American comic: From Beijing with Love, starting with a mutant.

"Don't try to scare a materialist like me with folk tales."

Stephen Chow tugged at his thin collar, feigning nonchalance: "This is a genuine Armani limited edition, made of high-quality, breathable material that keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer. It's high-end fashion; you guys wouldn't understand!"

"Achoo!!"

A sneeze hit the windshield, spraying out a large cloud of white mist that blocked the view ahead.

The driver was startled and slammed on the brakes.

The pickup truck left screech ruts on the icy dirt road, its body swaying uncontrollably before finally coming to a stop at the entrance of Linshengtun Village.

A yellow warning line was set up between two trees in the snowstorm ahead.

Several local police officers wearing military overcoats were stamping their feet and rubbing their hands while on duty.

It was just a follow-up visit, why are there police involved?

"Leader Zhou, we can't go any further. The police have sealed off the village. I can only take you this far. Please take care of yourself!"

Stephen Chow pushed open the car door and stepped into the snow.

"Holy crap! This weather is a physical punishment for southerners!"

He walked shakily to the cordon.

A police officer raised his hand to block the way, saying, "Comrade, the village ahead is under investigation; unauthorized personnel are strictly prohibited from entering!"

Zhou Xingxing pulled out an ID card with an official seal from his inside suit pocket, held it between his stiff, purple fingers, and pushed it in front of the other person: "Look carefully! Bureau 749, Director of the Overseas Special Talent Introduction Office, a section-level cadre!"

"I was sent by my superiors to inspect this specially approved ecological protection project. If it delays this key national project, can you take responsibility? I'll call your bureau chief and complain about you right now!"

Actually, he didn't even have the bureau chief's number in his phone.

The officer took the identification, checked the seal, composed himself, stood at attention with his legs together, saluted, turned, raised the cordon, and let them pass: "Good morning, sir! It's windy inside, please walk carefully!"

Zhou Xingxing snorted with satisfaction, put his hands behind his back, and strode quickly into the village with an air of indifference.

The village was sealed off for investigation.

At this time, in this place.

Wolverine lives at the Taoshan Hunting Ground Management Station, less than three kilometers from Linsheng Village.

Could something have happened?

In the threshing ground ahead, a group of surveyors were taking photos and collecting evidence around something.

A familiar figure stood in the crowd from behind.

The man had a round beer belly, wore an exaggerated Northeastern dog-skin hat, and a black woolen overcoat with the collar turned up high.

He stood with his hands behind his back, a wooden pipe with no tobacco in his mouth, gesturing towards the snow.

Even if Stephen Chow turned to ashes, he would recognize this deliberately affected manner.

It was Cao Dahua, an old acquaintance who was transferred from the Major Crimes Unit to the 749 Bureau!

Why is this guy wearing so many layers?!

A fur hat! A wool coat! And a turtleneck sweater stuffed inside!

What about yourself?

He wore a white suit and a shirt, and had only a pack of tissues in his pocket.

Hey.

This is a blatant display of superior equipment.

Stephen Chow tiptoed forward and slapped the other man on the broad shoulder: "Ah Da! What are you doing here?"

Cao Dahua trembled with fright, and the empty pipe he was holding in his mouth fell to the ground.

He turned his head, and after recognizing Stephen Chow, he reached out and straightened the collar of his wool coat.

"Ah Xing? What happened to you? I thought you were some refugee begging for food."

Cao Dahua bent down to pick up the pipe, knocked the snow off the soles of his shoes, grabbed Zhou Xingxing's arm, and dragged him behind a sheltered earthen wall.

Don't give me that!

Zhou Xingxing shook off his hand, rubbing his frozen cheeks. "I'm on a business trip, here to inspect the recuperation situation of our bureau's employees. But you, the dignified Tiger of the Major Crimes Unit, living a life of luxury in Beijing, sponging off those bureau chiefs' 'sworn sisters' and section chiefs' 'sworn sisters,' how did you end up being banished to this freezing cold?"

"Could it be that your wealthy female lovers saw through your kidney deficiency and ganged up to kick you out?"

"You can eat anything, but you can't say anything! I, Cao Dahua, have always relied on hard work and real ability! Being a kept man is just a cover for my undercover identity!"

Cao Dahua looked around, lowered his voice, and guiltily avoided the topic of being a kept man: "What do those women know about male romance? I volunteered to come to the front lines to shine! Two people died here last night!"

"Dead people are under the jurisdiction of the local criminal investigation team. What right does our 749 Bureau have to interfere across provincial borders? Could it be that the dead person was the village chief, and that the village chief happens to be your long-lost father, and you've come here to inherit his two pigs and three acres of land?"

"The scene was horrific!" Cao Dahua swallowed hard, his voice trembling, not bothering to pick up on this tired joke.

"The forensic examination revealed that the wound on the deceased's neck was deep enough to expose the bone, with clean cuts and several parallel, sharp blade marks!"

Cao Dahua leaned close to Zhou Xingxing's ear: "The experts said this was a fatal wound caused purely by a killing machine. A black bear in the mountains couldn't do that; its claws aren't that sharp!"

The cut is neat.

Multiple sharp blades slashed across simultaneously.

When these features were pieced together, Zhou Xingxing pictured the pair of gleaming adamantium claws in his mind.

He pushed Cao Dahua aside and strode to the edge of the exploration area.

"Make way. This is a case handled by Bureau 749."

The two forensic doctors stood up and stepped back.

Two bodies lay on the snow. Stephen Chow squatted down.

The wound on the corpse's neck was wide open.

Five parallel incisions were made, extending from the left carotid artery to the right clavicle.

The trachea and esophagus were completely severed; this is a professional method of murder.

The weapon was extremely hard, and it didn't stop when it cleaved through the cervical vertebrae.

It's not Wolverine.

He only has three claws, and Wolverine wears a fluorescent orange vest every day, recites the list of national key protected wild animals, and spends his free time scrubbing the black bear by the hot spring.

His current demeanor is exactly that of a peaceful and kind retired old man from Northeast China who lives alone!

Even if he wanted to kill them, given his straightforward nature, he would have chopped those two corpses into pieces long ago, instead of leaving only a precise, fatal throat slit.

If you eliminate all the impossibilities, then whatever remains, however incredible, is still the truth.

A murderous glint appeared in Stephen Chow's eyes.

It seems those American bastards have tracked us down to Chinese territory.

Stryker, the Silver Peak Corporation, or the so-called Weapons X Cleanup Team.

Stephen Chow gave a cold laugh.

Hedong in thirty years and Hexi in thirty years.

Back in America, you treated him like a monster and hunted him down at will.

But now? Times have changed!

Logan is now a formally employed ecological observer at the Taoshan Hunting Ground in Northeast China!

They are the core talents that I, Zhou Xingxing, painstakingly interviewed and who even stamped with the official seal!

How dare you touch the employees under my 749 Bureau?

How dare you ruin the personnel KPIs I've worked so hard to achieve?

Even Jesus can't keep you here, I'm telling you!