Marvel: Umbrella Corporation

As the meeting fell into silence, Charles wheeled himself forward.

"I might be able to help locate Lorna, talk to her, and understand the situation."

Everyone immediately looked at him in confusion.

Jean, standing behind Charles, quickly explained, "We have a brainwave amplifier. With it, Professor Charles can find anyone in the world and communicate with them."

Hearing this, the crowd buzzed with excitement and anticipation.

If they could learn about the latest developments through Lorna, it would undoubtedly be the best outcome.

Only Nick looked at Charles with a thoughtful expression, a flicker of contemplation in his eyes.

A moment later, Charles led the group to his brainwave amplifier. Natasha, Barton, Nick, and the others gathered around, waiting anxiously for Charles to bring good news.

But as everyone watched expectantly, Charles's eyes suddenly turned black, and his body began to tremble slightly.

Seeing this, Jean immediately felt that something was wrong, "Professor? Professor! Are you okay?"

She called out, but he didn't respond.

She then reached out, intending to remove the helmet from Charles's head, only to be repelled by an intense surge of psychic energy.

"What's happening?"

"Is Charles alright?"

"What's going on?"

Realizing something was amiss, everyone gathered around uneasily.

Jean quickly said, "Everyone, help me take off the professor's helmet!"

At this point, Charles's body trembled even more violently. The people around him quickly rushed forward to help remove the helmet.

Finally, Charles regained consciousness, but his face was deathly pale.

"Quick, we need to get out of here!"

........

A few minutes earlier~

It was afternoon in Egypt.

Apocalypse sat in the presidential palace, looking coldly at the bodies strewn across the floor, along with a handful of enhanced mutants.

Among them was a woman with long black hair, Psylocke, and an angel with iron wings.

Leading them was Lorna, a woman with green hair and green eyes.

"Lord Apocalypse, all the rebels in Cairo have been eliminated. The remaining people are being organized to start building the pyramid."

Apocalypse nodded indifferently.

To him, whether the Cairo officials submitted or not and whether the pyramid was built were trivial matters. After all, even with only a fraction of his former strength, rebuilding the pyramid was just a minor inconvenience.

If the officials didn't cooperate, he could kill them all and use his powers to reconstruct the pyramid himself.

"Good. Now, continue gathering the Children of the Gods to join our cause."

Though he considered himself invincible, he wasn't so arrogant as to think he could conquer the entire world alone.

He was well aware that the world was far more complex than it appeared.

Beyond the distant Kamar-Taj wizards, there existed true gods in Egypt itself—powerful deities like Ra, the Sun God, and Anubis, the Lord of the Underworld.

They were mostly indifferent to Earth's small territory and paid little attention to it.

"Yes, Lord Apocalypse," Lorna replied.

Among these newly recruited mutants, she was the most powerful and the first to meet Apocalypse, naturally becoming his second-in-command.

"Lorna, can you hear me?"

At that moment, Lorna suddenly heard a voice in her mind.

It was Uncle Charles!

Her feelings toward this uncle, who had both cooperated and clashed with her father, were complicated. She didn't hold any particular fondness or resentment toward him.

After all, both her father and Charles fought for the mutants; they just had different approaches.

"Uncle Charles, what's going on?"

However, Charles's voice remained silent.

Looking up, she saw that Apocalypse's eyes had turned white. The moment Charles's psychic energy appeared, Apocalypse sensed it immediately.

This psychic energy intrigued him.

In his thousands of years of existence, he had never encountered such a peculiar force.

It was like an infinite global wireless network that could enter others' minds at will and control their thoughts.

Realizing this, he didn't hesitate to dive into the other person's mind.

Through his opponent's mind, he perceived all the life on Earth. This made him desire to acquire this power.

If he could obtain it, he could instantly dominate the entire human world, ensuring no one would ever betray him again.

But first, he would borrow this psychic network.

In the next instant, he used Charles's psychic energy to locate global missile launch sites, missile vehicles, and missile submarines.

Moments later, missiles began launching from bases, vehicles, and submarines into space.

Without missiles, how would humanity resist his rule?

.......

At the Pentagon, the loudest alarm blared.

The red glow of the sirens cast an ominous shadow over everyone.

The Secretary of Defense, dressed in his uniform, ran grimly into the command center.

"What's happening?"

"Mr. Secretary, we don't know what's going on. All of our missiles have suddenly launched. And it's not just us—missiles have launched simultaneously from every nuclear power around the globe."

"Are you joking? Today isn't April Fools' Day!"

"No, sir, it's no joke."

"Then can you explain why this happened?"

"We have no idea."

"What's the target of these missiles?"

"Space, Mr. Secretary. They're headed for space, and they haven't activated any detonation devices. Rather than a nuclear strike, it's more like… self-destruction."

Hearing this, the sixty-year-old Secretary's face creased in a deep frown.

"Get me the President on the line and call an emergency meeting with the Security Council."

Similar incidents were unfolding in every nuclear-armed nation around the world.

Everyone was deeply alarmed by the sudden loss of control over the missiles, and world leaders and high officials rushed to secure bunkers.

They began calling each other, trying to piece together the sequence of events.

The truth is, despite the tense standoff among countries that often appeared on the brink of conflict, full-scale war between major powers was highly unlikely in the modern world.

After all, those at the top were the ones who enjoyed the most resources—fine food, wine, luxury, and beauty, seemingly endless in supply.

They often spent more time deciding what pleasures to indulge in each day than contemplating war, which could potentially strip them of everything.

It's usually those without hope who long for war, hoping to disrupt the status quo and create a new order more favorable to them.

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