True Power

"Burn this place down? You really are vicious."

Wolverine froze for a moment, then sneered. "Even if you burn this place down, it won’t matter. Everything here has already been livestreamed. All of America knows about your crimes."

"Livestreamed?"

Sand Dust Angel was stunned. Then she said, "That has nothing to do with me. My orders are to burn this place down—and kill you."

With that, Sand Dust Angel grabbed a hammer beside her and swung it hard at Wolverine. Wolverine sidestepped the hammer and slashed through its wooden handle with a backhanded claw.

Sand Dust Angel pitched forward from using too much force, and Wolverine seized the chance to drive his claws viciously into her abdomen.

Sand Dust Angel screamed, but she did not give up. She rammed her head fiercely into Wolverine’s, producing a heavy clang.

The next second, Sand Dust Angel fell backward with her eyes open, completely unconscious.

"Adamantium skull. Ever heard of it?"

Wolverine snorted, stepped forward, and finished her with a slash. Then he turned toward the battlefield and found the Security Team, the patients, and the guards locked in a chaotic melee.

The patients attacked not only the guards, but also the Security Team. To protect themselves, the Security Team could only fight back, making the situation increasingly chaotic.

Vomiting Boy shouted at Logan, "Logan, can we kill these patients?"

"Kill them. They’ve already become Evil Believers. Evil Believers have no human rights."

Wolverine shouted as he severed a patient’s neck. Seeing this, the Security Team immediately went all out against the patients.

"We surrender."

Seeing Sand Dust Angel dead, the mutant slaves hurriedly shouted, "We’re not bad people. We were forced to do this."

Wolverine shouted, "Go wait obediently over there. Don’t try to run. We work for Iron Man. Once the battle is over, he’ll help remove your collars."

"You work for Iron Man? Great, we’re saved."

The mutant slaves cried out in wild delight. Wolverine was speechless. It seemed he had underestimated the BOSS’s reputation. He said, "That’s right, you’re saved—but only if you stay put."

"No problem."

The mutant slaves did not dare delay and hurried to the side, where they stood obediently.

Wolverine was quite satisfied with this. He rejoined the battle, his eyes filled with killing intent. These bastards all deserved to die.

Let us turn back to Brigadier General Lance. After absorbing the Black Qi, black light flashed in his eyes. Wade, Treece, and cameraman Keli all felt as if someone had gripped their hearts, preventing them from beating.

Treece and Keli clutched their chests in agony and collapsed. Wade could barely hold on. He raised his hand, preparing to knock Brigadier General Lance unconscious.

Brigadier General Lance rolled aside to dodge Wade’s attack, then picked up a gun from the ground and fired at Wade several times.

Wade wanted to use Teleportation, but his heart was squeezed hard. He could not help stopping in place and screaming. Then bullets whizzed into his chest, bursting several sprays of blood.

Fortunately, Wade possessed regenerative abilities on the same level as Wolverine’s, so these gunshot wounds were nothing—though while he could regenerate, he could not negate the effects of having his heart squeezed, such as excruciating pain and dizziness.

"Damn it."

Wade cursed, red light flaring in his eyes as he prepared to severely wound Brigadier General Lance. At that moment, his heart was struck by agonizing pain again, and the red light in his eyes quickly vanished.

"Monster."

Seeing that Wade was completely fine after being shot, Brigadier General Lance cursed. He controlled Wade’s heart to keep him in agony while fleeing outside.

Brigadier General Lance had barely escaped the office when he sensed something. He abruptly turned around and saw, to his utter horror, Wade digging his own heart out.

"Go on, squeeze it again if you’ve got the guts."

Red light shone in Wade’s eyes as he spoke with a savage expression. Brigadier General Lance cursed and prepared to crush his own heart. At that moment, an electric current spread across the ground to his feet. His whole body convulsed, and he could no longer control his power.

"You want to die? Did you ask me?"

Wade put his heart back into his chest and prepared to step forward and knock Brigadier General Lance unconscious. At that moment, two shadowy hands suddenly seized his feet. At the same time, a pitch-black figure appeared behind Brigadier General Lance and stabbed a dagger toward his heart.

Wade was greatly alarmed. He wanted to use Teleportation to stop him, but the shadowy hands interfered with his Teleportation. He could only control the electric current first and destroy the shadowy hands.

A cold glint flashed through Shadow’s eyes. Wade absolutely could not stop him in time. Brigadier General Lance was as good as dead—Shadow was an Elite Mutant of the Hellfire Club, sent here by the Black King through special means.

Just as Brigadier General Lance was about to die, a hand reached out from the void and firmly grabbed Shadow’s arm.

Then a figure stepped out of the void and said coldly, "Your Hellfire Club really doesn’t know when to quit. You dare meddle in something like this?"

Shadow’s expression changed drastically. The newcomer was Iron Man.

Shadow did not dare contend with Iron Man at all. His body exploded with a bang, turning into countless shadows that fled in every direction.

"Come back."

Wang Bert made a grabbing motion, and the void rolled backward, pulling all the shadows back together and merging them into one.

Then Wang Bert drew a circle and sealed Shadow inside a small space. Since the Hellfire Club had come looking for death, Wang Bert would naturally oblige them.

He had lacked an excuse before. Now he had one.

"Iron Man!"

When Brigadier General Lance recovered from the electric current and saw Iron Man, he was terrified out of his wits and immediately tried to kill himself.

Wang Bert glanced coldly at Brigadier General Lance. Brigadier General Lance felt ice-cold all over and could no longer control his body at all.

Original Sin was not at all surprised by Wang Bert’s arrival. He clenched his hand, and Brigadier General Lance’s Soul Stone shattered like glass. Even Wang Bert could not stop it in time.

"Iron Man, you lost."

Original Sin burst into laughter. Wang Bert snorted coldly and took out a stack of Banknotes. The next second, the Banknotes vanished.

Then Wang Bert turned to Treece on the ground and asked, "Treece, are you all right? Can you still conduct the interview?"

Treece clutched his chest as he got up and said, "I’m fine. That almost killed me from the pain. Keli, how are you?"

"I’m fine too. Keep the livestream going."

Keli got up and aimed the camera at Wang Bert and the vacant-eyed Brigadier General Lance.

"Iron Man is here!"

Seeing Iron Man appear on camera, the audience cheered. With Iron Man here, this operation would definitely succeed!

Wang Bert waved at the camera, then said, "Treece, interview Brigadier General Lance. Ask him who the Behind-the-Scenes Manipulator is. I believe he won’t hide anything anymore."

"With Iron Man here, he definitely won’t dare hide anything."

Treece nodded, walked over, and loudly asked, "Brigadier General Lance, who is behind you?"

Brigadier General Lance answered somewhat blankly, "General Anthony is behind me. He has always been planning to eliminate mutants. He hates mutants to the bone. In fact, he also took part in Colonel Stryker’s experiments."

"I’m finished."

General Anthony gave a miserable laugh. Even with the Hellfire Club and the Doomsday Master helping him, he was still finished. Iron Man was simply too terrifying.

"Iron Man, you’re too despicable."

Original Sin cursed furiously. That bastard Iron Man had actually used Money Power to control a corpse and make it speak. Was he really supposed to be a heroic figure?

"Go."

Original Sin cursed and transferred General Anthony to God’s City. To create this envoy, he had used his source power. He could not waste it.

Originally, Original Sin’s Black Qi had been enough to create another envoy, but it had been exhausted on Wang Bert last time. In order to kill Iron Man as quickly as possible, he chose to use his source power to create the Sloth Envoy.

Simply put, the former used magical power, while the latter used the upper limit of magical power.

"General Anthony?"

Seeing General Anthony suddenly vanish, Acton was shocked. What was going on? General Anthony could use Teleportation? Could it be…

"So it really was General Anthony. I knew it—the military is rotten to the core."

Treece cursed loudly. Not only him, but the viewers did as well. If even a top military official was like this, one could imagine just how rotten the military was.

"With Iron Man protecting us, we don’t need the military at all. We strongly demand that the government disband it."

Some radicals shouted loudly. Under normal circumstances, such a slogan would have drawn endless mockery, but today, not only did no one mock them, many people loudly echoed them.

America’s military was simply too filthy and disgusting.

After hearing Brigadier General Lance’s answer, Wang Bert continued asking, "Brigadier General Lance, did Acton know about what you were doing?"

"Yes."

Brigadier General Lance replied, "He is our ally. He is a member of the Human Supremacy Organization."

"I’m finished too."

Acton dropped helplessly to his knees, his face full of despair. Iron Man’s methods were far beyond what he had imagined—he had manipulated the wording so the viewers believed Acton and General Anthony were wallowing in the mire together.

The public was furious. No matter how Acton tried to explain himself, the people would not believe him.

"I only wanted to save this country."

Acton laughed bitterly. After a moment, he took a gun from the drawer and shakily aimed it at his own head. The next second, with a bang, presidential candidate Acton died.

Acton did not commit suicide out of fear of punishment. In truth, his crimes were not that serious; at most, his reputation would be ruined. He killed himself because he had lost his political future.

For someone like Acton, being unable to fulfill his ambitions was worse than death.

Original Sin had been watching Acton all along, but he had never invited the man to join him, because Acton did not harbor much resentment. What he felt more was unwillingness and frustration.

"Without Iron Man, he might have become a good president."

Original Sin shook his head and turned his gaze toward the Hellfire Club. Then he said to the Black King, "Black King, Shadow has been captured by Iron Man. Your time of death is near. Iron Man will not let your Hellfire Club go."

The Black King, as well as Angel beside him, were both qualified to become Original Sin’s envoys.

The aristocratic Black King raised his wineglass and asked in his mind, "Are you the Doomsday Master?"

"Yes. Iron Man will definitely use this opportunity to kill you and wipe out the Hellfire Club."

Original Sin found the Black King’s attitude somewhat strange. He continued, "Your only way out is to believe in me. Black King, I have reserved a good position for you."

"You think I never considered the consequences of failure?"

The Black King said calmly, "Doomsday Master, I will not believe in you. In fact, I do not mind Iron Man coming for me at all. I’m even looking forward to it."

"Iron Man is far stronger than you."

"That’s true. Otherwise, I wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble."

The Black King shrugged and said, "Doomsday Master, I’m not as stupid as you imagine. Since I dare deal with Iron Man, I naturally have my own trump card."

"It seems everyone has underestimated you."

Original Sin sensed not even the slightest fear in him and felt somewhat disappointed. He said, "Acton is dead. If you want to deal with Iron Man, we can team up."

"Dead? Ordinary people are so fragile. That’s why I’ve never taken them seriously."

The Black King said arrogantly, "I very much want Iron Man dead. If you have a plan, I can cooperate with you, but let me make this clear first: I will not leave the club."

"His trump card cannot be moved from the club."

Original Sin understood. He said, "Fine. I will have my envoy contact you."

With that, Original Sin’s consciousness left the Black King’s body. The Black King swirled his wineglass with a disdainful look. The so-called Doomsday Master was nothing special.

Angel sensed a trace of unusual energy and asked in confusion, "Black King, what just happened?"

"The Doomsday Master came to me, seeking cooperation against Iron Man."

The Black King answered indifferently. Angel was stunned. She asked, "Black King, you agreed?"

The Black King looked at Angel and asked, "Do you have a different opinion?"

Angel said, "If Iron Man dies, who will oppose the Doomsday Master? I don’t want the world to be destroyed."

"Iron Man is nothing. You have never seen true power."

The Black King said proudly, "Whether humans or the Doomsday Master, I have never cared about them. Before true power, they are merely ants."

Angel asked curiously, "Then what is true power?"

The Black King shook his head without saying anything. Angel looked displeased. If the White Queen had asked that question, the Black King would most likely have answered.

In fact, Angel was wrong. Even if the White Queen had asked, the Black King would not have answered, because this was his greatest secret.

Hell. After withdrawing his gaze, Original Sin thought to himself, Iron Man is even wiser than I expected. The matter of God’s City may not succeed. I need to pursue two plans at once.

After some thought, Original Sin turned his gaze toward an island nation in the east. There, a dying old man was very suitable to become his envoy.

"Destroy the city where you live for me, and I will give you everything you desire."

"I want immortality. Can you give it to me?"

"Yes. I will grant you true immortality, along with power like that of a god."

"I am willing to believe in you, great Doomsday Master. I am willing to give everything for you."

"Very good. From now on, you are my envoy, Jealousy. I will grant you power. You must prepare within ten days and destroy the city where you live."

With those words, a massive amount of Black Qi poured into the body of a dying old man. The old man suddenly rose from his high-tech treatment bed, and his aged body visibly began returning to youth.

Soon, the old man completed his transformation. Feeling the surging power and endless vitality within him, he was first incredulous, then burst into laughter.

"My God, in ten days, I will destroy Tokyo for you."