Chapter 213: Old Seal

Seeing Li Cheng teleport back into the hangar, Ella, whose left arm stump was crudely wrapped in torn clothing, turned pale and instinctively stepped back several steps.

She displayed her ability at age four, was abandoned by her parents and sent to an orphanage at six, lived on the streets at twelve, spent ten months learning street survival rules, and within two years built her own team of superpowered individuals.

She quietly engaged in minor illegal trades.

She once believed that with her group's strength, even if they couldn't rule America, they should at least be able to establish themselves in major cities along the East and West Coasts.

Now, it was clear she had been too naive.

"I won't kill you."

Li Cheng, while dismantling the plane's positioning and navigation equipment, casually said to Ella: "But you must continuously post on the dark web, warning other superpowered individuals not to try to stop me."

Ella, gritting her teeth against the pain, asked: "Continuously… post?"

"Exactly."

Li Cheng pulled out his phone and rapidly typed a long string of text, then showed it to Ella and the others.

【OMG, that anonymous Mr. is just too OP— he wiped out our whole group of level three and four mutants in one minute, left us screaming and crying, absolutely legendary. Don't let money blind you, fellow mutants— I'm off to the ER, another day of Disney hunting the princess.】

【The anonymous Mr. on the bounty notice is at least a level four multi-ability user— dare to oppose him, and he'll rip your hood clean off your head and make you the lowest of the low.】

【Please, someone save my grandfather—he took the bounty to hunt him down, got every bone in his body broken, then run over repeatedly by a semi-truck. I'm just a student with no savings— please help me, donate any dollars or cents you can.】

【Really? That's so tragic— watch closely, netizens, this is how you use the power of coins (five cents per comment, parentheses deleted).】

Staring at the long string of text, Ella and the others were speechless, unsure whether to be shocked by the sheer absurdity of this man's thinking,

or by how fast he could type— he'd produced this massive block of text in barely ten seconds.

"Understood? For the next twenty-four hours, post exactly like this on the dark web. Then we're even."

Li Cheng put away his phone and turned to the invisible man. The information-synthesizing glasses clearly showed that the man's invisibility required constant mental control.

"Pity—I actually wanted a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak."

With that, Li Cheng boarded the AT-802 agricultural plane with Karoline and the others, taxied out of the hangar, rolled down the runway, then slowly ascended into the endless night.

Inside the hangar, only Ella and the others remained. The spiked-haired youth, his larynx damaged, swallowed hard and rasped: "Was he just threatening to skin the invisible man alive and turn him into a cloak if we don't do as he says?"

No one answered. Only the sound of dripping water rose— the invisible man had, literally, pissed himself.

————

The call ended.

At the same moment, Cervantes slightly pursed his lips and slowly lowered the satellite phone now stuck in dial tone; his palm emitted thin threads of red light, seeping into the sponge-like holes of the handset.

【Skill Name: Trace Phone Line】

【Type: Psionic】

【Effect: Find you via phone. After maintaining at least three minutes of call connection, instantly teleport to the other end of the phone line.】

【Cost: At least 100 psionic points, depending on distance between parties.】

【Cooldown: 50 minutes】

【Requirement: None】

【Note: If distance is too great or psionic points are depleted, it will directly drain physical stamina.】

【Note: "Long-distance couples must chat on the phone constantly to maintain their relationship"— believing online dating advice, Xiao Ming smashed all his secondhand phones and dumped the shards into his morning oatmeal.】

This skill is essentially a god-tier long-range teleportation technique, usable even within a physical killing field.

Had the Special Affairs Bureau not forbidden Cervantes from accessing any electronic devices in prison, he would have used this hidden god-skill to escape long ago.

"Pity—if I'd waited another minute, I could've caught him."

Cervantes sighed with regret.

A Vanguard Corp intelligence officer beside him ventured cautiously: "Sir, according to Google Maps, there's an agricultural aircraft hangar in the incident zone."

"So he's planning to fly straight to the West Coast."

Cervantes pondered—unlike America's overseas military bases, its domestic air defense system was outdated and sparse.

If an agricultural plane, stripped of its positioning and navigation gear, flew continuously below six hundred meters—even below three hundred meters—military radar would almost certainly miss it.

Worse, Iowa lies in the heartland, sparsely populated; even mobilizing ordinary civilians to track aircraft trajectories and follow the target was nearly impossible.

If so, only one option remained.

Cervantes turned to the Vanguard Corp specialist and said quickly: "Get me a level-three mental control mutant."

"Are you sure?"

The Vanguard Corp specialist hesitated—he'd been sent by the board to assist, or rather, to monitor Cervantes.

After receiving Cervantes' firm confirmation, the specialist pulled out his phone and contacted the company's security department.

Soon after, two guards rolled a gurney into the command center via elevator.

Beneath Vanguard Corp's headquarters lay a prison holding countless mutants—those arrested for crimes, or merely captured for research value, of every kind.

To effectively control these mutants, Vanguard Corp forced them to take long-term suppressant drugs.

"Why's he black? Well, whatever."

Cervantes stared at the listless black middle-aged man on the gurney, muttered a complaint, then pulled from his coat a chaotic, dark-gold seal.

Ignoring the man's struggles, curses, and pleas, he slammed the seal hard onto the man's forehead.

【Item Name: Unstable Change Old Seal】

【Type: Ritual Artifact】

【Quality: Perfect】

【Effect: Twist Mind and Form. Completely reshape a living being's mind and body; combined with psychological suggestion and mental induction, it implants false memories, making the target believe in a fabricated identity and partially acquire its abilities. Can only be used once per target.】

【Cost: 300 psionic points, 200 sanity points】

【Cooldown: 30 minutes】

【Requirement: Sanity once dropped to zero】

【Note: The modification effect is not always perfect and often deviates. If the implanted false identity seriously contradicts reality, it will cause the target to fall into intense cognitive dissonance, even mental collapse.】

【Note: The Mind-Warp effect is irreversible. If either the modifier or the target is attacked during the modification process, the process will be interrupted and cause severe consequences.】

【Note: "I command you to get into Tsinghua, Peking, Cambridge, Harvard."】

This perfect-quality 【Unstable Transformation Old Seal】 will erase the target's old personality, so it cannot be used on allies.

But for irresponsibly stirring up chaos, there's nothing better.

When Cervantes first entered the script mission, he used this very trick to successfully persuade the Pioneer Company board of directors to cooperate with him.

"Forget your past identity. You are now Professor X from the X-Men, Charles Francis Xavier, born into a wealthy family in New York, USA, the world's strongest telepath and mind-control superpowered being."

Like a demon's whisper, Cervantes pressed against the middle-aged Black man's ear, repeating these words over and over.

He deliberately cut out certain information, such as the fact that Professor X was the mutant spiritual leader dedicated to racial equality between humans and mutants,

and added his own personal touches, such as obeying Cervantes's commands and the like.

The Pioneer Company employees in the command center watched the scene with a mix of curiosity and fear.

Along with Cervantes's demon whispers, the middle-aged Black man's hair kept falling out, revealing a shiny bald head like a boiled egg, and his appearance kept aging.

"Hoo—"

The Mind-Warp effect ended. Cervantes let out a long breath, retracted the Transformation Old Seal, and asked in a low voice: "Who are you?"

"I-I am who?"

The Black man's face was blank. His accent shifted from the original Black cadence to a proper old New York Yankee accent. "I'm Charles, the world's strongest telepath and mind-control superpowered being. I am... Professor N!"

The smile on Cervantes's face froze abruptly.

Professor N's originally healthy legs were now paralyzed. He crawled up from the stretcher bed, his eyes filled with fanaticism, raised his fist and shouted: "Black lives matter! Mutant lives matter!"

Strengthened by the 【Unstable Transformation Old Seal】, the Black man's original Level-3 ability had been elevated to Level 4, on par with Ella's.

Now he raised his arms and shouted, and the Pioneer Company employees throughout the command center were infected by his emotions—or rather, his brainwashing ability—and one by one raised their fists too, excitedly shouting: "Black lives matter! Mutant lives matter!"

"Stop! Stop!"

Cervantes hurriedly called a halt to this freshly minted, not-quite-normal Professor N, picked up a tablet from the desk and stuffed it into his arms. On the tablet screen were images of Caroline and Angelica, along with a satellite image of the farm.

"This little baby is a mutant. Use your ability to lock onto her location."

"Okay."

Professor N took the tablet, pressed his middle fingers to his temples, and activated his superpower.

A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes and shook his head. "Nah, my psychic focus ain't centered enough. Which one of you homies gonna get me some weed."

"."

Cervantes's eyelid twitched violently. He waved his hand, signaling the Pioneer Company people to get some.

A moment later, Pioneer Company procured some marijuana cigarettes. Professor N took a hard drag. "Damn! That's some strong shit, this time we're good. They've already taken a plane out of Iowa, entered Colorado, and are about to land in Denver."

Once he had the location, things were easy. Cervantes hurriedly issued orders, updated the bounty address, and dispatched people to intercept. He then turned to the specialist and said: "Get me another ten or so Level-3 or Level-4 ability users."

"What are you going to do?"

"The one helping Caroline escape isn't even afraid of Pioneer Company—this is no ordinary ability user. We have to hit hard."

Cervantes said in a low voice: "I'm going to build the New Avengers."

(End of chapter)