"The live Sentinel drill has met expectations."
Athena quickly forwarded the field report, filled out by Trask himself.
Trask was, of course, not dead—just a simple trick with the Space Stone.
"Combat capability is optimized for current materials; most important, remote-command reception is superb," Trask wrote.
sentinel robots have no minds; they act only on human orders, switching to pre-set templates in battle to decide counter-measures.
Fang Yuan's goal in building Sentinels was to gain a powerful weapon, not to exterminate the Awakened; the idea of assassinating them was pure theater.
Everything was simply an order from Black King My Lord.
But while the Sentinels obeyed, the Dark Council's senators were far less compliant.
While every network live-streamed the X-Men slugging it out with Sentinels, the capital markets plunged into chaos.
Tycoons everywhere were cashing out, pooling funds for a quick escape.
The instant the Sentinels opened fire on Trask's three ordinary humans, those tycoons knew they were finished.
Business is war; even with formidable backing, a blunder this big invites every equal-ranked rival to tear off a piece.
They knew it, yet could do nothing. Some still clung to the old rules.
Hand over the money and the company to buy your life—or at least keep living comfortably behind bars.
But they quickly discovered Vought Corporation wasn't playing human.
Spare your lives?
We've kept you on feed all this time precisely for today.
Fang Yuan could walk away from the money, but your lives stay; the World must see what happens to anyone who crosses Vought.
Vought's move drew every conglomerate's gaze, yet Vought made no secret of it—White Queen declared it openly.
Vought will let them carve up the lion's share, with one sole condition: every Dark Council member must be wiped out; anything less makes you Vought's enemy.
That means the Council members and every force behind them—total annihilation, principal figures must pay the price.
Root-and-branch extermination isn't the Western way; this is the first time Vought has shown such savagery.
Yet everyone accepts it as understandable—after all, the Sentinel plan endangers not just the Awakened but all humanity.
So the other powers fall in line with Vought's intent.
Besides, the Dark Council's legacy is mouth-watering: the Augustus Group is a World-leading conglomerate, and the senators' personal fortunes will leave them stuffed.
Fang Yuan also knows you can't truly kill every last one—some fish always slip the net.
He doesn't force it; the point is made, Vought's stance is clear.
This was a case of killing the lion to warn the tiger; with the Dark Council as the precedent, every future conglomerate will know what to do.
Drink and feast alongside Vought, or be hunted to extinction—an easy choice.
Thus the poor wage-slaves under the Dark Council suffer: one day you're at your desk, the next the company's gone.
"We shouldn't take Vought's word alone; we must investigate thoroughly before any conclusion!"
"Some Augustus employees may be rotten, but don't damn the whole firm—every company has its termites…"
The Collector Television host was still ranting live, desperately salvaging dignity for Augustus, his biggest shareholder.
Then he looked up, heard colleagues shouting, froze, and forgot he was on air.
"Bankrupt? What's bankrupt?"
"Us?"
The host's face drained: "What about this month's bonus?"
The floor manager's voice hit the air: "We can't even pay salaries… the money's all gone!"
The host exploded on camera: "Aaaargh—motherf***ing Augustus!"
Collector Television collapsed live on air.
If even The Collector was finished, the rest of Augustus's empire folded even faster, flags changing atop every tower overnight.
Only Vought Television's anchors laughed while narrating the X-Men's brawl with the Sentinels.
Nothing delights them like watching rivals crash and burn.
By now the battle had served its purpose; there was no need to continue.
Besides, the current Sentinels still couldn't truly match the X-Men.
"Live flaws in Sentinel 2.0: material limits, insufficient power reserves, and too-slow power switching," Trask's report listed the next upgrades.
Had Fang Yuan ordered the 2.0s to kill, they could at least have taken out Banshee, Hank, even Red Devil.
But there was no need.
As Superheroes, the X-Men beating down super-villains is the story that should be on screen.
All six sentinel robots were destroyed one by one on live camera, but the X-Men paid a price. Apart from Magneto and Professor X, the rest—Banshee, Alex, Red Devil, and Hank—were all injured. Wolverine and Sabretooth were hurt badly enough to have died ten times over.
Since neither Wolverine nor Sabretooth could pierce the Sentinels' armor, Logan and Viktor ended up as human shields in the later stages, soaking damage or pinning the robots so their teammates could strike.
Without the two of them, the X-Men's victory would have been anything but easy.
Had Fang Yuan taken the field, he could have handled every Sentinel alone using Magneto's power, yet Erik clearly isn't battle-oriented—or simply never bothered to refine his craft—so his control in combat is far from precise.
Which makes sense: Erik's main job is running the Brotherhood of Mutants. He's essentially the Police chief, judge, and several other key offices rolled into one; where would he find time to develop his abilities?
The audience saw it all. If six Sentinels gave the X-Men this much trouble, what happens once the robots are mass-produced?
After all, Councilor Darwin himself revealed documents on Vought Television stating the Dark Council's endgame isn't to wipe out the Awakened but to use sentinel robots to control the entire World.
Whoever disobeys gets annihilated by a Sentinel.
That's right—Darwin's no longer a Superhero; he's gone straight into politics.
With broad popular support and the bonus of his skin, staying out of politics would waste his natural advantages.
Now every human is up in arms. Even those who loathe Vought are fine with wiping out the Awakened—just don't wipe out me.
Of course, in the current climate the few anti-Vought survivors pose zero real threat to the corporation.
They can't even infiltrate the Dark Council—pitifully weak.
The rest can be left to the capitalists to carve up however they like; once they're done divvying, they'll still obediently send the money to Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan's real spoils are on his company dashboard.
[Name: Charles Xavier]
[Grade: A+]
[Renown: 150 (World-Famous)]
[Fourth-Reward Unlocked: Halo of Protégés Everywhere (Grade A) – Claimable]
[Halo of Protégés Everywhere (Grade A): After guiding employees to develop their powers, receive feedback based on the extent of their improvement.]
Professor X lives up to the title—his unlocked halo is all about teaching others.
Fang Yuan raised an eyebrow.
"The panel's a bit sloppy. Professor X has plenty of students, but in the movies most of them meet nasty ends," he mused.
Aside from the students who followed Old Magneto to their deaths in the original X-Men trilogy, those at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters in the new trilogy are dragged onto battlefields and lab tables, only to be accidentally killed by a senile Professor X.
Xavier's School is infinitely more dangerous than Hogwarts.
Complaints aside, he's quite pleased with the reward.
The Halo of Protégés lets Fang Yuan develop character templates faster, and since many protagonists power-up in absurd ways, timing a cram session right before their big break might yield pleasant surprises.
"After Uncle Fang, here comes Teacher Fang!"
Beaming, Fang Yuan looked at the next reward.
[Name: Erik Lehnsherr]
[Grade: A+]
[Renown: 150 (World-Famous)]
[Fourth-Reward Unlocked: Big-Scene Halo (Grade A) – Claimable]
[Big-Scene Halo (Grade A): For every unforgettable grand scene you create, gain +10% power in the relevant World, up to 50%. Current boost: 30%/50%]
Magneto the showman nets a suitably showy halo.
The moment he claims it, Fang Yuan feels a huge surge in strength—an A-grade halo, leagues above Good Sister's Grade-B Error Halo.
The Grade-B Error Halo grants stat boosts; he's now capped at 25% in this World.
That's already impressive given his high base stats—boosting a B-grade Spirit attribute by another quarter is frightening.
But the Grade-A Big-Scene Halo boosts overall power, covering areas raw stats miss, making it the most comprehensive buff.
Magneto really does have the bigger name.
Fang Yuan glances at the three grand scenes fueling his boost: founding Vought Corp with X-Squad and the Hellfire Club at a fan meet, openly backing Black superheroes, and his first appearance after the Vought Act passed.
"Not bad," he says, satisfied—operating behind the scenes in the X-Men World and still scoring three big scenes.
"Next up—the protagonist." Fang Yuan murmurs.
The undisputed star of X-Men is Wolverine.
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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