As a top agent, Black Widow was a pretty good judge of character, even though the two of them had chatted about all sorts of random things.
But Black Widow knew Qin Xiao had absolutely no interest in joining the Avengers Initiative, or rather, joining S.H.I.E.L.D.
Everyone knew that pushing too hard could backfire. Since Black Widow and Qin Xiao could count as friends for now, Nick Fury temporarily turned his attention elsewhere.
But only he knew just how many eyes he had secretly assigned to watch Qin Xiao.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark had been missing for almost half a month.
The United States military and the FBI had scoured all of Afghanistan like mad, but there was still no news.
"Agent Romanoff, miss me?"
On the fourteenth day of Tony Stark's disappearance, Qin Xiao received a mission from the system.
Rescue Tony Stark.
Qin Xiao had thought he only needed to wait for Tony to return and the plot to officially begin, then defeat the villain.
He had never expected a mission like this to suddenly appear.
Although Qin Xiao had seen the movie, he was not omniscient. For instance, he did not know the cave's exact location.
The military and the FBI had practically swept through Afghanistan like locusts and still could not find it, let alone Qin Xiao on his own.
So Qin Xiao called Black Widow.
"Compared to my current surroundings? Yes, I miss you. Working around you was practically a vacation."
Black Widow's voice was loud, accompanied by the sound of gunfire.
"Are you on a mission? Should we talk later?"
"Give me a moment..."
Black Widow spoke calmly.
Qin Xiao heard all sorts of noise and gunfire coming through the phone.
There were also what sounded like muffled grunts and bodies hitting the ground.
Finally, there was a man's long, miserable scream...
Then Black Widow picked the phone back up.
"Did you need something?"
"Uh..."
That scream was a little hard to get out of his head, and Qin Xiao could not help asking.
"What did you do to that guy who just screamed?"
"I stomped his balls into a burrito!"
"Hiss!!!"
Although Qin Xiao had been the one to say that line first, hearing Black Widow repeat it half-jokingly...
He still sucked in a sharp breath. Judging from the man's scream, Qin Xiao felt Black Widow probably had not been joking.
For a moment, he felt a faint ache in his own balls and involuntarily shifted in his seat.
Only then did he get down to business.
"Obadiah Stane, Stark Industries' second-largest shareholder. You know him, right? I need some information on him. Are you in Los Angeles? It'd be best if we could talk in person."
"You suspect he's connected to Stark's disappearance?"
Black Widow caught on quickly. After a brief hesitation, she immediately asked the question.
"That's right. Are you in Los Angeles? I think we should meet. And don't tell anyone yet."
"Wait for me. I'll be there in two hours!"
Black Widow hung up immediately.
In fact, Black Widow arrived at Qin Xiao's doorstep in only an hour and a half.
Clearly, S.H.I.E.L.D. was also taking Tony Stark's situation very seriously.
Black Widow had come over in a black, skintight combat suit without even changing.
Wheeeet!
Qin Xiao pursed his lips and whistled.
"Walking around in that outfit in the middle of the night is practically an insult to the profession of street harasser!"
"If they don't mind having their balls turned into burritos, they're welcome to try!"
Black Widow gently pushed Qin Xiao aside, walked over to the couch, and sat down.
"Tell me. Why do you suspect that guy?"
Black Widow got straight to the point!
"First, not many people knew about Tony's plans to go to Afghanistan or his route. It was either people close to him or the military."
Qin Xiao took a drink out of the fridge for Black Widow.
"I believe the military has already screened its own people. Second, who benefits the most from Stark disappearing? He's the only one who meets both conditions. Pretty simple, isn't it? You'd know that from watching any mystery movie."
Qin Xiao spoke with exaggerated emphasis.
In fact, it was not as though no one had suspected him.
It was just that, back when Tony Stark's father died...
Obadiah had been the one to push past everyone's objections and help Tony Stark take control of the entire company.
If he had wanted to swallow up the company, that would have been the perfect opportunity.
So, to everyone, Obadiah was an uncle-like figure who helped Tony manage the company.
He handled public relations for him in a crisis and cleaned up the messes he made.
This business partner practically seemed like the greatest asset Howard Stark had left his son.
Everyone knew that, and naturally, so did Qin Xiao, who had spent so much time hanging around Tony.
So he continued.
"Everyone thinks Obadiah helped Tony take control of Stark Industries. In reality, only Obadiah knows that Tony is a hen that lays golden eggs."
"He's different from Tony and his father. He's a businessman, and he's very good at investing, whether he's investing in Howard or Stark. And now, it's time for him to reap the rewards."
Qin Xiao's words were highly credible. Once there was a motive, that bald-headed Obadiah was the only one who met all the conditions.
"I admit you make a good point, but that's nowhere near enough. We can't arrest him based on this little bit of speculation. I'm not the secretary of defense!"
Black Widow made a helpless gesture.
"Of course I understand what you mean, but I never said we should arrest him. I just want to find out where Stark is. I just want to rescue my friend."
"If he really did it, he must have contacted the people who kidnapped Tony. There must be some clues left behind. Do you understand what I mean? You must be an expert at this."
"Give it a try. If it wasn't him, there won't be any trouble anyway. Just secretly check some of his private records, like emails, phone calls, that sort of thing. I imagine that shouldn't be much of a challenge for you."
Secretly investigating someone was indeed no great challenge for the renowned Black Widow.
But Stark Industries' internal network gave Black Widow quite a headache.
Stark Industries had its own communications satellites and its own independent internal network.
Getting in from an outside network was no problem, but the moment any data flowed out, they would trigger an alarm and immediately cut off the network.
Simple, brutal, but very effective.
They had to breach it from inside the internal network. Just as Qin Xiao was wondering whether to ask Happy or Pepper Potts for help...
Black Widow went outside to make a call.
"All set. Now we just wait for the results!"
"It's done? Didn't you just say there was no way except from the inside? You have someone in Stark Industries?"
Qin Xiao asked in surprise.
"Not me. We do. I had the director mobilize our people inside Stark Industries. We should hear something soon."
Black Widow sounded quite confident.
But Qin Xiao could no longer stay calm.
"What? You told your director? Damn it! Didn't I tell you not to tell anyone?"
"I was on a mission. I can't just disappear and travel over a thousand kilometers to see you. I have to report in, understand? Relax. We're the largest intelligence agency in the world. Our people are carefully selected from thousands of candidates. They're not just professional, they're reliable!"
Black Widow gave her solemn assurance.
Qin Xiao rolled his eyes, thinking, You'll understand once you truly learn what Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D. means.
But for now, he could only pray that the person Nick Fury had assigned was not with Hydra.
Otherwise, heaven knew how much more unexpected trouble this would cause.