Heading to Afghanistan

The next day, dark clouds blanketed the sky, and a light rain covered all of New York.

In a high-end cemetery in the Bronx, Old Carlson leaned on his cane and looked at his son's gravestone. The desolation of a white-haired man burying a black-haired one welled up inside him, and even tears slipped from that vicious face despite himself.

"Let's go. There are more important things to do today."

Old Carlson wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, then turned and walked out of the cemetery under the escort of his underlings.

Not far from them, in front of another gravestone, George was also casting a spell.

"Black Mamba Emerge!"

As the spell took shape, a gray black mamba appeared before his eyes, then swiftly burrowed into the grass and slithered toward Old Carlson.

About a minute later, George heard Old Carlson's scream and the panicked cries of his underlings.

The nearest hospital to this cemetery was still thirty minutes away. With Old Carlson's body, after being bitten by a black mamba, he would not last fifteen minutes.

Once Old Carlson died, the Carlson family would inevitably fall into chaos. The higher-ups would naturally make their moves to fight for the boss's position, and when the time came, he could fish in troubled waters and eliminate most of them.

Even if he used a sniper rifle, no one else would suspect him anymore. They would only think those higher-ups had hired people to attack one another.

Three days later, at night, on the rooftop.

"The Carlson family has been fighting among themselves these past few days, and their strength has already taken a huge hit. I plan to make my move tomorrow and swallow all their territory."

Leon looked at George and spoke in a respectful tone.

The fact that George had dismantled more than half of the Carlson family, one of the Thirteen families, in just a few days had truly shocked him deep down.

The ones who had been shot dead later were one thing, but the accidental deaths of the Carlson father and son at the start had genuinely frightened him.

Because even though he knew George had done it, he could not see the slightest trace of human involvement. Everyone believed the Carlsons had simply been too unlucky—one had accidentally fallen to his death, and the other had accidentally been bitten by a snake and poisoned to death.

Sometimes he wondered, if George wanted to kill him, would he also end up like the Carlson father and son, dying in some accident without ever realizing it?

It was simply too terrifying, like Satan had come to take your soul; no matter how you resisted, there was no avoiding it.

So the awe he felt toward George grew even deeper.

"When the time comes, where should I transfer the money to you?"

"No need to transfer it to me. Keep it in your account. When I need it, I'll take it from you."

George nodded and replied.

He did not have an account, so he could not receive a transfer. If it was transferred into Wolverine or Gabriella's account, it would be easy to expose his identity.

It would be better to leave it with Leon. Usually, when he needed to use some, he could withdraw cash; when he needed a large sum, he could simply have Leon come forward and pay.

After this series of events, he believed Leon would not dare get any ideas about his money.

"Right, after you swallow Carlson's territory, liquidate as much as possible into working capital. If necessary, mortgage everything that can be mortgaged to the bank for loans. Then wait for my call."

"Huh?"

Hearing George's words, Leon froze, clearly still not understanding what was going on.

George did not explain too much, only saying:

"If you trust me, then do as I say, and you can make a fortune. If you don't trust me, I won't force you. Just use my entire share to buy Stark Industries stock."

There was no need to tell Leon about going to save Tony Stark. Saying too much would only make things worse.

In the end, as long as they made money, Leon would naturally trust him more and more.

"I trust you. I absolutely trust you!"

Leon immediately thumped his chest and replied.

This was not because he was saying something against his will out of fear of George, but because he truly believed in all the mysterious abilities George had displayed.

He felt that perhaps George had the ability to predict the future and knew Stark Industries stock might soar, which was why he was telling him to hurry and buy it.

If that was really the case, then he was truly going to make a killing—possibly even far more than he would earn from annexing the Carlson family.

Although they were one of the Thirteen families in the Bronx and looked impressive in this area, in reality, compared to a world-class giant like Stark Industries, they were nothing but an ant beside an elephant.

After all, the Bronx was only the poorest and most chaotic district in New York, while Stark Industries was the richest corporation on Earth.

One day later, the newly risen Leon family of the Bronx mobilized in full force, sweeping through the Carlson family, whose strength had hit rock bottom because of internal strife. They swallowed eighty percent of the Carlson family's territory, leaving only twenty percent for the last surviving higher-up of the Carlson family.

Two days later, Leon frantically raised funds, even mortgaging his extended Lincoln to the bank, fully demonstrating his determination and his trust in George.

Three days later, the playground of Mutant School slowly opened, and an invisible fighter jet slowly took off, flying toward Bagram Province in Afghanistan.

There was no Wolverine aboard the X-Jet, only George and Isabelle, who was piloting the plane.

Originally, George had planned to have Leon send people to take him to Afghanistan, but when he returned to the school and discussed it with Professor X and the others, Isabelle said she could already pilot the X-Jet very smoothly.

Professor X had given Isabelle some professional guidance when he was not suffering an episode.

Since Isabelle could pilot the X-Jet and take him to Afghanistan, that was naturally the best option. The fighter jet could fly straight to the desert, saving time and avoiding the risk of exposing his identity while transferring between vehicles.

As for why he did not bring Wolverine along to help?

The main reason was that his current strength was enough to handle those terrorists from the Ten Rings. Also, Wolverine had once been a famous figure after all, and Tony should be able to recognize him.

Even if he did not recognize him, once he went back and had Jarvis look him up, he would definitely find out.

For now, he still did not want Tony to know his identity. The more people who knew, the greater the risk of exposure. Even if the other party was Iron Man, he had to be careful.

After another two years, when he had grown stronger, Professor X and Wolverine could recover their strength, and those mutant children could skillfully use their abilities in battle, he would not have to be as cautious as he was now.

The X-Jet was extremely fast, and in just a few short hours, it had flown to the skies above the desert outside Bagram Province, Afghanistan.

"Direction Manifestation!"

As George's incantation rang out, an arrow formed from golden powder appeared in front of him.

And as Isabelle changed the X-Jet's direction, the arrow turned along with it.

However, the arrow could only indicate the target's direction on a flat plane—east, west, south, or north. It could not distinguish up from down. It was still fine for finding someone in the desert, but in a city, it would not be very convenient.

After all, cities had skyscrapers. If the person he was looking for was on the eighteenth floor while he was on the first, no matter how the arrow pointed, he still would not be able to find them.

This kind of Tracking Charm was not suited to complicated terrain. For complicated terrain, he would still need a better kind that could display a trail of movement, but he had not learned it yet.