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Kevin finally became a little more serious.
There was no water nearby, so he couldn't use his Water Manipulation ability, which was true.
But the Fighter's Dance, which had been leveled up to three, would have several continuously dancing streams of water swirling around him.
These streams of water were extremely tough, and with Kevin's Water Manipulation skill, he could condense them into various shapes.
So, under the camera of the live stream, Kevin began his 'path of growth'.
He was surrounded by water, rushing into the crowd, preventing soldiers from approaching the children; at first, his movements were clumsy, and he would occasionally be punched in the face by a soldier.
But it wasn't long before Kevin's movements became more skilled, and he became better at controlling the water around him.
The water condensed into sharp blades, circling Kevin like iron sheets, leaving fatal wounds on enemies every time they were touched.
Sometimes, to give the audience a better viewing experience, Kevin would even stop specifically for a less obvious 'close-up'.
Kevin's rise made the audience in the live stream cheer.
Zander could no longer tolerate it.
When he learned that Kevin, during the live broadcast, wouldn't use his remote killing ability to maintain his 'persona,' Zander simply hardened his heart and directly ordered:
"Fire!! Shoot those old mutants!! Especially that guy named Kevin! I don't care what method you use! Kill him!!!"
At this point, Zander had no way out.
Regardless, the company's image had already plummeted, and no matter how much they wanted to maintain decency, it was simply impossible.
It would be better to take advantage of the fact that the opponent had set a persona for himself and seize this opportunity to kill him!
This mutant named Kevin, his ability was a threat to anyone, and because he didn't know how to defend against his ability, Zander's plan from the very beginning was to conduct long-range fire coverage.
Keeping a distance from Kevin and striking from afar to eliminate the target, thereby avoiding people inexplicably dying by getting close to him.
It was just that later, due to the involvement of the TV station and Kevin's current live broadcast, he gave up using heavy weapons.
However, now, Zander felt that some conventional thermal weapons could be used.
For example, sniper rifles, machine guns, and artillery cannons; use these weapons whenever possible.
If that mutant named Kevin refused to use his true abilities to fight back, then let him die under these weapons!
Conversely, it didn't matter even if he did use those abilities.
When he used those strange and bloody abilities, his carefully crafted persona in front of the public would instantly collapse.
Audiences would find Kevin's abilities cruel and 'evil,' thereby reducing their favorability towards him and beginning to doubt his past actions.
Zander, of course, hoped that things would develop in the latter direction, which would both resolve the group's predicament and ruin Kevin's reputation.
However, even in the former scenario, Zander felt it wasn't a loss.
It was better for Kevin, who was a nuisance to the group, to die here than for him to live and continue to cause trouble for the group.
Moreover, if his corpse could be used for research, perhaps an even more powerful weapon than X24 could be created in the end.
Zander was already fantasizing about the scene after Kevin's death.
He seemed certain that Kevin would definitely die here today, either in a physical sense or a social sense.
...
Logan felt he had never been in such good condition.
After injecting the serum, his body was recovering at an extremely fast rate; those old injuries that couldn't heal on their own over the years gradually recovered, and strength slowly surged throughout his body.
His five senses became acute, and his completely degenerated wild instincts briefly returned.
Logan once again experienced his peak state.
His claws became sharp again, like a wolf rushing into a flock of sheep, charging through the crowd.
Steel claws tore through enemy limbs, pierced through enemy chests; whether soldiers or mercenaries, their bullets could not stop Logan's advance.
Charge, and charge again, until he reached the children, protecting them as they crossed the border line.
"Stop them!!"
"I'm about to catch those kids—!"
"You can shoot!! Repeat, you can shoot!!"
Da da da—
Amidst the chatter of soldiers and group mercenaries, the sound of gunfire echoed through The Woods.
Logan felt bullets pierce his body, but those bullet wounds healed in just a few seconds.
"Ah—!!!"
The pain and the rapid surge of adrenaline made Logan roar at his enemies.
He roared, then leaped out like a wolf again, slashing at those who shot him with even greater speed and strength.
"Run!! Hurry up and run!! You'll be safe once you cross the border line!!!"
Closer to the children, Logan heard Richtor's voice.
He was using his ability to set up mud roadblocks along the way, buying time for the children to escape.
But everything he did seemed to be of little use.
The Alkali-Transigen's people were faster; in The Woods, which wasn't particularly dense, they drove off-road vehicles through it, chasing the children.
Except for mutants like Quicksilver, how could the speed of ordinary mutants contend with vehicles?
It was only a matter of time before the children were caught, but Logan was powerless.
His steel claws couldn't handle so many vehicles.
At most, he could only stop one vehicle, and that was it.
But Logan wasn't alone.
"Everyone, stay away from them!!!!"
Kevin's roar came from behind him; in the sparse woods, Kevin's feet were wrapped in water, and he flew through the crowd as if soaring.
Clear water condensed in his hands; each stream of water, under his control, turned into tiny projectiles, which shot out with a flick of his fingers!
The projectiles weren't large, but they were very powerful; like bullets, they precisely pierced the foreheads and bodies of every soldier.
Enemies fell like harvested wheat, and in the blink of an eye, a large empty space appeared around Logan.
...If you had such an ability, you should have used it earlier, you bastard.
Watching Kevin easily deal with this group of enemies, Logan muttered, extremely speechless.
If he had known Kevin's ability was so strong, Logan shouldn't have come out with him and injected himself with the Alkali-Transigen's serum.
His body didn't seem to adapt well to the serum developed by Alkali; just a few minutes after he started to feel energized, Logan felt his body getting tired.
Clearly, the effects of the serum were about to wear off.
Kevin flew and rushed to Logan's side, and when he saw that the children had already disappeared from sight, he slowly exhaled and said to Logan:
"If we were talking about buying time, I think we've already done it, right?"
"Probably..."
Logan looked around.
Kevin's 'big cleanup' just now didn't spare even the Alkali-Transigen members driving the cars.
They all had a hole opened right in the middle of their foreheads.
This caused many vehicles to lose control and crash into nearby trees, blocking the vehicles behind them from moving forward.
In this situation, whether they got out to chase the children or drove around, there wasn't enough time.
The Alkali-Transigen could no longer stop those children from crossing the border.
So, they had indeed successfully bought time.
"Are Professor X and Caliban alright?"
After confirming that the children were safe, Kevin asked about the whereabouts of Professor X and Caliban.
"They've already hidden, and they're not the Alkali-Transigen's target, so there shouldn't be any problem."
Logan replied.
Alkali came too hastily, and Professor X, being immobile, couldn't leave with the children, so he could only have Caliban take him to find a relatively hidden place to hide.
After all, Alkali's target was these children; as long as these children weren't there, they wouldn't seriously search the places where the children had lived.
Charles and Caliban, for now, didn't need to worry about being found and captured by Alkali.
Therefore, Kevin and Logan's mission was considered complete.
what if, nothing unexpected happened.
The unexpected came more suddenly than imagined; Kevin was about to take out his phone to say something to the audience in the live stream, but suddenly, Deep Sea Heart had a premonition, and a dangerous feeling came from deep within The Woods.
Almost instinctively, Kevin turned around and moved his feet, looking as if he was blocking Logan.
And the next moment he made the move, his body was sent flying backward as if hit by a speeding car.
Only then did a gunshot echo through The Woods.
Bang!!
"Kevin!!"
Kevin's body flew through the air; Logan instinctively caught him, and was also pushed back several steps by the huge recoil.
When he stabilized himself and looked at Kevin again, he found that Kevin's chest was already crimson, and blood was gushing out like a spring, unstoppable.
"Cough cough... It's... an anti-material... sniper rifle... cough cough..."
Kevin coughed up a mouthful of blood, his gaze fixed unwillingly on the depths of The Woods.
However, even at this moment, he didn't put down his phone; in fact, he had even avoided the bullet's trajectory just now, preventing the high-powered sniper rifle bullet from shattering his phone.
Clearly, Kevin was still acting, but unfortunately, Logan, in his anxiety, didn't notice.
"Kevin! Are you alright!? Damn it! Damn it!!"
Logan tore off Kevin's clothes, using them as a makeshift bandage to press against Kevin's body, trying to stop the continuously gushing blood.
The injuries Kevin sustained were clearly fatal; in the wilderness with no hospital and no emergency equipment, anyone would know what Kevin's ultimate fate would be.
Comments on his phone surged like crazy, most asking what had happened to Kevin.
But Logan didn't look at the phone, and Kevin couldn't answer, leaving the audience in the live stream anxious.
Just as Logan was trying to give Kevin first aid, members of Alkali and the military surrounded them again from a distance.
They failed to catch the children, but being able to catch Logan and get Kevin's body meant their trip wasn't a loss.
Watching Kevin get shot in the chest by a sniper rifle and completely lose his ability to move, Zander finally dared to step out from behind the scenes.
Wearing a beige trench coat, he walked towards Kevin and Logan like an elegant old man.
"We finally meet, Kevin? That's your name, right?"
Zander, with his hands in his pockets, looked down and asked the dying Kevin.
Kevin struggled, his gaze fixed on Zander as he uttered his name:
"Zander Rice..."
"You know me, good, then I don't need to introduce myself, we can get straight to the point, do you want to live, Kevin?"
Zander met Kevin's gaze; with Logan's support, Kevin barely managed to stand up from the ground, and sneered back:
"Do you want to die, Zander, daring to stand in front of me?"
Now Zander was very close to Kevin; if Kevin wished, he could control the blood to pierce the other's head at any time.
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