Emma Frost

The group reappeared in a desolate desert, with the brightly lit, neon-dazzling future gambling city of Las Vegas in the distance.

Alex did not look back at Las Vegas. Instead, he looked guiltily at everyone beside him. "I’m sorry. I dragged everyone into this."

Logan, who never seemed to be without a cigar, exhaled a puff of smoke and said casually, "I’d wanted to leave for a long time anyway. This is a good opportunity."

"I have to return to the Soviet Union. There’s no way I can stay here," Natasha said with a shrug, her beautiful brows lifting slightly with an almost imperceptible sensuality.

Nick Fury pointed at his head and mocked himself. "With my skin color, once the war ends, I’m definitely finished."

"I am the king of Atlantis. Humans can’t control me!" Namor raised his head arrogantly and spoke with utter disdain.

Quicksilver ran more than a dozen circles around Alex, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "I’m fast. There’s nothing they can do to me."

"I’m destined to be sealed away. It’s not bad to do something meaningful before that." A hint of warmth appeared in the Human Torch’s indifferent eyes. "At least you’ll remember me. That already makes me happy."

"Don’t look at me. The federal government’s weapons still depend on me to keep them supplied. They won’t dare offend me." Seeing Alex turn toward him, Howard put both hands in his pockets and spoke with an easy expression.

At last, Alex turned to Carter. She stared at him for a long moment before saying heavily, "Right now, I only want to find Steve and get revenge!"

Alex nodded at her words and repeated, "Find Steve and get revenge!"

After saying that, Alex looked at Howard again. Just as he was about to speak, Howard beat him to it. "The target is inside Las Vegas, about five kilometers from here."

Alex leaned over to look at the device in Howard’s hand. It resembled a mechanical wristwatch, its interface displaying something like a radar scan. A red dot flashed continuously, but there was no direction indicator or distance reading. Alex could not make heads or tails of it, so he decisively said, "Lead the way."

After following Howard for around ten minutes, they stopped before a bar. Through the doors that kept opening and closing, they could see that the interior was dim and noisy.

Howard lowered his head to check the device in his hand, then looked up at the bar. "He’s inside," he said with certainty.

"Split up and search. Don’t let him get away!" The bar was fairly large, and its interior was dark and chaotic, so Alex chose to split up. Even if they encountered Sebastian Shaw, everyone could quickly support one another, so there was no need to worry about safety.

The group swiftly scattered. Some headed for the back entrance, while others climbed onto the roof. Alex entered the bar with Logan and Natasha, while Howard and Carter remained outside to provide support.

The moment they entered the bar, deafening music crashed into their ears like thunder, leaving all three of them ringing.

"Let’s split up!" After taking a long while to adjust, Alex raised his voice and shouted at Logan and Natasha beside him. The bar was packed and bustling with a surging crowd. Finding Sebastian Shaw would not be easy, and splitting up might be faster.

The three separated with perfect coordination. One headed toward the bar counter, one toward the dance floor, and the other toward the booths around the perimeter.

Alex’s target was the dance floor. He pushed through the crowd and made his way inside, where scantily clad, sexy women kept taking the initiative to press themselves against him. Alex shoved them away coldly, his eyes sweeping the surroundings.

The bar’s dance floor was not small, and a stage extended from its center. After searching this side, Alex was preparing to circle around the stage to the dance floor on the other side when a lively, passionate dance track suddenly began. The crowd on the dance floor went wild along with it, especially the men, whose eyes practically glowed.

As Alex wondered what was happening, a tall woman emerged from behind the stage. She wore pitifully little clothing, and the fair skin exposed to the air continuously stirred the masculine hormones of everyone present. Even Alex found himself drawn to the stunning woman.

Suddenly, the beauty grabbed her sleeveless leather jacket with both hands and violently tore it open. Amid wave after wave of screams, she stripped it off and casually tossed it from the stage. By pure coincidence, the jacket landed right in Alex’s hands.

Alex looked at the leather jacket in his hands and suddenly came to his senses. Just as he was about to throw it away and continue searching, he inexplicably raised it to his nose and took a light sniff. His previously clear mind seemed to grow hazy again. He forgot the jacket, forgot Sebastian Shaw, and even forgot Steve. In his eyes, there was only the gorgeous woman onstage, continuously performing her striptease.

"Emma! Emma, one more! One more!"

Listening to the thunderous cries around him, Alex became intoxicated. He gazed at the stripper with lovestruck eyes and murmured, "Emma… what a beautiful name!"

Onstage, the woman dancing her striptease with all her strength noticed Alex’s utterly entranced expression. A faint, smug smile appeared on her incomparably beautiful face.

As the passionate striptease came to an end, the dancer named Emma turned and walked toward the backstage area. The reluctant crowd below the stage stared blankly at her departing figure.

After standing there in a daze for a long time, Alex suddenly moved. He followed the dancer toward backstage, an almost pilgrim-like devout smile on his face.

Backstage at the bar, Sebastian Shaw sat elegantly on a sofa in a sharp suit, holding a glass of red wine. Red Devil, Riptide, and several of the mutants who had once followed him stood nearby.

Emma suddenly walked in, a faint sneer on her beautiful face. "I brought him." The moment she finished speaking, Alex followed closely behind her, his face full of vacant foolishness.

"Emma, thank you." Sebastian Shaw raised his glass toward Emma from afar, excitement written across his refined face. "You truly are my lucky star."

Emma found a white trench coat in a corner and draped it over herself, covering most of her body, which was otherwise clad only in shorts and a bra. Pointing at Alex, she said seriously, "His mind is very strong. I can’t control him for long. Whatever you need to do, do it quickly."

Sebastian Shaw’s expression changed immediately. All of his previous composure vanished as he urgently asked, "Hurry and search. Where is the Tesseract?"

"The Tesseract?" Emma repeated, focusing on Alex’s eyes. After a long while, she turned to Sebastian Shaw with a confused expression and shook her head. "I can’t find it. Maybe his mind is too strong."

"How is that possible?" Sebastian Shaw suddenly became agitated. He sprang from the sofa and pointed at Emma as he shouted furiously, "Frost, you must find the Tesseract for me today!"