Chapter 166: Battle on the Train

Although the machine gun fire from the escort helicopters outside the carriage never ceased, what made them more tense and fearful was the sudden silence from the fierce battle in the rear carriage.

Did they win? Or did they lose…?

A sudden heavy blow smashed a fist-shaped dent into the carriage passage door. Then a second, then a third!

Alright, it seemed the soldiers guarding the rear carriage had lost. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to punch the door open—and no normal human's punch could dent a steel doorplate like that.

The squad leader still clung to this idea: that mutants were coming to rescue the prisoners, and refused to release the dangerous figures—X-Men and Brotherhood mutants—held in the same carriage.

All soldiers silently switched off their rifles' safeties and placed their fingers on the triggers.

When the steel passage door finally shattered and fell, the figures who emerged were a group of ordinary people in civilian clothes—neither the soldiers guarding the rear carriage nor mutants with obvious physical traits.

Without hesitation, the soldiers opened fire—using live rounds, not even warning rounds or specialized stun rounds for mutants.

Streams of standard rifle bullets struck the enemies, stripping away their camouflage skin and revealing their true forms—but not even the most basic knockback effect occurred, let alone injury or death.

And even these minor wounds regenerated swiftly, healing as if never damaged.

Only the heavy machine guns in the rear could make an impact—each round's immense kinetic energy pierced through the enemy, tearing off large chunks of tissue.

As long as enough rounds penetrated the aliens' skin armor, even if their appearance later restored, they could still kill an alien.

But the Diberies weren't mindless standing targets. Unsurprisingly, American soldiers were flung like ragdolls by these immensely strong, nearly invulnerable invaders.

This was because the carriage passage was narrow; the first wave of invaders, forced into close combat, couldn't leverage their numerical advantage. Behind them, machine guns held the line—otherwise, the U. S. forces might have collapsed instantly.

But the dominant machine guns didn't last long. One fallen soldier, like a sandbag, was thrown by an alien straight into the machine gunner's position, smashing the only effective weapon.

Seeing the dire situation, every mutant eager to fight—Laser Eye and others—shouted loudly: "Let us go! Or it'll be too late!"

The soldiers could now see the situation clearly: the imprisoned mutants and the invaders were not allies. Otherwise, they wouldn't be indifferent—or even hostile—to each other.

If they were allies, the mutants would have begged the invaders for release, not keep pleading with these soldiers.

And the invaders' fighting style didn't deliberately avoid the restrained, immobile mutants. Nor did they appear to be searching for control device switches.

Their gaze was always fixed on the carriage ahead—the solitary confinement of Jean Grey, one of the X-Men.

So the last remaining soldier, who hadn't yet engaged, made an instant decision: he sprinted back to one end of the carriage, to the control switch for the entire train's mutant restraint system.

Under the emergency, his nerves were tighter than ever—but he still managed to unlock the switch with his key and shut down each X-gene suppressor collar.

At the very last moment, as the aliens reached him, all X-gene suppressor collars changed from red light to green—signaling that the most powerful mutants had finally been freed.

Laser Eye moved fastest: he pressed the switch on his visor, and a dark red beam of energy instantly knocked down the alien charging the last American soldier.

Meanwhile, the half-dozen camouflaged aliens who had advanced halfway down the carriage passage found themselves caught in a pincer attack from the mutants, reeling badly—and many were knocked down immediately.

Remember, the mutants imprisoned in this carriage were all core members of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Aside from a few exceptions, their combat abilities were no joke—they had instantly reversed the situation inside the carriage.

But the aliens who boarded the train weren't just these few weaklings.

Not only did more aliens keep pouring in from the rear carriage, but attacks also came from the overhead skylights and side sliding doors.

The escort Black Hawk helicopter had long been shot down. Other reinforcements were still en route.

The fallen aliens didn't lie still. As long as the wound wasn't fatal, they returned to battle with full vigor, as if revived to full health.

Coupled with their species' innate bio-camouflage armor—impervious to standard rifle rounds and granting strength far beyond human levels—they each became as formidable as Earth's super-soldiers.

Even the combined might of the X-Men and the Brotherhood couldn't overwhelm them.

Magneto, observing the cramped carriage environment, commanded: "Laser Eye, Storm, and Scarlet, you three take the carriage roof and hold the line against enemy advance."

"Nightcrawler, take the Professor to the front carriage and try to wake our sleeping beauty. Selene, Beast, come with me—we'll push the enemies back and cut the linkers once we reach the rear carriage."

"Wait." The soldier who had deactivated the mutant restraints shouted: "We still have comrades in the rear carriage!"

Magneto replied coldly: "Don't worry, soldier. They aren't the target. If they didn't die at the start, they're unlikely to be deliberately killed. You can try saving them yourself—we can't spare anyone else. You know who they're after."

The logic was sound—but it still felt deeply unpleasant to hear.

Yet in battle, Magneto had no patience to care about an American soldier's feelings. He immediately seized scattered rifles and pistols, forming a gun array before him, and unleashed a furious barrage at the incoming aliens.

Empty rifles were hurled as suicide attacks, smashing into enemies.

In truth, this had little effect—it merely delayed the aliens from flooding through the breach. Magneto's real weapon was shards and bars of iron, driven straight into the aliens' bodies to inflict fatal wounds and deliver kinetic force to shove them back.

The other mutants followed Magneto's orders without delay.

First, Laser Eye unleashed a massive energy beam that not only pierced through the skylight but also blasted nearby enemies away.

Scarlet used his whip-like hair to lash himself onto the roof. Laser Eye, aided by Storm, floated up to the train's ceiling.

(End of Chapter)