Japanese Mutants

"Those were mutants?" Seeing the two Japanese soldiers, Steve's eyes narrowed. He turned to Zhang Xuan and said in a low voice.

Zhang Xuan nodded, a meaningful smile on his face. "Yes, but their levels were fairly low, probably around Level Two."

Steve nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Their abilities seemed rather ordinary. Nick got beaten so badly because he probably underestimated them."

Neither Zhang Xuan nor Steve had any intention of stepping in. They stood to one side and watched Nick circle around the two Japanese soldiers, discussing them without pause.

"Look at that sharp-faced, short one." Steve pointed at the Japanese devil who had just blocked Nick's dagger with his arm, then turned to Zhang Xuan. "His ability should be something like stone skin, but he hasn't reached the point of being impervious to blades and bullets. Nick's last slash left a mark on him. As long as Nick finds the right spot, he can still hurt him with one strike."

"To put it plainly, his skin's thick. That hardly counts as an ability." Zhang Xuan shot the short man a disdainful glance, his tone mocking.

Nick had noticed Zhang Xuan and Steve long ago. Seeing them arrive without helping had left him somewhat resentful. Hearing their conversation, his face reddened. He truly had underestimated his opponents just now. Then, a gleam flashed through his single eye. His sharp gaze fixed directly on the short man before him, while the dagger in his hand danced rapidly like a venomous snake poised to strike.

"The tall one's ability is rather unusual. He can actually fire thermal throwing knives from his fingers." Steve was extremely surprised by the other Japanese devil's ability.

"The ability's decent, but this little Japanese devil is utter trash. His close-combat ability is completely nonexistent." Zhang Xuan was also quite surprised by the little Japanese devil's ability, but his words remained as mercilessly disparaging as ever.

Nick's expression brightened considerably. Zhang Xuan's words had clearly been meant for him.

With Zhang Xuan secretly guiding him, Nick rallied himself. Though burly, he moved with astonishing agility, slipping around the short Japanese devil blocking his path and appearing eerily in front of the tall one. The dagger in his hand stabbed at a vicious angle into the tall man's raised palm just as he was about to launch a thermal throwing knife. Overwhelmed by pain, the tall Japanese devil clutched his wrist and let out a miserable howl, losing all ability to fight.

Once the tall Japanese devil was taken out, the short one immediately became a target. Apart from skin as hard as rock, his only notable trait was his strength. Yet against Nick's agile movements, he could not even touch him, much less attack him.

A few minutes later, Nick spotted an opening and suddenly threw the dagger in his hand. The move caught everyone by surprise, especially the short Japanese devil. By the time he realized what was happening, the dagger had curved through a strange arc and stabbed toward his eye!

"How was that possible?" That was the only thought left in the short Japanese devil's mind. Then the dagger plunged into his eye, its sharp blade instantly piercing the eyeball and driving into his brain.

Zhang Xuan could not help clapping in praise. "Nick, that last move was beautiful!"

Nick grinned and pulled the dagger from the short Japanese devil's eye socket, bringing out a shattered eyeball and spilling brain matter all over the ground. The sight scared the tall Japanese devil beside him into fainting on the spot.

After wiping the dagger clean on the short Japanese devil's corpse, Nick casually slid it into the sheath at his waist and said disdainfully, "Was he really that timid?"

"I'll take this one." Zhang Xuan looked at the tall Japanese devil and spoke after some thought.

Nick shrugged with an indifferent expression. "Suit yourself. I have no interest in him at all."

A while later, the gunfire inside the garrison gradually died down. Groups of three or five Chinese soldiers gathered together, excitedly telling their comrades how many Japanese soldiers they had killed and how high-ranking the Japanese officers they had taken down were.

Zhang Xuan did not stop them, allowing them to vent the wild joy in their hearts.

Yet after a few minutes, everyone calmed down. They discovered that their "great achievements" were nothing special. Someone had killed more Japanese soldiers than they had; if one person had killed a Japanese major, he only had to listen closely to hear someone else boasting about killing three colonels. The more they listened, the more tired of it they became. It really was not such a big deal.

After leading everyone back to the valley base outside Shancheng, Zhang Xuan had Mr. Song distribute the bonuses that had been prepared long ago. Driving out the Japanese soldiers was the duty of every Chinese soldier, but monetary rewards were indispensable as well. As the saying went, heavy rewards brought forth brave men. Zhang Xuan intended to use money to forge a powerful army that dared to fight and charge.

"Follow me, Zhang Xuan, and you'll have no shortage of silver dollars or Japanese soldiers!" While Mr. Song arranged the bonus distribution, Zhang Xuan once again stood before the army and shouted with a roguish air. "The more Japanese soldiers you kill, the more silver dollars you'll be rewarded! There's no upper limit, as long as you can kill and dare to kill!"

After finishing that rather unconventional speech, Zhang Xuan headed to the prison inside the base, where the tall Japanese mutant was being held.

Although mutants did not reveal themselves to the public, their numbers were far from small. Zhang Xuan was not surprised that mutants had appeared in Japan. What worried him, however, was that there were already two mutants in a single Japanese garrison in Wuhan. Did that mean there were many more mutants within the Japanese army? If the Japanese military possessed a large number of mutants, it would have an extremely important impact on Zhang Xuan's future plans.

Filled with concern, Zhang Xuan had only just entered the prison when Natasha emerged, swaying her slender waist with a sweet smile.

Seeing Natasha's expression, Zhang Xuan could not help showing a hint of delight. He looked at her expectantly and asked, "What did you get out of him?" Although Zhang Xuan had studied with Natasha for some time, he wisely left interrogation work to her.

"Alex, I'm afraid your concerns are about to come true!" Natasha's first words made Zhang Xuan's heart skip a beat. "The Japanese army has a special battalion whose members are all mutants. The battalion commander is a man named Yoshida Shiro, known as Sunfire. He can create flames of extremely high temperature and is a very formidable mutant."

"Sunfire?" Zhang Xuan's brows drew tightly together. He had thought saving China would be as easy as turning his hand over, but now it seemed fraught with difficulties. The Japanese were not as easy to deal with as he had imagined.

Mutant abilities varied in countless ways, and a mutant's strength was closely tied to their ability. Some mutants possessed no combat power at all, while others were born with devastating abilities capable of destroying the world. A mutant battalion numbered at least close to a thousand people. If even one or two high-level mutants appeared among those thousand, Zhang Xuan and his thirty thousand Hydra troops would be utterly insignificant.

While Zhang Xuan was troubled by the Japanese mutants, some people in Shancheng had already received news that the Japanese forces in Jiangcheng had been completely wiped out. Some were invigorated and declared that this was a heaven-sent opportunity, the time for the Nationalist army to launch a full-scale counterattack; others were deeply worried, fearing Japanese retaliation.

Among those people, one person was exceptionally furious.

"What happened? Who did this?" The young man stood up angrily, deep hatred written across his sharply defined face. "My plan was about to be completed. Why did this have to happen at such a critical moment?"

"Young Master, we are investigating with all our strength." The balding middle-aged man beside him answered cautiously. "There will be results soon."

"Find him and kill him!" The young man left those words behind, turned, and walked away, quickly disappearing into an ancient building.

P.S. This story follows the mutant level system from the films: Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, with Level 5 being the strongest, equivalent to the Omega level in the comics.

P.S. I originally wanted to explain the issue with Wolverine's name in the unified reply post, but after editing it, I was told it contained sensitive words. I searched everywhere and could not find what was sensitive—how depressing! I could only dig up and pin a previous reader's post; Scorpion's explanation is in it, so everyone should take a look.