Marvel: They Intercepted Betty at the Start, and the Hulk Collapsed
Chapter 201: Soft Moans Next Door, The Phoenix's Instinctive Desire
Jean Grey tried to break free from the large hand's grip, but found that the warm force was deeply rooted, surging from her wrist meridians directly to her mind.
That feeling was not a tyrannical telekinetic suppression, but an extremely domineering physiological plunder. Her blood, which had been stagnant due to Professor Charles's mental shackles, began to circulate uncontrollably at this moment.
"Miss Jean, in my territory, you can put away that expression as if you're ready to heroically sacrifice yourself."
Lin Nuo held the umbrella, its surface tilted, blocking all the rain from Jean's sight, while the shoulder of his left shirt was quickly soaked dark by the rain.
He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, speaking neither fast nor slow: "After all, I invited you to be an 'observer,' not a 'ascetic.'"
Jean exhaled deeply, trying to suppress the unusual thumping in her heart, and whispered, "Mr. Lin Nuo, I hope your actions are truly as honorable as you claim."
"Honorable?"
Lin Nuo chuckled, leading her onto the marble steps. The heavy double wooden doors opened automatically, and the soft orange-yellow light, like a warm blanket, completely shut out the outdoor chill.
"That's an epitaph for the weak. Here, there's only 'useful' and 'interesting.'"
Before Jean could carefully observe the meticulously decorated hall, the crisp sound of high heels approached from a distance.
Emma Frost, wearing a snow-white mink short coat, her long legs subtly revealed through the slits of her silk cheongsam. She held half a glass of pale golden champagne, walking gracefully towards the two. Her narrow, beautiful eyes lingered on Jean's red hair for half a second, and a playful arc spread across her lips.
"Master, is this the 'observer' you've been longing for? She looks... indeed more substantial than that stubborn Ororo."
Emma naturally walked to Lin Nuo's side, her slender arm wrapping around his waist, her entire body almost pressed against him. She looked up, leaned close to Lin Nuo's ear, her tone seductive yet just loud enough for Jean to hear: "However, will a woman with that stuffy school smell, staying in the side hall, dirty your favorite incense?"
Jean's face suddenly darkened.
As a core member of the X-Men, she was a respected mentor and hero wherever she went. But in Emma's words, she was merely a pretty plaything casually picked up by a Master, not even comparable to the air quality of a room.
"Emma, mind your manners."
Although Lin Nuo was scolding her, his hand naturally rubbed Emma's plump waist, his eyes full of indulgence, "Miss Jean is an honored guest. For the next three days, she will observe for Professor Charles how we 'care for' our fellow Mutants."
"Care for?"
Emma let out a charming laugh, then turned to Jean, her gaze sharp as a knife, "Then please, Miss Jean, watch closely. After all, this kind of 'love' isn't something everyone can bear."
Jean endured the awkwardness of being excluded, her gaze sweeping past the hall to the entrance of the white greenhouse not far away.
She saw Anna.
The little girl, who Logan said was frightened and imprisoned, was now squatting in front of a pot of Violets. She wasn't wearing her signature green gloves; her fair fingertips were gently stroking the petals.
Anna heard the movement, stood up, and at the sight of Jean, a flicker of complexity crossed her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by an unprecedented determination.
"Teacher Jean." Anna spoke, her voice clear, devoid of her usual timidity, "Are you also here to persuade me to go back to that glass house?"
Jean stepped forward, her gaze fixed on Anna's exposed hands.
"Anna, your hands... are you really not controlled by his ability?"
"Controlled?"
Anna chuckled. She looked back at Lin Nuo, who was approaching with a smile, her eyes filled with adoration, "If this magic that allows me to touch the World like a living person is called control, then I hope I never wake up."
In front of Jean, the girl naturally walked towards Lin Nuo, her two small hands unreservedly grasping Lin Nuo's distinctly jointed large hand, fingers intertwined.
At that moment, Jean's pupils contracted violently.
As an Omega-level Mutant, she could clearly feel Anna's inherent absorption ability furiously outputting. That energy flow, capable of instantly draining an adult male, vanished like a stone into the sea the moment it entered Lin Nuo's body.
Not only did Lin Nuo show no weakness, but his complexion was rosy, and even his breathing frequency hadn't wavered in the slightest.
"Do you see, Miss Jean?"
Lin Nuo clasped Anna's hand, pulling the girl into his embrace, and kissed her forehead lightly, "Professor Charles taught her how to 'restrain' for over ten years. I only took three hours to teach her how to 'enjoy.'"
Jean felt a chill run down her spine.
This phenomenon, defying genetic common sense, completely shattered her years of understanding.
Professor Charles told her that Anna's ability was a curse, and isolation was the only way to survive.
But Lin Nuo showed her with facts that it was a gift from evolution; with a sufficiently powerful vessel, this power could become the most intimate connection.
"Miss Jean, your room is at the end of the second floor, right next to my bedroom."
Lin Nuo, with Anna in his arm, turned around, his tone returning to that refined calmness, "It's prepared with your favorite black tea and books. Of course, if you feel lonely in the middle of the night, or if 'that bird' inside you wants to stretch its wings, you can knock on my door anytime."
Lin Nuo departed with Anna and Emma, leaving behind a highly imposing figure.
Raven emerged from some Shadow, now transformed into a capable butler in a black tuxedo, making a gesturing invitation to Jean.
"Miss Jean, please follow me. The Master's will cannot be defied. I hope you learn the rules here during these three days."
Jean walked on the thick, soft wool carpet, each step feeling incredibly heavy.
She pushed open the door, which exuded a Violetfragrance. The room was large, and through the floor-to-ceiling window, she could see the forest shrouded in rain.
There were no surveillance cameras, no iron bars, and not even the windows were locked.
But this was the most terrifying aspect.
Lin Nuo wasn't afraid of her escaping at all.
Jean sat on the lavish silk bed, covering her face with her hands. The air here was filled with Lin Nuo's domineering yet gentle presence.
It was a sensation she had never experienced before, a dual embrace that transcended both body and mind.
Just as she intended to calm her mind and attempt to remotely contact Professor Charles.
"Click."
It was the faint cracking sound of a heavy seal deep within her heart.
An indescribable heat surged up her spine, vertebra by vertebra. In her originally cool consciousness, the red phoenix, bound by dark golden chains, let out an unprecedented cry of desire upon sensing the man's breathing from the adjacent room.
[That is... the scent of a kindred spirit...]
Jean's body trembled violently. She clutched the bedsheet tightly, her nails scratching the silk with a grating sound.
[In the past, he, he was waiting for you...]
The whispers were no longer a mad destructive urge, but a humble instinct to be completely filled by some powerful presence.
Jean clutched her chest, gasping violently, her gaze piercing through the darkness, fixed on the wall connecting to Lin Nuo's bedroom.
She heard faint Water sounds from next door, and Anna's deliberately suppressed, slightly sweet moans.
Jean's throat was terribly dry.
She suddenly realized that she, the so-called "observer," had, from the very first second she stepped into this manor, willingly entered the iron cage meticulously woven for her by the hunter.
"Lin Nuo... what exactly have you done to me..."
She stood up trembling, and as if guided by a ghost, walked to that wall.
Her palm pressed against the cold wall, and from the other side of the wall, the man's voice penetrated the bricks, as if speaking directly into her ear:
"Miss Jean, the night is long. This habit of eavesdropping doesn't quite suit your status."
Jean's body froze, her scalp tingling instantly.
The doorknob, at this moment, made a slight turning sound.
Lin Nuo pushed the door open, wearing only a half-open black bathrobe, his wet hair clinging to his forehead, and the gaze behind his glasses was like a vast net cast out.
"Since you can't sleep, why don't we talk about what that bird inside you is truly calling for?"
Chapter 202: Dimensional Reduction of Rules, Plundering Before the Phoenix's Eyes
Jean Grey subconsciously stepped back, her waist hitting the edge of the cold mahogany cabinet.
Lin Nuo was not wearing his glasses, and those pitch-black eyes revealed an unfathomable sense of aggression under the dim wall lamp. His robe was not tied tightly, and as he moved, his damp skin shimmered with a porcelain luster under the light.
"You are calling out." Lin Nuo's voice was very low, yet it seemed to explode directly inside Jean's mind, "The power within you is far more active when it senses me than it is in front of that old man Charles."
Jean struggled to steady her ragged breathing, her fingertips gripping the wooden edge of the cabinet tightly: "That is because it is wary of you. Lin Nuo, your very existence is a disruption to the balance."
"Balance?" Lin Nuo scoffed, his figure crossing the two-meter distance like a ghost, his right hand bracing against the wall beside Jean's ear.
"That is a lie fabricated by the weak to maintain decency. Charles trapped you with chains, telling you it was to protect the World, but in reality, he was just afraid that he couldn't control your beauty."
Lin Nuo's long index finger gently lifted a strand of Jean's damp red hair, his fingertip brushing against the side of her neck.
Jean's body trembled slightly. She tried to summon her telekinesis to push the man in front of her away, but every time her will touched Lin Nuo, that phantom of dark golden chains would reappear, forcibly smoothing out all her restlessness.
That feeling unexpectedly gave her a sense of immoral peace.
"Tomorrow morning, the rescue team departs." Lin Nuoleaned close to her ear, his breath warm, "Ms. Jean, watch clearly how I use the methods you consider 'despicable' to do things Charles could never achieve in his entire life."
The next morning, at the Star Umbrella Manor hangar.
The massive turbofan engines emitted a low roar as three "Star Wings" heavy transport aircraft, painted in jet black, stood ready for departure.
Ororo had changed into a sharp dark grey tactical suit, her silver hair tied up, standing at the boarding gate with a complex expression. Watching the large number of heavily armed private mercenaries wearing the Star Umbrellainsignia file in, the unease in her heart grew stronger.
"Are these your troops?" Ororo looked at Lin Nuo beside her.
Lin Nuo was still wearing an impeccable white shirt, his collar perfectly straight, holding an electronic list in his hand.
"These are 'rescue contractors'." Lin Nuo corrected without turning his head, "In the gaps of international law, they are security personnel employed by a charitable foundation. Ms. Ororo, you must learn to use the rules, not be played to death by them."
Jean walked at the back. Seeing the heavy weapons carried by those mercenaries, she frowned slightly: "Since this is a rescue, why are so many high-frequency concussion bombs needed?"
"Because we are not facing Mutants, but those 'legal organizations' that think Mutants are more valuable than gold."
Lin Nuo turned around, gave the two women a refined smile, and then gestured for them to proceed.
Two hours later, at the border of the Sahel region in Africa.
Heat waves distorted the horizon. At a crude checkpoint in the distance, several pickup trucks mounted with machine guns were parked across the middle of the road. A dozen local warlord soldiers in khaki camouflage with ferocious expressions were firing into the air.
"Those are white gloves supported by Trask Industries; they have sonic suppressors specifically designed for Mutants." Ororo stood by the cabin door, her hands already gathering lightning, "I can directly disable their electronic equipment."
"Put away your lightning, Ororo." Lin Nuo sat on the leather sofa, slowly picking up a cup of freshly brewed iced Americano, "Here, bullets are far less useful than this."
He casually pressed a green send button.
In less than three minutes, the warlord leader, who had been arrogant and overbearing, suddenly received a call. Afterward, Jean and Ororo saw an extremely absurd scene on the monitor.
The leader looked as if he had seen God; he frantically slapped a soldier beside him, then personally pushed away the roadblock and bowed to the black aircraft slowly descending from the sky.
"What did you do?" Jean looked at the screen in disbelief.
"I just transferred enough Euros into that general's Swiss bank account to let him buy a whole street in Paris for the rest of his life."
Lin Nuo put down his coffee cup, stood up, and straightened his cuffs.
"Charles would try to persuade him to lay down his butcher's knife, Logan would try to snap his neck, but I only need to let him know that by following me, he can live like a human, not a dog."
Lin Nuo walked out of the cabin, his leather shoes stepping on the dry yellow soil without gathering a speck of dust.
This kind of dominance woven from capital and intelligence created an inexplicable sense of suffocation for the two women, who were accustomed to superpowers clashing.
The first batch of rescued Mutant children appeared in their line of sight.
It was a group of children locked in rusty iron cages, their eyes empty. Due to wearing suppression collars for a long time, they had dark red scars on their necks.
Ororo rushed forward quickly. Looking at those children, her eyes instantly turned red. She tried to use a wind current to cut the chains, but was stopped by Lin Nuoreaching out.
"Don't use your powers; that will remind them of the fear when they were captured."
Lin Nuo took out a delicate Vibranium multi-purpose shear from his pocket, bent down, and with an extremely gentle and steady movement, click, cut the chain on the first boy's ankle.
He pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, gave the cowering child a perfect big brother smile, and then pulled a piece of exquisitely wrapped chocolate from his pocket.
"Don't be afraid, I am Lin Nuo of Star Umbrella. From now on, no one can lock you up again."
Jean stood in the distance, watching the man who appeared incredibly sacred in the sunlight, the defensive lines in her heart disintegrating at a terrifying speed.
He was truly saving people.
And he was more efficient, decent, and impeccable than any hero.
"The first batch of thirty-six people are all boarded." Ravenappeared behind Lin Nuo at some point, reporting while holding a tablet computer.
However, just at this moment, a scout wearing the Hellfiremark on his chest ran over from the distance, covered in cold sweat.
"Master, something has happened!"
The warmth in Lin Nuo's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling intensity that made one's bones feel cold.
"Speak."
"Camp No. 2 located in the Niger River Valley has been ransacked. When we arrived, the one hundred and twenty children with high-value genes originally on the list... had all disappeared."
The scout's voice trembled: "They left this at the scene."
He handed over a scorched dog tag.
On it was carved an extremely ancient pattern—a metallic claw dripping with blood, surrounded by a pentagram.
Ororo cried out involuntarily: "It's Stryker! How could he possibly know the coordinates here?"
Lin Nuo took the dog tag, his fingertips slowly rubbing against the marble-textured metal surface, a cruel arc curling at the corner of his mouth.
He turned his head, his gaze locked firmly onto Jean Grey, who was contacting the school in the distance.
"Ms. Jean, it seems that your good Professor, while sending you to 'observe' me, apparently also sent invitations to certain old friends."
The communicator in Jean's hand fell to the ground, her face deathly pale: "This is impossible, the Professor would never cooperate with Stryker!"
Lin Nuo pressed forward step by step, his tall figure completely enveloping Jean in shadow, his tone cold as a knife.
"Whether he did it or not is no longer important."
"What is important is that because of his'sense of justice,' those one hundred and twenty children are now on their way to the dissecting table."
Lin Nuo grabbed Jean's collar violently, pulling her in front of him, his voice filled with extreme pressure.
"Now, use your pride-and-joy Phoenix senses to tell me, where did those scumbags hide my 'property'?"
Chapter 203: Cold Chain Cage, Violence That Plays with Rules
Jean Grey felt the force at her collar almost lifting her off the ground. Lin Nuo's refined face was inches away; the black eyes behind his lenses held not a shred of warmth, resembling a supercomputer precisely calculating profit and loss.
"Lin... Lin Nuo, let her go."
Ororo's voice trembled, lightning flickering at her fingertips, yet she dared not take a step forward. Watching Jean's face, flushed from suffocation, the fear of Lin Nuo in her heart was growing wildly.
"Don't look at me with those eyes, as if I were a villain, Miss Jean."
Lin Nuo released his grip, his fingertips grazing Jean's collarbone, which trembled slightly from terror. He took a clean white silk handkerchief from his pocket and meticulously wiped the fingers that had just touched Jean's collar, as if they had been contaminated by something unlucky.
"Men like Stryker are like hyenas smelling blood. If that old man Charles hadn't sent out a distress signal from that broken machine, these hyenas wouldn't dare to run wild on my territory."
Just then, a micro-reconnaissance drone flew back from the depths of the dense forest, and Raven's figure slowly emerged near the bushes. She had changed into a dark gray skin-tight stealth suit, her curvaceous silhouette faintly visible in the shadows.
"Master, I found them. The children from Camp No. 2 were loaded into cold chain containers and are now hidden in an abandoned cold chain warehouse on the west side of the port. The leader is Marlo, a piece of trash previously discarded by the Hellfire Club, now risking his life for Stryker's money."
Raven handed the tablet to Lin Nuo. On the screen, dozens of red dots were crowded within a blue rectangular area, representing those faint life signals.
"Ororo, lead the way. Miss Jean, follow behind and watch closely."
Lin Nuo turned around, his suit jacket draped over his shoulders flapping violently in the hot wind.
Fifteen minutes later.
Niger River Delta, abandoned cold chain warehouse.
Behind the rusted rolling shutter door, several high-power generators were emitting a harsh roar. Around the perimeter of the warehouse, more than twenty mercenaries wearing exoskeleton armor and holding high-frequency oscillation rifles were patrolling vigilantly.
"Those are weapons targeting the Mutant nervous system."
Ororo lay behind a distant sand dune, her eyes already turning pale white, and the air pressure around her dropped sharply. "These bastards, I'm going to summon lightning to blow up all these generators and rush in during the chaos!"
"And then what?"
Lin Nuo crouched beside her, his gold-rimmed glasses refracting cold light in the setting sun. He toyed with a broken twig, idly drawing on the sand.
"Do you want those 120 children to turn into charcoal in your thunderstorm, or do you want those mercenaries to pull the trigger in despair and turn the warehouse into a slaughterhouse?"
Ororo was speechless. In her logic, there seemed to be no other way besides a direct assault.
"Miss Jean, what do you think?" Lin Nuo turned his head to look at the red-haired beauty who was struggling to calm the turmoil of the Phoenix Force within her.
Jean closed her eyes and sensed the situation inside the warehouse, her face turning paler: "Marlo has installed sensor bombs all around the warehouse. As long as a high-energy X-Gene fluctuation is detected, the entire cold chain system will self-destruct. He... he is waiting for a helicopter, preparing to transport the children away."
"That is why heroes always die from such boring compassion."
Lin Nuo stood up and dusted off his pant legs. He adjusted his glasses and gave an order into the radio microphone: "Emma, you can start now. Let that idiot named Marlo understand what real despair is."
Meanwhile, inside the warehouse.
The burly, cruel-faced Marlo was sitting on a wobbly wooden chair, clutching a remote control, his eyes fixed on the clock on the wall.
"That old fox Stryker, why hasn't he sent the helicopter yet?"
The moment he cursed, the phone in his pocket vibrated frantically.
"Boss! It's bad! Our Cayman accounts... have been frozen!" The voice on the other end was full of despair. "Not just the public funds, all of our brothers' personal accounts were wiped out three seconds ago! Also, the African Development Bank just issued a global warrant for us, saying we are suspected of trafficking illegal biochemical assets!"
Marlo stood up abruptly, and before he could react, Lin Nuo's gentle, jade-like voice suddenly came from the broadcast speakers outside the warehouse.
"Mr. Marlo, don't rush to check your balance. Three minutes ago, I bought the ownership of this port in the name of the Star Umbrella Group."
"Now, every inch of land under your feet, and every tile above your head, is my private property."
Outside the warehouse gate.
Lin Nuo held a black umbrella in one hand, looking out of place in the sweltering African wilderness. He walked toward the mercenaries who were holding their guns but were at a loss because their bank balances had been wiped out.
"According to local law, you are now guilty of 'illegal trespassing on private property.' And the private security force under my name has the right to clear you out without a court trial."
Lin Nuo stopped in front of the rolling shutter door. Behind him, dozens of armored vehicles bearing the local police insignia had blocked all escape routes. Those bureaucrats who usually took money to do favors were now standing like obedient grandsons next to Lin Nuo's black SUV.
"Lin Nuo! Don't come any closer!"
Marlo pushed open a crack in the rolling shutter door, roaring with a twisted face, holding the remote control high. "I have these hundred-plus Mutant brats as chips! If you dare to move, we all turn into mince!"
Ororo and Jean also caught up, both women's breathing becoming stagnant.
This was the most typical stalemate. Even if Lin Nuo had earth-shattering financial power, he seemed to have to bow down in the face of the remote control in the madman's hand.
"Chips?"
Lin Nuo chuckled, his laughter full of undisguised mockery. He took a step forward, his leather shoes clicking on the dry dirt.
"Marlo, did you get something wrong? I am not a saint like Charles who is full of benevolence and morality. I am saving these children because they are my 'property.' And you are trying to destroy my property."
"One more step, and I'll press it!" Marlo's finger pressed tightly against the red button, his eyes bloodshot.
"Go ahead and press it."
Lin Nuo's tone was as flat as if he were asking what to have for breakfast. He even took off his gold-rimmed glasses, folded them elegantly, and put them in his chest pocket.
"As long as your hand speed can be faster than the recombination speed of microscopic molecules."
The next second.
Ororo and Jean only felt a blur before their eyes.
No thunder, no gale. Lin Nuo's figure disappeared from where he stood.
Quicksilver's extreme speed allowed him to completely break free from the shackles of time. On Marlo's retina, that finger had only just pressed down less than a millimeter.
But in Lin Nuo's field of vision, the World was frozen.
He walked leisurely to Marlo, reached out, and gently pinched the remote control. Hulk-level monstrous strength erupted from his fingertips, and that precise electronic device, capable of triggering a violent explosion, was instantly crushed into a twisted lump of metallic slag.
Subsequently, Lin Nuo turned sideways and threw a light punch at the half-meter-thick concrete load-bearing wall.
Bang—! A dull thud echoed throughout the port.
Under Ororo's horrified gaze, the entire warehouse, covering several thousand square meters, produced an extremely strange resonance due to the terrifying shockwave generated by that single punch.
The load-bearing wall shattered instantly, turning into dust filling the sky. But those collapsing beams and rubble were forcibly frozen in mid-air by a pale red Bio-force fieldbefore they could fall onto the children.
Lin Nuo's figure reappeared at the warehouse entrance. He put his gold-rimmed glasses back on and dusted off the non-existent dust on his shirt shoulder. Behind him, that huge, cold cage was slowly peeling away to both sides in a state of collapse, revealing the children huddled together inside.
Marlo collapsed on the ground, looking at the scrap metal in his hand, then at the wall that had been demolished by a single punch. A dark stain seeped out of his crotch; this violence, which exceeded the scope of human understanding, completely shattered his sanity.
"Help... help..."
Lin Nuo stepped over the ruins, walked to Marlo, and looked down at him from a superior position.
"I said, no one can damage my property. Now, tell me, who exactly is that so-called 'Egypt buyer'?"
Marlo's voice was hoarse; due to extreme fear, his eyeballs were trembling violently, and he was desperately shrinking backward.
"I'll talk... I'll talk! That buyer... he's not human at all! He said his name is 'En Sabah Nur,' from an ancient pyramid in Egypt..."
Lin Nuo raised his eyebrows slightly, a flash of extremely profound amusement appearing in his eyes.
He turned his head to look at Jean Grey, who was watching him with a dazed, even somewhat awestruck expression, a cruel arc curling the corners of his mouth.
"Miss Jean, it seems our itinerary is going to increase."
Lin Nuo leaned down and whispered softly in Jean's ear, the scent of cedarwood surrounding her once again.
"Because the one we are about to face is your 'ancestor'."
Jean's body stiffened abruptly, and the Phoenix Forcewithin her, the moment it heard that name, erupted with a shrill, fateful cry.
At this moment, Marlo seemed to recall something extremely terrifying. He grabbed Lin Nuo's pant leg and screamed: "He... he is already on his way! He said he wants to reclaim all the 'false gods' in this World!"
Chapter 204: The List of Horsemen, Peeling Away the Blue-Skinned Disguise
"False god?" Lin Nuo chuckled softly and released the leather shoe he had been pressing against Mallo's chest. He leisurely extracted an antiseptic wet wipe from his suit pocket and slowly wiped his fingertips. The movement was as elegant as if he were handling a specimen on an operating table, rather than facing a smuggler who had wet his pants.
"Buried in a dirt pit in Egypt for thousands of years, it's easy for the brain to grow mold. However, to dare to set his sights on my things—this 'En Sabah Nur' has a bigger appetite than I imagined."
Mallo lay limp in the ruins like a dead dog, his voice hoarse: "He... he isn't joking. Those people who took the children were wearing ancient linen robes, and they had no pupils in their eyes... They said this World needs a cleansing."
Jean Grey stepped forward, her red hair somewhat disheveled in the dry wind at the river mouth. Her deep eyes stared fixedly at Mallo. The turbulence of the Phoenix Force within her, triggered by that name, caused a faint layer of red veins to appear on the surface of her skin.
"Let me," Jean's voice carried a hint of imperceptible trembling.
Lin Nuo turned to the side and made a gesture of invitation, a playful smile hanging on the corners of his mouth: "Miss Jean, Professor Charles should have taught you that prying into such twisted memories is not good for your mental health."
Jean ignored Lin Nuo's teasing. She reached out her slender palm and pressed it against Mallo's forehead.
Boom!
A telekinetic field erupted in an instant.
In Jean's sensory World, countless fragmented images crashed into her brain like a torrent.
She saw it.
Deep inside that warehouse shrouded in cold air, there were several strange people covered in blue paint, their expressions wooden. They didn't use any thermal weapons; they simply waved their hands, and those soldiers in exoskeleton armor turned into sand filling the sky.
Behind those strange people stood a tall shadow. The person was wearing heavy bronze armor, his skin a sickly blue-grey, and complex geometric patterns were engraved on his forehead.
That monster walked past the cargo containers filled with Mutant children, his fingers tracing across the glass.
"This one... too weak."
"This one... impure bloodline."
"Only the strongest are worthy of becoming my wings."
The scene shifted abruptly. It was a massive pyramid altar hidden underground in the old district of Cairo. In the center of the altar were four stone seats, three of which were already glowing with an eerie, faint light.
"Ah!"
Jean let out a shrill scream, abruptly pulling her hand back, her body losing its center of gravity as she fell backward.
Lin Nuo reached out and naturally wrapped his arm around her slender waist. His palm was powerful and broad, and the heat radiating from it instantly suppressed the power boiling within Jean due to fear.
"What did you see, my red-haired lady?" Lin Nuo lowered his head, his breath brushing against Jean's earlobe.
Jean's face was pale, her forehead covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, her fingernails digging deeply into the cuff of Lin Nuo's shirt: "The altar... he is selecting. Mallo wasn't lying; that wasn't an ordinary trade. He is looking for... the Four Horsemen."
Ororo walked over, her face ashen: "Four Horsemen? Isn't that a legend from the Apocalypse?"
"Legends are often the remnants of history that have been deliberately erased." Lin Nuo released Jean and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses.
He snapped his fingers at the void.
With a hum.
The holographic projection of Emma Frost lit up in the ruins of the warehouse. She was sitting in a leather swivel chair at the Star Umbrella headquarters, holding a top-secret list marked in red.
"Master, according to your instructions, I have compared the missing high-ranking Mutant files from the Hellfire Club over the past fifty years." Emma's voice was cold and pleasant. "I discovered a shocking commonality."
On the holographic screen, several photos flashed by rapidly.
"The 'Pestilence' who went missing twenty years ago, the 'Famine' candidate who vanished in Eastern Europe ten years ago... Before they disappeared, they had all been to the vicinity of the Suez Canal in Egypt, or had had contact with ancient local cults."
Emma's finger swiped across the screen, freezing on a rubbing of an ancient papyrus.
"This 'En Sabah Nur' means 'Morning Sun' in Ancient Egyptian. He is the first Mutant and the source of all abilities. He believes in the extreme of Darwinism—survival of the fittest. Whenever a civilization heads toward decline, he awakens, selects the four strongest Mutants as his followers, destroys the existing order, and re-establishes a World ruled by the strong."
Ororo's breathing became rapid: "So, he kidnapped those one hundred and twenty children to select the next Horsemen from among them?"
"No." Lin Nuo shook his head, a trace of mockery flashing in his eyes. "Those children are just'supplements' he uses to restore his divine power. The real Horsemen candidates he would actually consider are probably sitting in some beautiful manor right now, thinking about how to save the World."
Lin Nuo's gaze swept over Jean and Ororo.
That cold, clammy sense of scrutiny, like a viper, made both women feel a shiver of horror.
"Does Professor Charles know about this?" Jean suddenly looked up, her voice dry.
Lin Nuo did not answer directly, but instead clicked on an encrypted audio file. It was something Raven had extracted from the Trask Industries main server—a secret call recording between Professor Charles and high-level government officials from thirty years ago.
In the audio, Professor Charles's voice sounded young yet heavy.
"...That existence is the darkest shadow in the history of Mutants. I have already blocked all signal fluctuations regarding Egypt within Cerebro. If he awakens, our only choice is to completely erase his traces in this era before he regains his divine power."
Jean's body swayed. Professor Charles had hidden the truth. He not only knew about the existence of Apocalypse, but was even intentionally or unintentionally guiding the X-Men to avoid those truths.
"Your Professor, for the sake of that pathetic 'dream of coexistence,' chose to bury his head in the sand." Lin Nuowalked up to Jean and lightly ran his fingers through her red hair. "He thought that by blocking the signals, the shadow would not descend. But he forgot that a shadow only stretches infinitely because of the existence of light."
Lin Nuo turned his head to look at Raven: "Have the coordinates been confirmed?"
Raven nodded, her voice calm: "The old district of Cairo, an abandoned temple at the confluence of the Nile Delta. There is an extremely strong magnetic field interference there that our satellites cannot penetrate. But local informants reported that bell ringing has been coming from underground there for three days."
Lin Nuo took off his suit jacket, which had been dirtied by dust, and threw it casually onto the ruins. He was wearing only a form-fitting white shirt, which outlined his beautiful, leopard-like muscular contours.
"Ororo, go and fill the spare batteries in the transport plane."
"Miss Jean, compose yourself."
Lin Nuo walked toward the armored off-road vehicle that had been waiting for a long time, waving his hand without looking back.
"We are going to Cairo. Since this 'false god' wants to take back his things, I will let him understand that the dealer in this era has already changed."
...
Egypt, Cairo.
Deep in the slums of the old district, a nameless temple was more than half eroded by wind and sand.
The air was filled with a stale, strange smell, a mixture of dead fish and spices.
Salim knelt on the damp bluestone floor, his forehead pressed tightly against the ground. As the last descendant of the "Gravedigger" clan, he had been waiting here for three days and nights.
In front of him, the massive stone sarcophagus, crafted from obsidian and engraved with golden flowing cloud patterns, was making a teeth-grinding friction sound.
"Master... you have finally heard your servant's prayers..." Salim's voice trembled, carrying a kind of fanatical humility.
Click.
The lid of the sarcophagus was violently pushed open from the inside by a withered, blue-purple palm.
That palm had sharp, dark blue fingernails, and with its movement, the surrounding air, which had originally been solidified, actually produced a visible collapse.
A low, hoarse voice, seemingly carrying the friction of thousands of years of wind and sand, slowly rose from inside the sarcophagus.
"My... followers..."
That pair of eyes, without pupils, only flickering with two clusters of silver-white electric light, slowly opened in the darkness.
Apocalypse sat up from the sarcophagus. He greedily breathed in this modern air, filled with industrial exhaust and noise, his brows knitting together in disgust.
"This World... has become so filthy."
Salim crawled forward on his knees, pointing at the flickering signal tower above his head, and spoke tremblingly.
"Master, the World has changed. The current rulers are a group of mortals, and... some hypocrites who claim to be heroes. But recently, there is a man named Lin Nuo, and he is collecting your 'people'."
Apocalypse slowly turned his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the thick layers of soil.
"Lin Nuo?"
His blue-purple lips curled into a sinister smile, and the surrounding stone walls instantly turned into sand and dust, falling away.
"I can feel it, a scent that does not belong to this Universe, rotten and fascinating."
Apocalypse stood up, his bare soles stepping on the altar; with every step he took, his body was recovering its fullness at an astonishing speed.
"Go tell that thief."
"The things I want, he cannot keep."
Salim bowed his body, his voice filled with extreme trembling: "Master, he has already brought people this way."
Apocalypse lifted his head, looking toward the broken skylight of the temple; in the distant night sky, the roar of turbofan engines was faintly approaching.
"Let him come."
"I happen to be in need of... a sufficiently powerful vessel."
Deep in the temple, that altar, which had been extinguished for thousands of years, erupted with a blinding, deep-blue light at this moment.
Meanwhile, in the night sky thousands of kilometers away, Lin Nuo sat by the porthole of the Star Wing, watching the target point on the radar that was glowing a deep, purplish red, his fingertips tapping lightly on the tabletop.
He turned his head to look at Jean Grey, who was trapped in a nightmare beside him, her face flushed, and lowered his voice.
"Miss Jean, if that bird inside you keeps screaming, I can't guarantee... what method I will use to make it quiet later."
Jean woke up with a start, meeting Lin Nuo's pair of highly aggressive black eyes.
"Lin Nuo... are we really going to meet that monster?"
Lin Nuo chuckled, his finger brushing across her lips.
"No."
"It is that monster who is coming to meet his Master."
Chapter 205: Divine Covetousness, Whispers on the Throne
Jean Grey had not yet recovered from Lin Nuo's highly aggressive teasing when her wrist-worn micro-communicator emitted a piercing red alarm.
It was Professor Charles's private encrypted channel.
Inside the quiet command vehicle, thick with the scent of hormones, the electronic sound felt exceptionally abrupt, like some sort of righteous judgment attempting to tear through this layer of ambiguous pretense.
Lin Nuo released the hand that had been toying with her red hair, leaned back against the leather sofa, and gestured lazily for her to answer.
"Answer it, Miss Jean."
He took a bottle of vintage red wine from the nearby cabinet, his fingertips grazing lightly against the crystalline glass wall, "Let our Professor hear whose arms his most prized student is currently curled up in."
Jean took a deep breath and tapped the answer button with her fingertip.
A slightly distorted holographic projection spread out in the center of the vehicle.
Charles sat in his wheelchair, the brainwave enhancement chamber behind him emitting a ghostly blue light, his expression even worse than it had been at the manor.
"Jean, Ororo, how is the situation over there?"
Charles's voice was heavy, revealing undisguised worry, "I just monitored a large-scale physical collapse at the mouth of the Niger River via satellite. Lin Nuo, what the hell are you doing?"
Ororo walked up from behind, her grey tactical suit clinging tightly to her body, the sweat on her forehead not yet dry.
"Professor, we saved the children."
Ororo's voice was slightly hoarse. She glanced at Lin Nuo, who was elegantly swirling his wine glass, her eyes complex, "But... Stryker intervened, and one hundred and twenty children from Camp No. 2 were abducted. It was Lin Nuo; he single-handedly tore apart the cold chain warehouse just now."
Charles was clearly stunned on the other end.
His wise eyes darted quickly across the screen, and his tone suddenly turned severe, "Ororo, listen, take Jean and those children and evacuate immediately! Washington has already noticed Star Umbrella's transnational armed operation; that is political suicide!"
"Evacuate?"
Lin Nuo chuckled softly. He took a sip of red wine, his voice deep and magnetic, carrying clearly through the communicator to New York.
"Professor, you still love commanding others to die from a safe place."
Lin Nuo stood up and walked with long strides in front of the projection.
He reached out and pulled lightly in the void, and several sets of parallel surveillance footage directly covered Charles's projection.
In the footage, several hundred Mutant children were sitting in a Star Umbrella transport plane.
They were holding heated high-energy food in their hands and were wrapped in nano-thermal blankets.
Several researchers in white lab coats were gently examining them; there were no shackles, no cold glares.
"Rescuing these children is only the first step."
Lin Nuo looked straight into Charles's eyes, his gaze behind his gold-rimmed glasses sharp as a knife, "Now, I want to ask you a very realistic question, Charles."
"These six hundred-plus children who are displaced, wanted by multiple governments, and carrying various genetic traumas—where are you going to take them?"
Charles was speechless. His lips moved, "The school will provide them with refuge..."
"The school?"
Lin Nuo interrupted him directly, his tone full of undisguised mockery.
"That manor of yours with only a few teaching buildings, a few dozen rooms, and where you even have to rely on alumni donations for annual lawn-mowing fees?"
"You tell them it's a refuge, but in reality, it's just a living coffin with a huge target on it."
Lin Nuo paced inside the cramped command vehicle, each step feeling like it was stomping on the hearts of Jean and Ororo.
"These six hundred children cost thirty thousand U.S. dollars a day in food. The genetic suppression drugs and psychological counseling they need subsequently will burn through at least two hundred million of Star Umbrella's budget annually."
"They need legal identification, secret residences that can avoid satellite surveillance, and an entire private guard force capable of fighting the Military's special forces."
Lin Nuo stopped abruptly and leaned forward, his refined face almost pressing against Charles's holographic projection.
"Charles, is your pathetic pension enough to buy them one lunch?"
"You keep talking about coexistence, but you don't even have the ability to feed them."
"Is your so-called salvation just taking them from one hell into another, even poorer, more hopeless slum?"
Charles's face turned pale at this moment.
He looked at Jean and Ororo, hoping to see the usual admiration and firmness in their eyes.
However, he was disappointed.
Ororo lowered her head, looking at her hands that were trembling slightly from the recent battle, and remembered the decisiveness with which Lin Nuo had cut the children's shackles just now.
Jean, on the other hand, was staring fixedly at Lin Nuo's profile.
Although this man spoke the harshest words, in just a few short hours, he had paved a path to survival for these children with money and violence.
"Lin Nuo... this isn't just a matter of money; what Mutants need is dignity and social recognition."
Charles's voice sounded somewhat lacking in confidence.
"Dignity is built upon strength."
Lin Nuo sat back on the sofa and waved his hand at the communicator, his tone returning to that high-level gentleness.
"Professor, just keep dreaming in your beautiful garden. This three-day 'observation period' isn't over yet; I will let Miss Jean see with her own eyes what the order of the new era is."
Snap.
Lin Nuo cut the communication directly.
The command vehicle returned to silence, with only the slight humming sound from the central air conditioning vent.
Jean stood in place, feeling the Phoenix Force within her frantically devouring this emotion called 'rebellion'.
Charles's warning seemed so pale at this moment.
"Lin Nuo, what you said just now... is it true?"
Jean turned her head, her long red hair covering half of her cheek.
Lin Nuo did not answer; he simply extended his hand, palm up, and made an inviting gesture toward Jean.
"Star Umbrella has a private island in Cairo, where there are the best Doctors and teachers. Miss Jean, rather than listening to that old man preach, why not accompany me to see that 'First Mutant'?"
He stood up, walked to Jean's side, and his palm slid onto her lower back with extreme naturalness.
Jean's body stiffened for a moment, but she did not pull away as she usually would.
She could feel the heat radiating from Lin Nuo's fingertips—a sense of absolute control that could make even an Omega-level powerhouse like her feel at ease.
...
New York State, Westchester County.
Professor Charles sat in the empty brainwave enhancement chamber, the afterglow of the holographic screen reflecting on his dejected face.
His fingers were rubbing against the armrest of his wheelchair; every word Lin Nuo had just said was like a slap in the face, striking his fragile self-esteem.
"Professor..."
Logan pushed the door open and entered. His wounds had not yet fully healed, he was clutching half a bottle of bourbon in his hand, and his eyes were full of malice.
"That bastard hung up? I knew it; this kid never intended to let them go."
Charles ignored Logan's complaints and slowly put on that silver brainwave enhancement helmet.
"Logan, I have a premonition. That name Lin Nuomentioned... might have returned to this World earlier than we imagined."
As the instrument activated, millions of fine mental threads spread globally along the signal tower.
Charles closed his eyes, his consciousness crossing the ocean and traversing the desert, attempting to relocate Jean and Ororo.
However, when his mental power touched the sky above Cairo, Egypt, an extreme, abyss-like feeling of deathly silence instantly flooded into his mind.
"Ah!"
Charles let out a scream, clutched his head with both hands, and fell from his wheelchair.
"Professor!"
Logan rushed forward in a single stride and lifted the old man up.
Charles's eyes were bloodshot; he gripped Logan's arm tightly, his lips trembling violently from terror.
"What... was that..."
"Professor, what did you see?"
Charles's gaze was somewhat unfocused. He whispered into Logan's ear in a terrified tone that was almost like sleep-talking:
"Egypt... has disappeared. In my perception, it has turned into a black void that devours all mental power."
"Not just Jean, I can't even sense the thoughts of any living person on that land..."
"That monster called 'En Sabah Nur', he is welcoming Lin Nuo, he is welcoming... his new vessel."
Meanwhile, above the ruins of the Cairo temple, Lin Nuolooked up at the night sky.
He could feel that power, which Charles called the 'void', acting like a lecher, impatiently wanting to crawl into his body.
Lin Nuo pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, a cruel arc curling at the corners of his mouth.
He turned his head and looked at Jean Grey beside him, whose expression was gradually becoming dazed, her red hair dancing wildly in the wind.
"Miss Jean, can you feel it?"
"Your ancestor seems to want to have a chat with me about your 'ownership'."
Chapter 206: Cairo Collapses, The False God Tolls the Death Knell
At this moment, Cairo, Egypt.
Inside a nameless temple beneath the old city, peeling murals turned to dust amidst a tide of deep blue energy.
Apocalypse, his ash-blue soles bare, stepped over the rubble-strewn ground.
His pupil-less, silvery-white eyes looked down at Salim, who was kneeling on the ground.
"You have awakened me."
His voice was low and hoarse, carrying the echo of grinding metal.
He raised his withered palm, which held the laws of destruction, spread his fingers, and pressed them onto Salim's head.
This was not an inquiry, but a unilateral plunder.
Millennia of historical changes, the technological development of modern society, the nuclear deterrence of superpowers, and the humiliating living conditions of Mutants—a massive and complex stream of information flowed along his neurons, forcibly poured into Apocalypse's brain.
Salim could not withstand this brutal extraction; black blood flowed from his seven orifices, and a wheezing, rattling sound emanated from his throat.
Apocalypse withdrew his hand, leaving the shell that had lost its utility to collapse at his feet.
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the thick layers of Earth, looking at the spiderweb-like cables and the towering reinforced concrete jungle on the surface.
"Humans have established governments, capital has carved up resources, and yet my people are hiding in the greenhouse of a school, begging for the mercy of those weaklings."
His purplish-blue lips curled into a sneer of contempt.
"Blind worship, hypocritical peace. This World has taken the wrong path!"
He spread his arms, and the intricate ancient Egyptian runes on his chest lit up with a blinding, intense light.
A massive, invisible psychic wave swept across the globe, centered on this abandoned temple.
This was the declaration of a god, and the prelude to Carnage.
On the surface of Cairo.
The bustling commercial district fell into absolute silence without any warning.
All the neon signs shattered simultaneously, traffic lights went out, and the engines of moving cars stalled.
The entire city's power grid suffered a devastating short circuit the moment it came into contact with that psychic wave.
Immediately after, the Earth began to wail.
The streets of the old city split down the middle, and bottomless ravines swallowed vast swathes of slums.
Screams, crashes, and the roar of collapsing buildings intertwined to form a doomsday rhapsody.
This psychic wave did not stop there; it ignored physical distance and precisely locked onto all X-Gene carriers with high-level potential across the globe.
New York, Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters.
In the medical room, Logan let out a painful, beastly roar.
He clutched his head as his three Adamantium claws unsheathed uncontrollably, slicing the specialized metal bed frame into pieces.
Magneto Erik, who was performing hard labor in the underground Vibranium mine, watched as the iron pickaxe in his hand bent out of thin air.
In his dull eyes, a spark of fanatical fire reignited.
Inside the temporary command vehicle in Africa.
A piercing alarm completely shattered the previous rhythm.
The tactical communicator on Ororo's waist flashed frantically, its red indicator light shining blindingly.
She hurriedly connected the channel, and the panicked shouts of the tribespeople left behind came through.
"Ororo! The sky is leaking!"
"A reverse tornado suddenly appeared over the Serengeti, and all the barometers have gone off the charts!"
"This is not a natural phenomenon!"
Ororo's face turned pale; she stood up, the veins on the back of her hands bulging.
As an Omega-level weather manipulator, her perception of natural elements was the keenest.
Just a second ago, she felt the Earth's magnetic field being forcibly tampered with.
It was like playing a guitar that had fallen into disrepair, with the strings on the verge of snapping.
Ororo looked at Lin Nuo, her voice filled with uncontrollable panic.
"Is that what that guy called Apocalypse did?"
"He just woke up; how could he possibly affect the weather thousands of kilometers away?"
Lin Nuo did not answer directly.
He unhurriedly undid the cuffs of his white shirt and rolled up the sleeves by two inches, revealing his well-defined forearms.
The holographic projection in the center of the command vehicle flickered, and the image of Emma Frost cut into the channel.
The White Queen did not have her usual laziness at this moment; her snow-white suit looked exceptionally professional, and she held a top-secret briefing that had just been compiled.
"Master, something has happened in Cairo."
Emma pushed several high-resolution satellite images onto the main screen.
In the images, a large-scale subsidence had occurred in the old city of Cairo, and a huge black hole had replaced the original slums.
The entire city's communication network was completely paralyzed, and the Egyptian Military's armored division was gathering in the surrounding area.
But all electronic equipment within three kilometers of the subsidence area had lost all response.
Emma's slender fingers slid rapidly across the screen.
"It is not just Egypt."
"In the past few minutes, the eyes and ears planted by the Hellfire Club across the globe have reported that over seventeen high-level Mutants have exhibited severe symptoms of mental weakness."
"Charles's Cerebro has also crashed, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command's radar has captured an abnormal energy peak."
The command vehicle was dead silent.
Jean and Ororo looked at the shocking satellite images, their breathing becoming heavy.
This power to paralyze a city of ten million people with a mere gesture and affect Mutants globally from afar had already exceeded the boundaries of their understanding of the word "powerful."
The restraint and tolerance that Charles had always taught them were, in the face of such absolute violence, simply a laughable joke.
Lin Nuo picked up the unfinished glass of red wine, the crystal-clear liquid swaying in the glass, refracting in his calm, black eyes.
"Do you see, Miss Jean."
"This is the truth that your Professor has always wanted to hide."
"He thinks that by burying his head in the sand and pretending not to see, disaster will not befall."
Lin Nuo paced to the holographic screen and tapped his fingertips twice on the huge black subsidence area.
"Apocalypse is sending a signal; he is announcing his return to all high-level Mutants around the World."
"He feels that this World dominated by ordinary people is too much of an eyesore, and he wants to reshape the order."
"But he has just awakened, and this dilapidated body is not yet enough to support him in completing the purge."
Lin Nuo turned his head, a sharp, cold light flashing across the edge of his gold-rimmed glasses.
He looked at Ororo, then at Jean, the curve of his lips carrying the composure of a high-dimensional player looking down at a chessboard.
"He needs wings, tools that can replace him to destroy armies, paralyze networks, and tear apart those who resist."
"The collapse in Cairo is just an appetizer."
"Next, he will personally visit to recruit those high-level Mutants who are marginalized by human society, brainwashed by Charles, and filled with confusion."
Lin Nuo downed the red wine in his glass and casually set the goblet on the metal console.
"The game has officially begun!"
Cairo, edge of the subsidence area.
Amidst the dust filling the sky, Apocalypse's tall figure slowly rose into mid-air.
Below was the Egyptian Military's armored unit, standing in battle formation, their dark tank barrels already locked onto this uninvited guest.
Apocalypse ignored those steel War Machine that seemed so intimidating to ordinary people.
His silvery-white eyes pierced through the clouds, his gaze seemingly crossing oceans to land on certain specific coordinates.
He stretched out his arm covered in ancient runes and clenched his five fingers in the void.
The sand on the ground began to churn with his movements, turning into four thick stone pillars that rose from the ground.
Apocalypse's hoarse voice echoed over the entire subsidence area, drowning out the roar of the armored vehicle engines.
"The old era has rotted away; go and find my horsemen!"
Chapter 207: Grabbing Someone from Afar, Going to Cool Down the Old Monster
New York, Star Umbrella Manor.
Emma Frost was originally holding a wine glass, checking the fund flow reports from Africa.
The red wine in the goblet vibrated violently without warning, and the deep red liquid splashed onto the pure white carpet.
Her narrow, beautiful eyes contracted suddenly, and she entered her secondary mutation Diamond Form without hesitation.
On her crystal-clear diamond skin, a faint shimmer appeared, resisting the pressure.
"Anna! Come here!"
Emma shouted coldly, her massive Telepath field expanding without reservation.
The field transformed into a translucent protective shield, tightly guarding Anna, who was sitting on the sofa reading a book, at its core.
Outside that protective shield, an invisible psychic Stormwas cutting back and forth like a bone-scraping steel knife.
Anna did not suffer any substantial harm, but she could clearly see the cold sweat seeping from Emma's forehead.
"Sister Emma, what happened?"
"An old monster who has slept for thousands of years has a bad temper after waking up and is going crazy all over the World."
"Stay inside obediently and don't move."
"The Master's prey is not something others can snatch away!"
...
Niger River Delta, on the sandy ground outside the abandoned cold chain warehouse.
Star Umbrella's heavy transport plane was carrying out the final loading of supplies.
Dozens of off-road vehicles loaded with mutant children were lined up, preparing to drive into the cabin.
Just as that psychic wave swept past, Ororo, who was walking at the front of the convoy, suddenly stiffened.
Her originally azure pupils rolled back at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The air pressure around her plummeted crazily without warning, and a violent wind rose from the ground, kicking up sand that filled the sky.
The originally clear night sky was covered by thick thunderclouds in just half a minute.
Purple arcs of electricity rolled in the clouds like giant pythons, and the pungent smell of ozone filled the entire camp.
"Ororo?"
Jean Grey, who was following behind, sensed something was wrong.
She tried to use her telekinesis to soothe Ororo's agitated emotions.
But as soon as her psychic tentacles made contact, they were ruthlessly repelled by an ancient barrier filled with dead silence.
Jean groaned, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, and she took several steps back before barely standing firm.
Deep within Ororo's consciousness, she could not hear the exclamations of the mercenaries around her, nor the roar of the vehicle engines.
She was placed in a pure darkness.
A tall, gray-blue figure wearing bronze armor was walking towards her, stepping on the void.
Apocalypse's hoarse voice carried a kind of seduction that struck the soul directly, and every word accurately stepped on Ororo's most fragile nerves.
"Child who controls the sky."
"You are shedding tears for those weaklings, and you are angry for those injustices."
"But look at yourself now; not only can you not protect them, but you are also forced to bow your head to an arrogant thug."
Apocalypse extended that hand covered in runes, with a mass of pure Storm origin floating in his palm.
"That group of hypocrites who call themselves heroes are limiting your talent."
"That man named Lin Nuo is using your compassion."
"They are none of them worthy of having you."
"Come to my side and be my knight."
"I will grant you true divine power; you can use thunder to cleanse those sinful warlords and use Storms to tear apart those greedy politicians."
"This is the power you truly want, isn't it?"
In the outside reality, Ororo's body had already floated into mid-air.
She completely lost her reason, her arms spread open, and the wind pressure around her soared to a terrifying level.
The two off-road vehicles closest to her were lifted up by the strong wind, their wheels leaving the ground and shaking violently.
Terrified cries of children came from the carriages.
Those Star Umbrella mercenaries raised their guns, but they couldn't aim at all; even standing still in the Stormbecame a luxury.
"She's lost control!"
Jean shouted, her red hair dancing wildly in the wind.
She wanted to forcibly stimulate the Phoenix Force to suppress it, but in the face of this level of natural disaster, her telekinesis seemed too thin.
Just at the critical moment when the two off-road vehicles were about to be swept into the center of the tornado and smashed into scrap metal, a pitch-black figure smashed through the wind barrier.
Lin Nuo wasn't even wearing his suit jacket, wearing only that white shirt, and against the wind pressure that could tear steel plates, he took a step into mid-air.
He didn't use any fancy magic, nor did he attempt any psychic communication.
Quicksilver's limit speed allowed him to step on the chaotic airflow and appear directly above Ororo.
Hulk-level super strength erupted in his arms, and Lin Nuopressed his hands downwards violently.
Bang!
The materialized Bio-force field transformed into a huge hemispherical dome, directly inverted over the entire convoy.
The two off-road vehicles that had been lifted were forcibly locked in mid-air by the field, and then steadily pressed back to the ground.
Lin Nuo's figure descended, his right hand gripping the back of Ororo's neck precisely like an iron pincer.
"Get out."
Lin Nuo's tone was cold, without any emotional fluctuation.
The Asgardian Divine Factor in his body mixed with the system's own absolute resistance, pouring into Ororo's spine without reservation along his palm.
This was a near-barbaric physical expulsion.
In Ororo's sea of consciousness, that pure darkness suddenly collapsed.
Apocalypse's tall figure didn't even have time to react before being smashed head-on by a domineering force mixed with dark golden light.
The connection channel was shattered instantly.
...
Under the ground of Cairo.
Apocalypse let out a muffled groan and took half a step back.
A flash of extreme astonishment crossed his silver-white eyes.
The psychic imprint he left in the white-haired woman's mind was actually forcibly cut off by a kind of pure violence.
There was no psychic game, the other party just domineeringly smashed the connection channel.
"Lin Nuo..."
Apocalypse chewed on the name, a grim arc pulling at the corner of his mouth.
...
Niger River Delta.
Ororo, who had lost her support, fell from mid-air.
Lin Nuo casually scooped her up, tucking her limp body into the crook of his arm, and landed steadily on the ground.
The thunderclouds in the sky lost their energy source and began to dissipate rapidly, revealing the brilliant starry sky unique to Africa.
Peace returned to the camp, with only the heavy breathing of the mercenaries left.
Jean Grey stood not far away, her eyes fixed on Lin Nuo.
As an Omega-level Telepath, she knew better than anyone what had just happened.
Apocalypse's psychic pressure was something even Professor Charles couldn't confront directly, let alone interrupt easily.
Yet Lin Nuo not only did it, but he didn't emit any psychic energy fluctuations at all.
He was like an insulator.
A monster completely immune to all psychic control and soul brainwashing.
Jean stepped forward, her voice dry.
"Who exactly are you?"
She suddenly realized that Charles asking her to come here as an "observer" was simply a ridiculous joke.
In front of this man, she was the prey being observed wantonly under a microscope.
Lin Nuo ignored Jean's questioning.
He looked down at Ororo in the crook of his arm.
This Storm goddess was panting heavily, her whole body soaked in cold sweat, and her originally neatly combed silver hair stuck messily to her cheeks.
In those azure eyes, there still remained confusion and fear of that power just now.
Lin Nuo applied force with his fingers, pressing on the back of her neck.
"Awake?"
The pain brought Ororo back to her senses completely.
She glanced at the safe convoy around her, then at Lin Nuo's expressionless face close at hand, and an unspeakable lingering fear welled up in her heart.
If it weren't for this man's intervention, she would have killed the children she vowed to protect with her own hands just now.
Ororo's voice trembled, her hands gripping the fabric of Lin Nuo's shirt tightly, like a drowning person clutching the only piece of driftwood.
"He... he was speaking in my head."
She was no longer that high-and-mighty X-Men mentor, but a mortal whose soft underbelly had just been exposed by a god.
Lin Nuo helped her stand straight and calmly straightened his collar, which had been wrinkled by the wind.
"I know."
Ororo looked up, her eyes red, and her voice carried a deep self-loathing.
"He promised to give me power."
"Lin Nuo, just now... I was really tempted."
"He told me that as long as I followed him, I could kill all the warlords here."
This confession was equivalent to handing over her most fatal weakness to Lin Nuo.
Jean felt her scalp tingle as she listened from the side.
Apocalypse's temptation was too precise, completely crushing Ororo's psychological defenses.
Lin Nuo looked at Ororo's face, filled with humiliation and confusion.
He didn't offer comfort, nor did he take the opportunity to mock her.
He just raised his hand and crudely grabbed Ororo's chin, forcing her to look directly into his eyes.
"You feel humiliated? You feel you aren't worthy of being a hero?"
"Put away your pitiful moral squeamishness."
"To protect the weak, you have to be more brutal than the wicked."
"Apocalypse thinks you are a useful tool, and Charlesthinks you are an obedient facade."
Lin Nuo leaned close to her, his breath hitting her ear.
"And I, I only care about whether you can blast those scumbags into ash when I tell you to call down lightning."
"You were tempted just now?"
"That's good; it proves you're still a living person."
Ororo froze in place.
This completely different set of values smashed her existing shackles like a heavy hammer.
Jean watched as this man pulled Ororo back from the brink of collapse with just a few words, even reshaping her cognition in the process.
She suddenly realized that Lin Nuo's danger didn't lie in his ability to smash a warehouse with one punch, but in his ability to easily strip away a person's soul belief and fill it with his own rules.
Lin Nuo stopped and turned his head.
"As for you, do you want to stay here and continue your pathetic Saint dream, or come with me to Cairo and see for yourself how that old monster is forced to his knees?"
Ororo gritted her teeth and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
"He knows all our weaknesses."
"Lin Nuo, what will you use to defeat a god who has lived for thousands of years?"
Lin Nuo pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a cruel arc hooked at the corner of his mouth.
"A god?"
"The thing I like doing most in this life is stepping on gods, and then asking them if they submit!"
Chapter 208: Snatching Food Through the Air, Completely Enraging the Old Monster
Lin Nuo pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, his tone flat and devoid of any ripples.
Jean opened her mouth, but could not make a sound.
The overwhelming mental fluctuations of Apocalypse had nearly suffocated her just a moment ago.
That kind of power, capable of sweeping across the globe and stripping away the will of Omega-level powerhouses, was, in this man's words, merely a pastime to amuse himself.
A deafening roar of turbofans tore through the deathly silence of the night sky, completely drowning out the chaotic sandstorms of the Niger Delta.
A massive shadow completely covered the wreckage of the abandoned cold chain warehouse.
Four solid black Star Umbrella heavy transport aircraft, braving the lingering aftershocks of the thunderclouds, landed in a standard tactical formation on the desolate Gobi desert.
The hydraulic cargo doors lowered slowly, slamming heavily onto the dry yellow earth.
There was no stealth coating designed for show like the blackbird jet, nor was there the long-winded speech about justice and the future that Charles was fond of.
What poured out from the cabins was the absolute hegemony belonging to capital and the industrial system.
Dozens of top-tier surgeons wearing chemical protective suits filed out, pushing portable medical pods.
Under the operation of tracked robots, polymer folding thermostatic tents sprang up in the desert in less than three minutes.
Bright and gentle surgical shadowless lamps dispelled the chill of the night.
One hundred and twenty shaken Mutant children were quickly escorted into the medical zone.
Raven walked to Lin Nuo's side in her military boots.
By now, she had changed back into her sharp black tailcoat, and she handed over a translucent tablet with both hands.
"All 642 target children have completed their biometric data entry."
"Each person has been equipped with an independent legal passport, a Swiss bank personal trust account, and residency rights on that private Star Umbrella island in the Scandinavian Peninsula."
"The initial two hundred million U.S. dollars in medical funding has been allocated and is in place."
After finishing her report, Raven glanced provocatively at the stunned Jean and Ororo standing nearby.
Ororo stood in the cold wind, not bothering to wipe the dirt stains from her cheeks.
Her azure eyes were fixed intently on the bright medical zone not far away.
She saw a young Black boy with severe festering scars on his neck, holding a steaming cup of cocoa, offering a shy smile to the Star Umbrella security personnel.
No one put a cold suppression collar on that boy; a medical expert even pulled a piece of delicately wrapped chocolate from their pocket and placed it in the boy's palm.
Ororo's breathing began to quicken uncontrollably.
The estate of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters was beautiful, and the lawns were trimmed to perfection.
But the cabin of the blackbird jet could not hold over six hundred refugees, and Charles's underground vault certainly could not produce two hundred million U.S. dollars in cash flow.
The justice she had once been so proud of seemed as thin as scrap paper in the face of the real money this man had thrown down.
An electronic authorization form traced a graceful arc and landed steadily in Ororo's arms.
Lin Nuo had his hands in his suit pockets.
He did not look directly at Storm, but instead stared at the beams of the searchlights rising in the distance, his jawline appearing exceptionally cold and hard under the play of light and shadow.
Ororo's voice was dry.
"What is this?"
Lin Nuo turned his head, his lenses refracting a dangerous cold light.
"Your indenture contract."
"Or, to use a term you superheroes prefer to hear, an employment offer."
"A letter of appointment for the General Director of MutantRescue Affairs for the Star Umbrella Africa region."
"As long as you sign it, the fully armed troops in this camp, the top medical teams, and those priceless heavy transport aircraft will all be under your command."
Ororo gripped the thin tablet so hard her knuckles turned pale.
"There is no such thing as a free lunch."
"You are giving me this kind of real power—what exactly do you want me to do?"
Lin Nuo strode forward, closing the distance to Ororo.
The distance between them was so close that they could clearly perceive the heat radiating from each other's bodies.
"Don't think of me as too sordid, Ms. Ororo."
"At least when it comes to these cubs, I have no interest in playing emotional games."
"What I want is every Mutant gene on this land worth saving; they are the foundational material for the new World order I am constructing."
"And you are the meteorological radar most familiar with this harsh tropical environment."
Lin Nuo raised his hand, naturally and assertively tucking the silver hair scattered around Ororo's ears.
His rough fingertips brushed against her cheeks, which were somewhat cold from exhaustion.
Ororo's body was taut, but she forcibly suppressed the instinct to dodge.
"You can go ahead and accept all the nonsense Apocalypsestuffed into your head earlier."
"Take the ample funding and weaponry I've given you, and go slaughter those warlords who dare to sell Mutants like livestock."
Lin Nuo leaned in slightly, his seductive whisper piercing directly into Ororo's eardrums.
"But this Storm, capable of destroying everything, must bear my name."
Ororo lowered her eyelids, her teeth biting down hard on her lower lip.
She remembered the abyssal pressure when Apocalypsedescended earlier.
She remembered the scene of her losing control in her rage, nearly destroying the convoy and killing these children.
If Lin Nuo hadn't domineeringly severed that mental connection, she would now be a marionette manipulated at will by the old monster.
She had lost completely.
Whether it was the crushing physical combat power, the manipulation of capital rules, or the decisive means of striking directly at the soul, the man before her presented a power that transcended dimensions.
Her legs buckled, and she slammed one knee heavily onto the dry Gobi desert.
This was not a courtesy, but a bone-deep resignation to absolute power and realistic responsibility after shedding the hypocritical halos of the X-Men.
"Until the rescue operation is completely over, this Storm is at your disposal."
"Officer."
Jean stood three meters away, her hands gripping the edges of her nylon trench coat tightly.
She had witnessed with her own eyes one of the most steadfast core mentors of the X-Men kneeling at Lin Nuo's feet just like that, without a ripple of emotion.
There was no cruelty of torture, no distortion of mental brainwashing.
Lin Nuo had simply slammed the bloody logic of reality and two hundred million U.S. dollars on the table, and it had completely shattered Storm's defensive line of faith.
This method was far more despair-inducing than Charles's psychic control.
Emma's holographic projection unfolded out of thin air behind Lin Nuo.
The White Queen maintained her noble and elegant posture, her long legs crossed, her gaze piercing through the screen to land on Jean, her smile carrying a hint of provocation.
"Congratulations, Master, you have acquired another handy tool."
"However, the situation in Cairo is a bit tricky."
"Satellite feedback indicates that Apocalypse's magnetic field Storm is taking shape."
"He is recruiting knights on a global scale, and because you forcibly severed the causal connection with Ororo, that old monster is currently in a state of fury."
Lin Nuo clapped his hands casually and grabbed Ororo's arm, pulling her up from the sandy ground.
"Let's go, Ms. Jean."
Lin Nuo turned and walked toward the luxuriously configured black command aircraft.
"Let's go cool down your ancestor."
...
Deep underground in the old city of Cairo, Egypt.
The entire stratum had collapsed over a large area, with ruins obscuring the sky and sun.
In the center of the massive ancient altar, deep blue energy churned and raged like an inverted waterfall.
Apocalypse stood with his rune-covered gray-blue upper body bare, in front of four ancient, weathered stone thrones.
On three of those thrones, the phantoms of high-ranking Mutants he had forcibly dragged here were already faintly appearing.
Those twisted bodies were undergoing a painful metamorphosis under the infusion of energy.
His previously half-closed eyes suddenly snapped open.
Deep within his silver-white pupils, a tangible, violent rage ignited.
The core coordinate belonging to "Storm" had been crudely erased from his vast sensory web.
It was the humiliation of having a key node where he had planted his mental mark crushed by a brutal force.
For thousands of years, no mortal had ever dared to forcibly snatch food while a god was selecting sacrifices.
Apocalypse stomped and shattered the bluestone slab carved with hieroglyphs beneath his feet, his dark blue claws piercing through the thick air and emitting a piercing sonic boom.
Nearby, a follower who had just completed the energy baptism, their body covered in pale bone spurs, knelt forward, trembling.
"My Lord, what has happened?"
Apocalypse tilted his head back, his gaze seemingly piercing through the thick mantle and the distant continent of Africa, locking firmly onto the coordinate of the one who dared to blaspheme the majesty of a god.
"That is my Storm."
Apocalypse's hoarse, guttural voice shook the millennium-old murals off the stone walls.
"Prepare the ritual; I want to crush that thief's bones myself!"