Chapter 22

For a moment, shock spread across Mindy's delicate face as she stared at Su Chen in disbelief.

"Su Chen, don't do anything stupid."

Mindy knew just how much injustice Su Chen had suffered beneath that cold, merciless face, how much pain he bore in his heart, and how much killing intent he had suppressed for so long.

She had seen some of the files in the system, so she knew Su Chen was a lab rat who had narrowly escaped death, not some heinous enemy.

But once he attacked a landmark building under the eyes of the world, there would be no turning back.

Turning back?

Su Chen, utterly disappointed in the world, had never even considered those words.

From this moment on, he only wanted the world to experience the pain he had endured.

A nuclear explosion.

That was what those people had given him.

Few could imagine that a person could completely store the power of a nuclear explosion inside his body in an instant.

External energy was like water, and the body was like a wooden bucket.

To hold so much vast energy in an instant naturally required an exceptionally sturdy body.

Su Chen's body was indestructible, and after being baptized by a nuclear explosion, his reconstructed and healed body had developed an entirely new resistance. It could perfectly adapt to terrifying energy impacts, and the strength of his muscles had risen to a whole new level.

That was why he could stroll through the city as though nothing had happened, carrying an immense amount of energy within him.

"It's time to return all of this to you in full!"

Su Chen could not hear the panicked cries of the people below.

The waves of energy constantly bursting from his body made the surrounding air currents increasingly turbulent, raging between heaven and earth like a passing typhoon.

Soon.

The energy swirling around him gradually emerged through his body, gushing out of him without end.

At that moment, Su Chen's body shone like a rising sun. Blazing daylight covered everything in sight in an instant, and the immense energy carried by the light destroyed everything here.

"No!!"

"Run!!"

The personnel standing guard on the ground scattered in every direction. They had never imagined that the figure ascending into the air would actually self-destruct.

The eruption of energy came crashing down like a sun bearing down on them. The magnificent building, shaped like a drawn blade, instantly began to evaporate like a snowman beneath the scorching summer sun.

"Ah!!"

The figures running across the ground, as well as the reporters who had come to watch, could not escape the catastrophe either.

Their bodies evaporated along with it.

Soon...

The light of the nuclear blast swept outward and completely covered the entire area of the building, wiping out the building along with all the soldiers and staff inside.

From far away, a vast, spectacular mushroom cloud could be seen rising above the ground.

No one had expected the building in which the military had placed such high hopes, and which they had used to mock criminals, to end up being nuked into oblivion.

"Oh my God, what is that?"

"Good Lord, that boy didn't just blow himself up, did he?"

"Holy crap, I definitely saw that right. That wanted criminal turned straight into a sun and gave off an incredibly dazzling light..."

The viewers in front of their televisions were utterly stunned.

But the satellite signal on their screens had been cut off, making it impossible to broadcast the live footage from the scene.

Even the most foolish person vaguely understood that the light released from the boy's body seemed to have become a terrifying explosive blast that struck the entire landmark building.

Of course, the citizens of the capital saw it all with perfect clarity.

A chilling mushroom cloud rose from the ground in the distance.

"Oh my God, has our country been hit by a nuclear explosion?"

Soon.

Someone posted footage of the mushroom cloud taken on a phone to a social media platform.

[Shocking! The building designed by Iron Man was nuked! The military got slapped in the face right in front of everyone! This is spectacular.]

In an instant.

The number of views shot past several hundred thousand. As the video was reposted and played elsewhere, more and more people learned that Washington, D.C., known as the nation's capital, had been attacked.

"Wait, is this some kind of joke?"

In the Stark headquarters building in Manhattan, Tony Stark nearly spat out the water in his mouth when he heard the news.

"It was called the safest facility in the world, one that would never let a single criminal escape, and it got nuked at close range before it even went into operation?"

Tony felt thoroughly slapped in the face.

As he watched the videos being reposted from all sides, Tony, who had already become Iron Man, grew intensely curious.

"JARVIS..."

"Yes, sir."

The artificial intelligence butler JARVIS immediately understood his master's intention. Linking to satellite equipment in low Earth orbit, JARVIS promptly calculated the nuclear yield.

"A Mutant ability suspected to involve energy absorption allowed this globally wanted criminal to store an extremely terrifying nuclear yield in his body. However, judging by the scale of the self-destruction, the boy could not have survived."

"Hmm, that's pretty obvious."

Iron Man Tony snarked.

After all, there was no need for calculations. Anyone with a brain who saw that would be pretty sure the boy had blown himself to death.

"No, sir. There is still a very conspicuous sign of life in the nuclear blast zone."

In less than a second, JARVIS's merciless answer gave him a resounding slap in the face.

"Impossible!"

At that moment, even the usually composed Tony jumped to his feet in fright.

At the same time.

At the scene, under the eyes of the crowd, a tall, slender figure surrounded by invisible fluctuations walked unharmed out of the rising mushroom cloud, just like an ordinary person.

PS: First update. As usual, I'm asking for your daily flowers and rating votes. Your support is the author's motivation.

PS2: Thanks to "Yoxi v" for the 100 tip.

Chapter 22

Boom!!!

An incomparably terrifying mushroom cloud stood above the ground, while the magnificent building that had once symbolized formidable military achievements had been completely razed.

The shadow of death hung over the area.

All was silent.

But amid that deathly silence, in the terrifying nuclear haze and explosive flames, a figure surrounded by invisible fluctuations walked out at an unhurried pace.

No one had expected a tall, slender figure to walk out of the very center of a nuclear explosion.

He wore a black hood, with black bangs covering his forehead. His distinctly black-and-white eyes held a cold glint, and there was little change of emotion on his cold, merciless face.

"It's him!"

"Oh my God, the globally wanted criminal who blew himself up is completely unharmed!"

Frightened by the radiation in the nuclear haze, the citizens in the surrounding area had long since fled in panic.

But there was still a reporter who did not fear death. For firsthand information, he boarded an armed helicopter and brought a cameraman along to deliver an on-the-spot report to the world.

It paid off for him.

The reporter had only intended to film the nuclear blast site up close, but unexpectedly saw a surviving figure walk out of the explosion.

It was him!!

He was the extremist Mutant member of a terrorist organization whom the defense spokesperson had only declared an S-class globally wanted criminal that morning.

He had single-handedly orchestrated this nuclear explosion, yet now he had walked out of it unharmed.

It was utterly shocking and horrifying to behold.

"According to reports, this Chinese boy, Su Chen, just killed General Ross and his special forces in Central Park in Manhattan."

"And now..."

"This boy is utterly lawless and has no regard for the law. In full view of everyone, he completely nuked a building by some bizarre means."

The reporter spoke into his microphone.

The cameraman carrying a camera even filmed a close-up from the air, capturing Su Chen's cold figure and face in full.

Hmm...

Less than a second later.

Through the lens, the cameraman clearly saw the boy who had walked out of the nuclear explosion raise his head and look at them with a cold, merciless expression.

"How noisy!"

Su Chen, having turned dark, could hear the voices from far up in the sky with perfect clarity.

Lawless.

Without a shred of law or morality.

Those grating words only strengthened Su Chen's resolve to take revenge.

Weren't they insisting that he was a Mutant member of an extremist organization?

Then he would give them what they wanted!!

Hum!!

Su Chen raised his right hand. A light flickered at one fingertip, and in the blink of an eye it expanded, instantly turning into a thick beam that blasted toward the sky.

"No!!"

The helicopter high in the sky had no time to take much evasive action.

The beam was simply too fast.

Boom!!

The helicopter's rotor was instantly destroyed by the beam. Having lost its lift, the entire helicopter plummeted straight toward the ground like a meteor.

Bang!

Soon, an orange-red flame rose from the ground in the distance.

With a crash like that, the people aboard the helicopter had no hope of surviving.

Meanwhile.

More and more military vehicles were driving into the area ahead.

But the soldiers, who had intended to cordon off the scene, had never imagined that a survivor could walk out of the nuclear explosion, much less the person who had caused it all.

"Attention, all personnel! Open fire immediately!!"

The first biochemical troops to arrive had no time to cordon off the scene.