Reincarnation Paradise: The Crucible.

Chapter 376 The show begins

The daylight is fading and night is rising.

In Muir Redwood Forest, when the night covered the sky and swallowed up the last ray of daylight, there was a sudden and dense rustling noise outside the forest. Figures wearing camouflage uniforms, wearing night vision equipment and holding colorful plastic weapons emerged from every corner of the dense forest at the same time.

They gathered and dispersed, gradually forming a huge and tight encirclement, surrounding a campfire camp somewhere on the southwest side of the forest, and began to advance rapidly, constantly narrowing the distance between each other.

A moment later, the encirclement had advanced to within a few meters of the central camp. Through the sparse bushes and tree trunks, the soldiers could even clearly hear the noisy conversations and the large crowds of people that appeared dimly lit by the campfire.

"hidden!"

The deep command voice was instantly transmitted to every soldier's ears through the headphones. The advancing encirclement stopped immediately, and almost all the soldiers made a half-crouching and concealed movement at the same time. Except for the rustling sound of dead leaves being crushed by combat boots, there was no other strange sound throughout the whole process.

His clenched left arm slowly lowered after the captain of the team in charge of this encirclement and suppression operation gave his orders. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the faint fire not far away, but a sense of uneasiness involuntarily arose in his heart.

So far, everything the encirclement team has seen and heard, both visually and aurally, indicates that the camp in front of them is the headquarters of the Brotherhood, but the only problem is that the advancement of the encirclement is a bit too smooth, and they haven't even encountered a patrolling sentry along the way.

It seemed that after nightfall, the Brotherhood took the initiative to withdraw all its defenses without any precautions. This was unreasonable. Although according to intelligence, the current Brotherhood was mostly composed of a group of rabble rousing people at the bottom of the city, it was obviously impossible for Magneto, who had gathered everyone, to make such a low-level mistake.

Thinking of this, he tapped the communication device beside his ear and began to communicate with the command center.

"The encirclement and suppression team has arrived at the designated location and can launch an attack at any time, but there has been no obstruction throughout the entire process. There may be something abnormal inside the camp."

After a long time, the cold next instruction from the command center came through the headset.

"Satellite images show no abnormalities. Prepare to launch a full-scale attack. Stay alert. If necessary, open fire without restriction. Kill any threatening targets!"

The cold voice in his ears disappeared, and the order to kill any target made the captain's vague uneasiness completely disappear. He took a deep breath of the cool air in the forest, and a cruel arc gradually appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Everyone prepare, attack regardless of casualties!"

As soon as the words fell, dense and rapid footsteps quickly sounded outside the camp, and then neatly lined up armed soldiers rushed into the camp from all directions, and at the same time, loud warning shouts spread.

"Don't move, mutant!"

"Put your hands up and squat down! Quick!"

The threatening shouts mixed with the light sources sweeping in all directions, even though no shots were fired, had already thrown the entire camp into a turmoil in the blink of an eye. What was extremely strange was that faced with this sudden outbreak of chaos, the many mutants in the encirclement did not panic at all.

Through the green perspective of the night vision goggles, everyone in the camp turned around and faced the encirclement army. They did not resist, nor did they say anything, but their identical faces all revealed the same strange smile, and then all the figures began to merge with their nearby companions.

Soon, the hundreds of figures that originally filled the entire camp were completely blended into one, and turned into a tall white man with a smirk on his face. He looked around, his eyes lingered on the muzzles of the soldiers' guns that were still raised for a moment, and then he casually spread his hands and raised them high, teasing nonchalantly:
"Okay, everyone, calm down, I surrender~"

"The clone—Jimmy Madolo."

Looking at the familiar face in front of him whom he had seen in the information, the team leader had a gloomy look in his eyes and said the other person's name with gritted teeth.

The Clone Man has the ability to copy his original body in large numbers and create clones. The clones have independent consciousness and can be retracted freely, but the combat power of a single individual is relatively weak. He was arrested for failing to rob seven banks at the same time. A few days ago, he was rescued by the Brotherhood of Mutants along with Mystique while being escorted.

Recalling the detailed information about the clone in his mind, the moment he saw the target, he knew that his previous premonition was correct. This was a complete trap. They were all fooled by Magneto. The other party used the clone to disguise as the main force of the Brotherhood and successfully diverted the focus of the military.

"Reporting to the command center, the situation has been investigated. All the members of the camp are disguised as clones. The main force of the Brotherhood is nowhere to be found. There is a high probability that... they are preparing to launch an attack on Devil's Island."

"…Retreat immediately and bring back the mutant criminal."

"Yes!"

The captain responded to the command from the headset in a deep voice, and looked up at the clone in front of him who was still smiling. His eyes sank and suddenly became angry, and the hard butt of the gun in his hand was swung by the force of his arms and smashed hard into the target's head.

"Oh!"

The clone had no way to react to the sudden attack at close range. He only felt a strong wind whistling in front of him, and then his eyes went black and he fell straight to the ground.

With just one strike, the clone fainted before he could even groan. Glancing at the figure lying on the ground, the captain calmly retracted the butt of the gun that was stained with blood and said calmly:

"Take him with you, and prepare to evacuate."

"Clap clap clap..."

As soon as the captain finished speaking, a burst of crisp applause suddenly rang out. The atmosphere, which had just calmed down, instantly became tense again. All the soldiers in the camp quickly looked in the direction where the applause came from.

I saw a tall tent in the center of the camp with its door wide open. In the deep darkness behind the door, a pair of slender hands with distinct joints first emerged, followed by a tall body in a black evening dress, and a pale mask on the neck that completely obscured the face.

As the strange masked figure walked out of the darkness, an invisible strange atmosphere quickly swept across the entire camp. Every soldier who was glanced at by the pale mask felt inexplicably cold all over.

"Stop! Put your hands on your head and squat down, quickly!"

The loud shout came from an unknown source. The masked man spread his hands apart, but did not follow the command to squat with his head in his hands. Instead, he opened his arms and raised them high in the air, saying loudly:

"Everyone, welcome to hell!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure raised his head, and the pale mask on it instantly exploded and scattered, but under the mask was not a normal human face, but a deep, dark vortex.

The next second, sharp and mournful ghost howls rang out, and countless black ghost shadows rushed out from the vortex.

"Damn it, attack!" "Devil! This is the devil! Ah!!"

Deafening and dense gunfire spread out, but stopped abruptly after a few breaths. Thick black fog surged outward with the human figure as the center, and in an instant it completely enveloped the entire camp. Ghostly figures howled in the black fog, and the wailing of soldiers continued.

It was not until several minutes later that the sticky black fog slowly dissipated, and the cold moonlight filtered through the sparse branches and leaves and fell into the woods. Under the clear light, the originally bustling camp was now dead silent. Looking closely, the camp was littered with corpses and bones.

.........

Federal Government, underground strategic command post.

The command center at this time was very similar to the Brotherhood camp ten thousand meters away. Both were silent, and everyone was staring blankly at the empty scene on the satellite image.

Just a few minutes ago, there were hundreds of human-shaped white dots on the screen representing the vital signs of the encirclement and suppression troops, but now it has turned pitch black, which means that all the encirclement and suppression soldiers were completely slaughtered by an unknown existence in the past few minutes.

Compared to the anger they felt when they discovered that they were being played around by Magneto not long ago, everyone in the command center now felt a chilling cold. The shrill wails and high-pitched screams of "devil" that had just been transmitted through the communication channel seemed to still be echoing in the air.

After a long time, a violent slapping sound broke the silence in the room. The President of the Federation slammed the table with an angry look on his face and said sternly:

"Fuck! We must destroy the Brotherhood today and turn the satellite to explore Alcatraz. I want to know where Magneto is!"

"Yes, sir!"

.........

The time went back to an hour ago, when the night had not yet completely enveloped the sky, and when the encirclement troops near the forest had not yet officially set out, all members of the Brotherhood had quietly escaped from the encirclement through the underground passage below the base, leaving only the clones used to confuse and lure the enemy and watching in place.

As for the guy wearing a pale mask, that was Xi Ming's backup plan, and Magneto was not aware of it.

After successfully breaking away from the encirclement, the Brotherhood's thousands of troops, led by Magneto, headed straight for the Golden Gate Bridge over the Golden Gate Strait and soon arrived at their destination.

The Golden Gate Bridge, known as one of the seven wonders of the modern world, was completed and put into use in 1937. It is a cross-sea passage connecting downtown San Francisco and Marin County in the north. It is the main symbol of the region and is also famous throughout the world.

But in addition to the above glory, the Golden Gate Bridge has one most important feature, it is an all-steel structure, also known as the "world's first steel bridge", the bridge body length reaches an astonishing 2.7 kilometers, and the amount of steel consumed in the construction process is countless.

This means that this huge monster that cannot be shaken by human power will become the most terrifying sword in the hands of Magneto.

.........

The sun is setting and its afterglow is fading away.

As the only channel connecting the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, the Golden Gate Bridge is always bustling with traffic regardless of the time of day or night, with a large number of densely packed vehicles constantly passing through both ends of the bridge.

But today, the constant flow of traffic came to a complete standstill with the arrival of a group of mutants.

The orange-red sunset glowed on the bridge deck. As the dark crowds of people poured onto the bridge, the sounds of cars braking and honking and the chaotic escape of the crowds gradually spread to the entire bridge.

At the front of the crowd, Magneto, wearing a red helmet, led the way. He just waved his hands slightly, and the many cars blocking the road in front of him were pushed to the left and right by the invisible magnetic force until they hit the metal guardrail at the edge and stopped. However, the stopping process was a bit too rough.

Those who were lucky would only have parts flying everywhere, and the drivers inside the vehicles would have a chance to escape. But those who were unlucky would be hit by a series of cars, and their flesh and iron would be squeezed into a ball of waste, with no chance of survival.

Magneto does not kill. His attitude towards these human civilians is often extremely indifferent, just like a human looking down on ants from a high position. He does not care if the ants slip away from his feet, but he will not feel the slightest guilt if he accidentally crushes them into meat paste.

It took him less than a dozen breaths to clear a wide flat area at the end of the bridge. Outside the flat area were crowded and scattered vehicles. Survivors kept opening their car doors in panic, then walked around him from a distance and tried to escape from the bridge.

The sounds of hurried running, uncontrollable crying, suppressed screams caused by injuries and other sounds all rang in Magneto's ears one after another, but he didn't care about it at all. Even the dark crowd of brotherhood members behind him were also unperturbed.

Rather than the lives of these humans, they are more concerned about how Magneto, the leader of the Brotherhood, will lead them to Devil's Island surrounded by the sea.

However, the next moment, they saw the most shocking scene in their lives. They saw Magneto, who was at the front of the crowd, raised his arms slightly, and then the vast magnetic force was driven by his tiny body. The entire bridge shook violently, and a deafening roar resounded throughout the bridge.

Then the foundation collapsed and the cables broke. Under the stunned gazes of the people on both sides of the strait, this huge structure that had been lying across the strait for nearly 70 years flew into the air. Under the control of Magneto, the more than -meter-long all-metal bridge forcibly tore apart all parts connected to the surface, began to float in the air, and slowly turned, approaching Devil's Island, known as an isolated island in the sea.

In the Devil's Island sentry tower, the soldiers stationed on the island looked out at the giant bridge suspended in the air. Their faces turned pale in an instant. This almost divine power was no longer something they could contend with.

What does it mean to have a giant metal bridge that is more than 2 kilometers long? Well, the entire length of Alcatraz is only 0.55 kilometers, the widest part is about 0.2 kilometers, and the area is about 0.0763 square kilometers, which is far inferior to the bridge in the sky.

This also means that if Magneto, who can control the entire giant bridge, wants to completely destroy them, he doesn't even have to think about it. He only needs to control the bridge and smash the island a few times, and the entire island will be destroyed. Their weak weapons, facing this giant weighing hundreds of thousands of tons, the damage they cause is almost the same as an embroidery needle.

Above the island, it was not just the soldiers on Devil's Island who were shocked by Magneto's power. The same was true for the X-Men who were hidden in the sky and on the deck of the Sun Chaser, overlooking the sea below.

At the edge of the deck, Xu Yue stared at the giant metal bridge spanning the sea below with a slightly gloomy expression. Although he had seen this scene in movies, the shock he felt when he saw it with his own eyes was completely different.

The nearly 100-meter-long Sun Chaser was already considered a behemoth, but compared with the Golden Gate Bridge, it was like a grass carp compared to a giant whale. If the opponent could hit it with just a flick of its tail, he estimated that both the man and the boat would die on the spot.

This is the horror of the mutant bipolar. Although the professor can directly wipe out all mankind, the mental energy is silent, so it is difficult to actually observe the opponent's tremendous power. But Magneto is different. His control of magnetism can often erupt with the purest and most intuitive extreme violence.

"Heh, Magneto's nickname of "The Showman" is not given for nothing. Faced with such an overwhelming power gap, how should humans deal with it?"

"Now is the start of the show."

(End of this chapter)