Plague

Though he had been mentally prepared, Alex was still startled when he heard Nick Fury’s words. He took the large-screen phone from Nick, swept his gaze over it, and his face gradually turned pale.

"Is this real?" After staring blankly for a long while, Alex finally looked up at Nick, his voice full of disbelief.

Nick wore a bitter expression and nodded. "It shouldn’t be fake!"

Alex simply could not believe it. This was even more unbelievable than Angel attacking Charles and the others. But when his gaze shifted to the people lying on the ground around them, he had no choice but to believe that it was all real.

"Lingdan, can you cure these people?" After a moment of silence, Alex turned to Lingdan, who seemed not to have recovered from the shock yet. His tone was extremely grave.

Lingdan immediately snapped back to her senses. She hurried to the side of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and crouched down. Just as she reached out, before she could begin treatment, a visible cloud of black vapor suddenly burst from the agent’s body and shot toward her. It moved so fast that there was no time to react.

Alex failed to react in time, and the others certainly could not either. Only when the black vapor crept from Lingdan’s fingers up her entire arm did everyone rush forward. Without a second thought, Alex immediately activated his ability and prepared to intervene.

Before Alex could act, Lingdan decisively sliced off her entire right arm in one stroke. Specks of blood stained the long, narrow scalpel. The severed arm fell to the ground and was quickly completely infected by the black vapor. Within a few breaths, it lost all life, becoming like a withered branch.

"What is this?!" Everyone stared dumbfounded at the scene before them, their horrified gazes darting between Lingdan and the arm that had become like a dead branch.

Lingdan let out a soft breath, her face slightly pale. "This plague is rather vicious, especially for people with superpowers like us." She paused slightly, and a trace of fear flashed through her eyes. "If I hadn’t reacted quickly and cut off my right arm, I would be in danger now too!"

Her words changed everyone’s expression. They unconsciously took several steps back, moving away from those lying on the ground, their eyes filled with fear. They all knew Lingdan’s abilities. If even Lingdan was helpless, it showed just how vicious this was.

After his initial shock, Alex forced himself to calm down. He took a deep breath and asked, "There’s no solution?"

"I need time." Lingdan turned to look at her right arm several meters away, frowning slightly as she said uncertainly, "Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks. I don’t know either."

"What we lack most right now is time!" A terrifying gleam flashed in Nick Fury’s single eye as he growled through gritted teeth, "If I find out who did this, I will never let him go!"

"You don’t need to investigate. I’ve come out myself!" As soon as Nick finished speaking, a hunched old woman slowly emerged from the street corner, followed by three others. One of them was Angel. Although his appearance had changed somewhat, Alex recognized him at a glance.

Not only had Angel’s appearance changed, but his entire body had turned black. In particular, his pair of white wings had become metallic wings that gleamed with a cold luster, making him look extremely menacing.

From Angel’s sinister gaze, filled with deep coldness, Alex could tell that Angel had lost his original will. In simple terms, Angel had been controlled!

His gaze swept past Angel before fixing on the old woman at the front. Alex narrowed his eyes slightly and demanded, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"You’ll know soon enough!"

A strange smile suddenly appeared on the old woman’s wrinkled face. Before Alex and the others could react, a cloud of pitch-black mist suddenly burst from her body and rushed toward them with lightning speed.

With the lesson right before him, Alex did not dare let the black vapor touch him. He used energy to isolate himself and the others while activating Teleportation, intending to leave first.

Just then, Lingdan suddenly shouted, "Take a sample back!"

Alex’s thoughts stirred. Energy wrapped around a clump of black vapor, and then he took everyone and vanished in an instant.

"Hm? They ran?" The old woman was briefly stunned and somewhat disappointed when she realized Alex and the others had escaped. But she soon added indifferently, "You can run for now, but not forever. One day, you will fall into my hands!"

The expected battle never came. One of the middle-aged men behind the old woman looked furious. After grumbling a few complaints, he waved his hand and threw out a fist-sized fireball, which flashed into a distant skyscraper.

With a thunderous boom, like an explosion, the intact skyscraper collapsed amid smoke and dust, turning into a pile of rubble.

"War, you’d better restrain yourself!" The old woman’s face darkened at the sight. She turned to the middle-aged man, her gaze sharp.

The middle-aged man known as War flinched in fright, but quickly recovered and forced himself to confront the old woman. "Plague, my affairs are none of your business!" As soon as he finished speaking, his entire body suddenly went limp, and his forcibly composed face instantly became panicked.

"This is a lesson. There won’t be a next time!" The old woman—Plague—glanced at War, who had collapsed to the ground in agony. With a cold snort, she turned and left. "Famine, Death, let’s go!"

The remaining two exchanged a glance. They did not dare hesitate in the slightest and silently followed after her, deep fear in their eyes. War struggled on the ground for a while before finally getting to his feet and quickly chasing after the departing Plague, his face full of pleading.

Meanwhile, Alex brought Nick and the others back to Alex City. Unlike the outside world, which had already descended into chaos, Alex City, far removed from the mundane world, remained peaceful and tranquil.

"What happened?" Seeing Alex and his group enter with grim expressions, Emma hurriedly came forward, her face full of confusion. These past days, Emma had been completely occupied with Alex City’s affairs and had paid no attention to news from the outside world, much less something that had just happened.

Alex briefly explained what had happened, then furrowed his brow and began considering the mastermind behind it all. From their encounter with Plague and the other three just now, although he had been unable to use telepathy to learn their origins or purpose, Alex was certain of one thing: they were not the true culprits. There had to be someone behind them.

Emma had never expected that in the blink of an eye, the entire world would be turned upside down. For a moment, she could not process it at all. After standing there blankly for a long while, she finally asked instinctively, "What do we do now?"

The previous chapter title was wrong. I only noticed after posting it. Sorry—it should have been "The Cataclysm Has Arrived"!

Also, happy Singles’ Day, everyone! I’m single, and proud of it!