Silver Hair

The slaughter continued. The Ha-Ghost Clan numbered around a hundred. To gather a small force of over a hundred people armed with all kinds of heavy weaponry in a place like New York, they really needed a reliable power backing them.

In a major metropolis like this, countless eyes were watching. Without connections to cover up the traces afterward, there would be no good ending.

Although the bespectacled man hated the organization behind him to the bone, he felt that despite his loyalty, he had been discarded like trash. It chilled his heart.

If the bespectacled man had known satellites were watching from above as well, he would probably have been even more despairing.

He was a discarded pawn. The Vampires could not even be bothered to conceal his movements and had sent him out so openly.

Many major powers silently followed the situation through satellites. Scene after scene played before their eyes. This small-scale battle was like a slaughterhouse, horrifyingly bloody. Several massive metal hulks mowed down lives row after row as if cutting wheat; few bodies even remained intact.

The lucky survivors clutched their severed limbs and let out miserable smiles on the spot. They did not want to live at all.

Everyone who saw this scene sucked in a cold breath. It was not as though they had never experienced war, but such brutality still filled them with dread. The Mechanic's abilities were extraordinary, and his methods had become increasingly ruthless. He did not treat his enemies' lives as lives at all.

"How did he become like this? He's getting more and more ruthless..." Nick Fury rubbed his forehead as he watched the satellite footage. "He was clearly an upstanding ordinary citizen with no criminal record, yet he has become increasingly decisive in killing. It seems he has an astonishing ability to adapt to this sort of thing. I thought that after spending some time with Charles, he would be influenced somewhat and restrain himself..."

"So when do you plan to visit him?" Coulson remained as gentle as ever. This scene did not affect him much. When Donnie had awakened in the hospital, Coulson had already keenly noticed the young man's composure. Donnie had not panicked simply because he had suddenly stepped into the supernatural world.

His calmness had even been somewhat abnormal. After thinking it over, Coulson could only attribute it to the cold numbness that came after drastic upheavals in family and life.

"Arrange a helicopter for me. I'll go now." Fury had always acted swiftly and decisively. He intended to move immediately and wait at Donnie's home. It would not seem abrupt, after all; Old Bartender was still living there. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had already secretly surrounded the place, and not a single Vampire or member of the Ha-Ghost Clan would get inside.

Donnie held the center while the Transformers charged down and slaughtered the Ha-Ghost Clan, leaving them scattered, terrified, and living in constant panic. Even those lucky enough to survive would likely carry nightmares for the rest of their lives. Even if they escaped, they would probably never dare oppose Donnie again.

But Donnie had no intention of letting anyone go. To him, the Ha-Ghost Clan was even more hateful than Vampires. Vampires were enemies, and there was nothing wrong with enemies using every possible means against him. But the Ha-Ghost Clan? They were a bunch of human traitors, always ready to stab someone in the back.

"Die, die! I'll blow you to pieces!"

One Ha-Ghost Clan member who had been playing dead patiently waited for Donnie. Bombs were strapped to his body, and he intended to launch a suicide attack and kill Donnie, the controller, outright. Seizing his chance, he sprang up, rushed close to Donnie, and resolutely detonated the bombs.

With a deafening boom, the sudden massive explosion sent Donnie tumbling. He was left covered in dust and grime.

Many surviving members of the Ha-Ghost Clan revealed hopeful looks, but those hopes were quickly shattered. Donnie coughed and rose to his feet as though nothing had happened. He merely looked somewhat bedraggled. His body was covered in miniature Transformer armor, and combined with his increasingly powerful physique, it was more than enough to keep him safe.

"I was careless... I must remember this lesson in the future..." Donnie casually shot and blew apart another human traitor who charged at him at the risk of his life, his expression calm. He was doing his best to assess his gains and losses so he would not make the same mistake again. Even the most insignificant person could create an unimaginable miracle; history had taught him that countless times.

On the increasingly brutal battlefields at every level, he would not have many chances to make mistakes and reflect on them. Perhaps in a fight against some powerful figure, one moment of carelessness would get him killed.

Donnie knew his own shortcomings. He forced himself to grow quickly, shedding the laughable innocence and purity he had once possessed. He needed to examine his surroundings with the utmost caution.

Amid the flames of war, one car took the lead in turning around and fleeing. Within seconds, it pushed its engine to the limit, abandoning everyone else to escape alone.

A few Ha-Ghost Clan members who were still alive on the ground cursed loudly. They were desperate. After fighting desperately and shedding blood, they had been betrayed and abandoned by their own people. Nothing could crush their fighting spirit more easily.

Donnie did not even need to act anymore. They had already lost the will to fight as warriors. Their leaders had abandoned them and fled, so what was the point of continuing to fight?

Some began to crawl to their feet, toss aside their weapons, kneel on the ground, and raise both hands in surrender. The dozen or so survivors followed suit, all kneeling with their hands raised. It was a gesture every race understood, practically a universal language.

Donnie truly hesitated for an instant, but he still hardened his heart and fired.

The final dozen or so Ha-Ghost Clan members fell into pools of blood, their eyes wide open with lingering disbelief and despair.

"If you were Vampires, I might have accepted your surrender. But you're human traitors."

Donnie muttered to himself and sighed softly. Even he found those words unbearably hypocritical. He knew they were nonsense. If Vampires had truly surrendered to him, he would have acted even more decisively, without the slightest hesitation. Vampires reproduced at an astonishing rate. If left unchecked, one Vampire could raise an army of Vampires in a short time, and those new Vampires could then transform even more humans, causing their numbers to explode geometrically.

The bespectacled man's vehicle sped frantically onward. He kept urging the driver to go faster, unease filling his heart. He did not even dare glance behind him and could only keep demanding more speed. He was terrified that a few shells would come roaring in from behind and blast him to pieces. Then everything would be over.

Donnie had indeed intended to do exactly that. He narrowed his eyes, and one of Optimus Prime's arms immediately assembled into a massive cannon barrel. A huge lump of metal had already taken shape inside it. Even without exploding, anyone struck by that thing would be smashed to pieces.

He aimed at the retreating figure, at the car kicking up a cloud of dust.

Then, without any warning, a figure appeared and gave Donnie a shock!

Someone had acted faster than Donnie! So fast that it was impossible to see what he was!

In what seemed like an instant, time appeared to stop. The bespectacled man and his driver had already been thrown before Donnie, both wearing dazed expressions. Their vehicle continued moving into the distance, but quickly lost control and flipped onto its side by the road.

"So you're that so-called The Mechanic?" A silver-haired young man had appeared before Donnie in an instant. The distance through space seemed like a joke to him. He was countless times faster than a bullet, and every action could be completed in an instant.

Everything in the world moved in slow motion in his eyes.

He folded his arms, raised his chin, and looked at others out of the corner of his eyes. He was extremely irritating.

"The old man specifically told me to look after you. From now on, you're my little brother." The silver-haired young man was wildly arrogant. He looked at others sideways as though he despised everyone, his raised chin nearly pointing at the sky.