Recruiting Mutants

Professor X's head looked almost shiny enough to reflect light. He sat in his wheelchair, smiling kindly at Li Chen.

Li Chen got out of the car and found that he was much more courteous than the White Queen.

When they had first met, the White Queen had immediately tried to probe him telepathically, but Professor X had done no such thing.

Perhaps Professor X also understood that since the White Queen had dared to send Li Chen, she naturally wasn't afraid of that trick.

Beast, Hank, was behind Professor X, pushing his wheelchair. He hadn't transformed, but he still looked very "wild."

"Hello, Professor X. I'm Li Chen."

Li Chen spoke up.

"Li, thank you for coming."

Professor X smiled and nodded, shaking Li Chen's hand.

"Please, come in."

The group headed into the mansion, while the other Mutant children watched curiously.

Only a few "teachers" came over.

Li Chen quickly recognized them.

The man wearing special glasses was obviously Cyclops.

The dark-skinned woman in uniform was probably Storm, Ororo.

And of course, there was the red-haired Phoenix, Jean Grey, whose mature charm remained.

Seeing Jean Grey, Li Chen thought of her three versions in film history.

The first was her still-charming image in "X-Men," just like she was now, which many people liked.

The second was Jean in "Dark Phoenix," the worst-looking version.

The third was Jean Grey in the main Marvel Universe, Earth-616. This version had a youthful air and didn't awaken her powers until Spider-Man, Peter Parker, had grown up.

Without a doubt, this version of Jean was the most likable, because she looked just like the girl next door. Anyone would want a girlfriend like that.

From this, Li Chen also knew very well that the universe he was in wasn't Earth-616.

But that was normal. The Marvel Universe had a Multiverse, so there was nothing he could do about not having transmigrated to the main universe.

The Jean Grey before him now no longer looked young, but time hadn't robbed her of her looks. Instead, it was as if it had given her a filter, making her more mature and beautiful.

She was like a ripe peach that anyone would want to bite into.

They greeted Li Chen, then went back to looking after the students.

Li Chen followed Professor X and Beast Hank into a spacious office.

"Li, what position do you hold in Hellfire?"

Professor X went behind his desk and asked curiously.

"White Rook," Li Chen replied.

Professor X and Hank were both a little surprised.

They looked Li Chen up and down. "May I ask what your Mutant ability is?"

"I'm not a Mutant."

Li Chen shook his head. "Professor Charles, Mutants aren't the only ones in this world with superpowers."

Professor X remained calm. "I know. The Inhumans, for example."

The relationship between Mutants and Inhumans was complicated, and the two sides had been in conflict for a long time.

After that, Professor X didn't probe further into Li Chen's secrets.

Although they were curious about how Li Chen, who wasn't a Mutant, had become one of the Hellfire Club's higher-ups.

But that was how Hellfire worked. No matter who you were, you could gain status if you had the ability.

"The White Queen should have told you. We have students about to graduate, but they don't want ordinary jobs."

"As for whether the Hellfire Club will take them in, that's up to you."

Li Chen nodded at Professor X's words.

That was right. He had come to recruit people for the Hellfire Club.

The X Academy's role was to educate and train. Its relationship with the Hellfire Club could be described in a phrase: both opposition and cooperation.

They opposed each other because their ideals sometimes differed, but they cooperated because both sides were Mutants.

Mutants helped Mutants.

Just as now, many trained Mutants didn't want to stay at the X Academy forever. They longed to go out into society.

But because they had superpowers and were a little "too ambitious for their own good," they didn't want to live ordinary lives and looked down on ordinary jobs.

If they were left to go out into society on their own, things could easily happen.

If they couldn't survive after falling below the "kill line" and chose to use their powers to commit crimes, they would bring discredit to the Mutant community.

Naturally, Professor X didn't want that to happen.

So he chose to cooperate with the Hellfire Club.

The Hellfire Club would recruit them, and those Mutants who chose to join would be well treated. At least they wouldn't have to worry about falling below the "kill line."

The Hellfire Club spanned the world, with branches in major cities across the globe, so no one knew how much money it had. There was no need to worry about it being unable to pay wages.

After all, even a top billionaire like Tony Stark was a senior member of the club.

And members naturally had to pay annual "membership fees."

Even that was only a drop in the ocean of the Hellfire Club's income. There were plenty of other places where it made real money.

In this world, once you had power and influence, you never had to worry about lacking money.

Money was a material possession; power was what mattered most.

In any case, the Hellfire Club had at least been founded by Mutants, and Professor X trusted it more than other places.

Li Chen silently looked over the list of graduates.

There were actually only a few graduates in this batch.

After all, the whole academy had only a few dozen students.

For the Mutant population as a whole, the X Academy was still too small. It couldn't possibly gather all Mutants.

Besides, if it really did that, America would see it as a threat.

What were they trying to do, gathering so many Mutants in New York?

"Shadowcat, Dazzler, Li Qianhuan..."

Li Chen looked at the list and said, "Can you arrange for me to meet them?"

"Of course."

Beast Hank nodded and asked Jean to call them all into a classroom.

Li Chen headed straight there.

Besides the three girls from before, there were also two male Mutants.

They should have joined the X-Men, but since the new century began, the X-Men had ceased to be active, so naturally there was no need to recruit them anymore.

As soon as Li Chen entered, he saw the nervous looks in their eyes.

So he asked them directly, "What are your dreams?"

The Mutants looked at one another.

Dazzler was a pretty blonde beauty, about 1.73 meters tall. She raised her hand and said, "I... I once wanted to be a singer."

Alison Blaire's mother was a freelance performer, so she had dreamed of doing the same since childhood.

Her ability allowed her to convert sound-wave energy into various forms of light energy. After training, she used music, especially music with a brisk rhythm, to store sound energy.

Li Chen pointed at her and said, "Join the Hellfire Club, and we'll make you a superstar."

"And I own a film and television company. If you want to make movies, you can do that too."

Dazzler's eyes immediately lit up. "I'm in!"