With the Mutant prison and the X-Academy being attacked one after another, the human side could no longer sit still.
They originally thought the remnants of the Mutants were long since at a dead end, only able to linger on in the gutters, but who would have thought these people would suddenly jump back up and cause such a massive commotion.
For them, this was undoubtedly a dangerous signal.
The Mutants had not only avoided being crushed but had actually begun to fight back.
As soon as the news spread, the human government urgently convened a closed-door meeting, and high-ranking Military officials consulted overnight.
Various emergency plans were put on the table, determined to thoroughly eliminate the hidden danger of Mutants once and for all.
Transport planes carrying Sentinel Robots began to patrol the skies continuously, their gene identification systems scanning every inch of land in an attempt to find the Mutants' hiding place.
However, this posed no threat to the Mutants at all.
They had the foresight to build their secret Base deep underground; even if the transport planes flew directly over their heads, the Sentinel Robots could not detect their presence.
However, due to the large number of Mutants joining, the space in the secret Base became severely insufficient.
So Darian sent Quicksilver to continue expanding the secret Base downwards with a diamond pickaxe. Then, a construction team was formed by Erik and Magneto, the two master builders, along with other Mutants whose abilities were suitable for construction, to begin a comprehensive renovation of the entire Base.
It had to be said that Mutant abilities were indeed very convenient; one person could do the work of dozens, and the efficiency was ridiculously high.
In just two or three days, the entire Base had completely changed its appearance.
Originally there was only one floor, but now they had dug several floors down, equipped with all sorts of facilities, and it was more than enough to house several hundred people.
Meanwhile, Hank's laboratory had also been expanded and had already turned into a research Base.
From among the Mutant prisoners, Darian selected a dozen suitable ones to act as assistants for Hank to speed up the research progress.
But this was still not enough.
Darian knew in his heart that relying solely on Hank's solitary research, it would still take some time to catch up with the technology on the human side.
And what they lacked was precisely time.
So he set off for a Base where humans specifically researched Sentinel Robots.
That place was heavily guarded, with sentries every few steps and Sentinel Robots patrolling everywhere.
But to Darian, none of this was an issue.
As a Mutant without any X-Gene mixed in, he was a total invisible man in the eyes of those Sentinel Robots.
Even if he walked right under the noses of the Sentinel Robots, their mechanical eyes wouldn't even twitch, treating him as if he didn't exist.
Darian spotted a lone staff member, knocked him out, stuffed him into the devouring pouch, and then used the face-pinching function to transform into the other person's appearance, swaggering into the core area.
The whole process went quite smoothly.
After all, no one would expect that a person without an X-Gene could also transform into someone else's appearance.
Arriving at the core area, Darian took out his hacker phone and began to crazily steal all the data and information related to the Sentinel Robots, making several copies of everything he could.
After doing all this, he turned on the auto-loot mode and started wandering around the core area.
Instruments and equipment?
Looted!
Material parts?
Looted!
Researchers?
Knocked out and then looted, stuffed into the devouring pouch.
These were all experts in researching Sentinel Robots; taking them back for Charles to educate and then handing them over to Hank as assistants would be much better than training them from scratch.
Darian collected things all the way, leaving nothing behind wherever he went.
He didn't miss a single item that could be taken.
If it weren't for the fact that the Sentinel Robots all had tracking systems and he didn't have a powerful weapon like an emp bomb that could destroy all electronic products, he would have wanted to take some of those as well.
Soon, someone discovered the empty core area and was instantly dumbfounded.
Was this visited by a thief?
No, even a thief wouldn't be this excessive. Stealing items is one thing, but how could they even steal the people!?
In an instant, alarms blared, and all personnel began a large-scale search of the entire Base.
But this no longer had anything to do with Darian; he had already slipped out of the Base.
Returning to the Mutant Base, Darian threw all the things he had stolen... oh no, auto-looted, to Hank.
"Did you steal a whole research Base?"
Hank looked at the things Darian kept pulling out, which also included several unconscious balding men, and was completely stunned.
Darian smiled shyly and scratched the back of his head: "I figured they probably didn't want them, so I brought them all back. Can these help you?"
"They certainly can."
The corner of Hank's mouth twitched slightly.
Darian had almost moved the entire human research Base here; how was this any different from an open-book exam?
With these things Darian brought back, plus the assistance of several Sentinel Robot research experts, Hank's research progress directly took off.
And a few days later, he announced that the research was successful.
It was still that humanoid robot, with basically no change in design.
Hank said excitedly to Darian: "Let me introduce you, this is the latest model of the Whiplash Robot."
"Based on the original Whiplash Robot, transformation and replication functions have been added. After touching a Mutant's body, the Whiplash Robot will automatically record the other party's X-Gene into the database and replicate their X-Gene to use the corresponding abilities."
"Since it is built with metal, its basic strength is much higher than that of the Sentinel Robots, and the Whiplash Robot is powered by an arc reactor, so there's no need to worry about endurance."
Hank introduced the various functions of the Whiplash Robot.
In short, it was a combination of iron armor and Sentinel Robots, merging the advantages of both while discarding the disadvantages.
"Not bad, not bad!"
Darian nodded with satisfaction.
As expected, it was correct of him to have Hank move behind the scenes back then.
Why would a perfectly good scientific research talent insist on going to the front lines as a warrior? Isn't that a hole in the head?
The Hank of this World was just like that; on the day the Sentinel Robots broke into the X-Academy, Logan and he led the charge, and in the end, only Logan and the charge remained, because both he and his head were gone.
The most intelligent Mutant in the World died like a common piece of cannon fodder.
Otherwise, with Hank's wisdom, if given time, it would only have been a matter of time before he researched a way to counter the Sentinel Robots.
"Come to think of it, it's no longer appropriate to call this robot the Whiplash Robot; it needs a new name."
Darian rubbed his chin and pondered for a while, then said: "Since this robot was born to fight Sentinel Robots, why not call it the Anti-Sentinel Robot Robot?"
Hank was a bit speechless: "Isn't that name too much of a tongue-twister?"
Darian blinked: "Then call it the Terminator? I remember the artificial intelligence doesn't have a name yet either, how about calling it Skynet?"
"These names don't sound very auspicious."
Hank's mouth twitched; did he think he hadn't seen the Terminator movies?
Darian rolled his eyes: "This won't do, that won't do, then what do you say we call it?"
Hank thought for a moment: "What do you think of the name Ultron?"
"Ultron?"
Darian said it a few times and nodded: "Not bad, you can tell it's a good partner for humanity just by hearing the name. It definitely won't cause any Omnic Crisis in the future."
So the two of them decided on the spot to name the artificial intelligence Ultron, and the robot was subsequently called the Ultron Robot.
They didn't dawdle and directly let the Ultron Robot enter the testing phase.
Professor X and the others rushed to the training ground upon receiving the news.
"Is this the robot Hank developed?"
Everyone looked over the Ultron Robot; if nothing else, it was superior to the Sentinel Robots in terms of appearance.
"Not bad, I like it."
Erik and Magneto's eyes lit up.
An all-metal robot that looked so prestigious was practically made specifically for them.
Darian said happily: "That's right, it's called the Ultron Robot. It has the same functions as the Sentinel Robots. Whatever the Sentinel Robots can do, it can do. As for the specifics, we'll know after trying it out on a sturdy sandbag."
Hearing this, everyone collectively turned their gaze toward Logan.
Logan: "???"
As someone with self-healing abilities, there was indeed no one more suitable to be this sandbag than him.
Logan's mouth twitched slightly. Chomping on a cigar, he took the initiative to walk toward the Ultron Robot.
"Let me say this first, if I break this big guy in a moment, you can't blame me."
Logan blew a smoke ring with a look on his face that invited a beating. Hank was very confident: "Don't worry, do whatever you want; if you can break it, I'll consider you impressive."
"Fine!"
Logan extended both arms, and six Adamantium Claws popped out from between his fingers as he suddenly lunged at the Ultron Robot in front of him.
Logan: ヽ( #`dish´)ﾉ
Just then, the Ultron Robot's mechanical eyes suddenly lit up, locking firmly onto Logan in front of it.
Bang!
With a muffled thud, Logan was sent flying backwards, rolling several times on the ground.
Looking at the Ultron Robot again, its right fist had turned into a huge metal hammer, with blue electricity crackling on the Hammerhead, looking like a version of Thor's Meow-Meow Hammer.
Hank had already recorded the X-Genes of over a hundred Mutants into Ultron's database, giving the Ultron Robot a god-tier start. As for the source of these X-Genes...
They were, of course, from the Mutants in the Base; all kinds of abilities were available to choose from at will.
Logan climbed up from the ground, his body still trembling uncontrollably under the effect of the electricity.
He spat, forced himself to stand straight, and said stubbornly: "Is that all? It feels about the same as a Sentinel Robot."
Hank smiled slightly: "Of course not just that."
As his voice fell, the Ultron Robot transformed again.
Its left hand quickly turned red as if it were being quenched, and the surrounding air was baked into distortion as the temperature soared.
Its right hand condensed ice, with cold air overflowing everywhere.
Its legs were covered with a thick layer of rock shell, which looked very hard. Hank explained from the side: "Unlike the Sentinel Robots which can only use a single ability, the Ultron Robot is built with special metal, and the material strength is several grades higher than that of the Sentinel Robots. Plus, with the precise control of the artificial intelligence Ultron, it can use multiple abilities simultaneously for combined attacks."
Everyone was shocked.
This is freaking cheating!
While Hank was speaking, the Ultron Robot had already rushed in front of Logan, attacking with both hands. It was a combination of ice and fire, making Logan feel like he was between heaven and hell.
Logan tried to counterattack several times, but every time he launched an attack, the Ultron Robot seemed to know in advance and easily dodged it.
Hank pushed his glasses and continued to explain: "Ultron has powerful calculation capabilities and can predict the opponent's attack route. Moreover, the longer the combat time, the more data Ultron collects; it will keep learning the opponent's fighting style and find more effective ways to respond."
Everyone nodded.
They had deep experience with this; that was how the Sentinel Robots had defeated powerful Mutants one by one back then.
Next, the Ultron Robot began to give Logan a fancy beating, with all kinds of special effects coming out, greeting Logan's body with full force.
Hank gave a simultaneous commentary, like a car salesman, introducing the functions of the Ultron Robot.
Everyone listened seriously, nodding from time to time. Some people even took out electronic products similar to mobile phones to film Logan getting beaten, saying there were too many points to remember and they would record it and study it carefully after going back.
Logan: "%#Y@#&"
However, Logan was Wolverine after all.
Relying on his rich experience, after taking dozens of attacks, he finally managed to hit the Ultron Robot's body. Rip!
The Adamantium Claws directly tore three deep scratches on the Ultron Robot's chest, sparks flying, revealing the precise mechanical structure inside.
Logan panted heavily, looking at the scratches on the Ultron Robot's chest, and grinned: "What robot? In front of me, it's just a tin can."
This finally vented his frustration; the dozens of beatings he just took were worth it.
As soon as he finished speaking, the Ultron Robot's mechanical eyes suddenly lit up with red light, emitting a cold electronic voice.
"Armor damage detected. Conventional targets cannot be defeated. Initiating Level 2 Combat Protocol."
"What is Level 2 Combat Protocol?"
Everyone was confused for a moment.
Hank cleared his throat and explained: "Simply put, the Ultron Robot usually uses standard mode, which is equivalent to power saving mode, to ensure the Ultron Robot can maintain combat for a longer time."
"However, once it encounters an unconventional enemy, Ultron will initiate Level 2 Combat Protocol, enhancing its own algorithms and using a few slightly unconventional methods."
Hearing this, Logan said arrogantly: "What unconventional methods? Go ahead and try them out."
Even though he said that, he still pulled back from the Ultron Robot, staring fixedly at the other's movements to prevent being beaten again.
Strangely, the Ultron Robot did not pursue him and remained standing in place.
Just as Logan was feeling puzzled, he saw flames erupt from under the Ultron Robot's feet, and the entire machine body rose into the air, hovering steadily in mid-air. Then, the Ultron Robot in the air raised its right arm, and the metal plates flipped and reorganized.
In the blink of an eye, it actually turned into a six-barrel gatling gun, its pitch-black muzzle aimed at Logan.
Logan: ヽ(ﾟ〇ﾟ)ﾉ
Turning into cold weapons was one thing, but it could actually turn into firearms!?
Before he could react, the six barrels had already begun to rotate rapidly.
Whether it was an illusion or not, everyone seemed to see circles of semi-transparent rune patterns on the surface.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Tongues of fire surged, and countless bullets streaked across red light trails, pouring densely onto Logan's body. A series of thunderous explosions followed, with power so ridiculous it was like a missile bombardment.
The ground was hit so hard that stones flew everywhere and dust billowed. Logan was instantly swallowed by the firelight, and his figure could not be seen at all.
Everyone watched, dumbfounded.
You call this "a few slightly unconventional methods"!?