The Frozen Base

"Decline for now. Tell him I'm busy. If he wants revenge, he can fly west and find the Ten Rings in other regions."

Leon flew toward the nearest United States military base.

There were seven more bases like it within Afghanistan and the surrounding regions.

Over the next few years, that number would expand to nineteen.

So many bases had been built around a backward little country. The United States' intentions were obvious; its wolfish ambitions were laid bare.

Leon and Ben had originally only intended to eliminate the Ten Rings during this trip to Afghanistan, leaving any further plans to be advanced slowly later on.

But the little girl he had encountered at the very beginning of the night changed his mind.

After all, since he was already here, doing nothing in the middle of the night would be a disservice to the memories of his past life.

Though the United States in the Marvel world was not exactly the same as the one from his past life.

Leon still could not resist trimming this bald eagle's claws and fangs.

The moment he descended over the base, air-raid sirens rapidly blared through every barracks.

These well-trained soldiers were more alert and efficient than terrorists.

Before Leon even made any threatening move, machine guns had already been aimed at him one after another.

The base's broadcast equipment began issuing threats. "Intruder, land immediately! Stop where you are! Otherwise, we will open fire at once!"

Their overbearing tone, swiftly assembled troops, and neatly aligned gun barrels.

All of it made Leon sneer.

He had never considered peaceful negotiation as an option.

When dealing with a band of robbers, only after beating them into submission and making them hurt was it time to talk.

Leon slightly raised his chest, inhaled, then exhaled a frigid blast.

He chose to use Freeze Breath to deal with the enemy.

"Whoosh!" A fierce wind suddenly rose.

The bone-chilling gale instantly swept through every corner of the military base.

Following behind the freezing wind came layer upon layer of rapidly spreading solid ice.

The ice crawled across the base buildings like vines, invaded their interiors, and froze all weapons and ammunition fast.

Not even the troops in the camp were spared.

One soldier after another quickly became an ice statue.

Though the ice coating their bodies was much thinner.

When the entire base had been wrapped in ice, becoming frost-covered and translucent like an ice-crystal castle from a fairy tale.

Leon stopped.

He nodded in satisfaction, then raised his fist and slammed it hard into the base wall.

It looked like an effortless punch, neither painful nor impressive, incapable of stirring even the slightest ripple.

"Crack... crack!"

Yet rings of fine cracks immediately spread from the impact point, rapidly covering the entire structure.

When the cracks reached a certain critical density.

The wall beneath Leon's fist instantly collapsed, shattered, and burst into ice-wrapped fragments across the ground.

The destruction of that section of wall was like the first falling domino.

Soon, the surrounding walls began to break apart as well, and the entire military base fell into a chain reaction.

Ben was already incomparably brittle from the freezing temperatures, and the walls could not resist the transmission of that force at all.

Building after building collapsed.

What a magnificent sight it was.

Starting from Leon, every building in the base, along with everything inside them, shattered in succession into ruins.

Yet the sound of the collapsing buildings was not dull. Instead, the clashing ice made it especially pleasing to the ear.

For a time, the sounds of solids breaking and ice colliding rose and fell one after another, like ten thousand pieces of jade shattering together and phoenixes crying in unison.

When everything had broken apart, the enormous complex of base buildings had become wreckage strewn across the ground.

Fragments marked by jagged cracks refracted the moonlight of the night through the ice.

Leon landed on the ground and stepped over the ruins, producing crisp crunching sounds.

Directly before him stood the only things remaining from this military base—the United States soldiers.

Thousands of soldiers had lost consciousness inside the ice. Though they would certainly suffer lasting ailments in the future, at least their lives were not in danger.

Leon's control over his power was precise to the extreme.

He had destroyed every base building, weapon, and piece of ammunition, yet he had not harmed a single soldier inside the base.

Even the hidden injuries he left these people were deliberately intended as a small punishment and a stern warning.

"You brought this upon yourselves."

Leon muttered, his eyes swiftly turning red as he fired Heat Vision.

Heat Vision, whose highest temperature could exceed that of the sun's surface and burn away everything in the world.

Yet as it swept across the soldiers' ice statues, it merely barely thawed them.

What astonishingly fine control.

"Huff! Huff! S-so cold!"

"Th-he's Superman! Superman actually exists in this world?!"

"We were provoking Superman just now!?"

Once thawed, the soldiers all collapsed to the ground, clutching themselves or each other tightly and rubbing hard to generate heat.

They stared at Leon standing atop the ruins, each one too afraid to even breathe loudly.

Even several lieutenant colonels in the crowd, with three-striped epaulets on their shoulders, no longer dared utter another arrogant word.

"Now, I formally notify you: withdraw from Asia within one week. Otherwise, I will come again. Do not say I did not warn you!"

The ice beneath Leon's feet reflected a dim, illusory blue glow under the moonlight.

In the eyes of all the soldiers, Leon was like a frozen blade hanging above their heads, ready to fall at any moment.

The crowd fell completely silent. No one answered, and no one dared speak.

Leon did not wait for an answer either.

After leaving his warning, he took off and departed.

These ordinary soldiers, along with the few mid-ranking officers among them, did not have the authority to agree to a demand as significant as withdrawing troops.

He needed to keep demonstrating his strength to make the United States wary for the time being.

And to completely resolve the disputes to come, he would have to wait until he dealt with Hydra and withstand a nuclear bomb.

"The next target is twenty-six kilometers east. Try to finish it within one minute!" Leon suddenly accelerated through the air.

At the first base, he had seemed to do many things and spend a great deal of time.

But in truth, from the moment he flew above the base to the moment he shattered it and left.

Less than three minutes had passed.

So Leon intended to destroy every United States base before the seven or eight satellites overhead could even react.

That was right. Over the past hour, more and more satellites had been watching Leon from above.

First came two additional high-precision satellites sent by the United States.

Then the neighboring rabbit noticed something was wrong with its neighbor and sent one over.

Gradually, the Permanent Five all joined in. A cluster of satellites gathered over his head as noisily as if they were holding a meeting.

Leon did not mind in the slightest.

He even wished every country would broadcast it live, so people who had suffered under the United States for so long could see how he dealt with its bases.

Meanwhile, Tony was still on his way to the scene.

"JARVIS, what did it mean that Leon refused my call and ran off alone to pick a fight with a military base?"

Tony spoke with JARVIS while flying. "That was supposed to be Ben's job!"

"Sir, do you mean that you also intended to attack a United States base?" JARVIS asked.

"Attack? That word is inaccurate. I should be helping them relieve their anxiety over having too much ammunition!"

"I understand. Like Young Master Leon, you intend to destroy United States firepower and drive them out of this region."

"That kid was planning to do that?" Tony curled his lip. "He's always stealing my work!"

"I'm going to demand an explanation because they secretly gave Jericho to terrorist organizations. What is he doing it for?"