What? Professor X Actually Stood Up!

"You want me, a top scientist with six doctoral degrees, to carry steel bars on a construction site? You want me to do this, and then have to go back to the prefab house to draw blueprints late at night?"

The Beast's furry face was full of resistance, and the big guy took half a step back.

"Do you understand quantum mechanics? Have you ever heard of gene mutation and telomerase recombination? You want me to do manual labor like bricklaying?"

"Hey, what's wrong with carrying bricks?"

"Workers are the most honorable, and besides, our construction work is high-tech, so there's a night snack allowance, and plenty of meat buns!"

"If you think that's not enough, I'll personally pay for the extra fried egg!"

Deadpool stood to the side with his hands raised high and his feet stomping on the ground alternately.

"I'm signing up! I'm willing to do manual labor. As long as you pay the Five Insurances and One Housing Fund, I'll even dismantle the Empire State Building and move it over there for you!"

The Beast, its blue fur trembling, turned and roared at Deadpool.

"Shut up, you brainless, single-celled organism!"

Just as the Beast was about to go berserk, Deadpool put his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to chop each other up. Just as Sing Sing was planning to write a report to Director Wang to apply for compensation for the mental distress caused by wild animals, a rhythmic noise came from the depths of the corridor.

"Tap... tap..."

With his arms crossed over his chest, Deadpool squeezed the eye sockets on his mask into a thin slit.

"Has the old landlady come all the way here to collect debts?"

As he slipped the Pig Butchering Knife into his palm, Sing Sing pricked up his ears. Such noises coming from the ruins in the middle of the night meant either a ghost or a competitor trying to steal his business.

The tapping sound grew closer with the footsteps, and an old man with a buzz cut slowly emerged from the shadows, leaning on a cane. His legs were not very nimble, and he walked with a hesitant gait.

"Uncle?"

Sing Sing hid the Pig Butchering Knife behind his back, his mouth agape.

"Why aren't you sleeping in bed at this hour? What are you doing wandering around these ruins? There are no streetlights here, so we won't compensate you. If you break a bone, just so you know, I didn't even touch you!"

Ignoring this attempt to shift blame, the old man looked up at the messy corridor, his gaze settling helplessly on Beast and Deadpool.

"Hank, Wade, can you guys be a little quieter? I can hear you discussing bricklaying and Five Insurances and One Housing Fund."

Upon seeing who it was, Deadpool let out a strange cry and leaped upwards.

"Charles, you're still alive? Wait, where's your wheelchair?"

"Did someone steal it and sell it for scrap metal? I knew that damn author was a jerk. Do you want me to go and steal a shared bike for you to tide you over?"

With his eyes wide open, Sing Sing pulled his sunglasses down halfway, his gaze sweeping from the old man's stubble hair to his two trembling legs.

"Holy crap!"

Pointing at the old man, Sing Sing turned to look at Beast and Deadpool.

"Is he Charles, the bald, disabled man who sits in a high-tech smart wheelchair all day, has a shiny bald head, and is known as having the most powerful brain on Earth?"

With his face cupped in his hands, Deadpool nodded repeatedly.

"You also noticed the character was ruined, right? And it's the younger version, he even abandoned the wheelchair! It's definitely the biggest hoax in the Marvel Universe!"

Clutching his chest, Sing Sing looked heartbroken.

"I knew it! I searched the yard for ages and couldn't find the wheelchair. Turns out you secretly sold it for scrap metal and bought hair growth tonic, didn't you!"

Charles's fingers tightened around his cane, and his eyelids twitched.

Normally, whenever his thoughts stirred, he could enter other people's minds and even see clearly how many times they wet the bed when they were three years old. Since Hank was injected with that special serum, his damaged spine regained sensation, and he was able to stand up and walk. However, the price was that his Mind Stone abilities were completely lost. Now, apart from thinking a little faster than others, he is just an ordinary middle-aged disabled person.

"Sir."

Clearing his throat, Professor X began, "Breaking into my school in the middle of the night, you can't be here just to collect scrap, can you?"

Sing Sing clicked his tongue. "That's hard to say. I'm the Chief Position Planner of the 749 Bureau of China. To put it simply, I'm the one who's here to find jobs for you unemployed people."

Professor X is hilarious!

After strolling over, Sing Sing circled around Charles.

"Hey sir, what happened to your leg? Did the doctor who put up ads for traditional Chinese medicine on a telephone pole cure it? Do you have receipts for the money you wasted at those shady hospitals? Can you get reimbursed for that?"

Professor X frowned, ignoring the nonsense.

"Find Mutants, find them jobs. Don't you know how the outside world treats us?"

"How to treat them—capture them for experiments, lock them in cages like monsters, or just shoot them dead—I'm very familiar with the traditional United States methods."

A gruff growl came from the side, and the Beast's eyes widened.

"Since you know that, why are you still trying to take advantage of us? What's the difference between you and Stryker!"

"The difference is huge! They don't even give you a decent meal. That old bastard Stryker is really stingy. We provide food!"

Looking at the professor, Sing Sing sighed deeply.

"Hey old buddy, look at your face. A full forehead and a square jaw. Even though you've fallen to the point of needing a cane, you still have the air of a leader in your bones."

"Okay, I'll get you some work."

"Your legs aren't very strong, so you definitely can't go work on a construction site carrying bricks. But with your eloquence, you'd be a perfect psychological counselor at the neighborhood committee!"

He protested loudly from the side, waving Deadpool hands wildly in the air.

"Why should I? I just signed up to be the neighborhood committee director, and this old man is trying to steal my job! I'm going to sue you for workplace bullying!"

"Shut up! If you tried to mediate a dispute with that mouth of yours, your instinctive reaction would be to chop your head off with a broom in three seconds!"

After glaring at Deadpool, Sing Sing turned around and put on a smiling face.

"Think about it, you just sit in the office every day, drinking tea and reading the newspaper. If a couple is arguing, you step in and say a few words of advice. If you encounter the unreasonable ones, didn't you used to do brainwashing? You'll subconsciously implant the idea of a loving family into their minds, and your performance will be off the charts in no time!"

With a sigh, Professor X's face showed even more fatigue.

"You..."

"Stephen Zhou is me, just call me Old Zhou."

"Mr. Zhou, you've misunderstood. I'm just an ordinary old man who's lost my abilities. I can't help you, and I can't help anyone else."

With his hand covering his mouth, Deadpool leaned in and shouted loudly.

"It's true. In order to be able to stand up and walk again, he had Hank injected with a drug that sealed his superpowers. Now he's just a complete old codger."