Chapter 2607: New Xanadu (Part 2)

Charles watched the flickering fire in the fireplace, feeling drowsy, yet he still couldn't help muttering, "When your people approached me back then, I was truly startled. I really don't know how many tons of water must have flooded my brain for me to actually believe in your whimsical plan."

"Facts have proven that I was right," Erik said, his tongue as sharp as ever. "It did not fail our expectations. The East Three Islands provided mutants with their first foothold, and it is the foundation upon which we can now explore the universe."

"But you were still too reckless," Charles muttered softly. "I don't know what kind of madness possessed me to actually go along with you."

"I've said it before: you are a crazy professor, and I am a crazy terrorist. That is the only way we could tolerate each other for decades," Erik said while draping a coat over him, but Charles had already fallen asleep.

Perhaps it was because of thoughts during the day that manifested in dreams at night, or perhaps sleep within the mental realm is more easily disturbed by previous trains of thought; Charles dreamed of that crazy era, that legendary grand adventure between him, Erik, and all of mutantkind.

October 15, 1945. Charles, still a young man, had already joined the army and arrived in the Middle East. However, he was not favored by his superiors at the time and served only as a lowly patrolman.

But even then, Charles already possessed formidable psychic abilities. Therefore, after discovering that a mysterious mutant had suddenly appeared in his jurisdiction, he identified him almost immediately and read the thoughts in the other's mind.

It was a scout sent by a man calling himself Erik Lehnsherr, whose goal was to find a gang leader named Farouk in the vicinity. The reason for seeking him out was to recruit him, as this man named Farouk possessed telepathic abilities.

Charles had only heard of Farouk and had never truly met him, nor had he ever encountered other telepaths. After reading this information, Charles couldn't help but leave his jurisdiction, and eventually, he met Farouk.

Unfortunately, Farouk left him deeply disappointed. The man could only perform shallow mind-reading and was completely unable to use psychic energy to attack others. Charles, young and hot-blooded at the time, discovered that his presence had been scanned by the other, so he directly used a psychic blast to turn the man into a fool.

This could be said to be the first time Charles used his psychic abilities to attack another. He felt very nervous and scurried back to his jurisdiction. Not long after, he heard the news of Farouk's death.

This infuriated his superior, as he had been colluding with this gang leader. Charles was not sure he could hide perfectly, so he wanted to find a way out for himself.

Thus, he sought out the person Erik had sent, claiming that he also possessed psychic abilities, though he did not tell the whole truth, saying only that he could read minds. The other party then brought news that shocked Charles: mutants were preparing to build a nation.

Even in the modern day, this would be shocking news, and in that era, mutants were third-class citizens in every country.

Back in the United States, Charles often heard a joke: someone actually gave up their seat to a black person on a bus; guess who it was? That's right, a nigger mutant.

The vast majority of mutants had resigned themselves to their fate, and even Charles had hidden his abilities, pretending to be an ordinary person living among the masses. Suddenly hearing such news, he was shocked beyond measure.

But at this time, the news had not yet spread widely; it could only be said that countries around the world were aspiring to do so. Charles found reports about the East Three Islands in a nearby town and immediately realized what these countries wanted to do.

So Charles followed Erik's people, but not because he wanted to join him; he wanted to stop him.

In his view, the radiation-filled East Three Islands were no good place; this was entirely a conspiracy by ordinary people to weaken mutants, and this foolish Erik Lehnsherr actually believed it.

And because of his power, he actually had some influence; it was said he had already recruited many powerful mutants. Charles was anxious, wishing he could rush over and punch Erik to make him wake up.

At that time, Erik had already taken Anya to Poland. Anya's body was getting weaker, and Erik had to spend most of his time every day with his daughter, unable to spare time to see anyone.

Later, Anya's condition improved, and Charles was finally able to approach Erik. But by then, the Brotherhood of Mutants had already taken shape, and Charles was not in Erik's favor, so naturally, he had no say.

After observing for a period, Charles discovered that although Erik was serious, rigid, and stubborn, like most people, he liked to speak with strength; he could only remember the strong.

Thus, Charles had to stage a self-directed loss of control. To intimidate Erik, this loss of control almost affected the entire globe, letting all countries in the world know that another mutant as powerful as a god had descended.

From then on, Erik and Charles indeed became good friends, and could be said to be the closest comrades-in-arms, because Charles heard the full scope of that secret plan from Erik's mouth.

It appeared to be a mutant extermination plan, but in reality, it played right into Erik's hands, because Erik had long since contacted an existence capable of exerting significant influence in this matter—.

At this time, they could not be called mutant-friendly, because they were truly too poor and weak. However, the only advantage was that in their war to defend their home and country, mutants had contributed greatly, and they were now on a unified front.

Since mutants had bled and sweated, those who had never had much contact with them also felt a sense of kinship upon meeting, and with some common interests, they were natural allies.

The East Three Islands were a good opportunity to establish common interests.

Such an important location could not be allowed to be interfered with by the US or the Soviet Union. Even the most short-sighted strategist knew this was a place of vital military importance and must never be lost.

But the problem was that they were truly devastated, and continuing to fight would truly damage their foundations. It would be best to take it through non-military means, but facing the two behemoths before them, they were truly powerless.

At this time, the importance of mutants was reflected. Since I cannot get it, just letting the other side not get it is the best result, because after all, I am the closest, so if there are any changes in the future, I have the greatest chance.

Trading a moment of concession for a century of development opportunity—this decision was not something anyone could make, but in the end, they chose the most favorable path.

Just like that, Erik and they hooked up, and the two sides reached an exchange of interests. They sent a portion of mutants capable of controlling the weather to help Erik clear the radiation on the East Three Islands as much as possible. Of course, Erik himself would also contribute; his magnetic field power was perfect for this. And they would cover up the news of him going to the East Three Islands to lay the foundation, using it to paralyze other countries and prevent them from going back on their word.

And for the next hundred years, mutants would build their own homes here and recuperate. The two sides would work together, and when the opportunity arose, help mutants find a broader world.

Although they found a solid ally, for mutants, the situation was still not optimistic. The intentions of those countries in wanting to throw them there went without saying. Once they realized that mutants had long been prepared and were not that simple, there could be changes at any time.

So Erik had been searching for telepaths.

Many powerful mutants had appeared in human history before, but because ancient information circulation was slow and there were many myths and legends, it was hard to distinguish who was a mutant, who was a powerful ordinary person, and who had other unspeakable secrets.

Since the modern era, many mutants had been unearthed, and everyone had a shallow impression of the classification of mutant abilities. However, during World War II, the excavation was not comprehensive enough, and the classification was not very scientific; they were roughly divided into melee and ranged types, with no in-depth exploration of specific principles.

So people's understanding of Erik, this emerging mutant leader, roughly stopped at the level of him being able to manipulate metal. Many people called him the Metal King, and Erik was deliberately indulging this trend.

As for the more hidden telepaths, even fewer people understood them. Although some scholars had guesses, most people were unwilling to admit it, because if such people existed, wouldn't the dirty secrets in their own hearts have been exposed long ago?

As a mutant leader, Erik himself had once seen such people, so he searched for telepaths globally. Charles was a surprise to him.

Charles's one loss of control made the whole world realize that there were such powerful telepaths in this world, which attracted the attention of countries around the world and also added another layer of insurance to Erik's plan.

That time Charles faced Erik was the best pretext. The two of them pretended to break up; Charles publicly stated that he saw through the conspiracies of countries around the world, while Erik was a mutant comprador cultivated by them, whose purpose was to lead mutants into a fire pit. For a time, the two were at odds.

The conspiracy was exposed, but the countries were not in a hurry. They put on a show of sending teams of experts to the three islands to test, claiming that the radiation levels on the three islands were absolutely fine and the natural environment was beautiful, very suitable for living.

Those who held the discourse power in this society were still ordinary people. Major authoritative institutions issued test reports, but Charles could not produce any evidence, and he actually fooled quite a few mutants living in ordinary society.

Against Charles, they also used all sorts of strange tricks, using various methods to slander and weaken his influence in mutant society while propping up Erik.

That's right, in this stage of the confrontation, their positions were completely swapped. Erik was a favorite of various governments, while Charles was suppressed and depressed until he returned to his old manor, never again appearing to talk about mutant nation-building.

And what no one knew was that the mode of these two mutant leaders, one singing the red face and one singing the white face, began to show from this moment.

Believing there were no more obstacles, the countries smoothly drove out all known mutants in their countries and successively promulgated laws requiring newborns to be tested. Once the X-gene was detected, they would automatically obtain the nationality of the mutant nation, not their own country's nationality, and were required to leave the country before the age of seven.

Thus, team after team of mutants had no choice but to board planes heading to unknown lands. Some thought they would come to a new heaven, while others thought it was just another gas chamber.

And the culprit politicians firmly believed it was the latter. They couldn't wait to see these damn mutants who kept causing them trouble in their jurisdiction wailing and dying in radiation.

And the final result, of course, was jaw-dropping. ===== CHAPTER 2608 =====