As soon as gunfire echoed from inside the cave, the dozen or so men Obadiah had brought outside the cave instantly raised their weapons.
But Frank and his team were faster.
Frank immediately rolled away, putting distance between himself and the others. Numbers three through five, who had set up machine guns on the high ground, immediately popped their heads up.
Amidst the frantic gunfire, those bodyguards were shredded to pieces within ten seconds.
Frank sprang up, stepping over severed limbs and TDK, and checked the vehicles one by one. Finally, he found a box of gold. It wasn't three tons, but about one ton, because the box was only slightly larger than a computer tower.
Frank and his team began to move the gold while the standoff continued inside the cave.
After Howard Stark died, Stark Industries remained under the control of Obadiah Stane for quite some time, until Tony turned over a new leaf at the age of 21, when he returned control to the young man surnamed Stark.
In Tony's eyes, Obadiah was not just his father's business partner, nor just a senior executive at Stark Industries; he was his uncle, one of the few people he trusted, and a vital mentor in his life.
He had always regarded Obadiah as an elder worthy of respect.
Yet, just half a minute ago, this elder had personally pulled the trigger at his head, wanting to end his life with a single bullet.
Hong Fei stood to the side and shrugged. "I told you he was a traitor, but you wouldn't believe me."
Tony stared at Obadiah with anger and confusion, but Obadiah turned his head to look at Hong Fei in utter shock.
"Don't look at me. Clearly, your weapon didn't work on me, though that sound was truly unpleasant."
Tony stared with wide eyes and asked again, "Why?"
Obadiah turned back, his eyes suddenly fierce, and he quickly pulled the trigger at Tony again.
Hong Fei accelerated sharply while simultaneously activating the Eyes of Death. A series of afterimages immediately flashed behind him. He pulled a dagger from his leg, effortlessly swatting away the bullets in front of Tony one by one. Then, with a turn of the dagger, Hong Fei backhanded the sharp blade into Obadiah's throat.
Blood from the ruptured artery, driven by blood pressure, burst through the wound, suddenly spraying out in a red line.
Warm blood splattered onto Tony's cheeks, leaving him instantly stunned.
Hong Fei held the dagger with one hand and covered Obadiah's mouth with the other.
"Calm down, don't be afraid, it will be quick."
Obadiah's body was shaking uncontrollably and unconsciously, but under Hong Fei's restraint, he couldn't make a sound. He even forgot to use his eyes to express his anger and hatred, his pupils filled only with the panic and terror of impending Death.
"Actually, I never intended to do business with you. You're too cunning and unscrupulous. By comparison, I prefer dealing with Tony Stark. You tried to kill me first this time, so we're even. Come on, relax, take a deep breath. I'll count down for you: five, four, three, two..."
Before he could reach one, the light in Obadiah's eyes had already faded, and the intensity of his body's trembling suddenly subsided, though it still twitched occasionally due to nerve impulses.
Laying him gently on the ground, Hong Fei, with his back to the others, plucked a green card from the air.
Turning around, he stared at Tony.
The sharp, piercing gaze instantly snapped Tony back to reality. Intimidated by Hong Fei's strength and ruthlessness, Tony retreated slightly.
"Tony Stark, the facts are before you. Our transaction is over. You may leave, but don't forget to pay, or I'll come collect the debt myself."
As soon as he finished speaking, Hong Fei chopped Tony unconscious with a hand strike.
"Withdraw!"
Following Hong Fei's command, the seven men quickly retreated through the tunnel with one ton of gold. After reaching the back of the rocky mountain, two vehicles drove through the night toward the airport.
It was the same Abu officer who personally saw Hong Fei onto the plane, and the group flew straight to Eastern Europe.
The next morning, the U.S. military saw the chaos outside the cave via satellite scan. When they arrived, besides the corpses and discarded ammunition boxes littering the ground, they were pleasantly surprised to find Tony Stark, whom they had been searching for so long.
Unfortunately, Obadiah Stane had been cruelly murdered by the enemy. After waking up, Tony said nothing about it, and everyone just assumed he was overly traumatized, so they immediately dispatched a military plane to send him back to New York.
Sokovia Castle.
Hong Fei held a green card between his fingertips.
Active Skill Card: Deceive Time and Crowd (Green)
"After using this skill, any lie you tell has a low probability of gaining absolute trust from others."
Hong Fei raised an eyebrow.
The term "low probability" was rather subtle. What kind of probability counted as low?
As for the skill effect of using lies to gain absolute trust from others, Hong Fei felt it was not something a gentleman would do.
He was a good person, after all.
Additionally, after he boarded the plane leaving Afghanistan, two forces were injected into his body out of thin air. One increased his total energy, and the other directly strengthened his body.
This meant he had received both positive and negative evaluations simultaneously, and judging by the extent of the improvement, this evaluation index must be quite high.
As for why the improvement was delayed, Hong Fei believed it might be because the kidnapping of Tony was equivalent to a long chain of main quests. Only when he finally left that land did it signify the official end of the main quest, after which the overall settlement of the quest chain took place.
After this settlement, his physical attributes were strengthened to a certain degree from the original baseline, and he was confident that his current body had comprehensively surpassed Frank's.
His energy increased by about one-third. If Hong Fei's body were viewed as a container for energy, the entire container was now half full.
It is worth noting that the physical enhancement didn't expand the upper limit of his energy capacity; it was as if it just thickened and reinforced the container walls.
Not having data for comparison was painful; Hong Fei could only rely on feelings and tests to check his current status.
But compared to having a system nagging in his ears and forcing quests upon him, Hong Fei still preferred the current freedom to control his own actions.
Frank pushed the door open and entered, and Hong Fei turned his fingertips to put away the skill card.
"The bonds can be sold tomorrow, and the passports will also arrive tomorrow."
"Hmm, then we'll leave as soon as we get the items tomorrow."
Except for Frank, Hong Fei and the other five men were using real passports. Considering future operations, they couldn't keep entering and exiting with real information, or they might attract the attention of certain agencies. Therefore, the number of passports obtained this time was quite large, with at least three or more for each person.
The price of passports that could withstand detailed scrutiny was truly high, because to some extent, these passports were real in themselves.
But now, the "Master of 500 Million" no longer cared about that small amount of money.
Frank asked, "I thought you would want to stay here and enjoy your castle."
"It's just a castle. What is there to enjoy about it?"
Hong Fei didn't believe he had reached the point where he could enjoy himself.
What he truly felt enjoyment from were the moments of physical enhancement and energy increases, and in this operation, he could feel the excitement he experienced during the mission.
In other words, compared to lying quietly and enjoying himself, he preferred to keep moving.