This Was Just Amusing Himself, Wasn't It?

"What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Sharon Rodney's body stiffened slightly, but she quickly relaxed again.

Chino smiled and stepped behind her, gently pressing down on her shoulders. "First of all, this is one of Manhattan's most restless neighborhoods. A beautiful woman going for a night run here so late... wasn't she being a little too fearless? And I took a look earlier. There wasn't any self-defense equipment in your waist pack."

Sharon Rodney frowned slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a skilled fighter and a night-running enthusiast. Is it strange that I don't need self-defense equipment?"

"All right, you did live near the university district, and running here from there... wasn't exactly impossible. Fine, let's not count that as a flaw."

Chino smiled, lightly patted her shoulder, then stood up and continued pacing back and forth.

Maria Hill sensed that something was wrong and stood guard nearby.

Rogue compared the information online again and again, but she couldn't see anything off about it.

"Then, let's talk about your first flaw—you spoke Chinese."

"What?"

This time, Sharon Rodney could no longer remain calm.

"The first thing you said after arriving was, 'Excuse me, is this the Odd Jobs Shop?' The words 'Odd Jobs Shop' sounded exactly like a foreigner speaking Chinese, but—you were being too deliberate. You pronounced the first word, 'wan,' rather fluently, but the latter two words changed in tone."

"I..."

"You don't need to deny it. My hearing is very sharp!" Chino said with a smile, pointing at his ear. "As for why I dared to be so certain, it's because of your second flaw."

Sharon Rodney: "!"

"Your name is Sharon Rodney, but I called you Miss Sharon just now, and you didn't show the slightest bit of annoyance!"

"..."

"This is the United States. You Americans address people by their surnames, not their given names. Only people who are close, or who have been accepted, use given names or nicknames. Clearly, we had just met and weren't close at all. Yet you didn't show even the slightest displeasure. You didn't even frown."

Sharon Rodney's heart trembled slightly.

"There were only two possibilities. First, you often interacted with Chinese people and knew their habits, so you didn't mind it."

"I..."

"Don't be so quick to admit it." Chino walked over and patted her shoulder again. "Maybe that was part of it, but it wasn't the main reason. Earlier, I said, 'A hundred thousand dollars won't buy you a loss; a hundred thousand dollars won't buy you a scam; it's truly worth the price!' Your expression changed. It was obvious that you reacted to those words. You'd heard something similar before."

"That meant you had either been to China or frequented Chinatown, and it also proved that you really did understand Chinese!"

Sharon Rodney: "..."

Chino gently exhaled a ring of smoke. "Understanding Chinese isn't strange. What's strange is that you were deliberately hiding it. That made me suspicious!"

"!"

"Third, that coffee had been sitting for a while, but when it spilled, it was still at least sixty degrees Celsius. Yet you only frowned slightly, shook it off, and wiped yourself clean with a tissue!"

"At sixty degrees, it wouldn't burn you, but an ordinary person should have found it quite painful, right? I don't think they would merely shake it off and wipe it clean. They would need ice or cold water. At the very least, they would go wash it off!"

"But you didn't!"

"You did make the gestures and expressions of someone scalded by hot water—your hand shaking, your brows furrowing, and so on—but they were unnatural, and delayed by a brief instant. That didn't match an ordinary person's physical instincts!"

"You were very meticulous and considered everything carefully, but you were too deliberate! I think your pain receptors were far less sensitive than those of ordinary people. Or rather, you had endured pain far beyond that in the past. Your body and consciousness had long grown accustomed to it, so... you didn't instinctively react like an ordinary person would!"

With that, Chino grabbed Sharon Rodney's hand and clicked his tongue.

"Look at this. What a soft, fair, smooth hand. It was splashed with sixty-degree hot water, yet there isn't even the slightest sign of redness!"

Sharon Rodney abruptly pulled her hand back and cursed, "What's so strange about that? I'm a skilled fighter. Don't I have even this much tolerance? Tell me, what the hell is wrong with you? Are we doing business or not?"

"NO! NO! NO!" Chino raised his index finger and wagged it three times. "Naturally, I welcome real customers. But you aren't one. Let's discuss the final fourth flaw... the most fatal one!"

"Fourth—when I mentioned that Mike Adam, the man beside your 'ex-husband,' was a Mutant, you didn't seem shocked or surprised at all!"

Sharon Rodney finally could no longer keep her composure!

She had overlooked it!

Her instincts had overlooked it again!

"Even though you were the head of a company and had seen much of the world, for people of your class, Mutants were still far too remote! Let alone a corporate executive—even some important big shots might never have heard those three words. Yet you—"

"Tut, tut!"

"If you hadn't seen plenty of Mutants before, then... you were a Mutant yourself! Only then would you not be shocked!"

"If you were a Mutant, then everything made sense! Because you were a Mutant, you weren't afraid of that little bit of hot water. Because you were a Mutant, you weren't shocked by the word 'Mutant'!"

As he spoke, Chino sat back down across from "Sharon Rodney" and smiled as he took the last puff of his cigar. "Miss Sharon, would you say I'm right?"

"Sharon Rodney" sat silently for a while, then shook her head. "What could that prove?"

"Of course, it can't prove anything! But..." Chino pointed playfully at his own forehead. "I have psychic abilities too. Stronger than Charles's, even."

"!!!"

This time, "Sharon Rodney" finally couldn't remain seated. She shot to her feet. She knew she had been seen through.

"You... Since you have psychic abilities, you could have exposed me directly. Did you really need all those pointless tricks?"

"No! No! No! You don't understand, beautiful lady. Every man dreams of being a detective!" Chino shook his head.

"..."

Was this bastard just amusing himself?

"And then? Since you have psychic abilities, you should know why I came, right? How do you intend to deal with me? Kill me?"

"No! I have no hostility toward Mutants... Uh, strictly speaking, I have no hostility toward you. I only want you to deliver a message to Magneto." Chino waved his hand.

"What message?"

"Tell him that Rogue's ability has been stripped away by me, so he should stop pestering Rogue! Uh, Rogue is Anna."

"Sharon Rodney" fell silent for a moment, then shook her head. "Impossible. Erik won't believe it."

She had come precisely to confirm this matter, while also probing Chino Marcus's true capabilities.

"Don't worry. I have a way to make him believe!"

"What?"

Chino suddenly smiled in an eerie manner.

A sense of dread surged through "Sharon Rodney"—an overwhelming sense of dread!