Chapter 816: Too Close, Can’t Do Anything
The truth was that Luke wanted only Batman to be Tony’s friend.
Luke’s tentative plan was for Batman to constantly do good deeds; coupled with a friends.h.i.+p with the tyc.o.o.n, it wasn’t impossible for them to become teammates recognized by the system.
Taking this into account, he should use his Batman alias to save the tyc.o.o.n.
But there was a problem.
First of all, Batman’s ironclad rule to not kill people was for the sake of winning the trust of the populace.
Luke had already held back all this time, and he didn’t want to ruin it at this point.
But in the face of these terrorists who had blood on their hands, it was hard to endure his cravings when he saw the numbers in his system, and his hands would itch.
Secondly, this was a rare opportunity for Luke to extort something from the tyc.o.o.n aboveboard. It just so happened that he needed a little something from the tyc.o.o.n.
This would ruin Batman’s second character setting, which was that he was righteous and didn’t ask for anything in return.
In the end, Batman and the tyc.o.o.n had both rescued and beaten up people during the Los Angeles earthquake last time, and could just barely be considered “comrade-in-arms.”
It was like the old saying: If you’re too close, you can’t do anything!
If Batman were to say, “Give me something,” in return for saving people, it would tarnish his ident.i.ty as the number one superhero.
That was why Luke had chosen the cold and mysterious White Wolf ident.i.ty.
That way, not only would he be able to preserve Batman’s glorious image, he would also earn a small windfall.
As a big businessman in dire straits, Tony would definitely be very tactful now. He should be able to give Luke a generous reward later, which would be a perfect ending to his rescue operation.
As they chatted, the two of them flew back to the clearing in front of the cave.
Tony looked around and saw the bodies of the criminals everywhere.
Based on what he saw, the criminals were either shot in the head or in the chest.
Seeing for himself how ruthless this White Wolf was, he could only mutter inwardly, “He really deserves the name ‘Judgment’! All the bad guys he meets, he sends to G.o.d. What an ‘angel.’”
Landing on the ground, Luke dragged Tony into the cave.
After entering the cave, he sat Tony down to lean against the wall and pointed at a person lying on the ground. “Do you know this person?”
Tony’s eyes had already fallen on the man’s face, and his mood instantly dropped. “I do. He’s my… friend.”
Luke nodded. “Then I didn’t save the wrong person.”
Tony was stunned. “Save?”
As Luke walked into the cave, he said, “This man is only seriously injured. Is it strange to save him? Wait here while I look for tools.”
Tony was in disbelief. “But…”
The pure white figure had already disappeared around a corner in the cave, and Tony could only swallow the rest of his sentence.
He observed Yinsen carefully, and saw that his chest was rising and falling, which proved that he was still alive.
Thinking quickly, Tony understood.
Before he left the cave, Yinsen did look like he had stopped breathing.
But Tony had rushed out in Mark 0 and hadn’t had the time to examine Yinsen carefully, which was why he had made a big mistake.
Then had he been sad for nothing? As soon as he had the thought, Tony quickly dismissed it.
If White Wolf hadn’t appeared or Tony had left right away as he had planned, Yinsen would really have died.
Even if Tony killed all the criminals on his own, Yinsen, who had been shot in the chest, would still die.
The only surgeon here was Yinsen, and he couldn’t operate on himself.
As these messy thoughts flashed through his mind, Tony suddenly felt relieved. His tense back finally relaxed, and he relied on the wall to support his body so that he didn’t fall over.
Yinsen wasn’t dead! That was great!
Before long, Luke came out with a box that contained all the tools from Tony’s cave.
Following Tony’s instructions, he quickly dismantled Mark 0 and freed the tyc.o.o.n.
Luke chuckled inwardly when he saw the tyc.o.o.n check on Ethan as soon as he was out. It seemed that the tyc.o.o.n had learned quite the lesson this time! He even learned to care for his friends.
“Let’s go. There’s a radio in the cave over there. You can use it to send a message and have someone pick you up.” He then picked up Yinsen and left.
Tony stood up and stumbled.
After being confined in Mark 0 for so long, his hands and feet were numb after being freed.
Seeing that White Wolf didn’t turn around, however, Tony gritted his teeth and followed him.
He was no longer the pampered young master of the past. He had suffered all kinds of hards.h.i.+ps in the last half a month, and had even enjoyed water torture several times. This discomfort was nothing.
The cave where the radio was located was much better. It had chairs and a bed.
Yinsen remained unconscious as he lay on the bed, while Tony didn’t need to sit on the sand anymore as he sat down in a chair.
Luke went out again. When he returned, he looked at the tyc.o.o.n, who was sitting next to the bed in a daze, and asked, “Did you send your people a message?”
Tony nodded.
Luke tossed a small bag to him. “Food and water. Unopened American goods. You probably need them.”
Tony caught it. “Thank you.”
Although the rescue team would arrive in two hours, Tony had been too busy last night to eat in the morning, and had even been in a battle against the criminals.
At that moment, he was really tired and hungry.
“And this.” Luke gave him another bag.
Tony took it and opened it, only to see that it had the sketches of Mark 0 and the laptop with all the data on it.
“Thank you.” This time, he sounded even more sincere.
After communicating with the rescue team, he had come to check on Yinsen’s injuries, and hadn’t thought about this at all.
If this thing was left behind, the US military might find it, which would be quite troublesome.
That was mainly because the laptop contained part of the pre-installed tech for Mark 2, which could be used to a.n.a.lyze some of its functions and weaknesses.
It wasn’t a big deal even if Mark 0 was recovered.
Without a reactor, it was just c.u.mbersome metal armor which wasn’t worth mentioning, since it was similar to the exoskeleton technology developed by the US military.
Luke simply hummed and walked around the room for a moment before he found two rifles and a few clips. He tossed them to Tony and said, “Just in case.”
Tony nodded silently.
Looking at him, Luke suddenly said, “Now, shall we talk about the reward?”
Tony looked away from Yinsen and smiled inwardly. Although this man was called an angel, there was still a “trial” ahead. He probably hadn’t come here to save Tony, but to “judge” the terrorists.
There weren’t many good people like Yinsen in the world.
“Just give me a number,” said Tony. “Or I can send a blank check to any designated location.”
Luke chuckled. “Don’t bother. I only need one thing.”
Tony asked, “What is it?”
Looking at the tyc.o.o.n’s expression, Luke said unhurriedly, “Palladium.”