Chapter 211

The familiar voice gave one a feeling of wanting to punch him.

Three gazes turned in unison toward the direction the voice came from, only to see a man wearing a black trench coat standing under a tree, a large black hat obscuring his face.

Facing the three gazes, the trench-coated man was not the least bit nervous; instead, he spoke eloquently in front of Ye Nan, "Mr. Ye Nan, I didn't expect to meet you here. It is truly my honor. To be honest, ever since we parted last time, I have missed you dearly."

"Who are you?" Ye Nan asked in a deep voice. In his memories, there was absolutely no record of meeting this person before, yet why did the other party say "since we parted last time"? This left him completely baffled.

"Have you forgotten me so quickly? I will be very sad." The trench-coated man put on a heartbroken expression, and at the same time, the face hidden beneath the trench coat was revealed.

He looked like an ordinary American brute; the only thing that caught Ye Nan's attention was his pair of lifeless eyes.

Ye Nan closed his eyes to contemplate, sensing the signals emitted by the other party's brain. Soon, he felt two brains sending out signals.

"This feeling... you are Duan Yan," Ye Nan said, his expression turning gloomy.

He still remembered Duan Yan once saying his ability was a telekinetic shockwave. At first, Ye Nan thought it was the same ability as Alice in Resident Evil. Later, under Ha Suda's description, he changed his perception of Duan Yan. If he guessed correctly, Duan Yan should have abilities similar to Professor X and Jean Grey from X-Men: mind control.

From Ye Nan's perception, knowing the other party had two brains sending signals, there was no doubt that one of the sensed brains belonged to the trench-coated man himself, and the other was Duan Yan, who was controlling him.

"You finally recognized me." The trench-coated man slowly stood up. "Ever since we parted in Cairo last time, I have missed you dearly."

"I have missed you too, Duan Yan." Ye Nan kicked off with his legs and charged toward the trench-coated man. "In my heart, I'm thinking about how to kill you."

"Kill me? I'm afraid you can't." The trench-coated man raised his head and locked eyes with Ye Nan.

Ye Nan saw a nebula-like vortex suddenly appear in the trench-coated man's eyes, and then his entire being fell into it.

A vast starry sky. Stars streaking everywhere. In the blink of an eye, Ye Nan had gone from the nameless island to beneath the starry sky.

"An illusion?" Ye Nan thought to himself, looking around. The starry sky, which should have been magnificent and grand, was evolved so rigidly here. "Duan Yan, your illusion is ineffective against me."

"It doesn't need to be effective; it's just to provide an environment for conversation, an environment where we won't be disturbed." Duan Yan suddenly appeared in front of Ye Nan. He was still the same as when they first met, only with a lot more stubble.

"Do you know? During this time, I have had a hard life because I assisted you. The assistance failed, so I received an extremely severe punishment. Tell me, shouldn't I ask you for some compensation?"

"What does your punishment have to do with me!" Ye Nan snorted coldly. Duan Yan was originally sent to monitor him. Now that he couldn't monitor him and was punished by Douglas, he ran over to complain to him. This was simply a huge joke.

It was just like two people fighting; one of them loses, and the loser blames the winner for why they had to win. It was laughable.

"We can be considered brothers who have shared hardships. Giving me some compensation shouldn't be a problem for you. I can give you some intelligence," Duan Yan said indifferently, not caring about Ye Nan's sneer.

Because he lost Ye Nan's trail, he received extremely severe criticism from Douglas. Of course, if it were just that, he wouldn't care. To him, criticism was like a breeze passing by the ears, completely insignificant...

Unfortunately, Douglas not only criticized him but also wanted to restart the brain development project from back then. As the only survivor of the project, he naturally couldn't avoid the operating table. He had read all of this from other people's brains.

He was a person who loved life; he cherished his own life, so when he learned that Douglas planned to use him as a test subject, he planned to betray Douglas.

It was just that he knew very well that to betray Douglas, he needed a large amount of money. This wasn't to fight Douglas, but to avoid Douglas's potential pursuit. However, he happened to have no money, so when he learned Ye Nan had arrived, his mind began to stir, and thus the scene just now occurred.

"A deal? I agree. But before the deal, you need to answer some of my questions. I can't trust you," Ye Nan said indifferently.

"No problem, ask away," Duan Yan agreed readily. Anyway, he was about to leave, and he didn't mind revealing Douglas's secrets.

"First, how did you film Hamunaptra? Why didn't I find your presence?"

"Because I wasn't in Hamunaptra at all. It wasn't me filming, but a satellite. I only provided a rough coordinate for the satellite." Duan Yan smiled bitterly. Inside Hamunaptra, there was fighting everywhere, especially the final Sphinx, which was shocking—it was simply a miracle. He didn't dare to get close to Hamunaptra at all. The only thing he could do was to call in a satellite to film the footage.

"It was a satellite, no wonder I couldn't find your presence on the ground. Next question, why did you come here this time?"

"For the spaceship, of course. Does a question that can be thought of with one's toes need to be asked? Don't tell me you came here for the scenery and not for the spaceship," Duan Yan shook his head, a hint of impatience appearing regarding Ye Nan's question, which he knew the answer to. "You need to be quick; my connection here cannot be sustained for long."

"Tell me, how many people did you bring?" Ye Nan's voice sank, finally asking the key question this time.

"Just me and Ororo," Duan Yan replied.

"Who is Ororo? What are her abilities? Someone chosen by Douglas shouldn't be an incompetent person. Also, how long have you been here? How much do you know about the spaceship? How much intelligence have you gathered on other people?"

"We also just arrived here not long ago," Duan Yan said with a bitter smile. "Ororo is a big problem; she is not easy to get along with, so we arrived a step late."

"Tell me where you are. I'll come find you. Storm Ororo, is it?" Ye Nan sensed the map Duan Yan sent through his mind and laughed in a low voice. He punched through the illusion, his consciousness returning to his body. "Don't play with low-level tricks like illusions next time. They are ineffective against me."

Ye Nan looked at the trench-coated man in front of him who had already lost his vitality, his face showing no surprise at all.

"Ye Nan, are you okay?" Peter looked at Ye Nan, becoming delighted. "Just now you suddenly stood still, your eyes unfocused. I felt something was wrong and wanted to make a move, but I discovered this trench-coated man was already dead."

"If I'm not mistaken, someone must have used this corpse to attack you," Stark walked over, his long, narrow electronic eyes scanning the body. "It looks like the time of death hasn't exceeded twenty-four hours."

"It's nothing. Just an old friend who told me some things," Ye Nan smiled indifferently, though his heart felt somewhat unsettled.

Storm Ororo, this woman is a mutant who can manipulate the weather. If she were placed in Africa, she could simply become a deity of Africa...

However, what made Ye Nan most unsettled was the implication of Ororo's appearance.

Ororo is a member of the X-Men. She followed Douglas's orders to come to the nameless island, which represents the X-Men standing behind Douglas.

"I have always been curious why Douglas is not afraid of the military and S. H. I. E. L. D. Although the consortium has money, when facing supernatural forces like S. H. I. E. L. D., no matter how much money there is, it's just a pile of waste paper. Now I think I've found the answer," Ye Nan muttered to himself. "Because Douglas controls the X-Men, or rather, the X-Men are the power behind Douglas."

"Only a supernatural organization like the X-Men can be unafraid of S. H. I. E. L. D."

"Douglas, oh Douglas, you have hidden yourself truly deep!"

"Ye Nan, what are you saying?" Peter listened to the sleep-talking words from Ye Nan's mouth, feeling completely confused. Stark, however, didn't speak, but asked thoughtfully, "What is the X-Men?"

"An organization composed of a group of mutants, and mutants are people who possess supernatural powers, similar to superheroes."

"Do you mean the X-Men are another S. H. I. E. L. D.?" Stark's voice sank, his expression not looking very good.

"You could say that, but this is all just my speculation. The specific situation still needs to be verified. Perhaps standing behind Douglas are just a few small mutants," Ye Nan's voice was low, and like Stark, his expression was not good.

"What are you two talking about? I don't understand," Peter looked at the two of them saying inexplicable things and became somewhat anxious. "What Douglas, what X-Men, I don't understand a single word you're saying."

"Douglas is the leader of a consortium, the head of a family, hidden in the dark side of America, and is the actual ruler of America. And the X-Men are an organization composed of a group of mutants. The two combined will cause a lot of trouble for our ICQ company." Ye Nan organized his words and stated everything he knew about Douglas and the mutants in the X-Men.

"Professor X can manipulate minds, Storm Ororo can manipulate weather—lightning, storms, ice, and snow are all her weapons. Jean Grey possesses telepathic powers, Wolverine..."

As Ye Nan introduced the abilities of the X-Men members, Peter immediately became unsettled. Just from the introduction alone, every member of the X-Men possessed power far exceeding theirs.

"However, you don't need to worry," Ye Nan suddenly smiled freely. "They are human just like us. Perhaps their individual power is very strong, but as long as we seize the opportunity, a single bullet can easily take them out."

Ye Nan said it lightly, but Peter knew Ye Nan was just saying comforting words. If mutants could be taken out by a single bullet, Stark wouldn't be so melancholy.

However, facing an unprecedentedly great enemy, damaging their own morale was not what they wanted to do. Peter just smiled easily, "In terms of strategy, our Mr. Stark is an old hand. Presumably, this so-called X-Men will be played to death by Stark. At the very least, we also have the Iron Suit. At worst, we can mass-produce Iron Suits and use human-wave tactics to pile them to death. Presumably, by that time, Stark won't keep the Iron Suit technology hidden and not let it out."

"That goes without saying. If it really comes to that step, I won't be stingy with any technology. We can use human-wave tactics to pile them to death," Stark smiled lightly, as if he were talking about an insignificant matter.

"Since that's the case, let go of the burden in your heart. We have long been in an invincible position."

The three looked at each other and laughed. (This site.. Your support is my greatest motivation.)