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"Actually… you still have a choice."
Kevin really wanted to say that to Wolverine.
He was just going out to put on a show; under the television broadcast, Kevin certainly wouldn't be in mortal danger. Even if Alkali-Transigen intended to kill Kevin, they wouldn't be able to break through his body's defenses.
With Kevin's current physical condition, saying he could withstand a nuclear bomb… might still be a bit of a stretch, but conventional thermal weapons could no longer harm his body.
Therefore, Kevin handling Alkali-Transigen by himself wouldn't be a problem.
But if Wolverine went out with him, the outcome might be entirely different.
Wolverine's body had already weakened to a certain extent. Years of declining powers and the erosion from Adamantium had made his body unable to withstand too much 'nourishment'.
Those elixirs that were effective for new mutants would instead make his body even weaker.
During the elixir's duration, Wolverine might recover to his youthful physical state, but after the effects wore off, his condition might be even worse than it was now.
Therefore, Kevin didn't really want Wolverine to go with him.
It had been hard enough to make Wolverine vaguely consider living. He didn't want Wolverine to die here.
However, since Wolverine insisted on following, Kevin had no choice but to try his best to protect him.
"...Wait, you come with me. At the beginning, try to injure, not kill."
Leaving the children, Kevin quietly said to Wolverine.
Wolverine's expression instantly became bewildered. He looked at Kevin with extreme incomprehension, as if he had heard the most absurd statement imaginable:
"What are you saying?! They're coming for our lives!"
Wolverine couldn't believe that last sentence came from Kevin's mouth.
Wolverine had seen Kevin's methods against Alkali-Transigen before.
He knew Kevin wasn't someone who would be soft-hearted, nor was he someone who couldn't bring himself to kill.
Precisely because of this, Wolverine now found Kevin's words utterly incomprehensible.
If they weren't going to kill, then why come out and resist? Wouldn't it be simpler to just surrender?
"...I contacted the TV station. Did you see the helicopters over there? Those are the TV station's live broadcast helicopters, with reporters on board.
"With them watching, Alkali-Transigen won't try to kill unless absolutely necessary. Similarly, as victims, we should also try not to kill… at least not in the early stages."
"You contacted the TV station?"
Wolverine paused, his gaze shifting to the two black dots in the sky, and suddenly realized something: "...You… you knew Alkali-Transigen would come looking for us all along?"
"It's not hard to guess, but I didn't expect Alkali to actually dare to use large-scale destructive weapons."
Kevin wasn't lying when he said that.
He had guessed that Alkali-Transigen would come looking for them, and he also guessed that they might deploy some secret weapons, like X25, X26, and other things that didn't appear in the movies.
But Kevin hadn't expected them to actually get some support from the military.
However, this was also good. Since the military had entered the fray and stood against Kevin and the others, when the America government discovered this broadcast, they would no longer be able to stand idly by.
Kevin's several videos had already portrayed himself and the mutant children as victims of bullying.
Several victims, under extreme oppression, still hadn't resorted to killing, but were doing their best to preserve the lives of their enemies.
This behavior was foolish, but it was very easy to move the kind, emotional masses.
Also known as 'saints'.
When Kevin was pushed to his limit, and if he didn't fight back, his life would be in danger, then Kevin and Wolverine would 'reluctantly' eliminate the enemy. This way, they would have a reason to kill.
Because it was self-defense.
And it was self-defense under everyone's watchful eyes.
After this incident, the State Department couldn't use 'they are mutants harming humans' as an excuse to make things difficult for Kevin and the others.
Who was harming whom, any viewer who wasn't blind could see.
Wolverine was no longer in the mood to blame Kevin.
Kevin wasn't the one who chose to stay here and wait until dawn to depart. Even if Kevin had said at the time that Alkali-Transigen could come at any moment, the children probably wouldn't have left immediately.
After all, Wolverine had truly warned them.
One thing at a time, getting back to the present, fighting Alkali-Transigen's people without killing them was somewhat difficult for Wolverine.
The Adamantium claws in his body were made for killing. Not letting him kill was equivalent to crippling his claws.
So, after skipping the topic, Wolverine said to Kevin:
"It's impossible to stop them without killing."
"I know. That's why we just need to avoid killing in the early stages, establish the image of victims, and then when we're forced to retaliate, the public opinion against us won't be as strong later."
"Then what do we do now?"
"First, I'll start a live broadcast."
Kevin took out the phone he had placed on his chest.
During their conversation just now, Kevin had already stopped recording the video to avoid recording any inappropriate remarks.
Now that the conversation was over, and the distant helicopters were approaching, Kevin could just piggyback on the helicopter's live broadcast antenna to broadcast the current situation.
Skillfully opening the website, finding the live broadcast page, and connecting the black-tech device given by Rocket to the live broadcast page to prevent the live stream from being suddenly shut down, Kevin then turned to Wolverine and asked:
"Are you ready?"
"Ready… for what?"
Wolverine, who had never done a live broadcast, completely misunderstood Kevin's meaning.
But Kevin, seeing his bewildered look, laughed:
"Just like that, that's good."
Saying that, Kevin started the live broadcast.
...
"Hello everyone, I'm Kevin…"
On the live broadcast page, the haggard face of the young Kevin appeared in the live stream.
At that moment, countless comments poured in.
"Oh my god, I can finally talk to you!"
"Look at the comments, Kevin! Someone gave you an idea, saying you can ask the United Nations for help in this situation! Check your video comments for details!"
"I saw the TV broadcast… Is the TV station nearby?"
"I watched the TV too, and I saw the military attacking those children! Oh, my God! How dare they?!"
Comments were mixed with various emojis, some showing fear, some tears, and some sad faces.
Kevin just glanced casually at the comments scrolling by. His eyes were slightly red, and he thanked them with great emotion:
"Thank you… thank you all for your concern. I truly… truly appreciate it!
"But there's nothing I can do. I can't do what the comments suggest, because I can't be sure if there are Alkali-Transigen people within the United Nations. As everyone knows, their power is too vast…
"We can only run, taking the children to the shelter in Canada, but… but even so, they won't let us go!"
As Kevin said this, he flipped the video screen, showing the scene before him to everyone.
On the relatively flat dirt ground in the distance, military jeeps and armed helicopters were rushing towards them.
Just one look gave people a suffocating sense of oppression.
The comment section on the right side of the video exploded at that moment, with one comment after another scrolling up without stopping.
Often, before Kevin could clearly see the specific content, that comment would be pushed up by the next one.
However, even though the comments flashed by very quickly, Kevin could roughly understand what the netizens were saying.
Most were messages like 'It's too horrible,' 'How dare they do this,' 'Kevin, you guys run away.'
There were also some condemning the government and the military, asking what they were doing and why they still hadn't sent rescue.
Some even began to suspect that the plan to eliminate mutants was not solely Alkali-Transigen's idea, and that various governments might also be involved.
It must be said that this netizen's guess was extremely close to the truth.
There were many comments, almost no negative ones. On one hand, it was because Kevin had set up automatic filtering, preventing negative comments from being posted.
On the other hand, everyone was very concerned about this matter and knew that if anyone dared to post negative comments at this time, they would definitely be caught and flamed to death. So, the comment section was uniformly in support of Kevin and the mutant children.
Wolverine looked at these flashing comments and suddenly had a dreamlike feeling, as if he were in a dream.
Once upon a time, the relationship between mutants and humans had reached a point of irreconcilable differences.
Extremists on both sides wanted to completely exterminate the other, and it almost escalated into a world war.
The conflicts of the past had clearly been so severe, yet why was it that all Wolverine saw now was support for mutants, and no malice towards them at all?
Could just twenty-something years of change be enough for humans to forget the disputes between themselves and mutants?
Wolverine was momentarily in disbelief.
Before this, when Kevin said he wanted to stir up a public opinion war on the internet and occupy the moral high ground, Wolverine still found it absurd.
Things like 'propaganda,' 'public opinion war,' and 'cyberbullying' sounded like gibberish to an old-timer like Wolverine.
Wolverine, lacking relevant knowledge, simply didn't believe Kevin could successfully reverse the mutants' plight with what he said.
But now…
Wolverine felt as if a new world had opened up to him.
"Everyone, look! They actually contacted the military and are round up us together! They want to carry out a 'cleanup' on us!"
While Wolverine was lost in thought, Kevin's sorrowful and indignant voice sounded in his ears again. He flipped the camera around and said to it:
"...There's nothing we can do. I know we definitely can't escape, but at least… we have to let those poor children leave. They are innocent. Their lives shouldn't end here."
"You are innocent too!!"
"Damn it, is there no one who can control the damned Alkali-Transigen?!!"
"Wahhh, I can't take it anymore, I can't bear to watch… Kevin, don't worry about those children, just run yourself! No one will blame you!"
"No, I won't leave. Although I know that I have no relation to them, and it would be understandable if I just ran away, but… my conscience wouldn't be at peace. I won't allow any child to die before me!"
Kevin's impassioned words left Wolverine dumbfounded.
No… in the past few days we've spent together, I haven't seen you as such a selfless person… Why did your attitude change completely in front of the camera?
Wolverine grumbled inwardly, and for a fleeting moment, he even felt that the Kevin in front of him wasn't Kevin at all, but Mystique in disguise.
"And… I'm not fighting alone!"
While Wolverine was still muttering to himself, Kevin, before he could react, turned the camera towards Wolverine:
"Look! Former X-Men member, Wolverine, is with me! He will join me in stopping Alkali-Transigen, stopping them from harming those children!"
"...?"
When Kevin's camera turned to face him, Wolverine's expression froze again.
He had no idea he was involved in this. Kevin hadn't discussed it with him before, and now, being caught on camera, Wolverine suddenly became flustered.
In the end… Wolverine could only tentatively raise his hand, force an awkward smile, and greet them:
"Uh… Hi, everyone?"
Just that one greeting instantly made the audience in the live stream explode.
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