Chapter Seven: Journey to the Middle East

Stepping into the newly arranged room, Hao Yun, wary of hidden surveillance, made no unnecessary movements. He simply showered and fell asleep, not even allowing the woman Obadiah had thoughtfully sent to his quarters to enter. The woman, with her alluring curves and striking beauty, was in no way inferior to the reporter Tony had met earlier that day.

It must be said, he had successfully resisted a temptation of the flesh—a victory worth celebrating!

The following morning, after waking, Hao Yun asked the hotel front desk to convey his gratitude to Obadiah, then made his way straight to Tony’s villa in Los Angeles. If his calculations were correct, tomorrow would mark Tony’s crucial turning point—the beginning of his transformation. It was also Hao Yun’s chance to punch in for the second time.

Yet upon arrival, he was not greeted by a delicious breakfast, but by Pepper Potts’ wounded gaze. The aggrieved look in her eyes was almost enough to make her grab him by the collar and demand to know why he had let a strange woman into Tony’s bed the night before.

“Uh… Aunt, you know Tony’s temperament. I honestly couldn’t stop him…”

Hao Yun hurriedly defended himself, promising Pepper, “I swear, at most two months, and he’ll be an entirely different man—devoted and responsible!”

“Hmph!” Pepper snorted haughtily, turning her head with a little toss and tapping her finger at him before finally opening the villa door.

Hao Yun rubbed his nose, knowing his aunt was letting him off the hook for now. Ah, being a good man who must please both the boss and the family is no easy feat!

“Jarvis!”

“Good morning, Mr. Potts. Mr. Stark is in the laboratory.”

Excellent—Jarvis had already grown accustomed to him and reported Tony’s whereabouts without hesitation.

Authorized in advance, Hao Yun accompanied Pepper down to the basement lab. At this moment, Tony was bent over a motorcycle, engrossed in some modification, paying no attention to their entrance.

Hao Yun obediently remained at the door—it was time for business discussions. All he had to do was wait quietly for their conversation to end and prepare for the upcoming trip to the Middle East.

A gourd filled with iron sand, and a letter Tony would leave in his lab after their departure—these were his preparations.

***

By afternoon, Tony was leading Hao Yun, who had the gourd slung over his back, to the airport.

“Hey, Hao Yun, what’s with that thing? A gourd? Is it filled with liquor?”

As soon as they got out of the car and Tony saw Hao Yun take the gourd out of Happy’s trunk, he couldn’t help but ask.

“This? It’s a lifesaving gourd,” Hao Yun replied, deliberately mysterious. No matter how Tony pressed him, he refused to say more.

Tony, helpless—especially since Hao Yun was Pepper’s nephew—turned to joke around with Rhodey instead. Hao Yun didn’t mind; he found a quiet corner on the plane, closed the door, and went to sleep, ignoring the chaos in the main cabin. After all, a real battle awaited them tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in New York, Angel Potts silently gazed in the direction of the Middle East. “Darling, I believe you’ll be all right.”

***

After an eighteen-hour flight, their plane finally landed at Baghdad Airport in Afghanistan. Hao Yun rubbed the sleep from his eyes, splashed some water on his face to clear his drowsy mind, and quietly opened the gourd he carried.

With the power of his electric manipulation, the iron sand inside flowed out, snaking up his pant leg and beneath his clothes, forming a protective armor that clung to his body. Unlike Tony Stark, he couldn’t be sure he’d survive an explosion to the chest; this was his only means of self-preservation.

As for Tony… well, he could at least ensure he didn’t end up with a hole in his chest. He had to think of his future sister-in-law, too—who knew what aftereffects palladium poisoning might have, like impacting any children yet to be born.

But as for what Tony needed to go through, he wouldn’t interfere. Without the crucible of life and death, how could one be reborn from the ashes?

“To be feared or to be respected—can’t one be both? Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the jewel of Stark Industries’ Freedom Weapons line: the Jericho missile!”

As the weapons demonstration began, Hao Yun’s phone suddenly vibrated in his bag. He picked up to see Obadiah, shirtless and lounging in bed.

“Kid, hand the phone to Tony for me. And don’t hurry back with Tony—there’s a business contract I need you to print and have the general sign before you return.”

“Alright, no problem.”

Hao Yun agreed immediately, his expression unchanged. It had to be said, Obadiah was truly generous in his scheming. He didn’t care about exposure at all. If Hao Yun had obediently left before the explosion, he would have been genuinely grateful, perhaps even persuading Pepper to side with Obadiah. If not, and he’d died in the blast, well, dead men are beyond persuasion.

Honestly, if Tony wasn’t the protagonist, someone with Obadiah’s cunning and business acumen would have outplayed him in minutes. The movies in his previous life had certainly downplayed Obadiah’s threat.

After handing the phone to Tony, who had just finished his demonstration, Tony immediately instructed him to do as Obadiah said.

“Take care of the contract for me. Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you at the airport.”

With that, Tony climbed into a jeep and drove off.

Watching Tony’s departing figure, Hao Yun shook his head with a sigh. If you weren’t my future uncle, I’d really wash my hands of you!

It had only been three days, and he’d already lost count of how many times he’d sighed over Tony. The man was truly a magnet for trouble!

Finding a secluded corner, Hao Yun wrapped himself in the iron sand and sank into the desert, shadowing the convoy. As soon as the ambush was sprung, half the iron sand shot out, and, guided by his electric powers, surged into Tony’s arms as he escaped from the jeep, tightly shielding his upper body.

“What the hell…” Tony muttered, startled by the sudden weight on his chest. But before he could curse, he saw a Stark Industries-branded rocket fall before him.

“Boom!”

The explosion thundered. From a distance, Hao Yun felt the iron sand under his control shudder with the force. Tony was knocked out cold by the blast wave, unconscious on the spot.

“Excellent. First objective: accomplished.”

Giving himself a silent thumbs-up, Hao Yun recalled the iron sand, slipped into the ranks of the attackers, quietly took out a straggler, donned his clothes, and rolled in the sand before rejoining the group.

It had to be said, killing left a foul taste. Even though the man had been suffocated by iron sand, and there was little blood, Hao Yun had nearly vomited on the spot.

What followed needed no elaboration. These Middle Eastern bandits were disorganized at best; after a brief headcount, they led their captives back to base.