Crazy

"Sorry, but I didn't see anything beautiful about that. You damned crazy bitch, what exactly did you do to them?!"

Pietro leaned against the wall and slowly pushed himself upright with the help of friction. Anyone could see the unease in his eyes. This was not the first time he had faced a mutant with telepathic abilities, and Pietro knew all too well how bizarre such powers could be.

"I brought them blessings and good news. Everything was for the next generation. Look at them. Look at these little darlings—newborn Telepaths. What does that mean? We are the ones chosen by God, and I can bring these blessings to them as well."

Emma's expression twisted grotesquely, her entire face becoming feral, yet her eyes were filled with tenderness. She gently stroked the two girls' heads as if caressing priceless treasures.

Watching this, Pietro felt nothing but nausea. He took two steps back, wanting to put more distance between himself and Emma for some sense of safety. "If becoming a lunatic counts as a blessing, then whoever brings such blessings isn't a god. They're a demon."

The murmurs around him began again. Pietro felt as though the moment he tried to think actively about anything, the voices would drive him mad.

Was it the telepathy of that crazy bitch Emma?

Pietro felt an indescribable force wrapping around him, and the nausea in his stomach grew worse. Then, he lost partial control of his body. He began trembling uncontrollably, barely able to remain standing.

"Call it whatever you want, speedster. You simply don't understand what kind of change my creations will bring to this world." Emma smiled, her expression returning to its original calmness, though her gaze at Pietro carried a hint of mockery.

"You're bringing destruction to this world," Pietro replied, forcing himself to endure the discomfort.

His condition had deteriorated to the extreme. Shaking his head hard, Pietro found his vision blurring, as though a nearsighted person had suddenly removed his glasses. Through the haze, he saw mist rising around him.

No, strictly speaking, it was not mist. Pietro had no idea what it was.

It gathered from the cracks around the iron doors lining both sides of the corridor, rapidly converging. As if it possessed a mind of its own, it rolled continuously around Pietro and Emma. Within the mist, vague human figures could be seen.

At first, Pietro thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. But when he forced himself to stare through the nausea, he discovered in horror that those hidden within the pale mist were faceless little girls.

At last, Pietro understood what these bizarre things filled with negative energy were. Meanwhile, Emma continued speaking to herself.

"Honestly, if there really is a god in this world, then you truly are a gift from God to me." Emma spread her arms as if she wanted to embrace Pietro.

"You lunatic!" Pietro cursed. "Don't you have telepathy too? Can't you see the Psychic Energy around us?! You turned these children into this—are these the blessings you keep talking about?!"

"You! You really can sense it!" Emma's eyes lit up, and excitement swept over her. Her gaze toward Pietro filled with possessiveness, though she quickly suppressed the emotion.

"Yes, this is what I must do. I lost everything." Emma spoke softly, seemingly recalling something unpleasant that made her hands tremble. "My blessings, everything I had, all disappeared. God took them back. I don't know what I did wrong."

If anyone had seen Emma like this, they would surely have thought she was a beautiful woman who had suffered a terrible injustice. But Pietro only wanted to get as far away from her as possible.

"So... I'm taking them back!" Emma's humanity vanished in an instant, leaving behind nothing but madness. She removed her glove, revealing that what should have been a slender, pale hand had become gleaming diamond.

"This power belongs to me! No one can take it from me! Not even God!!!"

Emma suddenly appeared before Pietro. Her diamond fingers clamped around his throat, and the immense force suffocated him instantly, leaving him unable to muster the strength to resist.

"And you, speedster—you will be my most crucial test subject. Don't worry, I won't kill you. You're different from them. Although some of those children possessed powerful talents, they were ultimately only ordinary humans. They simply couldn't withstand telepathy. But you're different. Your brain is resilient, very, very resilient!"

Emma slowly raised her other hand, grabbed her own white hair, and yanked hard. The next moment, a skull covered in bloody needle-and-thread scars appeared before Pietro.

Emma had clearly performed countless craniotomies on herself. Though he had no idea how she had done it, the marks covered the top of her head like crawling centipedes. The horrifying sight was enough to make anyone's legs go weak.

"Don't worry. You won't die. You'll continue living inside my head, as long as—!"

Boom!

A blinding flash erupted in an instant, striking from afar and tearing apart the darkness of the entire corridor in a split second. Like lightning, the flash vanished in an instant, blasting Emma away.

The beam was so powerful that Emma's body flew through the air at high speed before crashing heavily onto the ground with a sound like metal colliding.

Then, a somewhat angry voice rang through the silent corridor.

"Let go of my brother, you freak."

Hearing that familiar voice, Pietro's legs gave out and he dropped to his knees. He could not stop the tears from spilling out.

"You okay, Pietro?" Zhang Ye rushed over to Pietro. With the left arm of his Iron Suit aimed toward Emma, he tilted his head and asked.

"What took you so long? Do you know I almost died?!" Pietro clutched Zhang Ye's clothes tightly, tears and snot streaming down his face.

If he had been alone, Pietro would have forced himself to stay strong no matter what. But now that Zhang Ye had arrived, Pietro had finally found someone to rely on. Like a bullied child finding his parent, he wanted to pour out every grievance in his heart.

"Okay, okay, I get it." Zhang Ye offered a somewhat perfunctory consolation. "Don't forget our plan. Go find that helmet. Leave this place to me."

"The helmet? I don't know where it is. I can't use super speed here. That telepathy will tear my brain apart." Pietro covered his head fearfully. He had no desire to experience what had happened earlier again.

Seeing this, Zhang Ye understood that the surrounding environment was more complicated than he had imagined, and that it specifically affected Pietro. As an ordinary person, Zhang Ye could not feel anything at all. He did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Then slow down, Pietro. I believe in you."

"But I really don't know where that helmet is. This place is too big. There's no way to search it." Pietro looked miserable as he suddenly pointed toward Emma. "At first, I thought she would be wearing it on her head."

"If she did, she wouldn't be able to use telepathy herself. Look around. There's only one place in here where that helmet could be used."

"You mean the laboratory!" With Zhang Ye's hint, Pietro immediately grasped the key point.

Zhang Ye said nothing more. He simply shoved a fully loaded submachine gun into Pietro's arms. "I believe in you."

Taking the gun, Pietro looked at Zhang Ye's stern face and nodded slightly. Then, as if making some kind of decision, his nod grew firmer and firmer. He quickly got to his feet, gave Zhang Ye a deep look, and ran toward the other end of the corridor without looking back.

Watching Pietro's figure get swallowed by the darkness until it completely vanished from sight, Zhang Ye finally withdrew his gaze and turned toward Emma, whom he had blasted away.

"It's time we talked about our business, Emma. You've really broken my heart."