Chapter 186: Entangled in the Rain Curtain, Ignoring Fatal Contact
Lin Nuo withdrew that fair hand and instead held the umbrella handle.
"Anna, come here."
In the muddy water, Logan, forcibly suppressed by the high-voltage electric net, finally let out a low growl like a trapped Beast under the frantic repair of his Healing Factor.
High-voltage current surged rapidly along the specially made carbon fiber mesh, burning his ragged jacket until it was riddled with holes.
The air was filled with the acrid smell of charred flesh.
Those inhibitor darts were continuously injecting toxins into his blood, attempting to neutralize his Mutant cells.
But in the face of his monster-like Healing Factor, these toxins were being broken down and expelled from his body at an extremely fast speed.
Logan's sanity had been completely swallowed by his wild instincts at this moment.
In his vision, Lin Nuo, this guy of unknown origin, was a hundred times more dangerous than the surrounding Agents wearing bulletproof armor.
Logan's roar even drowned out the roar of the helicopters in the sky.
"Take your dirty hands off her!"
He leaned his body forward, and the muddy water beneath his feet splashed.
Three bright, cold-glinting Adamantium claws carved a semi-arc in the night sky, carrying a sharp whistling sound as they struck straight for Lin Nuo's chest.
For this strike, he used ten-tenths of his strength.
This was a blade capable of tearing through heavy tank armor like cutting butter.
Anna was so frightened by this scene that she closed her eyes, her scream stuck in her throat.
She knew the power of Logan's claws too well; they were the scythe of the God of Death capable of shredding all matter.
Lin Nuo stood in place, not even making a move to dodge.
He only slightly turned his body, not even putting down the black umbrella in his hand, letting the cold-glinting steel claws smash fiercely against the beige cashmere sweater on his chest.
Clang!
A sharp, piercing sound of metal impact exploded suddenly in the rainstorm.
The sound was so loud that the surrounding Agents' palms broke out in sweat, and their eardrums ached.
Sparks burst in the rain, like a miniature fireworks display.
The sweater was torn by the blade, revealing the fair, firm pectoral muscles beneath Lin Nuo's clothing.
However.
Those three indestructible Adamantium claws, the moment they touched Lin Nuo's skin, seemed to have struck the hardest Vibranium barrier in the World.
Beneath Lin Nuo's skin, his micro-lattice diamond constitution and perfect gene remodeling origin completed an extreme density adjustment within microseconds.
At the extremely microscopic atomic level, the bone density and muscle structure of Lin Nuo's chest cavity underwent adaptive deformation.
This physical structure, which transcended human understanding, absorbed all the immense kinetic energy brought by the Adamantium claws through high-frequency resonance the moment they made contact, and reflected it back completely unchanged.
Flexibility and hardness were perfectly combined.
The wolf claws didn't even break a layer of skin, nor could they leave even a tiny white mark.
Instead, an incredibly massive recoil force surged back along the steel claws into Logan's arm.
Crack.
A crisp sound of bone cracking came from Logan's wrist joint.
His entire body's forward momentum was brought to an abrupt halt by the recoil, and two deep furrows were plowed into the mud beneath his feet.
Although his arm bones were Adamantium, the soft tissue at the joints could not withstand such a terrifying recoil.
His entire right arm twisted into a strange angle in an instant, and the muscle fibers snapped inch by inch.
Logan breathed heavily, his Beast-like eyes filled with absurdity.
"How is this possible..."
His indestructible claws had torn through countless Beasts on the Canadian wilderness and shredded countless steel on the battlefield.
Today, however, they had met their match on the chest of a gentle man wearing a cashmere sweater.
Lin Nuo looked down at his torn sweater and sighed helplessly.
"This piece of clothing was newly bought, Mr. Logan."
Before the words had even finished.
Lin Nuo moved.
He did not use Quicksilver's super speed, merely a pure explosion of physical strength.
He threw a backhand punch, which appeared slow, but carried an overwhelming wave of air, smashing heavily onto Logan's broad chest.
The wind from the punch tore through the rain curtain, instantly evaporating the mud and water on the ground into a white mist.
Bang!
The dull sound of flesh impact drowned out the thunder.
Although Logan's Adamantium ribs were intact, that domineering, Hulk-level punch force penetrated the barrier of the metal bones, directly shattering the lungs and heart inside his body.
Logan was like someone hit by a cannonball fired from a chamber, flying backward at an astonishing speed.
His body rolled continuously across the muddy grass, crashing heavily into a fir tree behind him that was thick enough for two people to embrace.
Snap.
The fir tree snapped at the waist, and pine needles mixed with rain fell from the sky.
Logan lay in the wreckage, blood gushing from his mouth, his shattered internal organs attempting to reorganize through his Healing Factor.
But the violent force remaining in his body was still raging, making every breath accompanied by heart-wrenching pain.
Seeing this, the surviving Agent Captain roared hysterically through the walkie-talkie.
"Officer! That guy is not human! Prepare heavy weapons!"
In mid-air, the Vulcan cannon on the side of a helicopter began to spin crazily, its orange-red tongues of fire drawing out a long chain of bullets in the night sky.
The heavy machine gun bullets, capable of tearing apart armored vehicles, poured down like a rainstorm, ripping up large patches of grass and sending mud flying.
At the same time, several Brotherhood of MutantsMutants also reacted.
Their minds turned extremely fast; knowing they could not let Lin Nuo get close to Anna, they all activated their abilities.
Large mudslides transformed into violent giant pythons, mixed with countless sharp ice spikes condensed from rainwater, covering the sky as they enveloped Lin Nuo.
However, Lin Nuo couldn't even be bothered to turn his umbrella.
The Bio-force field on the surface of his body naturally expanded, turning into a visible pale red light screen.
Those heavy machine gun bullets, the violent mudslides, and the sky full of ice spikes crashed into the light screen, and accompanied by ear-piercing explosions, they were forcibly brought to a standstill in mid-air.
Then they were shattered into dust by an invisible force, falling down into the muddy water.
Lin Nuo held the umbrella with one hand and casually pressed his other hand into the void.
Boom!
A massive, invisible telekinetic force and Bio-force fieldinstantly condensed into an invisible giant hand, grabbing the helicopter's propeller from afar.
Accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound of metal twisting, the helicopter's fuselage spun violently in the air, then crashed out of control into the wasteland on one side, turning into a huge fireball.
The scorching air wave mixed with metal fragments splashed everywhere, and the firelight illuminated Lin Nuo's gentle and refined face, casting flickering shadows.
The Agents completely collapsed, and they began to retreat in terror.
"Damn it! Retreat! Retreat!"
But Lin Nuo had no intention of letting them go.
He stepped on the wet, soft mud, his figure flashing like a ghost in the rain curtain.
In the eyes of ordinary people, he seemed to have disappeared on the spot, leaving only a black afterimage passing through the bloody rain.
Every pause was accompanied by a dull sound of bone cracking.
A Brotherhood of Mutants Mutant who attempted to sneak attack with a chain made of mud and water hadn't even had time to withdraw his hand before Lin Nuo was already standing behind him.
The fair, large palm accurately gripped the back of the opponent's head, then gently pressed it downward.
Bang.
The hard skull shattered like a ripe watermelon under the Hulk-level monstrous strength.
Lin Nuo turned sideways, avoiding the high-voltage electric net fired by another Agent with a leisurely, strolling gait.
He casually snatched the specially made rifle from the opponent's hand, and with a slight closing of his hands, the weapon forged from high-strength alloy was crushed into a scrap of metal.
Then, he casually threw the metal ball out, smashing the Agent's chest cavity until it collapsed entirely.
In just half a minute, the originally noisy battlefield returned to silence once again.
Only the rustling sound of rain hitting the black umbrella surface remained, along with the crackling sound of the fireball burning.
Lin Nuo withdrew his hand, took a clean handkerchief from his pocket, and meticulously wiped the bloodstains from his fingertips.
He walked back to Anna, who was shivering in the mud.
Anna tilted her head up, that strand of silver-white hair sticking wetly to her forehead, her bright yellow eyes filled with shock and awe.
In her past memories, everyone who approached her would have their life drained by her ability, which made her see herself as a monster.
But the Lin Nuo before her was powerful to an almost absurd degree.
This man, amidst the rain of blood and firelight, didn't even have a single hair out of place.
Beneath his sweater torn by wolf claws, his perfect muscle lines glistened with a warm luster in the firelight.
That was a body that even Adamantium could not harm in the slightest, and it was also a safe haven that could contain all her fears.
Lin Nuo leaned down slightly, tilting the black umbrella towards Anna, blocking the cold rain for her.
He once again extended that warm, unprotected right hand toward her.
Anna's gaze was fixed intently on that hand.
Slender fingers, distinct knuckles, no suffocating, heavy leather, and no defenses whatsoever.
Since she had gained consciousness, this was the first time someone dared to extend an undefended bare hand to her.
Anna's voice was so faint it could be blown away by a gust of wind, and tears washed two clean tracks down her cheeks.
"Are... are you really not afraid?"
Lin Nuo's gentle smile flickered in the firelight, his voice like a sedative, slowly injected into Anna's sea of consciousness, which was on the verge of collapse.
"Anna, I said it before, there is no absolute curse in this World."
"Your ability, in front of me, is nothing more than a joke of evolution."
Lin Nuo leaned forward, his hand extending further, only an inch away from Anna's cheek.
"Come, give me your hand."
Lin Nuo turned his head, watching Logan struggling to climb up from the ground, his tone as gentle as if he were greeting a neighbor.
"Don't be nervous, Uncle Beast."
"This punch of mine was just to let you calm down and see clearly who is the one who can save her."
Logan clutched his collapsed chest, coughing violently, every breath carrying blood foam.
He looked at the bare hand Lin Nuo was extending to Anna, and the dependence gradually emerging in Anna's eyes.
This Beast-like man felt a deep sense of powerlessness for the first time in his life.
He clenched the steel claws in his left hand, but no longer had the strength to swing them out.
Chapter 187: Taking Off the Gloves, Smoothing Every Shiver
Anna stared at that hand, her chest heaving violently.
She craved the temperature of fingertips touching, but reason was frantically tugging at her nerves.
"I..."
The syllables she uttered were washed away by the sound of the rain.
She clumsily raised her right hand, wearing a rough work glove, hovering it in mid-air for a few seconds, before finally letting it drop listlessly, her fingernails gripping the soaked hem of her clothes.
"No, I cannot touch you."
Anna closed her eyes in pain, her head hanging low, the silver-white hair on her forehead sticking to her face.
"You will die, just like Kevin."
Lin Nuo watched her cautious yet clearly resistant demeanor. His palm paused in the air for a moment, then he naturally withdrew it, resting it on the black umbrella handle.
He showed no disappointment, his tone as gentle as before.
"It's okay, Anna."
"I can understand your concerns."
"However, the wind and rain here are getting stronger."
Lin Nuo turned his head, looking at Logan, who was struggling to get up amidst the ruins of the fir trees.
A harsh sound of grinding bones came from Logan's right arm joint; his Healing Factor was forcibly pulling the dislocated bones back into place, while large patches of bruised blood were expelled through his pores.
His face, plastered with mud and water, was filled with unwillingness.
"You damn bastard..."
Logan steadied himself against a broken tree trunk, his remaining left claw emitting a faint hum in the air.
But he did not lunge again.
The force of that punch from earlier was still wreaking havoc in his internal organs.
Lin Nuo's physical defense and pure strength had completely exceeded his understanding of carbon-based life.
"Mr. Logan, your Healing Factor is truly enviable."
Lin Nuo held the umbrella with one hand, his gold-rimmed glasses refracting a cold, hard light under the flames of the burning helicopter wreckage.
"But in your current condition, is it really suitable to continue wandering with this girl?"
At the end of the road in the distance, the sound of sirens pierced through the rain, and flashing red and blue lights flickered amidst the pitch-black woods.
The Military's ground forces were approaching this location at high speed.
"Look at the ruins behind you, and all these shell casings on the ground."
Lin Nuo's voice was very soft, yet it carried the weight of a blunt object striking the heart.
"You are a wanted criminal listed as extremely dangerous by the Military, and she is a weapon coveted by various factions."
"You have taken her for three days, letting her sleep in a drafty pickup truck, eating cold canned food, and rolling in the mud."
"Is this your so-called protection?"
The corners of Logan's mouth twitched; he wanted to retort, but could not make a sound.
Every word of Lin Nuo's pierced his sore spots.
He couldn't even find his own past, and could only survive in the wilderness relying on beastly instincts.
Now, both the Military and the remnants of the Brotherhood of Mutants had set their sights on Anna.
Next time, if it wasn't a helicopter, but a Sentinel robot or an even more terrifying Mutant hunter, would he still be able to protect this girl?
Listening to Lin Nuo's words, Anna's face turned even paler.
She looked at the wounds on Logan's body that were wriggling as they healed, and at his clothes scorched by electric shocks.
Guilt felt like a giant boulder, pressing heavily on her young shoulders.
"It's all because of me..."
Anna's eyes were filled with tears, her voice carrying an irrepressible sob.
"If it weren't for taking me, Logan would never have suffered these injuries."
"I am just a jinx; anyone who gets close to me will have bad luck."
Lin Nuo moved his feet, and the black umbrella followed, covering Anna entirely in its dry shadow.
His beige cashmere sweater exuded a clean scent of cedar, completely out of place in this ruin filled with the smell of tar and blood.
"This was never your fault, Anna."
Lin Nuo leaned down to look her in the eye, his gentle, warm eyes shining with reassuring sincerity.
"In this World, possessing power is not a sin; the inability to control power is the root of tragedy."
"This rude Beast uncle cannot give you the answers you want."
"He will only lead you into a deeper quagmire."
Lin Nuo reached out and pointed to the forest road not far away.
There, a large, pitch-black bulletproof RV was waiting quietly, its gentle yellow headlights on.
That was a specially made vehicle belonging to the Hellfire Club.
"Come with me, Anna."
Lin Nuo's words were extremely soft, yet they carried an irresistible magic.
"In my manor, there is the most advanced biological laboratory, and there are also rooms where you can sleep peacefully without wearing gloves."
"Most importantly, you don't have to drag anyone down anymore."
Anna's tears slid down her cheeks.
She looked at Lin Nuo, then turned to look at Logan, who was leaning against the tree trunk, breathing heavily.
She didn't want to go back to that cold home, and she didn't want to watch this rude uncle who had protected her all the way die under a hail of gunfire.
And Lin Nuo, this man with god-like power, showed her unprecedented gentleness and tolerance.
"Logan..."
Anna sniffled and closed her eyes in despair.
"You go."
"Go back to your Canada and stop worrying about me."
Logan's fists were clenched tightly, his knuckles making an unbearable sound.
"Kid, you don't know this guy at all."
"He is a liar; the things in his eyes are exactly the same as those lunatics in the laboratories!"
Logan's beastly instincts were sounding frantic alarms.
Beneath Lin Nuo's refined exterior hid a tyrant who treated everyone as a plaything.
But Anna's psychological defenses had been completely shattered by Lin Nuo's rhetoric.
She shook her head, her tears flying into the rain.
"At least he won't die because he touched me."
"Logan, thank you for bringing me here."
After speaking, Anna turned around and awkwardly tugged at the corner of Lin Nuo's black trench coat.
Her movements were very light; she didn't even dare to use real force, just pinching the fabric with two fingers, as if grabbing the last straw.
Lin Nuo was not surprised by this result.
He turned his head and looked at Wolverine, whose face was so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water.
"Mr. Logan, it seems our academic exchange ends here."
"For Anna's sake, I won't kill you."
"Don't let me see you following her again, otherwise next time, it won't just be your joints that get shattered."
Lin Nuo withdrew his gaze, turned around, and shielded Anna with the umbrella, walking towards the massive black RV.
Logan leaned against the tree trunk, watching the two figures walk away in the rain.
The sound of sirens was already very close, and the beams of Military searchlights had already appeared at the edge of the woods.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, retracted the alloy claws on the back of his hands, swayed, and disappeared into the depths of the pitch-black fir forest.
...
The door of the off-road RV slowly slid open to both sides.
The warm air inside the vehicle instantly dispelled the chill on Anna's body.
Bright yellow wall lamps cast a soft halo, and the carriage was covered with a thick white wool carpet, exuding the scent of hot milk and truffles.
On the side of the carriage, several clean cashmere blankets were laid out on a large leather sofa.
Compared to the ruins outside, which were filled with corpses and blood, all of this felt like two completely different Worlds.
Anna stood in front of the car door, wringing her hands awkwardly.
She looked down at her old sneakers covered in yellow mud, then at the wool carpet that was so clean it was without a single speck of impurity, and she shrank her toes in confusion.
"Come on up, Anna."
Lin Nuo stood behind her, folded the black umbrella, and placed it casually on the umbrella stand by the door.
Fine droplets of water slid off his trench coat, but the white shirt underneath remained crisp, and a refined and considerate light flickered behind his gold-rimmed glasses.
Anna bit her lower lip and finally took a step into the carriage.
The warm temperature made her shiver involuntarily, and her originally tense nerves finally showed signs of relaxing at this moment.
She sat awkwardly on the edge of the leather sofa, her hands still tightly tucked into her leather gloves, and her whole body curled into a ball.
Lin Nuo stepped forward, took a clean, soft white towel, and with a very measured movement, gently placed it on Anna's silver-white hair that had been soaked by the rain.
His movements did not cross the line at all, and even at the moment his fingertips were about to touch Anna's skin, he naturally withdrew his force.
This ultimate sense of distance made Anna, who was already highly nervous, breathe a huge sigh of relief, followed by a deeper level of trust.
"Wipe off the water first; there is a constant temperature system in the car, and it will warm up soon."
Lin Nuo poured a cup of hot cocoa by the coffee table, placed the cup gently in front of her, and then sat on the single sofa opposite.
He slowly took off his gold-rimmed glasses and wiped the mist off them with the corner of his coat. In his deep eyes behind the lenses, the girl's shrinking figure was reflected at this moment.
Anna held the hot cocoa, feeling the heat from the cup wall through her thick gloves.
She secretly raised her eyes, sizing up the man in front of her who was so clean and tidy, without a speck of dust.
After experiencing the battle just now, his breathing wasn't even the slightest bit disordered.
"Who... exactly are you?"
Anna asked in a low voice, her voice filled with fear of the unknown, but more so with a sense of helplessness from being under someone else's roof.
Lin Nuo put his glasses back on, his expression as gentle as a patient scholar.
"The head of the Star Umbrella Group, or you can think of me as a researcher interested in Mutant genes."
"But you don't have to worry; the laboratory I have here is completely different from those Military Bases you've seen."
"I am more inclined to help you find a way to control this power, rather than treating you as a consumable tool."
Hearing the words "control this power," Anna's pupils brightened slightly.
She dreamed of becoming a normal person.
Even if it was just to take off her gloves, touch a fallen leaf, or hold someone else's hand.
"Can it... really be done?"
Her voice trembled slightly.
Lin Nuo leaned forward slightly, the sense of oppression unique to a superior being disguised by his excellent upbringing until it vanished without a trace, leaving only an addictive gentleness.
"Of course."
"As long as you cooperate with my research."
"Now, drink it, and then have a good sleep."
Outside the car, the rain was still pounding frantically against the windows, making a dull pattering sound.
Lin Nuo stood up, walked to the other end of the carriage, and spread a thick cashmere blanket on the sofa.
He turned his head and looked at the young girl, whose complexion had finally regained some rosiness under the warm light, and a flash of extremely hidden predatory light shone in his eyes.
Rogue's ability was the key to unlocking the seal within his body.
And now, this frightened little bird had flown into the cage he had meticulously woven herself.
Anna looked at the warm bed, her eyes red.
In the past eighteen years, she had never felt this kind of security of being properly taken care of.
Lin Nuo handed her a clean towel, then walked to the sliding door.
"Don't cry, Anna. Close this door, and the wind and rain outside will never touch a single hair of yours again."
Chapter 188: Shedding Defenses, Yearning for Sensitive Touch
The tires of the black off-road recreational vehicle crunched over the level gravel road, coming to a steady stop in front of a white glass greenhouse entwined with vast swathes of ivy.
Assisted by a maid, Anna washed away the mud from her body and changed into a loose, beige cashmere sweater, paired with a simple pair of blue jeans.
However, the green leather gloves, which looked completely out of place with her pure attire, remained tightly encased on her hands, with the zippers at the finger seams pulled completely shut.
Inside the greenhouse, bright sunlight shone through the towering tempered glass dome, illuminating the entire space.
Various precision biological instruments, flickering with faint indicator lights, were arranged neatly on the obsidian long table.
Lin Nuo stood before a complex electrode tester, having already exchanged his original Vibranium bulletproof trench coat for a meticulously laundered white lab coat.
The buttons of the lab coat were fastened neatly, revealing only a sliver of the soft sweater's edge at the collar.
He wore rimless protective glasses on the bridge of his nose; behind the lenses, his black eyes were calm and focused, and the metal pen in his hand scratched against the report with a rustling sound.
Lin Nuo turned his head and pointed to the cushioned swivel bar stool next to the long table, his tone as gentle as a patient Professor.
"Come sit up here, Anna."
Anna moved her feet somewhat awkwardly, scuffing her toes against the smooth marble floor a few times, before finally sitting on the bar stool, feeling at a loss.
She folded her hands, encased in thick leather gloves, tightly over her knees, her shoulders hunched unconsciously, like a quail ready to flee at any moment.
Lin Nuo closed the folder in his hand, set it aside, then pulled over a rolling chair and sat opposite Anna, just half a step away.
The distance was too close.
Anna could even smell the clean scent of cedar on Lin Nuo, as well as the warm body heat of a man.
This scent of male pheromones, which she had never experienced before, made her lower her head in a panic, the silver-white strand of hair on her forehead swaying slightly with her rapid breathing.
Anna's voice was as low as a mosquito's hum, and she twisted her hands even tighter.
"Mr. Lin Nuo... what are we going to do today?"
"Don't be nervous, it's just some basic tactile desensitization exercises."
Lin Nuo took off his protective glasses, placed them on the table, and looked at her with a gentle gaze.
"If you want to solve the energy absorption problem in your body, you must first let your nervous system adapt to external physical contact."
As he finished speaking, Lin Nuo extended his right hand.
It was a nearly perfect hand, with slender knuckles, neatly trimmed nails, and skin on the palm that glowed with a healthy, ruddy hue in the sunlight.
He wore no protection, and just like that, he calmly held his hand out flat above Anna's knees.
"Put your hand on it, Anna."
Lin Nuo guided her softly, his voice carrying an irresistible magic.
Anna's breathing became somewhat rapid in an instant.
She looked at that hand, then at her own thick leather gloves, her bright yellow eyes filled with unease.
"But... what if the leather leaks, I will..."
"There are no 'what ifs'."
Lin Nuo moved his palm forward a bit more, his tone calm and full of confidence.
"My body structure is not quite the same as a normal person's; trust me, Anna."
Meeting Lin Nuo's gaze, which was filled with trust and encouragement, Anna bit her lower lip and finally slowly raised her right hand.
The green leather glove moved through the air and finally landed gently in Lin Nuo's broad, warm palm.
"Pat."
A slight sound of contact rang out.
Although separated by the thick leather, at the moment of contact, Anna still shuddered as if she had been electrocuted.
Her fingertips instinctively wanted to pull back, but Lin Nuo's fingers had already closed slightly, securely wrapping her gloved palm within his own.
"Can you feel it?"
Lin Nuo's fingers slowly rubbed against the leather surface of the glove.
The rough leather rubbed against Lin Nuo's soft skin, making a rustling sound.
This contact, mediated by the barrier, was infinitely magnified under Lin Nuo's deliberate guidance.
Anna only felt a warmth she had never experienced before, flowing continuously from the fingertips and palm of the glove into her neural pathways.
"So... so warm..."
Anna murmured in a daze, her previously tense shoulders finally showing signs of relaxing at this moment.
"This is just the beginning."
Lin Nuo leaned forward slightly, and the distance between them was drawn closer once again.
His warm breath brushed against Anna's slightly reddened earlobe, triggering a series of fine shivers.
"Anna, academically, we call this tactile reconstruction."
Lin Nuo's voice was very low, carrying a hint of huskiness, appearing exceptionally ambiguous in the quiet greenhouse.
"But in my opinion, this is just a girl reclaiming the rights she should have had all along."
His left hand covered the back of Anna's right hand, interlacing his fingers with hers through the leather, holding them tightly.
Lin Nuo applied slight pressure with his palm, pulling Anna's hand closer to his chest.
There, the sweater that had been torn by Wolverine's claws had already been changed.
But Anna could still feel Lin Nuo's strong, steady heartbeat through the knit sweater.
"Thump~ Thump~ Thump~"
The powerful pulsations struck Anna's heart like heavy hammers.
The muscles there seemed to contain volcanic power; she could feel the extremely rhythmic beating, each sound as heavy as metal clashing.
Anna did not know that this body had once crushed non-metallic explosion-proof doors with its bare hands, and had even withstood Wolverine's Adamantium claws without suffering any damage.
In the face of such immense vitality, the hungry absorption instinct within Anna unexpectedly quieted down, as if facing an immeasurable ocean.
Her pretty face turned so red in an instant it seemed it could drip water; her chest heaved violently, and her breathing was as rapid as a little bird lost in a storm.
"Mr. Lin Nuo... my heartbeat, it seems too fast..."
Anna turned her head away in a panic, trying to avoid Lin Nuo's highly aggressive yet gentle gaze.
"This is a normal physiological reaction, Anna."
Lin Nuo chuckled, the laugh low and magnetic, as if whispering in her ear.
"When people face things they crave yet fear, adrenaline is secreted in large amounts."
His fingers traced lightly along the seams of her gloves, the movement as gentle as stroking a feather, yet it caused Anna's whole body to tense up unconsciously.
"Do not resist this feeling."
Lin Nuo's breath hit the side of her neck, the ambiguous atmosphere flowing thickly in the greenhouse.
"Your body is more honest than your reason; it is craving my warmth, isn't it?"
Anna's teeth bit down hard on her lower lip, her bright yellow eyes brimming with moisture.
She could not deny that this feeling of being wrapped in warmth, of being gazed at by another person from such close proximity, was the affection she had dreamed of for the past eighteen years.
Even if this warmth was separated by a layer of cold leather.
On the second-floor glass gallery above the greenhouse, Emma was wearing a tight-fitting black dress, holding a glass of red wine, looking down at this scene in the greenhouse.
As a Telepath, she did not need instruments to clearly feel the mental fluctuations of Anna, who was caught between excitement and shyness.
"Master really does like this kind of pure little sparrow."
Emma took a sip of red wine, a hint of resentment flashing in her eyes, though she only dared to mutter it to herself in her heart.
She knew very well that Lin Nuo's focus when hunting would not tolerate any disturbance.
Lin Nuo looked at the young girl in front of him who was about to collapse on the bar stool, a trace of wicked playfulness flashing in his eyes.
When training a frightened little bird, the worst thing to do is to rush things.
One must use this kind of push-and-pull teasing to stretch her desire to the limit, until she herself cannot stand the barrier of this leather and proactively begs him to take it off.
Lin Nuo slowly raised his free left hand, his fingertips landing on the metal zipper at the wrist of Anna's glove.
The cold zipper formed a stark contrast with his warm fingertips.
Anna's body tensed up suddenly, and she looked at him with some terror.
A faint and harmless smile hung on Lin Nuo's face, but his eyes behind the lenses held an irresistible depth.
"Anna, do not avoid my gaze."
"Look at me; today, we will try to unzip the first notch of your glove."
Chapter 189: Reverse Infusion, Overloading the Violent Vortex
Under the flick of Lin Nuo's fingertips, the tiny metal interlocking teeth emitted a dull grinding sound.
The sound was very soft, yet it was amplified infinitely in the silent greenhouse.
Anna's breathing stopped completely the moment the zipper slid down.
She watched that wrist gradually being revealed.
The skin there was fair, presenting a sickly pallor due to a long lack of sunlight.
"No... I beg you..."
Tears welled up in Anna's eyes, and her voice carried a hoarse, sobbing tone.
She wanted to pull her hand back.
But Lin Nuo's left hand was like a warm pair of iron tongs; although he used no force, he fixed her forearm onto the obsidian table in an irresistible posture.
"Mr. Lin Nuo, let me go... You will die, you will really die!"
The girl's defenses were completely torn apart by fear at this moment.
Her mind was filled with the image of her first love lying in the mud, his skin shriveled and a grayish-blue color.
The pain of having one's life force forcibly stripped away was a nightmare she could never escape in her entire life.
She did not want the man before her, who had given her the only warmth she knew, to also turn into a lifeless, withered skeleton.
Lin Nuo, however, just watched her quietly.
The eyes behind his protective glasses did not waver in the slightest, and his gentle, refined face even wore a reassuring smile.
"I said it before, Anna."
"With me, there are no 'what ifs'."
The zipper was pulled all the way down.
The entire green leather glove was casually ripped off by Lin Nuo and tossed onto a white jade plate nearby.
Anna's fair, slightly rough yet slender little hand was thus exposed without any cover to the warm sunlight of the greenhouse.
Due to extreme nervousness, her five fingers subconsciously tightened, and her palms were flushed with an unhealthy redness.
Lin Nuo did not hesitate.
His large, warm right hand covered hers directly.
Palm against palm, fingers interlaced.
Fingers tightly locked.
The moment their skin made substantive contact, the X-Gene within Anna's body was like a Beast that had scented blood, falling into a state of violent excitement in that very second.
The black vortex, deeply hidden in the depths of her cells and representing endless devouring, began to spin with a roar!
A massive and greedy suction force, following their tightly pressed palms, crazily drove into Lin Nuo's body.
It was the ultimate plunder of the life essence and genetic abilities of carbon-based lifeforms.
In the past, within seconds of contacting this power, anyone's life force would gush out like a bursting flood, being drained away in a very short time.
Anna's bright yellow pupils shrank into tiny points in that second.
She could clearly feel a continuous stream of violent, almost terrifying life energy crazily pouring into her own body through Lin Nuo's palm.
This energy was too massive, so much so that her starved cells let out an overwhelmed groan at that second.
"No! Let go!"
Anna closed her eyes in pain, large tears sliding down her cheeks and hitting the backs of their tightly clasped hands.
She could feel Lin Nuo's life force draining away.
In her perception, in the next microsecond, this gentle scholar would collapse to the ground due to exhaustion of life force, turning into a shriveled corpse.
The guilt of killing her benefactor with her own hands brought her spirit to the brink of collapse.
However.
The shriveling and decay she expected did not occur.
Lin Nuo sat on the high stool, not even swaying his body once.
His divine body, strengthened by the Asgardian Divine Factor, and his resilience supported by the Hulk Gene, displayed god-like power at this moment.
The perfect gene reshaping source was rapidly reorganizing at the microscopic atomic level.
Every one of Lin Nuo's cells was undergoing adaptive evolution at a speed that defied common sense.
The life force Anna absorbed was fatal to ordinary Mutants or humans.
But for Lin Nuo, who possessed infinite resilience, the God of Death divinity, and Chaos Magic, this extraction speed was not even as fast as the speed at which his body naturally generated life energy.
It was like trying to drain the Pacific Ocean with a straw.
Not only that.
Lin Nuo even actively released the restrictions on the life force within his body, allowing that torrent of life, like a flash flood, to be reverse-infused through Anna's absorption channel.
It was an extremely domineering and forceful feeding.
After encountering this immeasurable vast ocean, the black vortex within Anna changed from its initial greedy devouring to panic and overload.
Lin Nuo's energy was too abundant.
So abundant that her ability simply could not fully convert it in a short time.
The originally violent absorption force field, under the reverse soothing of Lin Nuo's warm and massive life force, gradually calmed down, like a tamed Beast.
In the greenhouse, only the sound of their somewhat heavy breathing remained.
Anna opened her eyes wide, tears still flowing from the corners, but she stared blankly at their hands.
No grayish-blue color.
No atrophy.
Lin Nuo's palm was still warm, and even the temperature at his fingertips had not dropped in the slightest.
"You... you are alright?"
Anna spoke with a slight stammer, her bright yellow pupils filled with unbelievable shock.
For the past eighteen years, she had been poison in everyone's eyes, a monster that would bring disaster even if touched.
But now, the man before her not only had not died but was firmly wrapping her palm with his warm, large hand.
That warm sensation coming from where their skin touched penetrated all her defenses and was imprinted directly into the depths of her soul.
That was human body temperature.
It was the embrace she had dreamed of, one that didn't require leather to separate them.
Anna grabbed Lin Nuo's hand back tightly.
She used immense force, her fingertips even turning slightly blue from the exertion.
She was too afraid.
Afraid that this was an illusion, afraid that as soon as she let go, the only man in this World capable of containing her temperature would disappear.
"I'm fine, Anna."
Lin Nuo watched her appearance, with all her hope pinned on him, and a flash of arrogance—the arrogance of someone in control of everything—crossed his eyes.
He slowly stood up, applied a little force with one hand, and pulled the girl sitting on the high stool into his arms.
Anna did not resist.
Her whole body leaned softly against Lin Nuo's broad, hard chest, feeling the strong, powerful heartbeat transmitted through his lab coat and sweater.
Tears finally burst forth like a flood at this moment.
It was the catharsis of years of suppressed grievances, loneliness, and fear in an instant.
"Wuwuwu... Mr. Lin Nuo... I was really so scared..."
The girl cried like a child in his arms, her two fair arms tightly wrapped around Lin Nuo's waist, wishing she could merge her entire self into this man's body.
Lin Nuo extended his left hand and affectionately stroked her messy silver-white hair, his movements gentle, yet his eyes calm as water.
On the glass corridor of the second floor, Emma watched the two embracing in the greenhouse, somewhat displeased as she drained the red wine in her hand in one gulp.
She knew that this pure little sparrow would, from this day on, completely become the Master's private property.
Because in this World, apart from the Master, there was no second person who could give her such an embrace.
Lin Nuo lowered his head slightly, resting his chin on Anna's somewhat cool forehead.
His voice was low and magnetic, carrying a magical power in the quiet greenhouse that made one sink into it.
"Can you feel it, Anna? This is human body temperature. Only in my arms can you stop being a monster."
Chapter 190: Late Night Bed Check, The Little Sparrow's Intimate Homework
Sunlight filtered through the tall white gauze curtains, casting mottled shadows on the obsidian floor.
The breeze was mixed with the scent of white lilies cultivated in the greenhouse, intertwining with the rising aroma of Darjeeling black tea on the mahogany tea table, making the atmosphere exceptionally peaceful.
Anna held an exquisite blue and white porcelain teacup in both hands, but her gaze was somewhat unfocused.
Today, she had changed into a pink printed long dress, and a strand of silver-white hair on her forehead was tucked behind her ear with a rhinestone hairpin, making her look clean and pure.
However, she was still wearing those green leather gloves on her hands, which looked particularly jarring in the warm sunlight.
On the other side of the tea table, Lin Nuo was leaning back on a large black silk recliner with his eyes closed.
He was wearing only a high-quality black bathrobe, the collar slightly open, revealing a section of warm yet firm collarbone.
That signature pair of gold-rimmed glasses had been casually placed in a white jade plate beside him, lacking some of his usual gentleness, but possessing more of a languid and overbearing air that made one's heart race.
Behind Lin Nuo, Emma Frost was half-kneeling on a wool cushion.
She was wearing a form-fitting black lace dress, and her silver-white long hair cascaded like a waterfall onto Lin Nuo's shoulders.
Those fair, jade-like hands were massaging Lin Nuo's shoulders with extreme gentleness, her movements skillful and natural.
In the outside World, this woman was the high and mighty White Queen, the controller of the Hellfire Club.
But now, she was as docile as a domesticated kitten, and in the flow of her eyes, there was nothing but fawning and attachment to this man.
And beside Lin Nuo's legs, the actions of another woman made Anna feel an even greater shock in her heart.
An oriental girl wearing a simple and elegant cyan qipao, with a delicate appearance, was bowing her head slightly, her hands clenched into soft fists, meticulously pounding Lin Nuo's legs.
With every strike, her strength was extremely even, for fear of disturbing the man dozing on the recliner.
That was Mystique, Raven.
Anna's breathing became somewhat heavy.
She had once heard the remnants of the Brotherhood of Mutants mention the name of Mystique Darkholme.
In the mouths of those Mutants, she was a cold-blooded, ruthless top-tier assassin who could shapeshift into anyone at will and take lives silently.
Magneto even regarded her as his right-hand woman, and she had a very high reputation in the Mutant World.
But now, this assassin, who once made countless dignitaries and Agents tremble with fear, was like the lowliest chambermaid, kneeling by Lin Nuo's legs, using those killing hands to gently pound Lin Nuo's legs, one strike after another.
Even to cater to Lin Nuo's terrible aesthetic, she had to squeeze the already overloaded X-Gene in her body, treating her own body like obedient modeling clay, molding it into a delicate and weak oriental girl.
"Master, is the strength okay?"
Raven tilted up that pretty, delicate face, her bright yellow pupils brimming with obedience, her voice sweet and coquettish—where was any trace of the cold arrogance of the Brotherhood of Mutants' top Agent?
Lin Nuo didn't even open his eyelids, just gave a barely perceptible response.
His large hand, resting on the armrest, very casually gave a pinch to the section of Raven's waist that was outlined so slenderly by the qipao.
Raven's body leaned softly against Lin Nuo's knees, a low moan of near-fawning spilling from her throat. Under the influence of her ability, the qipao fabric on her body adaptively shrank inward to fit the shape of Lin Nuo's palm more perfectly.
Anna took a sip of black tea in some distress; the warm tea flowed down her throat, but it couldn't suppress the panic in her heart.
This scene might seem absurd and cruel to ordinary people, but for Anna, whose defenses were wide open at this moment, it produced a strangely weird sense of yearning.
In this estate, all the rules were set by this man wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
Even those as strong as Emma and Raven were willing to sacrifice everything before this great power.
And this twisted attachment, in Anna's eyes at this moment, actually revealed a sense of order that was comforting.
"Sister Anna, the tea is getting cold."
Emma's voice rang out in Anna's mind, extremely gently.
It was not a forceful mental intrusion, but a wave of warmth like a spring breeze.
While Emma used her long, fair fingertips to massage Lin Nuo's temples, she signaled the maid to refill Anna's tea with her eyes.
Under Emma's exquisite mental soothing, Anna's tightly wound nerves from the past few days had been greatly relieved.
She couldn't help but start comparing.
Just a few days ago, she was still wandering in the pouring rain in North Carolina with that rude uncle who was covered in the sour smell of sweat.
No hot water, no clean clothes, she could only sleep in the drafty bed of a Ford pickup truck, eating cold canned food that smelled of rust.
Although Logan protected her with his indestructible steel claws, the fear of being snatched away by various forces at any moment in the wilderness weighed on her young shoulders like a giant rock.
But here, in this white glass greenhouse surrounded by ivy, there was a warm temperature control system, expensive and comfortable printed long dresses, and black tea that emitted the scent of lilies.
Most importantly, there was no panic of a wanted criminal here, only a sense of security that was properly placed.
And all of this was given to her by the man currently lying on the recliner, resting with his eyes closed.
Those nightmares about her first boyfriend being drained dry, those fears of being hunted by the Military, were stripped away and faded layer by layer under Emma's subtle mental suggestions.
Replacing them was an unprecedented sense of peace and belonging.
And the destination of this sense of security, without exception, pointed to the man on the recliner.
"Thank you, Sister Emma."
Anna said in a low, somewhat distressed voice.
Raven also stopped her actions at this time; she stood up, walked to Anna's side somewhat playfully, and took the teapot to pour tea for her with extremely natural movements.
In the gap while pouring tea, Raven lowered her voice and said in a sincere tone peculiar to a Mutant senior:
"Anna, in the Master's estate, you don't need to have any concerns."
"Outside, those humans only think about using us as weapons or cutting us into pieces for research."
"Only the Master treats us as works of art that need to be cherished."
Raven said, deliberately letting her own warm, smooth palm touch Anna's green glove lightly.
Her molecular restructuring ability took effect the moment they touched, simulating the feel of skin extremely realistically—warm and delicate.
"Look, under the Master's grace, I can become anyone you want, and I can touch you without any scruples."
"Because in the Master's order, we have all obtained a new life."
Anna's breathing became rapid.
She looked at Raven's delicate profile, her bright yellow pupils filled with struggle and longing.
"But... the ability inside me... will kill everyone..."
Anna's voice was very low, carrying a hint of unhideable sobbing.
"That is not a curse at all, Anna."
Emma chimed in from the side; she walked around from behind Lin Nuo, picked up a glass of red wine, swirling the scarlet liquid, her noble and cold face full of certainty.
"The Master's attainments in genetics surpass all Mutantscholars in this World."
"He can ignore your energy absorption, and can even use his temperature to soothe that hungry instinct within you."
"In this World, apart from the Master, there is no second person who can give you the embrace you want."
Every word Emma said was like a secret mental steel needle, combined with her soft mental suggestions, completely disintegrating the last line of defense in Anna's heart.
Anna looked at Lin Nuo, somewhat dazed.
Sunlight spilled onto Lin Nuo's refined and gentle face, dyeing his long eyelashes gold.
This man could crush alloy claws with one hand in a rain of blood, yet in the afternoon estate, he was as quiet as a god.
The scene in the greenhouse a few days ago appeared in her mind again.
When Lin Nuo unzipped her glove and pressed that unprotected bare hand tightly against her own.
The absorption instinct inside her, which was almost driving her crazy, hit an endless ocean the moment they made physical contact.
Lin Nuo not only didn't wither away like Kevin, but instead used an extremely overbearing physical restructuring to forcibly cut off and suppress the energy she was outputting.
The warmth of that moment was the only real touch she had received in her eighteen years.
She was now like a traveler lost in the desert for days; after tasting the first sip of sweet spring water, her mind was left with nothing but an endless craving for that spring.
Anna clenched her hands tightly, the leather gloves making a slight friction sound under the force.
She looked at Lin Nuo, and in her eyes, besides awe, there was more of a near-pathological attachment.
In this estate, as long as she stayed by this man's side, she wouldn't have to spend her days wearing thick gloves, wouldn't have to hide in dark corners like a monster.
Lin Nuo slowly opened his eyes at this moment.
There was no emotion in those pitch-black eyes, but the moment they met Anna's gaze, it made Anna's whole being tremble slightly.
He unhurriedly took the gold-rimmed glasses and put them on, elegantly adjusting the collar of his bathrobe.
"Anna, have you done today's tactile desensitization exercises?"
Lin Nuo's voice was low and gentle, as if asking a student about their homework.
Anna stood up, somewhat distressed, her hands twisted in front of her, and she replied with her head lowered:
"I... I have done it. Today I tried taking off one glove and touched the hyacinths in the greenhouse."
"Very good."
Lin Nuo stood up from the recliner, his tall body casting a shadow in the sunlight, enveloping Anna completely.
He stepped in front of Anna and stopped at a distance of just half a step from her.
Anna looked at that palm, now so close, with a sense of agitation, her body tightening slightly.
Lin Nuo did not go to hold her hand as before, but instead turned around very naturally and said to Emma and Ravenbeside him:
"Star Umbrella has a high-level meeting on the West Coast tonight. Emma, accompany me."
Hearing that Lin Nuo was leaving, a flash of extremely hidden loss and panic suddenly crossed Anna's eyes.
Her dependence on Lin Nuo now had reached the point where she would feel anxious if she didn't see him for even a moment.
Emma keenly captured Anna's emotional fluctuations; she exchanged a glance with Raven, and both saw a hint of successful mockery in each other's eyes.
This pure little sparrow had completely fallen into the warm water trap that the Master had woven for her.
Emma obediently stepped forward, her slender hands draping the black Vibranium trench coat over Lin Nuo, then she leaned into Lin Nuo's ear in a somewhat coquettish manner, whispering in a voice just loud enough for Anna to hear:
"Master, Sister Anna has been talking about you these past few days. It seems you will have to personally go to her room tonight to check her 'homework'."
Chapter 191: Deep Contact, Tonight Is Not Over Yet
The strained sound of metal zipper teeth interlocking and sliding was exceptionally clear in the quiet glass greenhouse.
Anna's breathing stopped completely at that moment.
She stared at the green leather glove held in Lin Nuo's hand; the zipper had slid down less than two centimeters, revealing a small patch of excessively fair wrist skin.
The warm, damp air clung to that patch of skin, inciting a fine shiver beneath her skin.
The absorption instinct within her seemed to sense the proximity of an external life source and began to stir restlessly beneath her skin.
But Lin Nuo's long, warm fingertips remained steadily pressed against the edge of the zipper, with no sign of any life force being drained.
"Look, nothing happened."
Lin Nuo took off his rimless protective glasses and placed them casually on the instrument tray nearby.
He leaned down, his deep eyes behind the lenses staring straight into Anna's slightly panicked ones. His voice was low and steady, like a warm, viscous ointment, smoothing away the panic that had accumulated in her heart bit by bit.
Anna leaned against the back of the rotating high stool, her chest heaving.
This unprecedented sense of security felt like an electric current traveling from her exposed wrist skin throughout her entire body, making her develop an almost pathological craving for deeper contact.
In order to carry out more thorough tactile desensitization, Lin Nuo brought her to the private hot spring pool in the manor's basement.
Natural mineral water drawn from deep underground flowed slowly down the obsidian walls, causing large clouds of warm, white mist to rise within the spacious underground stone hall.
Smooth pebbles covered the bottom of the pool, making the lily petals floating on the surface appear somewhat enchanting.
Anna stood by the pool, somewhat uneasily folding her hands in front of her abdomen.
Her gloves had been left in the dressing room; without the protection of that thick leather, she felt that every pore on her hands, exposed to the air, was enduring torment.
She had changed into a dark green one-piece swimsuit. The material had been specially selected by Emma and was extremely form-fitting.
Under the hazy steam of the hot spring, the green swimsuit tightly accentuated her curves, which were slightly slender yet highly explosive due to years of fleeing.
Water droplets slid down her tender collarbone into that breathtaking curve; the originally deep green, after being soaked, revealed an almost seductive, translucent texture.
Anna stood somewhat awkwardly in the shallow area, her fair toes scratching restlessly against the smooth, rounded pebbles.
Without her gloves, she felt like a hermit crab stripped of its shell; every inch of exposed skin made her feel an inexplicable shiver.
"Come down, Anna."
A low voice came from the depths of the white mist.
Lin Nuo was wearing only a pair of black swim trunks, leaning against the back of the massive obsidian rock in the center of the pool.
The warm spring water submerged his broad chest; every muscle, tempered by the Asgardian Divine Factor, looked as if it had been carved from marble, full of a violent aesthetic of power.
Anna took a deep breath and stepped into the water, trembling.
The warm water instantly enveloped her cold ankles and calves, rising until it covered her waist.
Almost instinctively, she wanted to retreat away from Lin Nuo, only to find that the man had already swum silently in front of her like a lion patrolling its territory.
Lin Nuo reached out his hand, his large palm creating ripples on the surface of the water.
He did not rush to touch her, but instead used an aggressive gaze to repeatedly examine Anna's drenched body.
"You are afraid, Anna." Lin Nuo's voice echoed in the spacious stone hall, carrying an unquestionable magnetism. "Afraid that you will turn me into a withered skeleton, just like you did to your first boyfriend?"
"No... don't come over." Anna retreated to the edge of the pool, her back pressed tightly against the cool obsidian. Due to extreme fear and desire, her eyes were already brimming with tears.
Lin Nuo did not stop.
His strong, powerful legs trod water, his body almost pressing against Anna's.
The distance between the two was compressed to the limit at this moment.
Anna could feel the astonishing heat radiating from Lin Nuo, a temperature even more scorching than the hot spring water.
The X-Gene within her sensed this life source, as hot as the Sun, and roared madly, attempting to break through her skin to plunder and devour it.
"Give me your hand." Lin Nuo's voice rang in her ear, carrying a tenderness that was almost like a command.
Anna shook her head in near despair, but Lin Nuo had already forcefully gripped her wrists, pressing her fair, slender, bare hands heavily onto his scorching, iron-hard shoulders.
Hum—
At the moment of direct physical contact, Anna felt a roar in her mind!
A stream of deep blue light surged madly from her palms. She could clearly feel the unfathomable life force within Lin Nuo, vast as an ocean, pouring into her through this contact.
"Stop! Stop quickly! You will die!" Anna let out a suppressed cry of sorrow. She wanted to pull her hands back, only to find that Lin Nuo's strength was astonishingly great; those large hands clamped her hands onto his shoulders like steel pincers.
However, the expected withering did not happen.
Lin Nuo's breathing remained steady, and even the frequency of his heartbeat did not show the slightest disorder.
In the face of his microscopic, atomic-level adaptive physique, the absorption of this level from Anna, though violent, was digested and neutralized by his cells, which possessed restructuring capabilities, in the blink of an eye.
He was like a bottomless pool; no matter how the suction force ravaged, it could not shake a single bit of his origin.
This unprecedented feedback left Anna completely stunned.
For the first time, she discovered that there was actually someone in this World who could withstand her curse.
The pleasure that originally belonged to "killing" had, at this moment, mutated into the most extreme shudder.
She no longer resisted; instead, like a drowning person grabbing onto the last piece of driftwood, she wrapped her trembling arms tightly around Lin Nuo's neck, her fingertips sinking into the muscle texture of his back with near greed.
"Look, this is the promise I made to you."
Lin Nuo's free right hand supported the back of her head, taking the opportunity to pull the girl, who had already gone limp like mud, closer.
He lowered his head and unreservedly sealed those trembling red lips.
Anna's mind went blank.
This kiss, without any medium and without any threat of deathly silence, caused the emotions she had suppressed for eighteen years to erupt like a volcano.
She responded clumsily, the feeling of suffocation intertwined with a bliss she had never experienced before, leaving only a hazy mist in her bright yellow eyes.
The system panel flickered in Lin Nuo's field of vision.
[Anna Marie (Rogue) Interception Progress: 95%...]
Although her body and mind had completely fallen, that last 5% of defense still came from her deepest awe of her own superpowers.
She was afraid that this was just a beautiful dream, afraid that once she opened her eyes, the man in front of her would disappear because of her greed.
Lin Nuo stopped his movements and pulled back slightly.
He looked at Anna's pretty face, flushed from excessive passion, and his fingertips gently grazed her lips, which were wet from the spring water. His tone was flippant yet full of a sense of control.
"Don't be afraid, Anna. The water is warm, my body is hot, and tonight, we will finish the rest of the exercises."
Chapter 192: Cold Warning, Who Dares to Touch My People?
Lin Nuo's slender fingertips traced over Anna's trembling lips, leaving behind a trail of viscous water.
The young girl in his arms had gone completely limp, her bright yellow pupils filled with an inseparable attachment.
But just at this moment, the heavy exhaust fan blades above the stone hall suddenly emitted a sound of metal twisting under unbearable strain.
A violent blast of cold wind forced its way in through the ventilation shaft, tearing the originally misty white vapor to shreds.
Above the open helipad outside the estate, a streamlined black fighter jet was slowly descending.
A massive electromagnetic pulse suppressed the air below, and the Blackbird fighter jet's vertical take-off and landing thrusters spewed deep blue flames, scorching the lawn on the ground to a charred black.
"It seems that old man Charles's ears are indeed sharper than a dog's."
Lin Nuo rose from the hot spring in a leisurely manner.
He did not bother to put on the complicated white shirt, instead casually draping a black silk bathrobe over himself.
His wet hair clung to his forehead, and the moment he pushed the door open, the gaze behind his lenses transformed from that of a gentle scholar into a demon god looking down upon all living beings.
Anna hurriedly wrapped herself in a large white cashmere blanket and trotted after Lin Nuo.
She was like a startled fawn, clutching tightly to the corner of Lin Nuo's bathrobe.
The cabin door slid open with a heavy thud.
Two figures leaped down from inside the fighter jet.
Ororo's signature long, silvery-white hair danced wildly in the gale, and her eyeballs had completely turned a terrifying, deathly white.
She hovered in mid-air, surrounded by dense purple lightning—a natural power capable of instantly reducing a building to charred earth.
Beside her, Hank McCoy, who stood over two meters tall, let out a muffled roar.
His entire body was covered in thick blue fur, his sharp fangs glinted coldly under the lights, and his thick fingers gouged deep cracks into the concrete ground.
"Let that girl go, Mr. Lin Nuo!"
Ororo's voice, mixed with the sound of thunder, exploded in the night sky.
She stared fixedly at Lin Nuo's overly refined face, her tone filled with warning.
"Logan has already told the Professor everything."
"You used despicable means to imprison Anna, and even attempted to perform inhumane experiments on her."
"This is not a request; this is an ultimatum!"
Hearing these righteous words, a trace of wicked mockery appeared at the corners of Lin Nuo's mouth.
He reached out and leisurely pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"Logan? That Beast who only knows how to lick his wounds in the mud?"
Lin Nuo chuckled, his voice still clearly audible amidst the gale.
"Didn't he tell you that his precious alloy claws couldn't even scratch a single hair on my chest?"
"As for the word 'imprisonment'... do you superheroes, with your mouths full of high-sounding principles, always love to add drama to other people's private lives?"
"Enough!"
Hank let out an angry roar, his massive feet violently cracking the ground as he transformed into a blue afterimage, bringing with him a wave of air that felt like a mountain collapsing and the seas overturning.
At the Mutant school, he was not only a scholar but also an expert in close-quarters combat.
The force of this pounce was enough to flip an armored vehicle over.
At the same time, Ororo waved her hand, and a purple bolt of lightning, as thick as an adult's thigh, tore through the night sky, striking directly at the top of Lin Nuo's head at the speed of light.
At that moment, the entire helipad was illuminated in a tragic shade of purple.
Anna screamed and covered her eyes.
However, Lin Nuo didn't even blink.
In an instant, the Hulk Gene and the Asgard supreme constitution within his body completed a physical resonance.
One centimeter above his head, just as the lightning was about to touch him, a pale red Bio-force field expanded in a semicircle with a boom.
The lightning, capable of melting steel, struck the Bio-force field and vanished as if into the sea, emitting only a few faint sizzling sounds before being snatched out of the air by Lin Nuo's fair hand.
Crack!
Under Ororo's horrified gaze, Lin Nuo had actually grabbed the residual energy of the lightning with one hand.
The purple lightning fire wailed between his fingers before finally extinguishing completely.
Immediately after, Lin Nuo's figure vanished from where he stood.
Quicksilver's limit-breaking speed allowed him to completely escape the range of human visual perception.
Hank's thick fist was still in mid-air, but he realized that his target had already disappeared.
The next second, he felt a terrifying force, heavy as a thousand jun, strike the back of his neck.
Lin Nuo had appeared behind Beast at some point, grabbing the back of Hank's head with one hand, his movements as light as if he were picking up a cat.
"Big guy, having a coat of blue fur doesn't mean you're the embodiment of strength."
Lin Nuo's tone was gentle, yet it carried a cruelty that made one's bones turn cold.
The muscles in his arm bulged slightly beneath his bathrobe, and that monstrous strength, comparable to the Hulk's, exploded instantly!
Boom!
Hank's two-hundred-plus-pound body was actually swung out by Lin Nuo like a bowling ball, sliding across the smooth floor of the helipad.
The blue beastly body scraped against the ground, leaving a charred trail nearly a hundred meters long before slamming into a scrapped special transport vehicle.
The entire vehicle folded in half instantly under the terrifying impact, sparks flew everywhere, and Hank, without even time to let out a whimper, passed out completely amidst the twisted wreckage.
"Hank!"
Ororo screamed, and the clouds around her began to rotate rapidly, as if she wanted to summon a Storm across all of North Carolina.
"Ms. Ororo, I advise you to put away your weather forecast."
Lin Nuo reappeared beside Anna, casually wrapping his arm around the young girl's slender waist.
He looked at Storm, who was pale in mid-air, his tone full of mockery.
"Did Charles send you here just to watch you perform acrobatics in my estate?"
"Honestly, for this level of demolition, I'll have to charge you an extra landscaping fee."
"You... what kind of love potion did you feed Anna!"
Ororo landed on the ground, her chest heaving violently.
She looked at the young girl snuggled in Lin Nuo's arms, who didn't even dare to look her in the eye, her tone filled with deep heartache.
"Anna, come here! The Professor has already prepared a special isolation room for you."
"There, you can live like a normal child; no one can hurt you!"
Anna shrank into Lin Nuo's arms, feeling that warm, life-sustaining energy constantly being transmitted to her, satisfying her hunger.
She glanced at the cold Blackbird fighter jet not far away, then looked at those heroes whose faces were all written with "We are here to save you."
In that so-called isolation room, she would still have to wear gloves, still have to face the strange looks of everyone, and still be unable to touch any living thing.
But here, she could take off her gloves, tightly hug the neck of the man in front of her, and feel his every heartbeat.
"I don't want to go to any school..."
Although Anna's voice was weak, it carried a resolute force.
She lifted her head from Lin Nuo's arms, her eyes shifting from initial fear to determination as she stared fixedly at Ororo.
"Logan can't save me, and Professor Charles can't save me either."
"Only by Mr. Lin Nuo's side do I feel like a living person, not a monster who might drain others dry at any moment!"
The young girl turned around, and in front of Storm, she wrapped her fair, bare hands around Lin Nuo's neck without any hesitation.
She buried her face in Lin Nuo's shoulder in a somewhat pathological manner and shouted, "I'm not leaving! You leave! Stop bothering my life!"
This scene left Ororo completely frozen in place.
She had never imagined that the victim who had been tormented and exploited according to Logan would, at this moment, stand in front of that villain in the posture of a Guardian.
Lin Nuo took the opportunity to pinch Anna's cheeks, which had become flushed with excitement.
He looked up, the gaze behind his lenses like a poisoned carving knife.
"Did you hear that? This is the true thought of your so-called 'rescue target'."
Lin Nuo held Anna and turned to walk into the hall.
His broad back appeared so unshakable under the lights, leaving the people from the school with nothing but that cold, unyielding silhouette.
He stopped at the threshold, turned his head slightly, his tone steady yet murderous.
"Go back and tell Charles, that dead old man in a wheelchair."
"This Rogue now bears my, Lin Nuo's, mark."
"Whoever touches her, dies!"
Chapter 193: Hunter's Layout, The Phoenix Under Chains
Inside the cabin of the black Blackbird fighter jet, the previously violent electronic interference noise had vanished.
The airborne dust particles, torn apart by lightning and strange force, were now eerily suspended in mid-air at this moment.
This anti-gravity phenomenon did not come from Lin Nuo's Bio-force field, but rather from a more delicate telekinetic field that almost penetrated the microscopic level.
Lin Nuo held Anna close, his footsteps stopping at the threshold.
He did not turn back, but the pupils behind his gold-rimmed glasses contracted slightly.
The system panel flickered frantically at the edge of his vision, that smear of scarlet light almost filling the entire void.
[Warning! God-level destiny character detected! The target contains Single-Universe level origin energy: Phoenix Force (Sealed State)!]
[Due to the target's excessively high energy level, the system has activated a special anchor: Intercepting this target will directly unlock over 30% of the law seal and grant the exclusive "Lord of the Phoenix" physique!]
A low chuckle spilled from the depths of Lin Nuo's throat.
This instinct of greed caused even his body, strengthened by the Asgardian Divine Factor, to experience an inexplicable palpitation.
It was the manic blood surging in the veins of a Raiderswhen facing a peerless treasure.
A cold, steady, yet undeniably majestic female voice drifted slowly from the shadows of the fighter jet.
"Ororo, Hank, stand down."
Immediately after, a pair of deep red leather ankle boots stepped onto the wet cabin ramp.
Jean Grey stepped out slowly.
She wore a long, deep red nylon trench coat, its collar turned up, accentuating the fair and graceful lines of her neck, making her appear even more aloof.
Her red hair did not look dim under the faint firelight, but rather displayed a texture close to flowing blood.
With every step she took, the surrounding floating debris automatically parted to the sides, as if even matter itself were making way for this god-like woman.
Jean's gaze swept over Hank, who was lying in the ruins with his life hanging in the balance, and then glanced at Ororo, who was floating in mid-air with a face full of shame.
Finally, those eyes, deep as an ancient pool, locked firmly onto Lin Nuo's back.
"Mr. Lin Nuo, I believe there are many misunderstandings between us that need to be cleared up."
Jean spoke.
Her voice seemed to carry a certain mental soothing effect, making the surrounding agitated air soften a little.
Lin Nuo turned around.
His refined and gentle face once again wore that signature, refreshing smile.
He adjusted his glasses, his gaze sweeping over Jean's cold and elegant face without any evasion.
Subsequently, he followed her rising and falling chest downwards, lingering for half a second on her straight, long legs.
This aggressive scrutiny caused Jean's usually calm and undisturbed state of mind to suddenly ripple with a layer of something called disgust.
Lin Nuo chuckled, his voice magnetic and frivolous.
"Misunderstanding?"
"Professor Charles's hospitality is indeed unique."
"First, sending a Beast to dismantle my front gate, and then letting a weather forecaster set off fireworks in my estate."
"Now, you've sent a beautiful redhead like you to talk to me about a 'misunderstanding'?"
He looked down at the huddled Anna in his arms, his palm teasingly rubbing the girl's rounded shoulder.
"Do you think Anna would consider this a misunderstanding?"
The moment Anna saw Jean appear, her body instinctively curled up even tighter.
In her memories of the Mutant school, Jean Grey represented absolute authority and a bottomless barrier.
Yet at this moment, Anna realized that even when facing this legendary Phoenix, the sense of physical hegemony exuded by Lin Nuo still held the upper hand.
Jean took a step forward.
With her movement, an invisible ripple of telekinetic force swept across between the two.
The residual rainwater on the tarmac was instantly shaken into mist by this pressure, forming a vacuum ring on the ground.
Jean's voice lowered, carrying a soul-piercing admonition.
"Anna, come here to me."
"Although Logan is reckless, he never lies."
"This man's soul hides a greedy black hole."
"He is not saving you; he is using you as some kind of catalyst!"
In Jean's senses, Lin Nuo was no longer a human, but a behemoth in human skin, constantly devouring everything around it.
Lin Nuo acted as if he had heard a great joke.
"Soul?"
He released Anna and, amidst Jean's guarded gaze, elegantly took two steps forward.
With every step he took, the concrete ground beneath his feet cracked with fine fissures.
That was the overflow of his Hulk-level strength and Bio-force field that he couldn't fully contain.
"Ms. Jean Grey, don't use your cheap telepathy to judge my World."
Lin Nuo stopped three steps away from Jean.
At this distance, he could even see the faint trembling beneath Jean's long eyelashes.
"Are you trying to pry into my mind?"
Lin Nuo's tone became playful.
The rule-based light of telekinetic immunity within him flickered slightly.
Jean felt that the moment her consciousness tentacles touched Lin Nuo, it was like crashing into a red-hot wall of raw iron.
Not only could she not penetrate it, but a scorching, overbearing, and intensely desirous mental backlash surged back along her sensory channels.
Jean's complexion turned pale in an instant, and her body swayed involuntarily.
In that second, what she saw was not Lin Nuo's memories.
Instead, it was a pitch-black throne, and beneath the throne, countless stunning beauties who had been stripped of their dignity and were willing to submit.
And in the deepest part of that darkness, a red divine bird burning with destructive flames was being choked by a chain flickering with dark golden light.
"You... who exactly are you!"
Jean's voice changed pitch.
In her eyes, which were originally cold, a trace of undisguisable horror now appeared.
The power within her, which had been tightly sealed by Professor Charles with countless mental shackles, suddenly produced an unprecedented restlessness to break out of its cocoon the moment she met Lin Nuo's gaze.
That was the collision of destiny!
Lin Nuo watched Jean's red lips, which were trembling slightly from extreme suppression, and the corners of his mouth curled into a cruel and greedy arc.
He knew that Anna, this little sparrow, was already in the cage.
And the Phoenix before him, capable of burning galaxies, was the top-tier feast he was truly preparing to serve on his table.
Lin Nuo turned his head and whispered in Jean's ear.
"Me?"
"I am just an ordinary scholar who likes to collect beautiful pets and teach them how to be 'obedient'."
He raised his hand, his fingertips brushing through Jean's wind-tousled red hair in the void.
The movement was slow, yet carried a suffocating sense of control.
"Ororo, take your sick cat and leave."
Lin Nuo put his gold-rimmed glasses back on, and his entire demeanor instantly reverted to that gentle and refined disguise.
He turned around, wrapped his arm around Anna's slender waist, and walked toward the marble hall without looking back.
The heavy estate gate, controlled by the Bio-force field, slowly closed with a dull roar.
But before that last sliver of the gap disappeared, Lin Nuo's voice, full of provocation and possessiveness, pierced into the depths of Jean Grey's sea of consciousness like a red-hot steel needle.
"Ms. Jean Grey, is it?"
"That big red bird inside you seems to have a very bad temper."
"What a coincidence, I happen to have a chain specially made for tethering a Phoenix; let's chat slowly next time we meet!"