A Pair of Best Buddies

Salem Center, Westchester County, New York City

1407 Graymalkin Lane

Inside Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Charles emerged from a spatial vortex and looked at the school, now empty because of the military's arrests. Before his eyes, he could almost see students chasing one another and playing.

Qin Yi walked over to the dazed Charles, patted him on the shoulder, and said,

"This place will be better in the future."

After passing through several hidden rooms, they entered the deepest chamber of the X-Men base.

Under the lights, an enormous machine appeared before them.

Cerebro.

A true superweapon built by Charles with the help of his best buddy, Magneto.

With Cerebro amplifying Charles's psychic abilities, he could use it to connect to everyone in the world, whether ordinary humans or Mutants. More terrifyingly, he could also use it to kill everyone in the world.

Charles stepped forward and put on Cerebro's helmet, which enhanced his abilities.

Qin Yi curiously circled the machine and examined it. The tech tree really was absurdly crooked. This machine was pretty good. It would be even better if he could take it apart and study it. He wondered whether it could enhance his own abilities.

Should I secretly haul it back for research? Qin Yi was tempted. After circling it a few more times, he muttered to himself, I'll wait until I get another chance. First, I need to solve the Mutants' problem in front of me.

After Charles located his best buddy, the king of grand entrances, Qin Yi used the coordinates Charles provided to bring the two of them through a spatial vortex to Magneto's hideout.

Qin Yi had thought Magneto might not escape the pursuit as miserably as Charles had, but he had not expected their meeting to turn out like this.

A few minutes earlier.

On a small farm in the western United States, Magneto swung a hoe with both hands. Of the former Brotherhood members, only two Mutants remained behind him, watering the fields.

Magneto raised his head and stared at the spatial vortex that had appeared before him. He waved at the Mutants behind him, and they immediately prepared for battle.

Until the familiar bald head emerged from the vortex.

When the two met, they smiled at each other and embraced.

Qin Yi looked at the hoe and bucket Magneto had tossed into the fields, clicked his tongue, and complained inwardly,

He's actually farming... Is he planning to retire?

A moment later.

"Charles, this is a conspiracy. A conspiracy against Mutants. They want to catch us all in one net. They were hunting us down everywhere just a moment ago, and less than a day later, they're asking us to attend some damn peace conference. Do you believe it, Charles?"

"I do..."

Wolverine and Qin Yi sat not far away, watching Charles and Magneto bicker after that embrace. Still... something about this felt wrong. Why did it feel like an old married couple showing off their affection?

Tsk, there really were plenty of best buddies in Marvel.

Captain and Winter Soldier, Professor X and Magneto, the prince and princess of Asgard.

Qin Yi accepted the cigar Wolverine handed him, lit it, and asked with interest,

"Logan, who do you think can convince the other?"

Logan recalled the times they had fought together as X-Men.

"The Professor. He always manages to get Erik to stand behind him, though the two of them always split up afterward."

Sure enough, a moment later.

Charles led Magneto over.

"That's him?"

Magneto pointed at Qin Yi with one hand, exchanged a glance with Charles, then turned to Qin Yi and said,

"I don't care what you told Charles. If you want us to cooperate, then show me enough strength to make me believe you."

Qin Yi clicked his tongue. Where did that confidence come from? He could not even handle the D'Bari woman Qin Yi had devoured years ago.

Looking at Magneto, whose fighting spirit was running high, Qin Yi decided they might as well let their strength do the talking. It would save this guy from causing trouble later and disrupting his plans.

To avoid damaging the crops around them, Qin Yi directly cast the Mirror Dimension and enclosed them within it.

The abruptly changing environment only stunned Magneto, a battle-hardened veteran, for a few seconds. After calming down, he slowly rose into the air and extended his palm toward the ground inside the Mirror Dimension.

The ground began to tremble slowly. Iron ore beneath the surface flew into the air through cracks split open by the shaking earth. Moments later, every iron object and piece of iron ore on the farm formed several magnetic rings, standing horizontally not far in front of Qin Yi.

Within the spinning magnetic rings, the iron ore gradually transformed into countless sword shadows.

Qin Yi looked up.

As expected of the king of grand entrances. Forget the destructive power; the sight alone was absolutely breathtaking. Unlike me, who just waves a hand every time I fight. I should ask Master Yao later whether he knows any cooler fighting poses.

With a shout from Magneto, several magnetic rings rapidly compressed toward Qin Yi.

Charles and Logan watched curiously. They both felt Qin Yi might be strong, but how would he deal with this?

Qin Yi was just about to wave his hand when he froze, lowered his head to stare at it, and muttered inwardly, Why am I waving my hand again?

At the instant all the sword shadows were about to touch Qin Yi's body, he raised his head and glanced at them.

Time and space slowly came to a standstill.

Magneto could not conceal his shock. Gritting his teeth, he tried with all his strength to regain control of the magnetic field, only to discover that the moment the man on the ground raised his head, he had completely lost control of it. Then even his own body was frozen in midair.

Just as powerless as when he had faced the rampaging Phoenix years ago.

The motionless sword shadows and frozen magnetic rings turned into flowing particles the instant Qin Yi raised his hand. After circling Magneto several times, they burrowed into the ground and vanished.

Qin Yi then dispelled the Mirror Dimension. Magneto fell to the ground, and Charles hurried over to help his best buddy up.

After a moment of silence, Magneto asked Qin Yi,

"Are you a Mutant too?"

"Human. A pure human. The world is vast. Don't always trap yourselves in such trivial matters as the conflict between humans and Mutants. Broaden your horizons. In the future, we'll be facing the stars and the sea."

"I agree, Charles."

"In that case, Charles, reply to the government later. We'll attend the peace negotiation conference in three days. Gather the captured X-Men and Brotherhood members first. I'll arrange a little surprise, but you'll have to suffer a bit first, Magneto."

Magneto listened with a baffled expression. Before he could ask anything, a golden rope shot from Qin Yi's hand and bound him tightly. Qin Yi then threw him into a newly created Mirror Dimension.

Seeing that Charles and Logan were equally bewildered, Qin Yi could only explain,

"The plan needs Magneto, but he needs to appear as a victim. Forget it, I'll explain later. Just attend the conference as usual in three days. I'll make the other arrangements first."

With that, Qin Yi disappeared amid a ripple of spatial energy, leaving Charles and Logan standing there speechless in a complete mess.

A moment later, Qin Yi emerged from the spatial vortex again.

"Sorry, I forgot to send you back."