Chapter 865: Brilliant Stars (Seven)

Schiller tapped the table lightly and said, "Now, what losses will the anti-mutant factions suffer? Just the Brotherhood and a bunch of mutants causing trouble—but they can't touch them."

"Magneto blows up a factory, and it's ordinary workers who get hurt; Magneto fights the military, and it's newly conscripted low-ranking soldiers who get injured."

"Factory owners won't stand on the assembly line waiting for him to blow it up; those generals sit in the safest rooms imaginable, ordering subordinates to fight their wars."

"You don't actually want Magneto to carry out assassinations, do you?" Strange widened his eyes. "Forget everything else—Professor X would never agree. He won't let you turn Magneto into a weapon."

Stark frowned and said, "Actually, mutants have already proven this path won't work. They've assassinated key politicians before, but each time it only sparks unified human resistance and fiercer retaliation."

"They might kill one or two elites, but once those upper-class figures sense a threat, they'll retaliate without restraint—and public opinion will turn against them."

"Mutual retaliation leads to war, but Professor X sees clearly: mutants lack the numbers to wage open war against humans. Even if they could, they couldn't control the scale. If they turn Earth into a wasteland, where will they enjoy the fruits of civilization?"

At this, Strange himself covered his forehead and said, "Mutants are an unsolvable deadlock: don't fight, and they're slowly strangled by conspiracies; fight, and lose, and they have no future; win, and they get nothing but ruins…"

But Schiller waved his hand. "When did I say Magneto should carry out assassinations? That's a waste of resources."

"Then what are you planning…"

Schiller smiled. "These mutant hate-mongers don't realize the value of mutants—but that's normal, because mutants themselves haven't realized their own value."

"So first, we must make mutants recognize their own value. Then, we make every anti-mutant bigot recognize it too."

"Then, the inherent value of mutants becomes one of the costs of eliminating them. Do you think capital will invest in something where the cost far exceeds the profit?"

"But how do you demonstrate their value? Don't tell me you want them to be valued like vampires—for medicinal use?"

Strange's eyes lit up slightly. "Actually, that might not be impossible. If we could develop some useful mutant abilities into drugs, it would raise the intrinsic value of mutants…"

Schiller shook his head again. "You're going to say we should spread the X-gene, turn everyone into mutants, aren't you?"

"Why not? If everyone's a mutant, no one will reject mutants."

"Didn't you listen carefully to what I said before? Anti-mutant people don't hate mutants because they're mutants—they hate them because hating a group benefits them."

"If most people are mutants, they'll start hating those who aren't. If everyone's a mutant, they'll start hating the last ones to become mutants. If everyone becomes a mutant at the same time, they'll claim some people aren't worthy of becoming mutants…"

"Mutants aren't the core issue. If the X-gene never existed, any trait that sets an individual apart from the masses would become the X-gene—used to manipulate public opinion against some group."

"As long as there's money to be made, they can invent ten thousand genes to form factions, rally followers. These people are just dogs driven by capital and profit—they'll bark loudly even without a tangible product."

"And if you produce a real drug, you think the end result will be everyone buying it and becoming mutants with convenient abilities?"

"The real outcome? The elite will use their resources to control most of the drug, distribute it to a select few to cultivate dependency, then keep raising prices, squeezing the masses dry until they've bled them of every last cent."

"Once ordinary people can't afford the drug, they'll pour money into feeding those dogs, who'll scream that anyone too lazy to earn money for the drug has no right to exist."

"Those who can afford the drug will use its convenient abilities to gain greater advantages, seize more opportunities; those who can't will be utterly discarded by society."

"Don't even mention flight or other highly practical abilities. Even just being better-looking than others gives you an edge in job interviews."

"You might think, 'If you can't afford it, just earn more money.' But by then, the first group who couldn't afford it will have lost all chance to earn. Even if the drug costs only ten dollars, anyone who can't pay ten dollars will be socially eliminated."

"Ten dollars sounds small, but if you actually counted, the number of people who can't afford it would far exceed anyone's imagination."

"Beneath the glittering heights of a prosperous society, there are too many saplings growing from barren soil, starved of nutrients, forever unable to thrive."

"The drug is a ticket. From now on, society splits into two classes: those who can buy the ticket have a chance to improve; those who can't are robbed of every opportunity, trapped in a vicious cycle with no escape."

"When the basic ticket isn't profitable enough, introduce the intermediate ticket, then the premium ticket…"

"The basic ticket eliminates those who can't afford the drug to become beautiful; the intermediate ticket eliminates those who can't afford it to become strong; the premium ticket eliminates those who can't afford flight. In the end, society will belong solely to the final owners—beauty, strength, free flight, immortality, hoarding all resources."

"Under the utopian vision of everyone having superpowers, many will ignore those who can't even afford a cheap ticket, let alone those who, due to information gaps, won't or dare not chase trends. They don't deserve to be eliminated."

"As for mutants? Their situation won't improve. Those who can't afford the drug will see mutants as accomplices to the merchants, the root cause of their own social downfall."

"Those who can afford the drug won't thank mutants—they'll thank only themselves for working hard and seizing opportunities."

"The drug sellers will see mutants as livestock—once their historical mission is done, they should shut up quietly and not expect any privileges."

The room grew heavy. Just imagining this future was suffocating.

"So what are you going to do?" After a while, Strange looked at Schiller.

Schiller smiled, snapped his fingers, and two flyers landed before Stark and Strange. Then he said:

"The great Emperor Thanos has built his empire in the Dark Quadrant. He possesses infinite power and wealth; all are awed by his strength and riches."

"Now, in a remote, fertile corner of the universe, he has discovered a powerful, promising race—the mutants."

"Heroes recognize heroes. Emperor Summers' grand conquest of the universe cannot succeed without mutants. Now, if mutants join Thanos' great journey, planets, minerals, spaceships, resources—and above all, respect—await them in the Dark Quadrant."

Schiller stood up. "Mutants will become Thanos' sharpest blade in his conquest of the universe."

"They will fight alongside Thanos, unleash their might, plunder vast resources for the Dark Quadrant—but these spoils were meant to be humanity's."

"I hope, by then, those who thought exterminating mutants caused no loss won't cry too loudly."

Stark stood up, crossed his arms, and stared into Schiller's eyes. "False propaganda, price gouging, right? You unscrupulous… doctor."

"The only problem is…" Strange also stood, looking at Schiller. "You really plan to send them to work for Thanos? To plunder resources for him?"

"Yes, they'll plunder resources—that's what a Pope should do." Schiller nodded, then sighed helplessly and shook his head. "I tried to send the resources, but customs intercepted them. What can I do? I did my best!"

"If Emperor Thanos returns, I'll help him file a complaint against customs for eternal corruption."

Schiller walked to the window. Outside, autumn painted East New York in brilliant hues. He looked at the scene and said:

"Humanity has never left the solar system, yet tens of thousands of years ago, on that wild earth, when humans first looked up at the stars, we felt the dazzling heavens belonged to us."

"It's the ultimate romance—and the ultimate greed. We shouldn't resist this greed; we should strive with all our might to claim every star, even the beautiful, dangerous meteors."

"Comparing mutants to meteors is fitting." Stark walked beside Schiller. "Meteors are beautiful—but when one crashes down, no one escapes unscathed."

"How can they resist such a miraculous race and choose destruction instead of possession?" Schiller's voice came. Stark turned and saw a terrifying hunger in his eyes. He heard Schiller say:

"If I must name what I ultimately seek, I want only this: for humanity—for my race—to claim every shining star, to free all great souls bound by mental chains, and make them revered ancestors of future generations."

"Until the river of time runs dry, until the cosmos is strewn with stars, the stars remain brilliant."

Until the river of time runs dry and the cosmos is strewn with stars, the stars still shine brilliantly.