In the Marvel Universe: I can summon items from all dimensions.

Chapter 87 The crisis of absolute death!

Meanwhile, outside the apartment, a group of men in black were riding towards it on horseback.

After all, mobilizing troops takes time. It didn't take Mason long to show Chianti and Cohen the videotape, only about ten minutes in total, which was enough time for Gin to make a phone call to call for reinforcements. Moreover, considering the possibility of unknown ambushes, sending people directly in might be tantamount to suicide, so various tactical arrangements would take some time, which gave Mason room to maneuver.

The moment he stepped out the door, he immediately ducked down, using the corridor wall to cover himself, and then sprinted along the ground, covering more than 30 meters of the stairwell in less than ten seconds. With a turn, he darted into the stairwell.

This was to prevent snipers from aiming at him from outside—after all, he wasn't quite sure what the limits of his regenerative abilities were. Losing an arm or a leg was one thing, but if a large-caliber sniper rifle blew his head off, it was hard to guarantee he would survive.

It's important to understand that having multiple holes in your head and having your entire head become a hole are two different things—you can't just go around killing people with your nipples as eyes and your navel as a mouth after losing your head, can you? Even if you don't die, it will take a lot of time for your head to grow back, so it's really not worth the risk at this time.

A dozen seconds later, Mason arrived at the apartment building without encountering any obstruction.

Ha, I laugh at Gin's lack of strategy and Rum's lack of wisdom. If I were to lead the troops, I would ambush them here. What could they do?

Mason chuckled, looked around, and immediately ran towards the main street. As long as he could get there, he could immediately ride away and find another place to continue his struggle with the distillery.

But just as he was about to reach the apartment door, a burly man with broad shoulders and a thick waist suddenly emerged from the shadows of the building next to him.

Mason: "?"

He instinctively sensed a danger and immediately adjusted his running angle, trying to get past the burly man—now was not the time to delay. If Gin discovered that he was bluffing and sent a large number of men, it would be his turn to be in trouble.

Unfortunately, the moment the burly man appeared, he immediately fixed his gaze on Mason. His cold, hard face, like a sculpture, showed no change in expression, but Mason sensed a very dangerous aura through his sixth sense.

They are the enemy!

They arrived so quickly? Who sent them? Gin?

Moreover, with that deadpan face, if he weren't a bio-engineered human, he'd definitely be tainted with some kind of psychopathism.

In that instant, the watch on his wrist suddenly became hot, and a watch hand appeared out of thin air, pointing directly at the burly man who appeared to be a cyborg.

Great, the case is solved.

Seeing that no one was around, Mason immediately reached for his gun, but before he could even raise his hand, a fist the size of a sandbag suddenly attacked his face at a speed that left him no time to react.

Oops!

With that thought in mind, the burly man's fist slammed into Mason's face in the next instant. The skull, which was theoretically difficult to break by hand, shattered as if it had been hit by a car. Before he could retaliate, Mason was instantly—no, he should be said to have been blasted away. He flew through the air for several seconds before crashing headfirst into a wall behind him.

Bang!

Oh, that familiar feeling!

Mason, his head flattened and his neck broken into several pieces, fell to the ground like a rag doll, his limbs hanging limply, clearly not going to live.

Rewind a few minutes, to the top of a building approximately twenty kilometers away from the apartment.

Gin suddenly received a phone call.

Gin, who was busy calling people to rush to the apartment, picked up the phone impatiently. After seeing the number displayed, his expression changed abruptly, and he answered the phone with a frown.

"Rum?" he clicked his tongue. "Why are you calling me now? I'm busy."

"Don't rush."

Rum on the other end of the phone said leisurely, "I already know about your situation—nice to meet you, I have a few of my men in Shibuya, and just to be on the safe side, I've already sent them over."

"What?" Gin was taken aback, then said somewhat angrily, "Konek might have set some kind of trap over there. If we rush in recklessly—"

"There's no need to worry about that."

Rum interrupted Gin, saying confidently, "The cyborgs I sent are the latest batch, completely different from the previous models. Even if an entire armed squad were lying in ambush, that guy could wipe them all out."

"?"

'

Gin frowned, a question quietly rising in his mind.

—So confident?

Konek was, after all, a well-known assassin in the organization—or even in the industry. Since he dared to betray them, it meant he must have made thorough preparations. And while those cyborgs were indeed very strong, they were far from being strong enough to completely ignore firearms. Otherwise, what happened to the guy whose head was blown off by a shotgun in the factory?

What exactly is this so-called "latest model cyborg"?

No, what exactly is this so-called "modified human"?

Because he had been busy investigating whether Shuichi Akai was truly dead, Gin hadn't paid much attention to the changes at the organization's headquarters. As a result, starting a few weeks ago, the boss assigned several so-called cyborgs to his subordinates to do errands. Actually, "cyborgs" are not a new concept. In the dark world, many people have tried to enhance the human body with drugs and then put them into combat missions. However, due to the limitations of biology and pharmacology, this idea has never made much progress.

The boss immediately unleashed a large number of powerful, mature cyborgs with special abilities who were completely obedient to orders—however, this technology, which obviously could not be developed overnight, seemed to have fallen from the sky, exuding an eerie aura from beginning to end.

Then—even when Gin tried to ask how cyborgs were created, he was ruthlessly rejected.

Is there anything more unsettling than this?

Even Gin, with his loyalty, felt something was very wrong. Of course, this was not enough to shake him. After all, if even a loyal subject like Gin had disloyal thoughts, there would be no point in continuing to operate the organization. But this did not mean that Gin was a fool who would pretend nothing was happening when there was an obvious major change in the organization.

This is like a group of yakuza tough guys suddenly switching to civil engineering; the leap is so huge that even Gin, a company veteran, finds it hard to adapt.

—Boss, what are you doing?

In fact, the boss is the most terrifying part of this series of changes—starting a few months ago, the organization's boss suddenly "disappeared." Although he still unilaterally conveys instructions downwards, he does not answer any questions raised by his subordinates. Gin tried to ask the boss questions directly several times, but all the messages he sent and the phone calls he made went unanswered.

How can this put people at ease?

Now, with Vermouth missing, Konek openly betraying him, and all the changes that have occurred recently, Gin has a vague sense of something strange. The organization is either undergoing a transformation and upgrade or it's about to collapse. As the organization's top pragmatist, he can't even determine which direction the future will take, which is making him extremely uneasy.

But anyway—try to trust Rum for now and go see how Konecny ​​died.

Mason is in a life-or-death crisis.

This thing that suddenly appeared was incredibly powerful. Just based on its numerical values, it was on a completely different level from the previous cyborgs. The moment this guy's big fist hit his face, he even had the illusion that he had traveled back to the Marvel Universe.

What should we do? If we don't come up with a solution soon, it looks like we're doomed.

Because his entire head was smashed, Mason naturally couldn't see anything. His eyeballs, nose, and ears were being rapidly repaired by the light energy, as was his brain.

Huh?

Since my brain is completely fried, how exactly am I thinking?

At this moment, to outsiders, Mason looked like a blood-stained rag slowly falling off the wall, countless granulations sprouting from his mangled head, quickly pushing the damaged area back to where it should have been.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

But a brain that has literally become a mess is naturally unable to process electrical signals from nerve endings. Perhaps it can, but it is extremely chaotic, like a neon light flashing repeatedly under unstable voltage. Pain, numbness, itching, comfort, heat, cold and other messy signals are triggered in turn, plunging Mason's consciousness into a bizarre and surreal state.

A few minutes after he was transported, he began to wonder how he could continue thinking with his brain damaged. Normally, if a hole were punched through the brain, even if the damage could be repaired, a person should be unable to move or think. But he only felt pain and did not pass out. How could this be?

This time was no different. Even though his entire head was crushed, he could still think normally. Of course, the bizarre sensations caused by the rotting of brain tissue were indeed terrifying. In just a few seconds, he was almost driven to madness. But "madness" is a state based on the ability to think. According to normal thinking, shouldn't he have gone black and waited for the light energy to repair him before waking up?

Is this also part of the mutant ability?

not necessarily.

Last night's nightmare wasn't just about seeing Cecil's tragic past—Mason's version of what could only be described as the deserved fate of a fool.

Although that guy might be my alternate counterpart from another world, his intelligence is really touching—don't you know what kind of precious creature Hydra is? The first choice of a lowly weakling after awakening superpowers is to report it—even Magneto would have to call him a hero.

Being locked up as a lab animal afterward can only be considered a blessing in disguise. Perhaps only a saintly, kind-hearted person like Charles would feel sorry for him. As for Mason—after waking up, he was truly shocked.

However, the commentary is merely a minor detail; the true value of this nightmare lies in the Hydra scientists' research report on Cecil's abilities—

Their abilities were clearly inferior to Hank's, but their strength lay in their low skill ceiling. In their hands, Cecil was like a disassembled Lego toy, constantly being tormented and exhausted. Over the years, they had thoroughly studied Cecil, exploring everything from the way his abilities worked, his growth potential, to how they were used.

Although Mason only saw a small part of what Cecil heard from his perspective, it was like an upgrade manual to him now.

According to Hydra's research, Cecil was a mutant with the potential to become an Alpha-level mutant. His ability involved absorbing photons and a certain level of thermal radiation to enhance himself, including but not limited to self-healing, strength, reaction speed, and physical strength. Once his light energy reserves reached a certain level, he could also fly and release lasers, making it a fairly comprehensive ability. Unfortunately, before he could fully develop it, Captain America and his crew destroyed his entire base. What happened after that is unclear. We might have to ask Moira when we return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since she seems very afraid of Cecil and obviously knows something about him.

However, it's clearly not feasible to simply copy Hydra's methods wholesale.

Because the upgrade plan Hydra customized for Cecil was very pure, prioritizing efficiency above all else—

For example, tearing the body apart with a sharp instrument 24 hours a day while replenishing light energy with gamma rays would simultaneously train both self-healing ability and energy storage, which is highly efficient. However, Mason is not some kind of fanatical Pavarotti, and normally, he would not advocate torturing himself.

On the other hand, Mason felt that his abilities were somewhat different from Cecilia's.

For example, I can continue thinking even after my brain is turned into mush, while Cecilia would just collapse on the spot. Or, I seem to get less and less pain as I heal myself, while Cecilia becomes more and more sensitive the more she is tormented. Or, Cecilia not only has self-healing abilities, but can also strengthen her body with light energy, while I have no such signs at all. These may be due to ability mutations caused by time travel, or other factors, but the differences between the two are obvious.

That's a tangent, let's get back to the main topic.

Now there's only one thing to think about, and that is how to deal with this big guy.

This guy's strength is terrifying. Judging from his own data, even if his energy reserves were several times higher, he would only be beaten to death like a punching bag. So he has to find a way to fight back. His eyes will regenerate in about ten more seconds. As long as he can see, he can use firearms, air guns, or Thor's Beads. This combination of punches would make even Wolverine stiff.

However, just as Mason spent three seconds mentally preparing a counterattack combo, ready to deliver a fatal blow to that bastard as soon as he could move, a strong sense of pressure suddenly came from his chest.

By this time, his brain had been mostly repaired, and he could roughly figure out what was going on.

—It's like a huge boulder pressing down, or —a foot?

Then, he felt something gripping his wrist. The handcuffs weren't that thick, nor that warm, so it must be—a hand?

Oops!

Just as he expected, his wrists were being raised higher and higher, while his torso was being firmly pinned to the ground, which directly led to—

"!!!!!"

The force suddenly increased, and in an instant, Mason could no longer feel his right arm; instead, he experienced a terrifying and intense pain.

However, since his mouth had not yet fully regenerated, he couldn't even make a sound and could only force himself to hold it in. The good news was that this level of pain was not as bad as the pain he had experienced when he broke his own limbs to lure Vermouth, so he could endure it. The bad news was that after his right arm was forcibly torn off, his left arm was also grabbed.

Oh no, this guy's going to finish me off!

Just like when he lost his right arm, Mason's left arm was also cleanly severed from his body, and his torso suffered at least one injury: his sternum was completely broken. Even though the pain was somewhat reduced, the experience still made him feel like he was going crazy.

What's up with this?

Even if it were to finish me off, would an ordinary person go to this extent? Did they decide to use even more ruthless methods after witnessing my regeneration process?

Damn, this is getting a bit complicated.

Although there is a way—the Book of Mercenaries is still hidden on his person, and Mason can find reinforcements immediately if he wants to.

But at this moment, he prefers to try another approach.

A skill that Cissell developed after being tormented for more than half a year.

At that moment, a complete right eyeball was constructed in Mason's eye socket, restoring half of his vision. He immediately turned his head to look—and sure enough, it was the same tall, muscular white man from before.

But Mason's turning of his head immediately drew the other's attention—he withdrew his broad hand that was reaching for the former's right ankle, straightened up, raised his large foot clad in a steel-plated leather boot, and viciously stomped down on the junction of Mason's neck and head.

His mandible, maxilla, and most of his cheekbone were easily crushed like tofu. His newly regenerated eyes were blasted away and landed on the ground not far away. His brainstem and cerebellum suffered a devastating blow—specifically, the strong man stomped Mason's neck and half of his head into a bloody, mangled mess.

This opponent is clearly incredibly strong, yet he's excessively cautious!

Thus, a large amount of light energy was wasted, and it seemed that the Book of Mercenaries would have to be used.

But the eyeball that had been pushed out suddenly twitched, and propelled by the optic nerve, it looked straight at the burly man who had turned back and was about to rip off Mason's leg as well.