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The Skill Tree chooses a location to descend, usually the place closest to the mission objective.
At the very least, it's the closest place to those involved in the mission.
This was Kevin's previous conclusion.
However, since the only example was the Guardians of the Galaxy, Kevin wasn't entirely sure if his guess was correct.
But looking at it now, this deduction is basically accurate; the Skill Tree does indeed place Kevin at the location closest to the mission objective's relevant parties.
This time was similar, but Kevin actively moved away from the target.
If the armed convoy Kevin saw earlier was indeed heading to Wolverine and Professor X's temporary residence, then even if Kevin rushed over now, it would probably be too late.
He might not find anything, nor would he be able to see Wolverine.
At this stage, the X-Men are almost completely wiped out, Magneto and his mutants are nowhere to be found, and Jean Grey is even dead, with her Phoenix Force having disappeared to who knows where.
To find the Phoenix Force, Kevin probably still needs to find Wolverine and Professor X.
They at least know where Jean Grey was buried, and perhaps a portion of the Phoenix Force still remains with Jean Grey's remains.
Therefore, even knowing it was a bit late to go now, Kevin had no choice but to follow the previous route to find these important figures from the X-Men world.
He ran leisurely on the way there, but on the way back, he rushed with all his might.
At a speed of one thousand kilometers per hour, Kevin only took a little over ten minutes to return to his original position and followed the tire tracks on the ground, pursuing the direction the convoy had gone.
After some time searching, Kevin quickly sensed the presence of 'water source'.
Or rather, the presence of blood.
Looking up ahead, an abandoned water tower workshop, built in the wilderness, appeared before Kevin.
Inside the workshop, Kevin saw the armed convoy he had seen on the road earlier.
Vehicles were scattered and parked in the open space within the workshop, and not far from the vehicles were several armed personnel cleaning up severed limbs and remains.
They wore black bulletproof vests and helmets, like SWAT officers.
But at this moment, they were doing what street sweepers do.
They were armed personnel from Alkali-Transigen.
Their presence here, cleaning up remains, indicated that they had already clashed with Wolverine.
Kevin was still too late, but it didn't matter; if he couldn't find Wolverine, there were still people from Alkali-Transigen.
Looking at the Alkali employees cleaning up the scene, Kevin walked up to them and asked with a smile:
"Do you need help?"
"?!"
The Alkali armed personnel never expected anyone to approach in such a situation.
Holding their firearms, they immediately raised their guns and aimed them at Kevin:
"Who are you?! Hands up!"
"You locals are really impolite. Is this how you welcome guests?"
Looking at the muzzles aimed at him, Kevin frowned slightly:
"And I don't like you pointing guns at me."
"Hands up!! Or we'll shoot!!"
The armed members of Alkali-Transigen were relatively restrained; even knowing Kevin was unusual, they didn't immediately open fire, merely pointing their guns at him.
However, if they didn't shoot, Kevin had no reason to trouble them.
So, under the muzzles of several guns, Kevin took a small step forward, his smile unchanged:
"Go ahead and shoot if you dare?"
Da da da—!
As soon as Kevin finished speaking, an Alkali-Transigen employee closer to him pulled the trigger.
Bullets flew out of the muzzle with flames, hitting Kevin's body.
But Kevin remained motionless.
Even a Level 4 physique had already allowed Kevin to ignore the threat of bullets.
Now, with the Fighter's Body upgraded to Level 5, he could almost immune to most physical attacks in this world; mere bullets probably couldn't even pierce Kevin's eyelids now.
Under the terrified gaze of the Alkali employees, the bullet casings that had struck Kevin fell to the ground, and the smile on Kevin's face grew brighter:
"You started it, so now if I retaliate a little, you shouldn't have any objections, right?"
"It's a mutant... a mutant! Fi—!"
Bang!
Someone shouted loudly, wanting everyone to attack Kevin together.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, his head exploded like a bursting watermelon.
Blood splattered, and the headless body crashed to the ground.
The bloody scene silenced everyone, including Kevin, who had caused it.
He actually just wanted to try if he could do what Neuman did: make the enemy's head explode from a distance.
He had never experimented before, and now that he was in a place where he could freely experiment with abilities, Kevin naturally wanted to try.
But he didn't expect the actual operation to be so bloody; what he saw through a screen and what he saw in Reality were indeed very different.
Future operations should be more precise.
Kevin thought.
Controlling the blood in their heads and scrambling their brains should be enough; there's no need to actually blow up their heads, that's too disgusting, and it doesn't seem like something a righteous person would do.
Besides, Neuman chose to blow up people's heads because her control over blood wasn't that precise; Kevin was different from her, so there was no reason for him to become a 'head-exploding man'.
Selectively ignoring the unpleasant bloody scene, Kevin continued to walk forward, smiling at the Alkali employees:
"Sorry, there was a slight accident just now. I promise the scene won't be so bloody next time, so... shall we continue?"
Kevin's smile was very kind and sunny.
But this sunny smile, in the eyes of the people opposite, was like that of a demon.
Terrifying.
...
Minutes before Kevin arrived here, inside the water tower workshop.
A trench-coated man with a mechanical right arm was 'interrogating' another mutant who had lived with Wolverine Logan for a long time.
Caliban.
This was an albino mutant who feared sunlight, and his ability was to sense and track other mutants; he had once worked for Alkali-Transigen.
Until later, for unknown reasons, he left the company and joined Wolverine Logan and Professor X.
But none of that mattered.
Donald Pierce pulled up a chair and sat in front of Caliban.
His mechanical right arm rested on the back of the chair as he looked at Caliban, who was completely wrapped in a cloak to avoid sunburn.
"...I won't say anything superfluous. Since you once worked for us, then now, do us a small favor again, and use your ability to help us find the little girl who escaped."
Donald got straight to the point.
The escaped girl, X23, was one of Alkali-Transigen's more successful products.
They originally intended to train X23 as a weapon, but who knew there would be a traitor within the company, a nurse who treated these test subjects as her own children, and she let them escape.
As a result, Alkali-Transigen is now searching everywhere for people.
Before this, Alkali-Transigen's search for people required a lot of intelligence and a bit of luck.
But now with Caliban, they didn't have to go through so much trouble to find people.
Caliban's cloak was removed, and he looked up, staring at Donald, and replied decisively:
"I won't help you."
"Hmm, I pretty much guessed you'd say that, but I think people's nature doesn't change."
Donald turned his head and looked at the sunshade cloth above.
He fiddled with a dagger as he spoke:
"You're afraid of sunlight, aren't you? Just like the legendary vampires. I imagine when you were little, your mother must have told you 'be careful of the light' many times."
Caliban's eyes showed terror as he looked at Donald.
He seemed to realize what Donald was about to do.
Indeed, Donald turned and smiled faintly at Caliban:
"Be careful of the light."
Having said that, Donald was about to use the dagger to cut the rope connecting to the sunshade cloth above his head.
But just then—
Da da da—!
The gunshots from outside interrupted Donald's actions and also allowed Caliban's heart, which had been in his throat, to slightly relax.
Donald frowned and looked at the two security guards behind Caliban, saying:
"Go see what's happening outside."
"Okay..."
The security guards were about to answer, but then the screams from outside interrupted their conversation again.
"Ahhhhhh—!!"
"It's a mutant! At least Level 4—Ah ah!!"
The screams from outside continued incessantly. Donald felt something was wrong. He subconsciously picked up his pistol and, along with the two security guards remaining by his side, aimed their guns outside.
As the screams and gunshots outside gradually faded into silence, they became extremely tense and vigilant, staring intently at the direction of the door.
Bang!!
The tightly shut warehouse door was violently kicked open.
In the afternoon sunlight, a figure wearing a sun hat, with his back to the sun, walked in from outside.
He was the only one who entered; there was no one else besides him. Even the security personnel Donald had arranged outside were nowhere to be seen.
And this meant that all the personnel left outside were wiped out.
No one survived.
"Actually, I just wanted to be polite."
The person who entered the warehouse suddenly spoke:
"I just wanted to ask for directions, but you locals are really too impolite; you actually shot at me, so I had no choice but to act in self-defense."
That's what the mutant who entered the warehouse said.
And as he spoke, he finally stepped out of the shadows and came before Donald.
This was a mutant Donald didn't recognize. In that instant, Donald recalled all the threatening mutants on the company's list.
But whether it was the X-Men or Magneto's Brotherhood, he couldn't find a mutant matching this person's appearance.
Yet, without a doubt, his ability to walk in here completely unharmed, without even a drop of blood on him, proved that he was a Level 4 mutant similar to Magneto.
At the very least, he was a Level 3 mutant with a special ability specifically targeting humans.
"You... who are you?"
The composure Donald had displayed in front of Caliban was gone. Donald's mechanical right arm gripped his pistol tightly, staring at the newcomer with extreme tension.
The handsome man wearing a baseball cap gave Donald a very kind smile and said:
"Who I am isn't important. What's important is... those people outside, are they your subordinates?"
"Yes..."
"Good, goodbye."
The man in the baseball cap had no intention of chatting further with Donald.
After learning that Donald was the leader here, he gently raised his hand and waved it at Donald.
This action made Donald and the remaining two security members all become alert; they even wanted to pull the trigger immediately.
But then they found that their fingers no longer obeyed them, their vision blurred, and their bodies slumped to the ground without any warning.
Blood flowed from their nostrils, ears, and eyes, and their bodies on the ground convulsed non-stop, losing all signs of life shortly after.
Donald died without ever understanding what that man in the baseball cap had done to him.
Nor what kind of ability he possessed.
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