Chapter 1877: The Madman's Journey (Fifty-Five)

Chapter 1851 The Journey of a Madman (Fifty-Five)

Stark strode through the corridor of the Stark Group Building. When a familiar figure rushed out of the office, Stark ran over and hugged her without thinking.

"Oh, God, God, Tony!" Pepper's voice was filled with tears. She kept stroking the back of Stark's head and neck with her hands, then held his cheeks with both hands, looked into his eyes and said, "I thought you were dead, I thought you would never come back!"

Stark hugged Pepper tightly and put his head between her neck and shoulders. Pepper felt Stark trembling all over. She quickly struggled to break free from Stark's arms, gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the side of her index finger, took a deep breath and restored her former shrewd and capable professional image.

Pepper waved behind her, and the doctors rushed forward to support Stark. Stark kept one hand on Pepper's shoulder. He stared into Pepper's eyes and said, "I hope the first person I see when I wake up is you, Pepper, please."

Stark fell down.

Watching Stark being carried on the stretcher, Pepper clenched her fists tightly, and then another tall black shadow appeared behind Pepper.

"How is Tony?" Obadiah asked anxiously.

After a few seconds, Pepper slowly retracted her gaze, and a complicated expression flashed across her face with her back to Obadiah, but she still tried to restrain her expression and said, "He is very weak and can hardly stand. Mr. Obadiah, I'll leave the company to you during this period."

After that, Pepper strode towards the stairs. After her back disappeared, Obadiah's face was a little gloomy.

He walked back to the office where he had just been, looking at the black woman who was no longer arrogant in the past with a bad face.

"Tony Stark is back alive." Obadiah's tone was very low: "And you promised me that he would definitely die!"

"Don't you understand yet? There are other forces intervening, and this is not something we can control." The black woman slapped the table unwillingly, sighed and stood up, looking at Obadiah and said: "Although this cooperation failed, you didn't lose anything. Our people didn't leave any survivors, and he has no evidence."

Obadiah stared at her coldly, and the black woman turned her head to look out the window and said: "You have no way back, Obadiah, we can only wait for the next opportunity..."

Suddenly, an arm went around her shoulders and strangled her neck tightly. Before she was strangled, she only heard Obadiah's low voice in her ears.

"No, I can also tell Tony that you coerced me, and I was just forced to betray his whereabouts."

When Stark woke up again, he only heard the sound of dripping in his ears. Although he was conscious, he did not open his eyes because he had too many things to think about.

He began to push the timeline of the whole thing forward, to the time before he set off for Afghanistan for inspection.

At that time, he first noticed some abnormalities of Obadiah, such as he began to show up less in the company, but kept going to various states for inspection and frequently traveled to other parts of America.

At that time, Stark was not very concerned about business activities. He thought that Obadiah was expanding the business scope of Stark Group, but thinking carefully, the largest buyer of weapons and munitions business that Obadiah was mainly responsible for was the military. Has he started to sell arms to other countries privately since then?

Stark remembered the first attack he encountered after going to Afghanistan. According to the tattooed human skin that Schiller showed him, the first attack came from the Ten Rings Gang.

What is the connection between Obadiah and the Ten Rings Gang? Are they a cooperative relationship or a simple employment relationship?

Then Eric saved him. Eric belonged to a mercenary organization that performed missions locally, and mercenaries did dirty work for the military, but the mercenaries finally attacked him, which meant that the military also hoped that he would not return to the United States.

Suddenly Stark had an idea. Obadiah suddenly left and started to move around the world. Was there any connection with the military's wish for him to die in Afghanistan?

Did Obadiah and the military fall out?

Perhaps this is the only explanation. Obadiah began to expand new business paths, while the military hoped that Tony Stark, the best scientist of Stark Group, would die in Afghanistan to weaken the influence of Stark Group.

So it was essentially a game between Stark Group and the military?

Then what about Hydra?

Stark thought again that the second attack was carried out by Schiller and his men. The terrorists who kidnapped him must have asked Schiller not to kill him, so why did they provide him with raw materials to make weapons?

Stark remembered that when he was in the base at the end, Schiller said that he received the last order from his teacher and superior before the bombing and learned their entire plan. So why didn't he know it before? Where is the watershed?

Stark understood the robot, the huge robot called Iron Wall No. 1 that he made.

It is very likely that Hydra wanted to test whether he was really the strongest scientist in the field of military products of the Stark Group as rumored, and wanted to see if he really had the most genius brain in the legend.

Stark guessed that Schiller might have reported to his teacher and superior after seeing the construction process of part of the giant robot, and then got the complete plan from there.

After all, only when Stark has a plan of sufficient value, it is necessary to execute it. If Stark is really a fool, Schiller would probably get a kill order.

Pushing the time back a little, Schiller took him to the abandoned base and told him that he sent the address of the base to his personal secretary Pepper.

Stark thought about it and knew that in the early days of his disappearance, Pepper must have mobilized all his strength to find him frantically, so he must have announced a certain contact information in the media. Schiller might have contacted Pepper through this contact information.

So when did Pepper know this address? What did he do after getting it?

Stark slowly opened his eyes and saw Pepper in casual clothes walking in. Seeing Stark wake up, the hot-tempered Pepper rushed in quickly and drove all the medical staff out.

"Tony, you're fine. The doctor said that the wound on your back has healed well. It's just that you are exhausted and you need to rest because of anxiety and panic attacks. I asked for a leave of absence to accompany you."

"Thank you so much, Pepper." Stark sighed softly. Pepper raised the head of his bed. Stark looked at her and asked, "I don't want to spoil the fun, but there are too many doubts about this matter, so let's talk about the past and worry later."

"I know, don't worry, I drove my own car here, and now there are our people outside, you won't be in danger, just ask whatever you want."

No matter how many times, Stark still wants to praise Pepper for being his personal secretary. It's really a waste of talent. Pepper's courage and decisiveness make her a backbone of the Stark Group.

Stark looked at Pepper and said, "Did anyone from Afghanistan contact you before I was rescued?"

Pepper was startled. Seeing her expression, Stark knew that he was right. Pepper hurriedly took out her mobile phone from her coat pocket, pressed it twice, and handed it to Stark.

"This is the clue mailbox I published in the media. Most of the clues in it are useless, but the day before you were rescued, a strange mailbox sent me a real-life photo. The scenery was the mountains of Afghanistan."

Stark searched Pepper's mailbox and immediately noticed the email with the attached photo. After clicking it, the content was very brief, which was the GPS satellite positioning coordinates.

At this time, Pepper walked to the door and took a suitcase security computer from the person outside the door. After she looked out the door, she handed the computer to Stark and said, "The situation is urgent. I only have time to take this out."

Stark looked at her and understood that Pepper was saying that she had noticed that someone in the Stark Group was wrong, so she hurried here to accompany him. This was actually the best choice.

If Stark died, it would be unclear who would take over the Stark Group. Naturally, he had to stay inside the group and choose the best heir for the group.

But Stark didn't die. This group was undoubtedly his. The entire capitalist class could not accept someone usurping the family's orthodoxy. No matter how useless the heir was, they had to ensure that he was the top leader of a certain group, because only by trying their best to maintain such rules could they ensure that they, as vested interests, could ensure that the family could continue forever.

So it doesn't matter if there is a big fuss in Stark Group now. Everyone knows that Stark is still alive, so he will return to Stark Group sooner or later, not to mention that he is the most important scientist. Without him, the R&D department will not be able to operate. The board of directors must ensure that he can come back no matter what.

Stark turned on the computer and began to query the specific location information of the GPS satellite positioning coordinates. Then he found the familiar mountain forest on the satellite snapshot, especially the very conspicuous cliff, where Pierce's helicopter was parked at the time.

This is definitely not a randomly selected location. The terrain nearby is relatively steep, and mountain bikes can't get up. Even locals have to work hard to find the entrance of the abandoned base covered with weeds, unless there is air power and specific coordinates. Only when both are available can a perfect rescue be carried out.

In Schiller's view, perhaps only Stark Group has such ability, so he will safely hand over the coordinates to Pepper.

But Pepper didn't come, but Alexander Pierce did. That left only one question. Stark looked at Pepper and asked, "What did you do after receiving the coordinates?"

"I deleted it." Pepper's tone was flat. "What you are seeing now is the mirror website of the secret mailbox. The original website has been completely cancelled by me, and even the snapshots have been destroyed."

Pepper stared at Stark and said, "I know that if you are still alive, what I will do is not to save you, but to prevent anyone else from finding you."

Pepper stretched out a hand and covered the back of Stark's hand, lowering her voice and saying: "If you really survive to that time, it proves that you want to survive, and then one day you can leave there on your own." Stark pulled his hand out of Pepper's hand, covered the back of her hand, lowered his eyes and said: "Thank you, Pepper, but I can't say that I saved myself, at least not this time."