As he spoke, the sports car's roof flipped open.
Whoosh!
Before Carter could even ask a question, she was ejected from the car.
Fortunately, she was a battle-hardened veteran and did not panic in midair.
She quickly adjusted her posture in the air so she would not fall when she landed.
"Th-that's the car I was just in?!"
While she was still airborne, Carter looked toward where she had been sitting, and her scalp suddenly prickled.
"What kind of artificial intelligence is this?! It can even transform?"
The Lamborghini shifted and changed, transforming into a robot over six meters tall!
After Lockdown assumed his robot form, the machinery in his head shifted as well.
A cannon barrel formed in his forehead, and he fired at the two vans ahead without the slightest hesitation.
Boom!
Two explosions thundered as the shells struck the vans with pinpoint accuracy.
The special forces soldiers inside had no time to dodge and were consumed by the flames.
"Damn it, they've spotted us! Move!"
Seeing the vehicles explode ahead, the special forces soldiers in the van behind cursed angrily and hurriedly disengaged the safeties on their fully automatic rifles, ready to brake and attack.
"Look, that guy! Is he the target?"
The soldier driving paled with fear when he saw a young man standing directly in the van's path.
At their current speed, even if he braked, the van would still slam straight into him!
The van's headlights illuminated Mercer's face. Before the soldiers could react, they saw a somewhat puzzling smile appear on his lips.
The next second, a card flashed into his right hand, then lit up and transformed into a short, gray-black hilt.
Mercer tightened his grip, and a black energy blade edged with white light extended from the Dark Saber's hilt.
Facing the speeding vehicle, Mercer remained utterly calm. He raised his hand and delivered a single slash.
Beneath the energy blade, the van's protective special-metal armor parted as easily as flowing water.
Mercer barely had time to exert any force before he felt something like a great mass of "liquid" pass along the blade, as though a ripple had gently pushed against it.
The van instantly "went its separate ways," splitting in two!
Momentum sent the halves crashing to either side, tearing through several closed storefronts before they finally stopped.
"Wow, this lightsaber is seriously powerful!"
Mercer lightly swung the lightsaber. With each swing, the blade gave off a soft, pleasing hum.
He glanced to either side, picked the direction where someone was crawling out, and walked over.
The soldier who had crawled free watched Mercer stroll toward him, drew the dagger strapped to his calf, and let out a few impotent roars to bolster his courage before charging.
The sharp dagger slashed forward again and again, every strike filled with deadly intent.
Yet even so, the soldier could not so much as touch the hem of Mercer's clothes.
No matter how hard he tried, Mercer always dodged with effortless composure.
To Mercer, his opponent's movements were painfully slow.
The Blacklight Virus had vastly enhanced his dynamic vision.
Because he had always fought mutants, Mercer had never felt there was much of a gap between him and ordinary people.
Now, it seemed that gap was anything but small.
He could easily reach the pinnacle of human ability. Even the standard form of his Blacklight Virus body was beyond anything an ordinary person could match.
While his opponent attacked, Mercer treated it like a game, never taking him seriously at all.
Less than half a minute of slashing had already driven the soldier to despair.
"Is this all Hydra's soldiers can do?"
At those words, the panting soldier abruptly looked up, disbelief filling his eyes.
Though he said nothing, the shock within him was plain to see.
Realizing he had been exposed and had no chance of escape, the Hydra soldier curled his tongue inside his mouth and dislodged a hidden poison tooth.
Just as he was about to bite through it, a tremendous force struck his left cheek, slapping the poison tooth clean out of his mouth.
"How do those Hydra bastards train you? You're ready to die just like that?"
"What Hydra? I don't know what you're talking about."
Seeing his poison tooth knocked away, the Hydra soldier was completely out of options. He glared venomously at Mercer, as though hoping to kill him with his eyes.
"You want to die? I've got a hundred ways to kill you. Want to try them?"
In that instant, Mercer's face changed. He also shifted his position so that only the Hydra soldier in front of him could see.
One look was enough to scare the soldier out of his wits. He scrambled away on his hands and feet, screaming as he went.
"A devil! A devil!"
The Hydra soldier's cracking voice instantly rang through the street. He had seen Mercer's face become the most terrifying being in existence-the devil Satan!
In truth, it was merely an image Mercer had seen in a painting.
It was not the real Satan. He had simply used the blacklight matter in his body to reshape his face that way.
Even so, in the Hydra soldier's eyes, Mercer was Satan himself descended upon the world, the most terrifying being in existence.
"Kaijeno? How could it be you?"
A startled voice came from behind Mercer. Carter hurried over and immediately called out the Hydra soldier's name when she saw him. Clearly, she had met him before.
Mercer restored his face the moment he turned around. He handed her the poison tooth and said,
"I got this out of his mouth. You should be familiar with it, right?"
Carter froze at the sight of what Mercer offered her.
"Is this a poison tooth?!"
Poison teeth hidden in the mouth-the very mention brought back unpleasant memories for Carter.
She had once had a sworn enemy whose soldiers all carried implanted poison teeth. Whenever they reached a dead end with no hope of escape, they would poison themselves.
It was because of her struggle against that organization that Carter had remained frozen until now.
She would never forget that organization as long as she lived: Hydra!
But Hydra had been destroyed seventy years ago. Was this merely a coincidence?
An ominous suspicion suddenly arose in Carter's heart. She glanced at the people who had stopped their cars on either side and the onlookers already gathering, then leaned close to Mercer and whispered,
"Keep this guy alive. This isn't the place to act. Let's leave first."
Mercer nodded, knocked the Hydra soldier unconscious with a chop of his hand, and tossed him to Carter.
"He's yours. Interrogate him thoroughly, and you're bound to learn something that surprises you."
With that, he shot Lockdown a glance. Lockdown nodded in understanding, immediately transformed back into the Lamborghini, and drove over to Mercer.
Mercer got in and shut the door in one smooth motion.
Watching Mercer leave, Carter wore a conflicted expression. Only after a long while did she sigh.
"Just how much more is that kid hiding?"
Before you continue