Li Yue had already emptied the base of any survivors. He watched Sebastian Shaw and the other two mutants from some distance; the sight of them standing foolishly for a minute made Li Yue chuckle.
Wouldn't I lose face if I came out just because you told me to?
"My compatriots, you don't have to doubt that I have no intention to hurt my own kind. Moreover, with your teleportation ability, no one can stop you if you want to go." Sebastian Shaw wondered if he was talking to empty air and if the person had already left.
"You wouldn't meet me even though you have such an invincible ability? Are you too cautious or just shy?" Sebastian began using psychological tricks.
"Ha, do you think I will fall for that kind of trick?" Li Yue thought.
"But still, I can't stand this provocation." Li Yue appeared ten meters in front of Sebastian Shaw, attracting the crew's attention.
"What are you shouting for? There's no one home. If you have something to say, say it quickly. Otherwise begone!" Li Yue was confident that he could teleport away at a moment's notice with this distance.
"Your powerful ability is wasted on Erik and the others. Why don't you follow me? All the riches and beautiful women in the world could be yours when my plan succeeds. We mutants would become the rulers of the new world!" Sebastian Shaw said confidently, temptation in his voice.
"I'm not interested in money!" Li Yue replied, "And I can pick up women on my own. I have no use for power, so you have nothing for me! I refuse!"
"Well, I will respect your choice, but I hope you will change your mind in the future. My door will always be open for you," Sebastian replied nonchalantly at Li Yue's rejection.
"Let's go!" Sebastian Shaw said to Azazel and Riptide as he turned around.
Azazel and Riptide walked to Sebastian and grabbed his hand. The three disappeared with a flash of red light.
"Phew, all in a day's work!" Li Yue let out a long sigh of relief.
"No..."
A red light suddenly flashed behind Li Yue. Sebastian Shaw emerged from the red light, appearing behind Li Yue with a ball of energy that he directly slammed on Li Yue's back.
Li Yue felt his sixth sense going out of control when Sebastian Shaw touched him. His senses returned to normal when Sebastian retracted his hand.
Li Yue then felt something strange in his body, but before he could carefully examine what that feeling was, he was pushed to the ground.
"If you're just an ordinary mutant, I wouldn't have killed you. I wouldn't even be angry. But your ability is too special to be left outside my control. Sorry, but you must die," Sebastian Shaw said regretfully as he looked at Li Yue's back.
"Let's go!"
A red light flashed, leaving Li Yue alone.
Li Yue didn't feel harm from the energy that Sebastian slammed into him. Instead, he felt that the energy in his back was absorbed by his body, strengthening him.
"What's going on?" Li Yue thought in confusion. He had thought that he had failed this minor task miserably. He was convinced that he would be severely injured—if not dead. He didn't expect that there would be a different outcome.
Li Yue touched his back. His skin was smooth, with no signs of injury. Although his clothes had a massive hole in the back; Shaw's energy must have burned them. He didn't have the time to react and thus didn't activate any abilities. How was he unharmed?
...
Li Yue couldn't figure out what had just happened, so he decided to put it aside for now and pick the mutant group first. It seemed that Sebastian Shaw and his team wouldn't come back.
Li Yue felt a fire in his chest when he recalled what had just happened. He didn't expect to be the one caught off guard. He would have to repay Sebastian Shaw sooner or later.
Li Yue disappeared with that thought and teleported back to where he had left the survivors—the mutants and CIA personnel alike.
"Li Yue, how is the situation? Why are your clothes burnt? Are you injured? Is it serious?" Mystique was the first to approach Li Yue. She immediately launched a barrage of questions when she saw Li Yue's burnt clothes.
"I'm fine. I'm not injured. Those people have already left. I'll take you back now; please hold each other's hands," Li Yue assured that he was not injured and ordered the survivors to group around.
The survivors complied, and Li Yue brought them back to the base.
The survivor returned to an unbelievable sight. Corpses were scattered everywhere, and some of the buildings had been destroyed. There were more than a hundred people in this base, and Li Yue had only been able to save thirty-forty people. The rest of them had become corpses.
"You have the powers; why didn't you fight? Why didn't you attack first? If you attacked first, they wouldn't have died!" Perhaps from the shock, a CIA agent suddenly pointed at Li Yue and accused loudly.
"Put your hand down; I hate being pointed at! Also, I don't answer to you. Say another word, and I will send you to those people just now. Mark my words." Li Yue was already upset, so he exploded when someone he had just saved suddenly accused him. His voice was deep—it wasn't loud, but anyone could feel the coldness in his tone.
The agent was scared silly. He quickly retracted his fingers and didn't say any more words. The scene of carnage was still fresh in his memory. With how hard it was to survive the battle, he wasn't eager to face the intruders again.
...
"Li Yue, are you alright?" Mystique asked in a low voice.
Li Yue's cold expression also startled the other mutants. This was the first time they had seen this side of Li Yue.
"Some people would treat kindness as weakness, as a sign that they can step all over you. There's no need to be polite with that kind of people." Li Yue then switched the topic, "Alright, let's all go back to our rooms. Leave this place for them, and let's wait for Charles and Erik."
Li Yue went back to his room without another word. Their quarters were some of the few rooms that hadn't been destroyed.
Li Yue was eager to find out what had changed in his body this time. He needed to do some experiments now.
After a night of testing, Li Yue finally figured out that his change was because of the ability he had copied from the black taxi driver Darwin yesterday. Darwin's ability was to adapt and evolve to threats in the environment. His mental awareness had altered this ability: his sixth sense would detect a target with spiritual force and evolve accordingly, even if he never became aware of the threat.
His spiritual sixth sense had detected the activation of Sebastian Shaw's ability and evolved a structure to absorb energy in his body. However, he didn't have the ability to release that energy, so it was all converted into physical fitness.