Do Friendship Kisses Between Men and Women Exist?

Mike had quite a few miscellaneous things to prepare, mainly firearms and ammunition, clothes, and wilderness and desert survival tools.

Skye followed Mike into the underground base and watched him stuff items into a duffel bag one by one.

Skye asked curiously, "I didn't expect there to be an underground space like this. Did you dig it?"

"No."

Mike replied, "It was already here. It was probably used to make drugs. I expanded, reinforced, and remodeled it a little."

Skye said, "Aren't you afraid I'll expose your secret base?"

Mike gave Skye a strange look. "Didn't I say it already? I trust you. Besides, this base only stores guns, ammunition, and tools. There's nothing important here. Expose it if you want. You seem kind of strange."

"How am I strange?"

"Strangely cute."

"At a time like this, you're still using that old line." Skye made as if to kick Mike. "Where's your team?"

"I work alone."

"Alone?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, my ass!" Skye flew into a rage. "You're going to Central Asia to fight terrorists by yourself? Are you insane?!"

"I'm not insane. Besides, the hardest part of this job is finding Stark's location..."

Before he could finish, Skye hugged Mike and murmured, "There are some things I lied to you about. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"Oh, that? I knew."

"You knew?"

"I'm an experienced mercenary, after all. The employment information you filled out was obviously fake at a glance."

Skye bit Mike on the shoulder and said resentfully, "So all this time, you've been watching me perform like I was some Joker?"

"No, no, absolutely not." Mike hurriedly denied it.

What Skye had mainly concealed was her past, family information, and hacker identity. To Mike, that was no big deal. As long as she wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, it was fine. Everyone had secrets and things they found hard to talk about.

Skye raised her head, stood on tiptoe, and awkwardly pecked Mike on the lips. Blushing, she said, "Don't get any wrong ideas. This is a friendship kiss. And make sure you come back safely."

Without waiting for Mike to say anything, Skye went expressionless and turned to leave.

Mike touched his lips and smiled. "Mint-flavored lip balm. The taste was... okay."

Outside the supermarket, Pepper had thoughtfully arranged a Chevrolet SUV and a driver.

The driver took Mike to Kennedy International Airport in Queens, where Stark's private jet was parked.

When no one was paying attention, Mike placed the duffel bag into System Space to avoid the hassle of security checks.

The entire flight crew was in place.

The flight attendants curiously stole glances at Mike, wondering about his relationship with Stark. Seeing Mike's face and physique, one flight attendant stopped wondering and secretly unbuttoned another button. Another flight attendant smiled, silently cursed her colleague as a "bitch," then pulled her skirt up another two inches.

It had to be said that Stark had excellent taste. Every flight attendant he chose had a great figure and a pretty face, each with her own charm.

Thinking of Skye's dragonfly-touch kiss earlier, Mike suddenly became dejected.

A Seed had taken root in his heart. How was he supposed to face the whole forest in the future?

No! Absolutely not!

A person couldn't give up on their dreams so easily. Otherwise, what was the difference between them and salted fish?

"I'm not being influenced by that girl Skye. I simply don't want to explore caves Stark may have gone deep into. Yes, that's all it is!" Mike found himself a perfectly reasonable excuse and immediately exuded the aura of a sage.

Beautiful women were but skeletons beneath pink skin,

Flesh and bone were all the same,

All phenomena were empty; everything was illusion!

"Bring me a glass of red wine, dim the lights, and play some soft music." Under the flight attendant's watery gaze, Mike added, "Don't disturb me unless it's important. I need to rest."

The two flight attendants were dumbfounded.

Originally, after exchanging glances and negotiating, they had already prepared for a two-on-one match.

And then this was it!

Could he be impotent? the two flight attendants thought maliciously.

After sleeping for a while, Mike took out his tablet and studied the location of the cave where Stark was being held.

Just as Mike had told Skye, finding Stark was the key to this mission and also the most difficult part.

First, in order to hide quickly after the attack without being found immediately, the place where Stark was held could not be too close to the attack site, nor could it be too far away.

Using the attack site as the center, Mike drew a circle with a radius of fifty kilometers—Area A.

Second, according to the description in the movie, the cave where Stark was being held was in a mountainous region with a desert nearby.

Afghanistan covered nearly 650,000 square kilometers. Plateaus and mountains accounted for four-fifths of its territory, while deserts were concentrated in the southwest.

Mike's gaze settled on the Hindu Kush Mountains.

The Hindu Kush Mountains were Afghanistan's largest mountain range and overlapped extensively with the circle Mike had drawn earlier—Area B.

The range narrowed again.

Finally, there were many teams searching for Stark. The official ones included the United States military, the Afghanistan military, S.H.I.E.L.D., and mercenaries hired by Stark Group.

The Stark Group mercenaries were Obadiah's men. Their mission was to find Stark before anyone else, then eliminate him along with the terrorists.

The search mission was divided by region. Each side was assigned an area according to its strength, and they did not interfere with one another.

Obadiah's side undoubtedly knew Raza best. The area they were responsible for was highly likely to contain Stark's prison while keeping the other rescue teams out.

The intersection between Obadiah's territory and Area B—Area C.

As for whether Stark was truly being held in Area C, Mike could only say the probability was fairly high.

Next, Mike subdivided Area C and formulated a grid search plan.

After more than ten hours of flight, there was no "air battle," only unfathomable depths and things beyond reach.

Because of the time difference, Afghanistan was more than eight hours ahead of the United States. By the time the plane arrived at Bagram Air Base, it was close to midnight.

The man picking him up was Sergeant Rayner, a burly Black man who was enthusiastic and talkative. He introduced Mike to some basic information and precautions.

First, the air base had built a temporary camp for the mercenaries participating in the search and rescue operation, with armed soldiers standing guard around it. Unless there were special circumstances, mercenaries could only move within the temporary camp.

Mike's expenses at the base were not free, but Stark Group would cover them. He was assigned a single room. It was not large, but it had all the necessary facilities: a television, a fan...

The bed was a hard wooden plank covered with a mat.

Rayner told Mike that sanitation at the base, including the soldiers' laundry, was handled by a third-party private contractor.

That was very much the American military style.

At three in the morning, Mike heard the assembly whistle as some soldiers began their day's training. At five-thirty, Rayner appeared at Mike's door fully dressed.

"How did you sleep?"

"Not bad."

Soul Energy had been continuously transforming Mike's body. He had probably already surpassed Captain America. One or two hours of sleep a day was enough to keep him in peak condition.

Breakfast was a fairly traditional American breakfast. The options included oatmeal, boiled eggs, sausages, bacon, toast with peanut butter and jam, waffles, pancakes, grilled steaks, juice, milk, and more. It was plentiful, though mercenaries could only eat in the temporary camp.