Kansas Highway

After an unknown amount of time, amid the pickup truck's steady, monotonous jolting, old Professor Charles Xavier slowly opened his eyes.

The anesthetic had worn off, and dull waves of pain radiated from the wound on his back. But the old man had been through too much in his life; this much pain was hardly unbearable to him.

What concerned him more was that, while he had been unconscious, the others had clearly run into trouble.

The injury on half of Logan's face, who was driving, had not fully healed. Clear claw marks remained on his neck, and the hand gripping the steering wheel was wrapped in filthy strips of cloth, with torn flesh faintly visible beneath them. Although Laura's wounds had healed under the effects of her regenerative factor, the dust- and blood-stained clothes she wore, along with the exhaustion in her eyes, spoke of the brutality of the earlier battle.

As for Miles beside her, he had returned to that vacant state. His head lolled weakly to one side, drool running from the corner of his mouth. Plenty of grime still marked his pale face, along with traces of blood that had flowed from his seven orifices after he had overused his ability.

"Logan," Charles said hoarsely. "What happened just now? Where did Caliban go?"

Logan glanced at the awakened Charles through the rearview mirror. A nearly imperceptible trace of relief appeared on his tense face.

Then he drove in silence, letting the engine's roar fill the quiet inside the cab. After a long while, he finally spoke in a raspy voice. "He disappeared. Those people probably took him."

"Then we were attacked by a monster. Yeah, the one mentioned in that woman's video... Its codename should be X-24, a young clone grown from my genes..."

"Caliban disappeared..."

Charles let out a long sigh, filled with sorrow and helplessness. "You have another clone, and he's our enemy... That's really bad. So what do we do next?"

"Run for our lives, obviously." Logan answered without hesitation, then changed his tone. "But before that, Charles, answer me one question."

"We already shook those people off at first, but the moment we checked into that casino hotel, they found us again... So who the hell was showing them the way?"

Logan's accusation instantly froze the air inside the truck.

Miles still grinned stupidly, utterly unresponsive to the outside world. But Laura seemed to realize something. She leaned forward slightly, nervously shielding Miles with her body as she glared warily at Logan.

Seeing Laura's reaction, Charles showed a gentle smile on his aged face. He reassuringly patted her hand, then turned and calmly met Logan's bloodshot eyes through the rearview mirror.

"Yes. It was Miles."

Logan's eyes turned cold. With his suspicion confirmed, his anger was about to erupt.

But before Logan could lose his temper, Charles continued, "There is a tracking device hidden inside the Cerebrospinal Fluid Extractor at the back of Miles's head. You know, that little thing embedded in his skull that digs out his cerebrospinal fluid every day."

"...Shit!!"

Logan's teeth ground together. He slammed his fist into the steering wheel, making the truck shudder. "Can't he control those 'little electronic things'? Why didn't he shut it off himself?"

Charles smiled but did not answer directly, merely gesturing toward Miles with his eyes.

"Now?"

Logan glanced at the boy, who was giggling stupidly with drool at the corner of his mouth. His stomach was full of rage, but for a moment, he did not know what to say.

In his vacant state, Miles really was nothing more than a complete idiot. Expecting him to do anything besides giggle foolishly was pointless. He would instinctively use Psychic Shielding, but that did not include electronic devices... because this was potential he had only just uncovered.

For some reason, Logan remembered something Caliban had once said...

"I think... they might have a different future... I want to see it with my own eyes."

So this idiot was the one you wanted to believe in, Caliban?!

"Fuck!!"

Logan clenched his teeth hard and cursed furiously, his eyes red. "Damn it, he'll get us killed sooner or later!!"

Oklahoma, interstate highway.

After most of the day had passed, when the sky began to darken and the edges of the clouds turned orange, Miles finally woke up slowly.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw old Charles smiling at him.

"Good afternoon, Miles. How was your rest?" Charles asked.

"I'm glad you're okay... but next time, don't get so close, Charles... I think I still have my first kiss."

Despite his weakness, Miles first made his usual nonsense remark, declaring that his sanity had returned. Then he sighed and said hoarsely, "As for me... honestly, terrible. I probably pushed my ability too far earlier."

"Would you mind telling me what happened before?" Charles said. "I asked Logan just now, but his explanation was too brief. You know how he is. He has no patience for telling a proper story."

"I understand, but honestly, I still feel exhausted." Miles sounded weak. "After you were shot and fell unconscious, we found an underground clinic under Caliban's guidance and had your wounds treated. Then that bastard Fernando charged us way too much..."

"...So I kept looping that bastard Zander's screams through the guy's earpiece, and then he left. I only remember completely destroying those headphones before passing out..."

"Sounds like it was a very dangerous fight," Charles said quietly. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay conscious then, Miles."

"No, you already helped us a lot then." Miles shook his head. "And... Caliban was probably taken away by Doctor Zander. The moment he disappeared, that monster showed up... I don't believe that was a coincidence. If Caliban had been there, we definitely would have gotten a warning beforehand."

"Right, that explains it..." Miles kept muttering to himself. "That bastard Zander sent that monster specifically for me. Since it was Logan's clone, it had a Mutant response, so he had Caliban taken first. That way, none of the three of us could deal with that monster... Damn it! That has to be it!!"

Seeing Miles start to tense up again, Charles comforted him. "Relax, child. Caliban's disappearance isn't your fault. It's a shame... If only I had woken up sooner."

"No, Professor, you don't need to comfort me." Miles shook his head, then slowly looked into Charles's eyes. "Give me some time... I'll bring Caliban back. I promise!"

Hearing that, Charles and Logan, who was driving, both froze for a moment.

Laura thought for a moment, then solemnly nodded at Charles as well.

She felt the same.

"Well, it seems you truly don't need comforting." Charles smiled approvingly, then said, "But I need to remind you, Miles, what you said just now was not quite right."

"Not 'I,' but 'we.'" Charles pointed at Laura, then at himself, and then at Logan in front. "We'll rescue Caliban together."

As old Charles spoke, he did not forget to call out to Logan in front. "Right, Logan?"

"..."

Old Logan could not be bothered to respond. He kept driving in silence as if he had not heard a thing.

"Good, he agreed." Charles did not mind and continued asking Miles, "So what are you thinking of doing next, Miles?"

"First, we go to the nearest city and find a large hospital." Miles pointed at the Cerebrospinal Fluid Extractor at the back of his head, now covered in bruised pus, and gritted his teeth. "I need to find a way to remove this thing. Otherwise, every time I exert myself even a little, my head hurts like hell... The troublesome part is that it's embedded in my skull, and part of it is connected to my brain tissue. It can only be removed through surgery, or I would have ripped it out with my own hand long ago..."

"Poor child..." Charles sighed, then said, "Then how about Wichita? I remember there's a good hospital there..."

"No, we need to plan this carefully." Miles took out Gabriela's phone as he spoke, then lightly tapped his temple and activated his ability.

As countless streams of electronic information flowed through Miles's mind, various patterns flickered rapidly across the phone screen in his hand before finally forming a map.

"Wichita is indeed the closest city to us right now, but considering we have pursuers behind us, going directly there might make our movements predictable... So I suggest we go straight to the slightly farther Kansas City." Miles spoke in a cold, emotionless tone, as though he were an electronic voice. While rapidly browsing vast amounts of online data, he continued, "I need an extremely difficult brain surgery. Ordinary hospitals can't handle it... We should go directly to University of Kansas Hospital. It's one of the best hospitals in the country, and it's also a complete academic medical center campus with all kinds of advanced medical equipment and a complex environment... If we run into enemies, there'll be more I can do!"

"...Miles." Charles looked at Miles's unusual state and could not help asking, "When did you learn to use your brain to access the internet directly?"

"When I was looking for a base station at the casino hotel," Miles answered.

"Doesn't your brain feel uncomfortable? Carrying so much data at once..."

"My head has always hurt like hell," Miles said. "A little extra stimulation actually makes me feel better."

"...All right." Old Charles nodded.

Just then, Logan suddenly asked from the front, "...Kid, have you thought about one thing? Do you have any money?"

"Not right now, but that isn't a major problem..." Miles said blandly. "Once we get to Kansas City, I'll take this phone into a bank. The mainframes of the major banks will be within my sensing range... It won't take long for me to empty all their online deposits."

"..." Old Logan was genuinely stunned this time.

"Miles!" Charles gave Miles a look. "Don't do that."

"Tch..." Miles curled his lip. "Fine, then I'll take less when we get there. Just enough to cover the surgery..."

Listening to Miles mutter, Logan's heart could not calm down for a long time.

Before this, the old wolf had never really understood Miles's ability to manipulate "electronic signals." But hearing Miles talk now... he finally realized just how powerful Electronic Signal Manipulation was in modern human society!

After all, the order of human civilization in the current information age... was almost entirely built on electronic communications. And Miles... could take whatever he wanted from it with his ability!

To him, money truly was nothing more than numbers!

Thinking that, Logan suddenly became irritated.

So what was the point of all the effort he had put into saving money before?

Seeing an unmanned truck speed past beside them, Logan could not help cursing, "Fuck... fucking driverless trucks..."

It was currently 2029. Self-driving technology had matured, and unmanned vehicles could often be seen on the roads.

"Hey, Logan, watch out!!"

Charles's shout snapped old Logan out of his distraction. Only then did he see that the unmanned truck beside them had apparently gone insane and was swerving toward them!

Logan hurriedly steered the pickup out of the way. The truck spun across the field beside the road before stopping amid a teeth-grinding screech of tires.

Then Logan saw that, on the other side of the road, a horse trailer had overturned while making an emergency evasive maneuver and lay on its side along the slope.

"We have to help them," old Charles said.

"No, we need to keep moving. Someone else will come help them." Logan spoke impatiently, clearly unwilling to meddle.

"Isn't that someone us?" old Charles asked.

Logan sighed, restarted the truck, and drove toward the wrecked trailer.

With the trailer damaged, several strong horses broke free in panic and galloped down the busy highway, neighing wildly.

Just then, an unmanned cargo truck drove past and nearly killed two of the horses.

Seeing this, the owner was frantic and could only keep trying to soothe the horses in a panic. But unfortunately, he was alone and could not gather so many horses in such a short time.

Charles rolled down the window and watched the scene with concern before slowly closing his eyes.

An invisible yet calm and gentle mental force swept over the frightened horses like a spring breeze. The frantic animals gradually calmed down. They stopped running, snorting softly, and under Charles's guidance, finally came to a safe stop on the grass beside the highway.

After that, Logan got out with a dark expression and went over to help pull the trailer out of the dirt slope.

Watching the horses being led back, Charles smiled and turned to Miles. "See, Miles? Communicating with animals isn't actually difficult."

"They aren't without souls. They just don't think about so many complicated things. You only need a little patience and gentle reassurance, then become their friend..."

"Is that so?" Miles looked confused, seeming to understand without fully understanding.

The accident was quickly resolved. The rescued Munson family was deeply grateful to Charles and the others, warmly inviting them to visit their farm and enjoy a hearty dinner.

"I'd like to invite you all to my home for dinner as thanks. Our place isn't far from here."

The hostess, Katherine, invited Logan.

"No need." Logan shook his head and called to Laura, who was standing outside the trailer and curiously watching the horses. "All right, Laura, it's time to go..."

Charles, inside the pickup, wanted to raise his hand and agree. It had been far too long since he had felt the warmth of such a simple family. But this time, Miles stopped him desperately.

"Charles, listen to me just once..." Miles grabbed Charles's arm and said seriously, "Don't drag them into this!"

Miles really could not remember much of the original movie plot anymore, but he vaguely recalled that this family's fate had not been good.

"Ah, all right." Charles sighed and said nothing more.

After Logan pulled Laura away and said goodbye to the regretful Munson family, he hurried back to the truck.

"University of Kansas Hospital, right?" Logan asked.

"That's right. Do you need navigation?" Miles asked.

"No. I know the way." Logan said flatly, "Buckle up."

The pickup started again, carrying them onward toward Kansas City.