Chapter 209: Faith Collapses, The Uncaged Phoenix Does Not Look Back
The Star Umbrella heavy transport plane sliced through the turbulent air currents of Africa, advancing at full speed toward Cairo on the other side of the Mediterranean.
Inside the luxurious command cabin, the temperature was skyrocketing at a speed that defied the laws of thermodynamics.
Jean Grey curled up on the leather sofa, her ten fingers gripping the edge of the cushion tightly.
Her signature red hair seemed to come alive, curling upward in the windless, sealed space.
Faint, eerie scarlet patterns appeared on the surface of her skin, and her breathing even carried tangible heat waves.
The global psychic resonance released by Apocalypse from beneath Cairo had become the most brutal of keys.
The black prison deep in Jean's mind, which kept the Phoenix locked away, was being struck frantically.
The monster that had been asleep for over a decade felt its territory being violated, and its manic urge to destroy broke through the dams completely.
Clang!
The alloy liquor cabinet fixed to the left side of the cabin wall emitted a teeth-grinding sound of distortion.
Dense spiderweb cracks appeared on the surface of the bulletproof glass door.
The next second, expensive wine bottles exploded one after another under the high heat.
The dark red wine did not splatter onto the floor but completely broke free from the constraints of gravity, turning into dozens of boiling, blood-colored droplets that floated and drifted in mid-air.
Following that were the metal scissors on the tactical console, the heavy first-aid kit, and even the holographic sand table projector weighing hundreds of kilograms.
The rules of gravity inside the cabin were completely overturned.
Behind the partition door of the front cabin, several Star Umbrella medical experts responsible for escorting the Mutant children let out cries of alarm.
Those children, who had just been drinking hot cocoa and wrapped in thermal blankets, watched helplessly as their usually gentle teacher, Jean, turned into a source of disaster emitting high-frequency radiation, causing them to shrink back into their seats in fear.
Jean bit her lip, and a trace of blood slid down the corner of her mouth.
"Stay back! Everyone, get back!"
She tried her best to pull back her leaking telekinetic power, but the more she restrained it, the more brutal the rebounding force became.
Just then, the main screen of the command cabin lit up on its own without any command.
Sharp electronic static came through the public communication channel, accompanied by Charles's voice, which sounded weary from overdrawing the Cerebro machine.
"Jean! Keep your focus! Lock that door shut!"
Far away in the Underground Room of New York, Charleswas covered in cold sweat, his eyes bloodshot on the screen.
Facing the psychic virus that Apocalypse was sweeping across the globe with, he could not perform precise guidance and had no choice but to adopt the most barbaric, one-size-fits-all tactic.
Dark golden psychic chain illusions forcibly materialized in the sea of Jean's consciousness.
Charles attempted to use these layered mental shackles to forcibly strangle that rioting power.
The intense tearing pain made Jean tilt her head back and let out a miserable shriek.
The violent telekinetic power exploded in a ring.
The shattered glass, metal trays, and boiling wine suspended in mid-air turned into hundreds of lethal fragments, shooting toward the weak isolation door of the front cabin with kinetic energy exceeding the speed of sound.
On the other side of the screen, Charles closed his eyes in pain.
He knew that with this level of physical destructive power, everyone on this plane would be ground into meat paste.
Lin Nuo, who was sitting on the single sofa opposite, finally uncrossed his legs.
He casually closed the tablet computer resting on his knees, his posture as composed as if he were watching a clumsy stage play.
Facing the metal storm of slaughter filling the screen, Lin Nuo only made one move.
He raised his right hand.
A red Bio-force field expanded outward in a hemisphere, using his palm as the base point.
There was no psychic tug-of-war, no flashy exchange of magic.
This was pure and brutal physical mass suppression.
The rampaging air currents inside the entire cabin were forcibly covered by a more massive and domineering density.
Those hundreds of lethal fragments, capable of slicing through armor plating, fell into absolute stillness at a microscopic scale less than half a millimeter from the front cabin glass.
The wine maintained the shape it had when it exploded, the glass shards refracted the light, and the scene was frozen in place.
Lin Nuo stood up, his leather shoes making crisp tapping sounds on the floor.
He walked straight through the dangerous floating debris and approached the heavily panting Jean.
Hysterical roaring came from the communicator; the composure of the Mutant leader from the past was completely gone.
"Lin Nuo! Stay away from her! You are aggravating that demon!"
"She will drag everyone down with her to the grave!"
Lin Nuo turned a deaf ear to this impotent rage.
He leaned down, reaching out with a large, bony hand, and unhesitatingly gripped Jean's jaw, which was scalding hot from the radiation, forcing her to look up.
"Look at me."
Lin Nuo's voice was very low, carrying an uncompromising dominance within its magnetism.
The terrifying density of a Hulk-class physique, mixed with the absolute resistance of the Asgardian Divine Factor, flowed directly into Jean's meridians through Lin Nuo's fingertips.
That was an insulator effect that could not be explained by common sense.
The moment the mental shackles Charles had placed in Jean's mind touched Lin Nuo's aura, they crumbled inch by inch, like ice touching a hot iron.
The Phoenix's irritability was not extinguished but completely contained by another, higher-level sense of physical security.
Jean opened her eyes with difficulty.
What met her eyes was Lin Nuo's face, which remained flawless despite the high-temperature distortion, and those deep, calm black eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
Lin Nuo let go and pointed at the frozen scene around them.
"You didn't tear this plane apart."
"The Doctor in the front cabin is not dead, and those children are also breathing just fine."
Snap!
Lin Nuo snapped his fingers crisply.
The Bio-force field was withdrawn.
The debris in mid-air lost its kinetic energy and fell to the floor, making dull collision sounds.
Aside from dirtying this expensive Persian carpet, there were no substantial casualties.
Jean looked at the mess in front of her, her chest heaving gradually slowing down.
For decades, Charles had been ringing alarm bells in her ears every single day.
He told her that once she crossed that line, she would become an executioner who destroyed everything, warning her that she must wear heavy mental shackles to survive as a human.
But just now, the seal was broken.
The power was vented out.
The sky didn't fall.
Lin Nuo pulled out a pristine white silk handkerchief, wiped his fingertips unhurriedly, and casually tossed the soiled fabric at Jean's feet.
"Face the reality, Jean."
"Your power is not nearly as hopeless as Charlesdescribed."
"He locked you in a dark Underground Room like a nuclear bomb ready to explode at any moment, simply because..."
Lin Nuo turned around and looked at the pale-faced Charles on the main screen, his words piercing his heart.
"Because he himself is a loser who cannot provide a vessel capable of containing your release!"
Charles straightened his body in his wheelchair, his hands gripping the armrests tightly.
"Nonsense!"
"Lin Nuo, you have no idea what you are toying with!"
"That power has no concept of good or evil; once it fully awakens, Earth will be burned to ashes!"
Lin Nuo reached out to undo the top button of his collar and picked a cigarette from his cigarette case to light it.
"That's still better than rotting away with you here."
White smoke dispersed in the scorched cabin.
"Apocalypse has made such a big scene in Cairo."
"He is broadcasting job invitations into the minds of high-level Mutants all over the World, and he could bury hundreds of thousands of people just by smashing a pit."
"And you, the Professor who claims to be a savior, besides sitting under that broken helmet and applying indiscriminate pressure, what else can you do?"
Lin Nuo walked closer to the screen, his gaze piercing aggressively toward Charles.
"If Jean were still that obedient baby with her nerves locked down by you, what would she have to fight with when facing Apocalypse?"
"With that moral philosophy of yours that excuses everything for the sake of coexistence?"
Charles's chest heaved violently, his throat emitting wheezing sounds like a bellows.
"This is the responsibility of the X-Men, and we will find a way to deal with it."
"Lin Nuo, I order you to change course immediately! Send Jean back to New York!"
The atmosphere inside the cabin dropped to freezing point.
The radar emitted a beeping sound.
This heavy transport plane had already flown over the Mediterranean, with only half an hour of flight time remaining before reaching the magnetic anomaly zone of Cairo.
Lin Nuo did not order a return.
He stepped back half a step, handing over the initiative of this confrontation completely to the silent woman beside him.
Jean stood up slowly from the leather sofa.
The hem of her nylon trench coat grazed a piece of broken glass.
She walked to the front of the holographic screen.
In those eyes that were originally deep and restrained, a scarlet dark fire that was hard to extinguish was burning at this moment.
This flame had nothing to do with the Phoenix's rampage.
It was the clarity of a wise person who had been long deceived, after seeing through the lies.
Jean looked at Charles on the other side of the screen, her voice surprisingly calm.
"Professor."
"When you forcibly suppressed me with psychic chains just now, I felt a very familiar fluctuation."
Jean's fingertips trembled slightly; it was the excruciating pain of the cornerstone of her faith of many years cracking.
"The frequency band of that shackle and the global psychic pollution created by Apocalypse just now have some core architectures that are completely overlapping."
Charles jolted in his wheelchair, subconsciously avoiding Jean's gaze.
Lin Nuo leaned against the edge of the console, a wicked smirk curling on his lips.
This was the highest realm of piercing the heart.
There was no need to fabricate lies; as long as the bloody truth was slammed onto the table, the so-called greatness and righteousness would automatically collapse.
Jean pressed on step by step, staring into the old man's eyes on the screen.
"As early as twenty years ago, you had actually already come into contact with that monster in Cairo, right?"
Charles's defense seemed so hollow.
"That is a sealed history, Jean."
"The situation at that time was too complex; for the safety of all humanity..."
"So you chose to conceal it."
Jean interrupted Charles directly.
"You concealed the existence of Apocalypse and the real threats facing Mutants."
"And even to prevent me from attracting his attention, you described my own power as a terminal illness."
"Professor, are you really protecting the World, or are you just masking your fear of unknown power?"
Charles's eye twitched, his voice rising to a near-hoarse pitch.
"Jean! Don't be swayed by this madman!"
"Come back to the school with me, and we will solve this problem in the Cerebro room!"
Jean took a deep breath.
She raised her right hand, her fingertips hovering over the bright red disconnect button on the communicator.
Jean lowered her eyes, and her red hair covered her cold profile.
"I am very grateful for the sanctuary you have provided all these years, Charles."
"But... I don't intend to go back."
Chapter 210: Old Love Confrontation, Tearing Off the Mask of Hypocrisy
Jean Grey pressed the red button with her fingertip, the flickering encrypted frequency signal finally disconnected, and the dial tone echoed in the spacious command cabin.
On the metal bulkhead of the forward cabin, the traces twisted by telekinesis were still faintly visible, and the cigarette held between Lin Nuo's fingertips was emitting blue-gray smoke.
"Well done, Miss Jean."
Lin Nuo exhaled a puff of smoke and leaned back in his chair, "It seems you have finally learned to see the Worldwith your own eyes, rather than through someone else's lenses."
Jean did not speak; she simply walked to the porthole, watching the clouds rushing by below, her expression complex.
Lin Nuo poured a cup of warm Water and handed it to her; the side of the cup pressed against her palm, helping her chaotic breathing calm down a little.
"Regret it?"
Lin Nuo leaned against the bar, his posture relaxed.
"I just don't know if what I'm doing is right or wrong."
Jean looked down at the surface of the Water in the cup, "The Professor did protect me for many years, but I cannot accept that he used lies to construct my World."
"There is no absolute right or wrong in this World."
Lin Nuo said indifferently, "Charles defined your danger with his cowardice, while I only measure your value by your power. Which one do you think makes you feel more like a living person?"
Ororo stood by in silence.
She watched Lin Nuo; every word from this man was like a poisoned hook, easily drawing out the deepest desires and unwillingness in one's heart.
She was a respected teacher at the school, but only she knew how repressed she lived.
Every time she saw her people suffering in Africa, she could only comfort herself with "the bigger picture."
And now, Lin Nuo had given her power, given her guns, and let her solve problems with the most primitive violence.
This pleasure of catharsis was something Charles could never give her.
Lin Nuo's phone vibrated again, it was a reminder from Emma: "Master, the school has initiated a second access request. It seems Mr. Summers has returned to the school, and his emotions are very unstable."
Lin Nuo's lips curled into a slight intention: "Connect it. Let our Mr. Summers also hear the tolling of the new era's bell."
Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away in New York.
At Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters, the atmosphere in the conference room was as heavy as if a boulder were pressing on everyone's chest.
"Damn it!"
Scott Summers slammed his fist onto the solid wood conference table, creating a faint crack in the hard surface.
Behind his red quartz glasses, laser energy emitted a faint red glow due to his loss of emotional control.
He had just returned from a mission on the West Coast, only to be greeted by the news that his girlfriend had chosen to stay with that capitalist.
"Professor, Jean cannot have betrayed us."
Scott turned his head and looked at Charles, who appeared somewhat decadent in his wheelchair, "Lin Nuomust have used some kind of mental control on her, or used Star Umbrella's biotechnology."
"I have sensed it, Scott."
Charles sighed powerlessly, "Jean's mind is very clear, even clearer than ever before. It is precisely because of this that I am worried. Lin Nuo did not use superpowers to control her; he shattered her beliefs with reality."
"Then let's go get her back!"
Logan sat on the sofa nearby, his alloy steel claws protruding between his fingers, making a harsh grinding sound.
Although the wound on his chest had healed under the influence of the Healing Factor, the humiliation of being crushed by Lin Nuo still made him burn with anger, "Does that pretty boy think he can do whatever he wants just because he has some stinking money? My steel claws will teach him how to behave."
"Calm down, Logan."
Hank was wrapped in thick bandages, his voice somewhat hoarse, "Star Umbrella's heavy transport plane has entered Egypt's airspace, and an electromagnetic storm is forming there. Our top priority now is to figure out Apocalypse's intentions."
"I don't care about any Apocalypse!"
Scott roared, "I only know that Jean is in danger now! Professor, dial the emergency channel again; I want to talk to her myself!"
Charles hesitated for a moment, but eventually put on the special brainwave band communicator.
A few seconds later, the holographic projection in the center of the conference room lit up again.
On the video screen, Lin Nuo was sitting upright on a leather sofa, the collar of his black silk shirt slightly open, holding a cup of freshly brewed black tea.
Jean and Ororo stood on his left and right, their expressions so calm that it felt strange.
"Jean!"
Scott stepped up to the projection, bracing his hands on the table, his body leaning forward, "Do you know what you are doing? Lin Nuo is an unscrupulous conspirator who uses public opinion to smear the school and treats Ororo as a tool! Why are you still following him?"
Jean looked at the face on the screen, which was somewhat distorted by anger, and shook her head slightly: "Scott, no one forced me. I am staying here because I want to see some things clearly."
"See what clearly? See how he uses money to buy the lives of those children, or how he uses those brain-dead words to deceive you?"
Scott pointed at Lin Nuo, his voice hoarse.
Lin Nuo put down the teacup, making a slight clinking sound.
"Mr. Summers, let me correct you."
Lin Nuo adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his tone gentle, "That's not called buying lives; that's called legal rescue. Star Umbrella provides those children with the best medical conditions and legal identities, while you, besides talking big in your castle in New York, don't seem to be able to afford their next meal."
"Shut up! You have no say here!"
Scott roared, the light beneath his red glasses flaring intensely, almost melting the projector.
"Scott, watch your attitude."
Jean's brows furrowed slightly; Scott's rudeness made her feel a bit of aversion.
Logan stepped forward, exhaling a puff of cigar smoke, and looked coldly at the screen: "Kid, don't think you've won. I haven't settled the score with you regarding Annayet; what do you take her for?"
Lin Nuo smiled slightly, leaning forward: "Anna? She can now touch flowers under the Sun in the manor without wearing gloves, and can even freely hug others. And you, Logan, besides using those iron claws to vent your misplaced wildness, what else can you give her? Is it endless flight, or that cold glass compartment?"
"You bastard..."
Logan's teeth gnashed, and if it weren't for the screen, he would definitely have lunged at Lin Nuo to tear him apart.
"Enough."
Jean interrupted their argument, her gaze falling on Charles, "Professor, I just want to ask you one question. Back then, did you put a lock on my memories?"
The conference room fell into a deathly silence for a moment.
Scott was stunned, and he turned to look at Charles: "Professor? How is this possible? You said that Jean's memories were due to self-defense..."
Charles closed his eyes and did not answer immediately.
This silence was more lethal than any words.
"That was to protect you, Jean."
When Charles opened his eyes again, his voice sounded exceptionally old, "The power within you is too vast. If it is not restricted, it will destroy you, and it will destroy everyone."
"Protect me?"
Jean's voice carried a hint of self-mockery, "So, you let me think I was a patient, and let me live every day in fear of my own power. You even sealed the memory regarding Apocalypse, just to keep me from discovering that my power actually has another explanation?"
"Jean, the Professor did it for the bigger picture!"
Scott hurriedly explained, "You cannot doubt the mentor who taught you for many years just because of that man's provocation!"
"Mr. Summers' loyalty is truly touching."
On the screen, Lin Nuo let out a soft laugh.
He leaned back in his chair, his fingertips tapping rhythmically on the armrest, "However, some things even children understand. Protection without consent is legally called illegal detention; mentally, it is called keeping as a pet."
Lin Nuo adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze falling on Charles: "Professor, you fear that power, so you chose to be a gentle warden. You painted the cage pink and told the prisoner that the outside is dangerous; is this your 'coexistence' big picture?"
"Shut up!"
Scott completely lost control, slamming his fist onto the table, causing a large dent in the special alloy conference table, "Lin Nuo, you despicable instigator! Do you think you can take Jean away with these twisted theories? She is my lover!"
Scott pointed at Jean: "Jean, wake up! He is playing with you! Look at him; he doesn't care about the future of Mutants at all; he just wants to turn you into his collection!"
Jean looked at the angry Scott, and then at Lin Nuo, who was composed beside her.
The contrast was too stark.
Scott was raging impotently, while Lin Nuo was like a bottomless abyss, unshakable by any storm.
"Scott, are you willing to fight Apocalypse for me?"
Jean asked suddenly.
Scott paused, then said: "We will think of a way together; the school has a brainwave enhancement machine..."
"Apocalypse's mental waves have already caused the Professor's machine to crash."
Jean calmly pierced the illusion, "And Lin Nuo just cut off Apocalypse's mental connection with one hand in Africa, saving Ororo."
Ororo spoke up at the right time on the screen: "Scott, this is a fact. If it weren't for Lin Nuo, I would have already become Apocalypse's puppet. The school's gentle strategy is useless in front of that monster."
Hank sighed in the conference room: "Scott, calm down. The current situation is already out of control."
"Calm? How do you expect me to be calm!"
Scott looked at Jean's determined eyes, and a wave of panic welled up in his heart.
He could feel that something was slipping away from him, and it would never be retrieved.
"Jean, are you really going to betray the school, betray us?"
Scott's voice carried a hint of grievance and accusation.
"I have not betrayed anyone; I am just choosing to face my true self."
Jean finished speaking and turned to look at Lin Nuo.
Lin Nuo stood up, adjusted his collar, and nodded slightly to the people on the screen.
"Everyone, the accountability meeting ends here. An old friend is waiting for me in the ruins of Cairo, so I won't play this game of house with you anymore."
"Wait!"
Scott roared.
However, Lin Nuo had already raised his hand and cut off the signal.
The conference room fell into deathly silence again.
Scott slumped back into his chair, fists clenched, his knuckles turning slightly blue from the effort.
Logan took a deep drag of his cigar and patted him on the shoulder: "We will bring her back, Scott. Even if it means crushing that kid's bones one by one."
Just then, the red alarm light on the ceiling of the conference room suddenly started flashing wildly without warning.
A piercing alarm sound shattered the silence.
"What's going on?"
Hank struggled to stand up.
Charles's expression changed drastically; he slammed on the brainwave enhancement helmet, but after just one second, he let out a painful groan, and bright red blood flowed from his nostrils.
"He... he is here..."
Charles's voice was trembling.
On the steel door of the brainwave chamber, countless complex ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs began to wriggle like living things, and a ghostly blue light spread across the walls.
Apocalypse's mental projection was forcibly breaking through the school's defenses.
The ghostly blue light spread rapidly across the walls, rendering the entire conference room like an ancient tomb.
"Warning! The brainwave chamber defense system has been forcibly penetrated by external mental energy!"
The artificial intelligence's electronically synthesized voice sounded intermittent amidst the sharp alarm.
"Scott... quickly take the children away from here..."
Charles gripped his temples tightly with both hands, his fingernails almost sinking into his skin.
In his sea of consciousness, a huge gray-blue figure was stepping through the air, and with every step, it was ruthlessly trampling on his mental defenses.
"Professor!"
Scott stepped to Charles's side, trying to help him up from the wheelchair.
However, before his hand could touch the wheelchair, an invisible repulsive force threw him backward, slamming him heavily against the conference room wall.
The marble decorative panels on the wall shattered under the impact; Scott fell back to the ground, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
His red glasses fell aside during the fall, and the unrestricted laser beam instantly lost control, carving a charred deep groove into the ceiling.
"Logan... Hank..."
Scott groped for his glasses in the darkness, his voice full of unprecedented terror and despair.
And in mid-air, that mass of ghostly blue light finally condensed into a huge face.
Apocalypse's pupil-less, silver-white eyes looked down at the disheveled group, his hoarse voice resounding in everyone's minds: "False gods... your era has ended."
Chapter 211: Old God Descends, Academy Defenses Collapse
Scott's fingers groped through the rubble until he found his quartz visor. Without bothering to wipe the dust off the lenses, he slapped it onto his face.
The red laser beam was once again constrained behind the lenses.
He stood up from the ground, looking somewhat disheveled, feeling as if all the bones in his body had been shaken loose.
In the void of the Cerebro chamber, that mass of ghostly blue energy had already coalesced into a gray-blue giant phantom three meters tall.
A look of arrogance played on Apocalypse's lips, and sparks of destruction danced within those pupilless eyes.
"Charles!"
Logan's roar echoed through the Cerebro chamber.
His Adamantium claws sliced through the air with a piercing shriek, passing directly through Apocalypse's mental projection and leaving streaks of sparks on the wall.
Physical attacks were useless against such an existence.
Charles sat in his wheelchair, his entire body convulsing violently.
At his temples, veins writhed like blue earthworms.
The ghostly blue light of the Cerebro, which originally symbolized peace, was currently being eroded and assimilated by strands of eerie dark purple energy.
Apocalypse looked down at him condescendingly: "Poor soul, did you think that by hiding in this iron shell, you could treat a god as blind?"
Apocalypse lightly tapped a finger in mid-air.
The entire academy's Cerebro emitted a sharp, overloaded alarm.
That massive psychic wave followed the academy's signal tower, exploding indiscriminately within the minds of high-level Mutants across New York and even the globe.
At this moment, in the shelter beneath the academy, over a hundred students screamed simultaneously, clutching their ears as they collapsed to the floor.
Some Mutant children who couldn't control their powers began to have their energy run rampant.
Fire, ice, and gravitational fields wreaked havoc within the shelter, and the walls began to collapse.
"He's using the Professor's Cerebro to broadcast globally!"
Hank struggled to type on the keyboard, attempting to cut the power, but all control systems were locked by ghost-blue runes.
"It's no use, the system has been reconstructed by him; we can't shut it down!"
Apocalypse's cold voice, amplified by the Cerebro, echoed in the depths of every Mutant's soul.
"My children, I am En Sabah Nur."
"The old order has collapsed; mortal governments are nothing but castles on the sand."
"Those who submit to me shall gain eternal life and power; those who resist me shall turn to dust along with this filthy World."
Over the Mediterranean, inside the star wings heavy transport plane.
Jean Grey's expression was extremely ugly.
Upon hearing this voice, the Phoenix Force within her felt like a provoked beast, once again emitting a shrill screech.
Her red hair whipped wildly in the air, and she gripped the armrests of her alloy seat until they deformed.
"Lin Nuo... He is forcibly reading the Professor's thoughts; he is looking for us!"
Sweat beaded on Jean's forehead.
She could feel those gray-blue mental tentacles extending toward them along some causal link.
Ororo clenched her fists, tiny arcs of electricity flickering at her fingertips, but she restrained herself with great effort, not letting a storm erupt inside the cabin.
"Emma, activate the second matrix."
Lin Nuo sat on the sofa, calmly holding his black tea. He hadn't even changed his posture.
On the screen, Emma's diamond body refracted a warm luster.
At Star Umbrella Manor, she and Raven had already activated the psychic shielding network built from high-purity Vibranium and new magnetic field generators.
Hum!
An invisible physical barrier formed a multi-kilometer radius insulation zone centered on Star Umbrella Manor.
When that global-sweeping psychic wave touched this barrier, it emitted a dull physical resonance before being ruthlessly repelled.
Anna, inside the manor, only felt a bit of tinnitus and suffered no harm.
"Master, the Cerebro in New York is running at maximum power; Apocalypse is trying to use it as a springboard to locate all Mutants who refuse him." Emma's voice sounded over the communicator.
"He has discovered the manor's outer defenses and is attempting to force a breakthrough."
"Let him crash." Lin Nuo spoke indifferently.
"The molecular structure of the Vibranium shielding network isn't something he can dismantle with a few incantations."
Jean looked at Lin Nuo's calm profile, her shock beyond measure.
Charles had built alloy doors several meters thick and various defensive mechanisms to protect his students, yet in the face of Apocalypse's mental intrusion, they were as fragile as paper.
And Lin Nuo, merely using Star Umbrella's technology and Emma's abilities, had constructed an absolutely safe zone that even an old god couldn't infiltrate.
"Lin Nuo, he isn't just recruiting knights." Jean suddenly grabbed Lin Nuo's sleeve, her tone urgent.
"I just sensed a fragment of a memory from Apocalypse's subconscious... He wants to seize the Professor's telepathy!"
"Seize it?" Ororo's expression changed.
"Yes, his body has rotted; he needs a new, powerful vessel. And the Professor's telepathy would allow him to control the thoughts of everyone on Earth simultaneously. If he succeeds..."
Jean couldn't bear to imagine that outcome.
Lin Nuo lifted Jean's chin, his fingers lightly stroking her somewhat flushed cheek, his movements ambiguous yet carrying an irresistible dominance.
"Isn't that exactly what I want? Charles has sat in that position for too long; it's time to step down."
"You... You don't care if the Professor lives or dies?"
Scott's voice suddenly came through a forcibly intercepted communication channel, filled with extreme anger and despair.
On the screen, the Cerebro chamber in New York had been completely submerged in ghostly blue light.
Charles's wheelchair had been torn to pieces in the energy storm. He lay slumped on the ground, his eyes rolled back, fresh blood streaming from his nose and ears.
Apocalypse's massive phantom had begun to solidify in the Cerebro chamber, and the surrounding space was distorting on a physical level.
"Lin Nuo! You lunatic! If you have even a shred of humanity left, use your technology to cut the signal to the Cerebro immediately!" Scott roared at the screen.
His laser beams fired frantically at Apocalypse's phantom, but only blasted lava pits into the walls.
Logan's Adamantium claws had snapped, and he stood covered in blood in front of Charles, roaring at the projection.
"Kid, didn't you say you wanted to build a new order? Is this your order? Watching us get eaten by this old monster?"
Lin Nuo finished the last of his black tea and handed the cup to Raven standing nearby.
He adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, looking at the battered remnants of the X-Men.
"First, I don't owe you anything."
"Second, since Charles chose to be the savior, he should have been prepared to be crushed by the responsibilities of a savior."
Lin Nuo stood up, adjusted the collar of his white shirt, and walked to the holographic screen, looking down at Charlesslumped on the ground.
"Professor, do you think your trick of coexistence is worth anything in the face of absolute power now?"
Charles barely opened one eye; his vision was already blurred, blood smearing his eye sockets. He looked at Lin Nuo, his lips trembling, but he couldn't make a sound.
Apocalypse's phantom slowly turned its head, those silver-white eyes locking onto Lin Nuo's projection.
"You are that thief?" Apocalypse's raspy voice carried a hint of scrutiny.
"You have a scent on you that I find disgusting. However, your vessel looks much more perfect than this cripple's."
Apocalypse's fingers curled in the void.
In New York State, above Xavier's School, space suddenly folded violently.
A massive teleportation channel was slowly opening, and the vast yellow sands of Cairo and the shadows of ancient temples were spreading into the school through the channel.
Apocalypse had locked onto the school's precise coordinates; his true body was descending across half the globe.
"Get the Professor out of here!" Logan roared, hoisting Charles onto his back and using his body to block the concrete debris falling from the ceiling.
Scott stared fixedly at Lin Nuo on the screen, his eyes bloodshot.
"Lin Nuo, Jean is with you; if anything happens to her, I won't let you go even in death!"
Lin Nuo ignored his threat and cut the signal.
Inside the cabin, the alarms on the radar were sounding continuously. They had flown into Egyptian airspace; ahead lay a sky-covering sandstorm and a chaotic electromagnetic field.
Jean looked at Lin Nuo, her face pale beneath her red hair, but her eyes had become unprecedentedly firm.
"Apocalypse's true body went to New York. We're going to Cairo now—are we trying to attack his rear?"
Lin Nuo took a high-purity Vibranium bulletproof trench coat from Raven and draped it over his shoulders.
He turned his head to look at Jean and Ororo, a cold smile playing on his lips.
"Attack his rear?"
"No, I'm just going to take back what belongs to me."
The fuselage shook violently.
In the sandstorm ahead, four massive pillars of energy rose from the ground, shooting straight into the clouds.
The three knights Apocalypse had left in Cairo had locked onto the flight path of the star wings.
The Phoenix Force within Jean went completely out of control at this moment, scarlet flames dancing at the corners of her eyes.
She looked at Lin Nuo, her voice trembling slightly, but more with a sense of fatalistic determination.
"Lin Nuo, if I can't control it, will you put chains on me like Charles did?"
Lin Nuo walked up to her, the distance between them inches apart.
He extended his right hand, pressing his palm against her scorching cheek, feeling the heat that was enough to vaporize steel, his eyes filled with undisguised possessiveness.
"Chains?"
"I prefer to treat it as a little toy between us."
Chapter 212: The God Approaches, Authority Takes Over the School
Jean's eyelashes fluttered.
Her flame-like red hair paused slightly in mid-air, then fell docilely back onto her shoulders. The scorching heat from Lin Nuo's palm was like an unstoppable insulator, forcing all the volatile Phoenix Force within her back into the deepest black prison.
This sense of absolute control even made her close her eyes in a self-destructive manner.
But the next moment, an alarm blared inside the cabin.
The red emergency lights bathed their cheeks in a blood-red hue.
Raven's voice rang out over the communicator, urgent yet calm: "Master, the magnetic energy source in Cairo has disappeared. Apocalypse has used space folding to lock directly onto Westchester County, New York. He has arrived at the school."
Lin Nuo slowly withdrew his hand, his fingertips grazing Jean's cheek, his expression devoid of any ripples.
"Turn around, head back to New York."
He pulled out a pristine white silk handkerchief from the side and leisurely wiped his fingertips, "It seems your ex-boyfriend can't even hold out for five minutes."
...
Fifteen minutes later.
Above the Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters in New York State.
The thick clouds were torn apart, and four massive black "star wings" heavy transport aircraft descended with a roar.
The gale whipped up by the propellers sent fallen leaves and gravel flying everywhere, and the massive airframes pressed deep furrows into the school lawn.
There was no polite knocking, no diplomatic probing.
Hundreds of Star Umbrella security personnel, clad in black heavy armor and wielding high-frequency oscillation rifles, surged out from the hatches like a black tide, immediately taking control of all passages around the school's perimeter.
The school's Underground Room combat center.
The air here was filled with a pungent, burnt smell.
The main structure of the Cerebro was twisted and deformed, billowing with thick smoke.
Charles slumped on the floor, his eyes rolled back, and the blood flowing from his nostrils had already dried on the floor.
Logan shielded Charles with his blood-stained body, one of the alloy claws on his left hand snapped, and black blood was oozing from the break.
Scott held his red quartz visor, which had a corner broken off, leaning against the corner in a disheveled state, gasping for air.
Hank was frantically tapping on the console with an infrared tool, but the screens only displayed rows of scarlet "System Burned Out" text.
Just then, the heavy alloy door was kicked open.
Lin Nuo walked in with long strides, his white shirt spotless, his gold-rimmed glasses refracting a cold light under the emergency lighting.
Behind him, Jean and Ororo stood on his left and right, their expressions so calm it felt alien.
"Lin Nuo!"
As soon as Scott saw the arrival, his eyes immediately erupted with blinding red light, and he struggled to stand up, "Who let your people in? What's with those armored vehicles and drones outside?"
Lin Nuo didn't even spare him a glance, walking straight to the abandoned console.
Raven, accompanied by two Star Umbrella Agents, immediately stepped forward, slapped a black alloy box onto the motherboard, and brutally unplugged the school's original circuits.
Hank roared angrily: "What are you doing? This will completely destroy the school's backup defense system!"
"Backup defense system?"
Lin Nuo brushed off non-existent dust from his sleeves, his voice echoing in the empty room, "Do you mean that electric fence outside that can't even stop a three-caliber artillery shell, or those lawnmowers you use to trim the grass on the playground?"
Raven tapped a few times on her tablet.
Hum!
A massive holographic 3D propulsion map unfolded in the center of the room.
In the image, right in the center of the school's playground, space had already formed an eerie funnel-shaped collapse.
Countless yellow sands were gushing out from the void, covering more than half of the tarmac.
Apocalypse's servants—those strange people dressed in ancient linen, their eyes devoid of pupils—were slowly emerging from the sandstorm.
And on the waveform chart representing energy peaks, a towering red arc was approaching the center of the school at a terrifying speed.
"Apocalypse's vanguard army has two minutes until they fully materialize."
Lin Nuo pointed to the flashing red alert on the screen, "Mr. Summers, do you think your laser beams can melt tons of sand? Or do you think your noble self-esteem can serve as a bulletproof vest?"
"This is our school! We can handle it ourselves!"
Scott's voice was filled with trembling anger, and he pointed at Lin Nuo, "You are simply taking advantage of the situation! You took Jean away, and now you want to use your private armed forces to turn this place into a concession for Star Umbrella!"
"Scott, shut up."
Standing behind Lin Nuo, Jean suddenly spoke.
Her voice wasn't loud, but it froze Scott in place.
"Jean... you..." Scott looked at her with disbelief, his eyes hidden behind the red visor filled with bitterness.
"The school's defenses have already collapsed."
Jean looked at the disheveled Scott, her expression colder than ever, "If it weren't for Lin Nuo's star wings activating the Vibranium shielding net above, Apocalypse's strike just now would have ruptured the cerebral blood vessels of all the children in the Underground Room."
Hank, watching the data light up again on the console, looked ashen.
He realized that in the data stream forcibly injected by the Star Umbrella Agents, the codenames and energy levels of the various defense matrices far exceeded the school's technological level.
"He's right, Scott."
Hank closed his eyes and let his hands drop powerlessly, "Our main control board is burned out, and now only Star Umbrella's shielding net is blocking the aftershocks of the space folding. If it weren't for them, this place would have been reduced to ruins a minute ago."
Lin Nuo turned around, looking down at Charles on the floor.
This Mutant leader currently had blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, lacking even the strength to open his eyes.
"Logan, take your Professor and go to the armored evacuation vehicle in the back."
Lin Nuo issued his first order, "Star Umbrella's temporary medical station has already been set up in the surrounding woods; the best Doctor there can save his life."
Logan gritted his teeth, staring at Lin Nuo: "Do you think we'll listen to you?"
"You can choose to stay here and watch him die in the sandstorm."
Lin Nuo's expression was indifferent, "I don't care; either way, the ruins of the Mutant School will let Star Umbrella's stock rise another three percentage points."
Logan took a deep breath, knowing he had no choice.
He picked up Charles and strode toward the exit. As he passed by Lin Nuo, he warned in a very low voice: "If Annaloses a single hair..."
"She is very safe right now, ten thousand times safer than she would be with you."
Lin Nuo didn't even look at him, simply turning his head to look at Ororo on the side.
"Ororo, go into the sky."
Ororo stepped forward, her expression solemn: "Officer, what do you need me to do?"
"Use thunderclouds to lock down the airflow three kilometers above the school; don't let a single grain of that yellow sand drift past the perimeter wall."
Lin Nuo ordered coldly, "Any living creature attempting to rush out of the school, strike it into ash with high-voltage lightning."
"Understood."
Ororo didn't hesitate in the slightest, turning around, her figure rising from the ground, flying directly into the night sky through the damaged ceiling.
Scott watched this scene, his teeth chattering with rage.
His former comrade-in-arms was now taking orders from a capitalist.
"You treat us as your pawns." Scott stared fixedly at Lin Nuo.
"No, Mr. Summers."
Lin Nuo straightened his cuffs and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of the combat room, watching the sandstorm that had already begun to churn outside, "You don't even have the qualifications to be pawns. In this game, you are merely obstacles I use to test new weapons."
Outside, countless black Star Umbrella armored vehicles had surrounded the school completely.
In the sky, swarms of black drones pressed down like dark clouds, red beams scanning back and forth through the sand.
The rate of desertification on the playground was accelerating, and from within the massive cracks, Apocalypse's servants had already let out low, guttural roars.
"Lin Nuo, what exactly do you want to do?" Scott growled.
Lin Nuo tilted his head slightly, his gold-rimmed glasses refracting a cold luster under the red light.
"Take over the defense line, and then, go pull that self-righteous god down from his throne."
Boom!
A deafening roar came from the playground.
The soil on the ground turned into quicksand in a very short time, and a massive sand giant slowly rose from the ground, directly swatting a Star Umbrella drone into a flat piece of iron.
In the gale, a gray-blue figure clad in bronze armor slowly opened those silver-white eyes amidst the sky-filling yellow sand.
Apocalypse stood in the center of the sandstorm, looking coldly at Lin Nuo in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his hoarse voice resounding in everyone's minds:
"Mortals, I have come to take back what is mine."
Chapter 213: The Minions of Gods Are Nothing but a Pile of Rotten Sand
The howling wind, carrying coarse sand and dust, slammed against the tempered glass windows with a crackling sound.
"Scott, take the students and retreat to the second basement level!" Hank roared amidst the blaring alarms. Blood was already faintly seeping through the bandages wrapped around his body, yet he still used his broad shoulders to push several terrified, screaming lower-grade students forward.
"Damn it, this sand is corroding the walls!" Scott pressed against his quartz glasses, his red laser beams sweeping frantically, vaporizing the yellow streams of sand squeezing through the cracks in the windows. Yet, the sand seemed alive; after dispersing, it would regroup at the end of the corridor.
Two strange figures dressed in burlap robes peeled themselves out of the quicksand. Their faces were withered, their eyes reduced to nothing but two balls of pale white light. As their gaunt fingers swept through the air, the solid concrete walls instantly weathered away, turning into large patches of collapsing rubble that crashed toward the fleeing students.
"Don't touch them!"
Logan roared as he crashed out from the side. His two remaining Adamantium claws scraped a series of sparks against the wall. He was like an enraged Beast, lunging fiercely at one of the burlap-clad figures.
Pfft.
The steel claws pierced through the figure's chest without resistance. However, there was no joy on Logan's face. The moment the figure was pierced, its body turned into quicksand, rapidly climbing up his arm like a living quagmire, pinning Logan's limbs firmly in place.
"What the hell is this thing?" Logan struggled violently. The Healing Factor at his wounds was working frantically, yet he couldn't break free from this eerie restraint.
The other figure had already reached the rear of the evacuation group. A little boy, only seven or eight years old and having awakened a weak Fire ability, was so frightened he sat on the ground. The small flame sprouting from his fingertip landed on the figure without even scorching the hem of its robe.
The figure slowly raised its withered hand, which exuded a scent of decay, and aimed it at the little boy's head.
"Scott!" Hank's eyes were splitting with rage.
Scott was being cornered by three encroaching streams of sand. The laser beams in his quartz glasses were already operating at maximum load, and he couldn't free up a hand at all.
Boom!
A muffled sonic boom exploded within the narrow corridor.
The burlap-clad figure, who was about to strike the killing blow, along with the entire load-bearing wall behind it, was instantly and forcibly pierced by an unreasonably violent physical force.
Lin Nuo's figure appeared abruptly in front of the little boy. Not even a speck of dust touched his white shirt, and his gold-rimmed glasses refracted cold light under the dim emergency lighting. He retracted his fist, looked at the figure that had been beaten into nothingness in the air, and tugged at his collar.
"Article One of the Star Umbrella security regulations," Lin Nuo bent down, reached out to lift the terrified little boy off the ground, and tossed him to Hank behind him, "Don't litter in my territory."
Hank scrambled to catch the child, looking at Lin Nuo with a complex expression.
"You..." Logan gritted his teeth. The sand on his body was tightening bit by bit, almost crushing his bones.
Lin Nuo strode over to Logan, looking down condescendingly at this usually unruly Wolverine. He raised his right hand and tapped his index finger lightly on the stream of sand wrapped around Logan.
Micro-atomic restructuring.
The quicksand, which had been as hard as iron, collapsed in its molecular structure the instant it touched Lin Nuo's fingertip. It turned back into ordinary, non-sticky gravel, clattering to the floor.
"Lying on the ground like a target—is that how you protect others?" Lin Nuo took a wet wipe from his pocket and wiped his fingertips unhurriedly, not even giving Logan a direct glance.
Logan scrambled up in a sorry state, breathing heavily. He looked at Lin Nuo's excessively clean face, then at his own blood-stained hands, and for a moment, he couldn't find any words to retort.
"Lin Nuo, watch out behind you!"
Scott's voice suddenly came through.
The walls on both sides of the corridor completely turned to sand. Rolling yellow sand surged in like a tsunami, completely sealing off the retreat path of the entire corridor. Amidst the sky-filling dust, a dozen or so burlap-clad figures slowly walked out. Their mental fluctuations merged into one, stirring up visible ripples in the air.
"Jean, use your telekinesis to clear a path!" Scott shouted.
Jean Grey stood behind Lin Nuo, her red hair dancing in the howling wind. She closed her eyes, attempting to mobilize the energy within her. But every time she tried to open a telekinetic barrier, the global mental resonance left behind by Apocalypse would strike her mind like a poisonous needle.
"Ah..." Jean clutched her forehead in pain. The Phoenix Force within her let out another restless shriek, and scarlet veins appeared on the surface of her skin.
"Don't waste your effort, Mr. Summers." Lin Nuo turned his head to look at Jean, whose face was somewhat pale. He reached out and wrapped his arm around Jean's shoulders, his warm palm pressing against her trembling spine. The Asgardian Divine Factor, with its absolute physical insulation, forcibly cut off those interference signals.
Jean's breathing gradually steadied. She leaned into Lin Nuo's embrace, greedily absorbing this sense of security, the only thing that could keep her conscious.
This scene was even more painful for Scott to witness than being killed. He watched his lover go limp in another man's arms, while he could only stand by like a useless waste.
"Lin Nuo, let her go!" Scott's eyes were bloodshot, and violent red light overflowed from the edges of his quartz glasses.
"If you have time to throw a tantrum here, you might as well go check how many minutes your Professor has left to live." Lin Nuo's expression was calm; he held Jean with his right arm and pushed his left hand forward.
Hum!
A pale red Bio-force field expanded explosively in a fan shape.
The dozen or so burlap-clad figures about to pounce, along with the rolling yellow sand behind them, were forcibly frozen the instant they touched this field. Immediately after, the space within the field began to compress extremely, and the distance between molecules was forcibly pulled closer.
Accompanied by a shrill sound of physical compression, those sand-creatures that were immune to physical attacks, along with all the sand, were squeezed by Lin Nuointo a super-high-density stone ball the size of a fist.
Lin Nuo casually threw the stone ball, which weighed several tons, onto the ground, causing the floor to crack into a dense web of fissures under the heavy impact.
"Hank, take the people and go." Lin Nuo didn't even turn his head, holding Jean as he walked straight toward the elevator leading to the second basement level.
Ororo's figure descended from the broken ceiling. Surrounded by subtle arcs of electricity, she followed Lin Nuo with a cold expression. She no longer looked at Scottor Logan; in her field of vision, only this man who could crush the minions of gods with a single finger was worthy of her allegiance.
In the evacuation corridor, the emergency lights flickered on and off.
As the elevator descended, the surrounding temperature began to drop eerily. The light tubes on the walls extinguished one after another, and the darkness, as if it had physical substance, spread from the other end of the corridor.
"Something's wrong." Jean lifted her head from Lin Nuo's embrace, a flash of terror in her eyes, "Something... is waiting for us down below."
The elevator door opened with a ding.
In the evacuation hall on the second basement level, Charles, who should have been lying on a makeshift hospital bed, was now hovering in mid-air.
His eyes had no pupils and emitted a blinding silver-white light. Countless ghostly blue ancient Egyptian runes were wrapped around his limbs and the wreckage of his wheelchair like vines, transforming him into an energy source exuding an aura of destruction.
Behind Charles, a massive gray-blue phantom was slowly leaning down, placing its giant, rune-covered hands on Charles's shoulders.
"My child, you have finally come."
Charles... or rather, Apocalypse, echoed in the empty hall with that hoarse voice that sounded like two people overlapping. His gaze passed over everyone else and locked firmly onto Jean Grey in Lin Nuo's arms.
"And you, the thief who does not belong to this Universe."
The phantom of Apocalypse slowly turned its head. Those silver-white eyes stared at Lin Nuo, and the corners of its mouth pulled into a cruel arc: "Leave my vessel behind, and I can grant you a decent death."
Lin Nuo pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, released Jean from his embrace, and stepped forward.
"You want my woman?"
Lin Nuo stood before that massive projection of the Old God, his figure appearing somewhat thin, yet his white shirt looked exceptionally glaring under the ghostly blue light. He tilted his head slightly, a cold and malicious smile curling the corners of his mouth.
"Old man, have you been buried in the dirt for so long that you've forgotten who's running the show here?"
Chapter 214: Space Tearing, The Old God's Ultimatum
Apocalypse's phantom did not get angry because of this taunt; instead, those silver-white eyes revealed a kind of pity as if looking at ants.
"Arrogant vessel. You know nothing of the power of gods."
A deep blue light suddenly surged. The ancient Egyptian runes wrapped around Charles writhed crazily like living creatures, forcibly pulling him from Logan's arms into mid-air.
Logan roared, trying to grab the hem of Charles's clothes, but was violently repelled by an invisible repulsive force, smashing heavily into the concrete wall and creating a deep crater.
Space was twisting and collapsing, visible to the naked eye.
A space wormhole with edges flickering with purple-black thunder slowly formed behind Charles. That was a direct passage constructed by Apocalypse's true body from Cairo, spanning half the Earth.
"Trying to leave?"
Lin Nuo snorted coldly. A Hulk-level terrifying explosive force erupted in his legs, crushing the marble floor into powder.
He turned into an afterimage; Quicksilver's extreme speed allowed him to break the sound barrier instantly. His right hand opened, carrying a Bio-force field strong enough to crush an aircraft carrier's armor, and he lunged straight for Charles's throat.
Since it was the vessel Apocalypse wanted, destroying it was the simplest way to break the situation.
However, just as Lin Nuo's fingertips were about to touch Charles's collar, a faint stinging pain came from the law seal within his body.
The Vishanti shackles imposed by Ancient One using her soul's lifespan tightly locked the resonance of the Space Stone origin fragment inside him.
It was off by just 0.01 seconds.
The speed of space folding surpassed pure physical speed. Apocalypse's mental projection turned into a giant palm, dragging Charles deep into the wormhole.
"Lin Nuo... don't let him succeed..."
One second before being completely swallowed by the wormhole, Charles's eyes, which had been rolled back, briefly regained a trace of clarity. He did not look at Lin Nuo, but instead looked past Lin Nuo's shoulder, staring fixedly at Jean Grey behind him.
This Mutant leader used the last of his strength to let out a shrill roar: "Jean! Remember my words! Absolutely do not open that door! Absolutely do not!"
The wormhole closed with a boom.
Violent spatial turbulence twisted the surrounding instruments into scrap metal. Lin Nuo missed his target, his dress shoes landing steadily in the debris-strewn ruins. He looked at the empty air, a hint of coldness appearing in his black eyes under his gold-rimmed glasses.
"A law seal, huh... Old bald man, consider yourself lucky." Lin Nuo straightened his cuffs, which had been ruffled by the wind pressure.
"Professor!"
Scott stumbled into the hall, the laser beams behind his ruby-quartz glasses leaving scorched marks on the ceiling due to his loss of emotional control. He looked at the empty hall, struck as if by lightning.
Logan climbed out of the ruins, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, and his remaining Adamantium claws scraped against the floor with a harsh sound. He stared fixedly at Lin Nuo, his Beast-like intuition directing his anger at the only man standing before him.
"Why didn't you stop him? Can't you crush a warehouse with one punch? Can't you crush those sand monsters to death!" Scott rushed in front of Lin Nuo, roaring hoarsely, his finger almost poking Lin Nuo's nose. "You could have clearly saved the Professor, you did it on purpose!"
Jean stood not far away, her red hair disheveled. The shrill scream Charles let out before being taken away was like a sharp knife, repeatedly cutting into her nerves. No matter how disappointed she was in Charles's concealment, that old man was ultimately the mentor who raised her.
"Lin Nuo..." Jean's voice trembled slightly. She stepped forward, scarlet light welling up in her eyes. "Did you... did you deliberately let go just now?"
Lin Nuo turned around.
He did not explain anything about the law seal, nor did he try to soothe Jean's emotions. He simply raised his hand and very casually brushed away the hand Scott was pointing at him.
Crack.
A crisp sound of bone breaking rang out. Scott let out a scream, clutching his broken wrist as he fell to his knees.
"Mr. Summers, just because I have a good temper doesn't mean you can point your finger at me while speaking." Lin Nuo looked down at him from above, his tone as flat as if he were discussing the weather today.
"You bastard!" Logan roared and lunged forward, brandishing his Adamantium claws.
Lin Nuo didn't even look, delivering a backhanded side kick. The Hulk-level monstrous strength kicked Logan directly in the chest. Wolverine's pride—his Adamantium skeleton—emitted a teeth-grinding dull thud, and he flew backward like a cannonball, crashing through two load-bearing walls before being buried under a pile of heavy rubble.
The entire hall was deathly silent.
Hank leaned against the doorframe, not even daring to breathe hard. Ororo descended from above the passage; seeing this scene, she just walked silently behind Lin Nuo, without the slightest bit of sympathy.
"You seem to have misunderstood one thing."
Lin Nuo took the translucent tablet out of his pocket and tossed it casually in front of Scott. On the screen was the battle damage and evacuation report just generated by the Star Umbrella system.
"Charles was captured because he is weak. It is because of his ridiculous philosophy of peace that he lacks even the strength to protect himself." Lin Nuo's voice echoed in the empty hall, every word piercing the heart.
"Open your eyes and look at this data."
"Apocalypse's space folding triggered a 7.8 magnitude artificial earthquake. If not for Star Umbrella's Vibraniumshielding net, the three hundred and twenty-four students at this school would have been buried alive in the Underground Room two minutes ago."
"If not for the security forces under my command taking over the defense line, those sand monsters would have already turned the Mutant future you are so proud of into mummies."
Lin Nuo walked up to Jean, reached out to pinch her chin, and forced her to look directly into his eyes.
"Are you blaming yourself? Thinking that because you didn't open that door, Charles was captured?" Lin Nuosneered, his thumb forcefully wiping away the moisture at the corner of Jean's eyes. "Put away your cheap guilt. Charles was captured because Apocalypse needs a megaphone to amplify mental waves. And you are the ultimate vessel that the old monster truly wants."
Jean's body trembled slightly. Lin Nuo's words brutally tore away the surface disguise, placing the bloodiest reality before her.
"I saved all your students, I held this ruin for you. Now, not only are you not grateful, but you come to bite me like two mad dogs?" Lin Nuo let go and turned towards the elevator.
"Hank." Lin Nuo called out without looking back.
"Here... here!" Hank shuddered and quickly stood straight.
"Count the people, and transfer all surviving students to the outer Star Umbrella medical camp. The school's Underground Room is ruined. From now on, this place is under the full control of Star Umbrella. Anyone who dares to object will be executed on the spot as Terrorists."
Scott clutched his broken wrist, gritting his teeth hard, humiliating tears mixing with dust to leave dirty trails on his face. He looked at Lin Nuo's upright back, but couldn't say a single word of retort.
Because what Lin Nuo said was the truth.
Without Star Umbrella, the X-Men would have been completely wiped out today.
Just then, an extremely massive, more solid and terrifying mental fluctuation than before exploded in everyone's minds without warning.
That was not Apocalypse's phantom, but a global broadcast amplified by the Cerebro after borrowing Charles's telepathic abilities.
The remaining electronic screens in the hall lit up simultaneously, and the feed was forcibly cut in.
Apocalypse's grey-blue face appeared on the screen. Behind him was Charles, tightly bound by deep blue runes, his eyes bleeding.
"Ants. Your leader is now in my hands."
Apocalypse's hoarse voice carried the echo of metal friction, every word like a heavy hammer striking the nerves of all the Mutants.
"Humans have ruled this World for too long with steel and gunpowder. They have polluted the sky, poisoned the oceans, and used laws and morals to cover up their weakness."
"This is a wrong era."
The images on the screen began to switch. The ruins of Cairo, paralyzed fleets, crashed satellites—Apocalypsewas showing the whole World the destruction he caused when he just awakened.
"Three days from now, I will reshape order at the center of this World. All weapons will be destroyed, all governments will be erased. The strong will have the power to rule everything."
Apocalypse's gaze pierced through the screen, locking directly onto Lin Nuo standing in the center of the hall, and Jean beside him.
"And you, the thief who stole the storm. Bring my vessel to see me."
"Otherwise, three days from now, I will turn every inch of land on this Planet into scorched Earth."
The screen shattered with a boom.
In the darkness, Lin Nuo pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, the corners of his mouth curling into an extremely dangerous arc.
"Three days from now?" Lin Nuo turned his head to look at Jean beside him. "Ms. Jean, it seems your ancestor is in quite a hurry to pick a prime piece of land for himself."
Jean took a deep breath, the Phoenix Force in her body surging through her veins. She looked at Lin Nuo, her voice cold without a trace of warmth.
"Where are we going to find him?"
Lin Nuo chuckled and stepped onto the broken stairs.
"No rush. Before we go to overturn that broken temple, we must first go see a few old friends and prepare a sufficiently decent funeral for this false god."
Chapter 215: Three-Day Countdown, Storm Takes a Stand Publicly
The gravel on the steps was ground into powder under his leather shoes, emitting a harsh, grating sound.
Lin Nuo did not look back at the disheveled remnants in the ruins, walking straight toward the elevator leading to the surface.
Jean followed by his side, her striking red hair particularly eye-catching in the dim corridor.
She did not go to help Scott, who had fallen to the ground, nor did she leave behind a single word of comfort.
Ten minutes later, the Star Umbrella mobile command ship.
This behemoth, docked on the lawn on the outskirts of the academy, had an interior space comparable to an entire high-tech combat center.
Cold-toned lights shone on the holographic projection table, perfectly presenting the terrain map of Cairo, Egypt, in a three-dimensional format.
Lin Nuo had changed into a brand-new black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, leaning casually against the edge of the main console.
Emma's holographic image flickered on the left side of the screen; the White Queen was currently sitting upright on a leather sofa in the manor, swirling a wine glass.
"Master, the manor's Vibranium shielding grid has entered maximum load operation. Miss Anna fell asleep in the garden just now, and there are no abnormalities. The Hellfire Club's informants worldwide have all been deployed, and Apocalypse's sand minions are currently only active within Egypt, with no signs of expanding outward."
Lin Nuo tapped his slender fingers on the tabletop twice.
"Maintain the status quo. Since Apocalypse has issued his three-day ultimatum, he will be concentrating his efforts during this time on modifying Charles's dilapidated body, having no time to deal with other small fry."
Hank walked in, carrying a pile of damaged hard drives rescued from the ruins.
When he saw the quantum computing equipment inside the command ship that was far ahead of its time, an undisguisable shock showed beneath his blue fur.
The computing power of any single server here was enough to crush the old system beneath the academy.
"Mr. McCoy." Lin Nuo casually pointed to an empty console nearby. "Import all the energy waveform diagrams regarding Apocalypse that your school has collected into the main brain. I want to see the physical weaknesses of that old monster's energy shield within twelve hours. If you can't do it, you can crawl back to the ruins and dig for mud yourself."
Hank swallowed hard, didn't refute a word, and honestly connected the data cable to start frantically typing on the keyboard.
Just then, Scott walked into the command cabin with big strides, following behind Logan.
His wrist had just been splinted with a polymer fixation cast by a Star Umbrella medic, and he was radiating an aura of gunpowder.
Seeing Lin Nuo's take-charge attitude, Scott's suppressed anger surged up again.
"By what right are you giving orders here?" Scott rushed to the holographic table, slamming his only good hand onto the surface. "That is our Professor! The X-Men have their own battle plan; we don't need an outsider like you interfering!"
Lin Nuo didn't even lift his eyelids, his gaze remaining fixed on the map of Cairo.
"Your battle plan?" Lin Nuo's tone was devoid of fluctuation, revealing an air of righteous mockery. "Do you mean flying that blackbird jet, which can't even break the sound barrier, to Cairo to commit suicide, or do you mean using those glowing eyes of yours to provide free lighting for Apocalypse's altar?"
Scott was choked until his face turned blue, his chest heaving violently.
"Do you think you can win just because you have some dirty money and armaments? Apocalypse is a god! He can manipulate space and matter! You didn't even touch a corner of the Professor's clothes earlier, so what are you playing the savior for now?"
"Summers." A cold, sharp female voice came from behind.
Ororo, wearing a black tactical suit specially made by Star Umbrella, walked to the holographic table with long strides.
This former core mentor of the X-Men was now faintly surrounded by high-voltage electric arcs, and there was not a trace of her usual gentleness in her azure eyes.
She looked at Scott, her gaze surprisingly calm.
"Put away your ridiculous pride. If it weren't for Lin Nuo's armaments, those three hundred children outside would already be corpses by now."
Scott couldn't believe his ears. He stared at Ororo with wide eyes, his voice rising by an octave: "Ororo! Have you lost your mind? You're actually speaking up for him? He's a schemer! He tricked Jean away, and now he wants to annex the entire school!"
"He gave me two hundred million U.S. dollars and an entire heavy-armed fleet to save those mutant children in Africawho were starving to death and had their legs broken," Ororo interrupted Scott directly, her words ringing clear and firm. "And what did Charles give me? Only endless patience and that bullshit rhetoric about coexistence."
Ororo pointed to the dense red dots on the holographic screen representing Star Umbrella's military force, closing in on Scott.
"You ask me why I listen to him? Because he can dump two hundred tons of supplies on the front lines, and because he dared to punch through Apocalypse's mental control. Summers, face reality. We lost, completely and utterly. Right now, only he can get those children out safely."
These words were like a resounding slap, fiercely striking Scott across the face. His pride in his own sense of justice was crushed into pieces in the face of hard cash and absolute power.
He turned to look at Jean, his eyes reddening, hoping his lover would stand up and refute a few points.
Jean, however, just stood quietly beside Lin Nuo. She even thoughtfully picked up the cup of warm water on the table and handed it to Lin Nuo. From beginning to end, she didn't spare a single extra glance for Scott.
Logan exhaled a mouthful of thick cigar smoke and stubbed out the half-smoked cigar in the ashtray.
"Alright, Cyclops. Now is not the time to argue about who's the boss." Logan stared at Lin Nuo, his rugged face full of ferocity. "Kid, I don't care what your motives are. As long as you can rescue that old bald guy, my life is at your disposal for these three days. But if Anna loses a single hair, I swear I'll rip your guts out."
Lin Nuo chuckled and pushed an electronic file in front of Logan.
"I'm not interested in your guts. Go lie down in the medical bay; Star Umbrella's nano-repair technology can make your broken claws grow back within twelve hours. I don't want my front-line tank to be a cripple when we launch the counterattack."
Logan snorted coldly, turned, and strode toward the medical area.
Scott stood there, isolated and helpless, and in the end, could only grit his teeth and retreat into the corner in humiliation.
The command cabin returned to an efficient rhythm of operation.
Lin Nuo picked up the water cup and took a sip, his gaze falling on the main screen. The encrypted frequency suddenly jumped, and a secret signal from North Africaforcibly cut into the main brain.
Raven's communication connected.
"Master, I have successfully infiltrated the underground of Cairo's old city."
Raven's voice was kept very low, with the background sound mixed with dull bell tolls and high-frequency energy humming.
"Apocalypse's minions have blocked all surface passages. The magnetic field here is extremely chaotic, and satellites can't capture any images of the interior at all. But I have found the specific location of that ancient ritual platform."
A slightly blurry candid photo popped up on the screen.
In the center of the photo, Charles was tightly secured to a stone pillar of the altar by several thick, ghostly blue energy chains. His head hung low, and on the surface of his originally pale skin, eerie gray-blue patterns identical to Apocalypse's had already begun to emerge.
"He is being assimilated." Hank looked at the data stream jumping on the screen, his voice dry. "Apocalypse isn't just trying to seize his abilities; he wants to modify his body into a perfect vessel. Once the assimilation is complete, Apocalypse will be able to use Cerebro to extend mental control over every living thing on Earth."
The air in the command cabin suddenly dropped to freezing point.
Lin Nuo looked at the photo, a cold, sharp light glinting in the depths of his eyes.
"I don't care whether Charles lives or dies."
Lin Nuo turned his head to look at Jean, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, his tone revealing an unquestionable dominance.
"But that old monster dares to brazenly demand the woman I have set my sights on. Raven, report the defensive forces on the perimeter of the altar."
From the other end of the communicator came a very faint sound of bone friction; Raven seemed to be adjusting her posture in the narrow space.
"Master, the situation is more troublesome than expected. I have seen the other three horsemen recruited by Apocalypse." Raven lowered her voice, her tone grave. "And one of them—you will absolutely never guess who it is."
Chapter 216: Tearing Down the Disguise, Phoenix Voluntarily Hands Over the Key
As Raven's voice faded from the communicator, Lin Nuodid not seize the opportunity to ask about the identity of that knight.
He raised his hand to cut the secure frequency, his gaze passing over the holographic sand table and landing on Hank, who was sweating profusely as he typed on the keyboard.
"Mr. McCoy, stop those meaningless waveform comparisons you're working on." Lin Nuo curled his index finger and tapped the metal console. "Pull up the top-secret file on Jean Grey from Charles's private server."
Hank's hands froze mid-air, cold sweat seeping out from beneath his blue fur.
"That's the Professor's top-secret data! Without his telepathic authorization, no one can…"
"Emma." Lin Nuo couldn't be bothered to let him finish.
The White Queen on the holographic screen revealed an elegant, cold smile. A massive stream of data, flowing through the Star Umbrella's quantum mainframe, brutally forced its way through the underlying logic of Xavier School's outdated firewall.
Accompanied by a few harsh electronic noises, an encrypted folder marked with a crimson Red Skull symbol was forcibly dragged to the center of the main screen.
"You can't do this!" Scott rushed out from the corner. His wrist, encased in a polymer splint, was still trembling, but his other hand pressed down hard on the console, attempting to forcibly cut the power.
Lin Nuo didn't even look at him, backhanding Scott across the side of the face.
The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the command cabin. Scott staggered, hitting the rear metal bulkhead, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
"Mr. Summers, I keep you on this ship because you still have some value as a cautionary tale." Lin Nuo pulled out a silk handkerchief to wipe his hand, his tone flat. "Touch my equipment again, and I'll gouge out those eyes of yours to pickle in wine."
Scott covered his face, the laser beams behind his ruby-quartz glasses flickering wildly. He turned to look at Jean, his voice filled with pleading.
"Jean! Don't look! There is absolutely nothing good in there! The Professor sealed those memories away entirely to protect you! Are you really going to destroy the Professor's life's work just because of a few provocations from this capitalist?"
Jean stood in place, her red hair swaying slightly in the cold air.
She ignored Scott's pleading and walked straight to the holographic screen.
"Protect me?" Jean's voice was ice-cold. "If that was protection, why do I feel a sharp pain that almost crushes my skull every time I try to recall my childhood?"
She turned her head to look at Scott, who was slumped on the floor.
"Scott, you have always lived in the dream Charles wove for you. But I don't want to be a fool anymore."
Jean raised her hand, her fingertips hovering over the crimson folder.
"Open it." Jean gave the order to Emma.
Emma glanced at Lin Nuo, and seeing her Master give a slight nod, she pressed the Enter key without hesitation.
A blinding white light lit up the command cabin.
The holographic projection presented the scene from ten years ago to everyone in an absolutely realistic 3D perspective.
It was a night of torrential rain. A twisted, deformed car lay overturned by the side of the road, flames soaring into the sky.
Young Jean knelt in the mud, clutching her head with both hands, letting out a shrill, miserable scream.
Everything within a hundred-meter radius centered on her was floating in zero gravity. Rain flowed backward into the sky, and the burning wreckage of the car was kneaded into scrap metal by invisible telekinetic force. Crimson energy rampaged through her frail body, like a Beast unable to find an exit.
Just then, a young Charles appeared at the edge of the frame, sitting in his wheelchair.
He did not step forward to hold the terrified little girl, nor did he use gentle words to comfort her.
He merely put on his portable telepathic enhancement helmet with indifference.
"Your power is too dangerous, child." The Charles in the recording spoke in a cold voice. "It should not exist in this World."
Dark golden psychic chains materialized in the void.
Charles manipulated a massive amount of psychic energy, brutally piercing into little Jean's sea of consciousness.
The little girl in the recording let out an even shriller scream. She rolled in the muddy water, clutching her hair tightly, blood streaming from the corners of her eyes and nostrils.
One layer, two layers, three layers.
Charles mercilessly hammered psychic shackles deep into her mind, locking away that violent Phoenix Force along with little Jean's painful memories into a pitch-black prison.
Only when the little girl had completely passed out did Charles wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and beckon to Hank behind him.
"Take her back to the school. Tell her she just had an illness."
The holographic recording ended abruptly there.
The command cabin was deathly silent, with only the humming of instruments echoing in the air.
Ororo stood to the side, her fingers gripping her hem tightly. She had always thought the Professor was a kind mentor, yet she hadn't expected him to perform such a cruel "surgery" on a little girl who had just experienced a car accident.
Scott's face was pale. He opened his mouth, but found he couldn't even utter a word of defense.
Jean stood in front of the screen, her whole body trembling violently.
The Phoenix Force within her felt its host's anger, and crimson flames danced at the tips of her hair. The surrounding metal consoles began to emit the groaning sounds of being crushed, and the surfaces of several monitor screens cracked with spiderweb-like patterns.
Deceived for over a decade.
She had always thought she was a monster that could explode at any moment, and had always been grateful to Charles.
In reality, she was just a prisoner who had been stripped of the ownership of her power and forcibly locked in a cage.
Lin Nuo strode over and walked behind Jean.
He did not use psychic power to suppress her like Charles, nor did he use hypocritical morals to bind her.
He simply reached out his hands and wrapped them around Jean's waist from behind.
The terrifying density of the Hulk and the absolute insulation of the Asgardian Divine Factor transmitted through his chest to Jean's back. It was a brutal yet incredibly solid physical support.
The moment Jean's rampaging telekinetic power touched Lin Nuo's body, it was like crashing into an insurmountable iron wall, forced back into submission.
"Did you see clearly, Jean?"
Lin Nuo lowered his head slightly, his warm breath hitting her ear, his voice carrying a seductive power that struck straight to the soul.
"I don't deny that Charles was acting for the greater good back then. He was afraid your power would lose control and destroy the city, so he chose the safest method."
Lin Nuo's fingers traced up along Jean's waistline and pressed onto her shoulders, turning her around to force her to look directly into his eyes.
"But the problem is, that is your power. Why should he be the one to keep the key?"
"He treated you like a dangerous weapon, locked in an armory. He told you the outside was dangerous only because he himself is weak; he couldn't control you, so he could only turn you into a defective product that even you would fear."
Lin Nuo pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, the corners of his mouth curling into an extremely aggressive arc.
"But I am different."
"I don't care if you poke a hole in the sky. Because no matter how big a mess you make, I can cover for you."
These words completely shattered the last line of defense in Jean's heart.
No hypocritical morals, no heavy sense of the greater good.
Only pure possessiveness and the guarantee of absolute strength.
Jean looked up at Lin Nuo, who was inches away. That refined, villainous face was filled with contempt for the rules.
The crimson light at the corners of her eyes gradually faded, replaced by an unprecedented clarity and determination.
She turned her head, glanced at Scott, who looked like he was mourning the dead in the corner, and then looked at the crimson encrypted folder on the screen.
"Delete it." Jean gave the order to Emma.
Emma typed on the keyboard, and the file recording her humiliating past completely turned into a string of garbled code.
Jean looked back at Lin Nuo, grabbing the lapels of his white shirt with both hands, her knuckles turning white from the force.
"Apocalypse wants me as a vessel because he has his eyes on what's inside me." Jean's voice was a bit hoarse, but it carried an irresistible madness.
"There is a monster locked inside. Charles locked it tight, but I know it has been waiting for me all along."
Lin Nuo let her grab his clothes, his gaze unfathomable.
"And so?"
Jean stood on tiptoe, her red lips almost touching Lin Nuo's chin.
"Help me."
"Help with what?"
"Help me smash that door… completely to pieces."