Encirclement

"Did that last attack not hurt her?"

Cyclops adjusted the power of his laser and fired at Astra repeatedly. Astra immediately altered her molecular density and merged into the ground.

Cyclops stopped firing and waited for Astra to reappear. Just then, a huge rock came smashing in from the side. He hurriedly dodged, and the rock slammed heavily into the ground, throwing up a mass of dirt.

Immediately afterward, a speed-type mutant rushed up to Cyclops. Moving like lightning, he grabbed for Cyclops’s visor.

Cyclops failed to evade in time, and the speed mutant seized his visor. A smile instantly appeared on the mutant’s face, but then a blinding flash of electricity lit up from the visor. The mutant screamed as he was electrocuted.

"You think you’re the first person to try stealing my visor?"

Cyclops knocked him down with one punch. At that moment, the other mutants surrounded him and kept attacking, preventing him from using his powers.

The Mutant Brotherhood had greater numbers, while the X-Men possessed stronger combat power. Both sides traded blows fiercely. Rather than feeling pleased at the sight, Hank’s heart sank deeper and deeper. The reason was simple: after Magneto dealt with Wolverine, he had yet to make another move.

Everyone knew that Magneto was the strongest member of the Mutant Brotherhood.

"Why hasn’t Magneto made a move? With his personality, he wouldn’t play some cat-and-mouse game."

Hank was deeply puzzled. He had no idea Magneto had refrained from acting because he was injured and could not engage in intense combat.

Meanwhile, Mystique, back in her original form, carried the unconscious Rogue to the prison entrance. The moment Shockwave saw her, he shouted, "Mystique, put Rogue down."

"Sorry, she’s one of the targets. I can’t let her go."

Mystique said, "Alex, I planted a bomb in the first-floor lobby of the Student Dormitory. It will explode in five minutes. If you head over now, you can still make it."

Shockwave asked in both shock and fury, "You dare? The professor won’t let you get away with this."

Mystique said flatly, "It’s fine. You’ll definitely go dismantle that bomb, Alex. I know you very well."

"Damn it."

Shockwave hesitated. Mystique said, "Time is passing second by second. If you don’t act now, you might end up short by just a few seconds."

"Raven, you can’t save Azazel. I’ll come back for you."

Shockwave gritted his teeth and rushed toward the Student Dormitory. Mystique might have been bluffing, but he could not take that risk.

"Charles, every person you raised is a naïve fool."

Mystique shook her head and strode toward the gate. The bomb was real, but it was only a fireworks bomb. Mystique was no saint, but she did not casually kill her own kind.

The prison gate was extremely sturdy, but it posed no challenge to the super-spy Mystique, whose lockpicking skill was level ten. Before long, she opened the gate and walked inside.

Just then, an electric dart shot in from the side and struck Mystique squarely in the waist. Mystique instantly collapsed to the ground, convulsing. At the same time, Rogue hit the floor with a bang.

"Raven, the moment communications went down, I knew you were here."

Hank emerged from a side door and said, "I’ve been waiting here for you."

As Raven convulsed, she stared at Hank in astonishment. Hank shrugged and said, "I know what you want to say, Raven. People grow. I’m no exception."

After saying that, Hank went to help Rogue up from the floor. At that moment, Raven, who was lying on the ground, suddenly attacked. She stabbed a syringe into Hank’s calf, and the medicine inside was swiftly injected into his body.

Hank tried to stand, but he collapsed weakly to the floor. Raven pulled out the electric dart and rose to her feet, somewhat unsteadily.

"Hank, you really have grown, but your heart is still as soft as ever. You should have used bullets, or at least increased the voltage."

Raven said, "I was locked in a laboratory and tortured for years. Ordinary electric shocks do nothing to me."

"You were imprisoned and tortured? Who did it?"

Hank was stunned. He knew nothing about it. Raven shook her head. That was why they were all naïve fools. Only they would foolishly believe mutants and humans could coexist peacefully.

"Their blades are already at our throats, Hank."

Raven shook her head, found the remote control on Hank, and headed deeper into the prison. Soon, she saw Azazel. He was locked inside an Electric Prison.

The Electric Prison generated a strange force field. Within that field, even Azazel could not use Teleportation.

When Azazel saw Mystique, he said excitedly, "Raven, you came? I knew this place couldn’t hold you. Hurry up and let me out."

Raven snorted and activated the remote. The electricity inside the Electric Prison vanished, and Azazel regained his freedom.

"Raven, thank you."

Azazel was overjoyed and instantly vanished. Mystique sneered. A moment later, Azazel teleported back and angrily demanded, "Where’s my son? Where is he?"

"How would I know?"

Mystique said impatiently, "Don’t waste time. Go help Toad and the others fight."

Azazel walked up to Mystique, his face twisted with rage. "Raven, hand over my son."

Mystique snapped, "I told you, I don’t know. Azazel, get out there and assist them immediately. If you have no value, I’ll kill you at once. You should know that very well."

Azazel glared at Mystique through gritted teeth. After a moment, he said, "He must still be in the academy. I’ll find him."

With that, Azazel turned into red smoke and disappeared. He had gone outside to join the battle. He was not afraid of Mystique, but he was afraid of Magneto.

Mystique let out a breath of relief. She stepped outside and said to Hank, "Hank, one last thing. Magneto’s path is the right one. Mutants and humans cannot coexist."

"Magneto is wrong, Raven. I’ll stop all of you."

Hank shouted weakly from the ground. Mystique shook her head, hoisted the unconscious Rogue over her shoulder, and went to meet up with Magneto.

What? Why didn’t she kill Hank? That was their unspoken understanding.

While Magneto attacked the Mutant Academy, the High Summit was proceeding in an orderly fashion. At that moment, the president was giving a speech onstage, the same old stuff about America safeguarding world security.

Wang Bert turned to look at the distant Statue of Liberty, frowning slightly. Psylocke noticed and asked in a low voice, "Bert, why do you keep looking at the Statue of Liberty?"

Wang Bert said, "I have a feeling there’s something wrong with the Statue of Liberty. The longer I look at her, the more I dislike her."

Psylocke asked in surprise, "You dislike freedom?"

"Of course not," Wang Bert said. "How should I put it? I feel like the Statue of Liberty is coming alive."

"The Statue of Liberty coming alive? How is that possible? Come to think of it, when I was little, I once dreamed that the Statue of Liberty was dancing."

Psylocke laughed. "A really sleazy kind of dance, too. It left such a deep impression that I’ve never forgotten it."

Wang Bert stared at the Statue of Liberty and slowly said, "Congratulations. Your dream came true."

"How could that be… damn!"

Psylocke turned to look at the Statue of Liberty. The next second, her entire body froze, because the Statue of Liberty was turning her head.

That was right. The Statue of Liberty was turning her head. Even from so far away, they could hear the metallic grinding of her neck: creak, creak, creak.

"Magneto? Probably not. Even he couldn’t bring the Statue of Liberty to life."

Wang Bert stood up, his expression turning ugly. If it was not Magneto, then it was most likely Senator Cabo. This damned High Summit was truly plagued by disasters.

Seeing Wang Bert suddenly stand, everyone was a little startled. The president followed his gaze toward the Statue of Liberty and was instantly dumbfounded. God, what the hell was this? The Statue of Liberty’s arm was moving?

At that moment, the Statue of Liberty finished "warming up" and strode toward them. Every step made the ground rumble and shake.

"What’s going on?"

Everyone turned toward the Statue of Liberty in shock. Once they looked, their mouths could no longer close.

Holy shit, the Statue of Liberty had become a monster—no, wrong phrasing. God, the Statue of Liberty had come alive!

The reporters took photos like mad. This was massive news, even bigger than the news Bert Wang had caused last time.

"Run!"

Unlike the reckless reporters, the guests all rose and fled. The scene descended into chaos. The FBI and Secret Service agents hurried to maintain order, while a group of FBI agents rushed to the front with weapons in hand, seemingly intending to stop the Statue of Liberty.

Wang Bert shook his head. This was what it meant to use a mantis arm to block a cart.

The president did not flee at once. He shouted to Wang Bert, "Bert Wang, what’s going on? Are mutants causing trouble again?"

Everyone else turned to Wang Bert as well. Wang Bert said unhappily, "Could you stop blaming every single thing on us mutants?"

"Who else besides mutants could create something like this? Bert Wang, are you mutants trying to murder the representatives of every country?"

The FBI Director shouted. Just then, a voice came from above the Statue of Liberty’s head. "I’m not a mutant, Director. Just last month, I hosted you at my home."

The moment Wang Bert heard that, he immediately pinned a huge accusation on him. "So you’re behind this. Are you trying to assassinate the president?"

"I’m not! Don’t make things up!"

The Director hurriedly defended himself. At that moment, the Statue of Liberty entered range. The FBI agents all opened fire on her, but it was useless. Every bullet bounced back.

The Statue of Liberty raised her right foot and stomped down at the agents with a fierce gust of wind. The agents tried to dodge, but there was simply no time.

The next moment, dirt flew everywhere and the ground shook violently. Then, the Statue of Liberty lifted her foot, revealing a massive footprint in the ground. Inside it was dirt and crushed flesh.

The guests were terrified and fled desperately. At the same time, some Secret Service agents called for reinforcements, only to discover that communications had been cut off. They could not contact the outside world at all.

"This is the end of an era."

Senator Cabo laughed wildly from atop the Statue of Liberty. Then, the Statue of Liberty raised her torch high, and hundreds of streams of Black Qi flew from it, landing on the ground and transforming into hideous monsters wreathed in Black Qi.

"Go back."

The monsters moved to intercept the fleeing guests. The Secret Service agents hurriedly opened fire, but the Black Qi around the monsters blocked the bullets. Then, the monsters charged among the agents and tore them apart alive. The scene was incomparably bloody.

The guests screamed as they retreated. Before long, all the guests and reporters were trapped in the middle, completely surrounded by the Statue of Liberty and the monsters.

As for the FBI and Secret Service agents, more than half had already been taken down. The rest did not dare do anything.

Psylocke tried to act several times, but Wang Bert stopped her each time. With Psylocke’s strength, she could not handle the Statue of Liberty.

Senator Cabo descended from the Statue of Liberty’s head amid Black Qi. Then he asked with a smile, "Mr. President, Mr. Director, long time no see."

"Senator Cabo? What happened to you?"

The president and FBI Director recognized him and cried out in disbelief.

"I’m doing very well now. Better than ever before."

Senator Cabo said, "I once thought I was the one who killed my son. But I was wrong. It wasn’t me who killed my son. It was this world, this damned world.

"If there were no mutants, if there were no humans, my son would never have died. So, I intend to destroy the world."

Everyone was speechless. What kind of logic was that? Without the world, neither he nor his son would even exist. Wang Bert asked, "Wait, Senator Cabo. What does killing us have to do with destroying the world?"

"You misunderstand. I don’t intend to kill you. I only want to control you."

Senator Cabo said, "The presidents of America and Russia are both here. As long as I control them and make them launch nuclear missiles at each other, this world will be destroyed.

"This world is full of mistakes. For example, the nuclear weapons you possess are enough to flatten Earth several times over. Now, I will correct that mistake and destroy the world."

"Destroy the world! Destroy the world…"

The surrounding Black Qi monsters shouted fanatically in unison. This damned world should never have existed.

"I see."

Wang Bert rubbed his chin and said, "So as long as we kill the two presidents, the world won’t be destroyed."

Everyone was speechless. What this kid said… actually made fucking sense. Quite a few gazes focused on the two presidents—Mr. Presidents, for the sake of the world, please die.

"We cannot compromise with evil forces… wait, controlling me is useless. Launching nuclear weapons is extremely complicated. I can’t decide it alone. I only have the launch codes."

The president panicked and quickly had his bodyguards surround him, lest someone else assassinate him.

"Don’t worry. Once I control you, I have plenty of ways to make them launch the nuclear weapons."

Senator Cabo said with a broad smile, "Also, don’t expect reinforcements. This island has already been sealed off by me."

"How did it come to this?"

Everyone was somewhat despairing. The president was sweating profusely. By comparison, the Russian president, who had been in office for less than a year, was fairly calm, as though he were ready to face death.

When asking others to sacrifice, they act righteous and take it for granted. When it is their own turn, they make every excuse possible.

Wang Bert sneered inwardly and said, "I wasn’t joking earlier. If it truly comes down to it, I’ll have to trouble the two presidents to make a sacrifice for this world."

The president cursed unhappily, "Why don’t you sacrifice yourself?"

"I was just about to."

Wang Bert stepped forward and shouted, "Senator Cabo, if you want to control the two presidents, you’ll have to get past me first."

"And me."

Psylocke stepped out as well. Then Jean pushed the professor forward, her expression utterly resolute. Protecting the world was their duty.