"After receiving the video, we immediately analyzed the visible features of these masked terrorists, then used a new recognition system to hack into surveillance systems throughout Afghanistan."
"Public cameras, private cameras, even phones, laptops, tablets, and so on-as long as they're connected to the internet, we can access them all."
"Two days ago, we identified several of the terrorists from the video in a restaurant in this town. All three had a match of over 85% around their eyes and eyebrows. Unless something unexpected comes up, this should be the place."
On a sand dune in the desert, Black Widow was connecting a laptop to a monocular telescope.
The vehicle was parked behind the dune, covered with a yellow desert-camouflage car cover Black Widow had put over it.
The distant town was still a black dot in Qin Xiao's sight, but once Black Widow finished connecting the equipment...
Qin Xiao noticed that the telescope automatically focused on, locked onto, and captured images of everyone entering or leaving the town.
The images were then sent straight to the laptop, where the software automatically analyzed and identified them.
"Are we just going to sit here staring at the computer?"
Qin Xiao wiped the sweat from his forehead. In broad daylight, the desert heat really was torturous.
"It'll sound an alarm automatically when it identifies someone!"
Black Widow stood up and stretched.
The movement showed off her devilish figure to the fullest, especially paired with that angelic face of hers, both innocent and seductive.
"I should've stopped by Chinatown to buy some cooling herbal tea to bring along."
Qin Xiao swallowed hard.
Black Widow noticed his gaze and smiled faintly.
"Hurry up and pitch the tent. I'll go set up a few little things to help keep watch. If we're unlucky, we might have to stake this place out for a week."
Because of the international borders involved, they couldn't simply enter the country in force.
The two of them could only find the targets covertly first, then follow them to scout the location and establish their numbers and weapons, especially Tony Stark's exact location.
Only then could they decide what to do next.
Although she had said it might take a week, Qin Xiao had only just unfolded the tent when the computer sounded an alarm.
"We're that lucky?"
Qin Xiao ran over to the laptop in a few quick strides. Although he wasn't very familiar with the software...
It had pulled up a close-up of an off-road vehicle with four people inside. The two in front had eye-and-eyebrow matches of 87% and 89%!
Even an idiot could understand that.
"That should be them. Let's go!"
The telescope stayed locked onto them while Qin Xiao hastily packed things up.
The two got into their vehicle and followed far behind the other one.
They followed it west, bumping through the desert for more than three hours.
Only then did they track down the terrorists' hideout.
Qin Xiao was immensely grateful to have Black Widow with him. When tracking a vehicle through the desert, getting too close wouldn't work, but hanging too far back meant losing the trail.
The tire tracks would soon be buried by the yellow sand.
Besides, he naturally had a poor sense of direction. If he were alone in the desert, even with a GPS...
Never mind finding someone else; he'd be doing well not to get lost himself.
They kept observing through the telescope as they drove, until their off-road vehicle finally stopped behind another dune.
The two lay prone on the dune and took out their telescopes.
The terrorists really knew how to pick a location. This place could be considered the junction of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. (This is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so don't compare it to reality! Geography experts, please don't flame me.)
Geographically, it lay a little farther into Pakistan, in a vast, uninhabited desert.
Who knew how they had found this patch of sandy slopes and small rocky hills.
They had dug several caves into the small hills. Opposite them was a sandy slope, with a fissure running across the middle.
They had carved out a small stretch of canyon-like terrain.
From a distance at ground level, nothing could be seen at all.
Even from above, it would take careful, close-range observation.
No wonder so many people had never managed to find Tony Stark.
Finding the location was only the beginning. Over the next three days, Black Widow showed Qin Xiao through her actions exactly what it meant to be a professional.
From the vehicles coming and going and the supplies being moved, she estimated that this small base housed roughly seventy to eighty people.
From the drinking water, food, and other materials the terrorists regularly delivered to one cave...
She could roughly determine that not only were hostages being held here, but there was also a very strong chance that one was Tony Stark, because they might be manufacturing weapons inside the cave.
What impressed Qin Xiao most was that she could lie on the dune for almost an entire day, watching the terrorists' camp through her telescope.
She dug a small hollow in the sand and covered it with camouflage clothing to shield herself from the sun. Like that, she could go all day without drinking water, to reduce how often she needed to relieve herself.
And this was in the desert.
Compared with certain flashback scenes in the films, this gave Qin Xiao a much more direct sense of just how brutal the training she had undergone had been.
To make observation easier, they pitched a small tent behind the dune.
Although they were far enough from the terrorists' camp, they still didn't dare show even a flicker of firelight at night.
The moonlight was good tonight, and as he looked at Black Widow's delicate face by its light...
Qin Xiao felt a slight pang of sadness for no apparent reason. This girl was only twenty-four at most.
"If you had a chance to live a different life-I mean, a normal person's life-would you take it?"
These past few days had given Qin Xiao the rare chance to spend every evening alone with this peerless beauty. He usually teased her whenever he had nothing else to do, but today he suddenly came out with that question.
Black Widow paused, then smiled and said...
"Impossible. That's impossible for me. I did a lot of things wrong before. A very, very great many. For me, this is more like atonement now. I'm very glad I have this chance."
Black Widow's smile held a measure of guilt, a measure of shame, and an indescribable bitterness.
Qin Xiao suddenly grew serious as well.
"It wasn't your fault, Natasha. Remember what I said. You were only a sharp sword, not the executioner. The person wielding the sword was at fault. A weapon itself is neither right nor wrong."
This was the first time Qin Xiao had called Black Widow Natasha, and the first time he had spoken so earnestly to comfort her.
Natasha remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Thank you!"
"We need to get ready to move tonight. I'll get some rest first. We need to stay sharp. Someone will be coming to support us in a while. You take watch!"
With that, Natasha turned and went into the tent.
I just noticed I'd actually received a gift, and a character summoning talisman at that! Thank you so much to my brother "Qin Yu of Xihua Town." This is the book's first gift. I never expected to receive one when I'd written so little. This is an unparalleled encouragement to an author. Thank you!