The Impending Meeting of Thief and Murderer

When Xiang Qian pushed open the ajar laboratory door, the U.S. military and the X-Men guarding the building were already at their breaking point.

Iceman Bobby's ice barrier had held back Magneto for less than ten minutes. By the time Bobby received word that Juggernaut had smashed through the wall and prepared to seal the breach again, a significant number of mutants had already surged through.

Whether they could fly, leap, or climb, every mutant who broke in was a relatively powerful, radical core member. They couldn't break the ice shell from the outside, but once they breached the building's interior, they encountered little resistance.

The most terrifying threat remained Magneto. He had fashioned a wide, thick shield out of readily available metal objects, large enough to cover the entire corridor. Tiny metal shards swept through room after room like a violent storm.

The survivors retreated toward the basement, which had only one entrance and exit, making it easier to concentrate firepower for a defensive stand. Wolverine Logan and Beast Hank carried Storm and Cyclops on their backs, respectively, as they withdrew into the depths of the basement alongside the civilian staff and researchers from Worthington Industries.

This was a dim, abandoned room; if Xiang Qian were here, he would surely think it looked just like the site of the bathroom battle in The Rock.

Storm and Cyclops had both been severely wounded in the fight and were currently unconscious. Colossus and Iceman were still assisting the U.S. military in the main building upstairs, while Shadowcat had volunteered to retrieve the young boy, Jimmy, during the retreat.

"I never thought there'd come a day when I'd be nothing but a nurse on the battlefield," Logan grumbled bitterly.

Hank patted Logan's shoulder in understanding. "Calm down, pal. We all know you're a good man, but against Magneto, there's nothing you can do."

Wolverine Logan possessed a skeleton of reinforced steel and an immortal body, making him even more durable than Colossus Piotr, but encountering Magneto was a hard counter—a true natural predator.

"Why isn't Kitty back yet?" Hank asked with concern. Before the words left his lips, a petite figure phased through the wall beside them.

"I'm back," Kitty said, breathless. "Jimmy—the boy—he's gone."

Hank was shocked. "How? Did Magneto's people get there first?"

"No, that's not it. By the time I arrived, Juggernaut hadn't even managed to break in yet." Kitty recalled the horrific scene she had witnessed. "And Juggernaut had been beaten into a critical state."

"You wouldn't believe it. Someone used nothing but a handgun to beat Juggernaut into a critical state; he's still lying on the ground. My God, I've never seen anyone bleed that much. I thought I was going to be sick..."

Hank quickly asked, "Did you see who that person was?"

"I don't know. The man was wearing a mask; I couldn't see his face." Kitty remembered what the man had said. "That person was terrifying. The way he looked at Juggernaut... it felt like he was looking at a pig waiting to be slaughtered."

Logan, standing to the side, fell into deep thought. Hearing Kitty mention that the person who wounded Juggernaut used a handgun, he suddenly recalled seeing a miraculous pistol at the feet of the Statue of Liberty ten years ago.

"Was the gun you saw a P226? And when he fired, did the gun body show glowing red patterns? Was the man who fired it black-haired? Was he a bit shorter than me? Did he speak to you quite politely, maybe even a bit glibly?"

Logan asked, and Kitty nodded with each question. By the final question, Kitty instinctively retorted, "Glibly? No, I thought he was quite the gentleman."

Hank realized it too, and he and Logan exchanged a look.

"James!"

"James!"

The two spoke in unison.

"Damn it, I knew that little brat was up to something behind our backs," Logan said furiously.

"James? James Zion?" the young Kitty asked curiously. "Is that the James Zion the students are always talking about?"

Hank rolled his eyes and gave the young girl a solemn warning: "Remember my words, Kitty. The way that man talks to you isn't called being a gentleman; we call that being glib!"

Xiang Qian, unaware that his reputation among the X-Men had been tarnished once again, was happily copying data in the laboratory.

The Worthington Industries researchers had retreated in such a hurry that Xiang Qian found the place in total disarray upon entering. The refrigerated cabinets that should have held the serum were empty, and the safe contained only unimportant paper documents.

Various instruments were scattered about, with wires strewn across the floor. Fortunately, the computer terminals used to control and record the experiments were still intact.

Xiang Qian couldn't find any storage devices like disks, but the records of the experimental processes remained on the terminals. While he couldn't directly obtain the final result data, by analyzing the experimental procedures, he could still deduce a vast amount of key information—it would just take more time.

Well, it would take a long time to copy, too—the volume of data was simply too massive. Xiang Qian had no choice but to wait.

In the corridor outside, Juggernaut was still letting out low, guttural roars. The sounds of battle from the floor below were faintly audible, but the gunfire was gradually thinning.

The radical mutants were gaining the upper hand; the U.S. soldiers were either dead or had retreated.

As Xiang Qian channeled the magical power of Kamar-Taj, he could "see" through his soul's perspective that many people were fleeing in a panic into the passage leading to the basement. But deeper into the basement, even his soul's perspective couldn't see anything.

Then, he "saw" three people appear in the corridor outside.

"God, Juggernaut?" a woman's voice exclaimed, clear enough for Xiang Qian to hear inside the lab.

From his soul's perspective, Xiang Qian clearly identified the newcomers: Magneto, Pyro John, and Nightcrawler.

To Xiang Qian, the soul strength of the three varied, while the Juggernaut lying on the ground had an extremely powerful soul, one that radiated a strange, deep-red light from its very core.

Xiang Qian couldn't hear what Magneto said, only the muffled, heavy voice of Juggernaut.

"An X-Men girl went in. I didn't see the kid; the kid is gone."

"The bastard who wounded me is right next door. Help me catch him; I'm going to tear him in two... no, I'm going to smash him into pulp and turn him into sausage."

"A handgun..."

Xiang Qian listened with interest, secretly wondering if Magneto could guess his identity from Juggernaut's fragmented words, and whether he would recall the P226 in his hand.

"If he remembers, what will he do?" Xiang Qian thought silently, when suddenly, he saw a phantom figure break through the door at incredible speed, rushing toward him.

The phantom's approach was lightning-fast; almost as soon as the sound of the door being pushed reached his ears, the figure was already upon him.

In the blink of an eye, Xiang Qian understood.

Magneto had indeed guessed his identity and was extremely wary of the "handgun" Juggernaut had mentioned, so he had sent Nightcrawler in first. He intended for Nightcrawler to use her speed advantage to subdue him or seize the gun from his hand.