Attilan

Everyone in the laboratory stared blankly at the middle-aged Inhuman. After a long moment, Emma finally asked, her voice trembling faintly, "What do you want to do?"

"Hand him over to me. I have a way to wake him up." The middle-aged Inhuman showed no impatience, only looked at Emma with utter sincerity.

Emma looked at the middle-aged Inhuman hesitantly, caught in deep conflict. She desperately wanted someone to wake Alex, yet she instinctively resisted this Inhuman and suspected that he had ulterior motives.

"Why not do it here?" At Nick Fury’s prompting glance, Howard stepped forward and faced the middle-aged Inhuman directly. "My laboratory can provide anything you need—instruments, materials."

The middle-aged Inhuman turned to look at the still-unconscious Alex, smiled faintly, and said slowly but firmly, "There is no way to wake him up here."

"Are you taking Alex back to your people?" Nick Fury could only step forward at this point. His tall frame somehow appeared somewhat diminished before the middle-aged Inhuman.

The middle-aged Inhuman nodded. His tone did not change much, and after a single brief word, he said nothing more. "Yes."

"Why should we trust you?" After a helpless inner struggle, Emma could only set aside her prejudice against Inhumans. With a trace of questioning and hope, she asked urgently.

The middle-aged Inhuman raised a hand and pointed at himself, declaring proudly, "Because I am Korlon, an Inhuman Royal Guard!"

Everyone fell into astonishment once again as they looked at Korlon. An Inhuman Royal Guard was, bluntly speaking, just a royal bodyguard. What was there to be proud of?

Korlon ignored their strange expressions. He turned and pointed at Alex, speaking as if to himself. "He must return with me. Only in Attilan will he have a chance of waking up."

"Is there really no other way?" Still unwilling to let go, Emma looked at the scientists led by Howard and asked nervously.

Howard had just been about to speak when an especially straightforward scientist beside him beat him to it. "Given his current condition, if he isn’t treated in time, his body will be the first thing to fail. It may even explode outright." The scientist had a high IQ, but his emotional intelligence was clearly lacking. He did not know how to soften his words at all.

Those words finally made Emma abandon her hesitation. Looking at Korlon as he turned away, she nodded and agreed. "You can take Alex, but I’m coming with you."

"That is absolutely impossible!" Korlon shook his head and refused without hesitation, leaving no room for negotiation. "Attilan does not permit any outsiders to enter."

That statement did not draw much attention from the others, who merely took it as an excuse for Korlon’s refusal. However, Nick Fury keenly noticed something. He had once heard Howard speak of Alex’s past and knew that Alex had a father he had never met. For the sake of this father, Alex had ventured into Europe during the early days of World War II and had even earned extraordinary merit.

"Could Alex’s father be an Inhuman?" Recalling Alex’s past and connecting it to Korlon’s words, Nick Fury easily reached several conclusions. "Does Alex have an Inhuman Bloodline as well?"

As his thoughts raced, Emma’s repeated pleas were ruthlessly rejected by Korlon. By the time Nick Fury came back to himself, Emma had already given up on that request and instead began asking about the timing.

"May I ask, how long will it take to wake Alex?"

Korlon hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "That cannot be determined yet. We will only know after we return to Attilan and examine him."

In the end, Alex was still taken away by Korlon, with no definite word on when he would be able to return.

"Howard, do you think I was stupid to hand Alex over to a stranger without knowing anything?!" The moment Korlon vanished with Alex, Emma began to regret it.

Howard gave a wry smile and shook his head reassuringly. "Don’t worry, Emma. Alex will be back soon."

"Is that Korlon really trustworthy?" After blaming herself, Emma began doubting others again.

Howard rolled his eyes and was about to speak when Nick Fury beside him asked first, "Emma, do you know anything about Alex’s father?"

"His father? Alex never told me anything about his family!" Emma froze, then shook her head. Without realizing it, she had already pulled herself out of her deep remorse. She turned to Nick Fury with a puzzled expression. "Why?"

There were quite a few clever people present, and Howard quickly caught on. He stared at Nick Fury in shock. "You mean?"

Nick Fury nodded. The flesh on his broad face twitched slightly, as though he were smiling. "Maybe this time, Alex will get to meet his father."

Howard was not as optimistic as Nick Fury. He had known Alex the longest and understood him best. Back then, going to Europe to look for his father had merely been an excuse for Alex. Over the past several years, Alex had never even mentioned his father, much less gone searching for him. Toward that father he had never met, Alex’s hatred was likely far greater than any father-son affection.

Howard muttered to himself but did not say it aloud. This was not something he could interfere with. At least for now, Alex should not be in danger with Korlon.

Leaving the Savage Land aside for the moment, Korlon, carrying Alex, abandoned the fugitive he had been sent to capture and rushed back to Attilan at top speed.

Attilan was the city where the Inhuman race had hidden for generations. Invisible to the human world, it stood atop Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. Like Poseidonia in the Savage Land, Attilan resembled a modern metropolis. The only difference was that Attilan’s architecture revealed a closed-off, traditional character everywhere, with modernity and tradition united in a strange yet harmonious way.

The moment Korlon appeared in Attilan carrying Alex, he immediately drew the attention of countless people. Naturally, their focus was on Alex—the man Korlon had carried back on his shoulder.

"Korlon, who is he?" Someone grabbed the hurried Korlon and asked in astonishment, "Weren’t you supposed to capture Tashim? Why did you come back carrying someone?"

Korlon casually lifted Alex enough to reveal his face, then added, "And his name is Alex."

"That one?" The person who had grabbed Korlon immediately let go, surprise showing on his face. "Doesn’t that make things even more complicated?"

Korlon nodded, glanced again at Alex hanging over his shoulder, and sighed. "I’ll take him over first. We don’t need to worry about how they decide to handle this."

"Go on, then. Let’s hope nothing happens." The man waved him off and turned to leave, sighing as he said, "For Attilan!"

Korlon sighed at that and replied softly, "For Attilan!"