Southeast of Kansas City, Whiteman Air Force Base.
A gray C-130 military transport plane landed slowly amid a deafening roar.
The hatch opened, and a soldier clad in a crisp general’s uniform stepped out.
He looked to be in his forties, his short blonde hair gleaming under the sunlight, but his blue eyes were as cold as glaciers, devoid of any warmth.
Outside the plane, a somewhat nervous Dr.
Zander stood with Davis and several other military officers.
Seeing the arrival of this “VIP,” they instinctively stood at attention.
The north wind howled, whipping up dust from the ground and bringing a chill to the men standing there.
Davis stepped beside the general and introduced him to Dr.
Zander: “Dr.
Zander, this is my commanding officer, General John Ryker.”
“General Ryker, it’s a great honor to meet you,” Dr.
Zander said, quickly stepping forward and extending his hand.
“A pleasure to meet you, Dr.
Zander,” John Ryker said with a smile as he shook Dr.
Zander’s hand, speaking warmly.
“I’ve heard much about your research.
I have always admired your intellect, and it’s an honor to meet you today.”
“You flatter me.
I am merely an obscure researcher,” Dr.
Zander replied humbly as he shook General Ryker’s hand.
After a few pleasantries, the two got straight to the point.
“Pardon my bluntness, Dr.
Zander,” General Ryker said casually.
“On my way here, I briefed myself on your previous operation.
Do you have any thoughts regarding its failure?”
“To be honest, Dr.
Zander, I was expecting you to have some good news for me by the time we met…”
Facing General Ryker’s seemingly calm yet immensely oppressive gaze, Dr.
Zander felt an unspeakable pressure.
After the Reavers were completely wiped out and his greatest asset, X-24, was captured, Dr.
Zander had lost all the forces at his disposal.
Conveniently, the military, represented by Davis, had reached out to him.
Faced with the olive branch offered by the military, the desperate Dr.
Zander had accepted their terms without much second thought.
However, after meeting the military’s operation commander in person, Dr.
This was actually not hard to understand.
From the military’s perspective, the only thing they valued was Miles’s capability, which was of strategic deterrent proportions.
Aside from that, Dr.
Zander’s own research and his mutant test subjects were nothing more than children’s toys in the military’s eyes.
Dr.
Zander understood this, yet he remained unwilling to accept it, clenching his trembling fists.
“I apologize, it was my failure…”
General Ryker simply bypassed him, looking around as if enjoying the scenery of the base and its surroundings.
“It doesn’t matter, Doctor,” General Ryker said softly.
“I know you are just a researcher.
Fighting cunning mutants is not your specialty.
So, take a good rest, Doctor.
Leave the rest to us.”
Dr.
Zander’s heart sank.
General Ryker’s words were no different from directly declaring that everything regarding “X-0” was now completely out of his hands.
At this, Dr.
Zander’s resentment flared, and he couldn’t help but speak up: “General Ryker, you must understand that X-0’s telepathic abilities allow him to manipulate both human brains and electronic machinery simultaneously!
Many modern weapons are completely useless before him!
And he is currently controlling X-24, which is a true killing machine…”
“I know,” General Ryker waved his hand to silence him, then looked at Davis.
“Davis, show Dr.
Zander your ‘power’.”
“Yes, sir,” Davis nodded, casting a faint smile at Dr.
Zander.
The next moment, to Dr.
Zander’s astonishment, Davis’s feet slowly left the ground, and he floated into midair.
With a casual wave of his hand, a golden, solar-like beam of energy shot from his palm, accurately blasting a discarded tank in the distance!
*BOOM—!!!*
In a violent explosion, the tank was blown to pieces, turning into a pile of burning scrap metal.
“This is…” Dr.
Zander muttered to himself.
“Indeed,” General Ryker said from the side.
“Davis is our artificial mutant.
He is also my adjutant and the field commander.”
“I know ‘X-0’ is unique, but we also have our own ‘special operations force’.”
As Davis slowly touched back down, three more figures stepped out of the transport plane.
One was a massive Mexican man over two and a half meters tall, his muscles bulging, with hot sparks occasionally bursting from his skin; another was a cold, venomous-looking man wearing a black tank top and sunglasses, his hands wrapped in bandages; and the last… This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
was a strange figure covered in blue fur, dragging a tail, with sharp claws on his hands, who silently appeared next to Davis after a brief spatial teleportation.
Under Dr.
Zander’s horrified gaze, Davis took a moment to savor Dr.
Zander’s expression of shock before speaking slowly.
“Dr.
Zander, the ‘Purifiers’ squad sends their regards.”
…
Kansas University Medical Center, Sterile Operating Room B021.
Old Charles lay quietly on the operating table, his chest cavity open, revealing mangled flesh and tissue.
Accompanied by the faint humming of the running medical equipment, several silvery-white robotic surgical arms were weaving and operating through the complex tissues around his heart.
A laser scalpel precisely severed millimeter-scale blood vessels, micro-forceps picked up tiny nerves, followed by ultrasonic hemostasis and suturing…
The movements were slightly unpracticed, yet incredibly precise.
Miles sat in the wheelchair in the corner, his eyes tightly shut, fine beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
His brain was currently bearing an unimaginable load.
Decades of clinical cases, surgical charts, and pharmacological data accumulated within the Kansas University Medical Center’s servers were flooding into his consciousness like a torrential river.
He devoured, absorbed, and processed them frantically, instantly translating them into a series of precise commands sent straight to the robotic arms at the operating table.
While maintaining this highly demanding surgery, he also had to partition a small fraction of his mind to extend his psychic field across the entire building, monitoring every corner to ensure no other accidents occurred.
Logan and Laura sat quietly in a corner of the operating room, their faces filled with anxiety.
Outside the operating room door, X-24 stood motionless like the most loyal guardian, refusing to let anyone approach.
In the digital realm, Miles constantly pushed his limits, his medical expertise advancing at a speed unimaginable to ordinary mortals.
However, Charles’s condition was deteriorating even faster.
The previous chain of events had ultimately delayed the precious time needed for the emergency rescue.
The spot where X-24’s claws had pierced through was only millimeters away from Charles’s aorta, but it had still caused severe cardiac tamponade and valvular tearing.
Charles’s heart had almost entirely lost its vitality; his vital signs were like a flickering candle in the wind, liable to go out at any second.
*Beep—*
On the nearby ECG monitor, the green line representing life had virtually lost all of its waves, turning into a despairing, flat line.
A piercing alarm blared, echoing through the dead silence of the operating room.
Logan knitted his brows, staring fixedly at Miles.
He couldn’t understand the complex surgery, but he could perceive from the monitor’s piercing alarm and Miles’s increasingly pale face that the situation was becoming extremely critical.
Yet he could only watch helplessly, unable to do a thing.
He didn’t even dare to ask, terrified of disturbing Miles and causing that one-in-a-million hope to completely shatter.
Just as he was growing restless and couldn’t help but want to stand up and pace, Laura reached out beside him, quietly patted his shoulder, and said softly:
“Be still.”
Logan paused, looking at Laura in surprise.
Only then did he realize that this usually mute girl could actually speak.