Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Specially forged steel plates whirled around Magneto's body without pause.
Thin streams of wind gradually formed around him, until the yellowish currents almost completely obscured his figure.
As he moved forward, he did not say a word.
Off to one side, Venom and Eddie Brock remained split apart, arguing nonstop even as they advanced.
"You damned black slime! If it weren't for me, do you think you'd still exist in this world?" Eddie shouted, swinging his fists so fiercely that it looked like he wanted to start fighting Venom on the spot.
Venom, separated from Eddie's body as a mass of black liquid, opened his huge maw and lashed his meter-long tongue through the air before roaring back,
"If you weren't so weak, how could we possibly have lost to Wuxian?"
"That defeat is the greatest stain in our entire history."
"If we don't find a way to erase that stain, then it'll remain our everlasting shame."
The moment Wuxian was mentioned, both Venom and Eddie's expressions darkened.
What had happened in the Blue Star Deathmatch was the greatest humiliation of their lives.
In front of Wuxian, they had been utterly powerless.
And worst of all, the entire world had watched it happen.
From that moment on, Wuxian had become a mountain pressing down on their hearts.
After a brief silence, Venom suddenly turned toward Magneto.
"Old Magneto, you can control metal and magnetic force. Your long-range attacks would definitely be able to do serious damage to that Wuxian."
"When the time comes, Eddie and I can keep him busy head-on while you attack from the side."
From within the yellow currents surrounding him, a heavy voice answered at once.
"I'm not interested in using underhanded tactics like that."
"If I fight, I fight from the front."
"And I'm not confident I can beat Wuxian anyway. If you want to make a move, do it yourselves. Don't drag me into it."
The moment he said that, Venom flew into a rage.
"Magneto, what the hell are you doing? Don't forget we're all Miracle Nation contestants!"
"What we're supposed to do is secure greater benefits for Miracle Nation!"
"If we can't get past Wuxian, then how are we supposed to beat Dragon Nation?"
Hearing that, Miracle Nation's viewers instantly boiled over.
"Venom might be unreliable, but for once he's actually right!"
"If we want to deal with Dragon Nation, then we have to get over that mountain called Wuxian first!"
"Magneto, don't forget—you are Miracle Nation's contestant. If you refuse to contribute, you won't get a good ending when this is over."
"That's right. Have you already forgotten what happened when you were imprisoned before? Even with your control over magnetic fields and metal, Miracle Nation still had ways to suppress you."
Elsewhere, Miracle Nation's president, Li Dapu, wore a grim expression as he snapped,
"Adjutant, go check what's wrong with this Magneto immediately."
"Pull up his full file. That bastard is asking for death."
"He rejected Venom's plan without hesitation. Does he seriously not want to dedicate himself to Great Miracle Nation?"
Before long, the adjutant hurried back to him.
Then Magneto's entire file was placed before Li Dapu.
"Mr. President, Magneto is one of the survivors of the previous war. He has always carried an intense hatred toward ordinary humans."
"He once gathered a group of mutants and launched attacks on humanity. If our brave soldiers hadn't captured him again and again and locked him away for years, there's no way he would ever have agreed to represent Miracle Nation."
Li Dapu's expression changed immediately.
"So his stance was never firm to begin with?"
The adjutant hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Li Dapu let out a cold laugh.
"If that's the case, then we may need to prepare in advance."
"We need to figure out a way to cut off all of his worries. Or rather, all of his possible escape routes."
"This time, only four of Miracle Nation's contestants made it in. If they can't work together, then our gains in the Divine Domain will be pitiful."
"Yes, sir." The adjutant bowed and left at once.
Elsewhere, Miracle Nation's Joker was also heading toward the black storm.
His purple suit remained spotless even in the middle of that wasteland.
What was even stranger was this—
wherever he walked across the desert, damp footprints appeared in the sand.
And those prints didn't fade immediately.
They lingered for more than ten seconds before finally disappearing.
In such an arid environment, Joker's footsteps actually left moist tracks behind.
The sight alone was enough to make Miracle Nation's viewers go numb.
"What the hell is going on? Why are his footprints wet?"
"Don't tell me this freak's body is full of water or something?"
"So he really is some kind of abnormal monster. No wonder every time I look at him, I get chills."
"This guy is seriously wrong. Where did he even come from?"
At that very moment, Li Dapu had also begun going through Joker's file.
"Joker. Real name: Jack. Former patient at Arkham Asylum. Responsible for multiple murders—"
Li Dapu's brows immediately locked together.
"What the hell is this?"
"Why is a mental patient representing Miracle Nation?"
"How did a lunatic become one of Miracle Nation's top ten contestants?"
He continued reading.
The further he got, the uglier his expression became.
The photographs in the file made it even worse.
Each one documented another atrocity Joker had committed.
By the time Li Dapu reached the middle, even his face had turned dark.
Bang!
"Adjutant! Adjutant!" Li Dapu shouted at once.
"Mr. President, what is it?" the adjutant asked as he hurried back in.
Li Dapu jabbed a finger at the file in front of him.
"You knew about all this, didn't you? Then tell me—why is a complete madman representing Miracle Nation?"
The adjutant forced a helpless smile.
"According to the Will of Blue Star's rules at the time, anyone holding Miracle Nation nationality was eligible to participate in the free-for-all."
"As far as we know, Joker escaped from Arkham Asylum the same day and entered the battle directly."
"The key point is… he survived."
"By the time we verified his identity, he'd already fought all the way through and earned a Divine Domain slot."
"And judging from the results, his strength is undeniably outstanding."
"Once the free-for-all had started, there was no way left for us to revoke his qualification."
Li Dapu's expression worsened, but he also knew there was no changing it now.
He took a deep breath and said,
"Destroy every single file related to Joker."
"No civilian can be allowed to find out that this man is a full-blown lunatic."
"And have every person who knows his background sign a confidentiality agreement. Not a word of this can leak out."
Meanwhile, in the desert, Joker kept moving forward, dancing as he went, that horrifying smile never once leaving his face.
Everywhere he stepped, damp footprints continued appearing behind him.
A deeply unnatural atmosphere slowly spread through the minds of the viewers watching his stream.
In the next moment, huge numbers of people abruptly switched away from Joker's livestream.
Even so, many of them were still left shivering.
"What is wrong with that guy? Why does everything about him feel so creepy?"
"Why is he always smiling like that? Does he seriously enjoy smiling that much?"
"He looks exactly like a madman. Why would Miracle Nation send something like him into the Divine Domain?"
"Forget it. I'm done watching this psycho."
On the other side, Venom and Eddie were still pestering Magneto without rest.
"Old Magneto, without your help, how are we supposed to beat Wuxian?"
"If we can't get past him, then Miracle Nation has no future here!"
"Old Magneto, he's the mountain standing in Miracle Nation's way. Only by getting rid of him can everything else fall into place!"
Magneto's reply was blunt as ever.
"Forget Wuxian. I'm not even confident I could defeat Zhang Zhiwei."
"Do you really think only we know how to join forces? Dragon Nation's people can do the same."
"I don't intend to die under their blades, so go find someone else to work with."
"And if you want a partner so badly, that clown should be here soon enough. He seems much better suited to you."
Eddie immediately clicked his tongue.
"Forget it. There's no common language between us anyway."
Venom slapped Eddie on the shoulder and sneered,
"Face it, weakling. Your strength simply hasn't earned Magneto's respect."
"If I didn't have to share a body with you, I'd have ditched you and teamed up with Magneto already."
That made Eddie explode again, and the two launched straight back into another shouting match.
Dragon Nation's viewers watched the whole thing unfold with pure disgust.
"Those two idiots really have no sense of gratitude at all. If Lord Wuxian hadn't spared them, they'd already be dead."
"Exactly. They should've died back in the Deathmatch."
"I knew from the start that letting them go was a mistake. They're guaranteed to become trouble later."
"They're trash. They were never worth pitying."
Inside Dragon Nation's studio, Bingbing frowned slightly.
"Captain Ryan Cole, what do you think about what Venom and Eddie just said?"
Ryan Cole's expression was stern.
"It's obvious that those two understand nothing about gratitude, nothing about repaying kindness."
"And in the next stage, those two sharing one body will definitely become an obstacle for Dragon Nation's contestants."
"This is the Divine Domain. Anything can happen here."
"As time goes on, they'll only grow stronger."
"It's even possible that one day they may escape the awkward limitation of sharing a single body."
Professor Luo immediately nodded.
"That possibility is absolutely real."
"I also noticed that many viewers in the chat are unhappy that Lord Wuxian spared Venom and Eddie, so let me explain one thing clearly."
"First, Wuxian definitely had his own reason for doing so."
"Second, everyone should remember this—during that fight, Wuxian could have crushed them effortlessly."
"As time passes, Venom and Eddie will grow stronger, yes."
"But Wuxian will grow stronger as well."
"And if you look at it from the perspective of accumulated power alone, those two can never surpass him."
"So whatever his reason was for sparing them, the end result remains the same."
"They're only grasshoppers after autumn. They won't jump for long."
Those words quickly eased many Dragon Nation viewers.
"That's right. Looks like we really did misjudge Lord Wuxian."
"He definitely already considered the future development of all of this."
"If we could keep up with Lord Wuxian's thinking, we wouldn't just be here typing behind screens."
"Forget it. Let's just trust Lord Wuxian. He must have had his reasons."
"I never doubted Lord Wuxian to begin with."
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