Farewell, Zhang Tong

Alex and Crystal stood at a distance, watching the ever-expanding Lightning Storm. They exchanged a glance, and a trace of gravity rose in their eyes. They looked hesitantly toward the center of the Lightning Storm. Anyone capable of unleashing such a powerful Lightning Storm was definitely not someone to be trifled with. Charging in rashly might well cause unnecessary trouble.

"What do we do now?" Crystal turned to Alex. She had only come along for company; Alex was the one calling the shots.

Alex hesitated for a while before saying gently, "Let’s wait. The Lightning Storm is about to disperse!" The faint sense of familiarity in his mind made Alex unwilling to leave just like that. He would rather wait for the storm to clear and see who was inside.

Perhaps having noticed Alex and Crystal’s arrival, the Lightning Storm gradually dissipated, revealing the person within: a well-proportioned middle-aged man. His dark blue traditional jacket somehow gave him an incomparable air of nobility, while his long, narrow face was filled with arrogance.

The middle-aged man clasped his hands behind his back and slowly turned around. The moment he saw Alex and Crystal, his expression changed as though he had turned a page. Fury surged onto his face, and with a loud roar, he lunged through the air toward Alex.

Alex sensed intense killing intent from the middle-aged man. Even if their appearance had disturbed him, there was no need to attack the moment they met, was there?

"My friend, let’s talk this out!" Alex did not want to fight someone for no reason. He took Crystal and retreated voluntarily, explaining, "We happened to see this and came over for a look. If we disturbed you in any way, please forgive us!"

The middle-aged man froze upon hearing Alex’s voice and stared at him in disbelief. Then his expression changed again, and he roared in humiliated rage, "Have you forgotten who I am?"

"Huh?!" Alex was startled. He pinched his chin and sized up the middle-aged man before him. The man seemed vaguely familiar, but Alex searched through his memories and still could not recall who he was. "Sorry, do we know each other?"

The middle-aged man’s face immediately flushed red, yet he had nowhere to vent the rage filling his chest. He had stayed away from the mortal world for all these years and devoted himself to cultivation, all to avenge that old grudge. Now that his training was complete, he had emerged into the world and happened to encounter Alex, his enemy from back then. He had thought Heaven was helping him, but Alex had not even remembered who he was.

Decades of cultivation seemed to have lost all meaning, becoming nothing more than a mockery.

"Zhang Tong, I’m Zhang Tong!" His rage grew deeper and deeper until the middle-aged man could endure it no longer. With a wild roar, he flashed forward and instantly appeared beside Alex.

Alex possessed enormous combat experience. The moment the middle-aged man vanished, Alex had already reacted. He used Teleportation with Crystal and appeared dozens of meters away, staring at the man in shock. "Zhang Tong? You’re not dead?"

The moment he heard the middle-aged man’s words, Alex remembered who he was. Back when Alex had operated in China, he had encountered a young man who had sought to unify China. Their differing ideals had led to considerable conflict. Later, during the great battle against the Japanese mutants, Zhang Tong had appeared again. Alex fought him fiercely and ultimately killed him with a Flame Storm.

What Alex had not expected was that they would meet again more than ten years later. Zhang Tong had grown older, which was why Alex had failed to recognize him at first. Moreover, Zhang Tong did not seem to have been affected by The Watcher and still remembered him, which left Alex deeply frustrated. After The Watcher erased the world’s memories, everyone who still remembered him was an enemy.

His thoughts raced, but Alex quickly regained his senses and looked up at Zhang Tong. The man was panting heavily, his eyes filled with overwhelming hatred that had not diminished in the slightest with the passage of time.

"Today, I will kill you, Zhang Xuan!" Zhang Tong shouted. He suddenly thrust out both hands, and a blue energy beam shot forth.

Alex instinctively sensed that the blue energy beam was strange and did not dare linger for even a moment. He teleported away again with Crystal.

When Alex and Crystal reappeared dozens of meters away, the blue energy beam had already passed through the spot where he had just stood and continued shooting into the distance. What was terrifying was that the air along its path had frozen solid!

Alex and Crystal froze slightly at the sight. They both turned to Zhang Tong and immediately noticed his hands. All ten of his long fingers bore rings, one on each finger, every one different. The blue energy beam that had frozen the air had come from the ring on Zhang Tong’s left pinky.

Noticing Alex’s dumbfounded expression, Zhang Tong actually stopped. Narcissistically, he raised both hands, crossed them, and lightly brushed his fingers over the ten rings as he said boastfully, "Do you know what these are?"

"Magic rings, magic rings containing extraordinary power. Any force is utterly powerless before them!" As he spoke, Zhang Tong suddenly attacked. A white energy beam abruptly shot from the ring on his right ring finger, which was set with a square golden-yellow gemstone. It was both sudden and swift.

As Alex listened to Zhang Tong’s introduction, a figure suddenly surfaced in his mind: the Mandarin, Iron Man’s lifelong archenemy. After the movie "Iron Man 3" came out, Alex had specifically looked into him and learned that Marvel’s China had such a formidable figure. The iconic Ten Rings seemed exactly like the ones Zhang Tong wore.

Lost in thought, Alex failed to notice Zhang Tong’s attack. Only when the white energy beam drew near did his beast-like sense of danger jolt him awake. But by then, it was already too late. Alex had no time to react.

Fortunately, Crystal had remained beside Alex. She had originally been waiting for Alex to teleport them away. When she waited for a long time without seeing him move, Crystal immediately realized something was wrong and hurriedly took action.

A shield of earth rose before Alex by a hair’s breadth, just before the white energy beam struck him.

Unexpectedly, the thick earthen shield was like paper. The white energy beam pierced through it in an instant, utterly unaffected.

Although the earthen shield failed to block the white energy beam, it still bought Alex a few milliseconds, and that was enough for him to use Teleportation.

"What was that?!" Though he had escaped with Teleportation, Alex did not relax in the slightest. Still shaken, he looked at Zhang Tong and asked instinctively. The white energy beam had felt even more terrifying than the earlier Freezing Ray. It had only pierced the earthen shield, but Alex felt that nothing could block it.

Zhang Tong smiled mysteriously without explaining. He spread his hands, and the rings on his left index and middle fingers lit up at the same time. A red ray and a silver ray shot out simultaneously, both still aimed at Alex.

Knowing how dangerous they were, Alex did not dare linger for even a moment. He used Teleportation with Crystal and left directly.