Reincarnation Paradise: The Crucible

Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters, lobby on the first floor.

It was break time at this time, and many mutant students of different ages were sitting around the hall in twos and threes, watching the live broadcast on the TV screen that was destined to affect all mutants.

Facing Warren Worthington II's impassioned speech, everyone in the hall had different expressions. The younger students were indifferent, while the older students who could already understand the significance of the antidote began to talk about it. , including disdain, indignation, and worry.

Although they have different thoughts, most of them are more negative emotions. They do not agree that mutants need to be cured. The size of X Academy is limited, and a castle cannot accommodate thousands of students, so these The students are basically mutants with good potential after rough selection.

What mutant abilities bring to them is often otherworldly power rather than deformed and weird bodies. Based on this premise, under the words and deeds of professors and X-Men teachers, these students have a good understanding of their mutant identities. For recognition, even particularly proud.

After all, in Professor

In fact, both Professor We will become friends who work hard together.

But in the later stages, due to differences in past experiences, both sides had quite serious differences regarding the process and concepts of replacing human beings. Magneto advocated overthrow by force, and we should by nature be superior to weak humans.

The professor advocates subtlety and smooth transition. We are born out of human beings and cannot be separated. As long as we develop slowly, more and more new mutants will eventually gather into a wave of the times that sweeps everything away and breaks down all obstacles.

The differences between the two parties were so great that they were almost irreconcilable, so they eventually parted ways and formed the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Academy of Mutants will eventually replace humans.

As a result, this core idea was gradually passed on to every student in the college, causing them to be unconvinced by Worthington II's so-called antidote argument, only worried and hostile.

Among these many negative emotions, only one person's emotions were excited and yearning. The little naughty boy looked at the blue potion being held up on the TV screen, his eyes full of hope, and he seemed out of place with his companions around him. .

If mutants are divided into three, six or nine grades, then the students of College All kinds of oppression and malice are isolated by the high walls of the college.

They are vested interests in mutant genes, so the antidote is meaningless to them.

But Little Naughty is different. From the moment she awakened her abilities, the mutant gene only brought her loneliness and helplessness. Even the process of joining the academy was full of various chances and coincidences, rather than through normal channels.

Her uncontrollable abilities prevented her from getting close to anyone easily. In this restless adolescence, her instinct to be close was forcibly suppressed by her mutant abilities. All of this made her feel deeply disgusted with her mutant genes.

Now the appearance of the 'antidote' was like a sudden light shining in the darkness, and the key to releasing the bondage was right in front of her eyes. How could she not be ecstatic?

The little naughty girl suddenly stood up from the sofa. She didn't notice the confused and strange looks from the students around her. After taking another confirming look at the introduction on the screen, she quickly walked towards the principal. She ran in the direction of the room. She was already overwhelmed by the excitement. She just wanted to learn more detailed information about the 'antidote' from the teacher at the college.

Will it really bring me back to normal?

………

At this time, in the principal's room on the second floor, the voice from the TV screen was still chattering, but everyone in the room didn't care about it at all.

Logan looked out the window and said nothing, but the complex emotions in his eyes revealed that the other party was not calm, while Xu Yue stood beside the professor, quietly watching the fierce argument between Storm and Hank on the sofa.

"Who would want this antidote? What coward would use this to fit in?"

From beginning to end, Storm has been the most hostile to the antidote. The mutant gene gives her the ability to control the wind and the weather. This is often the power that only gods can have. In fact, in some African tribes, she She was the real Storm Goddess, so she couldn't understand why there were mutants willing to give up their abilities.

Hank is different. As the minister of the Department of Mutant Affairs, he has seen too many sufferings of low-level mutants. Due to the mutation of mutant genes, they are like monsters. They can only hide in the dark corners of society like mice to survive. Mutant genes What it brought them was nothing but complete curse.

Therefore, compared to Storm's hostility, Hank is more able to see the positive significance of the antidote to the low-level mutants.

And from a certain perspective, Hank is also a victim of mutant genes. He can better understand the importance of antidotes to certain groups. After all, few people are willing to permanently become a hairy blue-skinned beast. Looking directly into Storm Girl's eyes, he said with great seriousness:

"Rescuing yourself from persecution is called cowardice?"

"Ororo, not everyone can integrate into society easily, and you don't need to shave."

Faced with Hank's last words in a teasing tone, Storm was speechless for a moment. She was just paranoid, not unreasonable.

She knew very well what Hank's inhuman beast appearance had brought to him, which was countless criticisms and strange looks that never stopped. With their eyes facing each other, it was difficult for her to say anything to refute.

Across the sofa, Storm choked up after Hank's words. The professor in the wheelchair smiled gently. He was quite pleased with the open-mindedness shown in his old friend's words. This represented Hank's appreciation of his beast-like appearance. He is no longer as worried as he used to be.

On the other hand, the professor does not reject the emergence of antidote. For those low-level mutants who are suffering from mutations, the antidote is their true light of salvation.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the antidote will only be used as a medicine that is voluntarily injected, and will not become a dangerous weapon against all mutants under the interference of the government. The use of these two medicines can cause The impact is hugely different.

As for whether the government and military will develop the antidote into weapons? The answer to this question requires almost no thought.

Anyway, Logan, who was near the window, was extremely sure of this. Having participated in World War II, he knew the behavior of the government and military best. They would never let go of this highly targeted and powerful weapon. .

"This press conference should be led by the government. Perhaps in the government's arsenal, antidote weapons against us are already being produced."

Hearing this, Hank on the sofa immediately retorted decisively:

"They have nothing to do with this. There is no government operation behind the press conference!"

"I heard this a long time ago."

Logan glanced at Hank who spoke, his tone was light, but the disdain in his words was clearly revealed.

After the words fell, Hank was about to continue speaking, but Xu Yue's plain voice soon came from the other side.

"Don't kid yourself. The antidote is a key medicine that involves two races. Without the approval of the government, there is no possibility that the Worthington Group will make it public."

"Hank, the federal government has always had an indifferent, even hostile attitude towards the mutant community. You should know this best. The current press conference is just the beginning, a test."

"If we acquiesce to the prevalence of the antidote this time, the government will definitely continue to promote the spread of the antidote. Once the voluntary injection is successfully completed, it is estimated that there will soon be special penalties for mutant criminals, and then evolve to target all mutants. The forced popularization of humans eats away step by step like a frog boiled in warm water, and eventually the cancer of mutants is completely removed from human society.”

"Even in the near future, the antidote will become a preventive vaccine that all teenagers need to be universally vaccinated to prevent the possibility of the resurgence of mutants. By then, we have lost our past and our future. The mutant will truly meet his end..."

The plain words slowly echoed in the room, causing silence all around. The desperate future described in his words caused everyone in the room to fall into unspeakable silence. Hank opened his mouth to refute several times, but closed it silently.

To be fair, the future speculated by Xu Yue is just speculation from the worst angle, and the possibility is not high. To want to exterminate the entire mutant population with just one potion would be to underestimate the power of mutants. .

But it is undeniable that this possibility is real, and the federal government has enough power to slowly implement this plan. The whole process may take a very long time, but as long as the goal of peaceful extermination of mutants can be achieved, Then the government will definitely have enough patience to implement it slowly.

As the Minister of Mutant Affairs of the Department of Defense, Hank knows better than anyone what kind of power the national government can unleash after it is fully mobilized. If the situation really develops as Xu Yue described, then mutants will be cannibalized step by step. The end may not be far away.

Not to mention anything else, just using the antidote as a vaccine for teenagers is enough to dig out the foundation of mutants. If this decree is really implemented, there will be no hope for mutants. s future.

Hank is not ignorant of the possible harms of the antidote, but as a government employee, he cannot stop the implementation of the decree, so he can only focus on the beneficial aspects of the antidote as much as possible, thus subconsciously ignoring the disadvantages. .

From ancient times to the present, the butt determines the head. With his current status, his thoughts will be unconsciously biased towards the top levels of the government to a large extent. The pursuit of stability is the primary prerequisite for rule. Hank is not exempt from this, but he can be the worst outcome. After being bloodyly uncovered by Xu Yue and displayed naked in front of his eyes, he still couldn't help but start to waver and hesitate.

Just when the atmosphere began to fall into a dead silence, suddenly a rush of footsteps came from the door of the room, and the little naughty boy burst into everyone's field of vision.

"Is it true? They can cure us?"

The excited inquiry was rushed out, and the professor was the first to respond. He looked sideways at the little naughty boy at the door who was beaming with joy, nodded calmly and said:

"Yes, it looks like it should be true."

The professor's response completely broke the dead silence in the room. Logan lowered his eyes and glanced at the professor but hesitated to speak. Xu Yue beside him always had a calm expression. As for the sofa opposite, Hank's eyes flickered, while Storm remained as usual. He retorted decisively.

"No, Professor, they can't cure us. Do you know why? Because there is nothing to cure..."

With that said, Storm stood up and walked towards the naughty boy at the door, looking into his eyes and said slowly:

"You don't have any problem at all, and neither do all the mutants. As Xinhuo said just now, they don't want to cure us at all, but they want to manipulate and exterminate us."

"From beginning to end, we don't need an antidote!"

Storm's tone was not high-pitched, but every word was ringing, and the firm emotion contained in it was enough to shock anyone.

On the sofa, Hank pressed his swollen temples with a headache. He felt that there was a high probability that his trip today would be in vain. From what Xu Yue said just now, he knew that he would not be able to convince X Academy to support it. With the advent of the antidote, even his own position has a tendency to be faintly shaken.

But even if he can't get support, he must try his best to ensure that the academy will not openly oppose it. Otherwise, the academy's reputation among the mutant community will inevitably trigger a huge and violent conflict, which will only cause confusion between humans and mutants. The already fragile balance became even more precarious, and he couldn't let this situation happen.

"Auroro, what Xinhuo said is just speculation after all. With the supervision and influence of the Department of Mutant Affairs, the situation will not get that bad soon. At least the current antidote is just a medicine that provides voluntary injection services. , you can’t deny its practical significance, there are many mutants at the bottom of society who desperately need it.”

"The number of mutants in the Federation is far more than we imagined. In the dark corners that you can't see, there are too many low-level mutants with physical deformities who are struggling to survive. They have low abilities, abnormal appearances, and because of their mutations They have been abandoned by the mainstream society as human beings. They have no place to belong, no job, and even the most basic social supplies will be refused to them.”

"The identity of mutants cannot provide them with shelter, only endless persecution. This is a cruel status quo. We have no power to change it now. Neither the professor's college nor my Department of Mutant Affairs can provide them." Their power is extremely limited, and the only thing that can save them now is the antidote. Only by getting rid of their identity as mutants can they return to society and usher in a new life. "

"The harm of the antidote is very serious, I admit it, but there are many mutants who need it. In order to survive and return to normal, they need the antidote. The academy's position cannot blatantly support the release of the antidote, but there is only one thing. Don't oppose it. , in the eyes of a large number of mutants, it is the only hope left.”