Chapter 60: The Only Anomaly on Earth
New York, in the outer areas of the city not yet touched by war.
Inside a factory warehouse, five or six vehicles were parked side by side—luxury cars, RVs, all kinds. Around them, inside and outside, gathered a crowd of gangsters with dyed hair or tattoos.
They paced anxiously in place, not daring to leave early, forced to endure the torment of waiting.
At this moment—
Lorna walked in through the warehouse doors, carrying the unconscious Wanda on her back.
"Boss is back!"
"Big Sis finally made it!"
"The aliens are almost here, thank god we can finally leave this cursed place!"
The men and women in the gang shouted with joy.
One tattooed youth stepped forward, reporting respectfully to Lorna: "Boss, the cars are all ready, fully fueled, guns and cash are stocked. The plates are police-issue, nobody will dare stop us from leaving the city!"
Lorna gave a calm nod. She placed the unconscious Wanda on a bed inside an RV, then stepped back out, leaning against the RV door with arms crossed.
Outside, the gangsters preparing to leave all stared at her, confused.
Lorna pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a metal lighter. She lit one between her lips, exhaled a ring of smoke, and said slowly: "We're not leaving."
"Boss, what did you say?!"
Everyone froze in shock.
"Wait a little longer. There's no need to rush," Lorna said, her pale green eyes lifting as she blew out smoke, staring in the direction of the city.
…
In the center of New York's battlefield, stood a retro building that looked much like an ordinary church.
On the rooftop—
A bald woman in a spotless yellow robe stood with a calm expression, one hand tucked behind her back. In her other hand glimmered a golden, circular sigil.
Her gaze was fixed on the alien machines swarming like locusts, trying to break through and invade.
Standing firmly on the rooftop, she waved her right hand lightly, the one inscribed with golden patterns.
Before the alien machines could even reach the building's edge, they were crushed apart by invisible force, shattered into fragments of burning metal.
She alone easily defended the church.
Even as the rest of New York verged on collapse, her brow did not crease. To her, the alien invasion was nothing compared to the greater threat she was guarding against.
But then, for an instant—
Her expression shifted subtly. She looked outward, toward the edges of the city.
"An anomaly."
Her brow furrowed, and she muttered to herself: "A variable…"
…
On the ruins.
Xi Nian, now possessing two extraordinary genetic abilities at once, stood up. His icy blue eyes lowered to his hands as he felt a strange, unfamiliar sensation filling his body.
He didn't yet understand what it was.
But…
Looking toward the city's center battlefield, Xi Nian thought: In this state, maybe I can actually turn the tide of New York's downfall!
With that, he stepped forward toward the heart of the war.
Ten kilometers in, at the boundary between inner and outer battle zones—
The city here was already fully blacked out. Humans had long since fled, leaving behind only buildings, cars, and abandoned shoes scattered on the streets.
Not a single street remained intact. Smoke and dust rose thick into the air.
Click, click, click!
Alien drones piloting small craft circled above, while crawling mechanical beasts prowled below, sweeping through the city to hunt down any surviving humans.
Suddenly—
Several of the crawling machines searching inside a collapsed building all raised their heads at once. Their glowing red electronic eyes fixed on the empty road outside.
Down the deserted pedestrian street, a black-haired, blue-eyed teenager walked slowly forward. He lowered his head as if lost in thought, stepping deeper into the battlefield, seemingly oblivious to the horrors around him.
Bang!
From a shattered skyscraper window, a mechanical beast lunged out, glass exploding as it hurled itself at the boy below!
Its metal claws aimed for his chest, its fangs for his skull!
But the boy didn't even glance up, continuing to walk calmly forward.
The beast reached within three meters of him—then froze midair, body completely locked as if seized by an invisible giant hand.
It stayed suspended in the air until Xi Nian flicked a finger forward.
The trapped beast suddenly shot like a missile, slamming violently into another that was lunging from the opposite side.
Their metal skull and chest pierced through each other. Both collapsed into a heap of dead iron on the street.
"So that's it," Xi Nian murmured.
At last he understood the root of Lorna's terrifying power—
Metal Control.
"And there's more…" Xi Nian lifted his eyes toward three or four more machines circling him from all sides.
With just a thought—
A wave of glowing green energy erupted outward from him.
The wave swept across the incoming machines. Their bodies sparked and shattered instantly, exploding apart and crashing into abandoned cars and buildings.
This was—
Magnetic Field Manipulation.
Metal control, magnetic fields, and polarity. These were Lorna's extraordinary powers—ultimately rooted in her command of magnetism itself.
But now, Xi Nian wielded more than just Lorna's abilities.
His were fused with Gwen's spider powers.
Not just side by side—two extraordinary abilities had merged, enhancing and amplifying each other.
Xi Nian extended a finger experimentally. From his fingertip shot out a metallic webline!
Shhh—
So thin it was nearly invisible, the strand shot forward a hundred meters in an instant, piercing through a small alien craft—and the two pilots within—like skewered candy.
"This is… the Spider powers enhanced by Metal Control?" Xi Nian retracted the strand, still testing, when several streaks of burning orange light suddenly roared toward him!
He tilted his head slightly, dodging one easily, but the blast still consumed the area where he stood.
Boom!!!
The explosion engulfed him and everything within ten meters.
When the flames and smoke cleared, a figure strode out of the crater, three to four meters deep.
Sunlight glinted off silver lines forming a spider emblem across his chest.
Xi Nian now wore a suit almost identical to Spider-Woman's—but his was woven entirely from metallic webbing, a silver exoskeleton covering his whole body.
This—this was the true form of someone who wielded both Spider and Magnetism powers.
The Metallic Spider.
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