The Final Step of Transformation

Three months later, Stark Group's shares had plunged because the super-genius Stark had vanished. Lu Qi had considered buying Stark Industries stock, but now was not the best time.

After Tony returned, the stock would rise a little. But once Tony announced the closure of the weapons division, Stark Industries' shares would fall another 56.3% on top of their crash. That would be the best time to buy in.

Lu Qi was gaming with four ninjas when his phone suddenly rang.

"Coulson, what do you need me for?" Lu Qi asked after checking the caller ID.

After listening for a while, Lu Qi said helplessly, "I've already sent over four hundred ninjas to look for Stark, but that area is simply too vast. The ninjas can't possibly find him that quickly."

After saying a few more words, Lu Qi hung up. He had a ninja take over his game, then drew a portal and arrived in a mountainous region.

Three months ago, after unlocking the new map, he had taken a few photos of battery-powered Tony and immediately returned to New York. After that, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been bombarding him with calls nonstop.

Sneaking into the cave where Tony was being held, Lu Qi watched as Tony hammered away at an iron mask.

"It's finally almost done." Lu Qi sighed helplessly.

The moment Tony disappeared, S.H.I.E.L.D. had mobilized in full.

After all, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders had been Tony's father. Now that the founder's son had gone missing, S.H.I.E.L.D. was understandably tense.

As far as Lu Qi knew, even Coulson had stopped overseeing the construction of the Helicarrier and come here to search for Tony.

But as Lu Qi saw it, this region was enormous and crawling with terrorists, so S.H.I.E.L.D.'s search was progressing rather slowly.

Watching Tony show the mask to Yinsen, Lu Qi's fingers itched, and he snapped a photo.

His blog had been filled with mindless scenery shots these past few days. The few followers he had painstakingly accumulated were about to abandon him, but now he finally had some good material.

"Who's there?" Tony seemed to have caught sight of something flashing past, but when he looked over, there was nothing there.

Yinsen glanced around a few times, then looked at Tony strangely.

"What's wrong? There's nothing else here."

Tony sighed. "Maybe I'm just too on edge. We can start getting into the armor."

To think he would see that paparazzo here. Tony felt like something might be wrong with him. He had somehow seen Lu Qi instead of Pepper. Once he got back, he definitely needed to get himself checked out.

Lu Qi breathed a sigh of relief. He had not expected Tony's vigilance to improve so much.

Still, looking at the photo in his camera, it would not have mattered even if he had been discovered. From this angle, he had captured both Tony and the helmet from the front. It was worth keeping.

Tony might suffer a mental breakdown, though. After spending so long building the armor, he had been rescued by some annoying kid before he even got the chance to use it.

Lu Qi chuckled wickedly.

At that moment, a bald man entered the surveillance room. As the Ten Rings' only bald man here, he served as the organization's leader and was the cleverest of these bandits.

Yesterday, he had noticed that Tony and Yinsen were not making the Jericho missile they wanted, but some unknown contraption. So he had gone in to give them a proper scare, and Yinsen had nearly taken a bite of freshly heated charcoal.

Seeing Yinsen doing something behind a rack while Tony Stark was nowhere to be found, the bald man frowned, sensing that something was amiss. He quickly sent two men to investigate.

The two men immediately ran to the door of the room where Tony was being held, opened the small viewing hatch, and shouted something inside.

Tony and Yinsen were putting on the armor behind the rack. Hearing the soldiers shouting, Tony feared they would barge in and told Yinsen to placate them.

"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't know it," Yinsen said helplessly.

"What languages do you know? Just say something." Tony was nervous as well. There was still one step that would take quite a while to prepare.

Yinsen helplessly shouted a few random words, but the men outside were clearly not so easily fooled. They opened the door to enter, only to be blasted away by the bomb behind it.

"How is it?" Tony was strapped to the rack and could not see what was happening, so he asked Yinsen.

"Looks like there's no problem now," Yinsen replied.

"My work always does the job." Relieved, Tony added, "Now get the power-up sequence running."

Yinsen followed Tony's instructions to activate the program. Watching the painfully slow progress bar and hearing the constant shouts nearby, Yinsen gritted his teeth and helped Tony tighten the last few screws. "We need time!"

After tightening the screws, Yinsen turned around. "I'll buy us some time."

Tony sensed that something was wrong. "Stick to the plan."

Yinsen did not listen to him. For the first time in half a month, he ran to the doorway, picked up a rifle, and charged out while shouting and firing.

"Damn it!" Tony cursed viciously, but there was nothing he could do now except watch the progress bar crawl across the battered screen before him.

Lu Qi saw that events were still following the plot and relaxed. Leaving several ninja soldiers behind to protect Tony in secret, he ran outside.

Yinsen was a good man. He should not die.

Yinsen charged forward while firing. The terrorists were intimidated by his momentum and were actually driven back by him.

Yinsen kept running until he reached the cave entrance, only to find a large crowd waiting for him there.

"It's over," Yinsen said.

On the other side, Stark finally watched the progress bar fill up, put on his helmet, and hurried outside.

"Yinsen, where are you?"

After taking out several minor enemies hiding in the cave, Tony heard them shouting something, but he could not understand them.

He made his way to a large hall, where corpses lay everywhere. Seeing the bullet holes in those bodies, Tony began to wonder how Yinsen had even been captured in the first place. Was he really not an agent from some country?

"Stark..." A weak voice called out. Tony saw Yinsen, covered in blood, collapsed amid a pile of sandbags nearby.

Tony rushed over. Looking at Yinsen's body drenched in blood, his heart filled with grief.

"Come on, Yinsen. Let's get out of here." Using the armor's strength, he swept the sandbags away in one motion and looked at the motionless Yinsen before him.

"Move. Stick to the plan."

But Yinsen shook his head. "This is my plan, Stark."

Tony took a deep breath. "But your family is still waiting for you."

Yinsen smiled weakly. "My family is all dead. I'm going to see them."

Tony's heart trembled. He stood stunned for a long while before saying, "Thank you for saving me."

Yinsen slowly closed his eyes, as though he had no strength left. "Don't waste... don't waste your life." With that, Yinsen stopped moving.

Tony was overwhelmed with grief, but fury also surged in his heart. He lowered his helmet and charged outside.

Yinsen quietly opened his eyes, watched Tony leave, and took a deep breath.

If Tony had stayed any longer just now, Yinsen would have suffocated himself.

A young man suddenly appeared before him. "Not bad acting, Yinsen."

Yinsen stood up and tugged uncomfortably at the clothes soaked in other people's blood.

"Why did you deceive Stark?"

"This is the final step in his transformation." Lu Qi patted the camera in his hand. "Not bad acting. You're very photogenic."

Yinsen smiled helplessly. He had only just managed to get into character when he suddenly saw Lu Qi taking pictures behind him. He had nearly broken character and hurriedly shut his eyes.