The next morning, in a desolate area outside Bagram Province, Afghanistan.
"Boss, we're only two hundred meters away now."
Xiao Liu looked at the faintly visible tents and a dozen armed men ahead, reporting to Li Chuan behind him.
Li Chuan formed hand seals and used the Transformation Technique to transform into Obadiah Stane's appearance:
"Tell the brothers to wear masks so their faces aren't seen. After I leave, you all return to the hotel and wait for me."
Although his goal this time was to annihilate Raza Hamidmi and everyone in his Base, he couldn't be sure if some of the people here wouldn't return to the Base. If one or two were missed, and they had seen the faces of Xiao Liu and the others, it could be trouble in the future.
"Yes, yes, Boss!"
Xiao Liu was momentarily stunned when he saw Li Chuan's appearance in the rearview mirror, then nodded and put on the mask he had prepared earlier.
He knew his Boss had the miraculous ability to transform into others, but it was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.
Approaching the tents, Li Chuan and the two cars behind him were forced to stop by the armed men in front, and he and Xiao Liu got out of the car.
"It's me, Obadiah Stane. Where's your boss?"
"Mr. Obadiah, Boss Raza is already waiting for you in the tent. Follow me, your bodyguards will stay outside."
A burly man with a beard stepped forward, scrutinized Li Chuan, and then spoke.
Li Chuan gave Xiao Liu a look, and Xiao Liu immediately took a few of his subordinates back to the car.
Inside the tent, Raza, who was bald, immediately stepped forward and hugged Li Chuan when he saw him brought in.
"Mr. Obadiah, it's not that I'm unwilling to fulfill the agreement. In our line of work, every head has its value, and the price you offered simply doesn't match the value of Tony Stark's head."
Actually, the money Obadiah offered was already a lot, but he understood that Obadiah wanted to kill Tony Stark to gain control of the entire Stark Industries. At this point, as long as he insisted on a higher price, Obadiah would definitely yield in the end.
Even if it fell through in the end, keeping that genius inventor alive to serve him would still bring a large amount of advanced weapons, so he wouldn't suffer a loss.
"Mr. Raza, I've thought about it these past few days, and what you said makes a lot of sense.
Adding money is not a problem. I can even provide you with a large number of the most advanced weapons, but you have to agree to one condition."
Li Chuan released Raza and laughed heartily.
"What condition?"
Raza narrowed his eyes.
Li Chuan sat on a nearby chair:
"It's very simple. You need to take me to see Tony. I have some company matters to ask him about. Once I get the answers I want, the conditions I promised you can naturally be fulfilled."
"Is it that simple?"
Raza looked at Li Chuan, his intuition telling him that things were definitely not that simple.
"It's that simple!"
Li Chuan spread his hands.
After a moment of thought, Raza finally couldn't resist the temptation and nodded:
"Alright, but you can't bring bodyguards, only you alone, and your eyes must be covered the entire time. Otherwise, the deal is off."
All tricks are useless in the face of absolute strength. As long as Obadiah was willing to go to their Base alone, he wouldn't be able to cause any trouble.
Li Chuan feigned hesitation for a moment, then looked at his watch.
"No problem, but it's best to send me back before four in the afternoon. I still need to rush back to New York for a meeting tonight."
"If it's really just a talk, I don't think there should be any problem."
Raza replied with a slightly warning tone.
Five minutes later, Li Chuan was blindfolded and taken onto a jeep.
After about an hour and a half of driving, the black cloth over his eyes was finally removed.
"Mr. Obadiah, welcome to my Base!"
Raza said to Li Chuan with a slightly smug tone.
After the black cloth was removed, Li Chuan also roughly surveyed his surroundings.
The place he was in now seemed to be a small valley, filled with all kinds of weapons, and he could even see exposed missiles, with the Stark Industries logo printed on them.
There were no idlers in the Base, all of them were Ten Rings Gang members holding firearms. A rough estimate put their number at thirty to forty.
"Mr. Raza, take me to see Tony."
After just a glance, Li Chuan withdrew his gaze.
Raza didn't say much either, beckoned to Li Chuan, and then led him towards a cave in the middle of the valley.
This cave was clearly where everyone in the Base rested. The space inside was very large and deep, winding and rugged, with a armed guard every ten meters or so.
Walking to the end of the cave, a large iron door appeared before Li Chuan.
Raza spoke a few words to the two guards outside the iron door in a local dialect that Li Chuan didn't understand. The two guards immediately took out keys and opened the iron door.
Tony and Ethan, who were welding inside, immediately stopped their work when they heard the movement of the iron door.
"Obadiah?"
When the iron door opened and Tony saw Obadiah walk in with the Terrorists' leader who had kidnapped him, he was instantly bewildered.
Obadiah, as his father's friend, was the largest shareholder in Stark Industries besides him, and had always taken great care of him. Many troublesome company matters were handled by Obadiah.
He truly couldn't understand why Obadiah would be here. Could he also have been kidnapped like himself?
At this moment, although Tony Stark already had some guesses in his heart, he still forced himself to find a seemingly reasonable excuse for the other party.
If it was truly a kidnapping, the Terrorists' leader's attitude towards Obadiah was far too good.
"Oh, isn't this my big nephew Tony? It's great to see you're alright. I thought you had been blown up by the people I hired. I was heartbroken for a long time then."
Li Chuan looked at the completed first-generation Ark Reactor on Tony's chest, a wide smile on his face, then turned to Raza beside him and said:
"It's inconvenient for you to hear what I'm about to say. Please, Mr. Raza, and your subordinates, step outside."
"It's fine, you two can talk freely. If you need anything, you can call my subordinates, they're right by the door."
Raza nodded, then left with his subordinates, closing the door behind him.
"Obadiah, what did you mean by what you just said?"
Seeing the Terrorists leave, Tony angrily stepped forward and questioned Li Chuan.
Li Chuan glanced at the monitor in the corner, then casually picked up a chair and walked towards the corner:
"It seems you're not that stupid after all. It's exactly as you think. I want to acquire the entire Stark Industries, so I hired these people to blow you up.
I just didn't expect you to miraculously survive, and they raised their price after discovering your identity, so I had no choice but to make another trip."