Old Magneto Digs Up the Wall

Magneto slowly descended from the sky, landing before Lu Yifang, his expression somewhat agitated as he said, "Child, your power is truly..."

But before he could finish, Lu Yifang cut him off, a smirk curling at the corner of his mouth as he watched Magneto descend from the air.

"Magneto, if you were still on the Statue of Liberty, with my current strength, it really would have been a huge hassle. But since you've come down, you can't blame me for this."

Magneto's face changed instantly at these words, and he quickly waved his hands to explain, "Wait, what are you trying to do? Don't attack. I have some things I want to discuss with you."

"Less talk, take this." Lu Yifang stomped his foot on the water's surface, and a massive wave suddenly surged, engulfing Magneto in an instant and sweeping him toward the shore of Liberty Island.

"Cough, cough!" As the wave receded, a disheveled Old Magneto was coughing violently on the shore.

At that moment, Lu Yifang was already striding over with an aggressive air. Old Magneto, having barely managed to stand, quickly raised his hand.

"Hold on, there's some misunderstanding here. I can explain—ouch!"

No sooner had Magneto spoken than Lu Yifang had already pinned him to the ground. It was fortunate that Magneto, as a mutant, had decent physical resilience; otherwise, as an old man, this rough treatment would have left him half dead.

"Damn it, can't you be reasonable and let me finish what I have to say?" Magneto, pinned to the ground, shouted out the exact same line Lu Yifang had used earlier, his voice full of frustration.

"What? Be reasonable? Fine." Lu Yifang immediately stopped his actions upon hearing this.

"If you'd said that earlier, you wouldn't have had to suffer. Beating up an old man isn't my thing either. I'm a good youth of the new era who respects the elderly, cherishes the young, and loves peace—a capitalist good boy." Though Lu Yifang said this, his body was quite honest as he plopped down and sat on Magneto's back.

"Didn't I already say that? You attacked me without even knowing the facts!" Magneto said angrily.

"Oh, that." Lu Yifang gave an awkward laugh.

"I thought you were trying some trick. After all, before I came, the professor instructed me that if I wanted to reason with you properly, I'd have to beat you down first."

Hearing this, Magneto clenched his fists, grinding his teeth in silent fury. "Fine, Charles. I treated you as a close friend, and this is how you set me up. I'll remember this. Just wait—next chance I get, I'll stuff something even more stimulating into your Cerebro."

Having successfully shifted the hatred onto Professor X, Lu Yifang rubbed his nose and considered whether to warn the professor. But after a moment of thought, he decided he'd tell him only if the professor agreed to increase his scholarship.

"Child, can you tell me your name?" Pinned under Lu Yifang, Magneto didn't use his powers to resist but instead intended to talk like this.

"Lu Yifang." Lu Yifang answered simply.

"How did you get into Charles's school? Where's your family?" Magneto probed, trying to understand Lu Yifang's background.

"My parents disappeared seven years ago. After that, I was sent to an orphanage. Last week, my ability awakened, and the professor found me. He offered me what I thought were pretty good terms, so I enrolled in his school." Lu Yifang said frankly, seeing no reason to hide these things.

"Oh. That's truly unfortunate, my child." Magneto said this, but his eyes had lit up.

Did I hear that right? Charles only found this kid last week? That means he hasn't been poisoned by Charles's "love and peace" brainwashing yet. He's still an uncarved jade.

No way. I can't let that bastard Charles ruin such good material. Magneto felt it was his duty to do something.

"Yifang." To close the distance, Magneto had already dropped Lu Yifang's surname, speaking now like a seasoned, gentle elder passing on his experience to the younger generation.

"Do you know that you're a Level 5 mutant?"

"I'm a Level 5 mutant?" Lu Yifang looked at Magneto in surprise.

"I just know my ability is very strong. As for this mutant level classification, the professor never mentioned it to me."

Hmph, I knew Charles wouldn't say anything. That bastard always refuses to tell some outstanding kids about their potential. He needs to realize he's wasting their talents.

If I hadn't discovered Lu Yifang, was he planning to ruin another Level 5 mutant, like Jean Grey? I won't allow that to happen again.

"Damn it." As Magneto silently resolved himself, Lu Yifang's annoyed voice came through.

"Are you disappointed in Charles?" Magneto said in a low, suggestive tone. Badmouthing his old friend to his students was something Magneto excelled at.

"A little. More accurately, I feel like I got the short end of the stick. No wonder that old bald guy was so eager to recruit me into his school and offered such generous terms. If I'd known, I shouldn't have held back—I should have bargained for more benefits. At least a single dorm room, he definitely would have agreed to that." Lu Yifang said with a look of regret.

A single dorm room? What the hell? What kind of disappointment is that? Magneto had no idea how to even comment on this. Was this a normal person's thought process... Well, actually, it might be normal. Could it be that I'm the one...

Magneto quickly pulled his mind back from that dangerous line of thought and changed the subject.

"As a mutant, have you noticed the hostility this world has toward us? The discrimination from those foolish ordi... ordinary people?"

"A little." Lu Yifang said calmly.

A little? Those people are already planning to pass a Mutant Registration Act, marking all of us, and threatening to lock us up, and you say a little?

Is it only when they drag us all into labs and dissect us one by one that you'll think it's too much?

Of course, Magneto kept these thoughts to himself, not daring to say them aloud to Lu Yifang. He was working hard to build goodwill right now.

Thinking it over, Magneto suddenly found Lu Yifang's attitude understandable. After all, Lu Yifang had just awakened his ability and was immediately found by the professor, meaning he hadn't experienced the world's hostility and didn't hate ordinary people.

Seeing no breakthrough here, Magneto paused for a moment before quickly switching topics. "Child, do you know why I went to all this trouble to build this machine?"

"I know a bit, but unfortunately, this machine is still in the experimental stage and has huge flaws. Your experiment could never succeed." Lu Yifang looked down at Magneto and said.

"You say that too." Before this, when Magneto had tied up Cyclops and the others, Storm had already told him the same thing. But back then, Magneto was caught up in the frenzy of imminent success—how could he believe Storm's words?

"Before I came here, I took some time to watch a recording. The main subject was Senator Kelly, the one you captured for your experiment. Not only did all his cells die, but his ability went out of control, and he turned into an unidentified liquid." Lu Yifang explained.

"Oh, my God. What have I done?" Magneto muttered in disbelief. He believed Lu Yifang's words. Now that he had calmed down and his plan had failed, there was no reason for Lu Yifang to lie to him.

In fact, there was scientific basis for beating down a big villain first before reasoning with him—it forced him to calm down and think clearly.

For example, Old Magneto was now questioning his life choices. When it came to courting disaster and making headlines, Old Magneto had always been gifted. Now, he realized just how massive a disaster he had nearly caused.

If he had turned everyone in New York into mutants, that would have been a huge headline, but overall, it might have benefited mutants—especially with many national leaders and high-ranking officials in the city for a meeting. An extra ten million or so mutants could have done a lot.

But if the experiment failed and everyone in New York died, it would have been a catastrophe. Both mutants and ordinary people would have ended up losing everything.

Old Magneto's ideal was for Mutants to thrive and prosper, and this was absolutely not what he wanted to see.

After figuring all this out, Old Magneto's spirits sank instantly, but at that moment Lu Yifang spoke up.

"Although your actions this time were too extreme, I do recognize your way of thinking."

"What? What did you say?" Magneto lifted his head with a bewildered expression, looking at Lu Yifang in disbelief. He wondered if he was just too old and his ears were failing him.

"I said I believe Mutants are the next stage of human evolution—Mutants are humanity's future." Lu Yifang looked at Magneto and spoke with a serious expression.