Arbitrators and The Adjudicator Take Action

Inside the Arbitrator Tower's operations room, a holographic projection divides the entire neon map into twelve intelligence zones.

On the left is a floating window displaying NHK news reports, on the right is a scrolling scrolling display of real-time discussions from the 2ch forum, and in the middle are documents and reports obtained through special means from Neon Government agencies.

Blue light cast dappled shadows on the seven faces— Chen Tian rested his chin on his hands, Tony's fingertips traced afterimages in the data stream, Steve and Natasha compared symptom reports from different regions, and 2B's mechanical pupils flashed rapidly as she analyzed the data. Only Deadpool, gagged with Vibranium and bound by chains, hummed an off-key rendition of "Sakura Sakura I Want to See You," Bayonetta drew demonic runes in the air with smoke rings, and Kiana ate a 'Stark Special Donut' with her bulging cheeks.

"Stop." Chen Tian suddenly spoke, and all the floating windows instantly froze.

He reached out and tapped on an internal report from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The document unfolded in the air like a semi-transparent screen. "Zahao Municipal Hospital reports 148 cases of unusual influenza in the past 72 hours, with symptoms including... persistent high fever and involuntary limb spasms."

Upon seeing the report, Deadpool suddenly began to writhe violently, the Vibranium chains emitting a grating metallic scraping sound. His eyes widened as he emitted rapid "uh-huh" sounds, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Chen Tian glanced at him, then turned back to the projection. "Looks like we're on the right track. Friday, pull up the surveillance footage from the Municipal Hospital for the past three days."

The holographic projection immediately switched to the surveillance footage of the hospital lobby. The first day's footage showed only a few patients wearing masks queuing at the registration desk; the second day's footage showed the corridors crowded with coughing people; by the third day, even the entrance to the emergency room was filled with convulsing patients, and the figures of medical staff running around were sometimes visible and sometimes not.

"Damn it..." Tony zoomed in on an image in a corner of the screen. Three people in protective suits were quietly carrying black body bags into an ambulance. "They're secretly moving a body."

Natasha's fingertip traced a point in time: "Look at the head nurse's lips—" In the image, a woman wearing glasses was speaking to a colleague. Friday immediately generated a lip-reading interpretation: ["It's already over 1000 cases; the higher-ups require it to be kept below three digits."]

"It seems this hospital has also lied about the number of patients." Natasha's red lips pressed into a straight line.

Deadpool suddenly slammed the back of his head against the projector, making Kiana choke with a loud 'bang. 'Bayonetta patted the girl's back while raising an eyebrow at Chen Tian: "Darling, if we don't untie this lunatic's mouth soon, he might get a concussion!"

Chen Tian waved his hand to remove the gag, and Deadpool immediately gasped for breath like a fish given a new lease on life. "Ha! I can finally talk!" He shook his head excitedly, "You know what? In the Zombie Universe, Spider-Man- Man told me himself that it was a similar scene during the pandemic—except it happened in the United States, and the first person infected was..."

Deadpool suddenly turned to Steve, his white eye patch on his mask widening dramatically. "That's right, Captain, it's you! The zombie version of you is practically tearing your own shield apart, it's even more exciting than the Walking Dead!"

2B's knife was silently pressed against Deadpool's neck, the blade reflecting the blue light of the holographic projection.

"Alright, alright," Deadpool tilted his head to avoid the blade, "Here comes the important part! You'll never guess who the culprit behind the Zombie Universe is—" he deliberately dragged out the words, "It's the First Ant-Man! Pym who talks to ants all day! Hahaha, didn't expect that, did you?"

Just as Deadpool was about to continue his rambling, Steve suddenly frowned and pointed to a floating window. "Look at this forum post." The screen displayed real-time comments from 2ch users: [Biting incident at Zahao Outlet Mall, is Resident Evil coming!].

Chen Tian immediately snapped his the Snap: "JARVIS, immediately dispatch the Watcher Platform's robots to Zahao to establish a real-time monitoring network and a safe zone."

The holographic projection switched to the mechanical forces of the Watcher Platform, with dozens of stealth reconnaissance aircraft and tactical robots sliding out of concealed hatches and speeding towards Zahao.

"This operation requires absolute protection." Chen Tian looked around at everyone, his gaze finally settling on Deadpool. "Wade, how strong is the zombie's bite? What level of armor can it break?"

Deadpool tilted his head, feigning deep thought, "Oh, that's a good question! Zombie Captain America can bite through S.H.I.E.L.D..'s bulletproof glass, but ordinary zombies..." He counted on his fingers, "They could probably bite through police riot shields, but against Tony's Mark Series armor, they'd probably lose a mouthful of teeth—unless they're mutants! Those guys can Kingpin's reinforced skin!"

Tony frowned. "So a regular nanotech suit can stop it?"

"Theoretically, that's how it is," Deadpool shook his head, "But don't forget, the scariest thing about the Zombie Virus isn't its bite force, it's its infectivity! Even if your armor isn't bitten through, as long as you get a little bit of zombie blood or slime on you..." He deliberately dragged out the words, "Boom! You'll become Zombie Iron Man!"

2B's pupils contracted slightly. "Master, I recommend that all combat personnel equip themselves with sealed protective suits."

Natasha has already activated the Arbitrators's highest-level biohazard protection plan. "Perhaps we could try using the sealed design of the 'Black Panther' suit, combined with the Extremis Virus's automatic disinfection system."

Just then, JARVIS's voice rang out. "Mr. Chen, the robot has arrived at the scene--" The projection screen switched to an overhead view of the shopping mall, showing at least twenty strange figures in the crowd biting passersby. One of the infected suddenly looked up, its rotting face facing the surveillance camera, its eyes glowing with an eerie green light...

Deadpool suddenly sprang to his feet as if electrocuted, his chains rattling. "Holy shit! This is it!" He practically lunged at the holographic projection. "Golden eyes! I bet all my lives, every man I've ever served with my mouth, this is definitely that mutant virus I encountered before I transmigrated!"

He nervously turned to an empty corner, lowered his voice, and said to the air, "Listen, I know what you're thinking—the zombies in Resident Evil roll their eyes, the ones in the Walking Dead drool, and the ones in World War Z run faster than Bolt..." Suddenly, he turned back to the crowd and opened his arms wide. "But this! This one that glows with gold is definitely a one-of-a-kind custom-made!"

Chen Tian took a deep breath. Staring at Deadpool's incessantly chattering mouth, he suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem— Deadpool had transmigrated here, and the Zombie Virus had followed. This was no coincidence.

"There are only two possibilities," Chen Tian said in a deep voice, "Either Pym from that world also traveled here, or..." He looked at the golden-eyed zombie in the surveillance footage, "Someone deliberately released the Zombie Virus into this world."

He turned abruptly. "Tony, wake up Shuri and Banner immediately. We need to equip everyone with Vibranium armor as quickly as possible, like the full-body protection of Black Panther."

Tony has already summoned the armor components and they are being assembled. "They're on their way. Friday, activate the lab emergency protocol and load the Extremis Virus protection module into the armor system."

"Steve," Chen Tian turned to Captain America, "Go and mobilize all the Arbitrators members who are resting. Have them stand by in the equipment room. Once the armor is tested, we'll trigger the Zahao immediately."

Steve grabbed his shield and nodded. "I will."

"2B," Chen Tian said, looking at the mechanical girl, "Contact Yinsen and have him come to the operations room immediately. We need him to find the first infected person among the vast amount of data while we're on our mission—"

"--Like searching for Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Mission: Impossible: Impossible?" Deadpool suddenly interjected, springing up in front of Chen Tian like a spring. "I suggest checking the surveillance footage from the hospital morgue! In all movies--"

Bayonetta Deadpool kicked back into her chair. "Quiet down, Mr. Joker."

As everyone left the operations room to prepare, Chen Tian subtly took Natasha's wrist. Under the cover of adjusting the holographic projection, he leaned down and whispered in her ear:

"Contact the Red Room and have Melina secretly investigate whether similar cases have occurred outside of BHD." His voice was extremely low, only Natasha could hear it. "Mobilize the Adjudicator; if any signs of infection are found... eliminate them directly, bypass the official reporting process."

Natasha's red lips tightened slightly as she noticed that Chen Tian had used the word 'clear' instead of 'control'.

"Have Eric lead the team, and Logan and Vergil go all out," Chen Tian continued, tracing several key cities on the holographic map. "Synchronize the information on the protective suits with them; I don't want to see the Adjudicator turn into a zombie Legion."

A sharp glint flashed in Natasha's green eyes. She nodded almost imperceptibly. She understood better than anyone the meaning behind this order—a silent Carnage to be carried out before the pandemic fully erupted.

"Do we need to use the Watcher Platform?" She pretended to adjust her headset, her lips barely moving.

Chen Tian's gaze swept across the projection. "No, just mobilize the 'Katyusha' support operation. Don't be afraid of being exposed; I just want the threat to be completely eliminated in its infancy."

Natasha's fingers tapped rapidly on the encrypted channel of the Red Room on her wristwatch, while she raised her voice in a casual tone. "I'm going to check the Vibranium reserves in the equipment room."

Chen Tian watched Natasha's figure disappear around the corner of the corridor, then led Bayonetta, 2B, and Kiana to the equipment room.

In a blind spot of the surveillance cameras, she had already dialed the special frequency of the Red Room. From the other end of the communicator came Melina's signature Russian: "Добрый вечер, дочь..." (Good evening, daughter. Yes, I even got that phrase from Baidu, I'm so proud.)

In the Sky City bar, Logan, a cigar dangling from his lips, pushed a glass of whiskey toward Eric. The bar was bustling with noise, Mutants civilians and former Sokovia civilians laughing and joking.

"There's nothing good about this place," Logan exhaled a smoke ring, "But this is my prized possession, Old Magnet, don't waste it."

Eric chuckled. "It's not easy to get an old man like you, who's addicted to alcohol, to bring out some good wine."

Just then, Vergil's figure suddenly stepped out from a blue spatial rift, his right hand resting on the Yamato, his cold face flickering in and out of focus under the changing neon lights of the bar.

"Get ready," Vergil's voice was colder than Arctic ice. "There's an operation."

Logan downed his drink in one gulp. "Finally, I can stretch my muscles a bit. What's the plan?"

Vergil's eyes narrowed slightly, and the temperature in the bar seemed to drop several degrees. "Murder."

Eric finished his drink, slowly stood up, and straightened his clothes. "How much?"

"All of them." Vergil stretched out his hand, and a holographic projection lit up on his wristwatch, displaying a map of Japan and a zombie with golden eyes. "In every city in Japan except BHD, if such a creature appears, kill it without mercy."

Logan grinned, cigar ash falling softly. "Ha! Finally, something interesting." He cracked his shoulders, his bones popping like beans. "Can I wear my Cloth now? I think it's itching to get on."

Vergil didn't answer, but turned and walked towards the suddenly appearing spatial rift. Before stepping in, he tilted his head slightly. "The Arbitrators's armor will arrive in five minutes. Remember—" his voice was a devilish whisper, "Beheading, or burning to ashes."

Eric sneered, and the surrounding metal objects began to vibrate violently. "Just what I wanted."

The moment the blue crack disappeared, the bar's old-fashioned jukebox suddenly started playing "Bad to the Bone." Logan grinned, revealing his fangs. "Now I know why that brat Tony Stark always plays music during battles—it gets the blood pumping!"