Squeezing Out the Last Ounce of Value: Crossbones' Ultimate Fate
Inside the Negative Zone, the air still carried the acrid smell of burning from the overloaded energy, as well as a faint, almost imperceptible, sour odor that evoked fear in mortals.
The massive screen that once plunged S.H.I.E.L.D.. and Hydra executives into a midnight terror has now completely degenerated into a static-filled screen, emitting a crackling, annoying electrical hum.
Communication has been interrupted.
But the terror that lingered across the screen, enough to freeze one's soul, seemed to have not yet dissipated, making the already cold prison even more oppressive.
Hela, Wanda, and Jean Grey, these three top-tier Yandere who had just staged a "divinely powerful" performance, now stood like three perfect sculptures, bowing their heads and serving on either side and behind the Bone Throne. They had suppressed all their outward aura, hiding their obsession and madness, which could tear the universe apart, in their eyes, leaving only the most humble and docile posture, awaiting their master's judgment.
Their gazes, whether burning, infatuated, or awe-inspiring, were all focused on the back of the man on the Throne.
Lynn did not speak.
He didn't even glance back at them, as if the threat he had just delivered—a threat powerful enough to completely reshape the dark side of Earth—was merely a trivial, insignificant pastime.
He simply and slowly cast his cold, indifferent, and emotionless eyes at the person suspended in mid-air by telekinesis, who was utterly terrified, soiling himself, and trembling like a leaf... the "trophy."
Crossbones, Brock Rumlow.
Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D..'s elite task force, Hydra's most loyal hound.
At this moment, the vicious dog's limbs were twisted into bizarre angles, and there wasn't a single intact bone on its body. Its spirit, after witnessing the enslavement of the X-Men, hearing Lynn reveal Hydra's top secrets, and finally witnessing that divine power descend across the screen, had been completely crushed into dust.
He stopped begging for mercy and stopped roaring.
On that blood-stained face, in a pair of murky eyes, was reflected the image of the young man on the Bone Throne; deep within his pupils lay a pure nothingness beyond even despair.
He is completely ruined.
"Rubbish."
Lynn finally spoke, his voice not loud, but like a cold iron hammer, striking heavily on the hearts of everyone in the prison.
These two words were the final verdict on the Crossbones.
It's also... a new round of testing for the three women behind him.
The moment the words fell, the three previously dormant auras suddenly surged!
Hela's lips curled once more into that cruel yet magnificent smile befitting the Goddess of Death. Trash? She was best at dealing with trash. She had even already planned to extract the soul of this Hydra hound, forge it in the vengeful fires of the Underworld for seven days and seven nights, ultimately creating a "Stone of the Dead" that would forever wail, to be inlaid on the armrest of her Throne as an Eternity warning to all ants who dared to offend their master.
On the other side, in Wanda's Scarlet eyes, Chaos energy surged like an undercurrent. She felt Hela's ideas were too crude, filled with the stench of muscle and brute force. True art is silent erasure. She could alter reality, completely erasing Brock Rumlow from everyone's memory, from every corner of the Timeline, as if he had never been born. This was the perfect interpretation of her master's word "trash"—letting trash return to nothingness.
However, they were all a step too late.
Or rather, their thinking is still stuck at the level of "destruction" and "annihilation".
But one person, after experiencing mental torment, being violently subdued, and publicly humiliated, grasped the core essence of pleasing this new master earlier than any of them—
It's not destruction.
It's "exploitation"!
It's about squeezing every last bit of value out of every "tool," even the "garbage"!
"Owner."
A slightly hoarse voice, yet filled with a sickly piety, rang out from behind the Throne.
Jean Grey took a step forward and knelt on one knee, her dazzling red hair cascading down her lowered head like a burning waterfall.
"The wailing of such worthless trash is not worthy of your ears."
She stated it humbly, yet her tone carried an unyielding resolve.
Lynn didn't turn around, but let out a soft, ambiguous hum from her nose.
But that's enough.
Having received tacit approval, Jean Grey slowly raised her head.
At that moment, Hela and Wanda both saw something in her eyes that made their hearts tremble.
That wasn't murderous intent, nor was it anger.
Rather, it is an extremely pure form of ruthlessness and efficiency, designed to prove one's worth to one's master.
Buzz--!
There was no earth-shattering energy eruption, nor any terrifying weather that could destroy the world.
A wisp of Dark Gold flame, like a gentle sprite, silently ignited from Jean Grey's fingertips.
The flame was small, only the size of a candle, yet it radiated a primordial heat that even Hela's Death Force and Wanda's Chaos Magic could not withstand.
Qin raised her hand and pointed at the Crossbones suspended in mid-air.
The wisp of Dark Gold flame transformed into a slender stream of light, instantly disappearing into the space between the brow Crossbones.
"Uh... ah..."
The already spiritually dead Crossbones suddenly arched its body, emitting a final, incoherent, short, and painful twitch.
Then, a bizarre scene unfolded.
There was no burning, and no explosion.
From within, Crossbones ' body began to emit a faint, Dark Gold light. His skin, muscles, internal organs, bones... all the matter that constituted his existence was rapidly decomposing and Oblivion in a way that transcended the common sense of physics, transforming into the purest particles.
The entire process was eerily quiet.
There were no screams, no black smoke, and not even a trace of burnt smell.
It's like an invisible hand using an eraser to cleanly and neatly wipe away a painting from the canvas, bit by bit.
Wanda's pupils contracted slightly.
She understood. The harp wasn't using simple flames, but rather the Phoenix Force's most powerful "formatting" ability! This was erasing the existence of a substance from its very source!
Hela's brows furrowed tightly.
This method was more thorough, more... elegant, than the burning of her soul.
A strong sense of crisis arose simultaneously in the hearts of the two top experts. This newcomer, the Red-haired Woman, was engaging in a frenzied infighting in a way they had never imagined!
In just a few seconds, the Hydra executioner who once struck fear into the hearts of countless people was completely "erased" from the Negative Zone.
Not even a speck of dust remained.
However, that's not all.
Where the Crossbones had originally stood, the decomposed Dark Gold particles did not dissipate. They began to converge, compress, and rotate towards the center, eventually condensing into an irregular dark red crystal no bigger than a fingernail in the blinding light.
The crystal was completely translucent, with countless tiny streams of information flashing rapidly inside, and vague images could be faintly seen— Hydra's base, the Winter Soldier's cryogenic chamber, Alexander Pierce's face...
Jean Grey reached out her hand, and the crystal obediently fell into her palm.
She cradled the crystal in her hands, crawled forward on her knees, until she reached Lynn's Throne.
She raised her hands high and offered the crystal, still Phoenix warmth, to Lynn with a devout, almost sacrificial gesture.
"Master," her voice trembled slightly with excitement, "This is the core of all the information he has about Hydra in his memory. I have removed all the useless impurities and reshaped it into a ' Psychic Crystal '."
"You can read this at any time."
silence.
The entire Negative Zone Prison so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Hela's breathing stopped.
Wanda's fingertips trembled slightly.
They stared blankly at Jean Grey, at the small crystal in her hand, their minds completely blank.
It's possible to... do that?!
To completely incinerate the enemy into nothingness, then extract their most valuable memories and intelligence from that nothingness, and finally create a "USB drive" that the owner can access at any time?!
What a morbid loyalty!
What chillingly ruthless methods they employed to extract value from a place of extreme cruelty!
At this moment, for the first time, both the proud Goddess of Death and the fanatical Scarlet Witch felt a genuine sense of dread towards this Red-haired Woman.
They lost.
In this round of the competition for favor, they lost completely.
Lynn finally made a move.
He slowly rose from his Throne, his gaze sweeping over the Psychic Crystal before finally settling on Jean Grey's pale face, pale from an intense longing for recognition.
He didn't speak.
She simply reached out and picked up the crystal from Qin's palm.
The crystals felt cool to the touch, yet they contained a wealth of information.
Jean Grey's body trembled violently at the touch of Lynn's fingertips; she almost fainted from happiness.
However, Lynn's actions did not stop there.
After picking up the crystal, he didn't retract his free, bony hand.
Instead, it landed slowly on Jean Grey's head.
His palm covered her smooth, fiery red hair, his Five Fingers, with undeniable force, gently yet possessively inserted into her hair.
That's not appeasement.
It was not a caress either.
It was a reward given by a master after inspecting a tool that satisfied him, a reward imbued with absolute control...
"Well done..."
Lynn's voice, low and cold, like the whisper of the devil, rang in Jean Grey's ears.
Boom!!!
Jean Grey's mind went blank. Her soul seemed to be lifted to the clouds by the praise and the gesture. The extreme happiness and the ecstasy of being dominated made her tremble all over, almost melting in Lynn's palm.
However, to the other two women, this scene was nothing short of a nuclear explosion capable of detonating the entire universe!
An extremely cold killing intent suddenly erupted from Hela's body!
Meanwhile, another violent, jealous, and reality-distorting Scarlet Energy was gathering wildly in Wanda's eyes!
The flames of the Shura Field, after being forcibly suppressed for a moment, reignited instantly in an even more terrifying and uncontrollable manner due to this possessive act of reward!