Looking at Coulson in front of him, Charles smiled and asked, "What do you want to know?"
Seeing that Charles seemed willing to cooperate, Coulson took out a notebook from his pocket and began taking notes. He said, "Mr. Charles, please describe the armed forces that were holding Tony captive and how you rescued him."
Charles looked at Coulson, who was diligently writing, and thought to himself, "Is it really necessary for you to use pen and paper when you've had surveillance cameras and recording devices running since you entered?"
He then said, "Actually, it's quite simple. We found Tony and eliminated the armed men who were holding him."
Charles briefly explained the challenges of rescuing Tony, the manpower and resources required, and the significant losses incurred in the process. These losses meant that the business didn't make much profit.
Coulson, whose mouth was twitching at Charles's casual response, thought, "Can't you be a bit more serious? You left New York, rescued Tony Stark, and returned. Did it take you more than three days?"
Towards the end of the explanation, Charles said, "Besides, even if I hadn't gone to rescue him, I believe Tony could have escaped on his own."
Coulson didn't pay much attention to Charles's earlier nonsense but focused on the last statement. He asked, "Mr. Charles, based on what judgment do you believe that Tony Stark could have escaped on his own?"
Charles chuckled and replied, "Sorry, I can't disclose that information. It involves client trade secrets, and I can't talk about it."
"But you can ask Tony Stark yourself."
"I've said everything I need to say. Iruka, please see our guest out."
Coulson closed his notebook without pressing further and said, "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Charles."
Coulson left after being shown out, and Charles returned to his room.
…
On the other side, in the Afghan desert-
After escaping, Zala didn't immediately inform Xu Wenwu, who was busy training his son. However, she did bring back a group of her men.
Back at the cave where it all started, Zala found that the surveillance equipment outside the cave was still functioning and had not been tampered with. However, the weapons and ammunition that were originally stored there were gone.
She checked the surveillance footage and saw the image of Charles Doyle and the hundred-meter-long giant snake.
As she continued to watch the video, she noticed something interesting.
It was an Iron Man suit!
In the video, Tony, wearing the Iron Man suit, demonstrated its capabilities: small missiles, a flamethrower, and finally, flight.
After watching everything, Zala began to contemplate.
This thing should be the item that Tony Stark had manufactured in this cave.
Zala took out the video cassette of Tony Stark demonstrating the Mark I suit's performance and entered the cave.
In the place where Tony had been imprisoned, Zala searched around until she found the blueprints that she had initially overlooked.
…
Time passed day by day.
It had been a week since Phil Coulson visited Charles.
During this week, Ginny had successfully arranged for the Rand Group's abandoned building in Hell's Kitchen through a New York City council member supported by the High Table.
Due to its undesirable location and the fact that the construction had been abandoned for over a decade, Ginny had managed to acquire the building and the land it occupied from the Rand Group by paying $80 million.
Charles looked at the dilapidated building in front of him, and Ginny asked, "BOSS, this piece of land is now ours. What should we do next?"
Concerned that digging directly might cause the building above to collapse prematurely, Charles thought for a moment before saying, "Demolish this abandoned building, and then arrange for excavation."
Upon hearing Charles's instructions, Ginny replied, "Okay, BOSS, I'll contact a demolition company to handle the building's removal."
Charles waved his hand and said, "No need for that. I'll take care of demolishing this building."
"Now, send a team of enforcers in to check if there are any homeless people inside, and if there are, make sure to drive them all out."
Upon hearing Charles's words, Ginny didn't hesitate and immediately dispatched a team to search for occupants inside the building.
As Charles had expected, people were quickly forced out, and there were quite a few of them—over thirty homeless individuals.
One of them muttered curses but fell silent when they saw the heavily armed enforcers from the High Table. In no time, they had scattered and disappeared.
After about an hour, the team members returned and reported, "We've searched all areas of the building, and there are currently no occupants."
Charles nodded in agreement. Then, in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.
In less than a minute, Charles reappeared in the same spot.
He ordered, "Everyone, retreat to a distance of 100 meters and maintain order. Do not allow any unauthorized individuals to approach."
"Yes, Lord Charles," the 40 armed men immediately dispersed and moved 100 meters away from the site, maintaining a vigilant watch.
Charles then turned to Ginny, who was standing nearby, and said, "I'll show you something interesting. Keep your eyes wide open and don't be afraid."
Ginny's eyes widened with curiosity as she looked at the dilapidated building in front of her, wondering what Charles had in store.
Without waiting for Ginny to respond, Charles formed hand seals with both hands and exclaimed, "Art is an explosion! Hah!"
In the next moment, the explosive tags that Charles had placed all over the building and load-bearing walls ignited simultaneously.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion suddenly occurred, startling Ginny. Following the explosion, the once towering abandoned building began to collapse, raising a cloud of dust.
As the dust settled, the building had completely disappeared, leaving behind a pile of rubble.
Ginny, looking at the scene before her, asked inquisitively, "BOSS, did you just use explosive tags?"
Charles nodded and replied, "How was it? Not bad, right?"
Ginny, staring at the ruins before her, said earnestly, "Perfect effect. I'll arrange for cleanup right away and start excavation immediately."
"But as you mentioned, the dragon bones are deeply buried underground, and it might take some time. We're afraid we won't be able to excavate them."
Charles suggested, "If it takes too long, it means we don't have enough manpower. Send more people over for the initial excavation work, and we'll use our own men for the later stages."
Considering her own 60 High Table enforcers, Ginny nodded. With these people for the later stages, deep excavation should be manageable, so she didn't say anything more.
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