Chapter 52 / Chapter 53

He added one more thing.

"We could even be on the same side. After all, we have a common enemy."

"Hydra sends its regards!"

PS: The book goes premium at noon the day after tomorrow. The climactic plot was decided when I started writing, and it'll be far more shocking than the previous peak in the middle of the story.

All the buildup has been setting the stage for the major event that happens the next day. Please look forward to it.

You can also guess what exactly will happen that day. Some clues have already been laid...

Chapter 52

"Hydra sends its regards!"

The sudden remark sent a chill down Hit-Girl Mindy's spine.

"Hydra?"

Mindy's expression changed.

"Wasn't that the terrorist organization that disappeared from history during World War II?"

She wasn't the only one. Su Chen and Su Shan had naturally heard stories about HYDRA as well.

"No! Hydra is still here."

From the other side of the warehouse's iron door, the Hydra agent who had suddenly appeared spoke in a low, fervent voice. "Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place. Hydra is immortal."

"In fact, our organization is far larger than you can imagine. Every corner of the world is under Hydra's watchful gaze."

"It is like a giant serpent coiled high above the heavens, looking down on the foolish masses."

Hearing this,

Su Chen replied coldly, without mercy.

"What does an organization swept into the garbage heap of history have to brag about?"

"You..."

As if he had suffered a tremendous insult, the Hydra agent outside the door grew furious. Fortunately, what remained of his rationality stopped him from blurting out the curses on the tip of his tongue. After all, the young man inside was not to be trifled with.

He took a deep breath and said tactfully, "Although I can't tell you the details, we've already taken control of the world's major organizations in secret. If we wish, we can overthrow the entire world at any time."

"Your enemy is my enemy. Our interests are aligned. Once we control the world, you can have whatever you want: women, wealth, a throne-even the crown of king of Earth will be placed on your head."

At that moment, the Hydra agent was like a devil whispering temptations, painting Su Chen a beautiful vision of the world.

But...

Su Chen laughed.

"A terrorist organization that's hidden from the world for decades, skulking around while everyone calls for its head, like a rat hiding in a sewer."

"And you still have the nerve to try to recruit me!"

Su Chen really found it funny.

His merciless, mocking laughter hammered at the Hydra agent's heart like a stone mallet.

"Damn bastard..."

The devout Hydra believer simply couldn't stand having the other party challenge his organization's authority again and again.

Uh...

But just as he was about to lash out, a terrifying, invisible fluctuation of reality instantly enveloped his body.

His death was imminent.

Both his arms began to turn into clouds of gray smoke, dispersing into the air.

Sensing what was coming, the Hydra agent instead grinned viciously and shouted, "Hail Hydra!"

Soon,

under the power of erasure that interfered with reality, his figure was completely broken down into molecules and vanished.

"It should be true," Hit-Girl Mindy said, her expression rather grave. Even through an iron door, the fervor in his voice was enough to imagine just how fanatical his expression had been.

That fit the legendary terrorist organization Hydra perfectly.

It was also astonishing.

She had never imagined that Hydra, swept into the garbage heap of history, could make a comeback. From the look of things, it seemed to have completely infiltrated the world's major institutions. Could it be that the World Council and S.H.I.E.L.D. were both entirely under its secret control?

Otherwise, how would they dare claim they could overthrow the world?

"Just ignore them."

Su Chen acted as though he hadn't heard a thing.

It wasn't that he had so many troubles that one more made no difference.

Su Chen simply looked down on a terrorist organization that had hidden in history for decades without daring to show itself. Even when they extended an olive branch, he felt nothing but disdain.

As for retaliation?

With all his abilities, he had no reason to fear someone hiding in a filthy sewer.

But...

Su Chen was still somewhat upset.

Once again, under inexplicable circumstances, he had attracted another terrifying force from who knew where.

He truly felt that the world was deliberately targeting him.

There was General Stryker, whom he still hadn't dealt with, and who had made him the world's most wanted fugitive.

The X-Men, who were determined to arrest him and hand him over to the authorities.

The magical forces he had inexplicably provoked while avenging Mindy, as well as the so-called "guardian of Earth" who could arrive at any moment.

And now he had somehow become entangled with a terrorist organization that had lain dormant for decades.

Su Chen felt as though he were trapped in the eye of a storm, like an insect caught in a spiderweb, struggling desperately.

"Forget it. Tomorrow's business matters most."

After Su Chen and the others destroyed the exposed warehouse and secretly returned to their high-rise apartment,

that night,

in an underground base in the capital,

"The Hydra agent sent to make contact has disappeared. His life signs are gone, and he can be confirmed dead. The other party did not accept our goodwill."

Baron Strucker spoke coldly.

"He actually refused us. Then, just as the Zola Algorithm predicted, he truly is our mortal enemy. There's no need to intervene in tomorrow's operation. We'll simply watch him walk to his death."

Someone in the darkness voiced agreement.

The so-called Zola Algorithm used the Zola Program's computing power and big data to compile a list of people who would threaten Hydra's future rule over the world.

A presenter in Cairo, North Africa.

The enraged Hulk.

An unidentified surgeon.

And an immortal hidden in the Middle East.

Captain America, Steve.

Then...

there was the thirteen-year-old boy who had walked out of a small town.

That was the list of people the Zola Algorithm had identified as future threats to HYDRA's existence.

And who was Zola?

S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel might have been familiar with him, because Project Insight, which he headed, was intended to identify potentially dangerous people in society, so that crimes could be stopped and prevented in advance.

But no one had expected Arnim Zola to be a core member of Hydra.

The so-called Project Insight had become a secret operation for HYDRA to reclaim its dominance over the world.

As for this underground base, nearly every Hydra member there was on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s roster.

There was a joke that aptly described how brazen Hydra had become.

S.H.I.E.L.D. is here. Eight out of ten agents are Hydra.

"Since we failed to win him over..."

"Then we'll just watch him die tomorrow. Given his youthful temper, I'm sure he won't be able to resist coming to us."

Chapter 53

The members of HYDRA sneered as they waited for the next day, prepared to sit back and watch the tigers fight.

And that night, in a town in the central region,

the X-Men, who had fled there, finally saw the dawn of victory.

With Quicksilver's extraordinary speed, he had brought the one called "Amplifier" from a faraway place.

"Phew!"

Quicksilver Pietro let out a long breath, looking as though he had fulfilled his mission.

"Amplifier."

As the name suggested, he was a mutant who could strengthen the expression of the X-Gene and enhance the use of abilities.

"Can we start now?"

Wolverine Logan was instantly excited. A cold glint flashed in his eyes. He couldn't wait to go back and kill that brat.

Kitty Pryde hadn't expected Quicksilver to complete the mission so quickly, either.

But she shook her head and said, "No. I can't control this ability very well. We have to wait until tomorrow."

"All right, tomorrow it is!"

Wolverine Logan gritted his teeth. He could wait one more day.

As for the point in time they would travel to, since he was keeping it to himself, it naturally wouldn't be the day Su Chen was captured by General Stryker.

Determined to end it once and for all, Logan chose to return to a time before the other party had awakened, so he could vent his anger and avenge his friend Charles.

That was his best chance to strike.

Kill him!!

Then...

they would successfully reverse the future.

An entirely new history—a new timeline-would replace the tragedy that had happened before.

And people would completely forget the boy who had walked out of a nuclear blast, forget the number-one mutant, and have no memory at all of a little boy from a West Coast town.