The moment Ethan Cole finished speaking, his figure vanished from sight.
For several seconds the soldiers stood frozen, unable to process what had just happened. Then their eyes slowly shifted toward the towering golden skyscrapers surrounding them, and horror finally settled deep in their hearts.
Gold was no longer a symbol of wealth.
At that moment it had become something far more terrifying.
Every soldier remembered Ethan's warning. Gold might be precious, but it was structurally weak. It lacked the strength needed to support massive loads, and the buildings around them were nearly a hundred meters tall, some even exceeding two hundred.
Those structures had once been reinforced with steel and concrete.
Now they were made entirely of gold.
The weight alone would crush them.
If the towers collapsed, everyone standing here would be buried beneath the ruins.
"Run!"
No one knew who shouted first, but the word triggered instant chaos. Soldiers immediately began sprinting in the same direction, panic replacing discipline as survival instincts took over.
The commander stood frozen for a split second, sweat pouring down his face. Then he suddenly raised his pistol and fired a shot into the sky.
Bang!
"Everyone listen to my orders!" he shouted into the communicator. "Get into the vehicles! We're retreating immediately!"
The soldiers snapped out of their panic.
Running on foot was useless. No one could outrun the collapse of skyscrapers, but vehicles might give them a chance. One by one they scrambled toward the transport trucks parked along the street.
Men climbed into the vehicles in a frenzy, pushing and shouting as engines roared to life.
The gold bars that had been loaded into the trucks moments earlier were now thrown back onto the pavement without hesitation. Crates of treasure were dumped onto the ground, and the gold that still lay nearby was completely ignored.
Compared to survival, the metal had suddenly become meaningless.
Within less than a minute the entire convoy was moving.
A long line of military vehicles surged forward down the street, tires screeching as they accelerated away from the doomed district.
Then a sharp metallic creaking sound echoed above them.
It sounded like steel grinding against steel, except far louder and far more ominous.
The soldiers riding inside the trucks looked upward instinctively.
What they saw made their blood run cold.
The tallest building nearby had begun to tilt.
At first the movement was subtle, almost unnoticeable. But within seconds the angle grew steeper as the enormous structure slowly leaned toward the street.
No one spoke.
Every soldier stared at the towering mass with wide eyes, their expressions filled with terror.
Finally the building reached its breaking point.
The immense pressure of its own weight crushed the weakened structure, and the upper section snapped apart. A massive chunk of the two-hundred-meter tower broke loose and plummeted downward.
From a distance it looked like a gigantic golden boulder crashing toward the earth.
The air filled with the shrill scream of twisting metal.
Then the falling mass struck the ground.
Boom.
The explosion of impact shook the entire district. Dust and smoke erupted into the air while the ground trembled violently beneath the convoy, as if a powerful earthquake had suddenly struck.
Every soldier felt their heart leap into their throat.
Sweat soaked their palms as they gripped the sides of the trucks.
"Faster! Move faster!" the commander shouted frantically into the communicator. "All nearby buildings are going to collapse!"
The convoy accelerated even more.
Engines roared as the vehicles pushed to maximum speed, racing down the street while soldiers clung to anything they could hold.
But the commander's warning had come too late.
The collapse of the first tower destroyed the fragile balance supporting the surrounding structures. Like dominoes falling in sequence, nearby skyscrapers began to buckle under their own weight.
Another tower cracked.
Then another.
Within moments entire rows of buildings began collapsing one after another.
Each impact shook the ground harder than the last. The rumbling vibrations spread outward through the streets, breaking the stability of smaller structures as well.
Soon even shorter buildings began to fall.
The convoy raced forward while destruction chased them from behind.
Soldiers watched in horror as golden skyscrapers collapsed toward the road, massive sections crashing down just meters away from the fleeing vehicles.
Some closed their eyes and began praying silently.
In their minds this had turned into a desperate escape story. They were the protagonists trying to survive while Ethan Cole played the role of the unstoppable villain.
And somehow, against all odds, the protagonists managed to escape.
When the convoy finally crossed onto normal concrete pavement outside the transformed district, the soldiers collectively released a breath they hadn't realized they were holding.
The ground stopped shaking.
The thunder of collapsing buildings faded behind them.
One by one the men turned to look back at the ruins.
What they saw left them speechless.
The once-busy streets of Manhattan had been reduced to a shattered landscape of golden debris. Entire skyscrapers lay collapsed across the roads, their broken frames buried beneath clouds of dust and drifting particles of glittering metal.
Above the destruction, Ethan floated quietly in the sky.
From his vantage point he watched the entire district crumble into ruins. Smoke drifted through the air while golden fragments scattered across the streets below.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Tens of millions of tons of pure gold now existed where the city once stood.
That amount was more than enough to collapse the financial systems of the entire planet. From this moment forward gold would no longer be rare. It would become worthless scrap metal.
The gold standard had just been buried under the ruins of Manhattan.
Ethan wondered how governments around the world would react once they fully understood what had happened.
The thought alone made him curious.
His eyes drifted downward again, noticing the convoy that had barely managed to escape the collapsing district. He raised an eyebrow slightly, impressed by their luck.
Then another idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
A mischievous grin spread across his face.
With a casual wave of his hand, Ethan extended his telekinetic control across the ruins below. Invisible force wrapped around the shattered gold structures scattered throughout the district.
Then he moved his fingers slightly.
Instantly the massive blocks of gold began to shift.
The broken metal split apart under invisible pressure, fragmenting into smaller pieces that rapidly reshaped themselves. One piece after another transformed until they all became coin-sized discs.
Gold coins.
Tens of millions of tons of gold produced an unimaginable number of coins. The quantity was so enormous that counting them would be impossible.
Ethan spent more than half an hour carefully controlling the process.
Wave after wave of golden coins flowed across the ruins, piling higher and higher until the entire district resembled a glittering ocean of money.
Meanwhile, at the very center of the ruined area, another transformation began.
Unshaped masses of gold melted into liquid metal before flowing together toward a single point. The molten stream gathered at the center and began rising upward, stacking layer upon layer as it solidified.
The structure grew rapidly.
Ten meters.
Fifty meters.
One hundred meters.
Eventually the golden mass towered more than three hundred meters above the ruined district.
Its shape continued changing under Ethan's control, as if invisible sculptors were carving it with perfect precision.
Finally the transformation stopped.
Standing at the center of Manhattan was a colossal golden monument shaped like the symbol of the dollar.
A giant "$" towering over three hundred meters high.
Around it stretched endless mountains of gold coins.
Ethan's voice echoed across the entire city.
"The world loves money," he said calmly. "So this gold is my gift to everyone."
His tone carried a hint of amusement.
"If anyone wants it, come and take it."
The massive golden symbol stood proudly above the ruins, instantly becoming the most absurd landmark Manhattan had ever seen.
Ethan burst into laughter.
After finishing his work, he prepared to leave the area. But just as he turned away, several small black dots appeared in the distant sky.
They were approaching quickly.
Within seconds the dots grew larger until their shapes became clear.
Supersonic fighter aircraft.
Two different models were flying together. One had a sleek, narrow body designed for speed, while the other had a wider fuselage with a slightly bulkier frame.
Ethan recognized them immediately.
Quinjet fighters.
And Blackbird jets.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"So the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to work together?"
The cabin doors opened mid-flight.
Several figures flew out into the sky.
At the front was Magneto.
Behind him followed Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Cyclops, and several other well-known superheroes. Each of them wore a set of advanced flight armor that looked extremely familiar.
Ethan stared at the suits for a moment.
"Mark-series armor?"
.....
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