"Quick, open fire!"
The soldiers were all in an extremely tense state. The fear those Mutant Monsters had brought them was enough to make them jump at every shadow. Any slight movement around them could set their nerves on edge, let alone a sudden blackout.
The abrupt darkness instantly shattered the soldiers' last scraps of reason.
Having lost their vision, the soldiers immediately panicked. They fired wildly in every direction, not caring whether they might hit their own men. They only knew that the guns in their hands gave them a faint sense of security.
Unlike the soldiers, however, most of these beast-like mutants possessed night vision. As predators evolved by nature, night vision was often one of their most basic abilities.
The sudden power outage merely made their vision blur for an instant. Once their eyes adapted to the dark, they could observe their surroundings without any trouble.
Before long, the backup power activated the emergency lights and illuminated the corridor again. But the backup lighting was far too dim. It was enough to see the way, but fighting in such a murky environment was basically impossible.
Besides, the emergency lights had come on too late.
When one of the front-line soldiers regained his sight through the faint light, all he saw was a huge, bloodstained maw suddenly appearing before him. The next moment, a tremendous force knocked him to the ground. Then his neck went cold, and he lost consciousness.
"They're coming!"
"Fire! Open fire!"
"I don't want to die! Don't, don't do this..."
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Aaaahhh!!!"
Zhang Ye hid in a corner on the second level. He knew the plan had succeeded. Pietro had already destroyed the power supply.
From a distance, he silently watched this "feast for the eyes and ears." The dim surroundings affected Zhang Ye's vision as well, but he could clearly see flickering points of light by the door leading to the first level. Those were the muzzle flashes of submachine guns.
Along with the flashes came the sounds of gunfire and bullets striking surfaces, as well as screams and howls like something out of hell. Even Zhang Ye had no desire to get close to such a horrifying scene.
Ignoring the battle ahead, Zhang Ye casually opened a cell beside him. A young man was locked inside, curled tightly into the corner. His eyes were full of terror as he looked at Zhang Ye.
"Don't, don't kill me!" the young man cried, trying to retreat, but he was already pressed against the wall.
"What's your name?" Zhang Ye asked flatly, looking at him without any emotion.
The young man covered his head. He did not dare meet Zhang Ye's eyes and could only stare at Zhang Ye's boots, which were stained with blood. "My name is John. John Proudstar."
There were plenty of people named John in the comics, and duplicate names were common. Zhang Ye could not remember that many names. It was already impressive enough that he remembered some hero codenames. So he assumed this was merely some mutant extra who had never appeared in the comics.
"I'm giving you a task. Take these keys and release all the other mutants. The power supply has been destroyed, and the Electric Barrier is gone. Everyone here can escape."
After saying that, Zhang Ye tossed the keys in front of John. When John did not move, Zhang Ye pulled out his gun and pointed it at him. "Maybe I wasn't clear enough. You have two choices. Either pick up the keys and do as I say, or I shoot you dead right now."
"I'll do it, I'll do it!" Seeing this, John immediately lunged forward and grabbed the keys, raising them up. "Don't kill me. I'll go right now."
Zhang Ye did not react much. He merely stepped aside. John was quick and efficient; his speed and strength far surpassed those of ordinary people, and he unlocked cells far faster than Zhang Ye could.
After outsourcing the unlocking task, Zhang Ye immediately felt much more relaxed. Picking locks in the dark had been pure torture.
By then, the battle at the front had also ended. All the soldiers had been eliminated. No environment was more suited to these monsters' hunting than darkness. Every time Nightcrawler teleported, he killed a soldier, becoming a Grim Reaper drifting among the troops and harvesting fresh lives.
Perhaps the monsters had already eaten their fill, or perhaps they simply wanted to escape the prison that had confined them for so long as soon as possible. After slaughtering the guards and soldiers, they did not linger. They charged straight toward the first level without stopping.
Zhang Ye silently followed behind them. The guards inside the prison were merely an appetizer. He still needed these mutants to break out and wipe out the troops stationed outside.
Those people would not just stand by and watch the prisoners of the Mutant Secret Prison escape. They could not catch the incredibly fast Pietro, but they could gather together to stop these frenzied Mutant Monsters.
Sure enough, after reaching the first level, Zhang Ye found the place almost empty. Most of the mutants imprisoned here had escaped amid the earlier chaos. Only a few powerless people remained locked in their cells, such as Cyclops, who had already gone blind.
The mutants rushed out in a flood, only to be met with artillery fire and bullets. In this munitions factory, weapons were the one thing they did not lack. Several thousand men stood ready in formation, attempting to kill these mutants on the spot.
However, among the mutant prisoners were two mutants who could teleport just like Nightcrawler. Against such an ability, cannons and firearms could not inflict effective damage on them.
The soldiers soon discovered that these monsters were even stronger than they had imagined, especially after an old man who could manipulate objects with his mind overturned a tank.
The battlefield had become complete chaos. All kinds of deafening noise rang out continuously. Zhang Ye could only try to remain hidden in the darkness and avoid drawing anyone's attention. The plan had succeeded. It was time to leave.
But soon, a communications soldier caught Zhang Ye's attention.
"Report! We need reinforcements! The assassin has released most of the prisoners from the Mutant Prison. They've scattered our formation! We need reinforcements!"
Assassin?
That word stopped Zhang Ye just as he was about to leave.
His plan this time had clearly been to release the prisoners. Zhang Ye would not have cared what they called him, but the title "assassin" alone made his eyelid twitch.
When an assassin appeared, there was usually a corresponding target for him to assassinate. Whether the assassination succeeded or failed, the assassin and the target were, in theory, bound together. Whenever an assassin appeared, his assassination target should appear as well.
Likewise, an assassin would only appear where there was an assassination target.
That meant the soldier's choice of words posed a serious problem. Clearly, there was someone here worth assassinating. This person wielded great influence, could affect many people, held a high-ranking position, and commanded this army.
Only someone like that met the conditions to become an assassination target.
At first, Zhang Ye thought the soldier meant Warden Fisk. After all, Kingpin was practically second only to one in this place. But Zhang Ye quickly dismissed that possibility. Kingpin was only a warden and had no authority to command the military. Besides, he had already been disemboweled, so that was obviously not the answer.
Then there was only one answer left.
Thinking back to the builder of this Mutant Secret Prison, the strict secrecy surrounding its highest-classified information, and the news that the president had been missing for quite some time...
Zhang Ye's eyes suddenly widened.
That damned President X was actually here right now!
Before you continue