Tony, in the interrogation room, naturally couldn't see Hong Fei on the other side. He was currently scowling at Frank, and it was unclear what they were talking about.
Seeing Tony, Obadiah immediately felt relieved, though his heart quickly tightened again.
"I want to know when you can release him," Obadiah demanded.
"The timing isn't up to me. Whenever you pay, I will naturally release him."
"How do I pay you?" Obadiah asked.
"Wait for my instructions."
"How do I know you won't just kill the hostage once you get the money?"
"Rest assured, I value reputation far more than the average person. Business is long-term; after all, life is so long, how could I possibly only do this one deal?"
Hearing this, Obadiah suddenly fell silent.
Hong Fei curled his lips, waiting quietly for the prey to take the bait.
After a long while, Obadiah licked his lips, wiped his bald head, and a smile blossomed on his face, one that had never been seen before.
"I think we might be able to do another deal."
Hong Fei feigned surprise, saying, "Oh, I actually have a place where I can be of service to Mr. Stane?"
"Of course, but I think it would be better if we met to discuss this deal."
Hong Fei cursed internally, but said aloud, "I'm afraid I dare not meet you at this time. Who knows, I might not even get to see you before a missile sends me straight to heaven."
Obadiah on the other end was also cursing internally, but maintained his smile as he said, "I am currently in Afghanistan. You can choose the location. I guarantee I won't leak this matter to anyone. Besides, the video record I have of you now is equivalent to handing you a handle on me; what else do you have to worry about? However, for the sake of my own safety, I must bring people with me."
He definitely had to meet him. He had already set his sights on Obadiah Stane. As a major antagonist in the movie, Hong Fei didn't believe he wouldn't be able to drop a skill card from him.
But he couldn't agree too quickly.
Don't forget, Hong Fei's current location is Sokovia, not Afghanistan!
"Let me consider it first. Get the things I want ready, and I will contact you again."
After ending the call, Hong Fei waited for Frank to leave the interrogation room and immediately said, "Prepare the plane, have everyone pack their things, we are leaving soon."
That night, after Tony returned to the secret room, he began noisily calling for Hong Fei to start hammering iron plates as soon as he entered.
Frank had indeed given him greater motivation; Tony even muttered to himself while hammering the iron plates.
The construction of the Mark I Armor was not that complex. Tony did not need it to complete a long-lasting battle, so with the two of them collaborating, progress was rapid.
Two days later, Frank, monitoring the secret room through a camera, saw Hong Fei give a subtle signal and immediately turned to order, "Bring him out."
A moment later, the door to the secret room was pushed open. Three men in black clothes and masks rushed in. Two went straight for Hong Fei and dragged him out, while the other held Tony down.
"What are you doing? Don't touch him! I said I would pay his ransom! Stop!"
Unfortunately, the masked men were unmoved by his shouting, and Hong Fei was taken away.
The iron door locked with a clang. Tony was dazed for a moment, then hid in a corner, gritting his teeth as he performed the final assembly of the armor. This corner was the only blind spot in the surveillance he had probed, but he didn't know this was an opportunity Hong Fei had deliberately given him.
After leaving the secret room, Hong Fei quickly put on a black, tight-fitting combat suit, black long boots, black gloves, and a pure white mask.
Declining the pistol Frank handed him, he said, "Is everything ready?"
Frank nodded. "The plane is ready to take off at the airport at any time, the helicopter is already waiting outside, and Number One and Number Two have already found a suitable place in Afghanistan."
For the convenience of addressing them, the five people Frank recruited were given codenames from Number One to Number Five.
Hong Fei nodded. "Very good, you four go to the plane first. I'll come over immediately."
Frank immediately asked, "Are you sure you want to go alone? I think the thing he built doesn't seem simple."
"I know that thing better than you do; I hammered quite a few of those iron plates myself." Hong Fei smiled. "Don't worry, to me, that's just a lump of iron. Alright, where's the thing I wanted?"
Frank turned and grabbed a long, thin box from the table.
"Based on the marksmanship you've shown before, I would suggest you learn professional sniper tactics."
Taking the box, Hong Fei shook his head and said solemnly, "There's no need to learn how to shoot. Hurry up and go; he's about to come out."
Frank was helpless, turned around, and took Numbers Three through Five to board the plane quickly.
Inside the secret room, Tony, with unconcealed hatred on his face, quickly put on the armor. When the progress bar on the computer reached one hundred percent, he immediately broke free from the wires connected to the armor, walked under the camera, and pointed at the ceiling of the secret room, saying, "Now, I'm coming for you!"
Looking at Tony, who was being quite dramatic on the screen, Hong Fei curled his lips and turned to walk toward the secret room.
With a loud boom, the iron door was kicked open by Tony.
Outside the secret room was a long corridor. Inside the passage, only dim light was emitted by old light bulbs on the walls on both sides.
The sound made by the armor with every step echoed in the corridor. Images of Hong Fei having his head cut off by that group of terrorists flooded Tony's mind, and the anger in his heart burned even hotter.
Soon, his footsteps paused.
A black figure materialized at the end of the corridor, the only white on the person's form being the mask covering their face.
The other person's wrist moved, and a flowing, clear, cold light immediately flashed in Hong Fei's eyes.
In Hong Fei's hand was a straight Cross-blade. The handle and guard were pitch black, and the blade itself shone with bright silver light.
The blade was four centimeters wide, seventy-four-point-six centimeters long, and one hundred twenty-five-point-eight centimeters in total.
The data and the physical object matched exactly; the real blade fit Hong Fei's form perfectly.
Many martial arts were inherently designed for cold weapons.
When entering a real battlefield and pursuing actual lethality, the best method was naturally not to compare kung fu with bare hands.
An ordinary person's fist wouldn't easily lead to death if it didn't hit a vital point, but a cold weapon might pierce right through you if it connected.
A punch to the heart wouldn't necessarily kill, but a blade piercing the heart guaranteed death.
Facing the Iron Man armor, Hong Fei had no reason to foolishly use his flesh and blood to collide head-on.
However, even with the Cross-blade, he still seemed somewhat ridiculous in front of the tall, mighty armor.
Therefore, Hong Fei's appearance didn't pressure Tony. Instead, it seemed to give him a way to vent.
Raising his arm, the seven gun barrels welded in a circle under the arm armor immediately began to rotate. Mechanical sounds and gunfire intertwined loudly in an instant. Bullets whistled out like a tide, like a sudden rain from the sky, points forming lines, lines gathering into surfaces, crazily charging toward Hong Fei.
When his arm was raised, Hong Fei, who had participated in the armor's construction, immediately activated the Eyes of Death.
Hong Fei had long known what that was. Tony had asked for bullets but hadn't asked for a gun because he had built the gun himself using a pile of scattered materials!
In an instant, the tall armor appeared blood-red in his field of vision. The rotation speed of the gun barrels became extremely slow. Yellow bullets shot out one after another, quickly condensing into a wall of bullets pushing toward him.
The hair on Hong Fei's body stood on end. He gripped the handle of the blade tightly with both hands, the blade tearing through the air to reach in front of him. The bullets were close at hand, and the blade light suddenly erupted.
In Tony's eyes, Hong Fei's movements flickered from absolute stillness to extreme motion. The sudden burst of speed surpassed what the naked eye could follow. A Cross-blade danced in his hands like a soaring dragon. Before the first blade's light faded, the second and third blades had already been slashed out. Brilliant light and shadow gathered into a ball, and rapid clinking sounds erupted continuously, with clusters of sparks flashing in front of Hong Fei.
The sharp blade perfectly bisected the bullets along their central axis. Driven by the remaining kinetic energy, the severed bullets slammed into the corridor walls. In the blink of an eye, dust stirred up by the mass of bullet holes filled the air, enveloping Hong Fei.
After a burst of rapid firing, Tony had to stop. He knew the firearm he had built very well. Under the constraints of those conditions and materials, there was no way to maintain high-speed shooting for long, and besides, he didn't have many bullets.
At the same time, his face, hidden under the iron armor, was filled with shock.
At this moment, he had to wonder if the person standing opposite him was a Zhenren (Immortal), or a super AI in a humanoid body.
Otherwise, with human physical fitness, visual ability, and neural reaction speed, how could it be possible to use only cold weapons to split high-speed bullets fired from Gatling barrels?
In the dust, Hong Fei sheathed his blade. Sweat beaded on his forehead beneath the mask, and waves of soreness washed over his arms.
The Eyes of Death could indeed slow down the flow of time, but his body's rapid reactions and movements in such a short time also demanded a great deal of stamina.
However, Hong Fei only felt exhilarated at that moment.
After all, he had just blocked bullets with a blade!
And because he participated in the armor's construction, Hong Fei knew very well that even though Tony's Mark I Armor had to account for recoil, the bullets' conventional firing rate still reached 750 rounds per minute!
That meant in the short tens of seconds just now, he had already sliced open hundreds of bullets!
In his previous life, something any martial artist wouldn't dare to imagine had now been truly recreated by him.
The fatigue on his body was not worth mentioning; the accomplishment at hand made him incomparably excited.
Across from him, Tony snapped back to his senses after a moment of shock. He turned and raised his other arm.
Hong Fei instantly regained his focus. His long arm swung, a Cross-blade shot through the air like an arrow leaving the bow. In an instant, the sharp tip pierced through a tiny, imperceptible crack in the armor's shoulder, and a burst of dazzling sparks exploded inside the armor.
At the same time, after throwing the Cross-blade, Hong Fei kicked off the ground, his body rocketing forward almost parallel to the floor. The wind screamed in his ears. Closing the distance, he grabbed the blade's handle and drove it home with all his might. The blade pierced through Tony from behind, erupting in a fountain of bright red blood.
Tony cried out in pain and threw a punch at Hong Fei's head.
Hong Fei raised his leg and kicked the armor's abdomen. Using the force of the kick, he yanked the blade free with his left hand, sidestepped, and held the Cross-blade behind him. His right hand rested lightly on Tony's Iron Fist, like a falling leaf.
In an instant, the power of the Iron Fist surged into Hong Fei's mind. The ground was the core; the power flowed through his legs, waist, abdomen, shoulders, and elbows. His open palm rested beneath the Iron Fist, following, then guiding, and finally exploding with full force, pulling and leading to the side.
Boom!
A dull vibration echoed through the corridor as the heavy armor slammed into the stone wall, sending clouds of dust raining down.
Inside the armor, Tony felt the control vanish. Before he could react, he was already reeling from the impact.
With a soft clink, the blade probed along the gap in the armor's neck. The cold tip of the blade touched Tony's neck, instantly freezing him.
A moment later, Hong Fei, carrying Tony—who had fainted once again and been wrapped up like a rice dumpling—boarded the helicopter and rushed to the airport.