First Intimate Contact

Yoshida Shiro’s confidence was clearly not an act. Just three days later, he came looking for Zhang Xuan and his Ghost Army.

That day, Zhang Xuan led his army in their usual sweep of a Japanese military camp. Just as they were slaughtering their way through it, a fiery red streak shot across the dark night sky and appeared above the camp in an instant. Then, before Zhang Xuan’s astonished eyes, the streak transformed into a figure and slowly descended to the ground.

Seeing the newcomer, Zhang Xuan’s heart stirred, and he called out, "Sunfire?"

"You’re not Chinese!" His Chinese was awkward, making it obvious at once that he was one of the Japanese soldiers.

Hearing his absolute certainty, Zhang Xuan’s anger flared, and he demanded furiously, "What makes you say I’m not Chinese?!"

"The Chinese mutants were all killed by me!"

"What did you say?!" A blaze surged up in Zhang Xuan’s chest. After discovering that the Japanese military had mutant units, Zhang Xuan had wanted to gather Chinese mutants and build a powerful mutant force of his own.

But what Zhang Xuan had never expected was for Mr. Song to give him such an unexpected answer: "There are no mutants in China!"

When Zhang Xuan heard Mr. Song’s reply, he could not help crying out, "How is that possible?"

Mr. Song looked at Zhang Xuan and explained, "There was still news of mutants ten years ago, but over these past ten years, Chinese mutants seem to have vanished without a trace. There hasn’t been a single word about them."

"What happened?" Zhang Xuan did not believe Chinese mutants could have suddenly disappeared without a trace. Something must have happened.

"We investigated for a long time, but found nothing." Mr. Song shook his head helplessly.

With no Chinese mutants to recruit, Zhang Xuan could only abandon his plan to build a mutant team, and gradually forgot about it. Now that Sunfire had suddenly brought it up, Zhang Xuan finally understood what had happened.

"There will be no mutants in China. Next, you will die." Sunfire looked coldly at Zhang Xuan and said flatly, "Oh, right. I am Yoshida Shiro—the Sunfire you speak of."

Zhang Xuan grew even angrier. Using Teleportation, he suddenly appeared beside Yoshida Shiro, driving the dagger in his hand toward Yoshida Shiro’s carotid artery.

"Trifling tricks!" With a cold snort, boiling flames suddenly erupted from Yoshida Shiro’s entire body. The orange-red fire seemed alive as it swiftly coiled around the incoming dagger, melting it in an instant!

Zhang Xuan had not expected this at all. He stood there dumbfounded, unable to react until an intense burning pain shot through his hand, prompting him to fling away the dagger that had nearly turned into a puddle of molten sludge.

"Now, taste my power!" Yoshida Shiro snorted again and threw a punch. His fist, wrapped in brilliant red flames, flew straight toward Zhang Xuan’s chest.

Having witnessed the power of Sunfire’s flames, how could Zhang Xuan dare touch his fist? Without a second thought, he teleported away, taking the entire army from the camp with him.

Zhang Xuan’s actions had clearly exceeded Yoshida Shiro’s expectations. Staring at the now empty camp, Yoshida Shiro finally revealed a trace of anger beneath his sun god mask.

After bringing everyone back to the valley camp, Zhang Xuan vanished once more. When he reappeared, he was at the Howling Commandos’ camp.

"Guys, I’ve run into trouble!" The moment Zhang Xuan appeared, he spoke urgently before anyone else could say a word. "That Sunfire showed up. I’m no match for him."

For the first time, Zhang Xuan felt a hint of helplessness toward his own abilities. Teleportation was unmatched for escape, but it was simply too weak in combat. Copying was certainly an extraordinary ability, but without powerful abilities to copy, it was completely useless.

"Sunfire? That Japanese mutant?" Natasha had obtained information about Sunfire by interrogating Japanese mutants. She was the first to react, and her expression turned serious.

Zhang Xuan nodded and explained with a bitter smile, "I was leading my men in a sweep against the Japanese soldiers when he suddenly appeared. We fought, but before my dagger could even touch his body, the flames coming off him melted it."

"He’s that powerful?!" Nick Fury stared at Zhang Xuan in shock, his single eye full of disbelief.

Howard happened to be at the camp as well. Hearing Zhang Xuan’s words, he immediately rose to his feet and argued, "Impossible. Your dagger can’t be destroyed, just like Captain’s shield. Fire can’t melt it either, because it absorbs the energy of flames!"

"But it really melted!" Zhang Xuan tried hard to recall the battle from moments ago and spoke with absolute certainty.

"Extremely high-temperature flames can distort your vision. Perhaps that made you believe it melted." Howard frowned in thought for a moment before explaining, "But in reality, it was not melted."

Zhang Xuan was somewhat doubtful, but he did not pursue the matter further. Shaking his head, he changed the subject. "Forget the dagger. Let’s talk about Sunfire instead. Does anyone have any good ideas?"

What puzzled Zhang Xuan was that the moment he finished speaking, he found everyone looking at him with strange expressions. Just as he was about to ask why, Steve spoke first. "Alex, we’ve run into trouble too. We were just about to ask you for help!"

"Huh?!"

"**A very powerful mutant has appeared over there. He can absorb all forms of energy—even bullets—and then release it again." Steve looked bitter, his eyes dim. "We’ve failed against him several times already. He’s blocked multiple Allied attacks and caused tremendous losses."

Hearing Steve’s description, Zhang Xuan’s thoughts stirred as someone suddenly came to mind. "Sebastian Shaw?"

"You know him too?" Carter happened to walk in from outside, carrying a stack of documents. Her face was full of exhaustion.

"I’ve heard of him, that’s all." Zhang Xuan gave a dry laugh. Just as he was about to change the subject, inspiration suddenly struck him, and he came up with a brilliant idea.

The more Zhang Xuan thought about it, the more excited he became, and he unconsciously began to smile.

Hearing Zhang Xuan laugh, everyone turned to look at him, their faces full of surprise.

"I’ve found a way to deal with Sebastian Shaw and Yoshida Shiro!" Zhang Xuan glanced at everyone, smiled mysteriously, and revealed his plan.

"Using the enemy’s spear against the enemy’s shield—that’s a good idea!" Steve nodded in agreement, then added, "But how are we supposed to deal with Sebastian Shaw?"

"If there’s no energy for him to absorb, Sebastian Shaw is nothing but a target!" Zhang Xuan lifted his head, his face full of confidence. "Dealing with him will be easy!"