Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Hill, sitting in the back row, coldly rejected Ray's suggestion.

Hill looked at the tablet, comparing it to Ray now, and said, "Ray Owens. Green Berets Lieutenant Colonel retired, then joined the Los Angeles SWAT team as commander, and after taking down four laundry detergent companies in Los Angeles, he joined the witness protection program and became the town's sheriff, right?"

Hearing Hill's words, Ray paused for a moment, as if recalling his own life, then smacked his lips and said softly, "That's right..."

Silence fell over the car again. Lei drove forward, only to be stopped by a makeshift roadblock. Warnings blared from the sentry machine gun in conjunction with the automatic grenade launcher, and from the monitor's loudspeaker.

"Exit this area. The area ahead has been designated as a restricted zone! Repeat, exit..."

Geralt stuck his head out of the car window and waved at the monitor, after which the sentry gun and automatic grenade launcher went into hibernation.

At the end of the road lies the center of the farm, where old Parsons' house is located.

Now surrounded by vehicles, S.H.I.E.L.D. has set up a temporary defensive base using the building as a base.

Various heavy weapons were placed in key positions, and any unusual activity would be met with a saturation attack.

The moment she saw Hill, Agent 13 Sharon Carter loudly announced to everyone in the command room, "The director is in command room!"

Everyone in the command room stood up and saluted. Hill returned the salute and asked, "How is the situation now?"

"Half an hour ago, someone drove a heavy truck and came to rent the farm under the name of an advertising company, but we discovered the snipers. After our side attacked first, these people began to transform and mutate."

After we launched a defensive counterattack according to our pre-planned strategy, seven were killed and one went missing. The remaining three are in the cornfield, and we are deploying drones to hunt them down.

Hill said, "One was killed on the way here. Go retrieve the body. How much longer until we find the rest?"

Sharon Carter looked at the silent crowd and said, "It's hard to say. The cornfield provides excellent cover, making it difficult for detectors to find those things..."

Ray stood to the side, peering at the satellite imagery of the area surrounding the farm, and said, "The cornfields are surrounded by open fields. They can't possibly fly over the canyon, divide the environment along the cornfields, and drive those things out with artillery shells and incendiary bombs..."

Ray's voice echoed in the command room, and everyone looked at Hill.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s equipment was so advanced that combat became all about precision strikes, forgetting the most traditional doctrine of firepower supremacy.

As a former Green Berets member, Ray participated in high-intensity battlefields like the Korean War, and calling in airstrikes and dropping incendiary bombs and Agent Orange were ingrained in his very being.

Facing everyone's gaze, Hill said, "Do as he says!"

With a plan in place, the operation went very smoothly. After all, shells are always consumables, and it doesn't matter where they are fired.

Two A-10 attack aircraft, following the center line of the cornfield, mimicked Li Mei's barbecue technique, and drew an X-shaped mark in the cornfield.

The shells bombarded the designated area, creating popcorn and driving out the demons hiding in the cornfield.

These low-level cannon fodder demons, aside from their speed, couldn't withstand the heat of the heavy machine guns and lay dead on the edge of the cornfield amidst the flames and explosions behind them.

After taking stock of the battlefield, Sharon Carter continued to report on the situation.

Inside that heavy-duty truck was an assault bridge awaiting installation; if Gabriel Cortez escaped, this would be the final step for him.

Ray stopped Hill and asked, "Tell me who your enemies are? Who will be passing through here?"

The team that went to retrieve the body has returned, bringing with them a group of bewildered town police officers.

One of the officers, a rather chubby Mexican-American with a somewhat cheerful appearance, called out Ray's name loudly and waved to him as soon as he saw him.

An uninvited guest. Hill dislikes anything unexpected that happens outside of plans, but this Ray is the person Geralt wants, and she's unsure what to do.

But looking at Geralt's half-dead state, there was no way to get an explanation for it in the short term.

Hill frowned, looked at Ray's determined face, and said, "Take care of your men first, and I'll tell you what you want to know."

When Geralt reappeared in town, he headed straight for the restaurant. Ray followed behind Geralt with a serious expression, while Hill mobilized S.H.I.E.L.D. forces to deploy defenses around the town.

S.H.I.E.L.D. took the blame, and the Bureau of Investigation was certain that Gabriel would escape, making his inevitable route the last line of defense.

This is no longer a simple arrest and trial. With the power of hell, Gabriel Cortez could escape anytime, anywhere, in any way, but he chose this place.

This means that what he wants, or rather what Mephisto wants, is right here.

In the restaurant, the town, which had lost most of its residents, should have only had a few customers, but today, in addition to Geralt and Hill, there were actually other people who came here.

A mother and child. The mother, with her smoky eye makeup, looked travel-worn yet possessed a strange, alluring charm. The child, meanwhile, was constantly observing his surroundings.

Lei glanced at the mother and child before looking away. He had just learned what had happened and was now curious about the man in front of him.

His identity is recorded in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system, indicating that he is a normal law enforcement agency. However, this person in front of us is outside of S.H.I.E.L.D., yet he has the power to influence the director, and others seem to be used to him.

Ray followed Geralt in order to get more information.

"thunder!"

A shout made Lei unable to finish his question. He turned around and saw his deputy, a chubby man with a cheerful appearance, standing at the restaurant entrance, leaning against the door and waving to him.

Gero nodded to him, and Ray came to the door and asked, "Mike, what's wrong?"

Mike pulled Rayleigh to a secluded spot and said, "Could you get me an autograph? You seem to know him quite well."

Being a sheriff had taken a toll on Ray's energy, and he wasn't very familiar with the outside world. Somewhat puzzled, Ray asked, "Who? Geralt? Who is he?"

"My God! You don't know him? Even the Bureau of Control has a cooperative relationship with him! He's a hunter!"

Mike took out his phone and showed Ray the news about Geralt, but Ray's brows furrowed even deeper.

Geralt, inside the restaurant, observes the new mother and child who have just arrived; the child has left sometime earlier.

Geralt's eyes met his mother's, and as their gazes locked, an unspoken meaning began to emerge.

Arriving at the dining table, Geralt sat opposite him and asked, "May I ask about it?"

The woman's eyes began to flare, and just as she was about to say something, the child darted out from behind Geralt and said, "Hi, Mom. Dad's filled up the car with gas, we should go!"

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Chapter 381: Mephisto's Child

Upon seeing the child, the woman gave him an apologetic look and followed him outside.

Geralt checked his wallet; it was gone. The boy, taking advantage of the opportunity to appear from behind, had snatched Geralt's wallet.

What most people perceive as a romantic encounter often turns into an awkward situation when a child interferes, and that's precisely where the opportunity arises. Judging by the mother and son's practiced coordination, they've certainly done it many times.

The mother and son, who had just left, were checking the wallet they had just stolen in a blue sedan.

Gripping the steering wheel, the mother admonished her child, saying, "Danny, remember this is wrong. Once we leave, you can never do this again, understand?"

Danny nodded. Although he was already quite adept at stealing other people's wallets, his mother always taught him this, and he understood the difference between good and bad.

Danny counted his loot and said, "There's seventy-five dollars in change, and a social security card... what's this...?"

Danny handed his social security card to his mother, which clearly showed Rena looking very old. As Danny turned his wallet upside down to collect the coins inside, a hexagonal badge fell out.

That's Ray's sheriff badge!

Danny looked at the badge and said with some fear, "He's one too?"

The woman had left marks on the steering wheel from her grip, and looking at the two men standing on the hood of the car, she said, "No, he's not, they're in cahoots!"

Ray walked to the passenger window, looked at the dazed Danny, then at the badge in his hand, and said, "That should be mine!"

The mother and son inside the car were stunned, their faces pale as they stared at everything outside.

The restaurant has now become S.H.I.E.L.D.'s domain. Under Sheriff Ray's call, the elderly people who remained in town and one or two young people have moved to other places.

Right now, the entire town, including the restaurants, is filled with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Geralt looked at the intelligence he had just gathered, then compared it to the woman in front of him and asked, "Nadja? A mercenary?"

The woman called Nadya began to panic, saying somewhat absentmindedly, "You'd better let us leave. You don't want to anger the child's father..."

When talking about his father, Dani looked up at Nadya, then lowered his head again and remained silent.

Geralt glanced at Danny and asked, "Does he know who his father is?"

Nadja paused for a moment, then gradually regained her composure. Although she couldn't figure out who was in front of her, her love for her child Danny made her calmly begin to talk to Geralt.

Nadja quickly said, "My boyfriend is Kerridge, he's the ruler of Tijuana's underworld, you'd better let us leave!"

"Boyfriend? He's not the father of the child. Even if the father himself came, I wouldn't be afraid!"

Geralt's astonishing words left Nadja speechless, and Danny also looked up at Geralt, then at the Water of Life beside him.

Noticing the child's gaze, Geralt withdrew the Water of Life, took a bottle of sparkling water from the bar and handed it to Danny, saying, "This is fine for the little one."

Geralt's relentless pursuit left the two at a loss. Just then, someone brought a tablet and placed it in front of Geralt.

"Tsk tsk, you two are really valuable. The underworld has offered a 20 million bounty for finding you. If they can capture you alive, they will grant one of their wishes."

Nadya held Dani in her arms, beginning to speculate wildly about her fate. Gradually, her eyes turned cold as she carefully observed her surroundings.

It was clear that Nadya was prepared to do something dangerous for the sake of her child.

Geralt, seemingly oblivious to Nadja's actions, continued, "Gabriel Cortez is on his way here, and his advance party is already outside town. Who do you think he's looking for? Oh! I almost forgot, his advance party can transform, the really scary kind..."

Upon hearing this, Nadya's reason was consumed by fear, and she didn't even notice that Dani, whom she was holding in her arms, was being squeezed so tightly that she couldn't breathe.

Nadya kept saying, "No, we have to leave, we have to get out of here!"

Nadja's unusual behavior prompted Geralt to reach out and pull Danny out of her arms.

Having lost Dani, Nadya regained some of her senses and shouted, "Let's get out of here, do you hear me! Otherwise, when the child's father comes, everyone here will die!"

The shouts echoed in the restaurant. Apart from Lei, who had been watching and frowning, everyone else went about their work.

"You keep talking about the child's father, but how many times have you met him? Has the child ever met his father?"

Geralt pointed to Danny beside him, and Nadja couldn't utter a word in rebuttal.

Danny, with his head down, suddenly said, "I've seen him before. He often appears in my dreams."

Nadya's expression changed, and she grabbed Danny's arm, asking, "Did you tell him where we are?"

Danny shook his head and said, "No, I know we're escaping his clutches. And I know who he is, the one from hell..."

Before Danny could finish speaking, Geralt covered his mouth tightly.

Geralt said, "Shh...be careful. If you say that name, he'll know your location immediately. Besides, you have his power, making it even easier for him to pinpoint your location. Remember, don't say that name, understand?"

Danny was about to nod, but Geralt held him firmly in place, so he could only signal with his eyes that he understood.

Danny is the child of Mephisto, the Lord of Hell, or rather, Danny is Mephisto's chosen substitute.

Nadia, who was a mercenary at the time, made a contract with Mephisto on her deathbed, allowing her body to nurture a child of Mephisto.