You're Just Doing This for the Convenience of an Affair

After the initial greetings, only Professor Xavier, that kindly old soul, and "Beast" McCoy were able to respond to Xiang Qian's politeness with any normalcy; the atmosphere was chilly from the start.

Xiang Qian waved his hand, dismissing all the attendants. "Care for a drink? I bought a few bottles of fine wine in France last year and made sure to bring them along for this trip to the States." He gestured toward the small bar, the presidential suite being fully equipped.

"We aren't here for a drink, let's get straight to the point, James." A hint of anxiety flickered in Professor Xavier's gentle gaze.

"Of course, but surely that doesn't preclude the time it takes to pour a glass?" Xiang Qian waved a hand dismissively, uncorking the bottle and pouring with an air of nonchalance. As he swirled the wine to let it breathe, he continued his conversation with the Professor. "What would you like to discuss? Worthington Industries, or Jimmy?"

"Both. Worthington Industries, and Jimmy!" The Professor repeated, his tone grave.

Xiang Qian leaned comfortably against the bar, even stretching slightly—nearly knocking the decanter against the wall—giving the impression that he was speaking through a yawn. "They've been the focus of the entire world these past few days." His casual attitude was grating.

"This focus could turn into a flashpoint for an all-out war between mutants and humans at any moment." Professor Xavier's usually gentle tone was becoming incredibly stern. "James, you should be able to see the crisis inherent in this."

"I can imagine. It seems Magneto is planning a major move. However, I must make a correction: the potential war is between American mutants and American humans—or at most, North America—things are still quite peaceful where we are."

Xiang Qian brought the decanter to his nose to sniff it, then began pouring, not forgetting to offer, "Are you sure you won't have some?"

"Some of my kin have informed me that Erik has successfully united several radical mutant groups; he now has a mutant army at his disposal." The Professor spoke of his old friend with deep concern. "That is his consistent way of handling problems; he cannot conceive of any solution other than violence."

Xiang Qian offered a disdainful smile. "Understandable; if you can't solve the problem, you solve the person who created it. I suspect... no, no need to guess, I am certain his target is the pharmaceutical lab at Worthington Industries on Alcatraz Island—that little boy, Jimmy."

Professor Xavier tacitly accepted this assessment.

"But I have a question." Xiang Qian gently swirled his glass. "The Brotherhood of Mutants has been suppressed by governments worldwide and has been greatly weakened over the years. How many more helpers can Magneto find to assemble his army?"

"Many!" This time, it was Scott, standing behind the Professor's wheelchair, who answered. "Worthington II's remarks at the press conference have infuriated many mutants."

Cyclops Scott's expression was grim; his anger was clearly directed not just at Magneto and the radical mutants, but even more so at Worthington II—and, of course, at Xiang Qian.

"That idiot Worthington!" Xiang Qian's tone was so light it didn't sound like an insult, but rather a statement of established fact. "What do you think? How do you view this so-called 'cure'?"

"It is not a medicine, and we are not patients; we do not need a cure!" Again, Scott rushed to answer, his tone so intense it sounded more like a roar.

"Mmhmm..." Xiang Qian nodded noncommittally, but suddenly noticed something interesting. "Mr. Secretary, you seem to have a different opinion?"

All eyes turned to "Beast," and the burly man hesitated.

"Hank?" Scott called out in dissatisfaction, puzzled by Beast's hesitation.

Forced by the gazes of the group, Beast Hank had no choice but to shrug his shoulders. "You have to understand, Scott, you aren't like me, shedding a pile of fur every single day."

Scott was momentarily speechless; Hank's internal struggle with his own mutant abilities had been long-standing, and the senior members of the X-Mansion were well aware of it.

"Oh, oh, oh..." At this point, Xiang Qian added fuel to the fire. "It seems you haven't even reached a consensus yourselves. Perhaps we can consider this from a neutral perspective; the research results of Worthington Industries are not entirely without merit—I can refrain from using the term 'medicine'."

The X-Men members, including Professor Xavier, fell silent.

Once they stripped away their emotional biases, as core members of the X-Men who had helped countless mutants, how could they not know that many mutants actually loathed their own mutations?

Even within the X-Mansion, there were many who desperately wanted to regain their status as ordinary humans: for instance, Rogue, who had to wrap herself up tightly because she couldn't control her powers, or Beak, who had been mutated for so long that he had nearly lost his human reason and could only live under the protection of the X-Mansion.

"We certainly understand, James." Professor Xavier let out a long sigh. "But the current situation requires caution. We believe it is not yet the time for this serum to appear on a large scale. It will severely exacerbate the conflict between mutants and humans."

"Not yet the time..." Xiang Qian repeated the Professor's words syllable by syllable, turning a short sentence into something out of a Shakespearean stage play. Anyone could hear the thick layer of mockery.

"Professor, how long have we known each other?" Xiang Qian suddenly dropped the topic of the genetic serum and began talking about the past, seemingly at random. Wolverine and Cyclops showed signs of dissatisfaction.

Professor Xavier was clearly much more patient; he stopped Logan and Scott from acting out and said calmly, "Ten years. Ever since you wounded Erik during the Statue of Liberty Incident and helped us avert a major crisis; it has been nearly ten years since then."

"Indeed, in these ten years, I have lost count of how many times I have heard you say that phrase—'not yet the time'." Xiang Qian sighed. "Professor, in your half-century of life, how many times have you said this? Can you even count them yourself?"

The Professor stared intently at Xiang Qian's face, his gaze profound. "What are you trying to say? Are you treating this incident as an opportunity to do something?"

"Yes. I believe the mutant genetic serum is a chance for mutants to integrate into human society. Isn't peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans exactly what you hope for, Professor?"

"But my hope is not for an outcome that ends in the extinction of my mutant kin," the Professor said sternly.

"Of course, I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment." Xiang Qian nodded. "Let me ask you another question: why do you think ordinary humans are able to maintain basic peaceful coexistence? Taking the United States as an example, they are also divided into many different ethnic groups."

This was a seemingly simple, yet grand proposition.

The Professor and Beast fell silent; they knew the complexity of the question. Logan didn't speak either, as his level of insight didn't even allow him to participate in such a discussion.

Only Cyclops Scott spoke without hesitation, mostly to vent his dissatisfaction and disdain for Xiang Qian: "Because no matter the ethnic group, they are all ordinary humans."

"Hahaha..." Xiang Qian burst into laughter. "I have to say, Scott, you are much smarter than the Professor. Sometimes, complex problems have the simplest of answers. Scott, you really are a 'big smarty'."

Was that a compliment? Was it?

The group of North Americans looked at each other. Using a Chinese slang term translated literally into English—let alone a group of Americans, even if Xiang Qian's own countrymen were here, they would have to twist their brains a few times to understand it.

"James, you might as well just say it plainly." Professor Xavier suppressed the urge to sigh and rub his forehead. He was, after all, the X-Professor who could read minds; after ten years of interaction, even if he couldn't sense Xiang Qian's psychological activity, he could see through his malicious nature.

Xiang Qian stopped laughing. "Ordinary people can live in peace because, under the existing social environment, they are bound by the same laws and social morality. On this foundation, they can righteously strike back against any unjust discriminatory behavior."

"Can we not do the same?" the Professor pressed.

Xiang Qian shook his head. "Professor, an unavoidable fact is that existing laws have huge loopholes when faced with the bizarre abilities of mutants, and the law often loses its binding power. To deny this is to deny objective reality."

Cyclops Scott retorted indignantly, "That is the common rhetoric of anti-mutant politicians. You are speaking from their perspective. We can also accept the constraints of the law; it is those who are hostile to mutants who are muddying the waters."

Xiang Qian gave Scott a look of extreme, mocking disdain. "Of all people here, you are the least qualified to say that."

"What do you mean? Want to fight?" Scott stepped forward, ready to move from words to action, but was held back by the level-headed Beast.

On the other side, Xiang Qian was completely unfazed by Scott's threat and spoke eloquently: "Don't understand? I can be even clearer. If an ordinary woman went to court and told the judge that her husband was cheating and fooling around with other women in the mental realm, the judge would only treat that woman as a lunatic."

"But among mutants, such things can absolutely become reality. Isn't that exactly what you did, Scott?"

As the words fell, silence descended upon the scene.

Xiang Qian had exposed the most shameful secret Scott the Cyclops harbored—he had cheated.

Scott and Jean had been in love for years and were even engaged at one point; unexpectedly, the Alkali Lake incident led to the awakening of the Dark Phoenix. Jean's personality was eroded by the Dark Phoenix, causing her temperament to change drastically and creating turbulence in her relationship with Scott.

Depressed and dejected, Scott ended up hooking up with Emma the White Queen. Fearing discovery, the two conducted their affair in secret, with the White Queen using her telepathic abilities to pull Scott's consciousness into her Mind Space. To outsiders, they both appeared to be merely resting with their eyes closed, sometimes even sitting far apart; who could have guessed that they were engaging in carnal acts within the world of their minds in a state of pure consciousness?

However... Phoenix was also a master-level telepath.

And so, one day when the White Queen pulled Scott into the Mind Room again, Jean Grey erupted with the Phoenix Force, shattering the White Queen's mental defenses and barging right in.

The scene was exactly like an ordinary person kicking down a door to catch a cheating partner; in the White Queen's Mind Space, the two adulterers were caught "in bed" on the spot by Jean Grey.

Enraged, Jean lost control of her emotions on the spot, and the Phoenix Force went berserk, to the point that even the Professor couldn't suppress it. Fortunately, Xiang Qian happened to be visiting the X-Mansion at the time and managed to absorb the out-of-control Phoenix Force in time, which also marked the beginning of his own emotional entanglement with Phoenix.

Yes, that's right; to summarize it simply: Phoenix was heartbroken and dejected, and the Playboy took advantage of the situation.

As for Cyclops, he was the unlucky one. Not only was his scandalous affair exposed, but he had also nearly brought disaster upon the entire school. Afterward, not only was his engagement to Jean broken, but he also drew much resentment from the teachers and students at the school.

Don't hit a person in the face, don't expose a person's shortcomings—that saying was useless when it came to Xiang Qian. He continued to harp on: "Come off it, Scott. Who are you putting on that righteous act for? You were just doing it to make your own cheating more convenient, weren't you..."

Scott the Cyclops's face turned livid, and one hand had already reached for the switch on his visor. Just as it seemed the Hilton hotel was about to suffer because of Xiang Qian's loose mouth, the Professor intervened in time to put an end to the farce.

"Enough! We have more important matters to attend to!"