The Butterfly Effect Finally Appears

Three silver rays of light flew out with a buzzing roar, slamming toward Seven. His powerful physique granted him vision far sharper than an ordinary person's, allowing him to see exactly what these three silver lights were in the blink of an eye.

They appeared to be thick, coin-like objects, but after flying only a short distance, each coin unfolded into four sharp, arc-shaped serrated blades. Two of them rotated counter-clockwise, while the other two spun clockwise.

These high-speed rotating serrated blades were like chainsaws or shears; Seven didn't need to test them with his own body to know their cutting power was immense.

The three Chainsaw Throwing Knives traced different arcs, completely shrouding Seven's upper body, making it impossible to dodge them entirely.

Fortunately, they were much slower than bullets. Seven had just enough time to reach out both hands, catching one Chainsaw Throwing Knife in each, and tilting his head to evade the final one.

Although his hands were shredded into minced meat by the blades, the intense heat of his flesh caused the structural integrity of the weapons to fail, turning them into a pile of scrap metal.

The injuries to his hands would recover in the blink of an eye, and Luo Xia had nothing left; if Seven simply reached out, he could burn him to ashes.

At such close range, even if Luo Xia wanted to put up a desperate struggle, Seven was confident he could kill him while tanking the attacks from that strange pistol.

However, just as he intended to savor the look of despair on Luo Xia's face, he instead noticed a smile tugging at the corners of Luo Xia's mouth.

A massive sense of crisis surged into his heart, and Seven rushed toward Luo Xia without hesitation. No matter what conspiracy he had, killing him would render it all meaningless.

Unfortunately, his realization came too late. The next moment, a sharp pain struck as a massive shearing force hit the back of his neck, slicing through most of his throat.

These serrated throwing knives could actually lock onto a target and return automatically!

His spine was completely severed, leaving his head connected to his body by only a thin layer of flesh. In this state, even the Extremis Virus could not replace the function of his spine with flames.

Consequently, Seven lost his balance and collapsed in front of Luo Xia. The serrated knife remained embedded in his wound; to heal, he would first have to melt the thing into molten iron before he could even hope to reconnect his severed spine.

In other words, Seven had now become a vegetable. Although the Extremis Virus granted him powerful vitality, preventing him from dying outright, Luo Xia would not give him another chance.

Relying on the heat-insulating properties of his Sensor Glove, Luo Xia grabbed Seven's head and ripped it clean off.

As the final layer of skin tore, Seven's headless body began to cool, the red glow on his skin dimming. Carrying the head in one hand, Luo Xia hurried toward the basement level.

Luo Xia tossed the still-warm head into the basement toilet, made sure to close the lid, and let out a sigh of relief. "Damn it, that wasted three of my returning throwing knives. I don't believe you can climb the stairs to retrieve your head and put it back on!"

Thinking about it, Luo Xia felt a bit of heartache over the three Mechanical Throwing Knives gifted by Norman Osborn. He had intended to take them back to study and see if he could replicate them, but now they were all scrap metal.

At the thought of this, Luo Xia felt like hitting Seven's head with a Pulse Energy Blast.

Actually, it wasn't necessary. The moment his head was completely severed, Seven was ninety percent dead; the Extremis Virus didn't have the ability of Deadpool to regenerate from a single cell.

Unless someone stitched his head back on, there was absolutely no possibility of him reviving.

Still, Luo Xia was lucky. While the bodies of those injected with the Extremis Virus were unstable, they didn't always explode. Otherwise, at the distance they were at in the hostage room, if Seven had truly self-destructed, Luo Xia would have been dead or at least severely wounded.

Having eliminated the greatest threat, Luo Xia quickly retreated. This place had experienced a gunfight and various explosions; it must have already alerted the police or even S.H.I.E.L.D.

Luo Xia had no desire to deal with the American government.

After finishing off Seven, Luo Xia reunited with Violet and immediately headed toward Osborn Tower. To ensure Harry's safety, Luo Xia had ordered Luo Fei and Li Bai, his two key combatants, to help Matt and the others evacuate.

With Luo Fei's driving skills, they were likely already nearing the Osborn building.

Communicating with his two subordinates via the AllSpark, everything was normal, save for Matt's strong request that Luo Fei stop playing that deafening car music.

Luo Xia felt reassured, gave a final instruction for Luo Fei not to act like a clown at a critical moment, and then began to walk away.

Luo Xia didn't immediately hail a taxi to leave this place of trouble because no taxi would come to a place like Hell's Kitchen in the middle of the night, and the buses had long since stopped running.

But if he just walked on the road, he might run head-on into the police coming to cordon off the area. Thus, Luo Xia pried open a manhole cover, ignored the stench, and jumped straight into the sewers.

With another vertical descent accompanied by sparks and flashes, Luo Xia activated the night vision mode of his Tactical Goggles and walked in the direction away from the parking lot.

Everything seemed to go smoothly; he hadn't walked more than a few hundred meters before receiving a call from Norman Osborn.

"Luo Xia, are you alright? I heard there was a massive explosion in Hell's Kitchen and the police have blocked off a block. Do you need my help?"

"I'm doing fine, no trouble for now. Did Harry make it back safely?" Luo Xia replied.

Norman Osborn, before becoming the Green Goblin, was indeed a decent man; his first words were to ask about Luo Xia's situation.

"Harry has returned safely. I am truly grateful to you all this time. It's just that your friend seemed unwilling to communicate; he left Harry behind and departed on his own. If there is a chance next time, please do not refuse my gratitude, or I will feel guilty for the rest of my life," Norman Osborn said excitedly.

"Oh, that's just a personal habit, don't take it to heart. Since Harry is back, I'm going home to get some sleep. Let's talk about anything else tomorrow," Luo Xia said to Norman Osborn.

The sewer was filthy, and having confirmed everything was fine, Luo Xia had no intention of meeting Norman Osborn while covered in stench.

Just as he was about to hang up, Luo Xia seemed to recall something and asked, "By the way, can you confirm the identity of that old man?"

"Yes, I know him. He is Justin Hammer's father. This time, someone kidnapped both my son and Hammer's father; it seems to be targeting our two military industrial companies. Luo Xia, this is very likely related to the military orders vacated by Stark Industries," Norman Osborn told Luo Xia.

As a successful businessman, he had lost his composure earlier due to his son's kidnapping, but now that Harry was back, combined with the old man's warning, Norman Osborn had quickly pieced together a highly probable motive for the kidnapping.

To Luo Xia, this news was somewhat shocking.

The AI had used Extremis Virus soldiers to kidnap Norman Osborn's son and Justin Hammer's father—it had its eyes on the military orders left behind by Stark.

This sounded like a logical deduction, but there was a deeper implication that worried Luo Xia.

The plot of the cinematic universe was finally being steered off its original track by the wings of this butterfly.