Desperate Search

With Alex and the others gone, both the United States and the Soviet Union called off their operations. After a brief exchange, they sailed back as though nothing had happened. The soldiers in both fleets were placed under strict government gag orders, and no news leaked out.

That was indeed the case. There had been plenty of speculation about the Cuban Missile Crisis, but never any rumors that mutants had been involved.

When Alex learned of this, he assumed that both the United States and the Soviet Union had accepted his warning: "If no one provokes me, I will not provoke them." He focused wholeheartedly on developing the Savage Land. Alex did not know that the truth about the Cuban Missile Crisis had already spread among governments worldwide. An undercurrent was quietly rising across the globe, extremely well concealed; even S.H.I.E.L.D. had received no information.

After bringing Charles back to the Floating Temple, Alex did not get even a moment of rest before he was quickly drawn into a new operation against the Brotherhood of Mutants and AIM in the Savage Land.

The Savage Land contained many factions. With the Floating Temple occupied by Alex’s group as the boundary, the forests and swamps on one side were inhabited by all kinds of humanoid creatures. The plains on the other side had originally been the capital of the Descendants of Atlantis, but after Sebastian Shaw and Strucker moved in, the Descendants of Atlantis had long since become vassals of the Brotherhood of Mutants and AIM.

Emma paid little attention to the savages in the forests and swamps, sending only a small number of people to keep watch. Conflicts between the two sides were rare, and their relationship was not especially tense. However, Emma had always been extremely wary of the Brotherhood of Mutants and AIM on the Savage Land plains. The Brotherhood of Mutants in particular was constantly embroiled in battles large and small.

Now that Sebastian Shaw had been captured, Emma naturally would not let this opportunity slip away. She immediately asked Alex to lead the X-Men in taking in all the Brotherhood mutants while also eliminating AIM’s people along the way.

Alex naturally had no reason to refuse Emma’s request. He could only postpone his promise to Crystal once again and begin leading the X-Men into battle everywhere.

The war did not progress as smoothly as Alex had expected. Even without Sebastian Shaw as their leader, the Brotherhood of Mutants still displayed remarkable cohesion. Under the leadership of a new figure, they began a long war of attrition with the X-Men.

That day, Alex withdrew from the front lines. Just as he was preparing to find Erik and Sebastian Shaw to replicate their abilities, Crystal, who had been waiting for him, caught him red-handed.

Seeing Crystal’s cool expression, Alex felt somewhat awkward. He had not expected this battle to drag on for so long. Half a year had passed without him even noticing! Over those six months, the Brotherhood of Mutants’ territory had greatly shrunk, yet their combat strength had actually increased considerably. The fighting between both sides had inevitably reached a stalemate, and the war would continue for quite some time.

Crystal did not say a word. She merely stared unblinkingly at Alex. After saying it for half a year, she truly did not want to open her mouth again.

"All right, I’ll take you to find your sister today!" Alex said with a bitter smile, putting an arm around Crystal’s shoulders and leading her outside. He really could not stand Crystal’s silent accusations every few days. It was better to find Medusa quickly and send Crystal back.

At first, Crystal thought she would return empty-handed again. When she suddenly heard Alex agree, she was so stunned that she could barely react. It was only when Alex had his arm around her shoulders and was pushing her along that she finally came back to herself.

Alex did what he said. He did not even go to replicate Sebastian Shaw’s or Erik’s abilities, instead taking Crystal directly to X-Film Company in New York.

Since he had voluntarily cut off contact with S.H.I.E.L.D., Alex rarely appeared there anymore. However, Nick Fury still shared certain intelligence with him. The information would generally be sent to X-Film Company before being relayed back to the Floating Temple, including news about Medusa. Alex had once entrusted Nick Fury with finding Medusa, and over the past half year, S.H.I.E.L.D. had continued searching for her in its spare capacity.

After greeting Vivien Leigh, Alex took Crystal directly to the intelligence center beneath the X-Film Company building.

"Wait a moment. Let me see what information there is." S.H.I.E.L.D. had continuously sent information over, but Alex had been occupied with fighting the Brotherhood of Mutants for the past half year and had rarely checked it. A great deal had piled up. After saying that to Crystal, Alex plunged into the intelligence files.

After searching for a while, Alex pulled out a thick folder from a row of shelves. Medusa’s name had been specially marked on it.

When he opened it, he first found a photograph, with two lines of text beneath it.

"Bihar, India. Possible target located!"

"Contacted for three days. Ruled out!"

"They really worked hard," Alex muttered as he rapidly flipped through the files. Most had been ruled out, while a small number could not yet be confirmed. The last few pages contained recently discovered targets that had not yet been verified.

Alex pulled out every target that had not been ruled out and counted them. There were seventeen in total, scattered all over the world. Fortunately, every target had a photograph, saving Alex a great deal of trouble.

Putting away the seventeen photographs, Alex immediately set out with Crystal to verify them.

"What is this place?" Crystal had spent more than half of the past six months in the Floating Temple and knew very little about the outside world. Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, she instinctively felt somewhat uneasy and unconsciously moved closer to Alex.

Alex patted Crystal’s shoulder reassuringly, then looked around and checked the photograph in his hand. Shrugging, he said, "The first target. Let’s go!"

With that, Alex took Crystal’s hand without further discussion and quickly walked toward the small village ahead.

Ten minutes later, Alex and Crystal emerged with disappointed expressions.

"Don’t worry, there are still sixteen left!" Seeing Crystal’s low spirits, Alex waved the remaining sixteen photographs in his hand and comforted her with a smile. "Maybe the next one will be your sister!"

Crystal glanced at Alex, but her expression did not soften in the slightest. Clearly, she did not believe his reassurance.

Alex was somewhat speechless. He lowered his head to look at the photographs, activated Teleportation, and brought Crystal to the second target.

Disappointment after disappointment. In the blink of an eye, only two of the seventeen photographs remained.

As Crystal looked at the final two photographs in Alex’s hand, her expression grew colder and colder.

Alex had not expected such a result. He had thought that with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s capabilities, half a year should have produced some results. Yet after making the rounds, they had still found nothing. Alex was beginning to doubt S.H.I.E.L.D.’s competence.

Of course, despite thinking that, Alex still had to offer some comfort aloud. "There are still two left. They’re both in China. I have a feeling the chances are very high!"

Crystal’s heart stirred at those words. A trace of remembrance appeared on her usually expressionless face. After a long silence, she said, "China? That valley?" Crystal had no concept of the nations on Earth, but the word "China" was deeply etched in her memory.

"The valley?" Alex froze, then seemed to think of something and nodded. "Yes, China!"