Three silver flashes shot out with a deafening buzz, hurtling toward Seven. His formidable physical abilities gave him sharper eyesight than an ordinary person, allowing him to make out what the three flashes were in the blink of an eye.
They had originally looked like thickened coins, but after flying a short distance, each one unfolded into four sharp, curved, serrated blades. Two spun counterclockwise, while the other two spun clockwise.
These rapidly spinning serrated blades were like buzz saws and scissors. Seven didn't need to test them against his own body to know they had to be extremely sharp.
The three chainsaw throwing knives traced different arcs, covering Seven's entire upper body. There was no way to dodge them all.
Fortunately, they were much slower than bullets. Seven still had time to reach out and catch one chainsaw throwing knife in each hand, then tilt his head to dodge the last one.
Although the chainsaw throwing knives churned his hands into bloody pulp, the high temperature of his flesh also damaged the two weapons' mechanisms, reducing them to scrap metal.
His hands would heal in the blink of an eye, and Luo Xia had nothing else left. Seven only had to reach out to burn him to ashes.
At such close range, even if Luo Xia tried to put up a last-ditch struggle, Seven was confident he could kill him while withstanding the strange pistol's attacks.
But instead of seeing the despair he'd hoped for, Seven noticed a faint smile tugging at Luo Xia's lips.
A tremendous sense of danger welled up inside him, and Seven charged at Luo Xia without hesitation. Whatever his scheme was, killing him would put an end to it.
Unfortunately, by the time Seven reacted, it was already too late. The next moment, pain surged through him as an enormous shearing force struck the back of his neck, nearly severing it.
The Serrated Flying Daggers could lock onto their targets and automatically curve back around!
His spine was completely severed, and his head and body were connected by nothing more than a layer of flesh. Even the Extremis Virus couldn't replace the function of his spine with fire under those circumstances.
Seven lost his balance and toppled over in front of Luo Xia. The serrated blade had embedded itself in his wound. For the wound to heal, the blade first had to be melted completely into molten iron; only then could his broken spine possibly be reconnected.
In other words, Seven had become a vegetable. The Extremis Virus gave him tremendous vitality, so he wasn't quite dead, but Luo Xia wasn't going to give him another chance.
Using the Sensor Glove's ability to block heat, Luo Xia grabbed Seven's head and tore it clean off.
As the last layer of flesh ripped apart, Seven's headless body gradually cooled, and the red glow across his skin dimmed. Holding the man's head in one hand, Luo Xia hurried toward the basement level.
Luo Xia tossed the still-warm head into a toilet in the basement and even closed the lid before letting out a sigh of relief. "Damn it, I wasted three returning knives. I refuse to believe you can climb the stairs, pick up your own head, and put it back on!"
Thinking about it, Luo Xia did feel a little heartbroken over the three Mechanical Throwing Knives Norman Osborn had given him. He'd been hoping to take them back and study them, maybe even figure out how to copy them. Now they were all scrap metal.
At the thought, Luo Xia wanted to fire a Pulse Energy Blast at Seven's head.
There was no need, really. The moment his head was completely severed, Seven had already been ninety percent dead. The Extremis Virus couldn't bring him back to life from a single cell like Deadpool could.
Unless someone sewed his head back on, there was absolutely no chance he would come back to life.
Still, Luo Xia had been lucky. The bodies of people injected with the Extremis Virus were unstable, but they didn't always explode. If Seven had actually self-destructed at that distance in the hostage room, Luo Xia would have been badly injured, if not killed.
With his greatest enemy dealt with, Luo Xia hurried to get out of there. The gunfight and explosions had surely alerted the police, and possibly even S.H.I.E.L.D.
Luo Xia had no desire to deal with the United States government.
After taking out Seven, Luo Xia met up with Violet and immediately headed for Osborn Tower. To ensure Harry's safety, Luo Xia had sent Luo Fei and Li Bai, his two key fighters, to help Matt and the others escape.
With Luo Fei's driving skills, they were probably almost at Osborn Tower by now.
He contacted his two subordinates through the AllSpark. Everything was fine, except Matt had strongly urged Luo Fei not to play that thunderously loud music in the car.
Only then did Luo Xia feel at ease. He told Luo Fei not to act like an idiot at a crucial moment, then slowly made his way out on foot.
Luo Xia didn't call a cab right away to leave the troubled area because there were hardly any taxis willing to pick up fares in Hell's Kitchen at this hour, and the buses had stopped running long ago.
But if he simply walked along the street, he might run right into the police setting up a cordon. So Luo Xia lifted a manhole cover and, ignoring the stench, jumped straight down into the sewer.
After another vertical drop accompanied by sparks and lightning, Luo Xia switched on the night vision mode of his Tactical Goggles and headed away from the parking lot.
Everything seemed to go smoothly from there. After walking just a few hundred meters, Luo Xia received a call from Norman Osborn.
"Luo Xia, are you all right? I heard there was a huge explosion in Hell's Kitchen. The police have cordoned off an entire block. Do you need my help?"
"I'm doing fine. I'm not in any trouble for now. Did Harry get back safely?" Luo Xia replied.
Before becoming the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn really was a decent person. His first question had been about Luo Xia.
"Harry's back safe and sound. I can't thank you enough for what you did. It's just that your friend doesn't seem to like talking to people. He left Harry with us and went off on his own. If we get another chance, please don't refuse my thanks. I'd feel guilty for the rest of my life," Norman Osborn said excitedly.
"Oh, that's just his habit. Don't worry about it. Since Harry's back, I'm going home to get some sleep. We can talk about anything else tomorrow," Luo Xia told Norman Osborn.
The sewer was filthy, and now that he knew everything had gone smoothly, Luo Xia had no intention of visiting Norman Osborn while covered in grime.
Just as he was about to hang up, Luo Xia seemed to remember something and asked, "By the way, can you confirm who that old man was?"
"Yeah, I know him too. He's Justin Hammer's father. This time, someone kidnapped both my son and Hammer's father. It seems they're targeting our two defense companies. Luo Xia, this could very well be connected to the military contracts Stark Industries left up for grabs," Norman Osborn told him.
As a successful businessman, Norman Osborn had panicked when his son was kidnapped. But now that Harry was safely home, and with the old man's reminder, he had quickly pieced together a highly plausible motive for the kidnapping.
The news stunned Luo Xia.
AI had used Extremis Virus soldiers to kidnap Norman Osborn's son and Justin Hammer's father. It was after the military contracts Stark had left behind.
The theory made perfect sense, but there was another implication beneath the surface that worried Luo Xia.
At last, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's plot was beginning to stray from its original course, thanks to the flapping wings of the butterfly he'd become.
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