Chapter 158: Holding the Queen, Tearing Apart Iron Scrap in Five Seconds
Emma wanted to say something.
But the intense dizziness coming from deep within her brain caused her language function to experience a brief moment of chaos.
Lin Nuo did not rush her.
He moved the hand pressing on the back of her neck away.
He turned around and took a bottle of mineral Water from the wooden cabinet on one side of the living room.
With force from his five fingers, the bottle cap made a crisp cracking sound.
He shoved the Water bottle into Emma's somewhat cold palms.
Lin Nuo pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down, casually adjusting his slightly wrinkled shirt collar.
"Drink some Water first."
"The brain suffering from intense mental shock will cause the body to lose a large amount of Water; this is basic physiological common sense."
Emma looked down at the plastic bottle in her hand.
She did not refuse.
She raised her hand and gulped the Water down her throat.
The cool liquid, carrying a rough plastic taste, spread down her esophagus, suppressing the burning pain in her brain a little.
She reached out her right hand and wiped the Water stains on her jaw with the back of her hand.
She straightened her back again.
Her voice was hoarse, revealing a tone of interrogation from someone who had long been in a high position.
"Explain."
Lin Nuo leaned back in the wooden chair, his posture relaxed.
"Which part do you want to hear?"
Emma's breathing was a bit rapid.
"Your body."
"In the Underground Room, you bent a titanium alloy gun barrel with your bare hands and molecularly restructured the carbon elements in the air."
"And just now, your mental defense was full of violent and destructive aura."
"This is definitely not something a normal Mutant can do."
Lin Nuo chuckled.
He put his gold-rimmed glasses back on the bridge of his nose.
He extended a finger and tapped lightly on the coffee table.
Lin Nuo's tone was very flat, as if he were narrating someone else's resume.
"This is normal. I have at least five completely different sources of power within me."
"What you saw just now was merely physical-dimensional muscle strength and molecular manipulation at the microscopic level."
"Actually, what I am best at is destruction at the law level."
Emma tilted her head.
"Laws?"
Lin Nuo's knuckles left a shallow indentation on the mahogany coffee table.
"Chaos Magic, or Reality Modification."
"It's a pity that before coming here, I had a fight with an old woman who controlled the magic of the Vishanti."
"She used her own life as the price to lock all my law-based powers."
"I need certain things within the Mutant World to forcibly smash these locks open."
Emma fell silent.
She had lived for so many years and had seen countless self-righteous Mutants.
But no one had ever dared to talk about miracles of the level of "Reality Modification" with such a casual attitude.
More importantly, although her residual psychic power was weak, she could still vaguely discern that the other party was not lying.
Lin Nuo raised his second finger; the fingertips still had the faint dust left from breaking the diamond earlier.
"Second point."
"The reason I appeared in your estate was a premeditated interception."
"I heard about the incident at the Hellfire Club from a gang leader in the lower city."
"The Military is hunting you, and there is also a traitor within your ranks."
"In my evaluation list, you are a high-quality target with extremely high development value."
Emma crossed her long legs.
Due to her movement, the white silk bathrobe opened diagonally at the base of her thighs.
"Value?"
"Are you referring to my Mutant abilities, or the businesses under my control?"
Lin Nuo's gaze swept over the lines of her legs without any avoidance.
"Both."
"Your connections, your absolute right to speak in the Mutant World, and yourself."
"I need a qualified local Agent to help me collect the tools to unlock my abilities."
"And you, just happen to fit all my aesthetic and interest requirements."
Emma placed the Water bottle on the coffee table and let out a cold snort.
"You are disgustingly direct."
Lin Nuo stood up.
"Deceiving a telepath is the least efficient way of communication."
"Instead of wasting time making up lies, it's better to let you understand directly that following me is your only choice to survive in New York."
Emma was just about to stand up to refute, but her body froze completely at that moment.
Her ears twitched.
Fine, fragmented sounds passed through the reinforced concrete and entered the room from outside the building, which was tens of meters high.
That was the heavy roar of helicopter rotors cutting through the air.
The frequency was very rapid.
Accompanying it was the sharp tire noise generated by heavy turbocharged engines braking hard on the street.
Emma's face turned somewhat pale under the light, and she immediately braced herself on the armrests of the sofa with both hands.
"People from Trask Industries."
"They have gene trackers; the residual X-gene active substances in the air exposed the coordinates here."
Lin Nuo turned his head to look at the several blinding searchlights gradually enlarging in the rain outside the window.
"What equipment did they bring?"
Emma's nails dug into the leather cushion of the sofa.
"They have the latest exoskeleton individual armor, equipped with infrasound generators, and gene-suppressing ammunition specifically targeting body cells."
"Lin Nuo, this is a high-rise apartment, there are no blind spots, we can't fight them head-on..."
Before she could finish her sentence, her feet suddenly left the ground.
Lin Nuo scooped her up with one arm, passing directly through the bend of her knees and her back, lifting her whole body from the sofa.
The texture of the bathrobe was very silky.
But under the confinement of Lin Nuo's powerful arms, there was not even the slightest room to slip away.
Emma struggled instinctively, her ankles shaking, and her slippers fell to the floor, revealing a pair of snow-white, petite bare feet.
"Put me down!"
Lin Nuo completely ignored her protest.
He crossed the living room in a few steps, bringing her to the corner of the load-bearing wall at the innermost part of the room.
This was the most stable part of the entire apartment structure.
He pressed Emma between the wall and his own chest.
His body was broad, and his shoulders completely blocked any potential trajectory from the front.
His left arm pulled horizontally to the back, one hand clasping her waist, pressing her back firmly against his chest.
"Don't move."
Lin Nuo's chin rested on her silver hair tips, his warm breath spraying onto her ear.
"Within this range, you are absolutely safe."
"Once you walk out, I cannot guarantee that your body won't be beaten into mush by the gene inhibitors."
Emma's body was tense to the extreme.
She could clearly hear the heartbeat coming from behind.
It was a frequency so slow it was unnerving.
At most fifty beats per minute.
Separated by the white shirt torn by bullets, the heat radiating from his chest was about to scorch her back through the silk bathrobe.
"You're crazy, they have infrasound weapons..."
Boom!
A dull explosive sound directly cut off Emma's speech.
The apartment's anti-theft steel door, under the impact of directional explosives, turned into countless deformed metal fragments, spraying into the interior of the living room.
Following that, hot thick smoke poured in, along with six deep-black steel monsters.
The latest generation of exoskeleton armor from Trask Industries.
The titanium alloy shells refracted metallic light in the smoke, and the hydraulic rods at the joints made harsh gnashing sounds as they walked.
"White Queen heat source detected! Located in the corner of the load-bearing wall!"
"Unknown target detected accompanying the side!"
"Full barrage, clear the area immediately!"
As the emotionless electronically synthesized voice of the Agent fell, the rapid-fire cannons on the right arms of the six armors spun frantically at the same moment.
Tat tat tat tat tat!
The metal storm, mixed with large-caliber armor-piercing rounds and gene-suppressing rounds, carrying a piercing sound of breaking the air, directly shredded most of the mahogany furniture in the living room into flying wood chips and cotton wool.
Wherever the barrage passed, the tiles and concrete on the walls cracked in large patches, and the dust and smoke almost completely obscured the vision.
Emma subconsciously shrunk her neck, burying her head into Lin Nuo's collarbone.
She waited for the excruciating pain to arrive.
But when those bullets were about to approach within half a meter of their bodies, a violent physical distortion suddenly appeared in the air.
A layer of light blue Bio-force field abruptly unfolded.
Every armor-piercing round capable of penetrating three centimeters of steel plate, upon hitting the edge of this field, without exception, slammed into the hardest solid shield.
Under the forced action of physical pressure, the warheads flattened and broke.
Finally, in the frictional heat generation of the Bio-force field, they turned into countless hot iron filings, falling rustlingly along the light blue hemispherical edge.
In just three seconds, a thick layer of deformed metal shell casings had accumulated at their feet.
Lin Nuo's chest didn't even have the slightest extra rise and fall.
He let go of his left hand around Emma's waist, and while he was at it, took off his gold-rimmed glasses and put them into his suit pocket.
He lowered his head, his warm lips pressed against her earlobe.
"Emma."
"Count to five."
"What?"
"Help me record how many seconds it takes to deal with these six pieces of trash."
The moment the words fell, Lin Nuo's body disappeared into thin air.
The extremely high movement speed directly stirred up a small cyclone in the narrow living room.
The violent wind pressure blew all the wood chips and dust on the floor toward the direction of the door.
The first Agent hadn't even had time to adjust the crosshairs.
Lin Nuo was already standing in front of it.
He extended his right hand, his five fingers, like steel pliers, directly clasping the head shield of the exoskeleton armor.
His five fingers exerted force.
The helmet made of high-purity titanium alloy deformed and retracted on the spot under the immense physical force, and the metal squeezing made a harsh, grating sound.
The operating system inside was completely paralyzed amidst a burst of electric sparks.
Lin Nuo pulled in one motion, and the armor, weighing over two hundred kilograms, was swung up by him with one hand and smashed toward the second armor beside it.
Metal collided with metal, emitting a deafening sound that made one's teeth ache.
The chest area of the second armor caved in on the spot, and the hydraulic lines ruptured, spraying green hydraulic oil.
Both of them fell onto the shattered marble floor together.
The third Agent was alarmed, and the high-frequency vibration blade on its right arm swung down.
Lin Nuo didn't even dodge.
He directly extended his left hand, grabbing toward the edge of the vibration blade.
His five fingers closed, and the high-speed vibrating alloy short blade was forcibly stopped by his bare palm, then shattered into fine shards inch by inch.
Lin Nuo delivered a side kick with his backhand.
His sole landed precisely on the opponent's abdominal armor, and the titanium alloy plate cracked into countless fissures on the spot.
The entire mech, as if hit head-on by a truck, flew backward, leaving a huge spiderweb-shaped dent on the living room's load-bearing wall.
Four.
Lin Nuo's body in the air did not pause in the slightest.
Before gravity could take effect, his body forcibly twisted in the air, and both hands reached out simultaneously.
He grabbed the hydraulic joints of the last two armors.
The muscles in his arms bulged slightly under the suit sleeves, pulling the fabric taut.
Rip!
The harsh sound of metal breaking sounded simultaneously with the Agent's scream.
The expensive exoskeleton arms were forcibly ripped off by him, exposing the bare wires inside and the Agent's bloodied shoulders.
The last person didn't even have time to turn the muzzle.
Lin Nuo had already appeared behind him, his five fingers clasping the back of his neck, and pressed him onto the ground in one motion.
Boom!
The marble countertop was completely shattered.
The entire apartment finally returned to silence at this moment.
Except for the sound of rain blowing in through the broken window, only the sizzling electric sparks from the short-circuiting inside the damaged exoskeleton armors remained.
Six fully armed elite Trask Agents were now all lying limp on the ground, no better than scrap metal.
Together with the armor on their bodies, they were completely deconstructed at the physical level.
Five.
Emma stood in the corner, her voice a bit dry.
She looked at this man who had turned a luxury residence into a ruin of scrap metal in two seconds.
There were several rips in his white shirt, revealing the perfectly arranged eight-pack abs inside.
But there wasn't even a trace left on the surface of his skin.
He hadn't even had his breathing rhythm disrupted.
Lin Nuo walked back to her step by step.
His feet stepped on the broken metal pieces, making a rhythmic sound.
He extended his right hand, wrapped it around Emma's somewhat stiff waist, and brought her back into his chest, which still carried the scent of cedar and scorching body heat.
"I said."
Lin Nuo lowered his head, brushing the wet silver hair that had fallen onto her forehead behind her ear.
"As long as you stay obediently in my arms, these noisy flies outside won't be able to touch even a single hair of yours."
Chapter 159: High-End Hunter, Who Could Withstand This
At the end of the corridor, the sporadic sound of electric currents still echoed.
It was a channel call coming from a crushed Agent helmet, the faint electromagnetic sound intermittent in the empty ruins.
The Military reinforcements could lock down this neighborhood at any moment.
"We can't stay here." Emma leaned against the corner of the wall, her voice cold and hard, struggling to suppress the trembling in her body caused by the inhibitor.
"I'll listen to you."
Lin Nuo bent down and picked up a charred micro-circuit board from the pile of scrap metal on the ground.
His five fingers applied slight pressure, the Bio-force fieldat his fingertips vibrating at a high frequency within an extremely small range. Under his rubbing, the micro-capacitors and transmission modules in the circuit board were directly reduced to the most primitive dust, spilling from between his fingers into the stagnant water.
"Trask Industries' tracking system relies on X-gene activity fluctuations, which is your location."
Lin Nuo brushed the dust off his palms, walked in front of Emma, and looked down at her.
"I have already destroyed the short-wave relay chips of all nearby armor, cutting off their local area network within five kilometers. Now, we have about forty minutes to relocate."
"Where to?" Emma raised her head, silver hair clinging to her fair forehead, revealing a touch of vulnerability she would never show on ordinary days.
"The Bronx."
She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself against the wall to stand up.
"I have a property registered under a fake name there; they won't be able to find it..."
However, before her knees could straighten, she lost her balance again.
Lin Nuo didn't give her a chance to continue acting tough.
He turned to the side, his right arm accurately scooping under her knees, his left hand steadily supporting her back, lifting the arrogant White Queen up directly.
Her silk bathrobe slipped slightly, revealing a large expanse of her fair skin, which glowed with a warm, gentle light reflected from the marble floor.
"Put me down, I can walk myself." Emma's voice turned cold, her hands pressing against his chest.
"Miss Frost, being stubborn won't help you cross the rain curtain of half of New York."
Lin Nuo strode forward, the muscles in his legs under his trousers tensed, each step as steady as a precisely calculated machine.
"Besides, your thigh muscles can't even stand right now; are you counting on floating over with telekinesis?"
He ignored the resistance of the woman in his arms, turned around, and kicked open the heavy iron door leading to the rooftop.
Above the rooftop, the wind roared.
A torrential downpour smashed down from the sky, carrying a bone-chilling cold.
But just as the rain was about to touch Emma, a pale blue halo suddenly expanded from Lin Nuo as the center.
It was a Bio-force field so solidified it was almost tangible.
The falling raindrops collided with the edge of the force field and were directly repelled by the terrifying physical repulsive force, forming a flowing water curtain around their bodies.
Lin Nuo's toes tapped lightly on the edge of the roof.
Quicksilver's speed exploded at this moment.
Physical inertia was forcibly smoothed out by his formidable Hulk constitution.
Carrying Emma, he pulled a blurred afterimage between the undulating rooftops of New York.
The sound of the wind turned into a low roar in his ears.
Emma only felt the surrounding streetscape receding rapidly; those originally towering skyscrapers stretched into colorful lines in her vision.
She instinctively tightened her arms, pressing against Lin Nuo's shoulder.
It was hard, and the temperature radiating through the soaked fabric carried a scorching heat that made one's heart flutter.
Forty seconds later.
On the roof of a red-brick apartment building in an old neighborhood.
Lin Nuo landed steadily on the rusted fire escape, without even a superfluous sway.
He pushed open the old window frame on the sixth floor with his elbow and jumped into the room with Emma.
This was a shelter that had been vacant for a long time.
Worn floral wallpaper, the air permeated with a faint woody musty smell, but the furniture was complete, and the sound of the rainstorm outside was isolated by the old double-pane glass.
Lin Nuo placed Emma on a peeling leather sofa.
Then he returned to the bathroom.
Two minutes later, the sound of water stopped.
When Lin Nuo came out again, he had already taken off his gold-rimmed glasses.
The damaged shirt on his body was replaced by a brand-new black cotton T-shirt—it was a creation woven from two rough old towels in the bathroom, under extreme molecular restructuring control, rearranging the fiber structure.
Although rough, it was clean and tidy.
He was holding a dry towel in his hand, walked to the sofa, and sat down beside Emma.
"Wipe yourself off."
Lin Nuo handed the towel over.
Emma didn't take it, just stared at him with those eyes full of scrutiny.
"You just carried me and ran at least five kilometers."
"Five point four kilometers, to be precise." Lin Nuo curled the corner of his mouth.
"You didn't even shed a drop of sweat, and your heartbeat didn't accelerate at all."
Emma's body leaned back, and the water droplets on her long hair slid down her collarbone into the depths of her bathrobe.
"The bio-energy in your body has already surpassed all known Mutants, including Magneto."
Lin Nuo chuckled and leaned over directly.
He pulled the towel over and, without question, covered Emma's wet silver hair. Although the action was a bit overbearing, the force was surprisingly gentle.
"Mutants always like to explain everything with genes and evolution."
"But to me, that's just a few shallow underlying codes."
His fingers, through the towel, gently pressed the acupoints on her head, helping her dispel the residual mental stinging pain.
"What you should be worrying about now is not my physical structure, but your own situation."
Emma instinctively wanted to dodge his fingers, but the just-right kneading force brought a rare sense of relief to her temples.
The nerves that had been tense all night finally showed a trace of loosening at this moment.
"My situation doesn't need your concern; the Hellfire Club's foundation in New York..."
"Your foundation is completely rotten, Emma."
Lin Nuo interrupted her, his hands didn't stop, and his voice sounded exceptionally clear in the cramped living room.
"Danton's betrayal is not an isolated case. That Trask Industries could get your whereabouts shows that your internal Council of Elders has long sold you out for a good price."
He lowered his head slightly, his gaze meeting hers.
"And that Scott Summers who is playing house with Magneto on the West Coast."
Upon hearing this name, Emma's body noticeably stiffened.
Lin Nuo took it all in, the smile on his lips deepening.
"Your little boyfriend is currently busy playing the role of Professor X's good child, maintaining that great Mutantpeace he speaks of."
"Where was he when you were being surrounded by the Military?"
"He couldn't even receive your distress signal."
"Shut up." Emma said coldly, her palms clenching quietly at her sides.
"Truthful words are always unpleasant to the ear, Your Highness White Queen."
Lin Nuo took back the towel, but his fingers took the opportunity to slide to her chin, gently lifting her face.
"Scott wants you to be the comrade-in-arms of his ideals, to be a qualified leader. He doesn't even dare to admit his ambiguous relationship with you in public, because that would affect his perfect Captain image."
The distance between the two was extremely close, the hot air from Lin Nuo's breath blowing directly onto her face.
"But I am different."
"I came here, aiming for both the Hellfire Club under your command and for you yourself."
"I like beautiful and intelligent women, and you happen to fit my standards perfectly."
He unabashedly uttered what could be called a shameless declaration, yet his demeanor remained like a gentle and elegant gentleman.
Emma's breathing became a bit erratic.
She had lived for so many years; business tycoons, Mutantleaders, high-ranking government officials—what kind of men hadn't she seen?
Those people either harbored ulterior motives, trying to approach her with lies and disguises, or kept her at a distance, filled with fear.
Never had anyone been able to, like Lin Nuo, speak of conquest and ambition so openly, and yet with such oppressiveness.
His mental barrier was like an insurmountable mountain, and beneath that mountain, there was a gentle trap that could drown her.
"Are you staking your claim on me?"
Emma turned her head away, trying to escape the touch of his fingers, but Lin Nuo's palm took the opportunity to clasp the back of her neck, pulling her back in front of him.
"You can understand it that way."
Lin Nuo's other hand wrapped around her soft waist, pulling her whole body into his embrace.
"Right now, your little boyfriend can't give you safety, the traitors of Hellfire want your life, and Trask Industrieswants to slice you up for research."
"The only one who can protect you is me."
"And the reward I need, you know clearly in your heart."
Emma leaned against his chest, listening to that slow and powerful heartbeat, the rationality belonging to the White Queen in her mind making its final struggle.
She wanted to push him away.
But the cold reality and the sense of weakness flowing in her body were constantly shattering her self-esteem.
"You bastard..." She whispered softly, finally giving up the struggle, resting her forehead on his shoulder.
Lin Nuo felt the relaxation of the beauty in his arms and raised an eyebrow.
He patted Emma's back and reached out to pull the Vibranium trench coat on her body up, covering her slightly chilly shoulders.
"Rest here for tonight first."
He stood up, walked to a dilapidated wooden chair nearby, and sat down, his long legs crossed, his posture relaxed.
"Tomorrow at dawn, I'll take you to clean house."
Emma lay on the sofa, wrapped in the Vibranium trench coat that still retained Lin Nuo's body heat.
Listening to the sound of rain gradually weakening outside the window, her thoughts could not calm down no matter what.
This man who appeared out of thin air was using a nearly barbaric posture to smash her original life trajectory into pieces.
"Lin Nuo." She closed her eyes, her voice somewhat drifting in the darkness.
"Hmm?"
"How much of what you just said is true?"
Chapter 160: Profiting from Misfortune, Sign This Indenture
Dawn had broken.
Emma Frost opened her eyes.
The Vibranium trench coat covering her remained heavy, the heat belonging to another man still lingering within the fabric, seeping continuously through her thin silk bathrobe into her skin.
She did not get up immediately, instead maintaining a curled-up posture, using what little psychic energy she had left to scan the blind spots of the room.
An Omega-level Mutant in a desperate situation, having completely lost her sense of security, maintained an instinctive vigilance against any sign of movement.
The wooden chair was empty.
The man who had torn an entire squad of exoskeleton Agents to scrap metal was not in the living room at this moment.
Emma's fingernails clawed at the lining of the trench coat.
The air was filled with the scent of somewhat cheap coffee, mixed with dry steam, drifting out from the kitchen at the end of the hallway.
Lin Nuo stood before the dilapidated stove.
He had changed into a clean white shirt, though the top three buttons were undone, vaguely revealing his well-defined collarbones.
Hearing the faint footsteps behind him, he did not turn around, simply pouring boiling hot water into two mismatched mugs.
"Awake? Black coffee, no sugar. The previous owner of this safe house clearly had unique taste; I searched the entire cabinet, and this was the only cup that was somewhat clean."
Lin Nuo turned around, holding the mugs.
He handed the pink mug printed with a faded Hello Kitty to Emma.
And in his own hand, he held a white ceramic cup with the bold words "World's Best Grandmother" printed on it.
This stark contrast of mundane domesticity left the White Queen momentarily dazed.
She reached out to take the cup, her fingertips inevitably brushing against Lin Nuo's knuckles.
His temperature was very high, like a heated stone, startling Emma into instinctively pulling back her wrist.
"Are you deliberately using this cup to mock me?"
Emma held the cup with both hands, trying to use the warmth of the coffee to dispel the chill in her palms.
Lin Nuo sat down on the other end of the sofa.
His body leaned forward slightly, the width of his shoulders appearing extremely oppressive in the small living room.
"If you would prefer to be someone's grandmother, I can consider swapping cups with you."
Lin Nuo took a sip of the coffee in his cup, his brow relaxing.
"Now, we can talk about your genes."
Emma straightened her back, tucking her long silver hair that had fallen onto her shoulders behind her ears.
She tried to invoke her remaining diamond form ability, but a faint layer of crystals that had just appeared on her forearm quickly faded due to her lack of strength.
"Don't waste your energy."
Lin Nuo's voice was deep.
"The gene inhibitor the Agents used last night contains a composite toxin newly developed by Trask Industries."
"Within three hours, your X-gene metabolic rate is only ten percent of normal."
"If you force a transformation, your cells will suffer necrosis on the spot due to lack of energy supply."
He extended his right hand, moving it very slowly toward the side of her face.
Emma's body tensed up, but she did not dodge.
Lin Nuo's slender fingertips brushed against her ear, slowly and methodically smoothing out a stray lock of silver hair, then his fingers slid down the line of her neck.
His movements carried no trace of roughness, yet they possessed a sense of absolute possessiveness.
His fingers paused at the edge of her loose bathrobe collar, pulling it up gently to cover the expanse of snow-white skin exposed to the cold morning air.
"Although the White Queen's body is charming, I prefer to admire it slowly in a more private and secure place."
Emma's throat moved.
She realized her psychic defenses were useless in front of him.
"How do you know the details about Trask Industries?"
She avoided his overly intimate physical contact, her voice hoarse.
Lin Nuo withdrew his hand, his fingertips tapping lightly on the mahogany coffee table.
"Last night, while dismantling those exoskeleton armors, I used my molecular reconfiguration sense to read the electromagnetic residue signals from their core chips before they were damaged."
"By the way, I decrypted their Military data packets."
"Trask's goal this time is not to take over the Hellfire Club."
"They need your Omega-level telepathic frequency to use as the control core for their new generation of robots."
"And your diamond form gene to reinforce the defensive capabilities of those metal monsters."
"Once you are captured, the entire Mutant population will be sent to the dissection lab."
Emma's breathing quickened.
She knew very well the authenticity of this intelligence.
"So, those old fogies within the Hellfire Club betrayed me to curry favor with the Military."
"Your connections, your wealth, even all the trump cards you worked so hard to build up in the Hellfire Club, have now become someone else's spoils of war."
Lin Nuo crossed his legs, his posture relaxed.
"You are now just a wanted stray dog, Emma."
"If I hadn't appeared in the Hell Room last night, you would already be in a Military troop carrier by now."
Emma sneered.
"What about Scott? He has the support of the X-Men on the West Coast."
"As long as he gets the news..."
"[System Prompt: Detected emotional dependency fluctuation from high-quality target Emma Frost toward Child of Destiny Scott Summers (Cyclops).]"
"[Detected major opportunity for interception! Current interception progress: 15%!]"
"[Successfully completing subsequent deep interception will grant: 'Dimension Energy Core Fragment' (used to break the Vishanti law seal), 'Vibranium Nano-Molecular Deflection Field'!]"
The electronic system sound ringing in his mind made Lin Nuo's gaze become increasingly unbridled.
He suddenly let out a low laugh.
He lowered his body again, their faces only a few centimeters apart.
Emma could even smell the faint scent of cedar on him, mixed with the dry smell of morning sunlight.
"Scott Summers?"
Lin Nuo's voice was extremely soft, yet it struck her heart like a heavy hammer.
"That good boy who grew up under the wings of CharlesXavier?"
"He is currently leading his team in San Francisco, playing a cat-and-mouse game within the rules with Magneto and those extremist Mutants."
"He doesn't even dare to easily take off the ruby quartz visor on his eyes."
"You expect him to cross half of North America and snatch you back from a group of fully armed Trask troops?"
Lin Nuo's five fingers accurately gripped Emma's fair chin, forcing her to lift her head and meet his unmasked, greedy gaze.
"Scott is good at being a competent Captain in the sunlight, saving those insignificant citizens."
"But he cannot protect you."
"The rules of Hell were never set by good boys."
"And I can help you crush those who betrayed you, bones and all."
Emma struggled to maintain her breathing.
She could feel the violent power contained beneath this man's skin; the image of him tearing steel apart with his bare hands last night still lingered in her mind.
This was a madman who treated the entire World as a toy.
"What is the cost?"
Emma braced her hands against the back of the sofa, shrinking her body backward.
"What do you want to take from me?"
Lin Nuo let go and leaned back against the sofa.
"Three conditions."
"First, after the Hellfire Club is rebuilt, the ownership remains yours, but I am the sole controller behind the scenes, and I hold veto power over major decisions."
"Second, all the Mutant relationship networks, gene databases, and contact channels with high-level Mutants in your possession must be unconditionally opened to me."
He extended his hand again, this time with his palm facing up, lying flat beside her thigh.
"Third."
"You belong to me."
The living room fell into a dead silence.
The dull sound of a garbage truck passing by on the street outside could be faintly heard.
Emma's fingers gripped the blanket tightly.
"You are enslaving me, Lin Nuo."
"The Queen of the Hellfire Club would never be anyone's vassal."
Lin Nuo looked at her.
"This is not enslavement; this is protection for the weak."
"In my Universe, countless women prouder than you eventually got used to kneeling before me."
"You can choose to refuse."
"But by noon, Trask's new trackers will lock onto this apartment again."
"By then, you can see if Scott can place a bouquet of red roses on your urn."
Emma closed her eyes.
Her chest heaved violently, her mind frantically weighing the pros and cons.
She was an extremely rational woman.
It was because she was rational that she understood every word Lin Nuo said was an unvarnished reality.
Under the dual blow of losing the protection of the Hellfire Club and her own abilities, she could not make it out of the Hell's Kitchen area at all.
And this man of unknown origin before her was indeed her only way to survive.
"Fine."
Emma opened her eyes again, only a resigned coldness remaining in her light grey pupils.
"I accept the three conditions."
"But I also have an additional clause."
"Speak."
"Do not go after Scott."
Emma's tone was firm.
"I will handle the matters of the Hellfire Club. As for the X-Men's forces, I do not want you to destroy them with violent means."
The curve of Lin Nuo's lips became more pronounced.
Taking his proudest Queen as his own right in front of the Child of Destiny—this kind of pleasure could not be compared to simple slaughter.
"I promise you."
Lin Nuo took hold of Emma's somewhat cold palm.
"As long as he obediently plays his savior on the West Coast, I can even send him a front-row invitation when we get married."
His hand exerted a little force, pulling Emma into his arms.
Their bodies pressed tightly together on the small sofa, the silk texture of the bathrobe emitting a strained, deforming sound under his forceful grip.
Lin Nuo lowered his head, his lips pressed against her ear.
"Happy cooperation, my White Queen."
Chapter 161: An Overbearing Return, Subduing the Hellfire Club with One Hand.
The next day, the Hellfire Club.
After last night's heavy rain, the lawn around the estate was muddy. Water droplets hung on the cast-iron fence, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
The guards at the main gate had been replaced.
They were no longer the ordinary bodyguards that Lin Nuohad easily knocked down last night.
In their place were twelve armed personnel wearing Trask Industries standard combat uniforms.
They carried gene-suppressor launchers on their shoulders, electromagnetic pulse grenades at their waists, and mental-shielding arrays connected to their helmets.
Two portable automatic turrets were deployed on both sides of the gate, covering a 180-degree fan-shaped area in front of the estate entrance.
It was clear that last night's failure had caused both the traitors and Trask Industries to raise their alert level.
But everything they prepared was aimed at Mutants.
Not gods.
Lin Nuo stood on the tree-lined path fifty meters away from the estate gate.
He had changed his outfit today.
A black slim-fit suit, a white shirt, and that black Vibraniumtrench coat draped over it.
This shirt was created by him just moments ago using molecular restructuring from the curtains in the safe house; the texture was several times more delicate than the original. His gold-rimmed glasses were polished to a shine, refracting a cold light in the sun.
Beside him, Emma Frost had changed into a new white dress with a high slit.
This dress was also Lin Nuo's masterpiece.
The material came from the white linen tablecloth in the safe house.
Under Lin Nuo's will, the carbon fiber micro-filaments rearranged themselves, becoming fabric with a silk-like texture.
The tailoring fit her figure perfectly, with the hem slit all the way up to her thigh.
Her silver-white hair had been restyled, tied into a loose low ponytail at the back of her head.
Her mental power had recovered to about sixty percent, and her diamond form could now fully cover her arms.
Although not at full strength, it was enough for her to carry the weight of the name "White Queen" once again.
"Ready?" Lin Nuo tilted his head slightly.
Emma looked at the estate gate ahead, her voice cold:
"Fifty-four hours ago, I was hunted out of this gate."
"Now, I am going to walk back through the same gate."
"Are you sure you don't need extra help?"
Lin Nuo calmly spat out a few words:
"Your job is to walk, my job is to clear the path."
He extended his left arm, bent his elbow, and made a standard gentleman's arm-offering gesture.
Emma looked at that arm.
She extended her right hand, placed it on his forearm, and her fingers gently hooked around it.
The two of them, as if attending a high-society banquet, walked side by side toward the gate of the Hellfire Club.
The guards at the gate noticed something unusual when they were thirty meters away.
The Captain in charge raised his binoculars, and his expression changed immediately.
"White Queen! She's back!"
"There's an unknown male with her! It's the one who attacked the estate last night!"
"Everyone, enter combat status!"
Twelve guards raised their guns simultaneously, the dark muzzles aimed squarely ahead.
The two automatic turrets buzzed to life, their mechanical arms turning rapidly.
One guard used his communicator to send an urgent alert to the inside of the estate:
"Headquarters! The White Queen and an unknown intruder have appeared at the gate again! Requesting reinforcements!"
Noisy responses came through the communicator.
But reinforcements would take time.
The guards at the gate had to hold the line themselves.
The Captain shouted through his mask's loudspeaker:
"Stop! Put your hands on your head! Otherwise, we will open fire—"
His voice stopped abruptly.
The air in front of him seemed to distort.
Lin Nuo had crossed the thirty-meter distance and was standing directly in front of him.
Lin Nuo's face was less than five centimeters from his mask.
"Shh."
Lin Nuo reached out his right hand, placed it on the Captain's helmet, and then closed his fingers.
A harsh sound of metal breaking rang out.
That heavy helmet, which integrated the mental-shielding array, was twisted right off by him as if he were taking off a hat. Wires and circuit boards shattered into a shower of sparks in his palm.
Immediately after, Lin Nuo flicked the Captain's forehead with his index finger.
Thump.
The Captain flew backward, smashed heavily into the mud, and passed out instantly.
The remaining eleven guards gasped, instinctively pulling their triggers.
A barrage of bullets covered them from all directions.
The two automatic turrets also began to spit fire, with 20mm armor-piercing rounds pouring out at a rate of thirty rounds per second.
Lin Nuo's figure wove through the hail of bullets.
He did not dodge the bullets.
His speed was so fast that the retina could not capture it.
Every time he appeared in front of a guard, the duration was extremely short.
Disarming the opponent.
Flicking the forehead.
Two simple movements were repeated eleven times in a few seconds.
Six seconds later, the ground was covered with unconscious guards.
Lin Nuo walked to the two still-rotating automatic turrets and kicked each one.
The steel welding points of the bases snapped instantly, and the two heavy turrets toppled onto the lawn, their barrels spinning powerlessly in the mud.
Lin Nuo clapped his hands and turned to look at Emma, who was still standing thirty meters away.
"The road is open. Please."
Emma walked over in her high heels.
Her footsteps were steady, precisely avoiding the mud pits and the unconscious guards on the ground.
She walked to Lin Nuo's side and took his arm again.
The two of them pushed open the heavy cast-iron gate of the Hellfire Club estate together.
...
The round table conference hall.
This used to be the White Queen's center of power.
The dome was painted with Renaissance-style murals, and the four walls were hung with deep red velvet curtains. In the center was a giant solid mahogany round table, with mysterious totems etched in gold inlaid on the tabletop.
Now, this table was piled with documents and various weapon parts.
Danton sat in the main seat.
There was thick medical tape on his right cheek, a mark left by Lin Nuo's kick last night.
Sitting on either side of him were eight core members of the rebellion, including Mutants and representatives from Trask Industries.
They were dividing up the spoils.
The harsh alarm from the entrance broke the atmosphere in the room.
Danton slammed the table, stood up, and roared:
"What are you panicking about! There are thirty fully armed Agents in the estate, plus automatic turrets! Outside—"
Boom!
The double oak doors of the hall exploded.
The heavy wooden doors were ripped from their hinges by immense force, flying across the hall like two giant shields and smashing heavily into the back wall. That antique oil painting, worth millions of dollars, was smashed to pieces on the spot.
Amidst the flying wood chips.
Two figures walked in side by side.
Lin Nuo looked calm, raising his hand to adjust his glasses.
Emma, in her white dress, looked arrogant and cold.
The dozen or so people in the hall stood up in unison, chairs toppling over.
Danton took a step back, the tape on his face nearly peeling off:
"You... how could you still be alive?!"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Lin Nuo let go of Emma's arm, took two steps forward, and scanned everyone in the hall.
"Early in the morning, hearing you all splitting the loot here, I just had to come and give a gift."
"Attack!" Danton roared hysterically.
Three Mutant traitors were the first to act.
A fire controller, with two dark red flames igniting in his hands.
A plant-based Mutant, the wooden floor beneath his feet cracked, and countless dark green vines shot out like vipers.
And a sonic-type Mutant, who opened his mouth, and an invisible infrasonic shockwave swept over.
Three attacks instantly engulfed Lin Nuo.
Lin Nuo stood where he was, not even blinking.
The flames collided with his Vibranium trench coat, the violent heat instantly absorbed by the molecular structure inside the clothing, not even scorching a corner of his coat.
The vines wrapped around his calves, but the moment they touched his skin, they were snapped into smithereens by his immense muscular strength.
As for the sonic shockwave, after hitting the Bio-force fieldon the surface of Lin Nuo's body, it was rebounded at an even faster speed.
The dome mural of the hall was cracked open directly, and marble fragments fell in a flurry.
Lin Nuo's figure disappeared from where he stood.
The next second, he was already standing in front of that fire controller.
He raised his right hand and slapped the opponent's shoulder.
Crack.
A tooth-aching sound of bone fracturing echoed through the hall.
The fire controller screamed, flew sideways, and smashed three mahogany chairs behind him.
The Mutant who controlled the vines just wanted to retreat, but Lin Nuo had already lifted his foot and stepped on the remaining roots on the ground.
The immense power spread along the vines, and the underground root system was instantly shattered. Lin Nuoreached out, grabbed his collar, and pressed down violently.
Bang!
A human-shaped crater was smashed into the hard marble floor, and the man was buried directly into it, unable to move.
The sonic-type Mutant retreated in horror, trying to open his mouth again.
Lin Nuo grabbed a thick stack of documents from the table and flicked them backhanded.
The paper sliced through the air with a piercing screech, precisely stuffing itself into the opponent's mouth, choking his sonic wave right back in.
Immediately after, Lin Nuo delivered a side kick.
A dull sound of flesh colliding rang through the hall, and the man slid seven or eight meters along the floor, hitting the corner and going silent.
Less than ten seconds.
All three powerful Mutants were paralyzed on the ground.
The remaining ordinary people and Trask Industriesrepresentatives turned pale, not daring to move.
Danton's body trembled violently, his back pressed tightly against the velvet curtain, cold sweat soaking his clothes.
"Danton."
Emma walked forward slowly.
Her voice echoed in the empty hall, carrying the coldness and majesty unique to those in power.
"Kneel."
Danton's knees went weak, but he still wanted to make a final struggle:
"Emma... don't forget! The people from Trask Industries are right outside! If you dare to touch me, they won't let—"
Lin Nuo walked over, reached out to grab his neck, and lifted him into the air.
The feeling of suffocation made Danton's eyes bulge.
Then, Lin Nuo loosened his hand.
Bang.
Danton smashed heavily onto the floor, his knees slamming hard against the marble slab, making a dull sound.
He could only kneel.
Because his legs could no longer exert any strength.
Lin Nuo stepped back two steps, leaving the position to the White Queen beside him.
Emma walked slowly to Danton in her high heels.
She looked down at this subordinate who used to fawn over her.
"I told you yesterday, if you want to be a dog, you have to have the awareness of being a dog."
"You smashed my teacup, thinking that changing Masters would allow you to sleep soundly."
"But you forgot."
"This is the Hellfire Club, and I am the King here."
Danton looked at her in despair, a painful wheezing sound coming from his throat.
Lin Nuo leaned against the edge of the round table, his fingers pushing up on the frame of his gold-rimmed glasses.
He looked at the few remaining trembling Trask Industriesrepresentatives in the hall.
"Does anyone else have any objections to this result?"
"Stand out now, I like to solve things all at once, it saves time and effort."
The hall was silent.
No one dared to make even a sound of breathing.
Lin Nuo smiled and turned to look at Emma:
"The Hellfire Club is back in your hands. How about it, are you satisfied with this opening?"
Chapter 162: Close Your Eyes, Submit Against the Back of the Chair
The heavy oak doors of the round table conference hall collapsed to the floor, breaking into several pieces.
The three Mutants who had been so incredibly arrogant just moments ago were now lying in different corners, emitting intermittent groans of pain.
Lin Nuo stood amidst the wreckage, his windbreaker not having a single extra wrinkle on it.
The few Trask Industries representatives in grey suits cowered in the corner, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
One of the lead representatives had a deathly pale face; he wanted to retreat, but his back was pressed firmly against the cold wall, leaving him nowhere to go.
Lin Nuo took a step and walked toward those few people.
The rustling sound of his leather shoes stepping on gravel was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent hall.
"Trask Industries is a federal partner." The lead representative swallowed, his voice trembling and slightly off-key, "If you lay a hand on us, the Military will not let you off."
Lin Nuo stopped in front of them, looking down at these ordinary people in suits.
He extended his right hand and helped the representative straighten his crooked tie.
The other party was so frightened by this action that he closed his eyes, his legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the floor.
"Go back and tell Bolivar Trask." Lin Nuo's voice was very calm, without the slightest hint of anger, "If he wants to cause trouble for the Hellfire Club, let him bring people himself. If he sends trash like you again, I will hang the person directly on the Manhattan bridge."
He patted the representative's cheek, producing a crisp sound.
"Get lost."
The few representatives, as if granted amnesty, scrambled out through the damaged door, not even daring to look back.
Lin Nuo turned his head and looked at the few club servants huddled in the corner of the side hall.
These servants usually considered themselves superior in front of ordinary people, but after witnessing the one-sided slaughter just now, they were filled with fear toward Lin Nuo at this moment.
"You few." Lin Nuo beckoned.
Two of the slightly braver male servants timidly trotted over and immediately lowered their heads.
"Clear this trash off the floor. That sound-wave Mutant and the vine Mutant, lock them in the dungeon. As for the one who controls Fire, send him for treatment first; don't let him die."
Lin Nuo pointed to a pool of blood on the floor.
"The intelligence dead people can provide is very limited."
"Yes, sir! We will do it immediately!"
The servants scrambled to start working. Their movements were extremely rapid, fearing that being a second slow would cause Lin Nuo's dissatisfaction.
In just a few minutes, the aftermath in the hall was cleaned up.
The bloodstains left by those traitors were wiped away quickly, leaving only a few faint, dark red marks.
The round table was still there.
Although the edges were slightly worn, the circle of etched gold lines representing power remained intact.
Lin Nuo pulled out a heavy mahogany chair and sat down directly.
He placed his legs on the edge of the round table, leaning his whole body against the soft backrest, displaying a posture of seizing control as if he were the host.
He looked at Emma Frost, who was still standing in the center of the hall.
At this moment, the White Queen had already put away her previous panic, but her hands were still hanging stiffly at her sides.
"When you attacked just now, you had already planned it out." Emma walked a few steps closer, her voice echoing in the empty room.
"Planned what?" Lin Nuo looked at her leisurely.
"When that one who controls Fire threw a fireball at you, you deliberately used your windbreaker to block it; you were actually testing the heat resistance limit of this garment, right?"
Emma stood by the round table, her fingers resting lightly on the back of the chair.
"The sound-wave Mutant wanted to counterattack with sonic waves, and you directly stuffed his mouth with a stack of documents; this was humiliating his ability. And the one who manipulates vines, the force with which you stepped on his roots was extremely precise, shattering his collarbone while ensuring his internal organs remained intact."
She stared intently at Lin Nuo.
"You were not fighting; you were choosing ways to torture them."
"Your brain is more useful than I imagined." Lin Nuo put down the legs he had resting on the round table, "However, in reality, using your eyes to observe is enough; don't try to use your telepathy to read my thoughts. I don't like being spied on."
Emma did not answer. She slowly walked to the main seat at the very top of the round table.
That was the seat belonging to the leader of the Hellfire Club — the White Queen.
She pulled out the chair and sat down elegantly, the hem of her long dress drooping at the side of the chair.
"I have already taken back the Hellfire Club." Emma said, but there was not much joy of victory in her tone, "But when you commanded those servants just now, you used your own name."
"You didn't even mention me."
"Lin Nuo, you have already started to establish your own absolute authority in the club."
Lin Nuo raised his hand and clapped three times slowly.
The crisp applause was somewhat harsh in the deathly silent hall.
"Emma Frost, talking to a smart woman like you really saves effort."
Lin Nuo stood up and paced slowly around the huge round table. His fingers traced over the gold-etched patterns, finally stopping behind Emma.
He leaned over slightly, the distance between the two of them pulled extremely close.
Emma could even feel the heat radiating from his skin, as well as that pervasive sense of oppression.
"I said, to be my ally, you need to surrender everything. Power, connections, and yourself."
Lin Nuo extended his right hand, using two fingers to gently pinch a strand of silver hair by her ear, and with a gentle motion, tucked it behind her ear.
His fingertips lingered on her earlobe for half a second, intentionally or unintentionally.
That spot was turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Don't touch me." Emma's voice remained cold, but her body was trembling slightly.
"You are refusing with your mouth, but your body is very honest."
Lin Nuo turned around, placing both hands directly on the armrests on both sides of her seat, enclosing her entire person between himself and the back of the chair.
His body leaned forward slightly, almost touching the tip of her nose.
"Your heartbeat has quickened, and your fingers are gripping the fabric of your skirt tightly. Are you afraid, or are you expecting something?"
Lin Nuo freed one hand, cupped her chin, and forced her to look up at him.
"What I want is absolute obedience, not verbal compromise. Emma, your spine and your feet are both telling me that you want to run away."
Emma bit her lip hard, her chest heaving violently.
In front of this man, the mental defenses she was so proud of were completely ineffective. That primal, barbaric sense of oppression was stripping away her pride bit by bit.
Ultimately, she closed her eyes, no longer looking at him.
This was a silent compromise.
Lin Nuo looked at her appearance of closing her eyes and submitting, and let out a low laugh.
He released the hand holding her chin, straightened his body, and conveniently helped her tidy up her slightly messy collar.
"Very good. That's all for today."
Lin Nuo turned around and walked toward the door, the hem of his black windbreaker cutting a cold, hard arc in the air.
"Remember your choice today, Emma. From now on, whether you are diamond or gold, in front of me, you will only melt in the end."
Emma opened her eyes, only seeing Lin Nuo's back as he had already walked to the corner of the corridor.
"Where are you going?" She couldn't help but call out.
"To your study. Since I have obtained half of the power of the Hellfire Club, I have to do something. Get all the deployments of Trask Industries in New York ready."
"Third floor, the room on the left at the end of the corridor." Emma said in a low voice.
The footsteps gradually faded away.
Emma leaned against the back of the chair, feeling as if all her strength had been drained from her. She raised her hand to touch her earlobe; it was still somewhat burning.
This man was more dangerous than any Mutant she had ever seen.
Chapter 163: Scrap Metal Dares to Dance Before a God
Third floor, White Queen's private study.
Lin Nuo stopped in front of the bookshelf.
He pulled a book titled "Mutant Gene Classification and Identification Methods" from the third row, flipped through two pages, and shoved it back into its original place.
"Your taste in books is not bad."
Lin Nuo brushed off non-existent dust from his fingertips. "But one is missing."
"What's missing?"
Emma's voice came from the study doorway.
She had changed her shoes.
The white high heels at the entrance were neatly tucked into the shoe cabinet, replaced by a pair of silent, flat indoor slippers.
She held two crystal glasses in her hands, the clear red wine leaving fine trails against the glass walls.
"A copy of 'How to Identify the Refined Scum Around You'." Lin Nuo turned around.
"That book hasn't been published yet."
Emma handed him a glass of red wine. "We don't drink coffee in the study. Only red wine and brandy."
"Your rules?"
"The White Queen's rules."
Lin Nuo took the glass but didn't drink immediately.
He walked straight to the large black walnut desk in the center of the study, pulled out the leather chair, and sat down.
On the desk, a laptop, an encrypted communicator, and three mobile phones on different frequency bands were lined up in a straight line.
The indicator lights of these devices flickered with a cold, eerie light in the dim room.
"How much of your security system has been taken over by the traitor?" Lin Nuo asked.
Emma leaned against the edge of the desk, gently swirling the red wine glass between her fingers.
"One hundred percent of the perimeter. But the keys to the core communication network are only in my hands."
"Danton gained perimeter access, but he cannot enter the inner database."
"What is in the inner database?"
Emma paused for a moment, her gaze falling on the red wine glass.
"The contact codes for the seventy-two branches of the Hellfire Club worldwide. The coordinates of secret Mutantsanctuaries in sixteen countries."
"And—"
"The emergency communication channel of the X-Men."
Lin Nuo tapped his fingers gently on the desk.
"What is your relationship with Charles's side?"
"Cooperation. Limited cooperation."
Emma took a sip of red wine. "Charles doesn't trust the Hellfire Club, but he acknowledges the contributions I've made in protecting Mutants."
"He opened an emergency channel to me on the condition that I don't touch his students."
"You did touch them."
"What?" Emma's movements froze.
"Scott Summers."
Lin Nuo leaned forward, his tone calm. "Charles's direct disciple. Didn't you touch him?"
Emma's wine glass stopped before her lips.
"That's different."
"How is it different?"
"Between Scott and me, it's just—"
"Ambiguous."
Lin Nuo interrupted her explanation directly. "The state between you two is called ambiguity. You have mutual feelings, but neither is willing to speak first. He is held back by the discipline within the X-Men and doesn't dare to take that step, and you are held back by the White Queen's pride and refuse to lower yourself."
"So you just keep dragging it out."
"Neither of you will say it."
Lin Nuo looked at her.
"Until last night, when you were hunted down to the point of almost losing your life, he still wasn't by your side."
Emma slammed the wine glass onto the desk.
"Lin Nuo."
"I've said it before, I will handle Scott's matter myself."
"You don't need to analyze what's between him and me—"
"I am not analyzing."
Lin Nuo stood up, walked around the desk, and stopped at a position extremely close to her.
The study lights shone from diagonally above, and their shadows overlapped on the wooden floor.
"I am confirming one thing."
Lin Nuo looked into her eyes. "Are your feelings for him something that has already happened?"
"Or is it something you think should have happened?"
The sentence was very light, but like a needle, it precisely pierced the deepest defensive blind spot in Emma.
Her fingers rested on the rim of the glass, her nails turning slightly white.
What exactly was it between her and Scott?
Was it genuine love?
Or... was it the instinctive desire to chase that a woman, accustomed to controlling everything and having rejected countless suitors, felt when encountering a man who deliberately kept his distance?
Did she like Scott as a person, or did she just enjoy the pain of having her desire for conquest stimulated?
This thought flashed through her mind.
Just for a flash.
Then it was forcibly suppressed by her.
"This is not something you should worry about." Emmasaid coldly.
"Fine. I won't worry about it."
Lin Nuo picked up the glass and took a sip of red wine.
"But I want to remind you of one fact."
"When you needed help the most, it wasn't him who appeared before you."
"It was me."
He put down the glass.
His gaze passed through the thin red wine and landed on her face.
"You can choose not to admit this fact."
"But you cannot make it not exist."
The study fell into a deathly silence.
Even the ticking of the clock became clearly audible.
Suddenly.
A low, muffled rumble of thunder came from the air in the far distance.
"Boom—"
That was not the precursor to a thunderstorm.
The dull vibration traveled up along the foundation, and even the red wine glass on the desk rippled slightly.
Lin Nuo and Emma both turned to look at the closed window.
In the direction of the skyline, three black dots appeared under the black clouds.
The black dots were growing larger at an extremely fast speed.
They were definitely not helicopters; they were so massive that they looked like moving buildings.
The metallic edges refracted a cold luster under the dim sky.
They were three giant humanoid outlines.
Bodies forged from heavy alloy armor, with eerie blue energy arcs flashing at the joints.
Over four meters tall.
Second-generation Sentinel robots.
Lin Nuo's ears twitched.
Before his eyes could see clearly, his hearing had already captured the heavy and dense engine sound.
Hydraulic pumps were running at overload, and the electronic buzzing when the fire control system started spread through the air, like a swarm of metal locusts frantically flapping their wings.
"Trask's true trump card has arrived." Lin Nuo said calmly.
Emma walked to the window in a few steps.
When she saw the outlines of those three behemoths, her expression sank completely.
"Second-generation Sentinel. Three of them."
"Each one is equipped with Mutant gene tracking radar and adaptive molecular armor. They can adjust their defense strategies within microseconds based on the target's ability type."
She turned to look at Lin Nuo, her breathing somewhat heavy.
"If I were at my peak, I could use my psychic power to forcibly hack into their control cores and burn out their logic chips. But now—"
"Now you can't." Lin Nuo took over the conversation.
He straightened his clothes, turned around, and walked toward the study door.
When passing Emma, his hand tapped her shoulder lightly.
The force was very light.
It was just like an ordinary person preparing to go out for groceries, saying goodbye to their family.
"Wait upstairs." Lin Nuo said.
"Don't stand directly in front of the window, in case the glass shatters and cuts your feet."
Emma turned around abruptly.
"You're going to deal with three second-generation Sentinels alone?"
"Hmm."
"You're crazy."
Lin Nuo stopped and looked back at her.
"This is the second time you've called me crazy."
"The first time you called me crazy was when you tried to read my mind and ended up vomiting blood yourself."
"And what was the result?"
"The crazy one, was it you, or was it me?"
Emma's throat moved.
She tried to find words to refute him, but realized she couldn't say a single word.
Lin Nuo had already walked out of the study.
The wind in the corridor blew his clothes, and he stood in the shadows of the hallway, turning his face slightly.
"Human science and technology have indeed progressed."
Lin Nuo's voice echoed in the empty corridor.
"However, they seem to have forgotten to install awe for the gods into this scrap metal."
Chapter 164: Tearing Sentinels Apart by Hand, The Queen Bows Her Head, Completely Overwhelmed
The manor lawn was completely ruined.
The first 2nd-gen Sentinel landed.
The impact of gravity acceleration and a multi-ton alloy body smashed a five-meter-diameter mud pit into the center of the lawn.
Soil and shredded grass sprayed outward, pattering against the second-floor glass windows.
The four-meter-tall alloy giant rose from the mud pit.
Its surface refracted a cold metallic luster, and its blue optical sensors projected conical beams, scanning the entire main building.
Then came the second one, and the third.
The three heavy armors spread out in a triangular formation.
A dull sound of hydraulic bearings under heavy load emanated from their mechanical joints.
Their surfaces were covered with a layer of silver-gray nano-coating.
This was the core secret of Trask Industries: adaptive armor.
Whenever attacked, the surface hardness and energy absorption frequency would adjust within a split second.
The more it was attacked, the stronger its defense became.
This was the ultimate killing machine developed against Mutants.
This time, Trask deployed three of them directly.
The lead Sentinel stepped forward.
Its heavy alloy foot stomped onto the cast-iron gate.
The gate shattered directly into several pieces, flying a dozen meters away.
The infrared thermal imaging radar rotated, locking onto the third-floor study.
Emma's X-Gene signal was very clear.
The fire control system began to operate.
The Sentinel's right arm armor flipped open to the sides, revealing the muzzle of a high-energy particle cannon.
An orange-red glow condensed deep within the muzzle.
Just then, a person walked out from behind the ruins of the gate.
Lin Nuo was wearing an immaculate black suit.
The collar of his white shirt was buttoned neatly.
He folded his removed Vibranium trench coat neatly and placed it on a clean stone step beside the door.
Then, he walked alone toward these three behemoths.
The height difference was extremely stark.
In front of the three four-meter-tall steel beasts, Lin Nuoappeared exceptionally small, but his black suit was crisp, without a single wrinkle.
The first Sentinel's sensors lingered on Lin Nuo.
Database retrieval initiated.
X-Gene detection: None.
The target does not possess any known Mutant genes.
However, the energy detector's needle hit the maximum limit.
The air pressure and energy field around the target's body were in a state of chaotic disorder, making it impossible to parse specific values.
The fire control system bypassed standard judgment and automatically marked Lin Nuo as the primary elimination target.
There was no warning.
The first Sentinel opened fire.
A half-meter-diameter orange-red beam erupted from its right arm.
The air hissed piercingly as it was scorched by the intense heat.
This temperature could easily melt through the composite deck of a heavy tank.
The beam hit Lin Nuo head-on.
The soil and gravel turned charred black under the high temperature, and a layer of transparent crystals even appeared on the surface.
A charred pit spread beneath Lin Nuo's feet.
Scalding smoke and dust shot into the sky, obscuring the view of the area.
The second and third Sentinels micro-adjusted their weapon ports, vigilantly locking onto the center of the dust cloud.
They were waiting for the signal of life sign disappearance.
Three seconds.
The smoke and dust dissipated under thermal convection.
In the center of the arc-shaped deep pit, Lin Nuo was still standing there.
His right foot was stepping on the warm crystalline ground, and his left foot was slightly raised.
His shoe sole was stained with a bit of ash.
He wiped his shoe sole on the blades of grass nearby, his movements slow and deliberate.
Gold-rimmed glasses hung on the bridge of his nose, the lenses clean.
His shirt was stark white.
His Bio-force field sealed every inch of space around his body.
The impact of the high-energy particles was deflected to the surroundings by gravity deviation the moment it touched the Bio-force field, failing to damage his clothes in the slightest.
The first Sentinel's logic core fell into an infinite loop.
Alarms jumped wildly within its system: Unexplainable defense mechanism.
Lin Nuo twisted his neck.
His joints let out a slight crack.
"It's my turn."
In the microsecond after his words fell, he had already vanished from his spot.
The air in the open space underwent an airflow burst due to his high-speed movement.
The first Sentinel's optical sensors had not yet managed to capture the infrared afterimage.
Even its nano-armor didn't have time to send the electrical signal to adjust its hardness.
Lin Nuo was already standing on its head.
He reached out his right hand, his five fingers pressing onto the outer armor of the first Sentinel's head.
The metal began to cave inward under the immense force.
His fingers sank directly into the steel plate.
Alarm sounds echoed within the first Sentinel's body in a high-frequency electronic tone.
The hydraulic arm attempted to grab Lin Nuo.
But Lin Nuo's left hand had already followed through and rested on its neck joint.
He applied force.
An extremely piercing sound of metal breaking tore through the night sky.
The first Sentinel's head was ripped off by him.
Cables snapped, and sparks flew everywhere.
Blue high-pressure hydraulic oil gushed from the broken opening like a black fountain.
Lin Nuo dodged to the side and casually threw the heavy iron head aside.
At this moment, the tactical coordination of the other two Sentinels initiated.
The second Sentinel raised its left arm, opening a high-power electromagnetic shield, with blue ripples spreading layer by layer.
The third Sentinel ejected dazzling exhaust flames from its back, leaped high, and smashed down heavily from above with its right fist wrapped in plasma.
Lin Nuo stood on the headless torso of the first Sentinel, not even looking at the iron fist falling from above.
He bent his right leg slightly, then swept it horizontally.
The first Sentinel's multi-ton massive body was kicked flying sideways by him.
The headless torso smashed into the second Sentinel's electromagnetic shield.
The blue shield flickered violently, lasting less than half a second before shattering with a bang.
The two behemoths tumbled and collided amidst a loud crash, plowing two deep trenches into the lawn.
Meanwhile, the third Sentinel's iron fist had already reached above Lin Nuo's head.
The intense plasma airflow had already scorched the vegetation below.
Lin Nuo met it with one hand.
His palm collided with the alloy fist in mid-air.
The air wave expanded in a circle, shattering all the decorative sculptures on the manor's outer wall.
Lin Nuo's legs sank half a foot into the ground.
But his right arm, which blocked the heavy fist, did not bend in the slightest.
He clenched his five fingers.
The Sentinel's fist, composed of adaptive armor, completely deformed and twisted under the force of his knuckles.
"Come down."
Lin Nuo pulled his arm down.
The third Sentinel's massive steel body lost its balance in the air and was forcefully dragged back to the ground by this power.
The earth trembled again.
Amidst flying mud, Lin Nuo stepped onto its chest.
He bent over, his hands hooking into the gaps of the armor on its chest.
The lines of his two arms were extremely taut under his white shirt.
He tore with force to both sides.
The heavy chest armor was ripped into two halves like cardboard, revealing the energy reactor inside.
It was a miniature fusion core emitting blue light and spinning at high speed.
Lin Nuo reached his right hand in and violently pulled out the energy core.
The sounds of circuit short-circuits rose and fell one after another.
The third Sentinel's optical sensors extinguished completely.
On the other side, the second Sentinel finally crawled out from the wreckage that had been pressing on it.
Its right arm was broken, and the particle cannon on its remaining left arm was overloading, the blinding red light almost melting the cannon barrel.
Lin Nuo held the high-energy core.
He flicked his finger.
The core drew a straight line in the air and was stuffed directly into the second Sentinel's particle cannon barrel.
The energy instantly backflowed.
Charge resonance spread throughout the second Sentinel's entire body within a microsecond.
Dull explosions sounded continuously from within it.
Subsequently, this alloy giant completely exploded from the inside, turning into countless burning iron fragments.
A half-meter-long sharp piece of deck, propelled by the explosive force, headed straight for the third-floor study window.
Lin Nuo's figure flickered.
He intercepted the piece of iron armor in mid-air, flicked it with his right hand, and the iron armor plunged obliquely deep into the mud.
Then, he used one foot to gain leverage on the windowsill and landed lightly and steadily into the study.
The edge of his suit was stained with a bit of dust.
He raised his hand to pat it off, his expression calm.
The study was so quiet one could hear a leaf fall.
Emma stood before the broken window.
Her hands were pressed against the edge of the wooden study desk, her knuckles pressed tightly.
Her body exhibited an uncontrollable trembling.
The scene before her had completely shattered all her previous perceptions.
The 2nd-gen Sentinels, which Trask Industries had exerted all its efforts to create, represented absolute despair in the Mutant World.
But in front of the man before her, they seemed like some shoddy tin toys.
They didn't even make him break a sweat.
This pure, extreme, and violent power caused a tsunami-like turmoil in her mental sea.
It was not out of fear.
But an instinctive submission of a lower life form when facing an existence that transcends the rules.
Pride and status seemed incomparably ridiculous at this moment.
She lowered her head.
"Master."
Although the voice was not loud, it was very clear in the silent room.
Lin Nuo stopped adjusting his cuffs and turned his face to look at her.
"Say it again?"
Emma took a deep breath and spoke again.
This time, there was no struggle in her tone; with her head bowed, she was obedient and submissive.
"Master."
"Everything I have, from now on, belongs to you to command."