Extermination

Wang Bert’s actions left everyone dumbfounded. Iceman stood in front of the regenerating Human Torch and asked in shock and anger, "Iron Man, what are you doing?"

"Doing what I should. You don’t actually think Human Torch would truly repent, do you?"

Wang Bert sneered. "You know, when I watch movies, I hate those scenes where the good guys forgive the bad guys, only to get schemed against by them again."

"I hate that kind of scene too. Human Torch must die."

Magneto flew out of his mech and spoke coldly. Wolverine, White Queen, Juggernaut, and Psylocke all nodded. They were not softhearted X-Men. More importantly, they were not idiots.

Other than Iceman, who couldn’t tell that Human Torch’s surrender had been fake? Even Quicksilver, who was usually a little slow on the uptake, wore a look of contempt.

Iceman shouted, "Human Torch has already repented! He isn’t evil by nature. Why can’t you give him another chance?"

"You’ll soon find out whether Human Torch has truly repented."

Wang Bert smiled, then said to the others, "Put some effort into it. Deal with all the traitors and Evil Believers. I don’t want to see a single one of them survive."

"As you command, my lord."

White Queen covered her mouth and smiled. Several Evil Believers around her simultaneously plunged their weapons into their own chests.

"I like that order."

Wolverine, Juggernaut, and Sabretooth grinned viciously and pounced on the wounded Evil Believers. Psylocke cared more about appearances, so her expression barely changed, but her killing efficiency surpassed even Wolverine’s and the others’.

Magneto silently controlled his mech to clean up the mutants. He rarely killed mutants, but these traitors had to die.

Quicksilver blinked, unable to bring himself to act. Domino picked up a gun and fired at the mutants as she said, "Killing is for the sake of better redemption. Quicksilver, since you joined the Brotherhood, you were destined to get blood on your hands. If you don’t want to kill people, I suggest you transfer to that kiddie army organization, the X-Men."

As soon as Domino finished speaking, a chunk of iron slammed down beside her with a bang. It was Magneto’s warning—trying to poach my son right in front of me? Back when I was younger, you would have already been flattened.

Domino shrugged, completely unconcerned by Magneto’s threat. She couldn’t die anyway.

Quicksilver hesitated, but ultimately did not attack. He liked stealing and peeping, but at heart, he was still a decent kid.

Knowing the situation was hopeless, the mutants and Evil Believers fled in all directions. Wang Bert casually waved his hand, sending the fleeing people high into the air. When they fell, they became pulp.

Iceman said somewhat reluctantly, "Iron Man, those people might still be saved."

"Evil Believers are beyond saving."

Wang Bert said indifferently, "Don’t forget, every one of these Evil Believers wanted to destroy the world."

Iceman fell silent. At that moment, Human Torch finished regenerating and roared at Wang Bert with a vicious expression, "Iron Man, I’m going to kill you! Kill you!"

Iceman shouted nervously, "John!"

Wang Bert could not be bothered to waste words. He took out a banknote and said, "From now on, you must speak honestly."

The next second, the banknote vanished. Wang Bert asked Human Torch, "Was your surrender just now fake?"

"Of course it was. Doomsday Master told me to infiltrate your group and find a chance to kill all of you…"

Human Torch stopped halfway through, suddenly realizing what he had said. He hurriedly shut his mouth. Iceman asked in disbelief, "John, you lied to me?"

"So what if I lied to you? Who told you to be so stupid?"

Human Torch completely threw caution to the wind. He roared, "I’m going to kill you traitors! I’m going to destroy the academy! I’m going to burn Iron Man to death! I’m going to destroy the world!"

Iceman shouted, "John, this isn’t you."

"This is exactly me! You forced me into this! If you hadn’t abandoned me, I never would have become like this."

John shouted, "It’s your fault! It’s all your fault!"

"It is indeed our fault. We let you go on for too long. Now, we will make up for that mistake."

Wang Bert stretched out his hand. Iceman hurriedly blocked John and shouted, "Iron Man, even if John did something wrong, he doesn’t deserve death. We can lock him up for life."

"For other criminals, perhaps I could spare their lives. But not Human Torch, because he is Doomsday Master’s messenger."

With a wave of Wang Bert’s hand, Iceman was teleported back to Mutant Academy. He froze for a moment, then ran toward the professor’s room as fast as he could—he wanted the professor to plead with Wang Bert.

In fact, the professor had been watching the entire situation. Using Cerebro, he said to Wang Bert, "Bert, spare Human Torch. I will lock him up and prevent him from making any more mistakes."

"Mistake? Professor, what he committed was a crime, not a mistake."

Space Energy gathered wildly in Wang Bert’s palm as he continued, "Besides, Professor, do you remember? You said something similar to me once before."

The professor was startled. "Once before? Are you talking about Azazel?"

Wang Bert asked, "That’s right. Where is he now? Is he still locked in your academy’s dungeon?"

The professor had no answer. Given Mutant Academy’s way of doing things, the Evil Believers only needed to capture a few ordinary people to force them to release Human Torch. In other words, the professor’s promise meant nothing.

"Eliminating evil is doing good."

Wang Bert stopped wasting words and pushed his hand forward. Space Energy blasted into John, transforming into a black hole that swallowed him on the spot.

"No! My God, save me!"

John screamed in terror. At that moment, his soul flew out of his body and headed toward Hell. Wang Bert snorted and shouted, "Ten million dollars, destroy Human Torch’s soul."

The next second, Human Torch’s soul rapidly disintegrated and ceased to exist. Original Sin cursed, then snorted. "Iron Man, do you think that means you can kill Human Torch? Dream on. His soul core has long been in my hands. I can revive him whenever I want."

The soul cores of all three messengers were in Original Sin’s possession. Only that way would Original Sin feel safe granting them power.

Wang Bert sneered. "What’s the point of reviving him? Wouldn’t it be better to cultivate a new messenger?"

Original Sin paused. What Iron Man said actually made damn good sense.

Resurrection had never been simple. If Original Sin had snatched back Human Torch’s soul just now, it would have been manageable; Human Torch could have been revived by paying only a small price. The problem was that the soul had not been recovered.

With only the soul core, reviving the target required paying an enormous price. Even an existence like Original Sin was no exception. After all, It was merely an Ancient God—and a sealed Ancient God at that.

Was Human Torch worth Original Sin spending that much effort to revive? The answer was no. Original Sin could simply find a new messenger. It would not only cost less, but would also be faster.

Human Torch had no wisdom, no experience, and no character. Original Sin could not think of a single reason why It had to revive him.

Original Sin’s face darkened, and It directly cut off contact with Wang Bert. That remark had truly been self-inflicted humiliation.

"Barring any surprises, Human Torch is completely finished."

After thinking for a moment, Wang Bert flicked his finger lightly, and Azazel’s corpse vanished. Azazel’s body was quite interesting. Wang Bert wanted to study it and see whether he could make some special equipment from it.

Seeing Human Torch die, the professor silently sighed. He did not blame Iron Man. Instead, he blamed himself. Back then, he should never have allowed Human Torch to leave. If Human Torch had not left, none of this would have happened.

"Perhaps I should be tougher when it comes to my students’ futures. I absolutely cannot let other students go astray like Human Torch did."

The professor sighed, removed Cerebro, and went to comfort Iceman Bobby. As for the Evil Believers, Hank and the others could handle them. After all, the battle was already nearing its end.

Beside the small hill, Magneto flew over to Wang Bert and asked, "Aren’t you afraid the X-Men will turn against you?"

Wang Bert glanced at Magneto and smiled. "I’ve always relied on myself to move forward."

Magneto understood Wang Bert’s meaning. He said, "Charles told me that all this time, you have been helping him, not the other way around."

Wang Bert asked curiously, "You two have been in contact?"

Magneto did not answer. Instead, he said, "Iron Man, thank you for this. I owe you a huge favor, and I will repay it someday."

"No need to wait for someday. Repay it now."

Wang Bert said, "I need a tube of blood from every mutant in the Mutant Brotherhood."

"You need mutant blood?"

Magneto’s gaze suddenly turned cold. "Don’t tell me you’re like those humans, experimenting on mutants?"

"The experiments I conduct are far more advanced than those human experiments."

Wang Bert shrugged. "I don’t want to explain the specifics. In short, I will not hurt mutants, much less experiment on them. In fact, I’m only studying their genes."

Magneto looked at Wang Bert, then nodded. "If anyone else said that, I wouldn’t believe them. But you are the Mutant Savior. I believe your promise. I’ll get the blood to you as soon as possible."

"Thank you."

Wang Bert nodded in satisfaction. With the Mutant Brotherhood providing blood, his mastery of Mutant Source would definitely rise to another level.

The only problem was that there was far too little time. During this period, he not only had to deal with the Evil Believers, but also help President Richard fight a war.

"With greater power comes greater responsibility?"

Wang Bert shook his head, then casually asked, "Old Magneto, how are things going with Quicksilver? Do you feel that the world is full of warmth now? Any urge to turn over a new leaf?"

"Old Magneto?"

Magneto was speechless. "I don’t feel that the world is full of warmth. I only feel my blood pressure constantly rising. Sometimes I even wonder whether you deliberately sent Pietro to anger me to death."

"There’s an old saying in the East: no feud, no father and son."

Wang Bert smiled awkwardly. Pietro seemed terribly unreliable. Fortunately, Old Magneto also had a daughter. Uh, though his daughter seemed to have gotten pregnant before marriage.

"No feud, no father and son? I think I may have slaughtered his whole family in a past life."

Magneto’s old face darkened slightly. Wang Bert burst into laughter. "Don’t get too upset, because even more frustrating things are coming: marriage, ideals, having children… every one of them will drive you crazy."

Magneto said expressionlessly, "I’m certain now. You really did send Pietro to anger me to death."

Wang Bert laughed again. At that moment, all the traitor mutants and Evil Believers had been eliminated. Wolverine flicked the blood from his claws and said with satisfaction, "It’s been a long time since I’ve fought this freely."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Only Quicksilver rolled his eyes. What a bunch of savages.

"Everyone, thank you. I’ll send you back now. I’ll stay here to handle the aftermath."

Wang Bert clapped his hands. White Queen nodded and said, "Fine. Send me home. I need a thorough wash."

"Send me back to the company. I’ll clean up there before going home. Silver Fox doesn’t like me smelling of blood."

Wolverine said gently. When Sabretooth heard the name Silver Fox, he looked somewhat displeased, as though something precious had been stolen from him.

Psylocke said, "Send me home. I need to calm down, or the killing intent on me will frighten my fans."

Magneto glanced at Psylocke. What was with her purple battle armor? Wasn’t her ability to infuse weapons with psychic energy? Magneto silently wondered, Could it be related to Iron Man’s research?

At that moment, Domino asked Wang Bert, "Boss, do I still need to continue infiltrating the Brotherhood?"

Magneto and Quicksilver both rolled their eyes. Quicksilver complained, "Your identity has already been exposed. Infiltrate my ass?"

"Continue infiltrating."

Wang Bert smiled. "Magneto, you don’t mind Domino remaining in your Brotherhood, do you?"

Magneto said, "I don’t mind. I believe she will fall in love with the Brotherhood."

"Good."

Wang Bert nodded in satisfaction. Quicksilver blinked in confusion. Why was the old man letting Domino remain in the Brotherhood when he clearly knew she was an infiltrator? That made no sense.

Domino did not understand either, but she did not care. Her luck was good anyway, and she would not die.

Magneto said nothing further. He told Wang Bert, "Send us back to the New York branch."

"Fine."

Wang Bert waved his hand, and Magneto, Sabretooth, Quicksilver, and Domino vanished at the same time. Then he waved at the others and sent them back to their company or homes.

After finishing that, Wang Bert called President Richard and smiled. "Mr. President, under your leadership, we achieved a great victory. We successfully eliminated over a hundred Evil Believers, including Human Torch, one of Doomsday Master’s three great messengers."

"Really? That’s wonderful! I’ll immediately hold a press conference to announce this."

President Richard was overjoyed. With such a brilliant achievement, what did the Navy shelling matter? Wang Bert continued, "By the way, send people over to take photographs for the records. As for the Evil Believers’ corpses, I’ll personally handle them, so the military doesn’t pull any tricks."

"No problem."

It was a minor matter, and President Richard readily agreed. Then, he had his assistant prepare the press conference.

At the press conference, President Richard loudly announced the good news. "Today, not only did we once again repel the Evil Believers’ attack, but under Iron Man’s leadership, we eliminated a large number of elite Evil Believers, including Human Torch, one of Doomsday Master’s three great messengers…"

"Human Torch became Doomsday Master’s messenger?"

The reporters were greatly shocked and repeatedly pressed for details. President Richard did not hide anything, even publicly revealing that the Navy had opened fire.

One reporter asked, "Mr. President, wasn’t ordering the Navy to fire on American soil a little excessive?"

"It was not excessive. Sometimes, we need to bypass procedures, because only then can we decisively defeat the Evil Believers."

President Richard said in a tough, forceful voice, "If I am reelected, I will submit the Patriot Act to Congress. Then we will be able to strike the Evil Believers more effectively. Please believe me: Iron Man and I will team up to protect America and restore it to its former safety."