Jim took three steps forward.
An arrow flew through the air, silent and swift as lightning, like an owl swooping down from the clouds.
The arrow was no ordinary arrow; it was a specially made electric arrow. The high-voltage current exploded the moment the arrow pierced Jim's back, and blue arcs of electricity leaped across his body like glowing snakes.
Jim froze.
His self-healing ability can repair physical damage, but the electric current does more than just cause physical damage; it acts directly on the nervous system, causing muscle spasms, cardiac arrest, and brain short circuits.
Jim froze for a moment before collapsing to his knees, his hands bracing against the ground, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. His body's self-healing system was working hard, desperately trying to repair the nerve endings burned by the electric current.
However, the high-voltage current flowing through his body did not disappear immediately, causing secondary damage to Jim's mental state, which was already burdened by repeated gunshot wounds.
A second arrow then flew in from another direction.
The arrow was an explosive arrow; it detonated around Jim, the shockwave knocking him to the ground, and shrapnel pierced his body.
His self-healing was working, but at a much slower pace than before. This wasn't because his self-healing had weakened, but because his body and mind were suffering too much damage at the same time, and the repair speed couldn't keep up.
Steve turned around and looked in the direction the arrow had come from.
The super vision granted by the Super Soldier Serum allowed him to clearly see the rooftop of a building across the street, where a man in a purple tactical uniform stood holding a folding bow, the bowstring seemingly still trembling slightly.
Hawkeye, Clint Barton, Level 7 Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. and one of the Avengers, was also under Nick Fury's orders to secretly monitor the hotel where Russell was staying.
He glanced at Steve, then leaped off the roof, quickly descended the fire escape, landed on the ground, and walked towards Jim.
Jim lay on the ground, covered in blood, with two arrows stuck in his body.
He looked up at the person walking towards him; he recognized this person as well.
"You are... Hawkeye?" His voice was very soft, almost inaudible.
Clint didn't answer. He crouched down and drew a third arrow from his quiver. This arrow had a solid arrowhead made of Adamantium, specifically designed to deal with targets with healing abilities.
It doesn't rely on explosions or electric currents; it relies on physical penetration, specifically designed for use against Wolverine, who possesses Superhuman Healing.
An arrow pierced the skull, damaging the brainstem; even the strongest self-healing methods cannot save the patient.
After long-term research by S.H.I.E.L.D.., it was discovered that Wolverine's super healing factor is not without its limitations. Using Adamantium bullets and arrows to pierce his brain, even Wolverine would have a high probability of dying.
"You know Russell?" Clint asked in a cold voice.
"I know him." Jim, crouching on the ground, showed no fear in his eyes. "He is the God's Whip. He will do for me... for us... to finish what I didn't finish."
Clint nocked an arrow, drew back the bow, and aimed the arrowhead at Jim's forehead.
Jim did not close his eyes.
He looked at the arrow, at the cold gleam of the arrowhead in the sunlight, and thought of Emily, and her last words.
I just feel a little regretful that my strength is not strong enough. If I were as strong as Lord Russell, even if I were ambushed by special arrows, killing this Avengers with a bow and arrow would be easy.
Even so, killing him won't be so easy.
Just as Hawkeye was about to end the life of the criminal who had killed dozens of police officers, Steve spoke up.
"Barton, spare his life."
At the same time, Nick Fury's voice came through the earpiece on Barton's right side.
"Agent Barton, inject him with anesthesia and bring him back. There's something I need to figure out."
And be careful, Russell.
Barton's gaze sharpened, and he released the bowstring. As he changed arrows, Jim, who had been bowing his head and had no power to resist, suddenly launched an attack.
Call out!
As a professional agent, his reaction was quick, and he fired the arrow.
However, it was still too late; Jim raised his hand at the same time.
It wasn't meant to shield Clint; it was aimed at Clint's face, specifically at his eyes.
This desperate strike, a thrust using all his strength, combined with Jim's mutant powers that made him far stronger than an ordinary person, resulted in two fingers piercing Hawkeye's eye like chopsticks.
Ha!
Hawkeye winced in pain, letting out a muffled groan, and bright red blood trickled from the corner of his eye.
The arrow pierced Jim's forehead.
His body stiffened abruptly, then went limp, but a relieved smile appeared on his face.
So what if they're Avengers? They all have two shoulders and one head; they still feel pain when they're injured.
Jim, consumed by the flames of revenge, fell, taking with him not only dozens of police officers but also the eyes of Hawkeye.
"Barton ..." Steve was startled and quickly stepped forward, placing a hand on Hawkeye's shoulder, whose face was covered in blood.
"What happened? Agent Barton, did Russell make his move?"
Nick Fury's question came through the earpiece; he had just heard Barton's muffled groan when he was injured.
Clint brushed Steve's hand away, held the bow upright on the ground, used it to support his body as he stood up, turned around, and staggered two steps.
Then he stopped, realizing a terrible truth.
He went completely blind.
It's not just blurry, it's completely invisible.
It was like a light being turned off, like a window being closed, like a world disappearing from that direction.
He reached up and touched his face, only feeling the warm, damp blood.
"I...I'm blind." Clint's voice was calm, but Steve, with his keen senses, could clearly detect a tremor in his calm tone.
Yes!
No matter how rigorous Barton's training was, he was still just a mortal, and it was inevitable that he would experience emotional fluctuations after going blind.
Steve stared at Jim's smiling body on the ground, caught completely off guard by the sudden turn of events.
He suppressed the sorrowful reality revealed to him by Jim, and stepped forward again to help Barton up.
"Let's go. The high-tech healing pod on the Helicarrier might heal your eyes."
Hotel rooftop, bathroom.
Russell lay in the Aqua Regia, his eyes closed in a relaxed manner.
The numbers on the panel were still changing.
[Super Self-Healing Experience +0.3]
[Super Self-Healing Experience +0.2]
[Faith +1]
[Faith +1]
He was somewhat surprised to see that the Faith Power on the panel all came from Jim; this guy really was a fanatical believer.
Moreover, despite having a chance to survive, he suddenly attacked at the crucial moment and took away Hawkeye's eyes, truly showing no fear of death.
Then a system voice sounded in my mind.
[Faith Power detected. Target: Jim. Status: Dead. Recover Soul Stone?]
Russell opened his eyes and looked at Jim's body lying on the ground outside the hotel.
He was silent for a few seconds, then reached out and gently clenched his fist in the air.
An almost invisible ray of light stretched out from above his head, through the walls, across the street, past the still-smoking police cars and the still-trembling policemen, and landed on Jim's body.
When the light recedes, it brings back something—not something material, but a tiny point of light on a spiritual level.
Russell's mental focus sank into the small point of light, and he could clearly sense a figure curled up inside it. Who else could it be but Jim?
"Am I... dead?" Jim, inside the dot of light, looked up in confusion at the vast white world around him.
"You are indeed dead, but not necessarily."
A familiar voice echoed through the white world, Jim recognized the voice almost instantly.
"Lord... God's Whip, I have entered Heaven!!"
"It's not Heaven; you can think of it as the resting place of the Soul Stone after death."
Russell casually finished his reply, then subtly moved Jim's body from outside the hotel into the room.
"This person is dead, so quickly?" Rogue was still getting used to the surge of power within his body when he saw the corpse covered in blood with three arrows stuck in it, and his eyes widened immediately.
"He's dead now, but he might not be in the future."
Hearing the ambiguous words, Felicity, Laura, and the others were all confused.
Russell, who was collecting Jim's Soul Stone, was trying to see if he could bring the dead back to life. He was healing the wounds on Jim's body and secretly thinking that collecting Soul Stone seemed to be something that Dimension Demons often did.
Night quietly fell.
The city is still running, still killing, and still having people forgotten, abandoned, and killed—the line is drawn on the "not worth caring about" side.
Russell looked at the Crystal chandelier on the ceiling, its light shattering into countless tiny spots in his pupils.
"The God's Whip," he repeated the word under his breath, a slight smile playing on his lips.
He doesn't consider himself a god.
But perhaps, in the eyes of those who need God, he is.
A moment later, Jim's injuries were completely healed. Inside the light, Jim looked at his own corpse and felt a strange sensation.
"What are you waiting for? Go in and give it a try."
Hearing Russell urge him on, Jim, with a heart full of trepidation, floated into the body on the ground.
Russell nodded, but he didn't know whether it would succeed.