Tracking Through a Blood Pact

"Hello, I'm Logan. Sorry for barging in." Logan was wearing a set of ill-fitting clothes and looked a little ill at ease.

"It's fine. It's not my house anyway."

Logan: "..." He had been quite curious about the ability Lin Xu had just used, but those words left him speechless.

"My name's Lin Xu. You can call me Lin."

"Ling? Zero?" Having lived for more than a century, Logan was fluent in languages from all over the world. When he saw Lin Xu's face, he naturally thought of that Eastern country.

Lin Xu corrected him. "It's Lin, as in the character made from two trees. Don't lump me in with weird things."

Weird? What was so weird about zero?

Just then, Old Sam and Cassia came out of the bedroom.

"Hey, kid over there. Logan, right? Go take a shower first. That sweat on you doesn't smell good."

Old Sam didn't sound very polite, but then again, nobody would be very polite if a naked man suddenly appeared in their home.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Logan nodded silently.

"Excuse me... Father?" Old Sam suddenly paused. He realized he didn't seem to know what the remarkable clergyman was called, so he could only use the customary title for his profession.

"Just call me Lin!" People had already made too much of calling him Father and the like, and Lin Xu wasn't keen on it.

Hearing their conversation, Logan, who was on his way to the bathroom, curled his lips into a smile.

A priest? He had lived for more than a hundred years and met plenty of priests, but they had all been frauds. The flash of red light he had just seen from outside the door, however, couldn't have been faked.

So this man had to be a mutant like him, only disguised as a clergyman to keep his identity hidden.

What a great idea!

"All right, Lin. It's getting dark, and Cassia and I were planning to make dinner. Is there anything you can't eat, like beef or anything?"

Old Sam hadn't asked without reason. Most clergy in the world had dietary restrictions. There were many Chinese farm owners in Canada, and he had once learned from one of them that, in their country, there was a religion whose followers didn't eat beef.

Lin Xu clicked his tongue. Although he really wanted to say those words, his current strength didn't allow it.

"Whatever you were planning is fine!" Talking about eating reminded him that he seemed to have gone a long time without a meal, starting with the dumplings he hadn't gotten to eat at Adrian's house.

Although his divine power sustained him, he still rather missed the feeling of food entering his mouth.

"All right, make yourself at home. We'll be done soon."

Before long, Lin Xu was alone in the living room. He looked around casually, and a photograph on the liquor cabinet soon caught his eye.

It was a family portrait of Old Sam, his wife, and a young man Lin Xu didn't recognize. Presumably, this was the son Old Sam had mentioned twice.

He was wearing a jacket with a badge on his chest that read, "DUKE OF KRAFT RESERVOIR."

"Duke Kraft Reservoir?"

He had never heard of it. Presumably, their son had once worked there.

After a moment's thought, Lin Xu took out his phone and began browsing. If he remembered correctly, Kamar-Taj should have a secret technique for finding people. Strange had even used it to help Thor find his father.

"Found it. Blood Pact Secret Technique, Missing Person Search. It requires blood or hair from the person you're looking for or a blood relative!"

Lin Xu began searching the sofa. This time, he didn't plan to tell the old couple in advance. It would be fine if he found their son, but better safe than sorry. After all, seven years had already passed.

Still, there was a good chance, since their son was a government employee. He had most likely gone to work on some classified project or something of the sort.

Soon, he found a long, pale golden hair on a cushion. Unless he was mistaken, it belonged to Cassia.

Following the method given by the Mystic Arts, he silently recited the incantation, infused it with divine power, gripped the hair in both hands and pulled it taut, then quickly wound it around the Sling Ring.

The hair immediately burst into flames. Crimson waves of energy surged from the void, first forming the symbol of the Three Sanctums of Kamar-Taj, then slowly expanding until a portal appeared!!

Say something now, hater Hamir!!!

I got it on the first try. You call that a lack of talent?

But before he could praise himself, Lin Xu saw what lay on the other side of the portal.

Inside a sealed room made entirely of metal, a pale-faced man hung suspended in the center, unconscious. Two people dressed in white lab coats were doing something to him.

But when the portal opened, they both turned to look! One of the lab coats quickly pressed his earpiece. "Lab Five has been breached. Suspected mutant with spatial abilities. Requesting backup!"

The other was ruthless and didn't waste words. He pulled a pistol from his waist and fired.

"Human experimentation and the like are the worst!" Especially now that he had become a superhuman himself, he hated such things even more!

Protected by his bone armor, Lin Xu watched the HK P9's vaunted nine-millimeter bullets turn to dust as soon as they came near him.

Without any fancy moves, Lin Xu attacked with energy projection. Struck by two energy beams that every Kamar-Taj sorcerer would envy, the two lab coats passed away peacefully.

Bang!

The bathroom door was pushed open.

Hearing the gunshots, Logan rushed out at once, not even wearing a shirt, six silver-white steel claws extending from between his fingers!

Old Sam, carrying a shotgun, followed close behind with Cassia.

At the same moment, they saw the portal and the one man and two corpses beyond it!

"Carrett? My son!!"

"Stryker?"

Their attention, however, was clearly on different things. Even after so many years, the old couple recognized their missing son at once, while Logan looked at the two lab coats with a thoughtful expression.

Just as the old couple tried to step through the portal, Lin Xu stopped them. The situation on the other side was unknown, and he wasn't about to let two ordinary people take the risk. It paid to be careful.

Of course, he wasn't going over himself either, so he turned his gaze to Logan.

Logan merely nodded in silence and crossed the portal in a few strides. His claws swept through the iron chains holding the man up, severing them without the slightest resistance.

It seemed Old Sam's son's ability wasn't all that important. Stryker hadn't even bothered using Adamantium.

Under the old couple's eager gazes, Logan carried the feeble Carrett back.

Lin Xu immediately closed the portal. Carrett's condition was unknown, and the old couple were emotionally distraught. It wasn't time to start a fight yet!

"Carrett, oh my God, who are they? Why did they do this to you?" Cassia gently stroked Carrett's pale face.

"Lin, please..." Without another word, Old Sam turned and started to kneel.

"Don't!" Lin Xu reached out to help him up. "Let me take a look first."

Lin Xu laid Carrett flat on the sofa and cut open his outer clothing with scissors. There was a large red patch on his neck, covered with tiny marks—the signs of long-term injections!

Long-term malnutrition had left him nothing but skin and bones, his ribs clearly visible!

But worst of all, because of how he had been held, his arms had been bound to his sides for years. His blood circulation had been poor, and both arms were already partially necrotic. On top of that, his legs had hung suspended without moving for so long that they had even begun to atrophy!

Bang!

Standing nearby, Logan grew angrier the more he looked. He kicked the coffee table!

"Stryker!"