Volume 5: The Young Wolf Seeks Home Chapter 38 The End of Dusk Wolf’s Alone Journey
"Most of the instruments here are close to being scrapped because they are not properly maintained. The backup energy of the laboratory is also quite insufficient. In fact, even if we don't come, there will be a complete power outage in seven months at most."
In Dr. Pym's secret base underground, Barbara, who was taken over by Zod, took over the internal network of the laboratory and reported to Mason:
"Don't try, brother. The energy here is not enough to open the quantum tunnel. The energy required to activate it once is an astronomical figure, and it is set with a very sophisticated lock.
I can't even find the interface to open it."
"I just knew it. I'm just curious why Valeria didn't tell her brother this cruel truth."
Mason squatted in front of the ingenious device that popped up on the floor of the laboratory, using his engineering knowledge to try to understand how it worked, and said:
"If she was half as smart as Franklin said she was, she would have known this outcome when they moved into the base."
"Maybe because you want to give Franklin hope?"
Barbara's eyes sparkled with the red light of someone cracking a program, and she said:
"It is hard to imagine what a fifteen-year-old impulsive child would degenerate into if he had no hope of escape to guide him.
Just look at the corpses he buried in the ditch and you will know that this kid was incredibly ruthless.
But considering this is the wasteland, it's not surprising that he developed such a habit."
"Can you please keep your voices down when you discuss me?"
The ant king, who was taking care of his comatose sister, angrily scolded:
"You know I can hear you all talking, right? Also, most of the corpses in the ditch were not made by me. The mechanical ant colony will actively protect this base when in self-discipline mode.
Those unlucky souls went too deep into here by mistake and were attacked by the ant colony.
In fact, if it weren't for me, no one would have been able to pass this road for so many years. Theoretically, it was me who controlled the ant colony to protect them, you bastards!"
"Sweetheart, I found a letter!"
Harley suddenly shouted, and Mason looked back. Harley was taking out a pasted letter from the depths of Valeria's bio-pod. She said in a sad tone:
"It should be the farewell letter that the poor little girl left for her brother. The little girl seems to know that she will die soon. Should we take a look at it?"
"That's a private matter between two siblings, Harry. We good people shouldn't check it without permission."
Mason waved his hand, signaling Harry to hand the letter to Franklin.
He didn't even need to read the letter to guess what was in it. It was nothing more than a letter from a genius girl who was worried about her brother's future and told him to live well after she passed away.
Compared to the ant king, this thin but genius little girl is really a very good child.
However, this may also be because she has always been well protected by her brother. After all, given her physical condition, if Franklin had not been "robbing" outside all year round, it would be difficult for her to live to this age.
This is a wasteland.
The scarcity of resources makes children with congenital weaknesses almost a complete burden.
"There's nothing to see here anymore. We need to take them back. Dr. Otto and Dr. Stein will help us interpret them."
Mason took the closed quantum tunnel off the base and put it into the suitcase factory, and then instructed Barbara to collect everything valuable and take it away.
He looked at the mechanical ants still moving in a certain pattern outside the laboratory, and took the worn Ant-Man helmet from Zod and handed it to Barbara.
Looking at the surprised Batgirl, Mason shrugged and said:
"Do you want to bring it yourself, or do you want me to bring it for you? It's your choice."
"Ha! Can't you choose a 'secret weapon' that's more to my taste?"
Barbara said with great resistance:
"I've said it before, I hate ants. They make me feel uncomfortable when they crawl around."
"But you have to admit that the mechanical ant colony left by Dr. Pym is the most suitable for a hacker master like you among all the 'weapons' that Team K has encountered so far."
Mason said:
"Your brain-machine and hacker-style prosthetic transformation are a perfect match for this group of mechanical ants that need a 'brain' to lead them. You must gain access to them and learn how to use them, Barbara.
Otherwise I will have to assign you to a logistics position.
You also know that the enemies we are facing are getting more and more outrageous. I can't put someone like you who is 'powerless' on the dangerous front line.
And what's wrong with ants?
Throughout history, ants are a great species that has never been conquered! From the perspective of martial virtue alone, they are much more powerful than humans. No one understands the principle of unity is strength better than these little guys. "
Zod beside him nodded repeatedly, and the always silent Superman in black spoke:
"Mason's consideration is correct. If the enemy is a Kryptonian like me, I can crush your heart before all your control methods take effect.
Barbara Gordon, you want to be Mason's helper, but you don't want to be a burden to Team K, right? "
"Why didn't I notice before that you, a dumb superman, can talk in a very complicated way!"
Batgirl rolled her eyes and complained to Zod:
"Don't learn from Mason, he's a bad guy."
After saying that, she took a critical look at the worn and dirty helmet in Mason's hand, and she gritted her teeth and said with her last bit of persistence:
"Can you at least give me a new appearance that suits my aesthetic standards?"
"Bat helmet! Got it."
Mason grinned and took out various materials from his bag, obviously planning to make it on the spot. He only needed to take out the technological module from Ant-Man's helmet and put it into the new shape.
You don't even need to understand how it works.
This job is so easy.
Nearly an hour later, a group of people walked out of the underground laboratory.
Barbara had a black bat helmet on her head, and Mason also gave her some additional decorations to make the helmet look like a bat crown.
She also held a mechanical suitcase in her hands.
It was filled with various data extracted from the laboratory, as well as samples and drawings of a part of the mechanical ant that had not been damaged.
The ant colony left by Dr. Pym had not been well maintained in the past seventeen years and was on the verge of being scrapped. So after returning to Osborne Tower, Mason had to use the drawings left by Dr. Pym to remake a batch of ferocious mechanical ants specifically for Barbara.
As for Franklin and Valeria, they have been placed in Old K's apartment in the suitcase factory. Mason asked May Parker and Wolverine's wife Vanessa to take care of them, and also asked Jimmy Hautley to keep an eye on the irritable Franklin.
Without the Ant-Man helmet, the child's threat was much reduced, but Mason didn't want him to cause any more trouble in his suitcase, which now contained nearly a thousand people.
"It's time to split up."
Mason looked back at the underground passage behind him that was slowly closing, and he told Barbara and Zod:
"Hawkeye's condition is not right. He regards supporting the resistance as his only remaining life creed. I can understand his mentality and decision, but when he meets with the so-called resistance, you should watch him from the side."
"I understand."
Barbara pushed her black bat helmet and said with a grin:
"In the 17-year-long Doomsday Era, there is still a group of 'resistance forces' operating in the heart of the enemy. Anyone with a brain would not believe this.
It can only deceive a guy like Hawkeye who is so obsessed.
We will take good care of him. You and Lao Lang should be careful when you go to the ruins of Xavier Academy. If you encounter any problems, please contact us immediately."
She patted the black-clad Superman beside her and said:
"We have Kryptonians now, so a distance of one hundred kilometers is just a blink of an eye."
"It's better to be careful."
Mason rubbed his chest and said:
"This journey is about to reach its end. Given our luck, if anything is going to go wrong, it will probably be then. I just don't know what kind of explosive ending this story will have."
——
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, or the School for Gifted Youngsters.
A "holy place" that is well-known in the mutant society. It can be regarded as one of the two poles of mutant civilization because of the legendary Professor X and the X-Men.
Normally, this college would be located in the suburbs of New York City, but this is clearly not the case in this world.
It was set up in a remote place. According to Old Wolf, this place was obscured by the professor's exaggerated mental power all year round, and it was difficult for people without permission to even get close.
It seems that even in the prosperous era seventeen years ago, the relationship between mutants and ordinary people in this world was not very good.
Amid the low sound of motorcycle engines, Mason and his two companions gradually approached this desolate area which was no different from other areas of the wasteland. With the entire world being plowed by nuclear bombs, desertification of the land has become the main theme of this world today.
"Keep going, across that swamp."
Sitting in the flying motorcycle, Old Wolf looked at the scenery in front of him with mixed feelings. He had not seen it for seventeen years. He pushed down his worn cowboy hat and said to Harley who was driving and Mason who was walking parallel:
"It's just ahead, the shielding should still be in effect."
"Did you walk all the way to California?"
Mason used his upgraded Isu senses to sense the surroundings. The smelly swamp in front of him was really daunting. He and Harley both put on breathing masks and asked in a muffled voice:
"Where did you meet Vanessa? You haven't told us the story of you and your wife yet."
Faced with Mason's question, the old wolf hesitated.
Perhaps he felt that the answer was within reach, so he did not hide anything further. Under Harry's curious gaze, the gloomy old man spoke:
"It was probably on a railroad track in Ohio... I wanted to commit suicide at the time, so I chose to lie on the track in a daze."
"Tsk, what a novel way to commit suicide."
Mason grumbled quietly:
"Don't you know how hard the adamantium in your body is? I guess the train derailed?"
"Well, it's off the track."
The old wolf sighed and said:
"I really didn't think so much at the time, I just wanted to relieve myself from the endless pain, even if it was only for a few seconds, it was just a locomotive, and Vanessa was on the locomotive.
The town where she lived was affected by the war between heroes and villains. She was the only one left in her family. She escaped with great difficulty, and I almost killed her.
She climbed out of the derailed train, found me with a shotgun, and used up all the bullets in her hand but still couldn't kill me.
I don't know what Vanessa's mental state was at the time. Anyway, when I woke up from my coma, she had already taken me away from there.
The rest of the story is pretty cliché.”
Logan closed his eyes and leaned against the truck bed, not paying any attention to the disgusting smell around him. Amid the sound of the wheels rubbing against the mud, he said:
"We followed a group of refugees to California and planned to blend in with them, but someone targeted her. Beautiful girls like her were rare in the wasteland era.
I blocked a few bombs for her, and she saw me as a protector.
We live in seclusion..."
"Do you love her, then?"
Harry suddenly asked:
"You both have children, I guess there must be love between you, right?"
"like?"
Logan was a little stunned by this nonsensical question.
He hadn't heard this word in this wasteland for many years. He shook his head and said:
"Harley, you really remind me of those people who were born in a peaceful era... Well, maybe there is love, but Vanessa and I have never discussed this issue. We are lucky to be alive."
"It must be love."
Mason chimed in:
“Vanessa has beautiful red hair.
As we all know, red-haired women are at least 500% lethal to Wolverine. In the past few hundred years of his life, all the women who had intimate relationships with him had red hair.
This can be considered a special hobby.”
"Ah, then isn't Barbara in danger?"
Harley exclaimed, and then she and Mason laughed. The old wolf sitting in the truck had a blank expression on his face, but after a few seconds, he also grinned.
This was the first time Mason saw this guy smile so happily along the way.
There is even a sense of freedom.
"You know me well, Mason."
Logan lit a cigarette and said:
"Is this the information you found outside? Does anyone out there still remember me?"
"I don't know, they built a utopia out there, but since I'm not a real mutant yet, they didn't invite me over."
Mason said truthfully:
"As for the mutants I know, I can only say that they all thought you were dead. Liana, and Rakshasa..."
"Well, Anna."
Logan blew out a smoke ring and said:
"I remember that night they were on a mission in Europe. Colossus and Gambit were leading the team. They were really lucky to have escaped that crazy killer from the Slaughter Academy."
"Speaking of that killer."
Harley turned the handlebars to catch up with Mr. K. She looked at the valley emerging at the end of the swamp ahead and whispered to the old wolf:
"I heard from Sweetheart about Wolverine. He admires you, second only to Batman. He said that if we could meet you, we would be able to trust you at any time.
If those stories were true, then I think you would be desperate to find and seek revenge on the madman who slaughtered all your friends.
You are an immortal, and no one can stop you from seeking revenge.
So, did the lunatic die in the end? "
This question made the old wolf silent again, until they drove out of the swamp, Logan jumped out of the truck and looked at the desolate ruins of the old academy in front of him.
A gust of wind blew through the area, causing the weeds to sway.
He walked forward and touched the remains of the half-collapsed wall. He seemed to be able to see traces of blood on it. Under the gaze of Mason and Harley, Logan closed his eyes.
My thoughts seemed to go back to the night seventeen years ago, with so much blood and so much despair.
He said in a hoarse voice:
"Of course I found the killer, I fought him like crazy, and I finally pinned him against a railroad track and killed him with the aid of a train... Wolverine is dead!
He has been dead for seventeen years, and the murderer has been dead for seventeen years.
But I am still alive..."
These riddle-like words made Harley frown, but she reacted quickly, her eyes widened, she grasped the pistol at her waist, pulled it out and aimed at the old wolf in front of her.
She exclaimed:
"You! You killed them?"
"Yes, it's me."
The old wolf didn't care at all about the gun pointed at his head. He said:
"I tried everything I could to kill myself, but every time I tried I failed. I knew I could drown, but the only source of water in California was in the hands of the Hulk.
He knew this too, and he had been waiting for me to come over.
He wanted a fight.
He also wants to die, carrying the same heavy past as me. Unfortunately, we are no longer the fearless people we used to be, and we have been lingering on like cowards until now.
But I can finally die, right here, today, and I..."
"Bang"
He turned around, and Harley pulled the trigger. The kinetic bullet hit the old wolf's forehead accurately, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud. Mason looked at Harley in surprise and said:
"I didn't ask you to shoot."
"Isn't this helping you vent your anger, sweetheart?"
Harley angrily stepped forward and emptied a magazine at the old wolf. She said:
"This bastard lied to us all the way!"
"But I knew it a long time ago, when I first met him... He thought his poor performance could be hidden from me."
Mason shook his head and stepped forward to take Harley's hand.
He looked at the ruins and said softly:
"I just want to hear him say it himself. Look here, it's a really nice grave."
