Chapter 4768: The X Royal Family: New Life (Twenty-Seven)

The Avengers left in a hurry, while the mutants still had to hold a grand apology assembly, the theme being to apologize to the various factions that had come to attend the banquet. Although this was clearly a frame-up, as hosts they had still failed in their hospitality, letting the guests be frightened, so they could only apologize one by one.

However, the guests who hadn't left yet actually didn't mind all that much. To put it bluntly, how could dealing with mutants involve no risk? They'd suffered the fright, borne the risk — running now would be the unwise move. Staying, at least, would let the mutants owe them a favor, which might come in handy later.

There were actually quite a few such smart people — for instance, the envoys of S. H. I. E. L. D. and Wakanda both stayed, and even Latveria's people didn't leave. Charles personally promised them that the mutants owed them a favor and would surely go all out to help if needed in the future, which could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Don't be fooled by the mutants' poor performance on the island, struggling even to handle a volcanic eruption. That's because the island itself imposes restrictions on mutants — it can restrict even an Omega-level down to Beta-level — and the eruption was too sudden, so the handling effect was naturally poor. But if they left this island, each and every one of them would be a planetary-level powerhouse; getting a favor from them would be an unexpected windfall.

But these people left soon enough too, because they knew the mutants still had family matters to deal with next. This matter was far more important than diplomacy. Anyone with eyes could see there had to be traitors on the island, and not a few of them, with strong execution capability — clearly trained professionals.

"I won't say much more," Charles said after the others left. "Even if I wanted to push all responsibility onto the Avengers, it's impossible. Anyone with a brain would know it couldn't have been them acting personally — it could only be mutants on the island."

"What do you intend to do?" the White Queen asked. She had come to such an important banquet, of course, even knowing she might never be able to join Krakoa again. But she was a businesswoman; maintaining good relations with all sides was necessary. Even if she didn't join, there was no need to offend anyone, so naturally she came.

"The first thing is not to blame each other. You should also be able to guess that ever since Krakoa raised the slogan 'never abandon any mutant,' this situation was bound to happen. Because not all mutants side with mutants — getting infiltrated was inevitable."

Apocalypse crossed his arms and nodded: "Correct. Many mutants lived in human society for too long; they value their social status in ordinary human society more, and can't bear to part with their ordinary human parents. If someone uses threats and inducements, the possibility of them turning traitor is very high."

Namor frowned deeply: "It can only be those mutants you recruited from the mainland who are the problem. Because those of us who came voluntarily — if we really wanted to make trouble for Krakoa, we simply wouldn't have come. I'm a king in my own right; there's no need for me to come here and suffer with you."

Many mutants also nodded. They were the ones who had voluntarily come to join after Magneto changed his approach. Although these people might not all be from great families, at the very least they were all capable of standing on their own and had backing — they were by no means homeless, weak mutants. They hadn't come to Krakoa seeking asylum, but had actively thrown themselves into the cause of the mutant utopia.

The possibility of such mutants pulling something like this was very small, because they had abandoned their originally better lives to join a company that had just started and faced difficulties everywhere, precisely hoping this company would grow big and strong and take them further. Sabotaging it now before it had even escaped the startup phase held no benefit for these investors.

But although that was the logic, no one dared speak too absolutely. They themselves thought this way, but their subordinates might not — what if they'd been infiltrated long ago and then exposed? If they spoke too absolutely, they might come under attack themselves.

"How about this," Apocalypse spoke up, "I can open my mind to you — you can conduct a telepathic scan on me. Any suspicious points, you can announce publicly for everyone to judge together. That should clear my suspicion, right?"

As soon as he said this, the mutants erupted in another commotion. Truth be told, although Professor X always wore a benevolent face, most mutants both revered and feared him — the key lay in his ability. Being able to view everyone's thoughts and memories anytime, anywhere, was just a bit too terrifying.

But precisely because of this, Apocalypse's attitude won everyone's admiration. This was just too clear-conscienced — you've lived from ancient times to now and never done a single thing against your conscience?

"No matter what I've done, my starting point has always been for the good of mutants." Apocalypse raised his head slightly. "Even if I've attacked many of you, it was only because I wanted to rule mutants first, then rule the whole world. My conscience is clear."

With him putting it that way, the others couldn't say anything. If you said he overestimated himself — well, Apocalypse was the mutant progenitor; in the era he lived, mutants also stirred up winds and clouds, but by the modern era, mutants were living miserably. He felt his descendants were disappointing and wanted to strive once more himself — that was normal too.

"I can also accept the scan," the White Queen said. "Although I'm also a psychic, I can only resist the Professor's brainwaves when in diamond form; at any other time I can't. I won't use my mutant power to resist, guaranteeing the scan results are true and accurate."

"Then I can too," Polaris stepped forward and said. "I have nothing to hide. Besides, I trust the Professor's character — he'll definitely only check this matter. If he really wanted to see our privacy, he'd have seen it long ago; no one has secrets in front of Professor X, right?"

Many young mutants also stepped forward — most were Professor X's students, and there were also some of the younger generation of the Brotherhood of Mutants. They truly did trust the Professor's character, knowing that even if he saw something, he wouldn't spread it. This was trust accumulated over years and months.

In the end, most mutants agreed to accept the scan, and only a small portion of outside mutant factions had reservations. But they didn't dare say much either, because stepping out to oppose at this time would easily get them labeled as traitors, so they reluctantly agreed in the end.

"Then come to me voluntarily," Charles said. "I'll be waiting in my office — whoever comes, I'll scan. After being cleared of suspicion, go rest first; I'll announce the results soon."

"Do we need to be scanned too?" the main-universe Captain America asked. "Not that we're unwilling — it's just we've never undergone mind-reading before, unsure if it would..."

"You don't need to," Charles said. "Iron Man and Doctor Strange have already left. And your characters are there for all to see. Of course, if you're willing, I won't refuse — proving your innocence is naturally even better."

Although they knew this might let a lot of information fall into the Central Universe's hands, there was no better way. And without Iron Man and Doctor Strange, the remaining people were relatively mild-mannered, feeling that being able to prove their innocence wasn't bad.

"What about us?" Matt asked.

"Iron Man can be exempted," Charles said. "His contribution in this matter is there for all to see, and his condition is poor — he should go rest first."

The mutants had no objections, because Polaris had already told them the whole process of repairing the engine — it was indeed the Central Universe's Iron Man who had saved the situation. If he were the mastermind, there was absolutely no need for him to do that; his exemption was perfectly normal.

The others had no objections either — anyway, Charles was one of their own, and wouldn't speak carelessly about what he saw. But since mutants were being scanned first, they went back to rest first.

Stark had long since been sent back to sleep; the others sat on the sofa and let out a long breath. Strange couldn't help complaining: "What the hell is Charles up to?"

"You noticed too," Matt said. "I thought I was the only one thinking this."

"What did you notice?" Natasha asked.

"This whole thing was staged by Charles himself," Shiler answered her. "There's no so-called mastermind at all — that engine was sabotaged by him."

"I thought it was you," Natasha spoke bluntly. "It looked a bit like your style. Although the volcanic eruption seemed a bit petty, I thought you were holding back a little out of respect for Charles."

"Although I saw through it from the start, it really wasn't me," Shiler shook his head. "I even warned you guys — kept steering the conversation this way, but you all seemed not to notice."

"I had a premonition," Matt said. "The hot spring thing was suspicious enough. As I said — facing all kinds of sanctions and pressure from all sides, mutants choosing to build a hot spring bathhouse first is obviously abnormal."

"I thought it was Charles's MO," Strange said. "He stirs up trouble in the Andromeda Galaxy, then pins it all on the Three Great Empires — the Three Great Empires have been screwed by him like this several times already."

"So that's how it is," Steve nodded. "Just now I thought about it — although on the surface it looks like the mutants lost a lot, actually they gained more."

"What did they gain?" Bucky asked. "What I can see is probably just the local Avengers' guilt — what else?"

"Naturally, they can openly catch traitors now," Shiler put forward. "Without this pretext, suddenly announcing a telepathic scan — no one would agree. But with such a big incident, everyone's rushing to prove their innocence, so the scan becomes perfectly justified — this can quickly purge Krakoa's traitors."

"But they also offended quite a few national ambassadors at the same time."

"The important ones didn't all leave, did they?" Steve drank some water, then put down the cup. "A pile of fair-weather friends isn't worth a few bosom friends — this logic holds in any era. At the UN it seems whoever has the loudest voice is strongest, but once out of the assembly hall, you still have to look at actual support strength."

"Exactly. As long as mutants still have value, their allies won't abandon them. The worse off Krakoa is, the greater the aid allies will give. This incident is their excuse to ask for aid, and a legitimate reason for allies to provide humanitarian aid without violating international treaties."

"And the Avengers' guilt is key too — at least it can leverage Stark Industries and the Avengers themselves to go against Washington which issued the sanctions. With Iron Man's temper, he won't consider it over until the sanctions are lifted."

"Allies step forward to aid on the international stage, the sanctions get hammered by the Avengers in turn — Krakoa's current diplomatic predicament can be broken quickly. And purging traitors lets those certified by Charles trust each other, become more united, and stabilize the internal situation."

Shiler paused, then said: "With this move played, Krakoa's situation of internal and external troubles won't last much longer."