"So what if I killed him? Kill me yourself if you've got what it takes!"
Only after carefully examining the blade in his hand did Wenwu leisurely raise his eyes, his voice dripping with disdain.
"Die!"
Thoroughly enraged by such contempt, William vanished on the spot.
"So fast!"
Wenwu's Spider-Sense instantly sounded the alarm, and his body instinctively jerked backward.
A dagger appeared out of thin air, narrowly grazing past his neck!
But immediately afterward, a sharp clang rang out from his chest, accompanied by a dazzling spray of sparks.
Wenwu frowned slightly and looked down at his chest.
The protective energy of the Ten Rings had actually been breached. Even his skin, tough enough to withstand sniper fire and grenade blasts, had suffered a shallow, bloody cut.
"Hahaha! I thought you were so strong. Now die!"
In the distance, William had barely reappeared before he blurred into an afterimage and vanished into the air again.
That speed is almost twice the speed of sound!
Wenwu was secretly astonished. This guy was so fast that even his dynamic vision struggled to fully track him.
At such terrifying speed, he could probably rival Quicksilver, who had been shot dead in Avengers: Age of Ultron!
Combined with the dagger in his hand that could cut through anything, he was practically the perfect, terrifying assassin.
And yet, he had run into Wenwu!
The corners of Wenwu's mouth lifted slightly. With a thought, he instantly expanded the Ten Rings' energy barrier.
Caught off guard, William was sent flying by the violent energy.
However, his figure had barely flickered in midair before he prepared to flee at high speed again.
At that moment, with a slight shift of Wenwu's thoughts, an invisible force instantly locked the dagger in William's hand in place. Thrown off balance, William took a clumsy tumble.
"Aaah... what did you do... my head hurts so much!"
William suddenly released his dagger in agony and clutched his head with both hands, sobbing and screaming on the ground.
"Poor man. Something was actually implanted in your brain, and it even contains metal."
Wenwu shook his head and gave him a pitying smile.
He had keenly detected a peanut-sized chip embedded in William's brain!
He had only moved the chip slightly, and it had already left William in unbearable agony.
"Please, spare me! I'll do anything you ask!" William rolled across the floor in pain, desperately banging his head against the ground as he begged for mercy.
However, just as Wenwu was about to say something, William's head exploded with a bang, without any warning!
Wenwu darted aside, easily avoiding the brains and blood splattering in every direction.
"Holy shit, that's ruthless!"
Wenwu inwardly clicked his tongue. He had originally intended to destroy the chip and try to bring William under his command. He had never expected the chip in William's head to have a self-destruct function!
"I was wondering why those two mutants would willingly let Hydra order them around when they were so capable. So they had control chips implanted in their brains!" Wenwu murmured to himself with a look of rueful realization.
Then, with a slight shift of his thoughts, a chip stained with Translucent's blood flew out of the pool on the floor and landed steadily in his palm.
"But you overlooked one thing."
Wenwu chuckled. This time, he acted first, completely destroying the chip's internal self-destruct program, intending to take it back for a thorough study.
Inside a hidden underground base in Washington.
Pierce and several senior Hydra officials were staring fixedly at a screen.
The footage had been transmitted by the control chips. It showed Wenwu effortlessly killing Invisible Man in an instant, defeating William, and even remotely controlling the chip inside a person's brain.
After watching it all, everyone's expression was utterly grave.
"This Wenwu is far stronger than we imagined. According to the supercomputer's calculations, the combat strength he displayed is second only to Hulk's, and he also seems to possess the ability to control metal!"
A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses gave his analysis in a low voice.
"A mutant?" Pierce's brows knitted tightly, his tone grave.
"Uncertain." The bespectacled man shook his head slightly.
"So what if he can control metal? We have plenty of specially made plastic weapons and more than enough mutant cure. Just send a team to ambush him, and I guarantee they'll turn him into an ordinary person in an instant!"
A gaunt old man with a sinister expression spoke in an icy voice.
"Didn't you see that he has those mysterious Ten Rings protecting him with energy?" the bespectacled man immediately countered.
"Since he refuses to appreciate our goodwill, we'll bring all our influence to bear and have the military step in to stamp out his forces completely. We absolutely cannot let him keep growing!" Pierce made his decision on the spot and issued the order coldly.
"Exactly. We don't need to dirty our own hands. Just let the military deal with him, while we stay behind the scenes and reap the benefits." The bespectacled man chuckled, a trace of cunning flashing in his eyes.
"It's just a shame about those two mutants."
The gaunt old man sighed regretfully. "We put an enormous amount of effort into successfully modifying them. To think they would die just like that."
"Hmph. Sooner or later, we'll make the Ten Rings pay! He has Stark's energy and armor technology. The United States won't tolerate him.
"As long as we step up our efforts to stir things up, it won't be long before the Ten Rings is wiped out!"
Pierce spoke with an icy expression.
Salia.
A group of soldiers was swiftly cleaning up the reception room, packing up the remains of William's corpse to take back to headquarters for research.
Meanwhile, Wenwu sat in the mayor's office, continually handling and examining Translucent's katana and William's dagger.
"This is definitely adamantium. No doubt about it!"
Wenwu's voice was utterly certain, and his eyes held a measure of delight.
Like vibranium, adamantium was one of the toughest metals in the universe.
Unlike vibranium, however, it was a synthetic metal, artificially created by combining a metallic element from an extraterrestrial meteorite with other alloys.
It was as indestructible as vibranium, but extremely dense, making it heavier than ordinary steel.
Once it cooled and solidified, its molecular structure became permanently locked, and it could no longer be melted, bent, or reshaped. Even temperatures of hundreds of thousands of degrees could not melt it.
Only a molecular rearranger or god-level power could alter it.
It was virtually immune to all explosions, energy weapons, and immensely powerful physical blows, while its cutting edge could slice through the vast majority of substances.
Wolverine had this metal implanted in his body, giving him indestructible bones and metal claws.
With a thought, Wenwu instantly activated his metal-controlling ability.
The adamantium katana began to deform slowly, then fused together, gradually taking shape until it finally became a plain, antique-style Tang hengdao!
Wenwu let out a long breath, feeling that this consumed even more mental energy than controlling vibranium.
"Still, this design is much easier on the eyes than that little Jap's katana." He smiled slightly and murmured in satisfaction.
Not long afterward, Wenwu inspected the military base in Amba City.
The soldiers' training looked proper and was quite good, but judging by the armaments he saw, he felt they were still somewhat lacking in heavy equipment.
After returning to headquarters, Wenwu tossed the adamantium dagger to the scientists researching materials, then took out a small piece of vibranium and shaped it into a belt.
Next, he split the Tang hengdao into ten hiltless short swords and slotted them neatly into the vibranium belt.
From then on, he would carry these ten flying swords with him. Paired with his metal-controlling ability, they would be like giving wings to a tiger!