Appetizer

"Jealousy? That’s right, I’m Jealousy. I’ll kill everyone stronger and better than me."

John, transformed into Human Torch, shouted with a savage expression. He felt like he could burn everything to ashes now, including Iron Man.

"Reel it in. You’re about to set the room on fire. Besides, thinking you’re invincible is just an illusion caused by your sudden surge in power."

Greed’s voice rang out in Human Torch’s mind. "I had a similar experience once. Then Iron Man knocked some sense into me—the brutal kind."

Human Torch froze. Looking down, he saw that the floor had melted into a scorching crater. He hurriedly withdrew his flames and returned to his original body.

Fortunately, Human Torch lived on the first floor. Otherwise, the ceiling would definitely have been burned through.

John clenched his fists and shouted, "I may not be invincible, but burning Iron Man to death definitely won’t be a problem. I’m at least ten times stronger than before."

"You’re overthinking it. Even when Wrath and I Teamed Up, we couldn’t defeat Iron Man, let alone you."

Greed sneered. "Iron Man is incredibly powerful, practically a god. To defeat him, we must gather the Seven Deadly Sins."

"That’s because you’re incompetent."

John said arrogantly, "God told me before that as long as I became His believer, everything I wanted could be realized."

Greed was speechless. No wonder John was so unpopular. This guy really deserved a beating. He said, "God won’t lie, but He wasn’t talking about now. He meant the future. Once we help God destroy this world, we can have whatever we want."

John was speechless. So he had been given an empty promise? Of course, John did not dare say that aloud. He had already witnessed God’s power. He shouted, "I don’t want to wait for the future. I want to kill Iron Man immediately. And Iceman, that traitor, too."

"Iron Man definitely has to die, but not now. With Iron Man’s spatial abilities, if you face him, you won’t even have a chance to run."

Greed said, "John, I suggest you recruit the mutants from the Brotherhood and turn them all into God’s believers. That way, in the future, you can lead them against Iron Man.

"Iron Man isn’t alone. He has many helpers by his side."

John’s eyes lit up. "Recruit other mutants? Good idea. I’ve hated that coward Magneto for a long time."

Greed instructed, "John, after taking over the Brotherhood, don’t act rashly. Wait until my side launches its operation as well. Iron Man isn’t easy to deal with."

"Fine."

John said, but inwardly he sneered. We’re both messengers, so why should I listen to you? Once he took over the Brotherhood, he would immediately lead them against Iron Man and burn him alive, making him regret looking down on him.

"He agreed so readily. There must be a problem."

Greed snorted inwardly, but he did not expose him. After giving a few more instructions, he withdrew from John’s consciousness.

"He comes whenever he wants and leaves whenever he wants. How arrogant. Hmph, once I kill Iron Man, you’ll be next. The Doomsday Church will be under my control."

John snorted. What had swelled was not only his strength, but also his ambition.

"Not only an idiot, but an arrogant idiot."

At a villa atop a mountain, Greed thought disdainfully. Wrath, who had been chatting with his wife and children, noticed Greed’s expression and walked over to ask, "What happened?"

"The third messenger has been born."

Greed explained the matter. Wrath asked in confusion, "Why did God choose Human Torch? Shouldn’t He have chosen from among the existing believers?"

Greed said, "Because Human Torch is a mutant. God needs mutant believers to deal with the X-Men and Iron Man."

"Recruiting mutants to deal with mutants."

Wrath understood. He asked impatiently, "Greed, when are we going back to New York to kill Iron Man? To be honest, I really don’t like this city."

Greed smiled. "Don’t rush. Let’s destroy this city first."

"You want to destroy this city?"

Wrath was stunned. Thinking of something, he said, "No wonder you gathered most of the believers in this city."

"Iron Man can teleport to every corner of the world. If we want to slaughter a city, we must seal it off and destroy the whole city in a short time. That requires a great deal of manpower and preparation, which is why I summoned everyone here."

Greed smiled and looked down at the city below. "This city has over six million people. If we destroy it, God will surely give us massive rewards. By then, even Iron Man will have to submit beneath our feet."

"I’m looking forward to that day more than anything."

Wrath asked with a savage expression, "Greed, when will we begin?"

"The preparations will take around a month. Don’t rush."

Thinking of something, Greed turned and asked, "Do you still want to kill me now?"

"Before completing God’s mission, I won’t kill you."

Wrath said. He knew very well that he had to rely on Greed to complete God’s mission. Besides, his wife and children had already been resurrected, which had lessened much of his hatred.

Greed burst into laughter. "I like that answer. Your intelligence is about the same as Human Torch’s, but you’re ten thousand times better than him because you know your own limits."

Wrath said unhappily, "I really want to change my mind now."

"You’d better not. We need unity right now."

Greed said, "Only through unity can we destroy the God’s City below. Only through unity can we eliminate that damned Iron Man and complete God’s mission."

Wrath looked at the enormous statue in the distance and sneered. "God’s City? I’d like to see whether God will bless them."

"Greed was the right choice for messenger. His abilities are very strong."

In Hell, Original Sin heard Greed and Wrath’s conversation and was quite satisfied. The more humans died, the weaker God’s seal would become—if God’s City could be destroyed, He could even send a god-level projection to Earth. At that point, Iron Man would be nothing.

Although Iron Man was the Creator God’s avatar, his energy was far too weak.

"The main course won’t be ready for another month. Let’s have some appetizers first. It’ll also give those mutants something to do, so they won’t notice what’s happening in God’s City."

Original Sin thought for a moment and began responding to the believers praying to Him. The events from half a month ago had greatly increased His believers. It had to be said, this world was full of weirdos.

Original Sin granted different amounts of Black Qi according to each believer’s potential. As long as these believers could kill more than one human, He would not lose out.

Original Sin laughed loudly. "Every little bit adds up. Go, make this world more lively, then welcome the apocalypse amid that liveliness."

With Original Sin’s decision, the world, which had only been peaceful for half a month, fell into chaos once more.

New York. A burly Black man knelt before his wife’s corpse and screamed hysterically, "Doomsday Master, why haven’t You answered my prayer? To worship You, I beat my wife to death with my own hands. Was her resentment not enough?"

At that moment, a mass of Black Qi surged into the burly Black man’s body. His already towering body abruptly swelled by another size. Then, his skin turned gray, making him look extremely strange.

"The Doomsday Master answered me! Great Doomsday Master, I am willing to worship You and do anything for You."

The burly Black man looked at his hands. He froze for a moment, then was overjoyed. At that moment, Original Sin’s voice sounded in his mind. "Go. Kill for Me. For every person you kill, I will give you a reward."

"Doomsday Master, I will never disappoint You."

The burly Black man shouted. Then, he picked up the AK beside him, drove into a gang bar, and began spraying bullets wildly. The gang members inside suffered terrible casualties. The survivors hurriedly took cover, grabbed their weapons, and fired back.

The burly Black man was soon hit by bullets, but astonishingly, those bullets either ricocheted away or lodged in his body. They did not hurt him at all.

"My God is immortal."

The burly Black man laughed wildly and shouted with a savage expression, "You bastards dared to kill my son! I’ll kill every last one of you. I won’t spare even a dog or a chicken."

His son had been everything to the burly Black man. Since his son was gone, he would make the entire world pay. That was why he worshipped the Doomsday Master.

The burly Black man had decent potential, so Original Sin granted him Petrification Skin. With that ability, he quickly killed every gang member in the bar.

Standing in the blood-soaked bar, the burly Black man was filled with excitement—not only because he had succeeded in getting revenge, but also because the Doomsday Master had just rewarded him, raising his strength again.

"The next gang. All those gangs deserve to die."

The burly Black man took some weapons from the gang’s backyard and drove toward other gang territories. Before long, two more gangs were massacred by him.

The burly Black man’s actions were quickly discovered by the police. Seeing the horrific scene in the bar, the officers immediately called for Super Heroes to assist.

They did not dare handle someone capable of massacring an entire bar by themselves.

Psylocke received the request for aid and immediately set out. Before long, riding the Green Goblin Glider, she intercepted the burly Black man while he was driving.

Psylocke looked at his gray skin and frowned. "A mutant?"

"No, I’m a believer of the Doomsday Master. Psylocke, die."

The burly Black man’s confidence was overflowing. He did not care who stood in front of him. He stood up and raised his gun, firing at Psylocke.

"Evil Believers have appeared again?"

Psylocke was startled. She hurriedly controlled the Green Goblin Glider to evade, then fired an electric bullet from it at the burly Black man. His entire body immediately convulsed.

Psylocke took the opportunity to descend from the sky. A three-meter-long purple blade of light slashed viciously toward the burly Black man’s head. With Petrification Skin, he recovered from the electric shock in time and rolled out of the car.

With a crash, Psylocke split the car in half. The burly Black man swallowed hard, hurled his gun at Psylocke, and then took the opportunity while she dodged sideways to charge at her with a machete. He swung it heavily toward her head.

Psylocke swung her long blade to meet the machete. The next second, the machete was cut in two, its front half flying into the air.

The burly Black man cursed, threw away the machete, and fought Psylocke barehanded. Twenty seconds later, Psylocke cut off his head.

"This guy’s body was really tough. Good thing I have an Adamantium blade."

Psylocke snorted. Then she took out her phone, preparing to report the reappearance of Evil Believers to Wang Bert. At that moment, another distress call came from the police station. "Psylocke, Evil Believers have appeared in several places at once. Angel and you are urgently needed for support."

As she jumped onto the Green Goblin Glider, Psylocke asked, "Are they scattered or organized on a large scale?"

"They’re scattered. Usually just one person at each location, with varying levels of strength."

The dispatcher said, "Psylocke, an Evil Believer is releasing poisonous gas five blocks away. Hurry and stop him, or a lot of people will die."

"Got it."

Psylocke nodded and sped off at full speed. It looked like she was going to be busy again.

Psylocke was not the only one busy. The Mutant Guardians also sprang into action. At headquarters, Nightcrawler continuously teleported the X-Men and the Guardians to locations all across America.

Hank looked at the rapidly increasing red dots on the screen, deeply puzzled. "So many Evil Believers suddenly appeared, yet they’re all fighting alone. What exactly is going on?"

Wang Bert’s voice sounded beside Hank. With something this serious happening, he naturally could not stand by.

"Either they’re trying to divide our attention, or the Doomsday Master is doing business."

Hank complained, "I understand the first possibility. What the hell do you mean by doing business?"

"After Evil Believers kill people, not only do the Evil Believers benefit, the Doomsday Master benefits as well."

Wang Bert said, "He invests in Evil Believers, and they kill people to bring Him profits. How is that any different from doing business?"

"That damned Doomsday Master."

Hank cursed, his expression grave. "Whether it’s the first possibility or the second, neither is good."

"It’s only been half a month since the last incident, so it probably isn’t the first possibility."

Wang Bert thought for a moment and said, "Hank, Evil Believers may become the norm from now on. You need to be prepared."

"We’ve been preparing all along. The problem is that there hasn’t been enough time. It’s only been half a month, and we haven’t even gathered all the staff yet."

Hank said, "If this frequency continues, we won’t be able to handle it."

"It probably won’t continue at this frequency. There are so many Evil Believers this time because they accumulated over the past fifteen days."

Wang Bert said, "Besides, I’ll send people to help you."

After saying that, Wang Bert called Wade. "Wade, business is here. Bring the Security Company and fight alongside the Mutant Guardians."

"No problem. We’ll move out immediately."

Wade immediately said, "I’ll handle Teleportation, and the Security Team will handle the fighting. They’ve only trained for half a month, but with mercenary support, there shouldn’t be any problems."

"Good."

Wang Bert nodded and hung up. Hank breathed a sigh of relief. With the Security Company helping, half the pressure on him disappeared at once.

"To prevent the Doomsday Master from pulling any tricks, I won’t act personally for now."

Wang Bert said, "Oh, and have the military and FBI investigate whether there’s anything unusual anywhere in America."

Hank was stunned. "The military?"

Wang Bert said, "What’s the problem? The military’s intelligence network is enormous. It’s perfect for searching the entire country."

"I just didn’t expect you to borrow the military’s power. I’ll notify them right away."

Hank smiled and immediately called a military big shot. The military big shot had a headache, but still agreed. Otherwise, the public would blame them afterward. Besides, protecting America was their responsibility in the first place.

At that moment, Wang Bert’s phone rang. It was the president. Sounding both furious and flustered, he said, "Bert, why have the Evil Believers appeared again? Can the Guardians handle it? If something like what happened half a month ago happens again, forget reelection—I won’t even be able to leave office in peace."