Reborn with Steve Stand

Chapter 680: [Sponsored]: Stryker Base

[This chapter is proudly sponsored by "356PumpsAMinute." Please join me in expressing your thanks in the comments! If you're interested in sponsoring a chapter, consider joining the Patreon.]

I have to say, the X-fighter designed by Beast is quite impressive.

You should know that a dam is a functional structure, unlike the flashy and impractical Twin Towers. Just the concrete outer layer of the dam is enough to intimidate many people.

At least, a Boeing 767-223ER definitely wouldn't stand a chance against this dam.

But a passenger plane is still just a passenger plane.

And what Beast designed is a groundbreaking X-fighter.

So, after a thunderous crash, although the X-fighter crashed into the dam, it broke through the concrete outer layer, allowing Fang Mo and his team to enter safely.

"Sigh, that was reckless."

After entering the dam, Fang Mo lightly brushed the dust off himself and said, "I should have made the plane indestructible first."

A concrete slab was pushed aside, and Logan, covered in dust, crawled out. He started brushing off the dust, looking very displeased: "If you ever crash a plane into a dam again, I swear I'll stab you with my claws..."

"Oh, then I swear I'll kick your ass with my boots," Fang Mo immediately retorted.

"What's with your strange tone?" Logan couldn't help but facepalm, then looked around: "So... where are we?"

"No idea," Fang Mo also looked around. All he saw were some incomprehensible machines, possibly generators or metal tanks. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Maybe... we're inside the power plant?"

"This power plant is quite sturdy."

During the conversation, Darwin walked over slowly. A thick layer of black exoskeleton had grown on him: "By the way, Fang Mo, I think I just saw Nightcrawler get hit."

"Oh, it's fine," Fang Mo waved dismissively, "As long as he believes in me, he can be resurrected on the spot."

While they were talking, footsteps sounded nearby.

They turned to see Nightcrawler walking towards them, looking confused.

"Did... did I just die?" Nightcrawler instinctively touched his body, but the pain seemed like an illusion. He felt no discomfort and was in better condition than before, as if all his old injuries had healed.

"I think you did die," Darwin glanced at Nightcrawler, "But Jesus resurrected you. Say, thank you, Jesus."

"This..."

Nightcrawler hesitated. He was indeed a devout believer, but Fang Mo clearly didn't resemble the Jesus described in the Bible. However, resurrection was a divine ability... Could Fang Mo really be a god?

While he was pondering, a lot of chaotic footsteps suddenly sounded.

This was, after all, Stryker's base. The massive commotion of crashing the plane into the dam alerted the soldiers, who rushed to investigate.

As the soldiers stormed into the room, the battle began.

Logan was the first to react, extending his Adamantium claws and charging forward. With two swift slashes, the leading soldier fell before he could react.

Seeing this, the soldiers immediately started fighting back, using pistols, rifles, and even grenades.

Luckily, Logan had eaten a golden apple years ago, making him much stronger than in the original story. He now displayed traits of being evenly matched with anyone, like Captain America with a Vibranium shield implanted in him.

He dodged most of the bullets with a roll, then charged forward, using two soldiers as shields against more attacks, and kicked away two grenades.

The next second, two explosions rang out.

The grenades exploded among the soldiers, and many fell.

"Ah..."

Nightcrawler, seeing this, panicked. He was just a teleporter, untrained as a soldier, and witnessing this gunfire up close scared him.

Compared to Nightcrawler, Darwin remained calm. His exoskeleton continued to evolve, thickening into a biological bulletproof armor, clearly ready to assist Logan.

But just then, Fang Mo suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Darwin," Fang Mo cheerfully stopped him, then walked towards the soldiers himself: "You don't need to fight this time. Watch me take them out with a level-three backpack."

"A level-three backpack?"

Darwin was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, and then he activated his ability. He looked at Fang Mo, who was wearing a white robe and carrying a large, bulging bag. Instantly, a strange thought flashed in Darwin's mind: "Wait a minute... Fang Mo, what's in your bag?"

"Hehe."

Fang Mo responded with a mischievous smile: "It's a backward clock."

"..."

Darwin wisely chose to remain silent. At the same time, his exoskeleton became thicker, and he crouched down defensively, covering his head.

As for Fang Mo, he nonchalantly walked toward Logan. At this moment, the soldiers were fiercely attacking Logan, seemingly not noticing Fang Mo until he got closer. They then turned their guns to aim at him.

But Fang Mo was incredibly fast.

He grabbed Logan's arm with one hand and then forcefully threw his backpack forward. In the next second, he activated teleportation, and the two of them instantly retreated to a distant place.

"Boom!!!"

A massive explosion shook the entire room.

Under such a powerful shockwave, it was clear that ordinary soldiers couldn't withstand it. Fang Mo had cleared the room in an instant, and soon, silence returned.

"You see, I told you so," Fang Mo cheerfully turned to Darwin: "This is the proper use of a backpack, stuffing it with the kids' favorite TNT..."

"The effect is indeed impressive," Darwin slowly stood up, his face filled with resignation: "But I have a question, how long can you survive underwater?"

"Huh?" Logan was puzzled: "Underwater? What do you mean?"

"Look up," Darwin pointed at the ceiling. Logan instinctively looked up and saw a massive crack, with water stains dripping down from it.

"Oh no..." Logan seemed to understand.

"From now on, you are not allowed to make any moves," Logan immediately turned to Fang Mo: "Leave the soldiers to us... If this place collapses, we won't be able to rescue Charles, and I won't let you perform surgery on me, understand?"

"Hehe, very troublesome," Fang Mo, having just pulled off a big move, was still in a good mood and laughed: "Fine, let's do as you say and rescue the wheelchair guy first."

Seeing Fang Mo agree, everyone sighed in relief.

After that, the group continued to explore the base.

However, strangely, they didn't encounter any more ambushes from the soldiers, as if they had all vanished. It was unclear what Stryker was up to, but it did speed up their exploration significantly.

Nevertheless, the base was indeed quite large.

Although Logan had some vague memories, he couldn't recall the specific layout, so the group had to proceed by exploring as they went.

Before long, they came to a peculiar laboratory.

It appeared to have been abandoned for a long time, with dim lighting highlighting the slowly rotating old ventilation fans.

"This is..." Logan was stunned when he saw the lab.

He felt a vague sense of familiarity, as if ancient memories were surfacing, suggesting this place had left a profound impression on him.

He paused and slowly walked into the lab, examining his surroundings.

As previously mentioned, it was a very old lab with white tiled floors. In the center was a large tank filled with an unknown bluish-green liquid.

Around the tank were numerous pipes and needles.

At the ends of these pipes, Logan saw a crucible-like object containing some silver-gray liquid metal, bubbling continuously.

He instinctively looked up at the wall and saw a human anatomy chart with diagrams resembling arm modifications, identical to his X-ray images.

"Could this be..." Logan muttered as he walked a few steps forward. He then saw three deep, long scratches on the nearby concrete wall, like those made by sharp blades, resembling his Adamantium claws.

Upon seeing these marks, many memories began to flash through Logan's mind.

He recalled the painful process of undergoing the experiment, where his bones were infused with Adamantium, the feeling of being deceived and brainwashed.

"!"

Instinctively, Logan withdrew his hand from the wall.

"Oh, it looks like your memory is almost back," Fang Mo observed and nodded in satisfaction: "Good, if you fully recover, we won't need to do brain surgery."

"Indeed."

Darwin, who was standing next to Fang Mo, heard his comment and whispered, "But Logan is really pitiful. I thought he had gone on a world tour, but it turns out he was captured by Stryker and subjected to human modification experiments. Honestly, Fang Mo, if I had foreseen his ordeal, I would have definitely prevented it from happening... Uh, this shouldn't count as the grandfather paradox, right?"

"What nonsense about the grandfather paradox, I already solved it."

Fang Mo waved his hand dismissively, "I have a buddy who successfully broke this paradox. He killed his grandfather, but he didn't disappear."

"Really?"

Darwin was visibly surprised, "Then how did he time travel?"

"Time travel?"

Fang Mo was puzzled.

"... Never mind," Darwin sighed and wiped his face in frustration.

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed from the nearby stairs, resembling the click of high heels.

Everyone instinctively turned to look.

They saw a familiar woman descending the stairs.

"Hmm?"

Logan frowned, "Is it her?"

Indeed, this woman was none other than the modified person who had previously infiltrated the X-Mansion. Her ten fingernails had been transformed into retractable adamantium claws, and she moved as agilely as a cat, making her impossible to catch. Logan had suffered a lot at her hands before.

"Hmm? This woman..."

Fang Mo, having read the original work, naturally recognized her, "Isn't she Stryker's all-purpose secretary or something? I think she's called... Yuriko? Well, the fact that X-Men and Red Alert are in the same universe is now confirmed."

"You know her?"

Logan immediately asked, "What is her relationship with me? Why does she have that strange metal too?"

"Oh, because she was also modified."

Fang Mo answered simply, "Just like you. You should remember, right? Stryker probably used you as a tool, but you later realized that being a sycophant leads to no good, so you left. After you left, Stryker found a new tool."

"I have some memory of it..."

Logan's brows furrowed deeply, "The place where I was modified should be here..."

However, before he could finish his sentence, a deafening explosion sounded from the distant corridor.

The explosion was quite intense, causing the floor beneath them to tremble. The modified woman also seemed a bit startled, instinctively turning to look at the end of the corridor.

She glanced at the corridor, then back at Logan and his group, seemingly hesitating on which side to deal with first.

Logan's group reacted similarly, with Darwin, Logan, and Nightcrawler first looking towards the end of the corridor, then instinctively turning to Fang Mo.

"?"

Fang Mo was also puzzled, "Why are you all looking at me? Do I have something on my face?"

"Wasn't this your doing?"

Logan asked.

"No," Fang Mo spread his hands, "Didn't I promise not to take action? Otherwise, do you think that woman could withstand three seconds? I could easily crush her for you."

"Then what exactly happened?"

Logan was also puzzled, "Such a violent explosion... It couldn't be Stryker's men fighting among themselves, right?"

"Don't worry, let me check."

Hearing this, Fang Mo activated his mini-map ability to take a look. What he saw stunned him because at the end of the nearby corridor, he noticed several very familiar chibi avatars, one of which even had an art style that didn't belong to this world.

"... What the hell?"

~~~

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