Mummy, Burger, Hot Pot

Just as Stark stepped out of the cave and charged toward the light, busy with his revenge.

A blue halo appeared in the sand beneath Ethan, accompanied by the faint crackle of electricity.

The halo expanded. Ethan's body sank, then silently fell through.

The portal closed the instant Ethan had completely fallen in, as if nothing had happened. Only bloodstains and shell casings remained in the corridor, as though that person had never existed.

Three kilometers away, Chen Xiao crouched atop a rock wall. A blue electromagnetic field floated before him. Ethan's body rolled out of the halo, caught steadily by electromagnetic force and suspended in midair like a human operating table.

Chen Xiao flexed his fingers. Electromagnetic force, like invisible tweezers, reached into the gunshot wound in Ethan's shoulder. One bullet was drawn out and landed on the rock with a ding. Then came the second—from his abdomen. It was lodged rather deep. Chen Xiao frowned and increased the electromagnetic output. The bullet slowly spun as it was pulled out bit by bit.

Ding.

The two bullets lay side by side on the rock, stained with blood and glinting bronze in the sunlight.

Chen Xiao took out a bottle of medicinal powder from beneath his cloak—Kamar-Taj special supply. He sprinkled a layer over Ethan's wounds, and the bleeding quickly stopped.

Then he took out bandages.

"This... I bought too much."

Chen Xiao looked at the unused roll of bandages by his feet. In the spirit of not wasting anything, he started wrapping.

One loop, two loops, three loops... Ethan's shoulder was wrapped up.

Five loops, six loops, seven loops... Ethan's abdomen was wrapped up.

Ten loops, eleven loops, twelve loops... Ethan's arms, legs, chest, neck...

The more Chen Xiao wrapped, the smoother he got. The more he wrapped, the more creative he became. Eventually, he truly could not find anywhere else to wrap. He looked at his handiwork and nodded in satisfaction.

"Perfect~"

Ethan had been wrapped into a mummy, with only his nose and eyes exposed. His breathing was steady and even. He looked less like someone with gunshot wounds and more like someone who had been smothered unconscious by Chen Xiao's bandaging technique.

Chen Xiao crouched beside him, listening to Ethan's steady breathing, and suddenly felt that he had quite the talent for being a doctor.

An explosion sounded in the distance.

Chen Xiao stood up and narrowed his eyes against the blinding sunlight. Not far away, a metal monster rose from the smoke, wobbling as it flew into the sky. Mark One's flamethrowers left a long trail of fire behind it, like a meteor falling upward.

"Oh ho~ Our dear little Tony is done too~"

"Not bad flying. The posture's a little ugly, though. Next time, I'll design you a better-looking one."

Chen Xiao could not help whistling as he watched that graceful arc.

He withdrew his gaze and looked down at the mummy by his feet.

"All right, let's send you back first."

He slashed his right hand through the air. Blue electrical sparks burst forth, and beyond the doorway was the hall of the New York Sanctum. Daniel sat on the sofa reading a book. Hearing that familiar crackle, he did not even raise his head.

"Chief, what did you pick up this time?"

Chen Xiao did not stand on ceremony. He bent down, picked up the mummy, and tossed it straight into the portal.

Daniel caught it in a panic—a human-shaped object tightly wrapped in white bandages, with only its nose and eyes exposed, like a pharaoh freshly unearthed from an ancient tomb.

"Did you go tomb raiding!?"

"He has gunshot wounds. I've already treated them, so he won't die." Chen Xiao's voice came from the other side of the portal. "Find a reliable doctor. Don't make a fuss."

Daniel opened his mouth, just about to ask something, when the portal had already closed.

He stood in the hall holding the mummy, utterly bewildered.

Tony Stark wore that ragged gray T-shirt, the electromagnet embedded in his chest glowing faint blue under the sun. His face was covered in dust and blood, his lips were cracked, and he limped with every step, as though fighting the sand itself.

Then he heard a horn.

Beep beep—

Tony stopped walking. His first thought was not that he had been saved, but—this was a trap.

The terrorists might have set something up. They could have sent someone to drive around the desert, waiting for him to lower his guard before capturing him again. Or worse, they might simply shoot him dead.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but his body had already reacted on instinct. He rolled aside and ducked behind a rock, hiding himself. His heart pounded like a drum, and there was nothing nearby that he could use as a weapon.

"Mr. Stark, sleeping isn't allowed here."

A voice came from the direction of the horn, carrying obvious amusement.

Tony froze for a moment.

That voice... It was not a local accent, not English, but it carried some kind of... he could not describe it. Yet that tone, that punchable way of speaking, he felt like he had heard it somewhere before.

He poked his head out from behind the rock.

A battered Jeep was parked not far away. Its window was rolled down, and a hand rested on the window frame, holding a bottle of Coke. The person inside wore a floral shirt.

Tony narrowed his eyes and stared at that face for three seconds.

Then he remembered.

"You're that—napkin?"

"Oh, you remembered." Chen Xiao leaned out of the car, grinning brightly. "Get in. Sleeping in the desert makes it easy to catch a chill."

Tony stood up from behind the rock and dusted the sand off himself. A rare flush appeared on his face. Not from the sun, but from embarrassment—this man had probably watched that roll just now perfectly clearly.

"Why are you here?" Tony walked over, his voice hoarse and his tone openly wary.

"Pepper Potts sent me." Chen Xiao's smile faded, and his tone grew a little more serious. "After you disappeared, she called everyone she could. In the end, she found my business card."

Tony fell silent for two seconds. Pepper's name was like a key, opening a tightly shut door in his heart. His shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Is she okay?"

"No. She's pulled several all-nighters, and coffee cups are piled all over her desk." Chen Xiao pushed open the door and patted the passenger seat. "But she can be okay now. Because you're alive."

Tony stared at him for several seconds, then opened the car door and got in.

The desert retreated beyond the windows.

Tony leaned against the window, his simply bandaged right hand hanging around his neck, staring at the endless yellow sand for a long time without speaking.

"You're not curious why I'm here?" he finally asked.

Chen Xiao held the steering wheel with one hand and pulled out a bag of chips from the glove compartment with the other. He tore it open and crunched away. "Not curious. In business, you don't ask what you shouldn't."

"Then why did you help me?"

Chen Xiao thought for a moment, chewing his chips as he said, "Because you donated twenty million to a children's reading program. Good people should be rewarded."

Tony froze for a moment, then laughed. It was not a mocking laugh, but a bitter smile that said, I didn't expect that answer.

"That autograph," Chen Xiao suddenly said. "The one you signed on the napkin."

"Yeah?"

"I had it framed," Chen Xiao said. "After you get back, can you replace it with another one? The kind signed on a checkbook, with any amount you want."

Tony turned to look at him.

Chen Xiao grinned. "Just kidding. But I really did frame that napkin. Waiting for it to appreciate."

Tony was silent for a long time. The desert continued rolling past outside, the sun began to dip westward, and the shadows stretched long.

"I had a friend," Tony said quietly. "He didn't make it out."

Chen Xiao solemnly agreed. "That's truly sad. There's something in the passenger-side glove compartment. Open it and take a look?"

Tony opened the glove compartment skeptically and found a Coke and a cheeseburger inside.?

Unable to wait, he twisted open the Coke and took a huge gulp. The carbonation made him cough a few times, but the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled upward. Then he took a bite of the burger—the bun was crisp, the beef tender, and the cheese rich.

As he chewed, his eyes suddenly reddened.

"Good?" Chen Xiao asked.

Tony said nothing and took another bite.

"Who exactly are you?"

"An ordinary person," Chen Xiao said. "I know a few little tricks."

Tony stared at him for several seconds, then suddenly held out his hand.

"Give me your business card."

Chen Xiao rummaged through the car and found a red-and-gold business card. Tony took it, glanced at it, and slipped it into his pocket.

"When I get back," Tony said, "I owe you an autograph."

"On a checkbook?"

"A napkin will do too."

Chen Xiao smiled.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

The sun warmed his body, and the rolling dunes made him drowsy. Chen Xiao got so annoyed by Stark's snoring that he simply drove the car into a portal and parked it in Stark Tower's parking garage. Then he sent Pepper a message.

'Rescued him. He's asleep. I dumped him in your company's parking garage.'

With a turn, he vanished.

"Chief, where's the car? It was rented!"

"Send the bill to Stark Industries. They'll handle it." Chen Xiao sprawled on the sofa. "How's Ethan?"

"The doctor treated him. He's not in any danger," Daniel said. "But he still hasn't woken up. And... the doctor spent half an hour removing all the bandages you wrapped around him."

Chen Xiao smiled and got up to head upstairs.

"Chief," Daniel called from behind him.

"Chief, what exactly did you go to Afghanistan for?"

Chen Xiao thought for a moment and gave an answer Daniel could not understand at all.

"For a cheeseburger."

Daniel gave up.

Whenever the chief spoke, half of it was always beyond his understanding.

But he decided not to ask anymore.

A few days later, the news was everywhere.

Tony Stark had been rescued and appeared before the public once more. At the press conference, he said only one sentence: "I still have a lot to do."

Chen Xiao turned off the television, stood up, and walked to the window. The evening breeze blew in from outside, carrying the city's distinctive clamor.

"Daniel!"

"Chief?"

"Let's have hot pot tonight. My treat."

Daniel poked his head out from the staircase. "Didn't you just get back from Afghanistan?"

"That's exactly why we should celebrate with hot pot."

Daniel thought about it and felt that the logic did not seem flawed.

"All right, I'll make a reservation."

Chen Xiao leaned against the windowsill, looking at Manhattan's nightscape with a faint smile on his lips.

Tony Stark was back.

The disaster-ridden Marvel Universe had officially begun.

And he, Chen Xiao, an ordinary sorcerer, sat in the New York Sanctum, drinking Coke and waiting to eat hot pot.