Changes in the Savage Land

"Nick, can you get in touch with Korlon?" Howard did not want the Savage Land destroyed. Thinking of how formidable Tashim was, he quickly turned to Nick Fury.

Sensing the expectation in Howard’s eyes, Nick Fury could only respond with a bitter smile.

Emma happened to look up and saw Nick Fury’s bitter smile. She sighed helplessly, but could not utter a single word.

"Tashim may be incredibly powerful, but he is only one person." Seeing Howard and Emma looking so dejected, Nick Fury could not help but comfort them. "If one person isn’t enough, we’ll send a hundred. If a hundred still aren’t enough, then we’ll send a thousand. We can bury him under sheer numbers!"

It was indeed a solution, but the casualties would be enormous—terrifyingly so! More importantly, Tashim’s Energy Balls were simply too powerful, practically miniature nuclear warheads. Anyone touched by one died instantly, and even numbers might not be enough. It was even possible that countless people would die or be wounded without Tashim being taken down.

"Actually, we don’t need to worry so much." Howard suddenly cast aside his earlier concern and actually smiled. "That Tashim is a fugitive from the Inhuman race. Even if Korlon doesn’t return, they will definitely send someone else."

Nick Fury and Emma were both stunned upon hearing that, left speechless. Howard had a point. The only uncertainty was whether the Inhuman race could arrive in time.

As the three discussed the matter, someone suddenly rushed in from outside, his face somewhat panicked.

Seeing the newcomer, Emma’s heart skipped a beat. A bad feeling rose within her. She had stationed this man at the edge of the plains; for him to appear here now, something had most likely happened at the border.

Taking a deep breath, Emma suppressed her panic and calmly asked, "What happened, Teno?"

Teno took several breaths, pulled out a letter, and handed it to Emma. "This was sent from the other side. They told me to deliver it to you personally."

Emma accepted the letter with a face full of surprise. After examining it carefully, she opened it. A glance at its contents made a strange expression appear on her face. "Strucker? What does he mean by this?"

As she spoke, Emma handed the letter to Howard and Nick. "He actually wants to form an alliance with us. How strange!" The letter had been sent by Strucker, and its contents could be summed up in one sentence: "I want to form an alliance with you."

Howard and Nick quickly finished reading the letter, equally puzzled.

After a long while, Nick Fury was the first to speak. "Emma, can you have someone send me back?" He paused briefly before adding thoughtfully, "Something major must have happened outside. Strucker’s actions this time must have been influenced by it."

"Alright, I’ll arrange it right away!" Emma nodded, then remembered the candidate X-Men Alex had sent away. She hurriedly added, "I’ll also have to trouble Nick to help find some people. Alex sent them away earlier, and I hope to bring them back." S.H.I.E.L.D. had a powerful intelligence network, so finding people should be easy.

After losing Alex, Emma had decided to focus on building up the X-Men, both to protect the Floating Giant Island and prepare for the war that might soon come. Emma did not particularly believe Strucker’s request for an alliance, suspecting it was one of his schemes.

"If there’s any news, I’ll send it to X-Film Company," Nick Fury said before leaving.

Less than two hours later, Nick Fury’s information was swiftly delivered to Emma through the mutants at X-Film Company. Howard stood beside her, reading the latest report as well.

"I thought he was someone impressive. Turns out he was forced into coming here." Howard could not help laughing as he read the information.

It turned out that a conflict had erupted between Hydra, led by Red Skull, and AIM, led by Strucker. In the end, Strucker’s AIM had been defeated. Like a homeless dog, Strucker had nowhere else to go and could only flee into the Savage Land with everyone under his command. What drew particular attention was that Tashim had actually defected to Red Skull and become a member of Hydra.

Emma was not as optimistic as Howard. Although Tashim was no longer an immediate threat, having a tiger lying beside them could never bring peace of mind. What worried Emma most was AIM’s formidable technological strength. If they inherited the alien technology within the territory of the Descendants of Atlantis, that would be troublesome.

After Emma voiced her concerns, Howard fell into deep thought.

The Savage Land was undoubtedly a product of alien technology. The Floating Giant Island and the entire Floating Temple were the pinnacle of technological achievement. Yet many alien technological artifacts remained on the plains of the Savage Land, especially alien weapons. Given the scientific foundation of those technology-obsessed shut-ins at AIM, there was a strong chance they could unravel the secrets of alien technology!

"Looks like we have no choice but to fight!" Howard frowned deeply and, after a long while, spoke those words. While they still held some advantage, the mutants had to launch the first attack.

Emma understood as well and nodded in agreement.

That very night, Emma led a thousand carefully selected mutants and quietly infiltrated the plains under cover of darkness.

These thousand had all once been candidates for the X-Men, people Emma had eliminated during round after round of selection. Though they had been rejected, their abilities should not be underestimated. Many of them were no weaker than the hundred candidate X-Men.

"Today, you have only one mission!" Standing outside the border city closest to the forest, Emma’s icy gaze swept across everyone present. Her voice was colder than ever. "Capture people. Capture every human in the city."

At first, Emma had considered killing them all outright. After much deliberation, however, she ultimately chose to capture them instead.

"Director, what about the Descendants of Atlantis?" someone raised a hand and asked.

Emma hesitated for a moment before declaring loudly, "Ignore them. They’re a bunch of useless people." Emma had grown increasingly disdainful of the Descendants of Atlantis. Cowardly, timid, lacking ambition—every derogatory term could be used to describe them. The numerous Descendants of Atlantis had been controlled and ruled by AIM, whose population was far smaller than theirs, in just a few short days. It was truly absurd.

At Emma’s command, the thousand people vanished into the city beneath the night like stones sinking into the sea.

When the horizon began to pale, dawn arrived over the city.

The Descendants of Atlantis, controlled by humans, discovered in confusion that the humans who had been watching over them had vanished. Not a single human could be found anywhere in the city. All the Descendants of Atlantis inexplicably erupted into celebration, without even taking basic defensive measures.

"What a worthless bunch!" No matter how she thought about it, Emma could only use the phrase Alex had once taught her to describe these Descendants of Atlantis.

Howard stood before the holographic control console, watching the scenes displayed from the small city. He shook his head with a laugh that was half amused and half helpless. "What an odd bunch of creatures."

From now on, I’ll try to update twice a day…