Helicopters Right in Our Faces—How Could We Lose?

"Where is Stryker?" Lu Yifang grabbed a special forces soldier and slammed him against the wall. Judging by the way he had been giving orders, he appeared to be a Special Forces Squad Leader.

"Die!" Sensing the immense threat posed by the mutant before him, the Special Forces Squad Leader decisively drew his loaded pistol and pulled the trigger at Lu Yifang's forehead.

Bang! The bullet was fired, striking Lu Yifang's forehead at point-blank range—an attack that was impossible to evade. Yet the instant it touched Lu Yifang, it stopped. After spinning at high speed for a moment, it fell to the ground with a clang.

"M-Monster!" The Special Forces Squad Leader's face twisted with extreme terror.

At that moment, Lu Yifang snatched the gun from the Special Forces Squad Leader's hand and pressed it against his forehead instead.

"I'll ask you one more time. Where is Stryker? I trust you don't have the ability to stop bullets." Lu Yifang sneered.

He was no softhearted man, especially now that Colonel Stryker had set his sights on Mutant Academy. That had crossed Lu Yifang's bottom line. Since Stryker dared to reach out with his claws, Lu Yifang dared to chop them off.

"Colonel Stryker is still in the air. According to the plan, he'll arrive five minutes after us." With a gun pressed to his forehead, the squad leader yielded and revealed the intelligence.

"In the air." Lu Yifang's pupils contracted. Looking up, he realized that aside from the helicopters that had been shot down, there was still an Armed Transport Plane in the distance, flanked by two Armed Helicopters.

"That old fox." Lu Yifang instantly understood Stryker's plan. After all, he was attacking Mutant Academy, and mutant abilities came in endless varieties. Who knew whether some mutant capable of capturing the king first might appear and seize him directly? That was why the old fox had deliberately delayed his arrival by five minutes, letting his combat squads first probe Mutant Academy's strength.

"Damn it, I acted too hastily." Knocking out the squad leader in frustration, Lu Yifang turned his gaze toward Coulson.

"Coulson, can you hit them from this distance?"

"Relax, I'm a professional." Smiling, Coulson hoisted a small rocket launcher onto his shoulder and aimed it at the largest Armed Transport Plane.

However, just as Coulson took aim, he suddenly saw a flash of fire light up on one of the Armed Helicopters.

"Fuck, they beat us to it!" Coulson's expression changed drastically. Based on his years of combat experience, that flash was definitely the other side firing a rocket first.

"Perfect. Since you're looking to die, you've saved me the trouble of aiming." Lu Yifang immediately sneered and moved toward the flash.

Reflect!

The instant the shell touched Lu Yifang's body, his ability activated. The shell did not explode. Instead, it rebounded along the exact same path.

Boom! The Armed Helicopter that had fired the shell exploded instantly, its blinding flames swallowing the two aircraft beside it as well.

"Sir, what do we do?" Inside the Armed Transport Plane, a soldier asked Stryker.

Given the distance between the aircraft, the explosion of that Armed Helicopter would at most make the transport plane jolt a little. But judging from the momentum of things, the situation looked rather bad.

"What do you think we do? Retreat, of course!" Colonel Stryker roared furiously.

The moment he received word that another unidentified force had infiltrated Mutant Academy, he knew he had been set up. That alone would have been one thing, but the most terrifying part was that shell.

Only after confirming that Professor X, who had been in a hurry to meet Magneto, had fallen into the trap he had specially prepared did Colonel Stryker dare come personally with such confidence. Though he had previously promised President Obama not to make things too big, for the sake of his great cause of taking down mutants all over the world, he had secretly brought in heavy weaponry as a precaution. If he encountered a tough opponent, he would not hesitate to use it.

They had air superiority, overwhelming troop numbers, the advantage of a surprise assault while the enemy's main force was absent, and heavy weaponry on top of that. Colonel Stryker had been brimming with confidence. With helicopters practically in the enemy's face, how could they possibly lose?

But the reality was that this unidentified force that had suddenly appeared seemed to have even fiercer firepower than they did. Hadn't that rocket launcher already fired its shell? How had it come flying back? This was clearly cheating! How were they supposed to fight that? How were they supposed to win?

"I still underestimated Mutant Academy. I never expected that even without Professor X, Mutant Academy would still be this unfathomable." Though Colonel Stryker was extremely unwilling to accept it, he was not stupid enough to keep forcing the issue at a time like this.

Besides, the operation on the other side had already succeeded. It was better to flee as quickly as possible. Stryker rolled up his sleeve and glanced at the electronic watch that had lit up on his wrist, revealing a strange smile.

"Tch, it didn't get blown out of the sky. Lucky bastard." As the flames faded, Lu Yifang looked at the Armed Transport Plane flying away in the distance and spoke regretfully.

"Reporting, sir. The battle is over. A small portion of the enemy has been eliminated, while all the rest have surrendered and been captured alive," Agent 0233 reported.

"Very good. Have all the female agents assemble. Bring makeup supplies and fake blood."

"Understood, sir!" Agent 0233 answered firmly. By now, he had finally given up trying to think about this officer's orders.

"Yifang, what's going on?" Katie walked over at that moment. Lu Yifang had not explained things very clearly over the phone earlier. Fortunately, Lu Yifang held considerable influence within Mutant Academy. Otherwise, if another mutant student had claimed that someone was coming to bomb the academy tonight, they might have been treated as a joke.

"Of course the enemy has set their sights on us, and they seem rather troublesome," Lu Yifang said with a grim expression.

"Where are they?" Logan extended his claws. To be honest, the fight just now had ended before he had even gotten his fill. Standing beside him were not only Fireman John and Ice Man Bobby, but also a young man who could turn his body into steel.

Among the students at this stage, aside from Lu Yifang, these three had considerable potential as well. They could be counted as capable fighters.

"I'll tell you later. Colossus, please bring out the students hiding in the underground passage."

The young man whose entire body could turn to steel nodded and walked into the academy. Before long, he brought the students out.

Though the battle above had been intense, the students in the underground passage had not been affected much. Rather than appearing frightened, they looked around curiously.

Once all the students had gathered before Lu Yifang, he deliberately cleared his throat.

"Hello, students. I'm Lu Yifang, your Student Council President."

The students froze at those words, then began whispering among themselves. Soon, a mutant child around ten years old stepped forward.

"But we've never heard that the academy has a student council."

"Oh, really? Well, it does now." To make himself sound more convincing, Lu Yifang turned his gaze toward Logan.

Wolverine Logan was idly extending and retracting his claws nearby, enjoying that painful yet stimulating sensation. Noticing Lu Yifang looking at him, he froze.

"What are you looking at?"