Chapter 59: Where Is the Mandarin?

"Please, don't kill me! I'll tell you everything!"

The man collapsed to his knees before Jiang Chen, his voice trembling with desperation.

Lorna Dan looked at him with disgust and muttered under her breath, "Pathetic. And you had the guts to be a kidnapper?"

She turned away, clearly repulsed by the man's cowardice.

Jiang Chen, however, remained calm, fixing his gaze on the man. "Why did you kidnap Anna?"

"For the money!" the man blurted out, panic flashing in his eyes. "These days, who would do this for anything else?"

Lorna spun back around, her face hardening with anger. "Money? You kidnapped a little girl and killed her parents—for money?!"

Her right hand began to glow, clenched into a tight fist.

The man lowered his head, voice trembling as he explained, "I didn't have a choice. It's the best meal I've had in weeks."

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You deserve an Oscar for that performance," he said mockingly. "Kidnapping a child for money? Fine, but how did you plan on getting paid?"

The man's eyes darted away, clearly caught off guard by the question, unable to answer. Jiang Chen smirked. "Thought so."

With a swift motion, Jiang Chen grabbed the man's wrist and turned it over, exposing a tattoo: Ten circles crossed by two machetes.

Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes. "You're from the Ten Rings."

The man's fear deepened as his identity was exposed. "How did you—"

"It wasn't hard to figure out," Jiang Chen interrupted, noticing the tattoo peeking out from the man's unbuttoned cuff. He glanced over at Lorna, who was still processing the reveal.

"You have a way of spotting these things, don't you?" Lorna asked, her tone half-joking, half-serious.

Jiang Chen shrugged casually. "Just lucky, I guess."

The mood shifted as the man stood, his earlier fear fading into grim acceptance. "Now that you know, just kill me. I won't tell you anything."

He straightened, his neck exposed as though daring them to strike. For a moment, it looked like he was unafraid of death itself.

Jiang Chen, unfazed, retrieved the Mind Gem scepter from his bag and pressed it lightly against the man's chest. His defiant expression faded instantly, replaced with blank obedience.

"Why did you kidnap Anna?" Jiang Chen repeated calmly.

"I don't know," the man responded in a monotone. "Mandarin gave the order—said to capture her at any cost."

"At any cost?" Jiang Chen frowned. "For a little girl?"

The man continued without emotion. "Mandarin is powerful. He has ten rings. At its peak, the Ten Rings had thousands of members. But after Iron Man and the U.S. government caught him, the organization weakened. Now, only a few hundred remain, led secretly by Samank."

"Samank?" Lorna asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Samank met a man named Killian," the man explained. "Killian was working on something—something that could make people explode and grow stronger. Desperate people were sent to him."

"That was Extremis," Lorna whispered, understanding dawning on her.

"The plan was to create chaos in New York and free Mandarin. Many of our people died, but we succeeded. Now that Mandarin is free, he plans to kill every superhero."

The man turned his dull gaze toward Jiang Chen. "Because you killed Killian, the Mandarin wants you dead."

Jiang Chen clenched his fists. "Where is Mandarin now?"

"He said he would kill you before Iron Man," the man answered flatly. "I was told to stay here and kill her," he nodded toward Anna. "The others went to a company. I think it was Stark Industries."

"Stark Industries?" Jiang Chen repeated, caught off guard. "What about the Mandarin in the broadcast building?"

"That's all I was told," the man said, his voice lifeless. "I don't know anything about a broadcast building."

Jiang Chen's mind raced. If Mandarin was targeting Stark Industries, then what was the broadcast about? Was it a distraction? A decoy to mislead S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Lorna, clearly putting the pieces together as well, shot the man an angry look. "The Mandarin was supposed to be in the radio building!"

The man shook his head. "I don't know anything about a radio station."

Under the influence of the Mind Gem, it was impossible for him to lie. He was genuinely unaware of the supposed Mandarin in the broadcast building. This meant one thing: Mandarin had set up a diversion.

Jiang Chen exhaled sharply, his decision made. "We need to check out Stark Industries. S.H.I.E.L.D. can handle the radio building."

He turned to Lorna. "Let's go."

Lorna nodded, her earlier tension replaced with determination. As they walked out of the nuclear plant, the sound of a gunshot rang out behind them.