Conflict

"My name is Lu Yifang. As for my ability..." Lu Yifang paused mid-sentence.

"It's a bit complicated to explain, and it's easy to break things, so I'll tell you another time. Sorry."

"Tch! How boring." Fireman John, upon hearing this, immediately lost interest and flopped onto his bed, ignoring Lu Yifang.

"Don't mind him. He's just like that. We're roommates now." Ice Man Bobby said with an awkward smile toward Lu Yifang.

"What I'm like—since when do you get to run your mouth about it?" Hearing this, John shot back immediately.

"Hmph!" Seeing John show no respect, Bobby couldn't be bothered to argue and snorted coldly, ignoring him.

But John seemed to be in a better mood again. Perhaps because their mutant abilities were naturally opposed, the two had clashed from the very first meeting. John, with his hotter temper, never missed a chance to needle Bobby.

"Anyway, our dorm's full now. What do you say we pick a leader?" John flipped upright and said to the two of them.

"Boring." Bobby voiced his opinion.

"Boring? I think this might make it less boring." John flicked open a lighter. A small flame swelled rapidly and surged toward Bobby.

John's sneak attack was too fast. Caught off guard, Bobby yelped as a tuft of his hair was singed off.

"I've had enough of you. If you want a fight, bring it. You think I'm actually scared of you?" Even Mudman has a temper, so why would Ice Man be any different? Pushed repeatedly by John, Bobby finally lost his cool.

A chill gathered in his hand, ice crystals floating around him as the room's temperature plummeted sharply.

"Who's scared of who? That's exactly what I want. Whoever loses becomes the other's slave." Instead of backing down, John stood up excitedly, flames roaring in his hand, rapidly heating the room and making it stifling.

Just as the two were about to clash, a figure stood up, walked calmly between them, and grabbed both their hands.

"Look, who's the leader isn't important. What matters is not ruining the harmony."

"Lu Yifang, you..." Ice Man Bobby stared in disbelief at Lu Yifang. The temperature in his hand right now was far lower than dry ice.

An ordinary person touching it would definitely get frostbite. Yet Lu Yifang's expression didn't change at all, and his hand looked perfectly healthy, not frostbitten in the slightest.

Putting aside Bobby's shock, John's hand had already started trembling slightly. The flame he'd held a moment ago could melt glass instantly if thrown, yet Lu Yifang had snuffed it out—with his bare hand.

What the hell, was this guy even human? Maybe his ability was also fire control, and far stronger than John's.

Lu Yifang's ability wasn't fire control. He controlled vectors. Both ice and fire were collective manifestations of molecular thermal motion.

The second law of thermodynamics: heat spontaneously transfers from hotter objects to colder ones. In theory, the ice in Bobby's hand would absorb heat from Lu Yifang's hand, freezing it, while the fire in John's hand would radiate heat, burning it.

But that theory didn't apply to Lu Yifang. Temperature was a scalar—only magnitude, no direction—but heat transfer had direction.

By manipulating this, the heat that should have flowed from his hand to Bobby was locked inside his body instead, while the thermal radiation from John's hand was all reflected back.

In fact, even if Lu Yifang stood still and let Bobby and John exhaust themselves to the point of coughing blood, they couldn't harm him in the slightest.

Seeing the two frozen in place, staring at him in terror, Lu Yifang suddenly smiled.

"Don't forget, this is a dorm. If it gets trashed, never mind what Professor X will do to us—where would we even live? Right?"

"Good point. Can't fight in the dorm." Seeing Lu Yifang offer an out, John quickly seized the chance.

Even as he backed down, he shot Bobby a glare, as if to say, It's not because I'm scared of you—I'm just worried about the school and giving Lu Yifang face.

Bobby rolled his eyes. He couldn't be bothered with this stubborn, hard-mouthed jerk. He turned his gaze seriously to Lu Yifang.

"I think you're right." Bobby said earnestly.

"Good. Let's keep the peace." Lu Yifang smiled and let go.

Both quickly pulled their hands back, still shaken. They had reason to be afraid—if Lu Yifang hadn't let go, they couldn't have broken free at all.

This guy was terrifying. In front of him, they felt like ordinary kids facing a muscular giant—weak and powerless. A seed of awe had been planted in their hearts.

John and Bobby flexed their hands while Lu Yifang kept smiling. None of them spoke, and the room fell silent.

After a long moment, feeling the tension, Ice Man Bobby broke the silence with an awkward laugh.

"Looks like the cafeteria's open by now. Let's go eat."

"Yeah? I'm a bit hungry too." John chimed in, not forgetting to invite Lu Yifang.

"Lu Yifang, you haven't been to the cafeteria since you got here, right? Want to come along?"

"That sounds great." Lu Yifang went along with it.

"By the way, just call me Yifang. We're roommates now—no need to be so formal."

The awkward atmosphere shattered completely. The three chatted and laughed as they left the dorm, feeling like they'd become friends through a fight.

With Bobby and John's help, Lu Yifang adapted to the Mutant Academy much faster. In just a few days, he felt like he'd already blended into the school.

Everything was great. The only downside was that he'd arrived right during a break in classes. Not only were there no lessons, he hadn't even seen a single teacher. That included Storm, who had dropped him off and then hurried away.

Without a doubt, every student hates class. But after a long break, they start to miss it. This contradictory, self-defeating mindset is deeply ingrained in the soul of every student, and Lu Yifang was no exception.

Especially since he was about to experience how mutants took classes—he was even more eager.

"Bobby, how long is this break going to last?" Lu Yifang, lying on his bed, turned to look at Bobby.

"I'm not sure either. The teachers have been busy with the Mutant Registration Act lately, and Professor X's old rival Magneto seems to have shown up too. I don't know the details, but classes probably won't start anytime soon." Bobby said distractedly.

"What's wrong? You don't look so good." Lu Yifang looked at him with concern.

"Nothing, I just..." Bobby's voice trailed off, as if he couldn't find a good excuse, and noticing Lu Yifang's questioning gaze, Bobby came clean anyway.

"Rogue is missing. I've searched the whole school and haven't seen her anywhere."

"Rogue?" Lu Yifang thought back, finally recalling the girl he'd met a few times. Her ability was very peculiar—her skin could automatically absorb others' life energy, and if the target was a Mutant, she'd also gain their powers temporarily.

But it was only temporary; the moment she let go, the acquired abilities would vanish. And because it involved absorbing life energy, prolonged contact with Rogue could drain someone to death.

Generally speaking, for a Mutant with such an uncontrollable and dangerous ability, anyone with a functioning brain would keep their distance. This wasn't about discrimination—just valuing one's own life.

But according to John, Bobby had some screw loose in his head and had actually developed feelings for Rogue.

"I want to leave the school to find her, but Teacher Storm won't let me. She said the teachers will handle it." Bobby confided in Lu Yifang, clearly unwilling to keep this bottled up.

"Teacher Storm said that for your own safety. And I remember the Professor has something called a Cerebro that makes finding people really easy. Rogue should be located soon." Lu Yifang said reassuringly.

Just as Lu Yifang was calming Bobby down, the door was rudely kicked open, and a blond guy rushed in frantically. Without a doubt, it was John.

"I just secretly found out some explosive news. You guys wanna hear it?" John panted, putting on a mysterious expression.

"What is it?" Seeing John's expectant look that screamed "Ask me, I'm awesome," Lu Yifang played along and asked.

"The Professor had an accident while using the Cerebro room. He's unconscious now."

"What the hell? Are you serious?" Lu Yifang, who had been comforting Bobby to stay calm, immediately lost his composure and grabbed John, demanding an answer.

Seeing Lu Yifang's shocked reaction, John seemed to recall his earlier experience, shuddered, and quickly explained.

"It should be true. I didn't see the unconscious Professor myself, but I overheard it from Teacher Scott. And I noticed all the teachers looked really worried."

"No, I have to go see for myself. Even if it's just for the ten-thousand scholarship he promised me, I can't stand by and do nothing." With that, Lu Yifang dashed out.