Chapter 156: The Locals Are Very Rude (Patreon)

The skill tree selects a drop location, usually the place closest to the mission objective. At the very least, it is the closest location to those involved in the mission. This was Kevin's previous conclusion.

However, since his experience with the Guardians of the Galaxy was his only point of reference, Kevin wasn't entirely sure if his hypothesis was correct. But looking at the situation now, his conclusion was largely accurate; the skill tree indeed placed Kevin in the location closest to the relevant mission participants.

The situation was similar this time, but Kevin had actively moved away from his target. If the armed convoy Kevin had seen earlier was indeed heading toward the temporary residence of Wolverine and Professor X, it would probably be too late even if he rushed there now.

He might not find anything or even see Wolverine. At this stage, the X-Men were practically annihilated, Magneto and his mutants had vanished without a trace, and Jean Grey was dead, with her Phoenix Force missing and its whereabouts unknown.

To find the Phoenix Force, Kevin would likely still need to locate Wolverine and Professor X. At the very least, they knew where Jean Grey was buried, and perhaps a fragment of the Phoenix Force still lingered near her remains.

Therefore, even knowing he was a step behind, Kevin had no choice but to retrace his steps to find these crucial characters from the X-Men universe. On his way out, he had jogged at a leisurely pace, but on his way back, he sprinted with all his might.

At a speed of a thousand kilometers per hour, it took Kevin just over ten minutes to return to his starting point. Following the tire tracks on the dirt, he headed in the direction the convoy had gone.

After a brief search, Kevin quickly sensed the presence of a water source. Or rather, the presence of blood. Looking ahead, he spotted an abandoned water tower facility situated in the middle of nowhere.

Inside the facility, Kevin saw the armed convoy he had encountered on the road earlier. The vehicles were parked haphazardly in the open clearing within the compound, and not far from them, several armed men were cleaning up severed limbs and human remains.

They were dressed in black tactical vests and helmets, resembling special forces operatives. But at this moment, they were doing the job of janitors. These were the armed personnel of the Alkali Corporation.

Their presence here, cleaning up the aftermath, indicated that they had already clashed with Wolverine. Kevin was still too late, but it didn't matter; if he couldn't find Wolverine, he still had the men from the Alkali Corporation.

Watching the Alkali personnel clean up the scene, Kevin walked up to them and asked with a smile, "Do you need any help?"

"?!" The Alkali operatives hadn't expected anyone to approach them in this kind of situation. Gripping their firearms, they immediately raised their weapons and aimed them at Kevin. "Who are you?! Put your hands up!"

"You guys are very impolite. Is this how you welcome guests?" Looking at the muzzles pointed at him, Kevin frowned slightly. "And I don't like it when people point guns at me."

"Hands up!! Or we will shoot!!" The armed Alkali operatives exercised relative restraint; even realizing that Kevin was acting suspiciously, they didn't immediately open fire, but merely kept their weapons trained on him.

However, if they didn't shoot, Kevin wouldn't have a justification to deal with them. So, at gunpoint, Kevin took a small step forward, the smile on his face unwavering. "Do you dare to shoot?"

Bang bang bang—!

As soon as Kevin finished speaking, the Alkali operative closest to him pulled the trigger. Bullets erupted from the barrel in flashes of fire, striking Kevin's body.

But Kevin remained completely unscathed. Even his Level 4 physique had allowed him to ignore the threat of ordinary gunfire. Now that his Fighter's Body had advanced to Level 5, he was practically immune to most physical attacks in this world; standard bullets probably couldn't even pierce his eyelids.

Under the terrified gazes of the Alkali operatives, the flattened bullets that struck Kevin clattered to the ground. The smile on Kevin's face grew even wider. "You started this, so now, if I return the favor a little, you shouldn't have any objections, right?"

"He's a mutant... a mutant! Fire—!" Bang! Someone shouted loudly, urging the group to attack Kevin together. But the moment the words left his lips, his head exploded like a smashed watermelon.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the headless corpse collapsed to the ground. The gory scene silenced everyone, including Kevin, who had caused it.

In truth, he merely wanted to try doing what Victoria Neuman did: making an enemy's head explode from a distance. He had never experimented with it before, and now that he had the freedom to test his abilities, Kevin naturally wanted to give it a try.

But he hadn't expected the actual result to be so bloody; what he had seen on screen and what he witnessed in reality were vastly different. 'In the future, I should be more precise with my execution.' Kevin thought to himself.

It would be enough to simply control the blood circulation in their heads and scramble their brains; there was no need to blow their heads up. It was too disgusting, and hardly fitting for a good hero. Besides, Neuman chose to blow people's heads up because she lacked sufficiently precise control over blood; Kevin was different, so he had no reason to become a head-popper.

Deliberately ignoring the unpleasant, gory scene, Kevin continued to walk forward, smiling at the remaining Alkali operatives. "Sorry, there was a little accident just now. I promise it won't be so messy next time, so... shall we continue?"

Kevin's smile was extremely kind and radiant. But in the eyes of the men standing opposite him, that bright smile belonged to a demon. It was terrifying.

A few minutes before Kevin arrived at the water tower facility.

A man in a trench coat with a mechanical right arm was interrogating another mutant who had been living with Logan for a long time. Caliban.

He was an albino mutant who was extremely sensitive to sunlight and possessed the ability to sense and track other mutants. He had once worked for the Alkali Corporation. Later, for unknown reasons, he defected and joined Logan and Professor X. But none of that mattered now.

Donald Pierce pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Caliban. He rested his mechanical right arm on the back of the chair, staring at Caliban, who was heavily wrapped in clothing to avoid severe sunburns.

"...I won't waste words. Since you used to work for us, do us one last little favor and use your abilities to help us find that escaped girl." Donald got straight to the point.

The runaway girl, Laura, also known as X-23, was one of the Alkali Corporation's most successful experiments. They had originally planned to train X-23 as a living weapon, but who could have foreseen a traitor within the company? A nurse had treated those test subjects as her own children and helped them escape. As a result, the Alkali Corporation was now relentlessly hunting them down.

Previously, tracking them down required the Alkali Corporation to expend significant manpower, resources, and a bit of luck. But now, with Caliban in their grasp, they wouldn't have to expend nearly as much effort to find their targets.

Caliban, stripped of his protective headgear, looked up, glared at Donald, and firmly replied, "I won't help you."

"Hmm, I figured you'd say that, but I believe a person's nature doesn't easily change." Donald turned his head and glanced at the overhead canopy blocking the sun.

He toyed with a dagger as he spoke. "You're afraid of sunlight, aren't you? Just like the vampires in the legends. I bet when you were a kid, your mother warned you countless times to beware of the light."

Terror flickered in Caliban's eyes as he stared at Donald. He seemed to realize exactly what Donald was about to do. And sure enough, Donald turned back and gave Caliban a faint, cruel smile. "Beware of the light."

Having said that, Donald raised his dagger, preparing to sever the rope securing the canopy above them. But just then...

Bang bang bang—!

The sudden burst of gunfire from outside interrupted Donald's actions and allowed Caliban's racing heart to settle slightly. Donald frowned, glancing at the two guards stationed behind Caliban. "Go see what's happening outside."

"Yes, sir..." The guards were about to comply, but agonized screams from outside abruptly cut them off.

"Ahhh!!"

"It's a mutant! At least a Level 4— Ahhh!"

The screams outside continued relentlessly. Donald realized something was terribly wrong. He instinctively drew his sidearm and, alongside the two remaining guards, aimed his weapon toward the exit.

As the screams and gunfire outside gradually died down, the three men grew extremely tense and hyper-alert, staring fixedly at the doorway.

Bang!!

The heavy warehouse door was violently kicked open.

Framed by the glaring afternoon sun, a figure wearing a sun hat stepped inside, his back to the light. He was the only one who walked in; there was no one else. Even the guards Donald had stationed outside were nowhere to be seen.

This meant that the entire security detail stationed outside had been wiped out. There were no survivors.

"Actually, I just wanted to be polite." The man who entered the facility suddenly spoke. "I just wanted to ask for directions, but you guys are far too rude. You even shot at me, so I had no choice but to act in self-defense."

This was the excuse offered by the mutant who had just breached the facility. After finishing his sentence, he finally stepped out of the shadows and revealed his face to Donald.

It was a mutant Donald didn't recognize at all. In an instant, Donald mentally ran through the company's comprehensive list of high-threat mutants. But whether it was the X-Men or Magneto's Brotherhood, he couldn't recall a single mutant matching this man's appearance.

Nevertheless, the fact that he was able to stroll in completely unharmed, without a single speck of blood on his clothes, proved beyond a doubt that he was a Level 4 mutant akin to Magneto. At the very least, he was a high-tier Level 3 mutant with a specialized, lethal ability directed specifically at humans.

"Who are you...?" The composure Donald had displayed in front of Caliban entirely vanished. His mechanical right hand gripped his pistol tightly as he stared at the newcomer with extreme tension.

The handsome man in the hat smiled very amiably at Donald and said, "Who I am isn't important. What is important is... those people outside, are they your subordinates?"

"Yes..."

"Goodbye." The man in the hat had no intention of continuing the conversation with Donald. Upon confirming that Donald was the one in charge here, he gently raised his hand and gave a slight wave.

This casual gesture instantly put Donald and the two remaining security operatives on high alert; they immediately tried to pull their triggers. But then they realized their fingers were completely unresponsive. Their vision rapidly blurred, and without any warning, their bodies collapsed heavily to the ground.

Blood steadily trickled from their nostrils, ears, and eyes. Their bodies violently convulsed on the dirt floor for a few moments before going completely still, losing all signs of life. Donald died without ever understanding what the man in the hat had done to him. Nor did he ever learn what kind of terrifying abilities the man possessed.