“Political correctness?”
Seeing Fang Mo acting all cryptic, everyone seed a bit puzzled.
“I’ve heard a little about it.” Charles thought for a mont, then tentatively asked, “But is it the ‘political correctness’ I’m thinking of? No matter how I see it, that doesn’t seem like the most terrifying weapon of Arica.”
“Ah, that’s where your thinking is off.”
Hearing this, Fang Mo smiled slightly. “Before those demons invented the ‘box weapon’—ahem, before Einstein invented E=mc2—people didn’t realize that a tiny atom could contain such enormous power. It’s the sa principle here: at present, nobody knows how terrifying the power of ‘white-left political correctness’ can be.”
“I-Is that so?”
When they heard this, everyone exchanged confused looks.
“So how does it work, exactly?”
Erik was the first who couldn’t hold back his curiosity. He imdiately asked, “This sounds like so kind of political maneuver…different from your usual thods. Could you explain it in more detail?”
“Sure.”
Fang Mo nodded cheerfully, then pulled out a book and waved it in front of everyone with a grin. “Actually, it’s pretty much as described in this book. First, you package yourself as a victim or as a marginalized group, then let all the idiots fall for it.”
“That book you’re holding is…?”
Everyone stared blankly at the book in Fang Mo’s hand. “in Kampf?”
“Ahem, I grabbed the wrong one.” Fang Mo remained calm as he stuffed the book back inside his jacket. Then he pulled out another book and took a glance at it. “Let see…’The Man Who Changed China’… damn, this one doesn’t work either.”
He exchanged it again.
Only then did Fang Mo finally take out a black-covered book.
Everyone peered closer and saw faint writing on the cover that read, “I Have a Dream.”
“…Isn’t that Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech?”
Charles responded imdiately. Among all of them, he had the highest level of formal education. As everyone knows, Magneto might not be a real king, but Professor X is a real professor.
“I see.”
Hearing that, Erik instinctively furrowed his brow. “So you want mutants to rise up and fight for their rights?”
“More or less.” Fang Mo didn’t deny it; instead, he laughed and added, “It’s just that our situation is sowhat special, so we might need more extre asures.” Řἁ₦Ɵ𝐛Ę𝙎
“What do you an?”
The others were intrigued upon hearing this. After all, Fang Mo’s plan wasn’t to slaughter all humankind but to fight for rights. That was sothing they could more or less accept. If humans and mutants could coexist peacefully, wouldn’t that be ideal?
“First of all, we absolutely must portray ourselves as victims.”
Soon enough, Fang Mo raised a finger and explained to everyone, “Then we spread fear… Of course, the fear I’m referring to isn’t about making people afraid of mutants. Instead, we use evidence to show that ordinary people can also beco mutants.”
“Wait, why do we have to pose as victims?”
Erik couldn’t help but ask. He leans toward the militant faction of mutants, always wanting to wipe out humanity and create a world for mutants only. To him, playing the victim seed sowhat at odds with that ideology.
“It sounds… workable, I guess?”
But Charles didn’t pay Erik any mind and continued to look at Fang Mo. “And then? What do you plan to do next?”
“Simply create an enemy that we can denounce from the moral high ground.”
Fang Mo spread out his hands. “Not rely an enemy of mutants—rather, an entity that all of humanity must fear and loathe. Of course, this enemy doesn’t exist yet, so we’ll have to keep pinning bla on it and saring it until we’ve built up the right image.”
“What do you an?”
Even Charles didn’t quite understand now. They were going to create an enemy from thin air?
“In any case, just leave it to .”
Fang Mo didn’t feel like explaining further, so he waved his hand dismissively. “For now, let’s go to Paris and bring Raven back. Then you can watch operate.”
“This…”
Hearing this, the group hesitated a bit. So far, Fang Mo’s plan actually sounded sowhat plausible—emulating the Civil Rights Movent to fight for mutant rights, that sort of thing. But words are one thing; Charles still felt uneasy.
The difference between mutants and African Aricans is just too vast. Blindly imitating them simply won’t work. The crux of the problem is that mutants’ abilities are dangerous and uncontrollable, causing ordinary people to be fearful, which then fosters deeper hostility and pushes them to exterminate mutants. anwhile, mutants, empowered by their abilities, grow arrogant, thinking they are superior. Essentially, the real friction stems from the existence of their powers, sothing African Aricans never had to contend with. So pure imitation is dood to fail.
Still, because Fang Mo ca up with this idea, Charles figured he must have so hidden card he wasn’t revealing yet. That hidden card was probably the real key to the plan.
“Actually…”
Just as Charles was hesitating, Fang Mo started speaking again. “The scariest part of this approach is how it can conjure allies out of thin air.”
“Conjure allies out of thin air?”
Charles paused. “What does that even an?”
“The bad news is that our new allies are fools,” Fang Mo said casually with a shrug, “but the good news is that the world is never short on fools. So our supply of allies is endless.”
“Huh?”
Since it was only 1973, Charles couldn’t fully grasp Fang Mo’s aning.
“I think I get what you’re trying to say,” Logan spoke up. Unlike Charles, Logan was a ti traveler from the future and had spent the most ti around Fang Mo. He’d begun to realize sothing and couldn’t help remarking, “But I don’t think it’ll work. First and foremost, mutants—”
“There’s nothing that can’t be done.”
Fang Mo interrupted him before he could finish. “This is just one idea for changing the tiline. If it doesn’t work, I have backups.”
“What backups?”
Logan furrowed his brow.
“When we fought Sebastian Shaw,” Fang Mo explained with a shrug, “I heard his viewpoint. He wasn’t just a warmonger; when he tried to spark war between the Soviet Union and the U.S. in Cuba, it was only to plunge the world into nuclear crisis. Because nuclear fallout accelerates and triggers dormant X-genes…”
“That’s true. He ntioned that to us, too.”
Charles nodded, suddenly feeling a wave of unease. “So what do you plan to do?”
“Well, we could do this.” Fang Mo held up a finger, smiling. “First, let Hank study how nuclear radiation and the X-gene interact on a genetic level. Then, with funding the research, we create so genetically modified crops—like corn—that can catalyze the X-gene. After we process the corn and ship products worldwide, all humans beco mutants…”
“Huh?”
Erik’s eyes imdiately lit up. “That plan’s good. I support it!”
“Isn’t that basically the sa as wiping out the human race?” Charles pressed a hand to his forehead in dismay. “No. I can’t accept that.”
“Charles, why are you so stubborn about this?” Erik frowned. “If Fang Mo can co up with that plan, it’s only a matter of ti before humans discover sothing similar. Imagine if they had this gene weapon first and used it against us—then we mutants would be the ones facing extinction!”
“Erik, I believe humans and mutants can coexist peacefully.”
Charles stuck to his convictions.
“Of course, there are other plans,” Fang Mo added as Charles and Erik continued to argue. “What if we just leave—literally take all mutants to my dinsion? Or have Charles use Cerebro to brainwash the entire human race?”
“No way. I absolutely won’t—”
Charles tried to refuse outright, but Fang Mo cut him off. “If that’s no good either, I might as well destroy the world. Guess what it would look like if I smashed the moon into the Earth?”
“I…”
Charles was montarily at a loss for words. He dared not doubt Fang Mo’s sincerity, because Fang Mo just might do it.
“How about we start by implenting the second plan,” Erik interjected. “I think that’s the easiest.”
“Enough,” Logan cut in, rubbing his temples. “All these plans require a long ti. We need to figure out how to stop Mystique. If we don’t change history soon, Kitty will burn out. Once her powers are disabled, I’ll be pulled back to the future…”
“That’s simple.”
Charles responded imdiately, “If the future you described is real, then Mystique is sure to show up in Paris to assassinate Bolivar. We just wait for her there.”
“There’s an even simpler thod,” Erik added. “If a certain person would make up his mind and use Cerebro, we could locate her imdiately.”
“I can’t do it. All those voices make my head feel like it’s splitting. Sotis I even wish I were just an ordinary—” Charles refused before he even finished speaking. But then he rembered what Erik had just said, about how he’d abandoned them. Mid-sentence, his words got stuck.
“I…”
Charles’ face showed hesitation.
“Charles?”
Hank looked at him.
“All right. I’ll agree to try—at most,” Charles took a deep breath, “but it’s not for you, Erik. It’s for Raven.”
“It’s certainly not for ,” Erik replied without missing a beat. “It’s for our fellow mutants.”
…
In any case, after their discussion, they decided to return to the Xavier School.
Perhaps due to Fang Mo’s presence, the tiline had changed slightly; the Paris summit was still a few days away. That gave Charles enough ti to re-familiarize himself with his powers.
During this ti, Logan stayed by his side, giving him encouragent—much as in the original tiline—and also letting Charles read his mories to witness that grim and desperate future. Possibly because his physical injuries had healed, or because his consciousness had spanned ti and he’d been counseled by his older self, or both… In a short while, the telepathic Professor X was back, and significantly enhanced—he didn’t even need a wheelchair anymore.
So Charles imdiately began searching for Raven.
To everyone’s surprise, Mystique had already arrived in Paris and was apparently posing as a high-level representative, just waiting for the conference to begin.
“She’s already there…”
Inside Cerebro’s chamber, Charles’ face showed astonishnt.
“Then don’t contact her directly,” Fang Mo said promptly. “If you disturb her now, she’ll bolt again, and we’ll have to chase her all over creation.”
“So what now?”
Charles asked.
“Just wait two days and go to the conference in person,” Fang Mo replied. “By the way, now that you’re already using that contraption, help locate a few mutants and bring them here—preferably those with fairly weak abilities. Or maybe get so of your forr students and staff back.”
“Those with weak abilities? What are you going to do with them?”
Charles was puzzled and reflexively tried to peek into Fang Mo’s thoughts.
“…Huh?” Fang Mo arched an eyebrow, imdiately pulling out a bloodstained wooden stick, clearly a warning.
“No, no, no! It’s just that I’ve only just regained my powers, and I’m not used to it! My bad!!!”
Charles quickly raised both hands, surrendering.
Thus, under Fang Mo’s behind-the-scenes direction, the forrly shuttered Xavier School reopened and took in several hard-up mutants. For the plan’s sake, Fang Mo soon took these newly arrived mutants away before they could interact much with the others, leaving everyone else in the dark about his doings. A few days later, he returned them to the school, all seemingly suffering from mory loss.
Once Fang Mo had arranged accommodations for these “students,” the Paris conference was about to comnce. So everyone flew to Paris.
What Fang Mo himself hadn’t expected was that just as he arrived—carrying banners, a projector, and a stack of docunts—ready to make a big scene at the conference, his system chid unexpectedly.
[System Notice: A new module trait has been detected. Researching it will unlock its download privileges.]
[System Notice: ‘Moe-fication’ concept analyzed. You have gained download access to a new module.]
[System Notice: Monster Moe-fication Module now downloading.]
“…Nani?!”
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