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Life at the Hellfire Club was quite monotonous.
Every meal consisted of the same expensive ingredients and fine wines, and after dinner, a dedicated person would provide a full massage and therapy service.
When bored, one could only casually pick from a dazzling array of luxury goods, or play with heavy gold bricks like building blocks. Day after day, it was truly tedious.
Darian was deeply engrossed in a leather sofa, swirling an unknown vintage of red wine in his glass—definitely not an '82.
He sighed softly, wondering how the Brotherhood was doing. He hoped everyone was well; this suffering was for him alone to bear.
"You seem quite distressed. Is something troubling you?"
The White Queen leaned against the doorframe, watching Darian with interest, her appearance unnoticed.
How was this distress? He was clearly trying to suppress the upward curve of his lips, afraid of bursting into laughter on the spot.
Darian didn't explain. He lowered his head and said in a hushed voice, "No, I just suddenly thought of my companions."
The White Queen's telepathy had no effect on Darian, and seeing him like this, she assumed it was a sign of low spirits.
She walked closer, saying softly, "I understand how you feel, but now you are a member of Hellfire, and your former companions are destined to become our obstacles."
Darian nodded heavily, "I know."
The White Queen smiled slightly, "It's good that you understand. Don't worry, as long as our plan succeeds, the Earth will be ruled by us Mutants in the future. Your former companions will have no reason to stop us, and you will naturally be able to reunite."
"I hope so."
Darian sighed. He was about to crack if he kept up the act, so he changed the subject and asked, "By the way, White Queen, are you looking for me for something?"
"Just call me Emma."
Emma took two more steps closer, her voice soft, "Didn't I say? I'm very interested in you. You're not a telepath, yet my abilities have no effect on you. Can you tell me why?"
Due to the angle and distance, Darian only saw a blur of White in front of him, but out of respect for the difference between men and women, he didn't dare to observe closely. He only noticed that the deep V seemed to have deepened even further, and the zipper had probably dropped by 2.02 centimeters.
Emma: (V)
Darian was silent for five minutes before slowly speaking, "The reason is simple: I have an iron will, unaffected by any psychic abilities."
Emma's lips twitched slightly.
She had indeed noticed that.
Someone could stare for five minutes without even blinking, without looking away. Such willpower was truly astonishing.
If she hadn't felt a little uncomfortable and subtly pulled her zipper up a bit, Darian probably wouldn't have spoken so quickly.
Emma: (Y)
Emma was half-skeptical of what Darian said.
But she didn't press the issue, continuing with a smile, "So, even your former companion who possessed telepathic abilities—that person's powers also had no effect on you, is that right?"
Upon hearing this, Darian knew Emma was referring to Charles, and his heart immediately understood.
So, her real target was here.
Darian nodded without changing his expression, "Indeed, his telepathic abilities have never worked on me."
"Who is he?"
Emma pressed on, then, as if worried about causing a misunderstanding, added softly, "I've encountered that telepath. His abilities are very strong, and we must take some precautions in advance."
"Don't worry, Hellfire's motto is not to harm our own kind. We won't do anything to him."
This was a lie!
The Hellfire Club's biggest threat right now was that mysterious telepath.
When Charles used the Cerebro to globally search for Mutants, Emma, also a telepath, instantly sensed that unprecedentedly powerful psychic wave.
She could sense that this powerful psychic wave came from the telepath she had encountered at sea.
In fact, Emma's telepathic abilities were slightly inferior to Charles'.
Charles could easily modify others' memories and even reshape their cognition, while Emma could at most create realistic illusions and had not yet touched deeper psychic domains.
And with the enhancement of Cerebro, Charles's abilities had comprehensively surged, with his range even extending to the entire Earth.
After learning that Charles possessed such terrifying abilities, Sebastian felt deeply uneasy, fearing that he might be controlled by Charles if he wasn't careful.
It wasn't until he obtained the psychic dampening helmet that he finally felt relieved.
However, Sebastian remained preoccupied with the threat of Charles; after all, he couldn't wear the helmet his entire life.
For such a potential threat, it was naturally best to eliminate it completely to feel at ease!
Because Charles had never shown his face, Sebastian was completely unaware of the specific information about that telepath, which was why he sent Emma to gather information from Darian.
Ultimately, they still didn't fully trust Darian, the newcomer.
Hearing Emma's words, Darian nodded emphatically, "Hmm, I believe you. Actually, that telepath is very easy to recognize; you can spot him at a glance even in a crowd."
Emma then asked, "What does he look like?"
Darian said seriously, "He's a man, very burly, with a full beard, and he likes to chew on cigars. Oh, and his name is Logan, and he gave himself the codename Wolverine."
"Wolverine?" Emma muttered, "That name doesn't sound like a telepath."
Darian said earnestly, "That's all his superficial disguise. This way, enemies won't guess his true abilities. He likes to pretend to be a close-combat master, but in reality, he's a telepath, specializing in launching psychic attacks when the opponent is completely unprepared."
Emma was startled. You could play it like that?
This telepath named Wolverine was simply too insidious!
She secretly resolved that after returning, she must remind Sebastian to be especially wary of this Wolverine. If they encountered him, they should strike hard immediately and absolutely not give him any chance to use his abilities.
Seeing that she had already extracted the desired information, Emma naturally shifted the topic and started chatting casually with Darian, even pouring herself a drink with familiar ease.
One thing was true: she was indeed very interested in Darian.
Telepaths also had their troubles; they saw too deeply into people's hearts. Understanding many things too clearly instead became a burden.
And someone like Darian, who was completely immune to her abilities, brought a rare sense of novelty.
Darian also welcomed the conversation; he too was very interested in Emma. This was a good opportunity to get to know Emma and see if he could directly poach her to the Brotherhood, turning the Hellfire Club into a second 'Wine Factory'.
Under the influence of alcohol, the two quickly opened up.
Emma revealed that, like Riptide, she was later invited to the Hellfire Club by Sebastian. Sebastian valued her abilities and financial resources, while she valued Sebastian's ambition, and so the two hit it off.
However, Sebastian was still wary of her, which was evident from the fact that he never took off his helmet. After all, no one wants someone to be able to read their thoughts.
Darian expressed understanding.
Since entering this dungeon, he had never taken off his Fool's Ring.
Emma didn't mind this; she didn't care about Sebastian as a person; she cared about Sebastian's ambition.
As they chatted, Emma, perhaps due to her low alcohol tolerance or the warmth of the conversation, saw her Y gradually turn back into a V, and her gaze towards Darian became quite suggestive.
Darian pondered for two seconds and asked, "System, although it's not the first time I've asked, are you sure this game doesn't have a female NPC dating mode?"
[No]
To Darian's disappointment, the system's answer was as usual.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, "Then can I enter the final process without dating?"
[This game is ultra-free]
"Stop messing around, can I or can't I?"
[Yes]
"Damn it! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"
Darian's face darkened.
He had tried earlier to see if this game had a romance system, but after a long time, he couldn't find any dating hints, thinking it was just a pure combat-focused game.
He never expected that this game actually allowed skipping the dating process!
Before Darian could finish talking to the system, he felt a human-shaped object press against him, and something was directly on his face.
Emma: (V)
"Emma, calm down. This is workplace harassment, and it's a crime."
Darian pleaded, his voice muffled by the surroundings.
Emma felt Darian's change and chuckled, "I think you're the one who needs to calm down."
"Then let's both calm down. You need to calm down, and I also need to calm down."
Darian desperately opened his mouth; the environment was too crowded, and he couldn't breathe without opening his mouth.
"And we just met."
"Shut up!"
Emma exerted the White Queen's dominance, pressing down and forcefully stopping Darian from saying anything more.
Although Darian's strength was fully capable of resisting Emma, he was constrained by her esteemed status as one of the Hellfire Club's shareholders, not someone a newly hired newcomer like him could provoke.
If he resisted and angered her, and Emma, in a fit of rage, kicked him out of the Hellfire Club, he simply couldn't bear the consequences.
The more Darian thought about it, the more alarmed he became, but faced with the fear of losing his job, he ultimately chose silence and submission.
He silently comforted himself.
For the future of the Brotherhood, this small sacrifice was nothing.
By the time Darian regained his vision, Emma's V had turned into a person.
And then, there was another long and tedious cutscene. Knowing everyone dislikes these, he directly skipped it!
The next day, Darian looked at the mess beside him and sincerely exclaimed.
"This game is so realistic!"
"So realistic!"
"Realistic!"
Important things must be said three times!
Darian seriously suspected that the game designers had some side business or had developed other types of games before creating this one.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to create such a realistic sensory feedback.
However, the only drawback was that the cutscenes were too short.
It wasn't his problem; it was Emma who was too weak.
At first, she was the majestic and dominant White Queen, getting on her horse, personally leading the charge, intending to utterly defeat Darian.
But after only a few hundred rounds, she was knocked off her horse by Darian's sword, lying on the ground in a sorry state, begging for mercy, unable to sustain the cutscene's duration.
Thump thump thump!
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?"
Darian's tone conveyed impatience.
He still wanted to carefully study Emma's model details to see if the game was well-made, so he could provide feedback.
Riptide's voice came from outside the door, "It's me. The Black King wants you to gather in the hall. We have an operation."
"I understand."
Darian grabbed the blanket and covered Emma, then stood up, instantly changing into a charming suit.
The members of the Hellfire Club were all men of status, each in suits and ties. His outfit perfectly matched the Hellfire Club's style.
Darian walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Riptide was still waiting outside, curiously asking, "Yesterday I think I saw the White Queen enter your room. I haven't found her today. Do you know where the White Queen went?"
Darian patted Riptide's shoulder, "Sebastian's assessment of you is correct; you really have no discernment."
Riptide: "?"
Seeing the other person's bewildered expression, Darian secretly felt relieved.
Fortunately, it was Riptide who came to summon him. If it had been Red Devil, with his elusive nature, he might have instantly teleported into his room.
Although he wasn't afraid of exposing some of the dark sides of this workplace, he certainly didn't enjoy being watched, even if it was just a game!
Soon, the two arrived in the hall and saw Sebastian and Red Devil waiting there.
Sebastian's gaze swept over Darian, a slight smile appearing on his lips, "Since everyone is here, let's prepare to depart."
He neither inquired about the White Queen Emma's whereabouts nor made any intention to reserve a place for her, as if she didn't need to participate in this operation at all.
Darian asked, "What is our mission?"
Sebastian didn't hide anything and roughly explained the plan.
In simple terms, they needed to travel to Moscow to meet a general named Volkov, and through coercion and inducement, persuade the Soviet Union to deploy missiles in Cuba, thereby instigating a direct confrontation between the Soviet Union and America.
[NPC Sebastian Shaw has issued you a new quest]
[Quest: Cuban Missile Crisis]
[Objective: Assist Sebastian Shaw in escalating the Cuban Missile Crisis]
[Reward: EXP + 1500, Anchor Shard * 2]
So, villains can also issue quests?
Fortunately, this quest didn't conflict with the previous quest issued by Charles, so Darian decisively accepted it.
For a player, quests have no good or bad, only whether the rewards are generous.
Seeing this, Darian pulled out his magic mask and put it on.
Sebastian asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"
Darian explained, "It's my first time being a villain, so I'm a bit nervous. I'm afraid I won't look evil enough to intimidate the other side."
Sebastian: "....."
No, you underestimate yourself. You don't look like a good person at all.