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While Kevin and Wolverine were on their spontaneous trip, the abandoned reservoir in the middle of the wilderness was already surrounded by Alkali-Transigen personnel.
They tracked Donald's life signal here, only to witness the horrific scene before them.
Bodies lay everywhere, with no survivors.
A middle-aged man in a beige trench coat was kneeling beside Donald's corpse, frowning.
A security member beside him explained:
"Mr. Pierce's death, like those outside, was caused by an unknown object crushing his brain. Our preliminary deduction... it might be a mutant ability."
"Might?"
Hearing the security member's uncertain words, Sanders Reese looked up at him.
Being stared at by his superior, the security member was somewhat nervous and immediately explained:
"Because from the traces on the headless body at the scene, his head exploded from the inside out. According to the investigation department's analysis, such damage could either be caused by an explosion due to inconsistent internal and external pressure, or... someone installed a bomb in his head.
"But no traces of gunpowder were detected at the scene, so we're making a preliminary judgment that this injury was either caused by someone using strong pressure to detonate it, or someone moved an unknown bomb into his head..."
"But no matter which one, it proves this was done by a mutant."
"So, a mutant not on our records has appeared, killed Donald, and rescued 23, is that right?"
Sanders stood up and asked.
The security personnel nodded:
"At present, this is the only possibility."
"Are you sure there are no similar abilities among our test subjects?"
"...Sir, you are in charge of the experiments. You should know very well that we don't have such dangerous mutants. Even if we did..."
The security personnel's words trailed off.
The 'Weapon Project' researched by Alkali-Transigen strictly controlled the mutant abilities of these 'weapons' to ensure their absolute controllability.
Dangerous abilities like this, which could make a person's head explode without warning, would never appear on the project list, and they also didn't have mutant genes with similar abilities.
"Can mutants with such abilities still appear at this stage?"
Sanders muttered to himself.
He was the research director of Alkali-Transigen, and both the gene-weakening food for mutants and the mutant weapon manufacturing project were executed by him.
The fact that no new mutants had been born in this world for 25 years was all his 'credit'.
Because of this, Sanders was very confident that there should no longer be any powerful mutants in this world.
Even the X-Men, before their accidental deaths, had their abilities weakened to a certain extent.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for them all to perish due to Professor X's illness.
At least a few of them, like Quicksilver, could have escaped if they wanted to.
This world was clearly so peaceful, yet now an unknown, powerful mutant had emerged, so it was no wonder Sanders felt strange.
After all, this world no longer had the environment for such powerful mutants to exist.
"X24 doesn't seem to be a match for this mutant."
Sanders continued, but he wasn't speaking to the security personnel beside him, but still to himself.
X24, a clone created from Wolverine's genes, had the same appearance and abilities as Wolverine, but was much weaker than Wolverine in his prime.
Although he also had healing abilities and Adamantium in his body, if he were to face Wolverine in his complete form, X24 would surely lose.
Originally, with all mutants already weakened by gene-altering food, X24 was a formidable opponent for any mutant, and the aging Wolverine would not be a match for X24.
But the new mutant who had just appeared seemed to perfectly counter X24's abilities.
The ability to directly destroy the human brain through the body was extremely dangerous and undefendable for any carbon-based life form.
Even if X24's self-healing ability was close to Wolverine's, brain destruction basically meant he couldn't survive.
And even if survival could be guaranteed, it would be meaningless. The mutant who destroyed the brain could destroy it once, and then a second, third, or countless times.
If that mutant couldn't be found and his abilities analyzed, then no matter who faced him, the final outcome would be only one.
That was death.
Sanders thought a lot and also developed a strong interest in the new mutant.
The ability to develop such powerful capabilities in this environment proved that his X-gene was probably more abundant than any other mutant's.
His abilities were also stronger than other mutants.
Level four was definitely not his limit; perhaps he was an Omega-level mutant, only existing in theory.
Compared to the newly appeared mutant, he was no longer very interested in X23 and the other test subjects.
"Find a way to track them, but once you find them, don't disturb them. Do nothing until I figure out how to deal with that mutant."
Finally, Sanders ordered.
The enemy's ability was so powerful and undefendable; it would be foolish to send people to cause trouble without any preparation.
...
While Alkali-Transigen was fretting over the bodies, Kevin and Caliban were leisurely sitting in the car watching the sunset.
They had stopped the car and were staying at a farmer's house.
Here's what happened.
As they were driving to the next town, an unmanned truck automatically changed lanes on the road, almost causing an accident.
During this, another family's car also veered off course and crashed into a dirt road nearby.
The horses they were transporting in the back also escaped from their cages and ran wildly on the road.
Wolverine initially didn't want to help, but Charles had a different opinion, so Wolverine and the others had no choice but to help the farmer retrieve his horses.
Because of their help, unnecessary losses were avoided, and the farmer's family was very grateful, so they warmly invited Kevin and his group to rest at their home.
And so, it became the current situation.
Wolverine, Charles, and Laura were inside helping the farmer prepare dinner, while Kevin and Caliban, to avoid making it too crowded inside, chose to stay in the car and watch the sunset, waiting for dinner time.
In the evening, the dim yellow sunlight gradually fell from the sky. Caliban sat in the passenger seat, watching the setting sun, and softly said:
"This feeling now is quite good."
"What do you mean?"
Kevin lay on the car roof, hearing Caliban's words, and asked curiously.
Caliban said:
"I'm talking about this relaxed feeling. You know, after all this time, it's the first time I've felt how good it is to be alive."
Only after experiencing death can one understand the preciousness of life.
Caliban, who was almost used as a human detector by Alkali-Transigen, and then almost treated like a Sanguine and forced into sunlight, felt this way at that moment.
"This feels good already?"
Kevin, with his feet propped up, shifted his gaze to a certain spot outside the farm and asked Caliban with a light chuckle, "Then do you want to feel even better?"
Caliban: "?"
Caliban, who had just spoken casually, heard Kevin say this and immediately had a bad premonition. He quickly said:
"...Actually, what I wanted to say is that a peaceful and stable life like this is what I want; I have no other thoughts."
"It doesn't matter if you have other thoughts or not; what matters is that I have an idea now."
Kevin jumped off the car, and disregarding Caliban's protests, pulled him out of the car and pointed in a certain direction:
"Over there... that location, can you sense the presence of a mutant?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? How could that location possibly..."
Caliban was about to answer, but he immediately froze in the car, looking at Kevin with a somewhat dazed expression.
Seeing his appearance, Kevin understood what was going on. He smiled at Caliban:
"There's a mutant, right?"
"This... impossible. No, how did you know there was a mutant over there?"
"I guessed."
"Guessed?!"
"Yes, I just saw some... interesting things, and I thought maybe there might be a mutant, and I didn't expect to be right."
Kevin's gaze turned to the distance.
Just now, he saw a small surveillance drone flying in the sky.
At this time, who was using a small surveillance drone to observe this place probably didn't need to be said.
Alkali-Transigen actually didn't immediately rush over to cause trouble with a large group of people after finding Wolverine, unlike in the movie. Instead, they chose to observe from a distance, and from a position absolutely invisible to the naked eye of ordinary people.
Even if Kevin's five senses hadn't significantly improved due to his physical upgrades, he wouldn't have noticed the tiny black dot in the sky.
It was already dusk, and night would soon fall. The eastern sky was already showing starlight. Against such a background, who would notice a tiny black dot rising into the sky?
But unfortunately, Kevin wasn't a pure mutant, and he had more than one ability.
However, Alkali-Transigen's approach did make Kevin think a bit more highly of them.
Not immediately rushing up to their deaths was indeed commendable.
But unfortunately, Kevin wasn't the kind of person to let threats go unchecked. Since they dared to spy on him, they had to be prepared for Kevin to come knocking.
"...You... you're going to find that mutant?"
Caliban didn't know what was going on. From his perspective, Kevin suddenly said he wanted to find some 'better feeling,' and then brought up the mutant issue.
Caliban didn't even know if that mutant was friend or foe, but he could roughly guess that Kevin wanted to find the mutant in the distance.
"Of course," Kevin smiled in response, "And if I'm not mistaken, that guy should be our enemy, so... want to come with me and have some fun?"
"Enemy... are you talking about the Alkali-Transigen people? No, we have to tell Wolverine about this..."
When he realized it was Alkali personnel, Caliban immediately turned to notify Wolverine and Charles, who were at the farmer's house.
But he was pulled back by Kevin as soon as he turned around:
"Professor and Wolverine finally get to enjoy this rare warmth; don't disturb them."
"?"
Caliban wore windproof sunglasses and a mask, so his expression couldn't be seen, but his actions were very clear, showing confusion through his body language.
Alright, alright, so you're letting them enjoy warmth while I go on an adventure with you, huh?
If Caliban dared to complain, he would definitely say that to Kevin.
Kevin also knew that asking Caliban to come with him was a bit too much, so he offered a very constructive suggestion:
"And don't you want revenge? Personally get revenge on the Alkali-Transigen who once oppressed you? Don't worry, with me here, I guarantee you'll be fine."
Kevin said cheerfully.
Dealing with Alkali-Transigen was like a small after-dinner game for Kevin.
No, he hadn't had dinner yet, so it could be called a pre-dinner exercise game.
And what danger could there be in just a small game?
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