Tony walked into the building under the guard of a squad of clone soldiers, looking around cautiously———
"....This is actually much simpler than I expected... But where's Mandarin... Could he have run away in fear?"
"Probably upstairs."
Ye Li controlled the clone soldiers effortlessly, chatting leisurely with Stark: "But... Tony, sometimes what you see isn't necessarily real."
Stark: "What do you mean?"
"People can act."
Ye Li walked up to a room on the upper floor.
He opened a door———
There he saw a scrawny old man with a big beard, clinging to the window, trying to escape through it.
This man was the so-called "Mandarin."
The same man who had enthusiastically performed for the American people on television a few days ago.
In reality, his real name was Trevor Slattery.
Tony followed Ye Li into the room and, upon seeing "Mandarin," immediately raised his gun and aimed at him———
"Don't move!"
"Oh!"
Slattery was startled and quickly raised his hands: "I'm not moving! Take whatever you want... Those guns on the wall are fake, they wouldn't let me have the real ones."
"Or maybe...."
He glanced at the two women behind him, dressed only in their underwear, and raised an eyebrow at Tony: "....Do you want these little things? I can let you have them."
"Heh~"
Stark shrugged at the clone soldier beside him and joked with Ye Li: "He's really living it up. Interested?"
"Get lost."
Slap! Ye Li smacked the chatty Tony right on the forehead.
This guy was already spending his nights with beauties five at a time... How could he be interested in these...
Besides, he was only controlling a clone soldier's body right now—he didn't feel anything at all...
"Oww...! ....Alright, looks like you're not into it. To be honest, I'm not either..."
Tony nudged the gun toward Slattery, "I have to say, Mandarin, your taste is pretty average."
"Cut me some slack, man. I'm an old guy, my aesthetic standards are definitely different from you young folks... Hmm?"
Slattery paused mid-sentence and pointed at himself: "You called me Mandarin? Oh, looks like you..."
…..
After Slattery's explanation.
Tony gradually realized that the terrorist leader "Mandarin" was just a stand-in, an actor...
The real mastermind behind everything had always been Killian.
"F*ck!"
He couldn't help but curse, then turned around to head toward Killian's hideout as instructed by Slattery...
Bang!
A flaming Extremis soldier suddenly burst out of the wardrobe, lunging at Stark!
With Savin dead, Killian had naturally sent a new enforcer to protect and monitor Slattery.
"Oh!"
Tony was so startled that he rolled to the ground——
"Li, take him down quickly!"
"Uh... Tony, I have a situation over here too."
Ye Li's side... seemed to be facing some trouble as well. "I'm logging off for now, let's play again next time."
"Hey, at such a critical moment!"
Tony was speechless—what did he mean by "next time"? Did he think this was a game?
Wouldn't that make him an NPC?
Ye Li: "What's there to worry about? Your security team is everywhere outside. Just leave this guy to the soldiers."
…..
[EVA...]
[WALL·E...]
Crunch...
Mathilda munched on chips, her eyes glued to the big screen projection of the animated movie WALL-E....
Having just showered after getting caught in the rain, her black hair, reaching down to her chin, was still dotted with tiny droplets of water~
The girl had only a towel wrapped around her.
Her long, slender legs were fully exposed, casually crossed and resting on the wide couch..
Huff... su... su...
An adult man's hand stroked and played with her smooth, delicate legs repeatedly.
It seemed to be a habitual action...
Whenever his palm brushed against the smooth little foot, his fingers would instinctively play with a few jade-like beads, causing the girl's toes to wiggle mischievously~
Time passed like this for a while.
The girl continued watching the movie, but her light pink lips pressed together slightly...
...Her small hand subtly pressed against the larger hand, slowly guiding it upward, slipping beneath the bath towel...
But just at that moment—
Ssshh———
Ye Li removed his holographic glasses, turned them off, and withdrew his hand, leaving Matilda feeling a slight sense of disappointment...
"Heh~ Is the cartoon good?"
Ye Li smiled gently at her and said, "Stay here and behave. I'm going downstairs for a bit. If you get tired of the movie, just take a nap, alright?"
This wasn't the Sunnyvale estate.
With his wealth and assets, he naturally had several residences. This place was just a temporary stop.