened his eyes and looked at John Wick, who was guarding him, before abruptly asking.

"Old John, ready to fight?"

Hearing Sherlock's words, John Wick could not even be bothered to argue about the way Sherlock addressed him anymore. He gave Sherlock a look as if he were an idiot and was just about to say something when he suddenly felt the ground vanish beneath his feet.

Obviously, the moment Sherlock saw that look in John Wick's eyes, he knew John Wick was about to say something unpleasant and immediately activated Alchemy.

The next second, the earth beneath their feet turned into water, and under the force of gravity, the two of them suddenly plummeted downward.

The sudden weightlessness, coupled with the suffocating feeling of water, made John Wick feel awful all over. He wanted to launch a verbal attack on Sherlock, but all Sherlock heard was a series of bubbling sounds.

On the other side, Tony was frantic. Yinsen had already picked up a gun, said his final farewell to Tony, and rushed out, but Tony's armor still had not started because of problems with the processor and system.

All Tony could do was keep calling out to Yinsen.

Unfortunately, Yinsen had clearly made up his mind to leave and did not respond to Tony at all. Just as Tony was falling into despair, an extremely perfect circular hole suddenly appeared in the cave wall before him.

Before Tony could understand what was happening, a massive column of water burst from the circular hole. The enormous water pressure even sent Tony, who was hanging on the rack waiting for the armor to start, swaying wildly from side to side.

"What happened? What the hell is going on?"

Stunned by the scene before him, Tony instinctively started cursing. At the moment, even moving an arm was incredibly difficult for him. He was practically useless.

But soon, the sound of a man's voice calmed Tony down, because that voice shouted a name Tony knew extremely well.

"Sherlock Flamel!!!"

After appearing inside the cave, John Wick could not spare attention for anything else. After wiping the water from his face, the first thing he wanted to do was settle the score with Sherlock.

But Sherlock clearly did not want to have much of a conversation with John Wick at a time like this. He wiped the water from his face with a smile, but that smile quickly froze.

"Blegh—fuck, is this place a goddamn cesspit? Blegh—John Wick, hurry! A doctor has already rushed out. Go support him!"

Sherlock nearly threw up after taking just one breath inside the cave. Pinching his nose and trying to suppress his churning stomach, he spoke to John Wick.

Although John Wick was furious at Sherlock's reckless behavior, he understood that now was not the time to teach Sherlock a lesson. He pulled out a pistol, shot Sherlock a vicious glare, then turned and rushed straight toward the entrance.

As for Sherlock, he held the Spear of Longinus and leisurely began touring the cave Tony had lived in for nearly a month. Only after arriving before Tony and seeing him trapped inside the metal frame did Sherlock reveal an amused smile.

"Hello, Tony Stark!"

Tony's startup program had long since failed because of Sherlock's flood. He could only stare blankly at the smiling Sherlock standing before him. With the armor covering him, Sherlock could not see Tony's face at all.

But Sherlock did not care what Tony was thinking. Seeing that Tony was not speaking, Sherlock could not be bothered with him either. He lightly tapped Tony's armor with the spear in his hand, and the power of Alchemy immediately spread across the entire suit.

Just as Tony was about to say something, Sherlock had already turned and left the cave, leaving only one sentence behind.

"Wait until you get out. I've got things to do first!"

Only after Sherlock left did Tony realize that his armor had somehow already started up!

Using the self-diagnostic button built into the hand, Tony began running a diagnostic on the armor without the slightest hesitation. He had even prepared himself to fight his way out with Sherlock and the man named John Wick.

Although Tony did not know why Sherlock had appeared here, if this Sherlock was the Sherlock he knew.

At the same time, as he anxiously waited for the armor's diagnostic to finish, Tony kept praying that Yinsen would be safe and sound.

Although the cave was filled with the sounds of bullets leaving their chambers and rounds striking the rock walls, Tony could only hide inside this metal shell in despair, hoping that the man named John Wick could truly protect the good man Yinsen.