Shadow of the Beautiful World

A few years ago, the mutants established their own city on Utopia Island deep in the Pacific Ocean.

Many mutants from all over the world have gone there, and the famous Xavier Academy for Gifted Boys has also moved to Utopia Island, but the New York side of the academy has not been closed.

It continues to exist as a branch campus on the North American continent.

After all, not all mutant children are hated by their fathers, and many parents choose to accept their children's special abilities.

Those lucky kids are sent to study at Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters.

After they learn to control their abilities, they are taken home to continue living with their families.

This branch campus in Queens, New York, is preserved for this reason.

In the past few years, because the moderate mutants commanded by Professor Charles have almost unified the differences within the mutants, the contacts between mutants and human society have also become frequent and gradual.

Under the official propaganda, many ordinary people who have opinions on mutants have also begun to accept the existence of other special humans in this world.

But those thoughts of resisting mutants never disappeared, they just chose to hide under pressure.

Even within human society, the mutual hatred between different races and civilizations cannot be eliminated. What's more, the difference between mutants and ordinary people is much greater than the difference in appearance and teaching.

However, if the current development continues, the day when mutants will eventually integrate into human society and become a special race in human civilization will not be too far away.

swish

The taxi stopped at the entrance of Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters. The clown dragged a box full of performance props and walked out of the car door with difficulty. He took out some crumpled money from his pocket and handed it to Dupont.

As the clown watched the taxi leave, he couldn't help digging his ears with his little finger, and with a strange expression on his painted face, he said:

The music from the South Asian subcontinent is really cheerful, but it's a bit noisy.

Well, never mind, let's work.

He patted his face, trying to soften his expression.

He dragged the box to the black gate of the Mutant Academy. Instead of ringing the doorbell, he took out some fireworks from the box beside him and placed them on the ground.

A moment later, beautiful fireworks shot up on the lawn at the gate of the college, and exploded into beautiful fireworks in the air. Those sharp sounds also attracted the children who were playing in the college.

Then the clown started his own show.

Just like that day in the headquarters square of the Heroes Association, while dancing funny dances, he winked at the children on the other side of the black gate, and handed them the balloons in his hand.

The clown was brilliant and made the kids laugh out loud as they screamed and made noise as the clown performed one trick after another.

This scene quickly attracted the attention of Ororo, the mutant teacher on duty at Xavier Academy today. Stormy walked out of the office, and she watched this scene from a distance.

With the barrier of the gate, the clown couldn't get in touch with the children.

But even so, Ororo felt that the sudden appearance of the clown was a bit weird.

She rode the wind to the gate, and under the regretful gazes of the children, she said a few words to the clown and persuaded him to leave.

Well, well, I just simply like children.

Under Ororo's dissuasion, the clown put his props back into the box angrily, dragged the box, and walked further away from the gate dejectedly.

From time to time, he turned his head and waved to the children, as if to say goodbye.

Holding the colorful cane he decorated in his hand, he walked away swaggeringly.

This little matter didn't make Storm Girl too concerned, she still had to teach the children.

But ten minutes later, the clown sneakily reappeared on the side of the road not far from the college. He took out a flute from his pocket, waved it a few times with his fingers, and put it to his mouth.

It made a terrible flute sound.

He kept blowing, as if deliberately disturbing the people.

A few minutes later, by the fence of the Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters, several children jumped from the fence.

For mutant children, such a high wall is just a symbolic obstacle, and there are too many ways for them to easily cross it.

Attracted by the sound of the flute, the children followed behind the clown blankly, and quickly got into a car parked by the side of the road.

The clown started the car, he glanced at the school in the distance, a strange expression appeared on his face, then turned the steering wheel and drove into another road.

—

Snapped

In a dark room, the clown slapped a comatose man in the face, the latter was woken up, and then stared blankly in front of him, wanting to scream.

But the next moment, the cold muzzle of the gun was on his forehead.

He was so frightened that he couldn't stay out of his mind, he could only shut his mouth tremblingly.

And beside this man, there are several ordinary people who were kidnapped, they were all randomly caught by the clown on the road.

There is no target, no choice, and when you encounter it, you will be stunned and thrown into the car.

cough cough

In the dimly lit room, the clown waved the revolver in his hand, and he pretended to say to the unlucky ones in front of him:

Hello, friends, you are very lucky to be selected into my game.

He grabbed something from the table and tossed it up and down in his hands. The thing was like firecrackers tied together, and on top of the things that were stuck together, there was a number that was constantly beating.

this classic shape

Time bomb.

Look!

The Joker held the thing before everyone's eyes, and said:

It's a bundle of bombs. From the look in your eyes, I'm sure you all know what this thing does. That's great.

Listen, you have 10 minutes to make a tough choice.

He fixed the bomb on the pillar in the room, then took out a few things the size of pigeon eggs from his pocket, and forced the kidnapped people to eat them, swallowing the cold things into their stomachs.

Finally, he took out a remote control-like thing from his pocket, and said to the few people struggling frantically in front of him:

The things I just fed you are cute little things. They don't tick, but they will bang once the time goes to zero!

The clown made an explosive gesture, waved the remote control in his hand, and said:

Only this thing can keep you alive, but the problem is that when you press this thing, the explosives I put in other places will also be detonated immediately.

What's there over there? A few cute children, yes, a few obedient mutant children.

The clown regretfully placed the remote control in his hand on the table some distance away from the four people, and he said to them:

So now the question is very simple.

If you want to live, the children must die

Of course, you can also choose to let yourself survive. After all, the desire to survive, right, everyone has it

He walked to the door, and in the sunlight, he turned around, waved maliciously at the screaming people in the house, then raised his wrist, and made a motion to check the time:

Tick tock, time is passing.

Games start!

After walking out of the room, the clown stood by the side of the street and smoked a cigarette. While the smoke was billowing, he counted the time.

He took out a mobile phone from his pocket, pressed a series of phone numbers, and after the call was connected, he shouted to the other end of the phone in an artificially panicked voice:

Oh my god! I just saw a lunatic grab a few children and get into the car. Those children are wearing your school clothes! Come! Save them!

The address is at No. xx, xx Road, Queens District. I saw them run in with my own eyes!

After speaking, the clown hung up the phone, then broke the phone into pieces in the middle, and threw it into the trash can on the side of the road.

He looked left and right, then ran towards a nearby residential building, finding a good location, just in time to observe the two rooms where he held human and mutant children respectively.

The clown licked his lips, rubbed his hands together, and tightened his grip on the cane in his hand.

He is leaving New York soon.

It was his last game in the city before leaving.

On the other side, Ororo the Storm, who was getting angry because of the sudden disappearance of several children, got the news from the phone that the children were in danger, and she immediately changed into a combat uniform.

A message was sent to the other X-Men at the same time.

Fortunately, the location reported on the phone was not far from the Academy of Mutants.

Storm controlled the wind and hurried to that position, while regretting and anxious in her heart. When Professor X was around, no one dared to do such a thing to mutant children in New York.

With the professor's psychic power, the moment someone approached the school with malice, they would be spotted immediately.

But now, the professor is gone.

This news was tightly sealed, but judging from the actions of this unknown villain, the secret news had obviously been leaked.

A few minutes later, in a howling storm, Ororo, who was wearing a black robe and seemed to have grown wings, landed in front of that address. She waved her hand, and the sharp wind blade shattered the walls of the house. Door.

Amidst the debris, Storm rushed into the room, but did not find the missing mutant children. Instead, there were several ordinary people tied up in the room.

There were men and women, and they looked terrified.

On the table in front of Storm, the remaining time of the bundle of bombs was less than 5 seconds.

!!!

The storm girl's eyes widened, and she raised her hands suddenly. As the wind howled, a column of wind blasted through the roof of the house, and rushed into the sky with the bundle of explosives.

A moment later, high in the sky, a group of bright flames exploded like a giant firework.

A few blocks away, Cloak, who had just finished eating with Dagger, raised his head and looked at the place where the flames exploded. He exchanged glances with Dagger beside him, and then disappeared in the spot amidst the surge of darkness.

call

Ororo breathed a sigh of relief, she stretched out her hand and threw a few wind blades, cutting the ropes that bound those unlucky ones.

But the strange thing is that after they got out of trouble, they didn't flee in panic, but just stood there in a daze, looking at me and looking at you.

They seemed to be hesitating, or in other words, discussing something with their eyes.

Have you seen any children?

Storm Girl asked:

Several mutant children, have you seen them?

No, no.

A woman subconsciously shook her head, but she stroked her stomach, not daring to look into Storm's eyes.

This made Ororo aware, she stepped forward and said to the woman:

You've seen them, haven't you? Tell me, where are those children? They're in danger!

me

The woman didn't know how to respond to Ororo's inquiry, she could only look at the other people as if asking for help, and the other people were also silent, and no one spoke.

What the hell are you doing?

The Storm frowned and asked:

Have you ever seen my children?

sorry!

Behind Ororo, a young man let out a scream like a wail, and threw himself on the table.

But I don't want to die!!!

The moment the Storm girl turned her head, he saw the man throwing himself on the table, fastening something, and pressing a certain switch.

boom

There was a loud bang in the garage of some house across the street, like a pillar of fire ignited on the ground, everything was torn apart, everything was blown to pieces.

Storm Girl's expression froze at this moment.

And hundreds of meters away, on the roof of a residential building, the clown leaning on a cane put down the binoculars in his hand, his face covered with oil paint and scars looked extremely calm at this moment.

It was as if everything was going as he expected, as it should be.

Look! This is what you call human nature.

This once again confirms my opinion of you. You will only be good people when you are safe. Isn't your persistence such a sad, fragile thing that will collapse when you tap it lightly?

His fingers flicked on the cane, and a ray of orange light burst from his palm, and he yawned and said:

It's really a life without surprises, it's really boring.

Let's move on to the next stage.