Chapter 341: S: The Radiant Event (Sixteen)

In a space filled with white mist, an oddly out-of-place building rose from the ground—it looked like Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, but was different: while Xavier's School was primarily built of dark red brick, here it was deep blue, though most of its structure remained identical.

Looking through the windows of this color-shifted Xavier's School, the scene inside was astonishing.

Iceman, Rogue, and Storm appearing here was no surprise—they were already members of Xavier's School—but Northstar, Blink, and Quicksilver, who should have been closer to the Brotherhood of Mutants, now sat quietly in the classroom as well.

Even more startling was the fact that standing at the podium was not Jean Grey or Professor X, but Stark.

Stark stood at the podium, with Bruce Banner beside him; Stark rubbed his brow and gazed down at the students, sighing deeply.

At that moment, Professor X entered; Iceman saw him stride into the classroom, widened his eyes, then, as if remembering himself, calmed his expression.

Professor X walked to the side of the podium and scanned the students below; most of those who had graduated from Xavier's School sat upright, while the few troublemakers from the Brotherhood whispered among themselves.

Professor X cleared his throat and said: "As I told you in your dreams before, welcome to the Mutant School."

Northstar rolled his eyes dramatically, as if about to speak—but before he could, Stark said: "Yeah, school. I really wish this place could make you idiots smarter—even if it just lifted you from negative numbers to zero, I'd thank the heavens."

His wording was brutally direct, his tone sharp; logically, those who followed Magneto had tempers, but this time, Northstar and the others merely exhaled through their noses, arms crossed, saying nothing.

But how had all this come to pass? Why were they reacting this way? It all began three days ago.

After Captain America's speech at the Security Council, Nick Fury gained maximum authority during this emergency period, and the Radiant Project was officially launched.

Before the project's official launch, scientists led by Banner, Connors, Stark, and external expert Reed had already completed most preparations, awaiting only field reconnaissance.

But the problem lay precisely in this field reconnaissance.

Traveling to Mercury wasn't like going to the Moon—just sending someone there with a vehicle wouldn't suffice; Stark had armored suits capable of operating in space, and he'd prepared one for Banner as well.

This armor could withstand extreme heat and cold, and provided life support, ensuring they could move freely on Mercury's surface.

But that alone wasn't enough; the cosmic environment was unpredictable, and first-time space travel carried grave danger. To guarantee these precious scientists' safety under any circumstance, several mutants accompanied them to Mercury.

Northstar, Iceman, Wave, and Blink—these four mutants were exceptionally powerful, each possessing unique abilities that collectively covered nearly every possible threat; logically, this combination of intellect and power should have made landing on Mercury no great challenge.

They had expected exactly that—the first half of the Mercury landing plan proceeded smoothly; the Sorcerer opened a portal and transported them to Mercury's surface.

But the landing site was still some distance from Mercury's south pole; they needed to walk there. At this point, Blink's ability could be put to use—her power allowed her to teleport others, superior to portals in precision of landing point and requiring no casting time, ideal for escaping sudden dangers.

Stark's original plan was to have the Sorcerer open the portal at a distance from the south pole, allowing them to survey Mercury's terrain along the way and gather sufficient data before Blink teleported them directly to the pole.

But once the data was collected, when Stark told Blink to teleport them, she posed a profoundly unsettling question: "... here's the south pole?"

Stark stared, wide-eyed. "The pole—the south pole. You don't know?"

"Of course I know the south pole—I've been to Earth's south pole. The penguins there were kind of cute. But this isn't Earth—how am I supposed to know where the south pole is here?"

Stark opened his mouth. In his view, this was a simple question—just need to know Mercury's orbital path and axial tilt.

He was about to explain to Blink, but then realized: explaining orbital path and axial tilt meant explaining orbit and rotation; explaining orbit and rotation meant starting with gravitational fields; explaining gravitational fields meant bringing up the four fundamental forces...

In an instant, all these concepts passed through Stark's mind. He glanced at the Sun, so close, feeling the heat radiating through his armor, and helplessly turned to Northstar: "Your power is magnetic control, right? Mercury has a global magnetic field—follow the magnetic field lines to find the poles. Find the south pole, then have her teleport us there."

Northstar closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she said: "I found it."

Then the mutants exchanged glances. Northstar asked: "How should I describe the point I found?"

Stark pressed his forehead. Banner, however, was more patient. He said: "Do you know about triangulation? We can use a simpler method..."

"... hat's triangulation?"

Banner looked at Northstar. "Triangulation—finding three points..."

Banner was about to explain, then remembered: explaining triangulation required first explaining triangles; explaining triangles meant bringing up trigonometric identities and trigonometry; mentioning trigonometric identities meant explaining trigonometric functions...

Banner sighed too, and turned to Blink: "Even if we gave you a complete map right now, you still couldn't pinpoint a location, correct?"

"Actually, there's another way," Blink shrugged. "Just give me a direction, and I'll teleport you bit by bit. We'll definitely pass the south pole eventually—planets are round, after all."

Stark felt like suffocating. If he'd learned anything from his first landing, it was this: never rely on others—especially mutants.

But Blink's suggestion was viable. Blink's teleportation limit was the distance from Earth to the Moon; Mercury's diameter was only two-fifths of Earth's, so even if they teleported step by step, circling the planet wouldn't take long. And when they neared the south pole, Northstar would sense it, and they could land precisely there...

But Stark never imagined that to determine a position, he'd have to resort to brute-force enumeration.

After hours of frantic effort, Blink finally landed them at the south pole. By then, Banner and Stark were both dizzy—their human bodies couldn't handle rapid teleportation well.

But at least they'd reached their destination. Now it was Wave's turn. Mercury's south pole had craters; Wave needed to drill a tunnel downward for exploration.

Machines weren't used because Mercury's density was extremely high; to penetrate deep underground, drill bits required vibranium or adamantium, and would suffer massive wear. To save Earth money, Stark chose mutants—cost-free labor.

But the world proved nothing comes without cost. Wave's power was formidable—he could move freely in space without armor and absorb solar energy to generate shockwaves.

The only problem: he couldn't understand Stark's survey maps. He flew up, glanced at the map, then at the ground, then back at the map, then again at the ground. After staring for a long time, he flew back and asked Stark: "Why doesn't your map show any craters?"

"No craters?... Isn't this one right here?" Stark walked over, pointing at the map. "Look here—see this string of data? You need to follow this..."

"What is this string of data?... And what's this?"

"That's the scale. See this dot I drew? You need to carve a perfect circle at a 1: 000 scale, and cut a tangent line here with half the depth, and here..."

Half an hour later, Wave flew back up and fired a searing shockwave from his arm. Stark stood with arms crossed on Mercury's surface, staring at the ground pattern, shouting: "Stop! You messed up!! What's that in your hand? That's a map—follow the map!!!"

"I AM following the map!!" Wave shouted back.

"I asked for a perfect circle—what shape is that? Bread slices?!"

"I'm controlling this manually—how can I be that precise?!"

"I marked the allowable error! Didn't you see? The western tolerance is larger—why did you deviate north?!"

"This isn't Earth—how am I supposed to know which way is west?!!"

Half an hour later, Stark and Banner sighed again. Banner placed a hand on Stark's shoulder. "Let it go. It's just preliminary surveying—getting into the crater's base is enough."

Stark said nothing, and walked straight toward the pit Wave had dug.

Wave had carved a hole in the crater's center. When Blink teleported them down, Bruce cried out and sat down hard—his landing spot had a protrusion that tripped him.

*Jian Lai*

Stark turned, sighed again, and said to Wave: "Don't you understand the importance of safety procedures?"

Before Wave could retort, Stark said: "Alright—fire a tunnel right here."

Then he turned and dragged Iceman over. "While he drills, use your ice power to build support structures—prevent collapse."

Stark pulled out the map again. But before Iceman could speak, Stark glanced at it, then tossed it behind him. "Forget it—you wouldn't understand anyway. Simply put: he digs a tunnel, you prop it up so we can go in."

"Alright, no problem," Iceman nodded.

Wave fired a thinner beam, slowly carving a tunnel. As the tunnel appeared before them...

Iceman crouched, placed his hand on the ground, and instantly, ice spread along the tunnel's walls. But Banner halted him. "Your support structure won't hold—further ahead, it'll collapse. According to structural mechanics, you need a support point here, and here, and this area needs load-bearing..."

Iceman didn't understand, but his temper was better than the others'. He did as Banner instructed. Hours passed before they finally entered the tunnel.

Then came the endless repetition: Stark searched underground for possible ice layers while recording subsurface rock strata.

After much adjustment, they finally worked well together—until Banner and Bruce were collecting data in a subterranean cavity, when Wave, Northstar, and Iceman erupted into another fierce argument.

They'd already fought recently; only because Charles and Magneto had temporarily agreed to let them work together had they been forced to cooperate—otherwise, they'd still be in silent war.

The consequences of forcing estranged people together need no explanation: Wave suspected Iceman was stealing his girlfriend; Northstar thought Wave was being irrational; Iceman defended Northstar, making Wave feel betrayed by both.

Stark was calmly collecting rock samples when he heard a loud "boom" behind him. Instantly, the ice pillars supporting the underground structure began collapsing layer by layer. In an instant, Blink appeared beside them and teleported them both "whoosh" to the surface.

As they collapsed onto the ground, a thunderous rumble erupted from the center of the crater—"BOOM!"—the entire central region of the crater collapsed.

Wave, Northstar, and Iceman crawled out, covered in dust, facing Stark's face as dark as a soot-blackened pot.