Twilight Wolf Returns Home

The armored vehicle convoy advanced amidst stirred-up dust, driving into Whiteman Air Force Base.

General Lake pushed open the car door and stepped out, brushing off the newly arrived adjutant who rushed over, and left the place with hurried strides.

Unlike before, General Lake was in a noticeably terrible mood upon this return, even somewhat furious.

"Send all those captured little bastards to the Gamma Zone!"

The Gamma Zone was a special containment sector inside Whiteman Base specifically used for housing and researching high-risk individuals. It housed various dangerous mutants, out-of-control experimental subjects, and all sorts of other hazardous entities that the Northern Command had detained over the past dozen or so years.

The young mutants who had just been brought back from North Dakota were already fitted with suppression collars and, under the armed escort of soldiers, arrived outside the gates of the Gamma Containment Sector.

After the squad leader finished reporting, the heavy alloy door slowly opened amidst an irritating screech of friction, revealing the long and oppressive corridor behind it.

"It feels awful in here..." whispered Mona, the young Black girl, to herself.

"Keep it down, don't let them hear you..." whispered Gideon, who was walking alongside her. "These people don't plan on letting us—uh!"

Stumbling, Gideon, who possessed strange fangs and cartilage-like odd growths on his face and neck, nearly fell to the ground.

During the previous encirclement, his right leg took a bullet, and walking was truly quite a struggle for him now.

His power was underwater breathing, allowing him to operate underwater for long periods like a fish, but unfortunately, such an ability was of little use on land.

The guard beside him, however, remained indifferent, directly dragging him by the shoulder and hauling him forward like a dead dog.

His fellow youths watched Gideon's painful expression and slowly clenched their fists.

In the corridor of the Gamma Zone, the air was permeated with the scent of disinfectant, rust, and a faint, lingering odor of decay. On both sides of the corridor were rows of cells made of specialized glass and high-strength alloy.

Along this journey, they saw many prisoners.

The vast majority of these people were mutants, listless and curled up in corners, almost like air-dried specimens. There were also a few whose bodies had undergone horrifying mutations, completely transforming into the shapes of monsters as they futilely crashed against the heavy cell doors, emitting beast-like roars, clearly no longer treated as human beings.

In one of the cells, an entirely pale freak, seemingly suffering from albinism, sat quietly in the corner. He raised his head, those lifeless eyes quietly watching this group of young people pass by, showing no anger, no sorrow, only a dead, hollow void.

"This must be hell..."

A young mutant named Charlotte whispered to herself.

The procession continued forward, and they passed by a large operating room lit by shadowless lamps.

Through the bulletproof glass, Gideon saw two strange figures... one "devil" covered all over in blue fur with a tail behind him, his limbs wrapped in bandages. Sensing Gideon's gaze, the devil glared fiercely back at him; next to him was another abnormally reddish man connected to various instruments, seeming to undergo some kind of special treatment.

At the other end of the medical area, a teenage boy sitting in a wheelchair also caught Charlotte's attention. Embedded in the boy's head was a strange device glowing with a red light, and a slender tube extended from the device, connecting to the equipment nearby. The boy had vacant eyes, drool at the corners of his mouth, and uttered meaningless, giggling sounds of "heh, heh, heh."

"Miles..." Charlotte muttered to herself, recognizing him as the very same Miles who had been taken away by Gabriela along with Laura.

At that moment, Charlotte suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.

Following that feeling, she looked over and saw that in the deepest part of the medical area, a tall, fierce-looking man stood motionlessly in the shadows, silently watching Miles—whose cerebrospinal fluid was currently being extracted—with those hollow eyes.

Then, a doctor in a white lab coat hurried over, said something to him, and led that silent beast away.

Dr. Zander arrived at General Lake's office, finding the atmosphere inside terrifyingly oppressive.

"Answer me, Dr. Zander." General Lake slammed a battle damage report fiercely onto the desk, his icy gaze staring straight at the trembling Dr. Zander. "Experimental subjects like X-0, just how many did you manufacture?!"

"General, I..." Dr. Zander was utterly baffled by this sudden interrogation. "There is only one X-0. He is the only successful clone bred based on Professor X's genes. There cannot possibly be a second one..."

"Impossible?!" General Lake sneered. "Then how do you explain the thing today in North Dakota that instantly paralyzed my command system and in turn took control of the drone formation?!"

"That perhaps... was some kind of spy program?"

Faced with General Lake's fury, Dr. Zander explained repeatedly, and after much exhaustive pleading, finally managed to make General Lake barely believe the fact that "a second X-0 could not possibly exist."

"Get out." General Lake waved his hand, signaling Dr. Zander to leave.

Afterward, General Lake sat alone in his office, recalling with a gloomy expression that disgraceful defeat earlier.

Faced with the unknown existence suspected to be a "second X-0," after making an initial retreat, he had immediately reorganized personnel outside the blockade zone, preparing to officially conduct a carpet-like blockade of that mountainous area. However, by the time they returned to the battlefield, Logan and that group of brats had long since vanished without a trace.

What angered him even more was that the enemy apparently did not flee toward the Canadian border as he had anticipated, but instead headed south back into the American heartland, turning all the blockade lines he had heavily deployed in the north entirely into a joke!

"Damn it..." General Lake dialed an internal number, gnashing his teeth as he issued a new command.

"Mobilize all available intelligence networks... Search the entire United States for the traces of Logan and that gang of young mutants!!"

"They won't get far!"

South Dakota, State University College of Biological Sciences.

Logan dragged a silver-white suitcase marked with the letter "X," limping as he walked out of the building.

He returned to the pickup truck by the highway, rendezvousing with the children and Charles.

At that moment, Aurora's alarm suddenly blared from the cell phone!

"Mr. Logan, just moments ago, the Northern Command issued a nationwide arrest warrant targeting us!"

"Starting this quickly?" Logan muttered to himself, seeming unsurprised by this development.

General Lake was a young general in the U.S. military. As for the things they had done before, blown up to a larger scale, they could even be classified as treason; encountering a nationwide manhunt was merely a matter of time.

"A nationwide arrest warrant?" Bobby muttered. "Does that mean a lot of bad people are going to come looking for us soon?"

"We are the 'bad people,' Bobby," Jonah reminded him.

"...This car can't be driven anymore," Richter said, looking at Logan. "We need to switch vehicles to head to Westchester."

"Switching cars is also dangerous..." Delia added. "After all, it's a full two to three days' drive from here to Westchester."

Faced with everyone's tension, Laura thought for a moment and turned to look at Logan.

Logan, meanwhile, continued asking Aurora on the cell phone, "Any suggestions, Aurora?"

"We can board an unmanned freight truck."

Aurora replied, "I have anonymously contacted the Walmart Department Store Group online and placed a freight order. Twenty-plus minutes from now, an unmanned cargo truck departing from South Dakota and heading to Westchester, New York, will pass by the highway outside the city. I will hack into its main control system to temporarily force it to a stop, and you will find an opportunity to get on board."

"Large corporations' unmanned freight trucks have complete documentation, and traffic police lack the authority to stop them. Coupled with the fully enclosed structure of the cargo compartment, the safety is extremely high. If we advance at full speed, we are expected to arrive in Westchester twenty-eight hours later."

"The truck is stocked with plenty of food and medicine, allowing you to get adequate rest."

Ten minutes later, amidst the night, a three-meter-tall unmanned cargo truck arrived right on schedule, slowly stopping on the desolate highway outside the city.

Logan looked at this behemoth, a complicated expression appearing on his face as he muttered to himself, "Shit... back on the highway outside Kansas, I was almost killed by something just like this..."

The truck bed door slowly opened, and Aurora's voice rang out from the speaker inside the unmanned freight truck: "Time is tight, someone could pass by here at any time... Please get in as soon as possible!"

"Come help, lift Charles up first," Logan said, and together with Richter and Jonah, carefully carried the still-unconscious Charles into the truck.

Soon, after everyone boarded, as the doors closed, the truck started back up, embarking on the long and arduous journey toward New York.

Inside the cargo compartment, after settling Charles down, Logan slowly changed his seating spot, looking at the few little ones in front of him and the stacked crates of cargo, and let out a long sigh of relief.

The moment he relaxed even slightly, the accumulated pain from the previous battle surged over his entire body like maggots clinging to bones!

Old Logan was too tired, and in too much pain.

He really wanted to just pass out like this and never wake up again.

However... he knew now was not the time...

There were still things he had to do.

Thus, Logan opened the silver-white suitcase, taking out a syringe filled with fluorescent green liquid.

Although unlabeled, Logan knew very well what this was.

"Wolverine Enhancement Serum!"

The old Wolf stared silently at the serum for a few seconds, then without a shred of hesitation, violently drove the needle into his own neck!

"Hiss, hiss..."

As the serum was pushed into his artery, Logan felt an indescribable burning sensation rapidly spread from his neck across his entire body.

He gradually felt as though his blood were beginning to burn, with every inch of muscle and every single bone emitting groans of unbearable strain!

His flesh was breaking down... while simultaneously being reborn.

"Logan?" Laura, nearby, noticed Logan's abnormal state and spoke up with concern.

"I'm fine..." Logan shook his head, but before long, he couldn't help but grimace again. "Aurora? Aurora? Damn it... you didn't tell me injecting this thing would hurt this much!"

"It is a 'rebirth' experience, Logan," Aurora replied. "During this process, your mutant gene will be further complemented, restoring full vitality and reaching a theoretically perfect level. At the same time, from the Essex Corporation's data, there is also research regarding 'Adamantium biological compatibility.' I have combined this portion of power to further improve the serum, which can further alleviate the rejection reaction between your body and the Adamantium..."

"Fag! Shut up! Just tell me how much longer!"

"According to my projections, you will endure agonizing pain for at least ten more hours."

"Shit..."

Logan cursed mentally, his body soon going limp as he leaned powerlessly against the compartment wall, making even moving a single finger immensely difficult.

As Logan stopped crying out, the compartment returned to quiet, leaving only the steady, humming drone of the moving truck.

The children began to gather around him, looking at him with curiosity and worry.

"Mr. Logan..." Bobby, the chubby boy, watched Logan's painful yet seemingly unexpectedly calm expression, unable to help asking softly, "What is the life of a superhero... like?"

Faced with the curious gazes of this group of children, the corners of Logan's mouth twitched slightly.

He leaned laborantly against the cold compartment wall, raising his head as his gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, returning to that period many years ago...

"I'm hardly any kind of hero..." Old Logan said in a deep voice. "In the beginning... I was just a stray dog roaming everywhere..."

"Then in the winter of 2000, in a bar, I met Marie (Rogue)..."