Fallen

They ran all the way. Perhaps the Orphanage's underground facility had left too deep a psychological scar on Pietro, because he was much faster than usual this time.

The two of them raced out of the Orphanage without stopping for even a moment. Pietro deposited Zhang Ye directly in the driver's seat and even thoughtfully fastened his seat belt.

From Zhang Ye's perspective, there was only a brief blur of darkness and light, followed by a slight jolt. By the time he came back to his senses, his hands were inexplicably gripping the steering wheel.

Then—

"Bleurgh!" The impact of moving at high speed churned Zhang Ye's insides. He rolled down the window and stuck his head outside.

It took Zhang Ye a while to recover from the agony.

"Go, go! Start the car, Zhang! What if that crazy bitch catches up with us?" Pietro patted Zhang Ye and urged him impatiently. Though they had already left the Orphanage grounds, he still did not feel safe.

"She won't catch up anytime soon. Without telepathy, the White Queen is just a toothless tiger—nothing to fear." Zhang Ye rubbed his stomach. "My belly feels really bloated. Is that normal?"

"It's normal. Ordinary people can't handle high-speed movement, so there'll be some aftereffects. It'll pass after a while, don't worry," Pietro explained. Yet he kept glancing back toward the Orphanage, clearly unconvinced by Zhang Ye's reassurance.

Seeing that, Zhang Ye stopped wasting words. He quickly started the car and drove out of town along the main road. "Keep this helmet on for now. With it, President X won't be able to track you, and we can destroy the Mutant Prison without anyone noticing."

"I'll listen to you, boss." Pietro finally let out a long breath only after the town had vanished from sight.

"But you need to tell me everything you can about the Mutant Secret Prison. We don't have much time. War has already begun on the other side of the world. Before President X realizes what's happening, we need to add more fuel to this fire. Our next moves need to be faster."

As Zhang Ye spoke, he handed Pietro a promotional newspaper he had found in the car. Some flyer distributor had apparently tucked it beneath the windshield wiper early that morning.

The flyer clearly stated that the border was already out of control and that other countries had sounded the call to war. It painted a picture of another world war breaking out. At the top was the emblem of the Next Generation Monastery.

It seemed the person handing out flyers happened to be a member of the church founded by Emma Frost.

"Don't worry. I'll tell you everything I know, as long as you remember your promise." Pietro gave the flyer a quick glance, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it aside.

Having lived two lives, Zhang Ye understood the importance of intelligence better than anyone. If he wanted to accomplish these nearly impossible tasks, intelligence would undoubtedly be his greatest help.

Take White Queen Emma, for example. If he had not known her abilities, and if he had not gathered more information about her in this world, there was no way he could have taken the helmet from her—let alone faced President X.

Likewise, destroying the Mutant Prison and releasing the mutant inmates inside required even more intelligence. Setting aside how formidable the prison's security was, the mutant prisoners themselves were a double-edged sword.

Used properly, they could help him achieve his goals. Used poorly, he might release them one moment and be torn apart and eaten the next.

That was absolutely not an outcome Zhang Ye wanted to see. So before taking action, he needed to gather more intelligence. Fortunately, the drive from here to Texas was still long.

Based on Pietro's firsthand experiences in the Mutant Prison, Zhang Ye gained a general understanding of the secret prison President X had built, along with many internal details.

For example, the warden of the Mutant Secret Prison was a hulking man named Fisk. He was no ordinary big man—he stood over two meters tall, weighed two hundred kilograms, and most of his body was pure muscle.

This Fisk corresponded exactly to the Kingpin, the villain Zhang Ye remembered from Spider-Man and Matt Murdock's stories.

It was surprising that the untouchable New York underworld overlord from other universes had become a prison warden here. Zhang Ye had been startled when he first heard the news, though it was unexpected while still making perfect sense.

The prisoners held in the Mutant Secret Prison were no strangers either. Each one had a counterpart in Zhang Ye's memories.

For instance, there was a man named Samos. When his mutant ability awakened, he accidentally killed his family with lasers that burst from his eyes. Afterward, his eyes were blinded, and he was locked in the Mutant Prison.

There was also a female inmate named Kitty. She and Pietro were known in the Mutant Prison as the "Twin Stars of Prison Break." Pietro relied on his super speed, while Kitty possessed an even more broken ability: she could transform her body into molecules and pass through solid objects.

Just how powerful was the ability to pass through objects? If she wanted to, no one could kill her unless they used some special method to force her to materialize, such as imprisoning her underwater.

For her, escaping prison should have been as easy as turning over her hand. Unfortunately, during one escape attempt, her mutant ability suddenly failed while she was passing through her cell. As a result, her body fused with the iron bars of the cell.

Someone with a similar experience was a man named Armando. His ability automatically mutated adaptive powers according to his environment. During a fire, however, he was buried beneath a collapsed building. By the time people dug him out, he had become entangled with a steel rebar and lost consciousness, turning into a different kind of "vegetable."

There was also a man named Kurt, who was held in an isolated cell. Unlike the other mutants, he was a beast-like mutant. Such mutants were usually affected by the beast instincts within them, becoming bloodthirsty and frenzied until they ultimately turned into true beasts.

Kurt was no exception. He looked like a demon, and his ability was teleportation—an incredibly powerful mutant ability in theory. But by then, all reason had long vanished from his eyes, and he had fallen into a monster driven by nothing but animal instinct.

Listening to Pietro's account, Zhang Ye was overwhelmed with mixed emotions. Cyclops, Shadowcat, Darwin, Nightcrawler... In another universe, these people had been glorious heroes.

Letting out a heavy breath, Zhang Ye motioned for Pietro to stop for now. He turned on the car radio. At that moment, Zhang Ye needed some music to ease the heaviness in his heart.