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In the pitch-black forest, three terrified Mutant teenagers followed behind X-23, using her night vision to hold hands and navigate the rugged mountain path.
But soon, faint dog barks and the roar of vehicle engines, growing louder, echoed from behind them.
"Oh no, they're catching up…"
A Mutant girl shrieked in fear, but X-23 immediately stopped her, "Shut up, screaming like that will only help them find us faster… Don't stop, keep running up the mountain, someone will come to save us."
"Laura, will Wolverine really come to save us?"
Another Mutant teenager asked with uncertainty, "But even if he wants to save us, he's so far away from here. We'll probably be dead by the time he arrives, won't we?"
"Don't overthink it, he'll definitely come."
A look of conviction appeared on X-23's tender young face, "Even though Logan… my dad usually seems like a big jerk, he'll definitely figure out a way to save us."
The teenagers fell silent.
Even though none of them truly believed such a miracle would occur.
But now, they could only place their last shred of hope on Wolverine.
However, good times don't last.
Within minutes, before they could even cross the mountain slope, over ten swift hounds caught up from behind.
These hounds seemed to be specially trained and knew how to work as a team.
So, after catching up to X-23 and her three companions, they didn't immediately attack. Instead, they surrounded them, then slowly advanced from different directions, baring their fangs and adopting an attacking posture, continuously narrowing the group's movement space.
"Don't be scared, everyone, we can handle them."
X-23 tried her best to remain calm, leaning back-to-back with the other three against a large tree to avoid being attacked from all sides.
However, due to their hasty escape, only X-23 possessed Beast-like night vision among the four. The other three were like blind people in the pitch-black environment, only able to roughly determine the hounds' positions by their low growls.
Although they all possessed powerful Mutant abilities, these abilities were still underdeveloped, and they were, after all, still immature children who had never experienced a situation like this before.
So, apart from X-23, the other three were all trembling with fear. Besides screaming and clutching their heads, they had no intention of fighting.
"Woof woof woof…"
When the four's movement range was compressed to a certain extent, several hounds finally couldn't resist their hunting instincts and immediately launched an attack.
Thud, thud—
X-23 reacted first, extending four Adamantium Claws from her fists, directly piercing the heads of two hounds that lunged at her companions' sides.
"Ahhh, don't bite me… Laura, help!"
In another direction, a scrawny Mutant girl was already knocked to the ground by a hound. Its sharp fangs bit into her thigh, and then, in coordination with another hound, they forcefully dragged her towards the outer woods.
"Roar—"
X-23 let out a tender, yet intimidating, roar like a young wolf, then charged forward to rescue her companion.
But as soon as she made a move, she was immediately blocked by four hounds that suddenly rushed out.
These hounds seemed to be very wary of her Claws, so they didn't rashly launch an attack. Instead, they continuously circled around, attempting to launch a surprise attack from her blind spots.
Although X-23 possessed powerful healing abilities comparable to Wolverine, capable of recovering from injuries at a visible rate.
However, apart from the six Adamantium Claws on her hands and feet, her internal bones were no different from a normal person's. So, if her neck was directly bitten through, she would still die.
And while Little Wolf Girl's reaction speed was much faster than ordinary people, her movement speed still had a significant gap compared to real Beasts.
Therefore, once the hounds didn't attack directly from the front but instead used a strategy of entanglement and harassment, her advantages couldn't be brought into play at all.
"Laura, save me…"
"Help, I don't want to die, ah… don't bite me, it hurts!"
Screams of agony echoed from the darkness.
While X-23 was confronting the four hounds, the other three Mutant teenagers had all been dragged into the darkness by the remaining hounds.
Although they managed to kill a few hounds using their Mutant abilities in their panic, they were quickly bitten through the throat and limbs by the remaining enraged hounds' surprise attacks.
"Ahhh…"
Watching her companions die tragically one by one, powerless to do anything, X-23 let out a mournful howl of grief and indignation, then charged frantically at the surrounding hounds.
But those hounds weren't planning to confront her head-on. Instead, they used more agile movements to continuously ambush her from behind.
In a few moves, they successfully dragged X-23 to the ground.
The other hounds, like a pack of hyenas hunting, took advantage of the situation to continuously bite Little Wolf Girl's back, some even tearing off a large chunk of flesh from her tender thigh.
But under the effect of her healing ability, the wounds quickly returned to normal.
However, the psychological trauma caused to X-23 by such torment was far more than just physical pain.
Thud, thud—
Two hounds attempting to seize the opportunity to ambush and bite X-23's neck were directly decapitated by her Claws as she rolled on the ground and swung them.
Splattered blood covered Little Wolf Girl's face, but she had no time to wipe it off now.
While the other hounds were intimidated, she used her feet to continuously push off the ground, maintaining a supine position, successfully leaning against a large tree, temporarily escaping the danger of being attacked from all sides.
But facing the still watchful hounds around her, she was helpless.
What was even more critical was that the enemies behind them had successfully caught up.
Beams of strong light shone from all directions towards Little Wolf Girl's location, immediately causing her vision to lose focus, forcing her to raise her hands to shield her eyes.
"Oh God, look at this little one, just like a wolf cub with fangs."
Donald Pierce, the head of The Marauders, parted the crowd and approached X-23, saying,
"Hey, baby, it breaks my heart to see you like this. I really don't want to dig out the Adamantium Claws from your body in a place like this…"
"But if you cooperate obediently, I can at least guarantee you a more dignified death than you'll get now."
Compared to the other Mutant teenagers, X-23 possessed powerful healing abilities and had indestructible Adamantium Claws implanted in her body.
Therefore, to truly destroy the evidence and leave no trace, she had to be taken back to the laboratory for a professional dissection.
This was also the fundamental reason why The Marauders had been relentlessly pursuing X-23.
Because once the news of Dr. Sander Rice secretly cloning Mutant teenagers was exposed, Yuckley Genetics' stock price and reputation would instantly plummet.
All the organizations that had previously cooperated with it, especially S.H.I.E.L.D., would immediately turn their backs and deny any involvement.
The big investors behind the scenes would make Dr. Sander Rice pay dearly.
"My dad will definitely come to save me, and then all of you will die!"
X-23 had clearly inherited the tenacious and unyielding part of Logan Howlett's DNA, so even in this situation, there was no fear or retreat on her face.
"Dad?"
Donald Pierce was startled at first, then reacted and burst into laughter:
"Tsk tsk tsk, I didn't expect your relationship to progress so quickly… Indeed, from a genetic perspective, Wolverine is your biological father."
"But the problem is, that old man has long since become useless under the influence of the m43 virus. Even if he were here, it would be no use… Besides, where is he now?!"
"Don't badmouth my dad."
A look of anger appeared on X-23's tender young face, then her slender body suddenly sprang from the ground, waving her two pairs of Claws, ready to attack Donald Pierce.
But the hounds surrounding her once again blocked her charge.
If she couldn't deal with these annoying Beasts, she probably wouldn't even be able to make a basic normal attack.
"Hey, Laura, don't be so impulsive."
Donald Pierce spread his hands with a confident look, "We put a lot of effort into dealing with you this time… These military-grade hounds were specially prepared for you."
Then he waved to the soldiers behind him and ordered, "Use tranquilizer darts directly. The boss is still waiting for us down the mountain."
"Yes."
Two soldiers immediately pulled out specialized tranquilizer guns and aimed them at Little Wolf Girl, who was angry but powerless to break free.
"Roar ah…"
But just then, a tall figure with slightly staggering steps suddenly rushed out of the darkness behind them.
Thud, thud, thud—
Logan Howlett wielded his sharp Claws, and with his exquisite combat skills, he successfully killed several mercenaries within a few breaths.
Using the cover of darkness, he charged towards X-23's encirclement like a tiger descending a mountain, breaking through everything in his path, "Laura, I'm here to save you!!!"
A roar filled with anger echoed through the valley.
Little Wolf Girl couldn't help but tear up at the sight. Her jerk of a dad had actually come to rescue her like a superhero, crossing thousands of miles!
But then she also mimicked Logan, roaring and attacking the hounds in front of her.
She wasn't going to sit idly by and wait to be saved.
Only blood could soothe the anger in her heart now.
"WTF?!"
Donald Pierce immediately paled in shock at the sight, quickly pulling several subordinates in front of him as shields, while rapidly retreating and pulling out his walkie-talkie to call Dr. Sander Rice, who was waiting for the results at Eden.
"Boss, Wolverine has appeared! This old man's condition is a bit off, he seems much stronger than when I saw him before. We might not be able to handle him… Quickly release X-24 to take care of this old man!"
Soon, a reply came through the walkie-talkie, "He appeared after all… Hold on, X-24 is already on the way."
After ending the call, Donald Pierce's mind was at ease. He ordered the release of lighting drones to illuminate the entire area, while also directing the mercenaries to besiege Logan Howlett, trying to delay as much time as possible.
Thud, thud, thud—
After losing the cover of darkness, dense bullets poured down on Logan Howlett like rain, but they were quickly forced out of his flesh by his healing ability.
Logan Howlett crossed his arms to protect his face, then forcibly pushed through the hail of bullets to X-23's side.
With a swing of his Claws, he directly dismembered two hounds that were fiercely biting Little Wolf Girl's ankles from behind, then used his blood-stained, broad body to shield her, "Get behind me!"
X-23 immediately understood, like a young wolf learning how to hunt from a wolf king, she slightly bent her body and hid behind Logan Howlett, charging forward with him towards the enemies.
Tat-tat-tat—
Thud, thud, thud—
Logan Howlett used his body to block all incoming bullets, then, as he neared the enemies, he lunged forward, his Claws directly penetrating the riot shields and piercing the heads of two mercenaries behind them.
And X-23, mimicking him, took the opportunity to step on her father's back and leap towards the enemies ahead.
Father and daughter, working together, slaughtered them!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Suddenly, several tranquilizer darts flew towards their direction.
Logan Howlett, who reacted first, directly used his body to shield X-23. A strong sense of dizziness made him feel like the world was spinning, but it quickly began to fade under the effect of his healing ability.
However.
Just as X-23 helped him pull out the tranquilizer darts from his back and prepared to launch a new round of attacks, Logan Howlett suddenly staggered, almost falling to the ground.
"Damn it, has the recovery serum worn off?!"
Feeling the power rapidly receding from his body like a tide, Logan Howlett suddenly remembered that Karl had previously said that this miraculous serum, which helped him recover his sense of smell and other bodily functions, seemed to only last for about a week.
And after the effect wore off, his physical condition might experience severe deterioration.
If calculated by time now, exactly one week had just passed.
Damn it, why did it have to happen at this moment?
Logan Howlett truly felt like he was "suffering in silence" at this moment.
Especially without the enhancement of his healing ability, he couldn't possibly escape from here with X-23 unharmed.
And Frank, who had come with him, had split off to Eden to deal with another group of mercenaries.
So the best solution now was to hold off the enemies as much as possible while he still had the strength to fight, then let Laura go to Eden to find Frank for help.
Although those mercenaries had an absolute advantage in numbers, he didn't believe they could deal with Frank, that "human terminator."
"Laura, listen to my command in a bit. Seize the opportunity to go down to Eden and find Frank for help."
Little Wolf Girl had clearly also noticed the abnormality in her father, because although her sense of smell wasn't bug-level, it was equally sensitive.
At this moment, she actually smelled a hint of decay on Logan Howlett.
But it clearly wasn't there just now…