Surging Undercurrents

Of course, not every voice in society was positive.

In the United States, that miraculous place, one could always find opposition.

Zhan Liu had killed Namor and hung his head at the entrance to the hall. This behavior had angered many members of society, especially death penalty abolitionists.

In the United States, the abolitionist movement was extremely powerful. Through their efforts, one-third of the states had abolished the death penalty.

Many of them were middle-class or above, members of the social elite. Some were even billionaires.

They supported abolishing the death penalty for various reasons. Some did so out of respect for life, some out of concern for human rights, some to gain social prestige, some for money, and some for votes. There were all kinds of motivations.

Aside from the abolitionists, many people in the legal profession also opposed Zhan Liu’s actions.

They believed that Zhan Liu had killed Namor without a trial, seriously violating the spirit of the law. Since Zhan Liu had been able to kill Namor, they believed he should have been able to capture him alive and bring him back to the federal government for trial.

After Namor had been dealt with following a federal trial, it would not only have demonstrated the dignity of the law but also served as a warning to those supervillains.

Zhan Liu’s actions were fundamentally no different from those of the supervillains. It was still illegal killing, and he should be brought before a court for questioning.

Yet this same group of legal professionals also claimed that they were willing to provide Zhan Liu with free legal defense. Some of them even quoted various legal provisions online, proving that Zhan Liu would certainly win the case and walk safely out of court.

Their meaning was obvious. They wanted Zhan Liu to cooperate with them and go through the legal process as a formality. Then Zhan Liu would be found not guilty and released, without having to worry about abolitionists or other opponents causing him trouble. Meanwhile, the legal professionals would gain both fame and fortune.

Heh, they were dreaming!

A normal person would certainly have been happy to cooperate with them and go through a trial. Perhaps they could even exploit the opportunity for publicity, appearing on interview shows, talk shows, and other television programs, packaging themselves as a social celebrity and profiting from it.

But the question was, Zhan Liu did not even pay attention to S.H.I.E.L.D. Would he care about them?

Actually, it was rather strange. Normally, this kind of public opinion should have been brought under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s control long ago. Yet for some reason, S.H.I.E.L.D. had not interfered this time, simply watching the unfavorable opinions against Zhan Liu fester.

Zhan Liu did not know what was behind it, nor did he care.

The War God’s method of solving problems had always been just one: beat the hell out of them.

He was busy teaching a new batch of disciples. With Peter’s help, things had originally been a little easier.

But Peter had started school. With the new semester, he had plenty of classes. On top of that, he was now a campus celebrity and was extremely busy. He simply had no free time and could only return to the martial arts school at night.

So Zhan Liu had no choice but to personally teach the classes again, while once more cursing that unreliable senior disciple in his heart.

Fortunately, this batch of disciples was considerably better than the previous one, especially since many of them were elites sent by various factions.

Moreover, the military and other organizations had already completed their candidates’ intensive Chinese training. They had sent over a batch of people, who joined this group in becoming disciples.

Zhan Liu could not be bothered to distinguish their motives. He treated everyone equally. They could first pass the second stage over these three months, and then he would see whether they could reach the third stage, Magnetic Field Rotation.

Only those who achieved Magnetic Field Rotation would be considered official disciples recognized by Zhan Liu—the carefully nurtured seedlings, the seeds of the War God.

Zhan Liu had explained clearly from the moment they entered the school what the three levels of named disciples, entry-level disciples, and official disciples meant. How many of them could reach those levels would depend on themselves.

Zhan Liu taught the disciples during the day and gave Peter extra lessons at night. Life had been fairly comfortable, but some people simply could not stand seeing him at ease.

That day, he was answering the disciples’ questions when someone suddenly knocked on the door. A disciple near the entrance went to open it and returned with a summons.

Someone had sued him.

Zhan Liu could not be bothered to read the specific charges. He simply flicked his hand, burning the summons to ashes.

"Uh, Master, this is a court summons. It’s ordering you to appear in court for trial."

"To hell with the courts! They’re getting way too full of themselves, thinking they can put me on trial! Ignore it." Zhan Liu acted as though nothing had happened and continued teaching.

The disciples in the courtyard, however, began to feel uneasy. After all, to ordinary people like them, the court still carried considerable authority.

Even though many of them were elites from various organizations, they could not openly oppose the courts. They could only bypass them through various legal channels or secret privileges.

After that day’s lesson ended, some of them called their superiors, reporting the situation and asking what their organizations’ attitudes were—whether they would help or simply stand by.

In the end, everyone received the same reply: ignore it.

About a week later, a police car suddenly arrived in front of the martial arts school one day. Two police officers got out, holding arrest warrants issued by the court, and claimed that they had come to arrest Zhan Liu.

The disciples naturally did not dare resist the police, so they obediently moved aside. The two Chinese American officers swaggered into the martial arts school.

They first took out their badges and the court documents and displayed them to Zhan Liu. Then they said in Chinese:

"Mr. Zhan, we are officers from the NYPD. We are arresting you under a court order. You have the right to remain silent, but everything you say…"

Before they could finish, Zhan Liu gave a sharp shout: "Get lost!"

With a wave of his hand, Zhan Liu sent both men flying.

After leaving the building, the two immediately called for backup. Several police cars instantly rushed out from the street corner and surrounded the martial arts school. Then a group of officers charged in again with both hands on their guns.

"Don’t move! Drop your weapons and get on the ground, or we’ll open fire!"

The group shouted threats. Zhan Liu snorted coldly. "Hmph, you think I’ve been too lenient with you? How dare you act so presumptuously!"

He did not even wait for the officers to fire. He simply flicked a finger, sending out a thread of electricity. All the officers’ heads exploded with a series of bangs almost simultaneously, splattering blood across the ground.

The entire courtyard fell utterly silent. Not a single disciple even dared to breathe heavily.

Zhan Liu waved his hand again. All the corpses, bloodstains, and blood-soaked dirt were bound by gravity and rolled into a mass. Then it was compressed, compressed again, and compressed once more, until the bodies of more than a dozen people had been crushed into a sphere only about a meter in diameter.

After that, he casually flicked the sphere. It shot into the sky like a cannonball, accelerating again and again. Before long, it exceeded the first cosmic velocity and headed straight into outer space.

"Those annoying flies are gone. Let’s continue the lesson." Zhan Liu acted as though nothing had happened, while the disciples’ faces turned ashen and their legs trembled.

Only the Mutants were unafraid. Instead, the looks they gave Zhan Liu became even more fervent.