Interrogating Professor X, shattering the mutant leader's illusion

The elevator descended smoothly to the fifth basement level, and the air temperature became visibly cold and thin.

Lynn stood with his hands in his pockets, calmly watching his reflection in the elevator door, and the several gazes behind him—some fiery, some cold, some subtle.

He didn't specify who should come down with him, but as he walked toward the elevator, Susan, Wanda, and Hela, the three women who had "worked overtime" the night before, followed him in as if by unspoken agreement, like the most loyal shadows.

As for Gwen Stacy, she should be in her bedroom right now, enjoying that fleeting and illusory peace that belongs only to the victor.

A barely perceptible smile curved the corners of Lynn's lips.

He enjoys this kind of competition.

This morbid involution, which he ignited with his own hands and firmly controlled, was something he himself had created.

bite--

The elevator doors slid open silently, and a cold smell mixed with disinfectant and metal coolant wafted out.

Inside the Backup Biological Laboratory, dappled blue indicator lights cast shadows on the cold metal walls, and the low hum of dozens of sophisticated instruments was the only sound.

In the center of the laboratory, on that large metal lab table, Charles Xavier was already awake.

He was not bound, but Hela's remaining Death Force, like an invisible layer of black frost, held him firmly in place, unable to move even a finger.

His once impeccably tailored suit was now wrinkled and stained with dried blood and dust. His aged face, once hailed as "the wisest and gentlest in the world," now held only endless terror and humiliation in his blue eyes.

His mind, his proud spiritual sanctuary, was ransacked overnight by three thugs who broke in.

All the memories, all the secrets, all the thoughts were roughly turned over, packed up, and then presented to another person as a "gift".

This feeling is ten thousand times more painful than any physical torture.

When Charles saw Lynn walk in, his cloudy eyes trembled violently.

Behind him stood the blonde, Invisible Woman, the goddess radiating Aura of Death, the Witch whose eyes burned with Scarlet flames.

Each one of them is a terrifying being capable of triggering a world-ending crisis.

At this moment, they all stood quietly behind the young man, like the most docile maids, with their hands at their sides.

"You..." Charles's voice was dry and hoarse, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together, "What exactly do you want?"

Lynn did not answer.

He walked slowly to the lab bench, looking down at the old man who seemed to have his soul drained. His gaze was as if he were examining a raw material that had just undergone preliminary processing.

"I've read the report you compiled overnight," Lynn said, turning to Susan behind her without looking at Charles. "It's detailed, but not enough."

Susan's heart tightened, and she quickly bowed, "Master, please give me your instructions."

"You only took what was in his head," Lynn said, extending a finger and gently tapping the top of Charles's bald head. The cold touch sent a shiver down the old professor's spine. "But the head itself, the 'faith' it represents, hasn't been completely shattered."

"A tool that still harbors illusions is unstable."

Lynn's voice was soft, yet it struck Charles's heart like a cold hammer.

Tools? Beliefs?

"No... you can't do this!" Charles roared with all his might, "Mutants and humans can coexist peacefully! Violence and enslavement will only bring destruction! My dream is the only hope for countless Mutants!"

"Dream?"

Lynn seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. He withdrew his finger and slowly paced back and forth.

"Professor Xavier Charles Xavier, tell me, where was your 'dream' when William Stryker filled Wolverine's skeleton with Adamantium, turning him into a bloodthirsty Beast?"

Charles's breath hitched.

Lynn's steps did not stop, her voice grew colder, each word like a sharp knife, precisely cutting through Charles's bloody reality.

"When Trask Industries ' ' Sentry ' Prototype, using ' Mutants ' as its Source Code, was secretly deployed around the world, where was your 'dream'?"

"When your students, those teenagers, are ostracized by their families and hunted by society for awakening the X-Gene, cowering in the sewers like rats, where is your noble, grand 'dream'?!"

Lynn abruptly stopped, turned around, and stared intently at Charles with her dark eyes.

"Don't be naive, Professor. This intelligence was all dug out of your own head! You know better than anyone that your so-called 'peace' is nothing but a self-deceiving illusion you're living in while hiding in that luxurious manor in Westchester!"

"No... no..." Charles's lips trembled, his face ashen. "We're trying, we're changing people's minds, we need time..."

"Time?"

Lynn let out a sneer, walked to the Control Console, and casually pulled up a set of data.

That was a Top Secret document about the military's "Mutants Final Solution," forcibly extracted from the depths of Charles's brain by Wanda.

"Look, Professor. This is the 'time' you've begged for."

A cold, holographic screen was projected in front of Charles.

The list above contained a series of shocking plans.

"Phase One: Smear Campaign, defining Mutants as 'non-human' and 'sources of disease'."

"Phase Two: Genes identification, mandating registration and implantation of monitoring Chip for all suspected X-Gene carriers."

"Phase Three: Isolation and Confinement, Establishment of Concentration Camps, and Forced Confinement of All Registered Mutants."

Phase Four: Complete Elimination.

Lines of cold text, like red-hot Steel Needles, pierced Charles's eyes.

His body began to tremble violently, not from Hela's Death Energy, but from the utter coldness and despair deep within his soul.

He knew about these plans... he had always known they existed.

But he always believed that as long as he kept trying and showed the friendly side of Mutants, he could prevent all of this from happening.

He believed that there was always light in human nature.

"Did you see that?" Lynn's voice, like a devil's whisper, rang in his ears, "While you humbly begged for humanity's 'understanding' and 'forgiveness,' they were already sharpening their knives, preparing to send your entire race into the incinerator."

"Your 'peace' is seen as weakness by them."

Your 'concession' is laughable in their eyes.

"The 'dream' you've guarded your whole life is nothing more than a dose of anesthetic given to you by the executioner before he swings his blade!"

Words can be deadly!

Every word he uttered became the cruelest reality, shattering Charles's Mental World, built upon ideals and morality, into pieces.

"No... ah..."

Charles let out a cry of extreme pain; at that moment, his mental Defense Line completely collapsed.

Everything he had upheld and fought for throughout his life seemed so pale, naive, and utterly vulnerable under the crushing force of the man's cold logic.

It turns out... I was the most naive fool all along.

Lynn coldly looked at the mentally broken old man, slowly walked up to him, bent down, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"You know, Professor, power has never been about seeking peace."

"Power is for setting the rules."

Lynn straightened up, opened her arms, as if embracing the whole world.

"Now, I'm here."

"I am the new rule."

His gaze swept over Wanda, Hela, and Susan behind him.

The three women all had the same fanatical, morbid adoration burning in their eyes.

Charles followed his gaze, and when he saw the same expression of submission and loyalty on the three faces—one alluring, one haughty, and one intellectual—his last shred of courage vanished completely.

He lost.

They suffered a crushing defeat.

He not only lost his power and the future of Mutants, but also the beliefs he had upheld throughout his life.

Despair, like the tides of the deep sea, completely engulfed him.

However, in this endless darkness, a faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of hope, like a candle flickering in the wind, stubbornly shone in the deepest recesses of his consciousness.

Qin (a type of zither)...

Oh, and the zither!

His proudest student, Omega-Level Mutant with limitless potential, and the host of the Phoenix Force!

As long as she's still here, as long as she can come to save me... there's still a chance to salvage things!

With his last ounce of Psychic Power, Charles condensed all his hope and desperate plea for help into an extremely faint mental signal, which he silently sent across space toward Westchester County!

"Qin... save me..."

What he didn't know was...

The moment he uttered the call.

Far away on the top floor of the Baxter Building, in that completely sealed-off, Containment Room.

The red-haired girl, whom he considered his last hope, was slowly opening her eyes from her coma.

There was not a trace of confusion or bewilderment in those emerald green eyes.

Yes, but deep within the soul, there lies Throne Brand, a mark of love for another man...

Pathological, insane, unquestionable... fanaticism!

She felt Charles's call.

That once warm and comforting Mind Link, like that of a father, now felt so distant and unsettling to her...

It was harsh and repulsive.