Some were happy, while others were miserable.
Seeing John on the verge of breaking down, Luca smiled, patted his cheek, and explained.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I forgot your intelligence system was so outdated that you didn't know this."
Luca coughed and said with a straight face.
"As everyone knows, I'm a superman. Besides being a little stronger and able to shoot lasers, I also have super hearing. So I can hear sounds from hundreds of meters away perfectly clearly."
"Including your conversation before you entered the hotel. Understand?"
"What was it you were just saying? Hydra, right? Didn't that organization disappear decades ago?"
As soon as Luca finished speaking.
Tony, standing beside him, couldn't listen any longer and bluntly chimed in.
"Come on, Luca. Don't use 'as everyone knows' about yourself."
"Before tonight, all the world knew was that you were a hopeless playboy and a scumbag. Nobody knew you were a superman."
Hearing Tony undermine him, the beauties couldn't help laughing either.
Hearing those words, John felt his blood rush to his head and nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Fuck!
As everyone knows, my ass!
The intelligence agencies around the world all have you down in their files as [a rich kid who loves beautiful women and alcohol], okay?!
Besides, you said it yourself: you're a superman.
You could hear every word of a plot from hundreds of meters away.
This was a completely one-sided crushing!
What else was there to say?!
The mission had been impossible from the start!
John was truly desperate.
But he still had one enormous question.
Thinking of it, he stared fixedly at Tony.
"Fine, even if you heard the plan in advance, when did you plant that missile in the hallway?!"
John's voice was full of frustration.
"Our intelligence showed that you'd been partying on a yacht ever since you left the company this afternoon, and then you came straight to the hotel."
"You didn't have any bodyguards or technicians with you, either. So how could you possibly have had time to install a Stark weapon in the hallway?!"
Faced with John's question, Tony smiled smugly.
"That's the Stark Family's unrivaled genius at work!"
Tony pointed at his head, raised an eyebrow, and said with a smile.
"I'm guessing you must have run into Happy in the lobby just now."
"That's right, my personal bodyguard."
"He's not only a good bodyguard, but also an efficient employee. I never actually fired him. That was just a show for you."
Tony stepped forward and patted John on the shoulder.
"When we were getting ready to party, we'd already sent him to install the missile in the hallway. That was Happy's welcome gift to you on my behalf. So, were the fireworks pretty? Did you like them?"
Hearing this, John had gone numb.
He was truly desperate!
Damn it! So they'd stepped into a trap set in advance the moment they entered the hotel!
And Happy, who'd seemed to be complaining about his boss, had actually been confirming their identities and locations!
They'd foolishly thought they were hunters hiding in the dark, with the two playboys at their mercy.
But after all that, they were the clowns being toyed with!
John took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
His pride had been shattered.
Knowing there was no chance he would walk out alive today, he was ready to die.
As always, Hydra would never be enslaved!
One look at John closing his eyes and waiting for death told Tony that the psychological warfare had worked.
Now was the best time for an interrogation.
So he looked at Luca and gave him a look, meaning it was his turn.
Luca shrugged.
"I knew I'd end up doing the dirty work."
Even so, he loosened his wrists and stepped in front of John.
Seeing John with his eyes closed, waiting for death, he smiled.
"Looks like you like playing the tough guy, and you're keeping your mouth shut too. Good. I like your kind, stubborn enough to die rather than give in. That makes beating you more interesting."
Hearing Luca's words, John opened his eyes and sneered, making his unwavering position clear.
"I will never betray the organization! Don't even think about getting a single word out of me!"
As an elite member whom Hydra had spent vast resources training, he had long been prepared to sacrifice himself for the organization at any moment.
He would never sell out Hydra's secrets!!
Not even if these two beat him to death!!
But just as John finished his bold declaration.
The next second.
"Smack!!!"
A loud slap cracked through the room.
Luca slapped John straight across the left cheek.
"You'd better come clean, and fast! Tell me what the hell your organization is about?!"
The slap was tremendously hard.
John's left cheek instantly turned red and swollen, a clear handprint left on it.
The blow knocked John's head sideways, and his ears rang.
His eyes widened, and he seemed about to say something.
But Luca didn't give John time to react.
"Smack!!!"
Another loud slap landed hard across his right cheek.
"I told you to talk, now! Are you deaf?!" Luca demanded sternly again.
Both of John's cheeks were swollen until his face looked like a pig's head.
The blows had left him dizzy. He opened his mouth and stammered out some indistinct sounds, impossible to make out.
Seeing him like that, Luca immediately frowned.
"What gibberish are you mumbling? Are you chanting a spell right in front of me? Speak clearly, now!"
With that, Luca swung his arm again.
"Smack!!!"
The third slap struck hard.
This one was even stronger.
John spat out a mouthful of blood, and several bloody teeth flew out with it.
Before John could spit all the blood out of his mouth.
Luca's slaps came raining down on him mercilessly once again.
"Smack!"
"Are you going to talk or not?!"
"Smack!"
"Who the hell is it?!"
"Smack!"
"Are you looking down on me?!"
John took another string of heavy blows.
He felt his head being struck again and again, and it seemed his soul was about to ascend to heaven.
At that moment.
He regretted it.
He felt that perhaps the organization wasn't so important after all.
The secrecy rules were a joke compared to his life.
If that damn Luca Stark didn't stop, he really would be slapped to death right here!
But Luca was hitting him far too fast, leaving him no chance to speak!
John didn't dare hesitate any longer. He immediately shook with all his strength, signaling Luca to stop for a moment.
Luca's hand, poised to strike again, stopped in midair. He said impatiently.
"Are you going to talk or not? Do you know how valuable my time is? Do you know how much I can earn in a minute? Can you afford to waste my time?"
John raised his head. His face, swollen like a pig's head, was a pitiful sight.
He spat a mouthful of blood mixed with broken teeth from his gappy mouth, then finally stammered.
"I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"
Feeling utterly wronged, John protested in despair.
"But you have to give me a chance to speak!! You keep slapping me without letting me open my mouth. How am I supposed to talk?!!"
At those words.
Tony froze.
Yinsen and the six beauties froze too.
Luca was even more dumbfounded, and a look of embarrassment flashed across his face.
He coughed twice and sheepishly lowered his hand.
"Ahem... Oh. So that's what happened. My mistake. I got carried away hitting you. You can talk now."