Purely military research institutions are often located in remote, desolate places for the sake of secrecy.
However, if they're not so pure—for instance, certain institutions that also conduct civilian product research and development or those that want to save time and costs on transporting supplies or attract outside investors for visits—they tend not to be too far from cities.
In fact, they might even choose to establish themselves directly in the most bustling downtown areas.
Sitting in the vehicle, Shi Xiaolei observed the soldiers expressions and figured they probably wouldn't answer any questions he might ask, so he simply didn't bother initiating conversation about their destination.
However, secretly he kept pressing his wrist, counting his pulse beats while estimating how far they had traveled.
From getting in the car until now, they had been driving for about twenty minutes.
Through the tightly drawn curtains, faint streetlight occasionally filtered in.
By observing the intervals between streetlights passing by, he roughly estimated the vehicle speed.
Combined with the time calculated from monitoring his pulse, Shi Xiaolei formed some preliminary judgments.
The destination was probably not in the city—at least not on Manhattan Island.
Where exactly were they going?
Although the soldiers had revealed their identity earlier, claiming to be sent by the military, Shi Xiaolei from his position, wouldn't accept this explanation entirely.
After all, he was a transmigrator who had previously dealt with S.H.I.E.L.D.
So in his mind, he considered another possibility... perhaps it was Hydra hiding within S.H.I.E.L.D.? With their capabilities, whether it was finding people to disguise themselves as fake soldiers or secretly dispatching a team of real soldiers who didn't know the truth, neither would be particularly difficult.
'Better not be Hydra.'
Just thinking about Hydra made Shi Xiaolei feel irritated.
If it really was the military acting on their own initiative, with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Stark stepping in resolving the situation wouldn't be too difficult.
But if it turned out to be Hydra... he could easily imagine that there would definitely be a whole pile of troubles afterward, the kind that neither S.H.I.E.L.D. nor Stark could immediately resolve.
If he got dragged into it, his peaceful life would certainly be disturbed and he might never return to it.
The more he thought about it, the more his head ached.
In his distraction, Shi Xiaolei forgot to control his expression and revealed a trace of impatience.
Noticing the change in Shi Xiaolei expression, the squad leader sitting across from him tightened his grip on his rifle and silently warned Shi Xiaolei.
'...'
Glancing at the squad leader, Shi Xiaolei suppressed his inner dissatisfaction and once again put on his previous submissive appearance.
Thinking to himself 'Once I figure out what's going on, I'll settle the score with you sooner or later' but what Shi Xiaolei never expected was that just as this thought crossed his mind, a tremendous explosion suddenly erupted outside.
There were four vehicles in total and the lead vehicle was hit by a rocket that came from nowhere.
Intense flames accompanied by thunder-like explosions and under its own inertia, the light jeep rolled through the air and crashed solidly into a streetlight pole by the roadside.
Several tons of impact force—how could a mere streetlight pole withstand it?
With a creaking sound the metal pole snapped, bringing down a shower of electrical sparks as it crashed onto the road, joining the jeep wreckage that occupied half the roadway blocking the path of the following vehicles.
That wasn't the end of it.
The rear vehicle responsible for bringing up the rear also came under attack from two rockets.
Two more fireballs rose into the sky.
Although it wasn't an exposed jeep like the lead vehicle and had a layer of armor, the defensive capability was still insufficient—at most it could only defend against small arms fire.
Under the attack of these two armor-piercing rockets, it was like paper meeting a fate no better than the lead jeep.
The situation developed too quickly and suddenly.
In an instant, two vehicles were lost along with a good portion of the team members.
Both shocked and angry, the squad leader immediately shouted: "Return fire! Call for backup!"
No one dared stay in the vehicles.
All the soldiers jumped out, using the vehicles as cover to return fire against the enemies who had suddenly appeared.
Only Shi Xiaolei was locked inside the vehicle by the last soldier to exit.
"Hey, hey! You can't do this, let me out too!"
"Shut up!"
Too busy to argue with Shi Xiaolei, the squad leader locked the door while raising his weapon to fire a burst of bullets.
The rear door only had a palm-wide observation slot, so Shi Xiaolei couldn't see clearly what was happening outside.
Conversely, the soldiers busy engaging the enemy outside couldn't see what he was doing inside the vehicle either.
To preserve his life, Shi Xiaolei didn't hesitate to put on his equipment—two vehicles had already been blown to pieces with vivid examples right before his eyes.
Compared to the vehicle built-in armor, he trusted more in this iron shell he had purchased with real money.
But what surprised him somewhat was that the firefight had continued for five or six minutes, yet those unknown assailants hadn't used rockets to attack the vehicle he was in.
It felt somewhat like a scene from an action movie.
After thinking it over briefly, Shi Xiaolei understood—clearly, those people target was also himself.
Whether out of good intentions to rescue him or with ulterior motives, there was only one reason for not continuing to use rockets: to ensure he could survive the firefight.
If that was the case, there was no need to be anxious.
Thinking that the soldiers outside weren't on his side and there was no need to jump out and help them, Shi Xiaolei settled his mood and sat steadily in the vehicle.
Crossing his legs leisurely, he closed his eyes as if listening to a symphony calmly listening to the sounds coming from outside the car.
"The emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is"—this perfectly described the current situation.
Shi Xiaolei staying in the vehicle wasn't anxious at all, while Stark rushing from Los Angeles was so anxious he was practically fuming.
That's right—because of his previous instructions, Jarvis had been tracking the convoy movements.
Although the firefight location was no longer within the city and there were no traffic surveillance cameras for Jarvis to use, through satellites in the sky it still captured the scene immediately and reported it to Tony Stark.
"Damn it! Jarvis, concentrate power to the thrusters."
"Sir, prolonged overload propulsion will cause irreparable damage to the thrusters..."
"Can't worry about that now, do as I say!"
Stark gritted his teeth and gave the order.
"As you wish."
Jarvis accepted the command: "Please prepare for impact resistance. Acceleration countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
As the countdown ended, the flames beneath Tony feet suddenly expanded by a full circle, and the Iron Armor's speed increased dramatically.
The sonic boom from breaking the sound barrier and the G-forces from the sudden acceleration made Stark, encased in the armor, quite uncomfortable.
However, to reach New York as quickly as possible and rescue his friend who was in danger he endured this discomfort, his face showing determined and resolute expression.