The Creators Are All Unfeeling (Part 2)

Xiang Qian took Jean Grey into the air, soaring through the sea of stars in the Soul Universe with the legendary grace of riding the clouds. Jean was genuinely intrigued by what Xiang Qian had described as the "lovable side of the Phoenix Force."

Ever since the Phoenix awakened and brought forth a multitude of negative consequences, Jean had rejected the Phoenix Force from the depths of her soul. Yet, once she realized she could hardly escape its influence, she became desperate to find meaning in its existence—struggling on the edge of self-denial while seeking reasons for self-affirmation.

Xiang Qian hoped to alleviate the pain in her heart.

What of it? The Professor was still waiting for news in reality? He had been waiting for so long already; surely he wouldn't mind waiting a little longer. And what if he worried a bit more? It wasn't as if he'd lose any more hair over it, right?

Xiang Qian felt that healing the emotional trauma of this mature beauty was far more important. If the genetic drugs from Worthington Industries weren't handled well, it would at most stir up a bit of a trend among mutants; if the Phoenix Force wasn't properly soothed, it could destroy the Earth in a heartbeat.

As they traversed the galaxy, the stars seemed near yet impossibly far. The starlight flowing around them and the vast, expansive feeling of the infinite void, combined with the beauty of the starry sky, allowed Jean Grey's mood to recover from its despondency and gradually improve.

"What is that?" A verdant green planet caught Jean's eye. Looking from afar, beneath the shroud of its atmosphere, the surface of the celestial body was almost entirely covered by green vegetation, with patches of tranquil, sapphire-like bodies of water scattered throughout the emerald expanse.

"It's beautiful," Jean murmured. "Did you create this?"

Xiang Qian didn't answer immediately; instead, he brought Jean through the atmosphere and landed on the planet's surface. They stepped onto a patch of soft green grass, with a calm, secluded lake right before them and lush green mountains in the distance. Jean's mood immediately lifted at the sight of such vibrant life.

"This planet is very special. Did you create it specifically?" Jean relaxed her mind and limbs, breathing in the fresh scent of grass; her exquisitely stretched, graceful figure made Xiang Qian stare blankly.

Xiang Qian said, somewhat distracted, "No, not me. It was you. Your beauty infected it..."

The mature beauty, now in a much better mood, shot him a look that was half-smile, half-glare.

Xiang Qian hurriedly clarified, "I'm not lying, it really is because of you. A small fragment of the Phoenix fell onto this planet. Although it was just an insignificant piece, it accelerated the evolution of life on this planet a thousandfold. I don't know what the situation is like on the other side, but within the Soul Realm I control, this is the only planet where life has emerged so far."

Strictly speaking, this universe that shared a soul with Xiang Qian was still very young. Counting from the Big Bang singularity he had "witnessed" when he was six, it had only been about twenty years. Even though the flow of time in the soul differed from reality, aside from a few star systems where Xiang Qian had accelerated time, the cosmic space remained in a nascent state. Some planets hadn't even cooled down from the Big Bang, let alone given birth to life.

"How can that be?" Jean asked curiously. "Didn't you say you expelled all of the Phoenix Force?"

Xiang Qian smiled and said, "I did, years ago. But the Phoenix fragment on this planet wasn't left behind from that time; it was left a year ago, during the last time you came inside."

At the mention of "last time," Jean felt inexplicably flustered, as if a ball of fire were burning from the soles of her feet. She gave Xiang Qian a warning glare, terrified that this young man would start speaking without restraint again.

Xiang Qian ignored the mature beauty's warning and continued, his expression filled with nostalgia, "A tiny fragment of the Phoenix leaked out through your soul back then. It was so small that neither of us noticed. After all, we were... well... quite focused at the time? It wasn't until much later that I discovered the changes on this planet."

Jean stared daggers at Xiang Qian, wishing to express her stance with a fierce gaze; unfortunately, she was currently radiating such spring-like vitality that her forced look of ferocity only appeared charming and alluring, failing to pierce the playboy's thick skin.

Realizing her threat was ineffective, Jean let out a helpless sigh and forced herself to change the subject. "Isn't the Phoenix Force supposed to destroy this planet? Why is the result here different?"

"That is exactly what I want to tell you, honey. The Phoenix Force is not actually a destructive power." Xiang Qian took this opportunity to guide Jean through her inner conflict. "I have been studying it since the first time I absorbed it. It is the power gathered from all life in the universe; it was awakened by the shared pursuit of survival and reproduction of all living things. Therefore, its essence is actually life force—the power to stimulate and protect the growth of life."

Jean was incredulous. "But I have never seen it protect anything. All I have ever seen is destruction."

Xiang Qian gave a wry smile. "That's not your fault. The main reason, I'm afraid, lies with the Professor."

"Impossible. The Professor has always protected me from the Phoenix's corruption."

Xiang Qian nodded noncommittally. "Yes, during your adolescence, the Professor suppressed the Phoenix to prevent its overly powerful instinctual consciousness from destroying your immature personality. But you must understand, where there is suppression, there is resistance. The highest priority in the instinct of life is survival. The Professor's suppression made the Phoenix feel a threat to its existence, so it instinctively began to fight back."

"Every time the Professor suppressed it, he was amplifying the Phoenix's resistance. The effectiveness of the suppression grew worse and worse, until it finally spiraled completely out of control." Xiang Qian looked at Jean with helplessness and pity. "When the Professor could no longer suppress the Phoenix, you were facing a Phoenix that had become manic and restless from years of suppression. That is the fundamental reason why the Phoenix has repeatedly lost control."

Jean was thoughtful. "What can I do to soothe it? To make it feel safe?"

"Accept it and communicate with it. Although the Phoenix Force has consciousness, it lacks reason and emotion. It only follows instinct, and all its reactions to the outside world appear direct and brutal. If you harbor hostility toward it, it will inevitably respond to you with hostility."

Jean recoiled. "No, I can't do that. If I accept it, it will completely change me. By then, I won't know if I am Jean Grey or the Phoenix."

"No, no, no, no..." Xiang Qian shook his head repeatedly. "We are all influenced by the outside world. Our personalities and behavioral habits are all formed under external influence. Do you think that if this universe didn't exist in the depths of my soul, I would still be the person I am today?"

Xiang Qian smiled. "Regardless of whether this universe exists or not, I am still me, aren't I? The Phoenix will indeed change you, but you will still be Jean Grey. If you are truly afraid, whenever you find the Phoenix Force losing control, just come to me. Just like in the past, I will absorb the uncontrolled power and expel it to the other side of the realm."

"No, you're lying to me. The Phoenix Force is eroding my personality, and this universe is eroding yours as well." Jean looked at Xiang Qian, her eyes filled with both emotion and indignation. "Absorbing the Phoenix Force increases your burden, doesn't it? Don't you dare lie to me!"

Caught in his lie, Xiang Qian felt a bit guilty. "Burden... well... maybe a little?"

Jean wrapped her arms around Xiang Qian's neck and looked up at the starry sky above. "Have you ever thought about what we would become if we failed and our minds were completely eroded?"

"Completely eroded? I have thought about it." Xiang Qian nodded. "At that point, although we would still be alive, the side of us that is human would completely disappear. Emotions, reason, values—everything that represents humanity would cease to exist. All our actions would be carried out entirely according to the rules of the universe or the Phoenix. We would be the rules, yet we would not be the rules—because we would no longer have self-awareness."

"I am actually curious whether, if there really is a God or some other Creator in this world, they are also in this state of being completely devoid of emotion." Although he was talking about his own terrifying future, Xiang Qian seemed indifferent. "But I am confident that I will never let that happen."

"Confident and arrogant little man." Beside Xiang Qian, Jean could always reveal a smile. "I used to think about when I could completely get rid of the Phoenix. Have you ever thought about stripping this universe away from yourself—the day you finally shed the burden?"

Xiang Qian's expression grew a bit more helpless. "I have thought about it, but I eventually realized that I cannot do it, and I dare not do it."

"Why?"

"The reason is what I said before: this universe is a real existence on a material level. It is a real universe. It's fine within the soul dimension, but once stripped from my soul, the most likely outcome is that it would manifest in our reality." Xiang Qian joked dryly, "Tell me, what do you think would happen if two universes collided directly?"

What would happen if universes collided? No one knew, because surely no one had ever seen it. They might both vanish into entropy and trigger a restart; or they might eventually merge into one, shaping a new universe. But regardless of the result, Earth, as the center point of the collision, would certainly be reduced to dust.

The universe within his soul certainly brought Xiang Qian countless benefits, but it was also a burden with huge hidden dangers that he could never shed.

Jean sighed sadly, tightened her arms around Xiang Qian's neck, pulled him toward her, and offered her lips.

"Mmm..." The unexpected joy made Xiang Qian's heart bloom, and his hands, wrapped around the mature beauty's waist, began to grow restless.

Jean's body trembled, and she hurriedly lowered her arms to push against Xiang Qian's chest, shoving him away. Seeing the greedy look in his eyes so close by, Jean knew this playboy was trying to push his luck again.

"I have to go," Jean said, feigning annoyance.

Xiang Qian didn't let go of her waist. "I'm still reluctant to let you go. I really want to fly to America to find you right now."

Jean knew that she had to suppress this young man's restless impulses, so she coldly unleashed her trump card: "Coming to America—are you coming to find me, or Ororo?"

Hearing the name "Storm," Xiang Qian felt guilty, as if he had been caught in the act, and he lost his composure.

Jean was both exasperated and amused. Fighting back the softness that kept rising in her heart, she pressed her advantage: "I forgot to ask, have you brought Ororo into the Soul Realm as well?"

"Of course not!" Xiang Qian seized the chance to answer with righteous indignation.

Jean let out a malicious chuckle: "If Ororo found out, I wonder how heartbroken she would be..."

"Uh..." Xiang Qian stammered, left speechless.

It turned out that what killed a scumbag wasn't any specific question, but the sins they had committed themselves.

A patch of light shaped like a soaring phoenix shimmered in the void, carrying the mature beauty away.

Xiang Qian was dejected, having lost all interest in continuing his Gem Force Field experiments. Just as he lay on the grass of the green planet, bored out of his mind, a voice from reality suddenly rang in his ears.

Xiang Qian's immersion in the Soul Realm didn't mean he was completely oblivious to reality; his current state was actually similar to an ordinary person in a deep sleep. No matter how soundly one sleeps, they can still be woken up by an alarm clock.

The sound Xiang Qian heard at this moment was one of the "alarm clocks" he had set before "falling asleep."

Xiang Qian frowned in annoyance and withdrew from the Soul Realm, his physical body waking up as if from a dream.

The flow of time in the Soul Realm differed vastly from reality. Xiang Qian had conducted hundreds of experiments and spent quite a while flirting with the mature beauty, yet less than half an hour had passed in the real world. Calculating the flight speed, the plane probably hadn't even entered domestic airspace yet.

The thing that woke Xiang Qian was the tablet computer he kept with him at all times; the screen was flashing, emitting a rhythmic vibration.

Xiang Qian looked at the notification on the screen with a strange expression: "Someone is trying to hack the computer firewall?"