Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life

Early the next morning, after everyone had packed up and boarded the vehicle, Sherlock waved his hand and turned the house back into yellow sand. Then, led by Zhao Weike, the group began to head deeper into the desert.

The reason why Tony has not had any information about him for so long is partly because the Ten Rings were meticulous and decisive when they kidnapped him.

Another reason is that the valley where Tony was imprisoned was actually located in the heart of the desolate desert.

After Sherlock used alchemy to give his vehicle a desert paint job, the group enjoyed themselves immensely, traveling and playing in the desert.

During the day, Zhao Weike and Sherlock, two grown men, really made the most of their raptors, playing in the sand with great enthusiasm.

Even Helen, a woman, after being persuaded by Sherlock's traditional Chinese medicine advice on dispelling dampness, would quietly lie in the sand for sand therapy whenever Sherlock and Zhao Weike started to compete in driving skills.

So much so that after a few days, Helen's skin really did improve a lot, and she even unintentionally lost a lot of weight. This made Helen extremely happy, and she planned to go back and study traditional Chinese medicine.

As for Doro, although he has a uniquely drawn human head and can talk, he still has puppy-like characteristics in his personality.

In addition, Doro had never seen so much sand before, so he went crazy playing with it. Even when playing by himself, Doro was incredibly excited every day.

In the desert, a vast and deserted place, Doro's speed advantage was fully unleashed. Zhao Weike was even surprised to find that if Doro went all out, its speed was almost the same as his own when driving.

Of course, while Doro is fast, his stamina is terrible. In just a short while, he will be lying on the ground, panting heavily.

After sunset, Sherlock would use his alchemy to build a comfortable house in the vast desert, where a few people would hide and eat, drink, and bathe, enjoying the good life.

The process was incredibly pleasant and carefree, with Sherlock and Helen even occasionally having a cooking competition, although Doro and Zhao Weike always benefited from it.

Unlike Sherlock's relaxed and carefree situation, Tony, trapped in the cave, is in a much more miserable state.

Because of the attack, in order to keep Tony alive during treatment, Ethan had to attach an electromagnet to Tony's chest, forcing Tony to carry a car battery with him.

Later, Tony built a miniaturized Arc Reactor to replace the electromagnet in his chest, finally freeing him from that damn car battery.

However, this behavior thoroughly angered the leader of the Ten Rings, since he had asked Tony to manufacture weapons and missiles, not to build an Arc Reactor!

Even though Tony's excuse was quite convincing—that he had no choice but to do it in order to get the job done better—the leader of the Ten Rings didn't let Tony off the hook and gave Ethan a severe beating.

Ultimately, Tony threatened suicide and bluntly stated that he couldn't build it on his own, which saved Ethan, the high-achieving student, from death.

Meanwhile, Tony began to work on his escape plan.

After all, if rescue were truly possible, the rescue team would have arrived while he was building the Arc Reactor, instead of the fact that his chest has transformed from an electromagnet into an Arc Reactor yet he remains without any news, and there is no sign of any battle taking place in the base.

What Tony didn't know was that after the door to the cave where he was being held closed once again, the leader of the Ten Rings received a phone call after returning to his room—a call from someone Tony knew very well.

Obadiah Stanislav!

“Lazarhamidimi, I saw in the military report that they didn’t find Tony’s body. Are you sure you killed him?”

Faced with Obadiah's question, the Ten Commandments leader, named Lazar Hamidmi, grinned even more menacingly, but his words were filled with unbridled joy.

"Of course, my dear Obadiah. We've taken Tony's body. Rest assured, at the appropriate time, I will bring Tony Stark's body back, all for the greater good."

Upon hearing this, it was clear that Obadiah on the other end did not believe it, and instead spoke coldly on the phone.

"You'd better really kill Tony. You should know that the military and all the major powers are frantically searching for any clues about Tony right now. If anything unexpected happens, my dear Lazar Hamedmi, believe me, you will never get another bullet produced by Stark Industries!"

After he finished speaking, the phone was hung up. But when Razahamidmi looked at the disconnected phone, his expression was extremely cold, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Bullets? Ha, you foolish Americans, we have much more than just bullets!"

Chapter 17 Preliminary Rescue Operation

In fact, Lazar Hamedmi never intended to actually kill Tony. To Lazar Hamedmi, Tony was a goose that laid golden eggs.

Now that fool Obadiah has actually handed the goose that lays golden eggs to himself, it's no wonder that Razarmedmi could never hide the contempt on his face when facing Obadiah.

Of course, what Lazarimidmi didn't know was that Tony was indeed a hen that laid golden eggs, but that didn't mean that the hen would obediently lay eggs for him.

On the contrary, Tony is not only not laying golden eggs for Lazarhamidmi, but is also plotting how to escape from here. In particular, after discovering that the guys in this base are not highly educated, Tony decisively devised a plan called Mark 1.

Furthermore, he separated all the design drawings under the guise of missile parts, and under the pretext of needing missiles, he demanded a lot of irrelevant items from Lazarmed, while mixing in what he truly wanted.

With Ethan's help, Tony started swinging the sledgehammer inside the cave.

As Tony vigorously swung the hammer in his hand, making full use of his engineering skills, Sherlock's group was getting closer and closer to the valley where Tony was being held.

Perhaps because of the surrounding yellow sand, the guards outside the valley were not very tight, or even non-existent.

At the very least, Sherlock, the alchemist, and Zhao Weike, the assassin, didn't encounter any patrol personnel along the way.

Of course, it's also possible that it was because the two were driving through the desert.

It's worth noting that the valley's geographical location is practically perfect, with three sides surrounded by a vast and boundless desert, and only one side slightly close to the edge of the desert.

It is no exaggeration to say that these three deserts form a natural barrier, giving this valley unparalleled protection, making it a natural city wall.

In the minds of these terrorists, no one could cross such a desert, let alone have their own fraternal units on the outskirts of the desert responsible for air defense.

To put it bluntly, given the valley's geographical location, as long as they can hold onto this area near the edge of the desert, the valley is invincible. This is precisely why Sherlock has encountered the bizarre situation of not encountering any enemies along the way.

It can only be said that sometimes, fate is a truly mysterious thing.

Once the four of them could see the valley from their car, they abandoned their playful thoughts and entered combat mode.

Although Helen was not familiar with this kind of combat, she was able to carry out logistical support work with Doro.

After Sherlock created a bunker using alchemy that night, Helen and Doro, the two non-combatants, were left inside, while Sherlock and Zhao Weike each took their weapons and prepared to scout it out.

The desert was unusually cold at night. Sherlock and Zhao Weike reached the top of the mountain with almost no effort. When their eyes turned to the valley, both Sherlock and Zhao Weike couldn't help but gasp.

The reason is simple: the layout of this valley is truly terrifying.

Unlike the fleeting glimpse in the movie, the valley is actually much, much larger than it appears in the film.

Beneath the vast camouflage netting were crates of weapons and ammunition. Almost every moment, one could see people carrying firearms taking shells or guns out of those weapon crates, and then sitting to the side, polishing something with a file.

Not only that, there are also weapons and ammunition production lines in this valley, and things like gas cylinder cannons and heartless cannons are everywhere.

Putting aside everything else, it would be extremely difficult to break into this valley using conventional forces.

Most importantly, the weapons and ammunition that the terrorists were honing were clearly not something these guys who could only manufacture gas cylinders and cannons could produce!

With the help of their high-powered binoculars, the two men inadvertently and clearly saw the words "Stark Industries" written on the weapons case.

Seeing this scene, even Zhao Weike was somewhat confused. He put down his binoculars and looked at Sherlock beside him, his brows furrowed so deeply they were almost knotted together.

"Sherlock, if I'm not mistaken, that box has the Stark Industries logo on it, right? Did Tony shoot himself in the foot? He tried to profit from both sides in the war, but one side doesn't want to pay?"

Zhao Weike's tone revealed undisguised disgust; after all, no one would like such a two-faced behavior, even if Zhao Weike was an assassin.

Upon hearing Zhao Weike's complaint, Sherlock's embarrassment flashed across his face for a moment. After thinking for a while, he replied somewhat helplessly.

"No, things are complicated here. You know, Stark Industries isn't just a company that Tony controls."

Although what Sherlock said was true, and even reasonable, Zhao Weike still rolled his eyes in annoyance after hearing it, before continuing to observe the situation below through his binoculars.

After a long while, Zhao Weike sighed helplessly and spoke again to Sherlock beside him.

"Sherlock, the risk of us infiltrating is too great. The enemy has a large number of people and heavy weapons. Even if we manage to rescue Tony, we will not be able to escape their pursuit."

My suggestion is that if you're certain Tony is here, the safest approach is to report this directly to the military or that S.H.I.E.L.D. agency.

However, Sherlock remained silent in the face of Zhao Weike's suggestion, keeping his hands on the ground and his eyes closed the entire time, sensing something.

Shortly after Zhao Weike finished speaking, Sherlock opened his eyes and gave Zhao Weike a cunning smile, like a fox that had just stolen some fish.

"No, no, no, there's no need to make such a big fuss. I have a way to bring Tony out directly, but I think we need to change the timing. We'll come back tomorrow morning. We should go back to sleep now."

After saying this, Sherlock completely ignored the question mark that appeared on Zhao Weike's head, and pulled Zhao Weike back to his underground base. No matter how Zhao Weike asked, Sherlock remained silent, only saying that he would know when they took action first thing tomorrow morning.

As for why he did this, the reason is quite simple: Sherlock accidentally discovered the cave where Tony was being held while using alchemy to investigate.

Then, inside the cave, Sherlock discovered a suit of armor that had already been completed, and Tony, wearing glasses, sitting in front of a large computer, constantly programming.

It's clear that the Mark I is about to be born in Tony's hands.

For Sherlock, it's better to wait until the Mark armor is successfully built before coming to rescue Tony, rather than rescuing him now, so he can at least have some fun.

Chapter 18 The Rescue Begins

Early the next morning, Sherlock dragged Zhao Weike to the top of the mountain.

After concealing himself, Sherlock planted the Spear of Longinus in the ground, then closed his eyes and grinned in a lewd manner.

Zhao Weike originally thought that Sherlock planned to take him in to sneak in, find Tony, and then rescue him directly. He was even prepared to get injured.

To everyone's surprise, Sherlock led him to the top of the mountain and then stopped moving.

Throughout the morning, Zhao Weike urged Sherlock to start the operation several times, but Sherlock refused each time, saying it wasn't the right time. Completely baffled by what Sherlock was up to, Zhao Weike eventually gave up urging him and obediently stayed by Sherlock's side as a sentry.

As for Sherlock, it has to be said that Sherlock has once again discovered another use for alchemy today: watching movies!

Indeed, for the entire morning, Sherlock used the material analysis techniques from alchemy to connect with the earth beneath his feet, as if watching an immersive movie, watching with excitement as the Mark I, or rather the Iron Monger, gradually took shape under the combined efforts of Tony and Ethan.

Moreover, Sherlock even felt that this immersive movie was more immersive than watching it in a movie theater, because Sherlock could not only sense Tony's movements inside the cave, but also the movements of the terrorists running around inside the cave.

Sherlock saw almost clearly that while Tony and Ethan were assembling the Mark I armor, the terrorists monitoring them were bragging to someone.

When the two were almost finished assembling, the terrorist looked at the monitor and searched around for almost a minute before realizing something was wrong. He quickly called his companion to check.

Unfortunately, Ethan ambushed and knocked him unconscious.

Seeing that Ethan's knocking out the two men had attracted the attention of others, the terrorists throughout the valley began to gather towards the cave. Sherlock knew it was time to take action.

Sherlock, who had been watching an immersive movie all morning, opened his eyes, looked at Zhao Weike standing beside him, and blurted out something out of the blue.

"Old Zhao, are you ready for battle?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, Zhao Weike was too lazy to even bother with the issue of how to address Sherlock. He gave Sherlock a look that said he was an idiot, and just as he was about to say something, he felt his feet sink into the ground.

Clearly, when Sherlock saw the look in Zhao Weike's eyes, he knew Zhao Weike was up to no good and immediately activated his alchemy.

The next second, the ground beneath their feet turned into water, and under the influence of gravity, the two suddenly plummeted downwards.

The sudden feeling of weightlessness, combined with the suffocating sensation of the water, made Zhao Weike feel quite unwell. He wanted to launch a verbal attack on Sherlock, but all that came to Sherlock's ears was a series of gurgling bubbles.

On the other side, Tony was extremely anxious because Ethan had already picked up his gun, said his final goodbye, and rushed out, but his armor had failed to start due to processor and system issues.

All Tony could do was keep calling out Ethan's name.

Unfortunately, Ethan was clearly determined to leave and completely ignored Tony. Just when Tony was in despair, a perfectly round hole suddenly appeared in the wall of the cave in front of him.

Before Tony could even understand what was happening, a massive jet of water began to erupt from the round hole. The immense water pressure even caused Tony, who was hanging on the rack waiting for his armor to activate, to sway from side to side.

"What happened? What the hell is going on?"