"God Lord, we now possess 23 Ultron Robot production factories. The maximum daily production capacity has surpassed 1,000, and the total number of the Ultron Robot Army has currently reached 3,680."
An Ultron Robot stood beside Darian, reporting the situation to him.
To be precise, it was the AI Ultron speaking to him through the robot's mouth.
"Not bad, not bad."
Darian nodded with satisfaction.
These days, he had led the Ultron Robots to sweep through various regions of America, not only seizing multiple Sentinel Robot production factories but also stripping clean the stockpiles hidden by the human higher-ups everywhere to produce even more Ultron Robots.
He wasn't afraid of those human higher-ups counterattacking to take the production factories back.
Ultron Robots fresh off the production line didn't need any break-in period at all; they could be put into use the moment they hit the ground.
Every production factory was stationed with a large number of Ultron Robots. Even if the human higher-ups assembled their forces for a heavy assault, they wouldn't be able to take it down in a short time. As long as they could hold out for a moment, Darian could teleport in with reinforcements to save the day.
What if the enemy brought too many people and they couldn't win?
That would be even easier to handle.
Darian wouldn't go head-to-head with them; he would simply lead the Ultron Robots to turn around and seize Sentinel Robot factories in other regions.
Anyway, they had the ultimate trick of teleportation. No matter how fast the humans moved, they certainly couldn't be faster than them.
By the time the human higher-ups finally managed to take down one Ultron Robot production factory, Darian would have already seized several Sentinel Robot production factories.
Trading one for several, this deal was a massive profit no matter how you calculated it.
Unfortunately, those human higher-ups eventually learned their lesson and began to focus on defense rather than offense. They maxed out the defenses at every stronghold and guarded them with heavy troops, clearly not giving Darian any chance to strike.
Darian, however, was in no hurry.
He was still frantically mass-producing troops. Once the scale of the Ultron Robot Army multiplied several more times, he wouldn't be sneaking around to steal things; he would simply crush them head-on.
"Is this the power of technology?"
Professor X couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
They had fought against the Sentinel Robots for decades and had always been the side being suppressed, even being hunted until they could only hide everywhere.
And now, relying solely on these Ultron Robots, Darian had forced the once-arrogant Sentinel Robots into a steady retreat.
In a short amount of time, he had achieved what they hadn't been able to do for decades.
Magneto had a look of regret: "If only I had this many back then... Oh no, just 800. If I had just 800 robots like these, the Mutants wouldn't have fallen into such a state."
Over these days, the two old men had witnessed the powerful performance of the Ultron Robots with their own eyes and began to doubt whether they had taken the wrong path. Could it be that technology was the true way?
Darian looked at the two old men who were starting to doubt themselves and comforted them: "Don't think too much. Actually, the potential of Mutants is still very large. As long as you can develop your abilities to the extreme, you'll be just as ridiculously strong."
"Take Magneto's ability, for example. If he could learn Magnetic Control, no amount of Sentinel Robots would be his match. Or Iceman; as long as he can reach absolute zero, even time would lose its meaning before him."
"If you don't believe me, just look at Kitty Pryde. She developed Time Travel from a simple Intangibility ability. Isn't that a living example?"
After hearing Darian's comfort, the two old men felt even worse.
It turned out they had been holding nuclear bombs in their hands all along, but because they hadn't used the right methods, they had been using them to crack walnuts.
Ultimately, these Mutants had never truly seen the essence of their own abilities.
Take Magneto for instance; despite giving himself the title of Magneto, he actually always thought his ability was Metal Control, so he only ever thought about controlling metal.
But he never realized that the true power behind his control of metal was actually magnetic fields.
Erik was the same. If it hadn't been for Darian's guidance, he probably would have followed the same path as the King of Iron.
Logan, this cultural desert, was stunned by what he heard and couldn't help but ask: "Is the potential of Mutants really that high? Then what's my ability like when developed to the extreme?"
Darian pondered for two seconds: "Until the moment you croak, you won't die."
Logan: "..."
Isn't that freaking nonsense!?
Since having the Ultron Robots, the Mutants' lives had finally improved.
Before, they were constantly on edge, fearing that the Sentinel Robots would suddenly pop up at any moment and wipe them all out.
Now it was better; with the Ultron Robot Army, the Sentinel Robots were no longer a threat to them.
Even those dangerous frontline missions were now completely covered by the Ultron Robots, with no need for them to participate in the fighting at all.
And this led to a large group of combat personnel becoming collectively unemployed. They took off their battle robes one after another and switched careers to logistics.
Professor X served as the Base's psychological counselor.
In this apocalyptic World, the psychological pressure on Mutants was too great.
So he often provided psychological counseling for the personnel in the Base to prevent anyone from feeling so bad that they'd elbow-strike the concrete from a high place, play tug-of-war with a ceiling beam using their neck, or test the hardness of a blade with their wrist.
Magneto, on the other hand, became the Captain of the engineering brigade. He led his team to work on infrastructure every day, and with his decades of metal-controlling skills, he was like a fish in water.
Storm took over the power supply for all construction, occasionally summoning lightning to charge the energy storage stations.
Iceman was responsible for food storage and acted as the central air conditioning for the entire Base.
As for Logan, this washed-up face of the X-Men, he had now been reduced to a glorious laborer.
After all, with his iron-like body and infinite stamina, it would be a pity if he didn't move bricks.
However, recently the number of Ultron Robots had skyrocketed and begun to gradually replace them in such manual labor.
This caused Logan to face the risk of unemployment again, leaving him frowning every day, smoking cigars and drinking alone, repeating one sentence over and over.
"Damn robot era!"
Basically every Mutant in the Base now had their own job.
Their abilities were varied and strange, covering almost every field. From fixing pipes and unclogging toilets to working on mechanical electronics, there wasn't a position they couldn't fill.
This wasn't some Mutant Base; it was clearly a large talent market.
If humans and Mutants had cooperated back then, with technology and superpowers, they could have long since left Earth to fight Aliens together.
Additionally, the Mutants Darian brought with him also gained quite a lot.
Especially Jean; back at the X-Mansion, her training only consisted of using skills against targets, and the occasional practical lesson was just sparring with her own people, where she didn't dare use her full strength.
But it was different now. This apocalyptic World had nothing else, but it had more than enough opponents.
For Jean, it was simply a god-given training ground.
Those killing machines that used to chase Mutants all over the streets were now all Jean's training props. She could hit them however she wanted; after all, it wasn't a loss if they were broken.
After many days of actual combat, Jean's abilities grew stronger and stronger, and her introverted personality became more open. There was always a lingering dark aura in her eyes that Magneto and the others watched with trepidation, constantly checking on her and telling her not to be under so much pressure.
Charles was the same.
He had long known just how terrifying the power hidden within Jean's body was.
For the safety of Jean and those around her, he had specially created a Mental Cage to restrain that terrifying power, fearing that this nuclear bomb might accidentally explode.
"By letting Jean use her power like this, aren't you afraid she'll lose control?"
Charles's brow was furrowed, his voice full of worry.
"Only blind suppression leads to loss of control."
Darian was calm as he looked down at Charles: "You should also know how the Jean of this timeline eventually died, right?"
Charles fell silent for a moment.
He had indeed heard that the Professor X of this World had been desperately suppressing the power within Jean.
Jean exploded with her true power in a desperate situation, but she had never learned how to control it.
She was instantly taken over by her Second Personality, who obliterated the Professor X that had imprisoned her on the spot, leaving not even ashes behind.
Logan and the others could only find a few pieces of Professor X's clothes to make a cenotaph.
If Professor X hadn't left a backup plan in advance and reincarnated using his twin brother's body, the grass on his grave would be meters high by now.
Seeing that Charles didn't speak, Darian continued: "Power is like desire. The more you suppress it, the crazier the backlash. For example, if I told you to quit Moira after you go back, and you could only look but not touch, could you do it?"
Charles was stunned for a moment, then smiled awkwardly: "Uh, that would indeed be a bit difficult..."
He was in his prime, unlike some middle-aged men who wished they could sleep in the living room every day.
Making him quit Moira would be more painful than quitting drugs. "Well, there you go."
Darian rolled his eyes: "It's better to guide it than to block it. Instead of wasting energy trying to suppress Jean's power, it's better to let her adapt early and progress step by step. Even if she can't fully control it, at least it won't explode at the slightest touch."
"Otherwise, if Jean's Second Personality really erupts one day, the first person it'll definitely retaliate against is the mastermind who locked it up—you. It'll pull you up from your wheelchair and make you walk on your legs."
Charles blinked: "But my legs were fine to begin with."
"Who said I was talking about those legs of yours?"
Charles swallowed hard and quickly nodded: "I think your method is very good. Let's do as you say."
Darian felt contempt for Charles's quick change of face, but he was also glad to see it.
Under his influence, Charles's moral bottom line had become quite flexible, fluctuating up and down.
If it were someone with Professor X's personality, that would be a real headache.
A few more days passed, and Darian moved again.
With a wave of his hand, he launched an attack on a Sentinel Robot production factory.
Countless rifts instantly tore open in the sky, and purple teleportation portals appeared out of thin air. Densely packed Ultron Robots poured out from the gates, a dark mass that blotted out the sun.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The stationed soldiers reacted extremely quickly, and the alarm sirens instantly tore through the sky.
The next moment, transport planes in the sky deployed a large number of Sentinel Robots, like a swarm of silver bees, pouncing toward the Ultron Robots. Without a word, the Ultron Robots immediately activated their second-stage mode, their hands transforming into gatling guns with twelve barrels spinning rapidly. Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Dazzling tongues of fire spewed out, lighting up the entire night sky.
Countless bullets wove into an airtight barrage, like a metallic torrent, instantly swallowing the incoming Sentinel Robots.
Under the strafing of powerful magic bullets, countless Sentinel Robots fell from the sky, crashing onto the ground with a series of loud thuds.
The ground was soon covered with a layer of mechanical wreckage.
Now the number of Ultron Robots had increased many times over; they were no longer something the Sentinel Robots could withstand with numbers.
Under the covering fire, the Sentinel Robots couldn't penetrate the Ultron Robots' line at all.
The Sentinel Robots flipped open their faceplates and spewed out pillars of scorching fire in retaliation, but the Ultron Robots predicted this in advance, and a thick layer of ice armor instantly condensed on their bodies.
The Ultron Robots' use of this ability was clearly much more proficient than that central air conditioner Iceman. When the flames hit, they only produced a sizzle and a cloud of white smoke, failing to damage the internal body at all.
Seeing that the Sentinel Robots were about to collapse.
An Officer shouted at the top of his lungs: "Deploy the latest model of Sentinel Robots immediately!"
A soldier beside him reminded: "But Officer, the new model Sentinel Robots haven't passed the testing phase yet..."
"To hell with testing!"
The Officer kicked the soldier's leg, his eyes bloodshot: "If we stall any longer, we'll all be finished here! Release them now!"
The soldier didn't dare say another word and hurriedly began to operate the controls.
Soon, a batch of distinctly different Sentinel Robots appeared on the battlefield.
They were bulkier than ordinary Sentinels and had sharper lines, looking like they were not to be trifled with.
But what was most eye-catching were their chests; each was embedded with a glowing device emitting a faint blue light.
They were actually identical to the small Arc Reactors on the Ultron Robots' chests.
The Officer felt relieved seeing the arrival of these Sentinel Robots.
To encourage the soldiers, he grabbed a megaphone and shouted to them: "Listen up! These are the latest Sentinel Robots developed by mankind, using the same technology as those robots—Nuclear Fusion! And our technology is more advanced and our performance is stronger. We will definitely win this battle!"
Hearing these words, the soldiers were much more at ease.
Mutants might not feel the terror of the Ultron Robots, but they knew it all too well; it was practically a real-life version of the Omnic Crisis.
Now that a new type of Sentinel Robot capable of contending with the Ultron Robots had finally appeared, it felt similar to when the Mutants got the Ultron Robots.
Under their expectant gazes, the new Sentinel Robots streaked across the sky and charged toward the Ultron Robot Army.
The Ultron Robots had long noticed these newly emerged guys.
Without a word, they immediately turned their muzzles and opened fire.
The new model Sentinel Robots were fearless and charged straight ahead with great momentum.
And then... there was no "then."
The new model Sentinel Robots were wiped out!
Soldiers: (Q_O)
Darian slowly walked out from the rear and squatted down in front of the nearest wreckage of a new model Sentinel Robot.
He reached out and plucked the small Arc Reactor from its chest, holding it up to look at it.
"Which genius installed an LED light on the chest?"
Officer: "..."
Soldiers: "..."