After lunch, Old Parker poured two cups of tea and continued chatting with Mr. Zhou. He needed to know the specifics of his job, especially what his Superior truly expected of him.
Mr. Zhou told him what he should know, and perhaps even what he should say. As for what he shouldn't know, he didn't say a word. Old Parker was a smart man; telling him some truths would help him understand his future work. But telling him some things would not be a good thing.
Mr. Zhou admired such an upright and sincere person, but he wouldn't be completely open with him about everything. The darker side of him could not be exposed to him.
Mr. Zhou and Old Parker chatted, while Peter occasionally interjected. Meanwhile, Ms. Mei was still teasing the two Little Girls. For her, the men's conversation seemed far less appealing than these two girls.
And while chatting and playing with the two girls, Ms. Mei seemed to have discovered some unusual problems.
"Excuse me, Gentlemen. I'd like to ask Mr. Zhou, where is your wife? I just noticed something a little off about the age difference between you and these two Young Misses."
After finding out the age of the two Little Girls, Ms. Mei felt something was amiss. Mr. Zhou looked only about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, but his two daughters were already eleven or twelve. This meant Mr. Zhou became a father around fifteen, so how old could his wife be? In an instant, Ms. Mei's gaze towards Mr. Zhou changed, as if she were looking at a scumbag.
Mr. Zhou understood her look and gave a wry smile.
"You've misunderstood, Madam. I'm not even married yet."
Seeing the deepening contempt in Ms. Mei's eyes, Mr. Zhou quickly finished the rest of his words.
"Airesha and Shirley are both adopted children. Their families had accidents, and I happened to meet them, so I adopted them under my name."
These words stirred the Old woman's sympathy again. She lovingly hugged the two children tightly, showing even more affection than before. At this moment, Old Parker could only raise his cup, expressing his apology and regret for being unable to help Mr. Zhou.
Who would get angry at such a kind Old woman? Mr. Zhou really wanted to know the answer to this question, because he couldn't do it himself. So he could only smile bitterly and nod, ignoring this small misunderstanding.
Just then, his cell phone rang. Mr. Zhou usually doesn't carry a phone because he has Medusa. He can basically contact Medusa for all matters. There are only a few exceptions, such as his family and a few friends. Only they would have his cell phone number.
And the one who called his phone at this time was none other than Tony's little secretary, Pepper Potts. Mr. Zhou, who had already guessed what it was about, answered the phone, and Pepper's crying immediately came through.
"Yi, help me, help Tony! At this moment, I can only rely on you!"
"Calm down, Pepper. What exactly happened?" Mr. Zhou quickly soothed Pepper's emotions. Although he knew Tony was fine, Pepper didn't. Seeing Pepper's intense reaction, he was really worried that Pepper might have a problem due to being overly emotional.
"Tony is in trouble. He was captured by Terrorists in the Middle East. Rhodey searched everywhere but couldn't find any trace of him. Yi, I can only rely on you. I asked Director Stacy, and he said you contacted Dawn Knight. Now only you can save Tony, please, find Dawn Knight and have him rescue Tony!"
In just a few short sentences, Pepper was already sobbing. And in an instant, Mr. Zhou felt a sense of guilt. He knew what would happen to Tony, and he had already helped Tony as much as possible. But he couldn't tell Pepper any of this.
This was a torment, but Mr. Zhou needed to bear it silently, because he had to remain silent on this matter.
"Don't worry, Pepper. I'll take care of this. Don't worry too much, everything will be fine, I promise!"
Hanging up the phone amidst Pepper's sobs, Mr. Zhou stood up and said to the Parker family.
"I'm sorry, something has come up. We may need to take our leave."
The Parker family, who had already gathered the problem from Mr. Zhou's conversation, expressed their understanding. Old Parker even asked enthusiastically.
"Do you need our help? Although we don't have much ability, if you can use us, please don't hesitate."
"Thank you for your kindness!" Mr. Zhou put on his coat, and the two Little Girls also smartly picked up their belongings and followed behind him. "However, this is no longer a problem that one or two people can solve. Mr. Parker, you should have my business card. For work matters, you can contact my assistant directly. I may not be in New York for the next period of time. I'm sorry I can't give you more help."
"You've already helped us enough." Old Parker expressed his heartfelt gratitude once again. He supported his wife and, together with Peter, saw Mr. Zhou out the door, watching them drive away. It wasn't until they were out of sight that Ms. Mei sighed emotionally.
"No matter what trouble he encounters, I hope God will bless him and help him through all difficulties safely!"
"Don't worry, he's a good man. Good men always get good rewards." Old Parker patted her hand, comforting her. Behind them, Peter silently watched the direction Mr. Zhou had left.
At this moment, he, who thought he was already a Superhero, capable of helping many people, and was therefore complacent, became disheartened. He realized that some things could not be solved by his dual identity, especially when facing reality.
Spider-Man suffered a psychological setback before facing a more powerful enemy. It's unclear if this is good or bad. However, this was not Mr. Zhou's concern; he had already put all his thoughts on the future Iron Man.
He didn't directly transform into Dawn Knight and fly to the distant Middle East to rescue him. Because he had to know whether Tony had changed. Rescuing him before he developed the iron man armor and rescuing him after that had different meanings. He needed to ensure Tony would become that Iron Man, and not just an arms dealer with the name of Genius.
So before he set off, he contacted a friend. Colonel James 'Rhodey' Rhodes. Some questions had to be communicated to him in advance.
"Rhodey?" Soon, he contacted Rhodey, but the other side remained silent, so he could only speak first and ask.
"I'm sorry, Yi. I tried my best, but we still can't find Tony. It's all my fault!"
"Hey!" Mr. Zhou raised his voice. "Listen, I'm not here to blame you, nor am I here to listen to your explanations. Tony isn't dead yet. Don't even think that until you've seen it with your own eyes. Now I'm just here to tell you that I found someone to help."
"Listen, don't stop searching. Dawn Knight will help us, so we still have hope, understand?"
Hearing Mr. Zhou's words, Rhodey regained a bit of confidence and said.
"I understand, pal. I won't give up. Thank you. With Dawn Knight, Tony will definitely come back. I promise!"
"I believe you, Rhodey." Mr. Zhou lowered his voice. "Don't be too hard on yourself, it's not all your fault."
Rhodey hung up the phone, and Mr. Zhou sighed again. He had already hurt a friend twice, and although it was for Tony's own good, he still didn't feel very comfortable.
After giving instructions to Ada, Mr. Zhou had already left New York and was flying towards the Middle East. At this moment, in a desert in the Middle East, Tony was living the most miserable life of his life.
The nanosuite gave him the safest protection, but it couldn't do much more. It couldn't help him escape from these Terrorists, nor could it stop his hunger. Here, all he experienced was despair.
Lying on the dirty floor, Tony had lost all strength, unable to even move his little finger. His only feeling now was hunger, the churning and trembling of his stomach making him weak and powerless. He felt as if his stomach was devouring his internal organs.
He already felt he couldn't hold on any longer, yet thinking of his fragile pride, he gritted his teeth again.
As dusk fell, the guard outside the cell couldn't help but doze off. At this moment, the man in the adjacent cage quietly approached and spoke to him through the bars.
"Come on, you idiot. I really don't know what you're holding on for?"
Saying that, he pulled out some mud-like food from his sleeve and shoved it into Tony's mouth as he struggled to crawl over.
Tony desperately swallowed the disgusting and strange thing, barely calling it food. Although his face was red from choking, he forcefully swallowed the thing silently.
And after doing all that, he weakly took a breath. He twitched his beard and said with a smile.
"Anyway, we're all going to die, I'd rather choose a dignified death."
"You just need to agree to them, and you might not die. Why do you think that?" The man wiped his hands on his clothes and asked.
"They want missiles, and I can build them for them. But what then? Once they're built, I definitely won't survive. And they'll use what I built to kill who knows how many people. Do you think a smart person like me would do such a thing?"
"What's more, they also want nano-technology. Once this technology falls into their hands, it will only cause greater destruction. I know there are unusual forces behind these people, so I absolutely cannot hand over this technology. That would harm my friends."
And hearing Tony's words, the man thought for a moment, then suddenly asked.
"Since you're a smart person and not afraid of death, I want to ask, why not deceive these guys, get food and other things from them? As long as you stall long enough, you might even have a chance to escape. Even if you can't escape, temporarily dying with a full stomach is better than your current situation, right!"
"You're right!" Tony muttered to himself. At this moment, he realized he was like an idiot. He had starved himself for several days. And coincidentally, at this moment, a gurgling sound came from the stomach of the person next to him.
Tony glanced at him, his eyes showing gratitude.
"Thank you, pal. I owe you, and I will definitely repay you."