The building is collapsing.
Within the Quantico Military Base, as streams of black light pierced through one side of the buildings and emerged from the other, the constructions started to fall apart.
The crowd is screaming.
Amidst the chaos at the military base, especially in the family area, countless men and women were screaming in panic as they were evacuated.
The sky is crying too.
Within the military base, flames soaring into the sky made the skies above the base glow a fiery red.
The earth is trembling as well.
As the collapsing structures thundered onto the ground, the massive impact cracked the earth.
Since Hawk entered, only half an hour had passed, making this military base nestled within the Federation's heartland look more like a battlefield than Afghanistan.
Armored vehicles costing millions lay askew on the ground, burning and turning to scrap metal.
Tanks costing tens of millions had their barrels crushed, similarly engulfed in flames and remained stuck in place.
Even fighter jets costing hundreds of millions of US Dollars...
Ugh.
The base no longer has fighter jets because every single one ended up like the armored cars and tanks, exploding into heaps of scrap metal.
Obviously!
When violence begins to speak, money will fade into insignificance.
"Ah, God!"
"Shoot, shoot..."
"Boom!"
Hawk expressionlessly swatted away a terrified soldier who was screaming and shooting at him, glancing down at the white marks the bullets left on his body. Then he looked up at the other soldiers before him.
To be precise, they were the soldiers who abandoned their weapons and turned around to flee.
Hawk glanced at them, feeling the bullets hitting his back, and vanished from his spot as he turned.
"Ah!"
"Noisy!"
Hawk opened his right hand and crushed a soldier's head, indifferent to the blood splattering on him, as he watched yet another batch of soldiers discard their weapons and choose to flee.
He chose not to chase them.
Though Hawk was rampaging at that moment, within that half hour, the base's economic loss had conservatively exceeded billions of US Dollars.
However...
Hawk could vouch on his conscience that, until now, he remained true to his principles.
He only killed those who tried to kill him.
After half an hour, the soldiers at the base clearly understood this, so when it was their turn after the armored cars caught fire, tanks exploded, and fighter jets were downed, apart from a few soldiers shooting at Hawk in confusion, most held their guns without even unlocking their safeties.
Thus, when these soldiers saw Hawk appear before them, they took the chance to drop their weapons, scream, and turn to flee.
In one sentence.
Surrender and you're spared.
The fact proved it as Hawk didn't trouble the soldiers who dropped their weapons and ran away.
He didn't want to increase his killings either.
That was good.
Everyone understood without speaking.
After all, Hawk came to Quantico Military Base for only three things.
Thaddeus Ross.
Abomination.
And...
Show off his might.
Right now?
After Hawk killed over a dozen soldiers who fired at him, the gunfire in the military base completely ceased, and all visible perspectives were of soldiers fleeing in all directions after discarding their weapons.
Clearly.
Enough showing off, now only two tasks remain.
Hawk thought to himself as he tore off the soldier's uniform he was holding, using it to wipe the blood off his face, then expressionlessly walked toward the military base's command center, leisurely like strolling amidst the continuously burning flames and the abandoned base.
At this moment, few buildings within the base were intact.
Only the command center building remained untouched.
There's even a fighter jet heading towards the command center building that was about to crash down, only to be kicked aside by Hawk.
This wasn't because Hawk was kind-hearted.
But...
Everyone who's eaten knows, the main course of the meal is served last.
But the people inside the command center weren't foolish. After seeing Hawk kick aside the fighter jet, they knew that Hawk intended on finishing them off last.
They didn't sit and wait for death.
These people tried to escape.
Unfortunately, they couldn't.
With his heightened senses, Hawk didn't leave any opportunities for the command center's important figures to escape. The fallen armored cars and tanks within fifty meters of the command center were examples.
Even so, the command center wasn't an island.
Quite the opposite.
In front of the command center stood dozens of soldiers forming a human wall, holding the All Beings Equalizing Device aimed at Hawk.
"Tap!"
"Tap!"
In this chaotic yet silent military base, Hawk slowly approached them, wiping the blood off his face, his footsteps were clearly heard as each step left a bloody footprint behind.
The footprints grew closer until the footsteps ceased.
Standing before the military command center building, Hawk cleaned the blood from his arm and casually discarded the blood-stained clothing, stepping with his right foot onto the star-spangled emblem on the uniform.
The sound of the uniform hitting the ground caused the soldiers guarding the entrance to shudder internally.
Seeing Hawk stepping on the star-spangled emblem further caused the soldiers' resolve to crumble.
They held the All Beings Equalizing Device aimed at Hawk, who was standing in front of them with his hands casually in his pockets, his formidable physique exposed.
Yet, they dared not fire, even as the earpieces carried the furious screams of the bigwigs behind them.
They're not stupid.
If they hadn't been slow runners ordered by these bigwigs to protect them, they would have fled alongside the other soldiers.
After all, they didn't fire, and standing at the door, they knew clearly that as long as they dropped their guns, Hawk wouldn't trouble them.
So...
Fire?
Crazy, risking life for a few bucks a month.
They're capitalist soldiers, not soldiers of faith.
That's why they hadn't found an escape route yet...
At this moment.
Hawk looked at the soldiers forming a human wall, trying to stop him from entering, but with weapons conspicuously without safety flicked on, he chuckled lightly.
"Ha!"
"Clatter!"
"Ah!"
"God!"
"Help!"
As if rehearsed, the moment Hawk chuckled, the soldiers forming the human wall dropped their weapons in unison, screaming, shouting, fleeing quickly in front of Hawk.
A gentle breeze blew through.
The command center door of the base was already open.
The bigwigs in the command center were utterly dumbfounded by the scene.
Hawk laughed.
Laughed joyously, unreservedly.
"Hahaha!"
"..."
The bigwigs inside watched the screen, seeing Hawk just standing downstairs, laughing amidst armored vehicle wrecks, tank wrecks, and bodies, their faces turned pale, trembling.
But it was trembling in fear.
Because at this moment, they understood one thing: their lives were no more precious than those of the soldiers outside, probably not even as valuable as the multimillion-dollar armored vehicles, multimillion-dollar tanks, and billion-dollar jets.
At least, that's how it was with Hawk.
As these bigwigs trembled in fear under Hawk's laughter, the screen showed Hawk, no longer laughing, with eyes coldly staring at the command center's monitors, as if through surveillance, making eye contact with them.
The next second.
Hawk's voice, devoid of any emotion, reached these bigwigs' ears.
"Either you hand over Thaddeus Ross."
"Or I'll come in and kill you."
"You have one minute."
"Sixty!"
"Fifty-nine!"
"..."
After speaking, Hawk didn't leave them a chance to react, he began a one-minute countdown.
Killing? So what?
He intended not only to kill but also to break them.
The most important part is convincing himself.
When the minute is up, if the inside refuses to hand over Rose, then he could convince himself these people were trying to shield Rose, and if they die, they die.
Regardless of others' perceptions, as long as he's guilt-free, that's enough.
Yes.
Gwen said to be a guilt-free person.
Hawk thought to himself.
Soon.
As he stood at the command center door, hands in pockets, expressionless, entering the final twenty seconds countdown, cries, wails, shouts, and shoves echoed from inside the building.
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
His lips drew slightly upward, revealing a mocking smile.
Hawk didn't stop his countdown, but when it reached eight, he voluntarily halted.
Not because he made a choice, but because these bigwigs already did.
"Thud!"
Formerly awe-inspiring, looking proper and capable of turning Manhattan into a battlefield to capture Hulk, Thaddeus Ross was shoved out by similarly proper-looking bigwigs.
The grizzled-haired Ross stumbled, tumbling down the steps, and with an instinctive scream, finally stopped before Hawk.
Rose struggled to get up.
That's when.
"Thud!"
"Ah!"
Hawk lifted his right foot, moving from his uniform to Ross's head, applying pressure, forcing Ross to stay down at his feet.
He bent slightly, squinting, gazing at the gray-haired man pinned under his foot.
"Thaddeus Ross!"
"Ah!"
Ross, his face now flushed red, yelled angrily, hands pushing against the ground, trying to save himself from under Hawk's foot.
Unfortunately...
It's futile!