Chapter 2627: Mayfly Heaven and Earth (Twenty-Eight)

Magneto and Wanda were stuck.

Theoretically speaking, they should now be putting on a display of deep father-daughter affection; at the very least, they should walk past each other in the crowd and exchange a few pleasantries, a light embrace, a pat on the back.

But it is obvious that they have never done so, nor do they intend to, so this empty corridor at this moment looks particularly conspicuous.

If it were a normal father and daughter reuniting under these circumstances, then the person not making way would be lacking in social awareness; but for Magneto and Wanda, at this moment, everyone standing far away and giving them a wide berth is utterly lacking in social awareness.

Can't you see we two don't even want to hug? Why are you running so far?

Others also felt wronged: Is that what we wanted, to run so far? You don't see how strong that sheepdog is? Good grief, Wolverine took a step to the left, and his ribs almost got broken by him.

Although only a dozen or so seconds had passed, the atmosphere inside the room was awkward as if it had been over a decade, and finally Shiler broke the deadlock, saying: "Let's sit down and have breakfast."

Everyone felt relieved, and they all walked toward the dining table, some moving tables, some moving chairs, introducing themselves as they sat down, and at this moment the Brotherhood of Mutants and the X-Men were getting along swimmingly.

"Let me help." Clark stood up again, walked to the kitchen, and said: "So many people have come, so we need to prepare many breakfasts; are the ingredients enough? If not, I'll go buy some."

"Just make some simple sandwiches, and we'll have a big meal at noon... The kitchen is already small, so don't run around in here—go sit down."

Clark was ushered back by Shiler, and fortunately there was an empty seat beside the head of the table on the right, so he sat down and then said: "I've never seen a group like yours before; could you introduce me to where you all come from?"

Scarlet Witch cleared her throat, about to speak, but for a moment there were too many things to say and she didn't know where to start; Wolverine greatly admired Clark's strength, so he said: "They are the Brotherhood of Mutants; you can understand it as the organization led by Magneto."

"And we are the X-Men, some of whom are students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters; you can understand it as the organization led by Professor X."

"Wait, do you mean you two are two separate groups? Are you different kinds of mutants?"

"Every mutant is different." Polaris spoke up: "There's no such thing as 'breed' or not; in this world, almost no two mutants have the same ability; we just belong to different organizations."

"You're already like this, and you still have to split into two organizations?" Clark expressed surprise, saying: "Then what is the relationship between Magneto and Professor X? Are they enemies? But I saw them together before, and they seemed to get along fine."

"Those two... well, it's a long story." Mystique sighed and said: "This is a long story full of twists and turns."

His double wet blue eyes looked at her with utmost sincerity.

"To be honest, I don't even know exactly what happened back then." Polaris said: "I asked them both, but they wouldn't say."

"So what exactly happened to Professor X's legs..." Wanda also became a bit curious, her eyes occasionally glancing over Magneto's face.

Magneto suddenly stood up, his expression tense, his back straight, and said: "I'm going upstairs to rest."

After saying that, he walked toward the staircase, and then heard Clark calling from behind him: "Oh, right, your cold hasn't gotten better yet—you need to rest properly; do you need me to help you up? Mr.?"

Magneto almost tripped on the stairs, he gritted his teeth and said: "No need, I'm fine."

Until he reached the door of the upstairs room, he still heard Clark chattering downstairs: "This Mr. is not young either; you should pay more attention to him—old people are always fragile; back when my grandfather was still around, my mother used to say..."

The expressions on everyone's faces at the table were varied and vivid; Quicksilver first couldn't hold back, he pursed his lips and said: "Um... he's not just an ordinary old man; he, he is Magneto..."

Polaris glanced at Quicksilver, then said: "He doesn't need anyone to worry about him; everyone's good intentions will be treated by him as liver and intestines of a donkey; otherwise, Professor X wouldn't have..."

Mystique glared at her, Polaris also stopped speaking, and Mystique said: "The past is past, and back then it was just an accident, and Erik didn't do it on purpose..."

"So what exactly happened." Clark was really too curious, he really wanted to know the history of this special group.

Mystique kept a straight face, wrestled with it for a while, then gave a rough account of what happened back then, and Wolverine added some details he had learned from Professor X.

Shiler roughly knew the past of Magneto and Professor X in this universe, which is similar to the movie version, except that the events did not occur during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but even earlier.

At that time, they were both quite young, and because of an argument they had a cold war for a long time, resulting in someone exploiting an opening, but the general process is roughly the same.

At that time, Magneto faced ten thousand enemies alone, facing an entire army, showing no mercy whatsoever, and directly bounced back all the bullets that were fired.

At that time, he was in a cold war with Professor X and didn't know the other had already arrived; as a result, one of the bullets that bounced back was bounced again by the explosive shield on the opposite side, striking Professor X's waist.

Others, because they weren't present at the scene, gave vague descriptions; anyway, they roughly knew it was an accident, and regarding the relationship between the two, most people were also unclear, beating around the bush.

"So what exactly is their relationship." Clark insisted on getting to the bottom of it, saying: "If, as you say, Professor X was paralyzed because of him, but he never apologized, how could they possibly be friends?"

"But if they are enemies, you guys shouldn't be sitting together like today, right? So what exactly is their relationship?"

"Just like your relationship with Batman." Wanda said bluntly.

"But I and Batman are just friends, oh, you mean those Supermen and Batmen? But they should also just be comrades and friends; Superman didn't paralyze Batman, I mean, Batman didn't paralyze Superman, uh..."

"Can't you stop asking?" Polaris said irritably: "What's there to ask? It's been so many years already!"

"But is it really over just because it's in the past?" Clark said, utterly baffled: "Can't a matter that happened many years ago be treated as if it never happened? Dragging a contradiction for so many years without resolving it is the real problem."

"But now it really can't..."

"What can't be done? Mutants have already fallen to this state, and you still don't want everyone to cooperate sincerely, still hemming and hawing here, beating around the bush—no wonder you've ended up like this."

"You!" Polaris slammed the table, a magnetic storm instantly surged outward, but Clark stood firm, unmoving, staring straight at her.

Seeing those clear blue eyes that could see straight to the bottom, Polaris felt as if struck by a heavy blow, she relaxed her arms, slumped down in her chair, and said: "What can we do? What can we change?"

"You certainly can; you are clearly his biological children, why do you completely ignore him?" Clark scanned the room and said: "You are also that professor's prized disciples; why do you also ignore him?"

"What do you mean by 'care'? We can't control anyone!" Wanda also got a bit angry, she raised her voice and said: "He never cared about us, nor did he listen to us, we..."

"Do you just ignore them if they don't listen to you?" Clark's voice was louder than hers: "I originally thought our universe letting two madmen torment each other for four years was already bad enough, but you guys have let them torment each other for forty years!"

"How exactly have you managed to watch them maintain this relationship for decades without even thinking of stopping or changing it?!"

"I said we can't stop them!" Polaris said helplessly: "They are the two most powerful mutants in the entire universe; even together we are not as strong as them; what can we do?"

"Why do you have to be stronger than them?!" Clark stood up and said: "Do you still plan to fight them? You are their children and students; in this world, where do parents and children have to check if they can beat each other before they can care for and help each other?"

Everyone fell silent.

"But they won't listen to advice." Mystique said: "Our advice is useless; no one will listen."

"A mentally ill person says he won't take medicine, do you really plan to let him not take it? Then wait until his condition worsens and say he won't listen to advice—what are all those mental hospitals in this world for?"

"We already said we can't beat them!" Polaris said impatiently: "The problem just circles back to the start."

Clark simply couldn't understand this group's mindset, as if when someone won't listen to advice and can't use violence, they think there's no way to persuade or change them.

He couldn't figure out what kind of upbringing could produce such a disparate group of people all sharing the same seeming trait of having their brains connected straight to their intestines; the Robinsons aren't like that either.

"You're so capable, why don't you go advise him?" Wanda looked up at Clark and said.

"I'm not a mutant." Clark said righteously, but then looked away and said: "But I'm afraid I really do have to manage this matter; this can't go on."

Soon breakfast was served, a few people finished eating, and Pietro, Mystique, and Scarlet Witch accompanied Wanda for a walk on the field ridges, while the others wandered around the village, still planning to go to the nearby Guadalajara city for a stroll.

Shiler brought Magneto his breakfast to his room, placed the tray down, then sat by the bedside and said: "Did you hear what they were saying downstairs?"

Magneto picked up the plate and gave a slight nod, but said nothing; Shiler asked, "What do you think?"

"Think about what?"

"About what happened back then."

"That's in the past."

"You know it isn't." Shiler shook his head and said, "Just because many years have passed doesn't mean it's truly over."

Magneto, however, stopped what he was doing and said, "You knew about this matter earlier than that greenhorn, yet you didn't intervene. Why?"

Shiler shook his head and said, "I didn't think it necessary for me to intervene."

"But you also hope mutants will be more united, without distinction between each other."

"Perhaps because I understand the madman better." Shiler poured water and smiled, saying, "We are essentially the same kind of people, while Clark is a normal person."

A smile actually appeared on Magneto's face, which was exceedingly rare; he said, "That foolish boy won't get anything."

"But he'll certainly be a nuisance." Shiler set the water glass on the bedside table and said, "He is Superman, after all; if he sets his mind on doing something, you'll witness the power of an alien search-and-rescue dog."

Downstairs, Clark declined the others' invitation to go to Guadalajara and stayed here alone, tinkering with the computer Pietro had left behind.

He discovered that the computers of this era were far more advanced and easier to use than those of the era he came from; all kinds of news appeared in vast quantities with a simple search — didn't that make everyone a formidable hacker?

Clark typed Magneto's name into the search bar, and countless reports about him came into view.