Although the explosion at the edge of Long Island was dozens of kilometers away, to John who owned Super Hearing, it was like someone banging a drum hard in his ear.
He was sitting on the windowsill on the second floor, watching Reggie and Tommy fighting for a broken ball in the snow downstairs.
After hearing that dull roar, John's blue pupils shrank suddenly.
He didn't alert anyone, he just quietly opened the window, his body blended into the air like a weightless feather, and then pulled out a white sonic boom cloud above the clouds, heading straight to the edge of the town.
In less than two minutes, John was hovering over the abandoned factory building.
The air was still filled with a strong burnt smell and choking dust.
John slowly landed on the edge of the huge pit with a diameter of more than ten meters. The dark red boots stepped on the charred soil, making a subtle cracking sound.
No professional detection equipment is needed. John's super sense immediately captured the special fluctuations remaining in the air.
Only one person in this world can release that burning, stinging radiation residue.
John walked slowly on the edge of the pit, his eyes scanning the completely melted reinforced concrete, and finally stopped on a slightly flat piece of scorched earth.
There were several twisted Transfiguration metal gears scattered there, as well as a brown paper bag that was mostly burned.
John walked over and bent down to pick up a metal part that was still hot to the touch.
He remembered clearly that after eating bacon and fried eggs this morning, Lynn smoothly told the old guy named Benjamin to go to town to buy some replacement parts for the Lawn machine.
John's brows wrinkled slightly.
He looked at the gear of Transfiguration in his hand, and the scene in Backyard this morning flashed in his mind, the scene of the old gangster squatting in the snow and conscientiously repairing the wooden fence.
When he handed over the cup of hot cocoa, the embarrassed expression on the other person's face that was about to burst into tears was definitely not an act.
Now that you have begun to accept this family, why did you suddenly go crazy in such a wilderness?
John threw the piece of scrap metal in his hand on the ground and looked at the empty ruins around him with deep eyes. Without any further pause, he bent his legs slightly and rose directly into the sky.
When we returned to Long Island Estate, the sky had completely darkened.
There was no such noisy noise in the living room during the day, and the little ones seemed to be resting in their own rooms.
John walked lightly to the living room and saw Lynn relaxing on the large fabric sofa.
The TV was on, but the volume was turned down low.
An emergency news was being broadcast on the screen, and the screen cut to several streets of Queens and Brooklyn.
The usually bustling streets now resembled a ransacked war zone, with burning cars, collapsed shop signs, and dazzling blood stains on the ground.
The news anchor's face was pale, his voice was tight, and he kept repeating the words "unidentified creature", "terrorist attack" and "tragic casualties".
A few blurry surveillance screenshots occasionally flashed in the corner of the screen, and some humanoid monsters with scales and sharp horns could be vaguely seen wreaking havoc.
Lynn held a cup of coffee in his hand and looked calmly at the shocking scenes on the TV screen.
Hearing the footsteps, Lynn did not look back, but simply asked, "Did you see clearly?"
"It's Benjamin."
John walked to the sofa and found a comfortable position to sit down. "There was a big crater in the abandoned factory building, and his radiation residue was everywhere. I also saw the parts of the Lawn machine beside the crater. He didn't reply to the Manor."
Lynn paused slightly while drinking water.
The news on the TV continued, and there was even a picture of a mutant named Outsiders running wildly on the streets of a wealthy area with an expensive watch.
"These monsters are the work of Vought International."
Lynn put the water cup on the coffee table and said without too much emotion in his tone, "Edgar, that old fox, always likes to use low-level people like this without cost as consumables for testing data. He wants to use the destructive power of these monsters to knock on Pentagon's door."
John was not interested in Pentagon's order at all. He looked at Lynn with his blue eyes. "What about Benjamin? Why did he suddenly go crazy?"
This is also the question Lynn is thinking about.
Lynn leaned on the back of the sofa and gently rubbed his eyebrows with his fingers.
The atmosphere in the Manor has obviously eased. Benjamin just apologized yesterday and took the initiative to work again today. The desire to integrate into the family is very real.
But how could he go to the deserted ruins for no reason and fire a Chest Blast?
Unless someone in town deliberately provoked him.
Have people from Vought International looked for him?
Lynn's mind is spinning very fast.
If Vought International wants to take Benjamin back, Benjamin will either agree or refuse and beat the other person half to death.
But he chose to run into the ruins alone, blow up everything, and then disappear quietly.
This is an extremely depressing and impotent rage.
He hid because he had a fire in his heart that he couldn't vent, and he couldn't do anything to the person who made him angry.
Lynn's mind flashed through Vought International's intricate past events, and finally settled on a woman who always wore a cruel smile.
Stormfront.
Lynn knows that the only woman Benjamin really cared about back then was Liberty of that era, and later Stormfront.
As for Stormfront, he went crazy for death not long ago, and was finally brutally killed by John, who was then stabbed to death by Black Noir.
Lynn's eyes dimmed slightly, he probably guessed what Edgar did.
That old fox has always been ruthless in his methods of playing with people's hearts.
Long Island Estate is now like an iron bucket with no flaws, and Benjamin, an outsider who has just squeezed in, is the only gap.
Edgar If you want to blow up this home from the inside, the best way is to kill your heart.
Handing the video of Black Noir's murder into Benjamin's hands was a stab in the veteran's heart.
Lynn Suddenly I felt a little tight in my chest.
He originally thought that based on the old gangster's proud and violent temper, he would definitely rush back to the Manor with red eyes after seeing the video, and even if he risked his life, he would seek an explanation and smash the whole house to pieces.
But he didn't.
Benjamin chose to run into the deserted ruins, blew up all reason and anger with a devastating Chest Blast, and then left alone like a homeless ghost.
He gave up revenge.
The news on the TV continued, and the sound of police sirens on the street came through the screen, making it a bit noisy in the spacious living room.
Buddy slowly strolled out from the corner of the kitchen. It shook its golden hair, turned twice on the carpet, and finally rested its chin comfortably next to Lynn's slippers and let out a long yawn.
Lynn didn't say anything, he just picked up the coffee on the coffee table and took a sip.
The night wind outside the window seemed to be a little stronger, causing the row of newly repaired wooden fences in the yard to sway slightly.