Chapter 225: Silo Shutdown, Saving the World with the Enemy's Legacy
On the screen, the scarlet coordinate point representing the nuclear missile was flashing at an extremely high frequency.
"Apocalypse has completely lost his mind!" Hank's hands were frantically tapping on the keyboard, sweat the size of beans seeping out from under his blue fur. "He doesn't care about the life or death of this Planet at all! He wants to use the nuclear missile to blast Cairo into a wasteland and wipe us out along with it!"
"Can you cut off the launch sequence!" Logan grabbed Hank by the collar, his sharp steel claws almost piercing the screen.
"I can't!" Hank roared in despair, pointing at a set of feedback codes on the screen. "Apocalypse destroyed the hydraulic valves! This is physical destruction at a fundamental level! Even if I obtained the highest authority of The Pentagon right now, there is no mechanical structure to execute the command once sent!"
Hank let go of the keyboard dejectedly: "Unless someone can air-drop into Nevada in one second and manually press that hundred-ton warhead back onto the launch rack. Otherwise... we are all finished."
Scott, kneeling in a pool of blood, let out a shrill and twisted laugh.
"Lin Nuo! Aren't you capable of taking over the World? Don't you want to trample the entire World under your feet!" Scott stared fixedly at Lin Nuo, his eyes behind the red quartz glasses filled with madness. "Go! Go and stop the nuclear missile! You self-righteous idiot, you've killed everyone!"
Logan backhanded a heavy punch, slamming it directly into Scott's jaw. Accompanied by the crisp sound of a dislocated mandible, this former X-Men Captain rolled his eyes and passed out completely like a dead dog.
"Shut your stinking mouth." Logan shook the blood off his hand and turned to look at Lin Nuo. "Kid, you'd better have an ace up your sleeve."
Lin Nuo watched the death toll approaching on the screen. In his dark eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses, there was not a trace of panic, but rather a kind of contempt, as if viewing the death throes of prey.
"Manually press it back?" Lin Nuo unbuttoned two buttons at his collar, the corners of his mouth curling into an extremely aggressive arc. "That sounds like a good suggestion."
He turned to look at the White Queen on the holographic screen.
"Emma. Pull up the top-secret files of Trask Industries. The underlying backdoor codenamed 'Sentinel Cradle'."
A gleam flashed in Emma's eyes, her slender fingers leaving afterimages on the virtual keyboard. The massive data stream instantly bypassed the Military's firewall and struck straight at the core motherboard of Base 7.
"Master, I found it!" Emma's tone was filled with extreme excitement. "Trask was responsible for the security renovation of that Base back then. They left six hydraulic test robotic arms for the first-generation Sentinel inside the launch silo. Those are abandoned lines from ten years ago; the Military has no idea of their existence!"
Hank widened his eyes, looking at Lin Nuo as if he were a monster.
The legacy of Trask Industries? Just how many trump cards capable of overturning the World has this man secretly controlled?
"Even if they are abandoned, they can still be powered on." Lin Nuo's voice was steady, exuding an absolute will of hegemony. "Take control of the robotic arms. Lock the launch rack tight for me."
Emma hit the Enter key: "Robotic arms are online! But... Master, the power output of the first-generation Sentinel is not enough to fully counter the Rocket thrusters after the nuclear missile ignites! It can only delay it by three seconds!"
Outside the aircraft, the magnetic storm whipped up by Apocalypse began to tear at the fuselage frantically.
"Officer! The magnetic field over Cairo is interfering with our signal receiver!" Ororo strode to the cabin door, her azure eyes filled with blinding white light. "If the signal is cut, the robotic arms will go out of control!"
"Then tear this damn storm apart for me." Lin Nuo didn't even turn his head.
Ororo didn't waste any words. She suddenly raised her hands, and violent high-voltage arcs exploded outside the cabin. Her Omega-level weather control ability operated at full power, forcibly tearing open a signal channel of absolute vacuum amidst the sky full of yellow sand.
Lin Nuo turned around and looked at Jean beside him.
"Stretch your muscles a bit." Lin Nuo stretched out his large, bony hand and grasped Jean's wrist.
The terrifying muscle density of Hulk-level, mixed with the dark golden luster of the Asgardian Divine Factor, flowed across the surface of Lin Nuo's skin. He turned his own body, which was unreasonably powerful, into a physical anchor for Jean without reservation.
"Emma, share the mental network with her. Coordinates, Nevada Base 7." Lin Nuo issued the order.
Jean clasped Lin Nuo's fingers back, their hands tightly interlocked.
Without Charles's mental shackles, the Phoenix Forcewithin her was like a wild horse off the leash, crossing half of the Earth at the speed of light along the quantum mainframe of Star Umbrella.
"Hold on tight." Lin Nuo said in a low voice.
Jean opened her eyes suddenly.
A scarlet light illuminated the cabin with a boom. That telekinetic power, so massive it could even distort space, descended directly into the launch silo in Nevada through the network nodes.
The thrusters at the bottom of the nuclear missile spewed out blinding tail flames.
At this critical moment, six huge, rusty robotic arms reached out from both sides of the silo wall, locking the body of the nuclear missile tightly.
At the same time, the materialized scarlet telekinesis, like two invisible giant hands, descended from the sky and pressed hard on the top of the nuclear missile.
"Stop... for me!" Jean gritted her teeth, fine beads of sweat seeping from her forehead.
The temperature inside the cabin soared, and the backlash of the Phoenix Force flowed crazily into Lin Nuo's body along their interlocked fingers.
Lin Nuo didn't even frown. The Mutant's ultimate microscopic atomic recombination ability operated at full speed within his body, accepting all of those high-frequency radiations capable of vaporizing steel. He even freed up his other hand, naturally wrapping it around Jean's waist to provide her with the most solid physical support.
In the audio receiver, a harsh sound of metal being extremely twisted came through.
Inside the Nevada Base, the six robotic arms began to melt under the high temperature, but that brute and unreasonable telekinesis of Jean forcibly suppressed the ignited Rocket thrusters until they extinguished.
The countdown froze.
The huge nuclear warhead was stuck tightly on the launch rack, unable to advance even an inch further.
The cabin was deathly silent, with only the humming of the instruments running.
Hank slumped in his chair, panting heavily, his whole body soaked with cold sweat.
It was blocked.
Crossing half the Earth, using the enemy's abandoned legacy, combined with pure physical and telekinetic crushing force, it had forcibly pressed a nuclear missile about to launch back into its coffin.
Meanwhile.
The combat command center of The Pentagon.
All the high-ranking generals stared fixedly at the feedback screen on the big display; the entire hall was silent.
Cold sweat dripped from the Minister of Defense's forehead onto the desk.
They not only saw the nuclear missile being forcibly suppressed, but also saw those six robotic arms that shouldn't have existed.
Star Umbrella could not only take over the global network, but it had also hidden a fatal physical backdoor in their most core nuclear weapon Base!
If Lin Nuo wanted to destroy the United States today, he wouldn't even need to send a single soldier; he would only need to tap the keyboard, and he could make all the nuclear missiles explode right in their launch silos.
"What kind of monster is this Lin Nuo... exactly?" A four-star general slumped in his chair, having completely lost the thought of resistance, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "He has seen through even our underwear..."
The Minister of Defense wiped the cold sweat from his face and made the wisest decision of his life.
"Pass down the order."
"Hand over all air defense authority and satellite control rights in North America to Star Umbrella unconditionally."
"From now on, whatever he says goes. Anyone who dares to disobey will be dealt with directly as treason!"
The terror of capital's dimensional reduction strike was vividly displayed at this moment. Lin Nuo didn't fire a single bullet, yet he made the most powerful Militarymachine on this Planet completely kneel at his feet.
The top of the Cairo TV Tower.
The gale howled. Charles was tied to the steel frame, twitching in pain.
Apocalypse's massive gray-blue body stood at the edge, overlooking the ruins below.
He felt it.
The nuclear missile that should have turned everything into scorched Earth had been forcibly jammed in the launch silo by an extremely domineering force.
Not only that, the mental imprints he left in the global network were being cleared one by one by Star Umbrella's quantum mainframe with overwhelming force.
Apocalypse turned his head suddenly, his pupil-less silver-white eyes staring fixedly at a certain coordinate in the void.
His mental power followed the remaining network nodes, tracing back to that black aircraft hovering at the edge of the sandstorm.
Inside the cabin.
The screen, which had returned to normal, suddenly flickered with a blinding ghostly blue light.
Apocalypse's face, filled with extreme anger, forcibly squeezed into the main control screen.
This time, he didn't go to bewitch Jean, nor did he issue any declaration of a god.
His gaze passed over everyone and nailed itself onto that refined scoundrel who was holding a teacup and dressed impeccably.
"Mortal." Apocalypse's voice carried the harsh echo of metal friction, and even the alloy walls of the cabin trembled slightly under this sound wave. "You destroyed my altar and interrupted my cleansing."
"Do you think that by relying on a few piles of scrap metal, you can stop the pace of a god?"
Lin Nuo casually tossed the empty blue and white porcelain teacup onto the table, making a crisp sound.
He tugged at the collar of his black shirt, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and the corners of his mouth curled into an unapologetically wicked smile.
"A god?"
Lin Nuo strode forward, walked to the front of the screen, and looked down condescendingly at this old dried corpse that had lived for thousands of years.
"On my turf, even a fly has to pay a protection fee before it can take off."
"What kind of thing are you to be qualified to talk to me about pace here?"
The killing intent in Apocalypse's eyes was almost about to solidify into substance. He finally realized that the red-haired woman he regarded as a vessel was not the biggest threat.
The man before him, who trampled on all rules unscrupulously, was the biggest obstacle to his reshaping of the World.
"Very well." Apocalypse's voice was cold to the extreme. "Since you insist on standing before the throne of God."
The image on the screen began to distort violently. Apocalypse slowly raised that giant hand covered in ancient Egyptian runes, his fingertips pointing directly at the center of Lin Nuo's eyebrows.
"Then I will drain your arrogant shell first." In Apocalypse's hoarse voice, there was an irresistible death sentence. "Bring your woman and crawl over here. I will personally crush your bones."
"Oh?" Lin Nuo chuckled, his eyes extremely aggressive. "Then wash your neck clean and wait for me at the top of the tower."
He leaned down, faced the microphone, and gave his response word by word.
"I am going up there right now to teach you what a true dimensional reduction strike is."
Chapter 226: The God's Fury, Remnants of the Old Era
On the screen, Apocalypse's ash-blue face twisted violently.
Accompanied by a burst of harsh electronic static, the feed was forcibly cut, reverting to the Star Umbrella radar interface.
Lin Nuo casually tugged at his tie, took off his high-end suit jacket, and tossed it onto the seat, leaving him in just a black shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
"Emma." Lin Nuo pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his tone steady and devoid of any ripples. "Have the outer heavy fleet aim all their cannons at the TV Tower. Don't let a single fly escape."
At the top of the Cairo TV Tower.
The gale, mixed with coarse grit, tore wildly at the city's tallest building.
Charles was bound tightly to the steel frame beneath the lightning rod by several thick, deep-blue energy chains. This once arrogant Mutant leader now had his eyes rolled back, blood seeping from his seven orifices. His brilliant brain was being used by Apocalypse as a high-power signal converter, enduring torture beyond what any ordinary person could imagine.
Apocalypse stood at the edge of the tower top, his massive ash-blue frame resembling an ancient statue.
He withdrew the psionic energy he had projected into the global network. In those pupil-less, silvery-white eyes, killing intent surged, almost tangible.
Thousands of years.
Never had any mortal dared to provoke him with such a condescending attitude. That man wearing gold-rimmed glasses had not only destroyed his altar but also jammed his nuclear weapons—meant to cleanse the World—with piles of scrap metal.
"Ignorant ants." Apocalypse's hoarse voice carried an extreme chill through the gale. "Since you are so eager to die, I shall grant your wish."
Apocalypse slowly turned around and raised that giant hand covered in Ancient Egyptian runes.
From the shadows at the top of the tower, three figures walked out, stepping over the shattered glass covering the ground.
Walking on the far left was a woman with a fiery figure. She wore a dark red leather outfit and was playing with two magnetic throwing blades crafted from high-purity metal. Lydia, a former radical Mutant from the outskirts of the Brotherhood of Mutants.
In the middle was a man reeking of burnt flesh. Carlos, whose skin was an unnatural dark red, exhaled tiny sparks from his nostrils with every breath.
On the right was a muscular monster nearly two and a half meters tall. Baron's bones were so thick they defied human biomechanics, and his skin was covered in a layer of grayish-white bony cuticles.
Behind the three, a teeth-gritting sound of sand friction arose.
The Tomb Guardian, Salim, whose central energy had been shattered by Lin Nuo's punch in the underground palace, had now miraculously reconstituted his body using the sandstorm filling the Cairo sky. The spectral blue fire in his eye sockets burned brighter than before, and half his body had completely transformed into a surging whip of quicksand.
"My children."
Apocalypse spread his arms, and a massive energy field enveloped the entire top of the TV Tower.
"Humans have used technology to steal the authority that belongs to the gods. They try to use those ridiculous toys to block the flood of evolution." Apocalypse's voice carried a highly penetrating psionic compulsion. "Now, accept my blessing. Go and tear apart those hypocritical resistors."
Deep-blue beams of energy erupted from Apocalypse's palms, pouring into the three of them without reservation.
Lydia let out a scream that was both painful and pleasurable. Her magnetic genes were forcibly elevated by a level; she, who could previously only manipulate small metal objects, was now surrounded by extremely violent electromagnetic pulses, causing the screws on the surrounding steel frame to burst apart.
The dark red skin on Carlos's body cracked rapidly, and deep-blue, high-temperature flames capable of melting steel gushed from the fissures.
Baron's massive body expanded once more, the bony cuticles spreading over his entire frame, turning him into a humanoid battering ram.
Famine, Pestilence, War.
Plus Salim, who had long since been transformed into the Knight of Death.
Apocalypse's Four Horsemen were officially formed at this moment.
...
Inside the Star Umbrella mobile command ship.
Emma's holographic image flickered rapidly on the main console as high-resolution thermal imaging maps were pushed to the center of the screen.
"Master, four extremely high-energy Mutant signals have appeared at the top of the Cairo TV Tower." Emma's slender fingers tapped on the virtual keyboard. "Energy waveforms indicate their genetic telomeres have just undergone an extremely violent catalytic recombination. Apocalypse has assembled his guard force."
On the screen, the figures of the four horsemen were clearly captured and magnified.
Raven leaned against the bulkhead, the wound on her neck already scabbed over. She narrowed her azure-blue eyes, staring intently at the woman in the dark red leather outfit on the far left of the screen.
"Lydia?" Raven sneered, her tone filled with undisguised disdain. "That idiot is actually still alive."
"Acquaintance?" Lin Nuo picked up the cup of warm water on the table and took a slow, methodical sip.
"Hardly." Raven stood up straight and pointed at the woman on the screen. "When Magneto was still out causing trouble, she was just a minor leader on the periphery of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Her ability is manipulating small-scale magnetic fields. After you threw Eric into the Vibranium mines to dig for coal, the Brotherhood of Mutants fell apart. I didn't expect her to come running to be a dog for this old dried-up corpse."
Lin Nuo pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze sweeping over the four people on the screen.
"One playing with magnets, one playing with fire, a tank, plus a pile of pieced-together sand." Lin Nuo tugged at the corner of his mouth, his smile extremely wicked. "This old monster's taste is still stuck in the cold weapon era from thousands of years ago."
He turned around and looked at the others in the cabin, who were ready for battle.
"Tactical assignments." Lin Nuo's voice was steady and carried absolute authority.
"Ororo."
"Here, Officer." Ororo stepped forward, subtle arcs of electricity crackling around her body.
"The one covered in fire is yours. Drain the oxygen around him or strike him into charcoal with high-voltage lightning. Do whatever is easiest; I just want him dead." Lin Nuoissued the order.
"Understood."
"Logan." Lin Nuo looked at Wolverine, who was popping out his steel claws.
"Speak." Logan spat out half a cigar, his rugged face full of ferocity.
"That big guy covered in bone spurs is yours. Don't use your Beast instincts to tank it; cut his joints and cervical spine. Your Adamantium claws aren't there for decoration."
Logan snorted: "You don't need to teach me how to kill."
Lin Nuo ignored Logan's temper and turned to look at Jean, who was standing beside him.
Jean had already taken off her wide tactical trench coat and was wearing a tight black tactical vest. Without Charles's psionic shackles, she exuded an extremely dangerous sense of aggression.
"As for the magnetic remnant and that pile of broken sand." Lin Nuo raised his hand and very naturally straightened Jean's red hair. "Smash them however you like. Treat them as a warm-up."
Jean tilted her head, looking at Lin Nuo's refined scoundrel of a face, a flash of scarlet flame flickering in the depths of her eyes.
"And what about Apocalypse?" Jean's voice was slightly hoarse, her fingertips brushing against the back of Lin Nuo's hand intentionally or otherwise.
Lin Nuo turned his hand to grip Jean's wrist, his thumb rubbing against her delicate skin twice.
"He dared to poach my people right in front of me." Lin Nuo's eyes were bottomless, revealing a tyrant-like possessiveness. "I will dismantle his bones inch by inch myself."
Three minutes.
It took Lin Nuo only three minutes to completely dismantle Apocalypse's pride-and-joy Four Horsemen lineup. No pre-battle mobilization, no impassioned speeches. Only pure, overwhelming strength and righteous dominance.
Lying in a pool of blood in the corner, Scott listened to this casual tactical arrangement, gritting his teeth tightly, humiliating tears mixing with blood as they hit the metal floor. His proud X-Men tactical system seemed like a child's game in front of this man.
"Fleet, take off. Target, Cairo TV Tower." Lin Nuo issued the final order.
The massive black aircraft tore through the yellow sand, approaching the solitary tower at the center of the storm.
...
At the same time.
At the top of the Cairo TV Tower.
Apocalypse's massive frame stood at the edge of the steel frame, watching the black aircraft gradually approaching from afar with cold eyes.
He didn't turn back, simply using an extremely secretive psionic link to pour a piece of information directly into Lydia's mind.
"True God." Lydia knelt on one knee, forcibly suppressing the violent electromagnetic pulses around her body.
"Charles's body is too fragile. His genetic telomeres are collapsing under overload." Apocalypse's hoarse voice echoed in Lydia's mind. "I need a more stable energy conversion medium."
Lydia looked up, a flash of confusion in her eyes: "What do you need me to do?"
"In that man's lair hides a supreme treasure." A flash of greed crossed Apocalypse's pupil-less eyes. "A girl who can absorb the energy of any carbon-based lifeform."
Apocalypse raised his hand, and a blurry holographic image unfolded in Lydia's mind. It was a young girl with a lock of silvery-white hair on her forehead.
"Forget the battlefield here. Go to North America. Bring her back to me alive."
Chapter 227: Double-Layer Bait, I Don't Raise Trash
On the mobile command ship, the air was thick with the tension of an impending battle.
Emma's slender fingers tapped across the virtual keyboard, leaving afterimages. Her diamond face, currently in a secondary mutation state, reflected the ghostly blue data streams dancing across the screen.
"Master. The quantum mainframe just intercepted an encrypted one-way psychic band." Emma broadcast the translated audio directly through the cabin's speakers.
Apocalypse's hoarse voice, with its metallic, grating texture, echoed throughout the enclosed space. He commanded the woman in the dark red leather jacket to go to North America and bring back the girl who could absorb energy.
The moment the audio finished, Logan's rugged face twisted in fury.
He lunged to the console, his thick arm muscles bulging. Accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of tearing metal, six Adamantium claws gouged directly through the edge of the polymer console.
"Lin Nuo! Divert a starship back to North Americaimmediately!" Logan roared at Lin Nuo, spit nearly spraying onto Lin Nuo's lenses. "That bitch who plays with magnets is a complete lunatic! Anna hasn't even fired a gun before; she's alone in the manor and absolutely cannot block a Mutant of that level!"
Lin Nuo held his cup of warm black tea, sitting calmly in his leather swivel chair. He didn't even lift his eyelids, letting Logan roar before him.
"Emma. Connect to the Manor security center." Lin Nuo's voice remained steady, completely ignoring Logan's protest.
A holographic screen unfolded in the center of the cabin.
On the screen, Anna was wearing loose grey loungewear, sitting on the sofa in the Vibranium isolation room. The strand of silver-white hair on her forehead looked particularly striking under the cold light.
Lin Nuo set down his blue and white porcelain teacup and tapped his knuckles twice against the desktop.
"Anna. Apocalypse has sent someone to capture you." Lin Nuo's tone was extremely flat, as if he were simply informing her of the dinner menu for the evening.
On the other side of the screen, Anna gripped the hem of her clothes, her breathing becoming slightly rapid.
Logan shoved Hank aside and squeezed to the very front of the holographic screen.
"Anna! Listen! Stay in the Underground Room and don't come out! Activate all defense systems!" Logan was sweating profusely, frantic. "I'm going to force this bastard to send a ship back to get you!"
Anna didn't respond to Logan's shouting. Her gaze cut through the holographic projection, landing precisely on Lin Nuo's refined yet villainous face.
"What do you need me to do?" Anna asked.
This left Logan frozen in place. He had expected the young girl to cry and beg for help, not to ask for instructions.
Lin Nuo leaned back, settling comfortably into his chair.
"Running is useless. I want you to be the bait." Lin Nuoadjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. "Lure that woman out, and then kill her."
Logan completely lost it. He reached out, grabbed the collar of Lin Nuo's black shirt, and yanked him up from the chair.
"You're fucking insane!" Logan's eyes were bloodshot. "She's just a child! She can't even control her own abilities, and you're sending her to fight a murderer to the death? You're just using her as cannon fodder!"
Lin Nuo didn't resist. He let Logan keep a grip on his collar, a corner of his mouth curling into an aggressively sharp arc.
Hulk-level terrifying muscle density surged within Lin Nuo's body. He casually raised his left hand, clamped onto Logan's wrist, and applied pressure with his knuckles.
Crack.
Logan's indestructible Adamantium skeleton groaned under the weight of Lin Nuo's unnatural strength. The searing pain forced Logan to let go.
Lin Nuo slowly smoothed out his wrinkled collar.
"Summers treats Jean like a monster that needs to be locked up. You treat Anna like a pet that needs to be kept in a greenhouse." Lin Nuo looked down at Logan. "That is the pathetic arrogance of you X-Men."
Lin Nuo turned and pointed to Anna on the screen.
"She can drain the energy of any carbon-based life form. This talent, which is enough to terrify anyone, is just a burden that needs protecting in your eyes."
"But here? I don't raise trash."
The words transmitted through the speakers into the Manor's isolation room. Far from being afraid, Annastraightened her spine.
She remembered the rainy night at the Antler Motel, when Lin Nuo had reverse-infused her with life force to soothe her restlessness. She remembered standing outside the high-energy training cabin, watching Lin Nuo's back as he withstood the Phoenix Force shirtless.
That man was a god. And a god had given her a chance to prove herself.
Ororo stepped forward, her azure eyes filled with worry.
"Officer, this is too risky." Ororo tried to dissuade him. "Lydia's magnetic control range is vast. Once Anna is exposed in an open area, she won't even have a chance to get close before she's torn into shreds by those metal fragments."
Lin Nuo turned his head to look at Ororo.
"Who said I was going to let her go to an open area?"
Lin Nuo shifted his gaze to Mystique, who was leaning against the cabin wall.
"Raven. Change your face. Go for a walk on the Manor lawn."
Raven stood up straight, an excited glimmer in her azure eyes. The nano-repair agent in her system had already completely healed the wounds she'd sustained in the underground palace.
"As you command, Master."
Raven's figure began to twist. Blue scales shifted, and her bones made a faint sound of restructuring. In the blink of an eye, she transformed into Anna's likeness. Even the grey loungewear and the silver-white hair on her forehead were imitated perfectly.
Lin Nuo looked back at the holographic screen.
"A double-layer bait."
"Lydia is a megalomaniac. When she sees the target in the open, she'll definitely strike immediately."
"Raven is responsible for drawing her first wave of fire and leading her indoors."
"The real you will stay in the psychic shielding room."
Lin Nuo stared at Anna, his voice radiating absolute control.
"When she thinks she has the situation under control and breaks into the safe house, completely unguarded and ready to take you away..."
"Take off your gloves."
"Let her taste what true despair is."
Anna looked at Lin Nuo. Through the screen, she could clearly feel the absolute trust the man placed in her. It wasn't sympathy, nor was it pity; he was treating her like an exceptionally sharp blade.
This was exactly the destiny she had been longing for. She didn't want to be a monster who could only run away, and she certainly didn't want to spend the rest of her life cowering under Emma's Vibranium shielding net just to survive.
Anna raised her hands. She looked at the pair of polymer insulating gloves that had been with her for so long.
Without a moment's hesitation, she pulled off the gloves and tossed them onto the glass coffee table in front of her.
Her pale, slender fingers were exposed to the air. These hands had once killed her first boyfriend, driving her into endless self-exile. But now, these hands would become Lin Nuo's weapon to clear out the trash.
Logan watched this scene, trembling with anger.
"Anna! You've been brainwashed by him! This will cost you your life!" Logan hammered the console.
Anna turned her head, looking directly into Logan's eyes through the screen.
"Logan. You saved me. I'm very grateful."
Anna's voice was soft, but it carried an unprecedented determination.
"But you'll only ever tell me to hide."
"Lin Nuo told me that I don't have to be afraid of anyone."
"I don't want to be a coward who trembles at the thought of touching someone else. I want to use this power to help him sweep away that annoying trash."
Logan was left speechless. He looked at Anna's gaze, which was so worshipful it bordered on pathological, and knew he had completely lost any right to intervene. This girl's inner World had been entirely reshaped by the man named Lin Nuo.
Jean walked to the screen. She wore a tight black tactical vest, her red hair floating slightly in the cold air.
"Do it your way. No one can make decisions for you." Jean's tone was filled with the wisdom of someone who had been there. She knew all too well the exhilarating feeling of breaking free from one's shackles.
Anna nodded firmly.
Just then, the harsh siren of the Manor's security center suddenly blared.
The high-frequency buzzing sound transmitted back to the mobile command ship directly through the communicator.
Emma tapped the keyboard rapidly, cutting the surveillance footage of the Manor's perimeter onto the main screen.
In the night sky, a woman in a dark red leather jacket hovered mid-air.
The surrounding metal lamp posts were forcibly uprooted by a powerful magnetic field, twisting and snapping in mid-air to become dozens of sharp metal spears. The tips of the spears flashed with a cold light under the moonlight, pointing directly at the Villa below.
Lydia's arrogant laughter drifted down from above the Manor, piercing through the communication channel with a condescending tone.
"Little mouse hiding inside. Are you going to crawl out yourself, or do I have to tear this house down and dig you out?"
Anna looked at the intruder on the screen. She stood up from the sofa, stepping barefoot onto the cold metal floor.
"Lin Nuo." Anna's voice came through the speaker, so calm it was chilling.
"I'm going to drain her until there's nothing left."
Chapter 228: Aggressive Evolution, the Fool Who Walked Right Into the Trap
North America, Star Umbrella Manor.
Under the cover of night, violent electromagnetic pulses tore the manor's perimeter defense grid to shreds.
Lydia hovered in mid-air, her dark red leather jacket snapping in the strong wind.
She looked down at the luxurious complex below, her ten fingers spread wide. Dozens of metal spears hovered around her, gleaming coldly in the night.
"Star Umbrella? Nothing but upstarts built on the stench of money."
Lydia's arrogant laughter echoed over the entire manor, amplified by the magnetic field. "Run, little mouse. Do you think hiding behind this scrap metal can stop the will of a god?"
Amidst the roar, the fountain sculpture in the manor's front yard was blasted into rubble by the spears.
She raised her hand, and a bulletproof SUV parked on the lawn was forcibly ripped from the ground.
The high-strength bulletproof armor was kneaded into a massive metal ball by the violent magnetic force in mid-air, smashing heavily into the white greenhouse on the side of the main building.
Glass shattered, and the steel frame twisted.
Amidst the flying debris, a girl wearing gray loungewear with silver-white hair on her forehead stumbled out of the greenhouse ruins.
She looked terrified, not even wearing shoes, running barefoot across the glass-strewn lawn, desperately fleeing toward the underground bunker in the back.
"Caught you."
Lydia laughed loudly, her eyes revealing a bloodthirsty fervor.
She swooped down, and the surrounding metal fragments, guided by magnetic force, transformed into two thick chains that directly blocked the girl's retreat.
The girl let out a cry, pinned firmly to the grass by the invisible magnetic field.
Lydia landed in front of the girl, her high heels crushing a piece of glass.
She bent down and reached out to grab the girl's chin, forcing her to look up.
"You're quite a beauty."
Lydia examined the face, electric arcs glowing on her fingertips, her tone dripping with condescension. "It's a pity you're a piece of trash who can't even control her own abilities. To think the True God would use trash like you as a vessel—what a waste. But it doesn't matter. As long as I bring you back alive, my mission is complete."
The girl didn't speak, just looked at her with an extremely strange expression.
There was no fear, no begging for mercy, but rather a hint of mockery.
Lydia frowned, just about to lash out.
Hum.
An extremely subtle and massive psychic field pierced through Lydia's cerebral cortex without warning.
Far away in a mobile command ship on the other side of the Earth, Emma's diamond face, in its secondary mutation state, refracted a metallic luster.
The Star Umbrella quantum mainframe ran at full power, amplifying the White Queen's telepathy hundreds of times, drilling directly through the vulnerabilities in Lydia's mental defenses.
Lydia's vision blurred for half a second.
Deep in her consciousness, the violent genetic codes that Apocalypse had just instilled in her, along with the energy transmission frequency at the base of the Cairo TV Tower, were crudely copied, packed, and extracted by Emma.
"Master."
Emma pressed the enter key, and a set of complex 3D coordinates popped up on the holographic screen. "Intelligence acquired. Apocalypse buried twelve energy conduits under the foundation of the TV Tower, leading straight to the Earth's core. He wants to drain geothermal energy to accelerate assimilation."
Lin Nuo held his teacup, gently blowing away the floating leaves on the surface.
"Well done."
On the manor lawn.
Lydia shook her head vigorously, forcibly shaking off that strange trance.
She realized something was wrong and looked down at the girl she was gripping.
On the previously pale skin, a layer of fine blue scales had appeared at some point.
"You're not..." Lydia's expression changed drastically.
"You're only just realizing that, you idiot."
Raven grinned, revealing a malicious smile.
Despite her chin being held, her body twisted at an extremely strange angle.
The long leg covered in blue scales kicked upward, the toe striking precisely on the nerve cluster of Lydia's wrist.
Lydia let go in pain.
Raven took the opportunity to roll on the grass, putting some distance between them.
The injuries she had sustained in the underground palace had long been healed by nano-repair agents; her movements were now as agile as a cheetah.
"How dare you play me!"
Lydia was furious.
Blinding electric blue arcs erupted from the surface of her dark red leather jacket, and hundreds of pieces of metal debris around her floated up, their tips aimed at Raven.
Just as she was about to turn this imposter into a honeycomb.
The heavy alloy doors of the manor's main building slowly slid open to both sides.
The real Anna, barefoot, stepped out onto the cold marble steps, walking out step by step.
She wasn't wearing the gray loungewear, but had changed into a tight black combat suit.
The silver-white hair on her forehead fluttered in the night wind, and there was no protection on her pale, slender hands.
Lydia turned her head, looking at the prey that had walked out on its own, laughing in anger.
"Coming out to die on your own? Excellent."
Lydia raised her hand, and several metal spears changed direction, pointing straight at Anna's throat. "I'll sever your limbs; as long as you're still breathing, I can take you back!"
Whoosh!
The metal spears cut through the air, piercing toward Annawith a deadly whistle.
Anna didn't dodge.
The moment the spear was about to pierce her body, she raised her right hand.
There was no grand momentum, no violent energy discharge.
She just grabbed the tip of the foremost metal spear with her bare, unprotected palm with extreme precision.
The violent magnetic force attached to the spear was enough to grind an ordinary person's arm into pulp.
But the moment Anna's fingers touched the metal, the absorption instinct deep within her mutant genes exploded.
The magnetic energy attached to the spear poured into her body through her palm like a breached flood.
The spear, crafted from high-purity alloy, clattered to the ground after losing its magnetic support.
Lydia was stunned.
Her attack, which she was so proud of, had actually been caught barehanded by this little girl?
"Is that all you've got?"
Anna raised her head. In those eyes that were originally clear, there was now an extremely aggressive light surging.
That was the confidence Lin Nuo had given her.
She was no longer that little girl afraid of hurting others.
She was the blade of Star Umbrella.
Anna took the initiative to step forward, walking toward Lydia.
Lydia felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.
She frantically activated the mutant genes in her body, pushing both hands forward.
The metal pipes under the manor were forcibly pulled out, turning into a huge steel python that opened its bloody maw to bite at Anna.
Anna didn't retreat but advanced.
She charged directly into the steel python's encirclement, pressing her hands firmly onto the metal surface.
"Get... over here!"
Anna gritted her teeth, her mutant ability operating at overload.
It wasn't just the magnetic force attached to the metal.
Using these magnetized metals as a medium, Anna's absorption ability crossed physical distances directly, locking onto Lydia's own life magnetic field.
Lydia let out a shrill scream.
She felt the energy in her body being crazily drained by a high-power pump.
The violent power that Apocalypse had just bestowed upon her was draining away at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Her body, suspended in mid-air, lost its balance and smashed heavily onto the grass.
Anna walked to Lydia step by step.
Lydia retreated in horror, waving her hands wildly, trying to control the surrounding metal debris.
But the metal only trembled slightly before returning to dead silence.
Her power had been drained dry.
"Don't... don't touch me!"
Lydia looked at the pale hand Anna was reaching out with, as if she were seeing some extremely terrifying monster.
Anna had no mercy.
She bent down, grabbed Lydia by the collar, and hauled her up from the ground.
Skin touched.
A deeper level of life-force absorption was triggered.
Lydia's pupils dilated violently, and her formerly plump body withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Her skin lost its luster, her hair turned withered and yellow, and the whole person aged several decades in just a few seconds.
Anna let go.
Lydia slumped to the ground like a pile of mud, with only an extremely weak breath remaining.
Anna stood in place, closing her eyes.
She felt the magnetic energy within her body, so full it was about to overflow.
This power was very manic, but when Lin Nuo's calm face appeared in her mind, all the restlessness was forcibly suppressed.
She had done it.
She hadn't run away, nor had she relied on anyone's protection.
She had crushed the assassin sent by Apocalypse with her own hands.
...
Half a World away.
There was deathly silence inside the mobile command ship.
Logan stood in front of the holographic screen, holding a cigar that had long gone out, his rugged face full of complex emotions.
He looked at the girl on the screen in the black combat suit, who was coldly draining the enemy into a wreck.
That was not at all the Rogue he remembered, who would cower in a hotel room.
This was a thoroughly complete reshaping.
Lin Nuo hadn't put her under a protective umbrella, but instead threw her directly into the arena and told her, "You are the strongest Beast."
Facts proved that Lin Nuo had won.
"You've turned her into a monster."
Logan's voice was hoarse as he turned to look at the man sitting behind the console.
Lin Nuo placed the blue and white porcelain teacup in his hand on the table, making a crisp, delicate sound.
"A monster?"
Lin Nuo pushed his gold-rimmed glasses, curled his lips, and revealed a justified mockery. "Mr. Summers treats Jean like a monster, and you treat Anna like a monster. Your X-Men vocabulary is truly so poor it makes one want to laugh."
Lin Nuo stood up, strode to the screen with his long legs.
"In this World where the weak are prey to the strong, only the strong have the right to define what is normal."
Lin Nuo tapped his slender fingers on the metal table twice. "She can protect herself now, and she can scatter the ashes of her enemies. This is called evolution."
Logan was speechless.
He had to admit that although Lin Nuo's method was extreme, it was far more effective than Charles's greenhouse education.
Jean stood beside Lin Nuo, her red hair fluttering slightly in the cold air.
She looked at Anna on the screen, a hint of appreciation showing in her eyes.
She knew all too well the exhilaration of tearing off a disguise and embracing one's true self.
"Emma."
Lin Nuo ignored Logan and turned to look directly at the holographic image on the main console.
"Yes, Master."
The White Queen's voice carried a high level of professional competence.
"Apocalypse's trump cards have been figured out. Since he likes being a groundhog so much, let him stay buried underneath forever."
Lin Nuo rested his hands on the console, his gaze passing through the windshield in front, looking at the Cairo TV Tower looming in the sandstorm in the distance.
"Tonight, the general offensive begins."
Chapter 229: Thunder Pierces the Sky, Shattering the False Throne of the Gods
Cairo was now completely engulfed by a thick sandstorm.
Ominous purple-black clouds rolled across the sky, an anomaly triggered by Apocalypse's immense psychic power.
Lin Nuo stood at the front of the command cabin, his suit jacket removed, leaving only a high-quality black shirt.
His slender fingers rested on the metal railing, his dark eyes reflecting the Cairo TV Tower ahead, which was wreathed in lightning.
"Officer, the airspace magnetic field is extremely chaotic, the fighter squadron cannot lock onto the target!"
Hank reported loudly from in front of the console, his blue fur appearing somewhat disheveled under the red alarm lights.
"Ororo."
Lin Nuo turned his face, his tone flat and without ripples.
"Here, Officer."
Ororo stepped out from the crowd.
Her long silver-white hair danced wildly in the gale within the cabin, and bright white electric arcs began to leap deep within her azure pupils.
"Clean this sky for me."
"Understood."
The side door of the cabin slid open violently at an altitude of ten thousand meters, and the bone-chilling cold air from high altitude rushed in with a whistle.
Ororo did not hesitate for a second, stepping out into the gale, her body hovering in mid-air.
She pushed her hands upward, and her Omega-levelweather control power was unleashed without reservation at this moment.
Thunder.
Boundless thunder tore directly through that layer of purple-black cloud curtain.
The violent electromagnetic Impact expanded outward in a ring, forcefully plowing a vacuum channel several kilometers wide through the psychic magnetic field created by Apocalypse.
"star wings, full speed ahead!"
Hank roared, his fingers leaving afterimages on the main control panel.
Four heavy aircraft transformed into black lightning, plunging straight into the middle section of the TV Tower along the lightning channel Ororo had carved out.
Below the TV Tower, hundreds upon hundreds of fanatic sand-creatures were climbing up the steel frame, dense like an ant colony.
The high-density sand spears in their hands glinted with an eerie light under the lightning.
"Mr. Summers, it is time for you to show your filial piety to your Professor."
Lin Nuo turned around, his gaze falling on the corner of the cabin.
Scott was currently being forcibly held up by a set of nano-exoskeleton specially made by Star Umbrella.
The polymer metal brackets were driven directly into his swollen and deformed knees, forcing him to stand in front of the rear firing port in a stiff and humiliating posture.
The red quartz glasses on his face were stained with blood, and he was panting violently from the pain.
"Lin Nuo... you devil..." Scott squeezed a curse through his teeth.
"Stop talking nonsense."
Lin Nuo stepped forward, his slender fingers resting on the exoskeleton control valve of Scott, "The sand ahead is too much of an eyesore. If you don't clear it out, I'll throw you down from here."
The exoskeleton joints emitted a harsh mechanical clicking sound, forcing Scott's arm to lift and aim at the sand-creature ant colony below.
Extreme humiliation and worry for Charles exploded in Scott's chest.
He had no choice but to violently stimulate the mutant genes within his body, tearing off the limiter valve of his glasses.
The scarlet laser beam was like a world-destroying long blade, pulling a piercing shriek through the void.
The high-heat beam swept across, and the sand-creature believers on the perimeter of the TV Tower didn't even have time to scream before being burned into lifeless glass crystals under the thousand-degree heat, falling from the high altitude in a flurry.
"Logan, Raven, get down there and get to work."
Lin Nuo issued the second command.
"I've been waiting for this!"
Logan roared, six Adamantium claws popping out into the air, bringing up a flash of blinding cold light.
He kicked off with one foot, leaping down from hundreds of meters high, facing the gale.
Below, that muscular monster Baron, nearly 2.5 meters tall and covered in a grayish-white bony armor layer, was swinging his giant fists at the Star Umbrella drones.
Bang!
Logan slammed heavily onto the platform in the middle section of the TV Tower.
His steel claws drew a series of sparks on the metal deck, and using the momentum, he rolled on the ground, his claws slashing directly at Baron's knee joint at an extremely tricky angle.
Meanwhile, a blue phantom flashed by in the chaotic battlefield.
Raven, using the cover of sand and dust, quickly merged her form with the surrounding obsidian architecture.
Carrying the quantum disruptor developed by Hank, she was stealthily moving rapidly toward the twelve geothermal pipes at the base of the TV Tower.
"Let's go."
Lin Nuo turned around and reached out his right hand to Jean.
Jean was currently wearing a tight black tactical vest, her red hair dancing wildly amidst the flying debris.
Without Charles's shackles, the Phoenix Force within her was like a waking ancient beast, circulating an unsettling dark red glow on the surface of her skin.
She looked at Lin Nuo's hand, which was clearly articulated, broad, and powerful.
Without any hesitation, Jean placed her hand on it.
The moment their hands clasped, Hulk-level muscle density and the dark golden luster of the Asgardian Divine Factor flowed through Lin Nuo's palm, turning into the most solid physical anchor, firmly locking the restless, violent energy within Jean inside the safety line.
Lin Nuo led Jean, stepping on the charred steel frame, walking step by step toward the altar at the top of the TV Tower.
Around them was an interweaving of thunderstorms and fire, countless steel bars twisting and deforming in the gale, but within three meters of the two of them, the dark red Bio-force field forcefully froze all flying sand and rocks in mid-air, turning it into the most absolute vacuum domain.
At the top of the TV Tower.
Charles was nailed to the cross-shaped steel frame below the lightning rod, his whole body convulsing violently, and the grayish-blue Apocalypse runes had already spread to his neck.
Each of his twitches caused the network somewhere on this Planet to let out an overwhelmed wail.
Apocalypse's massive grayish-blue body stood in the center of the altar.
He slowly turned around, those pupil-less silver-white eyes crossing the heavy sea of fire, locking tightly onto Lin Nuo who was walking up unhurriedly.
Information about Lydia losing contact in North Americahad already been fed back into his consciousness.
He never expected that the dark chess piece he had carefully arranged would be uprooted by this mortal in the snap of a finger.
"Ignorant thief, do you think that by cutting off my divine servants, you can change the will of the gods?"
Apocalypse's hoarse voice reverberated amidst the thunder, carrying an unquestionable majesty.
He slowly walked down the altar, and with every step he took, the steel frame under his feet turned into sand on a large scale, transforming into surging waves of quicksand.
Lin Nuo stopped, pushing up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.
In those dark eyes behind the lenses, there was nothing but undisguised mockery.
"Gods?"
Lin Nuo tugged at the collar of his black shirt, his thick blood and energy roaring within his body, and the Bio-force field condensed into a tangible translucent shield in front of him.
He looked down at Apocalypse from a superior position, his tone filled with extreme dominance and arrogance:
"In my rules, old mummies that have lived too long only deserve to be stuffed into a museum as exhibits."
Chapter 230: Forced Reincarnation? Nothing but Bones in a Grave.
In Apocalypse's white eyes, his raging fury finally materialized.
He had lived for thousands of years, revered as a true god under the scorching sun of Egypt, and never before had anyone dared to speak to him with such a condescending attitude.
"Ignorant mortal, you know nothing of power!"
Apocalypse's voice echoed amidst the thunder.
He raised his right hand, palm facing downward.
The steel frame at the top of the Cairo TV Tower began to disintegrate at that moment.
The high-density special steel transformed in an instant into countless flying gray gravel particles.
Under Apocalypse's control, these gravel particles rapidly condensed into sharp, peerless gray giant swords, tearing through the air with piercing screeches as they flew straight at Lin Nuo.
Lin Nuo stood where he was, not even taking off his glasses.
He held Jean's slender waist with one hand and casually waved his other hand forward.
A dark red Bio-force field transformed into an impenetrable shield.
Those giant sand swords, capable of easily piercing an aircraft carrier's deck, struck the Bio-force field, emitting dense metallic clashing sounds, yet they could not advance even half an inch.
"Molecular manipulation?"
Lin Nuo chuckled, a mocking smile on his face, "Old man, don't embarrass yourself with these mud-playing tricks."
Before the words faded, Lin Nuo clenched his five fingers in the air.
His Mutant ultimate microscopic atomic reorganization ability exploded at full power.
That dark red Bio-force field shield began to radiate strange ripples outward.
The instant those metal giant swords, which had been turned into sand by Apocalypse, came into contact with these ripples, they changed once again.
The gray gravel was forcibly reshaped at a microscopic level, its originally loose molecular structure rearranged to become ultra-high-density crystals several times harder than diamond.
"Returning them to you."
Lin Nuo pushed his palm forward.
Countless glittering crystal spears shot back in the opposite direction, moving so fast they were invisible to the naked eye, tearing through the air with piercing sonic booms.
Apocalypse's eye twitched.
He hadn't expected this mortal to also possess the ability of molecular control, and to even surpass him in precision.
He hurriedly raised his hand, condensing a thick sand shield in front of him.
Puchi!
The ultra-high-density crystal spears easily pierced through the sand shield, grazing Apocalypse's shoulder and drawing a streak of gray-blue blood.
"You..." Apocalypse took a step back, looking at the blue blood flowing from his shoulder, a hint of horror finally appearing in his eyes.
He was injured.
After acquiring the abilities of countless Mutants, he had actually been injured by a single blow from a mortal.
"I said it before, your abilities are too outdated."
Lin Nuo brushed off some non-existent dust from his sleeve, his tone righteous, "You think that just by stealing the genes of a few Mutants, you can call yourself a god? You're nothing but a stitched-up monster."
Meanwhile, on the platform in the middle section of the Cairo TV Tower, the battle had reached a white-hot intensity.
"Go to hell, Beast!"
Baron's massive body was like a bulldozer, his entire frame covered in grayish-white bone armor that looked particularly ferocious under the lightning.
Every step he took left a deep footprint on the steel platform.
Logan lowered his stance slightly, nimbly dodging a heavy punch aimed at him.
The sharp whistle of the wind from the punch lingered in the air.
Logan remembered Lin Nuo's instructions before the battle — "Don't use Beast instincts to tank it; cut his joints and cervical spine."
Although he was extremely annoyed with that bespectacled bastard, Logan had to admit that Lin Nuo's combat intuition was terrifyingly sharp.
He kicked off the ground, his body twisting at an incredible angle in mid-air, sliding right past Baron's thick arm.
The Adamantium claws flashed with a cold light.
The claws precisely pierced into the gap in the bone armor on Baron's shoulder, and he followed through with a downward slash.
Accompanied by a teeth-gritting sound of shattering bone, the tendons of Baron's entire right arm were severed at the root, and grayish-white bone armor mixed with blood sprayed out wildly.
"Ah!"
Baron let out a painful howl.
Logan landed, using the momentum for a roundhouse kick, his claws slashing viciously across the back of Baron's knee joint.
The massive giant fell heavily to his knees, unable to stand up again.
On the other side, the duel between Ororo and Carlos was equally devoid of suspense.
Carlos was engulfed in deep blue, high-temperature Fire, attempting to vaporize everything around him.
However, Ororo raised her hands, and the air pressure within a hundred-meter radius dropped abruptly, forming an absolute vacuum field.
Without oxygen to support it, the high-temperature Fire on Carlos's body extinguished in the blink of an eye.
"No... this is impossible!"
Carlos clutched his throat in terror, unable to breathe at all in the vacuum.
Ororo's expression was cold, and she pressed her right hand down into the air.
A thick bolt of white lightning descended from the sky, precisely striking the top of Carlos's head, which had lost its protective Fire.
In an instant, this fire-wielding knight was reduced to a charred skeleton.
Raven's movements were equally swift.
She was like a blue phantom, moving rapidly between the steel frames and shadows.
The quantum disruptors in her hands emitted a faint blue light; she needed to precisely attach these disruptors to the twelve conduits Apocalypse was using to extract geothermal heat.
"Emma, locate the third conduit."
Raven communicated with the White Queen in her mind.
"Three meters directly below you; be careful to avoid the quicksand."
Emma's voice rang in Raven's mind with absolute calm.
Raven lowered her stance, turning herself into quicksand and sliding down through the gaps in the steel frame.
The third disruptor was successfully installed.
The energy fluctuations coming from deep underground showed a very slight pause at that moment.
"Well done, Raven. Nine more to go."
Emma, inside the command ship, had her hands flying across the keyboard, monitoring the energy pulses beneath Cairo.
At the top of the Cairo TV Tower, the storm became increasingly violent.
Jean stood beside Lin Nuo, her red hair dancing wildly in the wind.
She could clearly feel that the psychic power inside Apocalypse was wildly pouring out through Charles's brain.
"Lin Nuo, the Professor can't hold on much longer."
Jean looked at Charles, who was tied to the steel frame, her voice low, "Apocalypse is forcibly draining his life force. Once the assimilation is complete, the Professor's consciousness will be completely erased."
"Then cut off his psychic network."
Lin Nuo said calmly.
He gripped Jean's wrist, and the insulating properties of the Asgardian Divine Factor established an absolutely safe channel between them.
"Use your Phoenix Fire to follow Charles's brainwaves and burn away all of Apocalypse's psychic projections."
Jean nodded heavily.
She closed her eyes, and with Lin Nuo as a powerful physical anchor, the Phoenix Force within her displayed a docile yet terrifying destructiveness for the first time.
Scarlet flames ignited around Jean but did not harm Lin Nuo in the slightest.
The raging Phoenix energy, having lost its outlet, poured back into Lin Nuo's body through the point of contact between them.
The high-frequency radiation, capable of vaporizing steel, rampaged through his blood vessels.
Lin Nuo didn't change his expression; his Mutant ultimate microscopic atomic reorganization ability operated at full power, forcibly reshaping all destructive cells the second before they collapsed.
Jean looked at Lin Nuo's calm profile, the reliance and fanaticism in her eyes almost overflowing.
Only this man could be her only anchor, could contain all her destruction.
She pressed her palms together, then pulled them apart to the sides.
A materialized net of scarlet fire formed in the void, precisely locking onto the top of Charles's head.
The psychic contamination Apocalypse was trying to spread outward through Charles hissed and melted the moment it touched this net of fire.
"No!"
A sharp, intense pain shot through Apocalypse's mind.
Charles's consciousness, which had been completely controlled, showed faint signs of recovery under the protection of the Phoenix Fire.
"Damn traitor!"
Apocalypse stared fixedly at Jean, his silver-white eyes filled with greed and rage, "That is the power of a god! You are not worthy of possessing it!"
Apocalypse was thoroughly enraged.
He understood that if he couldn't eliminate Lin Nuo quickly, his assimilation ritual would fail completely.
"Mortal, I will reduce your frail body to ashes!"
Apocalypse spread his arms and hovered into mid-air.
He began to extract the geothermal energy from the twelve conduits beneath the Cairo TV Tower.
A dull roar came from deep underground, and the entire tower began to tremble violently.
Countless deep blue beams of light shot up from the tower's base, converging on Apocalypse.
His body began to expand, and the ancient Egyptian runes on his skin erupted with dazzling light.
"Die!"
Apocalypse extended his right hand and pressed down into the air.
A gravity field capable of wiping out the entire city acted directly on top of Lin Nuo.
The surrounding air emitted unbearable explosive sounds under the immense pressure, and the steel-reinforced top of the TV Tower collapsed downward by several meters at that moment.
Lin Nuo stood on the steel frame with both feet.
His physical body withstood millions of tons of pressure at that moment.
"A gravity field?"
Lin Nuo bent his legs slightly, then straightened them upward.
The steel frame beneath his feet shattered completely under the reaction of the immense force, but he rose into the air, bearing that World-destroying gravity.
"Is that all the force you have? It's not even enough for a massage."
Lin Nuo's voice sounded in Apocalypse's ear.
Before Apocalypse could react, a fist wrapped in a dark red Bio-force field had already magnified infinitely in his vision.
Bang!
Lin Nuo's punch landed solidly on Apocalypse's face.
Apocalypse's massive body was like a cannonball fired from its chamber, sent flying directly and crashing heavily into the lightning rod steel frame behind him.
A huge dent was smashed into the hard, special steel.
Apocalypse fell into a pile of rubble in a sorry state, one side of his cheek sunken, and gray-blue blood spilled out continuously.
The Healing Factor in his body operated frantically, attempting to repair the injury.
But the Bio-force field attached to Lin Nuo's fist was extremely destructive, constantly disintegrating his cellular structure and making his healing speed extremely slow.
"You... what exactly are you?"
Apocalypse stood up, clutching his face, his voice tinged with panic.
This was not the power of a Mutant.
No Mutant could withstand his gravity field with a pure physical body, and no one's physique could be this formidable.
"Me?"
Lin Nuo landed steadily in mid-air, his leather shoes clicking crisply against the charred steel frame.
He leisurely adjusted the cuffs of his black shirt, a hint of playfulness flashing in his black eyes behind his lenses.
"I'm just a passing merchant, conveniently collecting you, a remnant of the old era."
"However, looking at you now, it seems you don't even qualify to be merchandise."
Apocalypse stared fixedly at Lin Nuo, his chest heaving violently.
He understood that he had encountered the most terrifying enemy of his life.
If the fight continued like this, this shell of his, which had lived for thousands of years, would truly be beaten to a pulp by this man.
"No... I am the god! This World belongs to Mutants!"
Apocalypse roared hysterically.
His gaze fell on Charles, who was protected by the fire net not far away, and a flash of determination crossed his eyes.
"Since I cannot take that girl, I will use this body to complete my final descent!"
Apocalypse's body began to emit an eerie blue light.
He abandoned the maintenance of the external gravity field and molecular control, withdrawing all his energy back into his body.
"Assimilation ritual... forced initiation!"
Apocalypse's body began to turn into countless blue light quanta, rushing madly toward Charles on the cross.
He was going to abandon his old god's remnant body and forcibly inject his consciousness and all his abilities into Charles all at once.
Once the assimilation was complete, Charles's Omega-level Telepathy, combined with the Mutant abilities Apocalypse had accumulated over thousands of years, would give birth to an unimaginable monster.
Lin Nuo watched this scene without stopping it; instead, the wicked smile on his lips grew even broader.
"Forced reincarnation?"
"Do you really think you can use this new vessel?"
Chapter 231: The Cornered Beast, the Old God's Final Struggle
The quantized blue light of Apocalypse was like a rushing tide, surging wildly into Charles's seven orifices.
The founder of the Mutant School was convulsing violently on the cross-shaped steel frame, the gray-blue runes on his skin having already spread to the corners of his eyes.
"Mortal, you have no idea what you are facing."
Apocalypse's overlapping voice echoed through the storm, carrying a condescending judgment: "The arrival of the gods is irreversible!"
However, just as Apocalypse believed this perfect mental vessel was about to change hands, a sudden change occurred.
From the depths of Charles's mind, whose eyes had already rolled back, a faint yet incredibly resilient golden light suddenly erupted.
It was the pride held by a leader who had dedicated his life to Mutant peace, preserved until the very last moment of his existence.
"Get out... of my brain!"
Charles's subconscious roared wildly within the mental realm.
Although his faith had collapsed after the exposure of the images showing him placing shackles on Jean ten years ago, he would never allow himself to become an accomplice in the destruction of the World.
Dark golden mental chains coalesced out of thin air within Charles's sea of consciousness, wrapping desperately around the incoming blue light particles with a resolve to perish together.
Outside, Charles's body suddenly stopped shaking, replaced by an extremely tense rigidity.
The mental interference wave that had been spreading globally suddenly experienced a violent frequency disruption.
"Master, Charles's consciousness is resisting assimilation."
Emma's voice sounded urgently in the headset: "He is sacrificing his brainstem to forcibly delay Apocalypse's quantum reorganization process."
Lin Nuo stood on the charred steel frame, his expression devoid of any fluctuation, as he calmly spat out two words: "Do it."
Jean, standing at his side, stepped forward.
Without Charles's mental shackles, the Phoenix Force that had been sealed within her for fifteen years—soothed by Lin Nuo, that formidable physical anchor—displayed its conscious destructiveness for the first time.
Scarlet flames ignited in Jean's eyes, manifesting as invisible psychic spikes that fiercely pierced into the mental channel Charles had opened.
Two Omega-level psychic forces converged within Charles's sea of consciousness, forming an airtight defensive net that locked Apocalypse's quantization progress in place.
"Damn cripple! And you, traitor!"
Apocalypse's painful roar echoed from the void.
He never imagined that this disabled man, whom he deemed useless, could erupt with such terrifying will to resist at the final moment.
At the top of the Cairo TV Tower, cold and hot energies collided wildly in mid-air, stirring up massive, ring-shaped ripples of magnetic field residue.
This was Charles's final struggle, and the brief turning point that Jean and Emma had fought to secure together.
But Apocalypse had lived for thousands of years, and the number of Mutant genes he had plundered was countless.
Upon discovering that the assimilation was obstructed, his quantized body suddenly erupted with a blinding, dark blue light, forcibly converting the energy originally intended for assimilation into pure psychic strangulation.
"Since you are in such a hurry to die, I will grant your wish!"
The violent psychic energy increased exponentially, manifesting directly as a tangible physical Impact that vented outward.
On the equipment level below the Cairo TV Tower, Hankgritted his teeth, using a high-polymer alloy wrench to attempt to smash the main control cable.
As long as the power supply to the entire tower was cut off, the geothermal energy that Apocalypse was forcibly extracting would be interrupted.
However, the charged Impact caused by that psychic strangulation swept through the equipment level in a thousandth of a second.
The air became instantly saturated with charge, manifesting as several blue electric arcs as thick as water buckets.
Hank didn't even have time to scream before his entire body was blown away by the violent current, slamming heavily against the alloy wall behind him.
His blue fur was charred, and he lay limp in the ruins, his life or death unknown.
"Physical power-cut failed; the backup energy has been locked by Apocalypse's magnetic field!"
Emma's report carried a rare note of urgency: "Geothermal energy transmission efficiency has increased by two hundred percent; Charles won't last five seconds!"
In the blink of an eye, the situation plummeted back into the abyss.
Without the physical power cut, a continuous stream of geothermal energy surged up from deep beneath Cairo, pushing Apocalypse's assimilation ritual to its peak.
The golden glimmer in Charles's mind was like a candle in the wind before the dark blue tide, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
"Lin Nuo, the Professor's brainwaves are fading!"
Jean looked anxiously at the man beside her.
Although she resented Charles for his past deceptions, she did not want to watch her nominal mentor become a complete puppet for Apocalypse.
"Don't panic."
Lin Nuo reached up to adjust his gold-rimmed glasses, his pitch-black eyes devoid of any warmth behind the lenses.
He had never intended to save Charles; in fact, he felt that Charles dying here would be the perfect conclusion.
However, he could not allow Apocalypse to complete his evolution in front of him, nor could he allow anyone to beat him to seizing control of this World.
Lin Nuo's gaze swept over the dark blue energy conduits.
Apocalypse's assimilation ritual required the energy extracted by twelve conduits to construct an absolutely balanced closed-loop of energy at the center of the altar.
Within this closed loop, the transfer of quantum states could proceed safely.
Since it was a closed loop, that meant if any single fulcrum were forcibly shattered, the entire ritual's energy flow would suffer a catastrophic overload backlash.
"Playing with energy?"
A highly aggressive curve tugged at the corner of Lin Nuo's mouth.
The next moment, his figure vanished into thin air.
Quicksilver's extreme speed erupted at full power in that instant.
Only a vacuum channel, torn open by force, remained in the air. Before the piercing sonic boom could even spread, Lin Nuo had already appeared at the altar's core energy convergence point.
This was the center where the dark blue geothermal energy and Apocalypse's quantum light beams converged. The temperature reached thousands of degrees, and violent energy particles collided wildly at the microscopic level, causing even space to display twisted, translucent ripples.
"That madman!"
A flash of horror crossed Apocalypse's remaining consciousness.
No carbon-based life form could withstand this density of energy convergence with their physical body; even an Omega-level Mutant would be vaporized into its most primitive molecules the moment they entered.
But Lin Nuo did not.
His terrifying Hulk-level muscle density was compressed to the limit, and the framework of every cell was adjusted into an ultra-high-density crystalline arrangement.
The dark golden luster of the Asgardian Divine Factorrippled across his skin, forming an absolute physical insulation layer.
His extreme microscopic atomic reorganization ability operated at full speed within him; any cells destroyed by the high-frequency radiation were forcibly reshaped the second they collapsed.
Lin Nuo reached out his hands, his knuckles prominent, and plunged them directly into the two dark blue energy streams capable of melting specialized steel.
"Break... for me!"
A low, cold grunt escaped Lin Nuo's throat.
There were no fancy moves—just the purest, most unreasonable physical violence.
A dark red Bio-force field condensed in the palms of his hands into two absolute vacuum spheres, forcefully severing the particle movement within the energy streams.
Crack!
Accompanied by a crisp sound of space shattering, the two thick energy beams were snapped in Lin Nuo's hands, turning into a shower of blue light fragments scattering across the sky.
The perfect energy closed loop was violently torn open, leaving an irreparable gap in an instant.
Rumble!
The massive, uncontrolled energy began to backlash wildly.
An unprecedented, violent explosion occurred at the top of the Cairo TV Tower, the terrifying Impact blowing the surrounding tons of obsidian altars into dust that filled the sky.
Apocalypse's assimilation ritual was a complete failure.
Those blue light particles that had not yet merged into Charles's body let out a piercing screech under the force of the violent backlash, scrambling to re-coalesce into that massive, gray-blue form in mid-air.
Pfft!
Apocalypse knelt heavily in the ruins, coughing up mouthfuls of gray-blue blood as his aura withered to the extreme in an instant.
That ancient god's shell, which had lived for thousands of years, was covered in dense, spider-web-like cracks, as if it would shatter completely at any moment.
Charles, still on the cross, let his head hang limply. Although his life was preserved, his brainwaves were extremely faint, and he had fallen into a deep coma.
The smoke and dust settled.
Lin Nuo, one hand in his pocket, strolled leisurely out of the center of the explosion.
His black shirt was slightly damaged, revealing the perfect, marble-like muscle definition beneath.
He raised a hand to brush the dust from his shoulder; not even his gold-rimmed glasses had shifted a fraction.
"Old man, you haven't been out in thousands of years; your techniques are far behind the times."
Lin Nuo looked down at Apocalypse on the ground, his eyes filled with undisguised mockery.
Apocalypse stared fixedly at Lin Nuo, the terror in his eyes having reached its peak.
He finally understood why, from the very beginning, he had felt such a near-instinctive desire for this vessel.
This was no body a mere Mutant could possess; this was a vessel for a god.
But now, the Master of this vessel was a tyrant who resembled a god far more than he ever did.
Apocalypse struggled to stand, but his internal energy pathways had been completely shattered by Lin Nuoduring the previous backlash.
His Healing Factor was functioning extremely slowly, unable to repair the genetic structure that had collapsed at the microscopic level.
His gaze lingered on Lin Nuo for half a second, then, with a hysterical madness, he snapped his focus toward the red-haired woman standing behind him.
Jean Grey stood there. Although the Phoenix Force within her had calmed, Lin Nuo—her physical anchor—had briefly moved away, creating a momentary lapse in her psychic defenses.
"Since I cannot have your body..."
A twisted, savage grin appeared on Apocalypse's cracked face, gray-blue blood trickling from the corners of his mouth.
"Then I will take her instead!"
Before the words had even faded, Apocalypse's massive form transformed into a gray-blue afterimage. With the desperate resolve of someone burning their very life force, he vaulted past Lin Nuo and lunged straight for Jean's throat.
Jean's pupils constricted sharply. She instinctively tried to mobilize the energy within her, but without Lin Nuo's physical guidance, the Phoenix Force, which had only just calmed, surged with a violent, obstructive resistance through her meridians.
Apocalypse's giant hand, covered in ancient Egyptian runes, had its fingertips pressed against Jean's fair forehead.
"Become one with me, Phoenix!"
Chapter 232: The Phoenix Opens the Door, Smashing the Shackles
With the desperate madness of a cornered beast, Apocalypse pressed his hand firmly onto Jean's pale forehead.
The gray-blue mental pollution transformed into materialized energy spikes, brutally puncturing Jean's briefly opened mental defense network.
In an instant, the surrounding sounds of thunderstorms and howling wind faded into the distance.
Jean's consciousness was forcibly dragged into a dark and boundless mental realm.
This was the deepest part of her brain.
In the center of the void stood a massive and ancient bronze door.
Wrapped around the door were three thick, dark-gold chains—the mental shackles that Charles had personally forged ten years ago.
Behind the door, scarlet firelight flickered wildly through the gaps, accompanied by shrill bird cries capable of shattering the soul.
The Phoenix was roaring.
Apocalypse's mental projection transformed into a gray-blue phantom hundreds of feet tall, descending upon this space.
His pupil-less white eyes stared intently at the bronze door, his greedy desire almost igniting this mental realm.
"This is the power of a god!"
Apocalypse laughed wildly as he reached out with a giant hand, attempting to forcibly tear apart the chains on the door.
Just then, a faint but extremely stubborn golden light lit up in front of the bronze door.
Charles's remaining projection of consciousness materialized.
Looking old and weak, he blocked the path between Apocalypse and the bronze door, turning his head to look at Jean's consciousness.
"Jean... don't let him touch that door!"
Charles's voice carried a deep sense of pleading and panic.
"That is the source of destruction... Once the door is opened, you will be completely consumed by that monster! Everyone will die!"
In the real World.
Forced into the firing port at the tail of the aircraft by his nano-exoskeleton, Scott watched Apocalypse's hand press against Jean's forehead, falling into a state of hysterical madness.
"Jean! Suppress it! Don't let that monster out!"
Ignoring the excruciating pain of his fractured knees, Scottscreamed at the top of his lungs.
"The Professor is right! You'll ruin everything! Lock it back up!"
The warnings of the mentor and disciple penetrated the barrier between mind and reality, intertwining by Jean's ears.
Fear, suppression, self-doubt.
Over the past ten years, these voices had been like maggots on a bone, torturing her nerves day and night, making her feel like a defective product that could explode at any moment.
Standing in the mental realm, Jean looked at Charles's face, which was written all over with 'for your own good,' and an extremely dangerous scarlet glint flashed in her eyes.
In reality.
A large, well-defined hand naturally wrapped around Jean's slender waist.
Hulk-level terrifying blood vitality, mixed with the dark-gold luster of the Asgardian Divine Factor, poured unreservedly into Jean's body through their touching skin.
It was Lin Nuo.
He had absolutely no need to enter some mental realm to play those ethereal games of conscious confrontation.
Using the purest physical mass, he forcibly built an indestructible absolute barrier around the periphery of Jean's mental World, which was on the verge of losing control.
With one hand in his pocket, Lin Nuo didn't even spare a glance at Apocalypse in mid-air. He merely bowed his head slightly and leaned close to Jean's ear.
"Don't back down."
The man's voice was steady, carrying a naturally dominant and indulgent tone.
"Smash the door. Direct the fire at him."
These brief words, like a heavy hammer, instantly shattered the last shred of hesitation in Jean's heart.
Within the mental realm.
Jean raised her head and looked directly at Charles's mental projection.
"Charles."
Jean's voice was hoarse, yet it carried an unprecedented clarity and decisiveness.
"The monster you fear is now a blade in my hand."
Jean ignored Charles's pleading, and ignored even more Apocalypse's giant hand reaching for the door.
She took a step forward of her own accord and pressed her hands directly against the bronze door.
"Lin Nuo told me to smash the door."
Crack!
The first dark-gold chain snapped.
Charles's mental projection let out a shrill scream and dissolved into spots of light.
"Madman! You madwoman!"
On the aircraft, Scott watched this scene and cursed in despair.
Without a single shred of hesitation, Jean exerted sudden force with both hands and pushed outward.
Boom!
The remaining two chains shattered inch by inch.
The bronze door that had imprisoned her for fifteen years was pushed open by her own hands.
A scarlet sea of fire surged wildly from behind the door with the force of a mountain-toppling wave.
It was not some mindless monster at all, but rather, following Jean's will, it transformed into thousands of burning greatswords, directly impaling Apocalypse's hundreds-of-feet-tall mental phantom.
The real World.
The top of the Cairo TV Tower.
A blinding scarlet pillar of fire soared into the sky, tearing right through the purple-black clouds created by Apocalypse.
Violent high-frequency radiation spread outward in concentric rings.
Ororo, who was hovering in mid-air to maintain the thunderstorm, was blown back over a hundred meters by the terrifying blast of air.
The firelight piercing heaven and earth was reflected in her deep blue eyes; even her breathing stopped.
Inside the mobile command ship.
Emma's diamond face reflected the blinding red light.
The data on the main console immediately went off the charts, and alarms blared in unison.
"Master! The energy level has exceeded the Omega limit! It's unmeasurable!"
Emma's fingers blurred across the keyboard as she tried to stabilize the aircraft's shields.
On the ruins of the altar.
Apocalypse let out an extremely shrill scream of agony.
The moment his giant hand, which had been pressing against Jean's forehead, came into contact with the Phoenix Fire, it was instantly incinerated into nothingness.
The scarlet flames immediately spread across his entire body.
Large patches of his gray-blue skin carbonized and peeled away.
Before this single-Universe-level primordial energy, the mutant genes he had plundered into his body were as fragile as paper, being erased in massive swaths.
Jean snuggled in Lin Nuo's embrace, her red hair dancing wildly in the firelight.
She opened her eyes, which had completely turned into a burning scarlet.
She had not lost control.
Supported by Lin Nuo as an absolute physical anchor, her consciousness was clearer than ever before.
Watching Apocalypse struggle in the sea of fire, she raised her right hand and clenched her fingers in the empty air.
"Burn him to death."
Jean's voice was cold to the extreme.
The Phoenix Fire suddenly contracted, transforming into a massive scarlet crucible that completely locked Apocalypse in the center.
The temperature was still rising rapidly.
Even the specialized steel frames at the top of the TV tower had begun to melt into molten iron.
"Beautifully done."
Watching this scene, Lin Nuo's lips curled into a wicked smile.
He even freed up a hand to help Jean smooth down her red hair, which was disheveled by the wind.
To everyone, Apocalypse was as good as dead.
In this World, no carbon-based lifeform could withstand a direct incineration by the Phoenix Fire.
Even Apocalypse's ancient divine body, which had lived for thousands of years, was now reduced to nothing but a charred skeleton.
However.
At the very instant that skeleton was about to turn completely to ash.
Lin Nuo's dark eyes narrowed behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
The Obsidian Altar beneath their feet, which had already been blown to dust, suddenly lit up with an extremely subtle circle of deep blue light.
The geothermal energy conduits that Lin Nuo had severed were not completely depleted.
Deep underground, they had altered their paths, following some extremely ancient array patterns to reconvenge beneath Apocalypse's charred skeleton.
A massive ancient Egyptian Reincarnation Array forcibly began to operate amidst the sea of fire.
This was Apocalypse's true trump card.
Having lived for thousands of years, how could he not have anticipated the risk of assimilation failure?
This Reincarnation Array was originally intended to transfer his consciousness into a backup clone.
But now, using this residual geothermal energy, he forcibly propped up an energy shield under the incineration of the Phoenix Fire.
The shield did not block the flames; instead, it turned into a giant funnel.
"He is absorbing the Phoenix's energy!"
Emma's panicked voice came through the communicator.
At the center of the sea of fire.
On Apocalypse's charred skeleton, gray-blue flesh actually began to regrow.
Only this time, the newborn flesh was laced with faint, heart-palpitating scarlet veins.
Utilizing the properties of the Reincarnation Array, he forcibly converted the portion of the Phoenix Fire released by Jean into nourishment to reshape his body.
Although he had absorbed only a tiny fraction, this cosmic primordial energy was enough to cause a qualitative leap in his level of existence.
Bang!
The scarlet crucible was violently shattered by a wild surge of mixed energy.
Apocalypse stood up from the sea of fire.
His once gray-blue eyes had now changed, with his left eye turning into a burning scarlet.
Feeling the unprecedented, surging power within his body, he threw his head back and let out a spine-chilling, wild laugh.
"The perfect flame... the key of the gods, I shall take it!"