A few more days passed.
Ever since their unexpected encounter, there had been an ambiguous romantic tension between Peter and Gwen Stacy.
Even though they had not officially become a couple, they began talking to each other more often.
Li Ge was still lying flat, though he spent more time sunbathing now and occasionally scanned and recorded information about things.
Li Chuang and Alice saw nothing strange about Li Ge taking a liking to sunbathing. They simply thought the mutant incident might have shaken him, making him want to feel more light and warmth.
Li Ge unhurriedly accumulated energy through his everyday life, feeling no urgency. After all, a peaceful life was so precious in this chaotic Marvel Universe.
Whenever he urgently needed energy, he could easily use certain methods to obtain large quantities in a short time.
While Li Ge enjoyed his peaceful life, some people were far from at peace.
Meanwhile, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a group of people were discussing something.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Logan, put down your cigar. We're in a meeting!"
Cyclops, Scott Summers, still did not get along with Wolverine, Logan, and took every opportunity to have a go at him.
Logan did not put up with him either. He took a deep drag on the cigar between his teeth, then blew smoke toward him and gave him a challenging look.
"All right, Scott. Logan has always been like this. It's not as if you don't know."
Phoenix, Jean Grey, made excuses for Logan as usual. This annoyed Cyclops considerably, but he said nothing more.
Storm, Ororo Munroe, was one of the more emotionally stable members of the group. Unaffected by their exchange, she addressed Professor X, Charles Xavier, directly.
"Professor, was there something you called us here for?"
Sitting in his wheelchair, Professor X watched their exchange with a smile. He enjoyed this peaceful life.
Only when he heard Storm's question did his expression grow a little more serious.
"Ororo, you remember what I told you a while ago, don't you?"
"I've been thinking about it lately, and I still feel something isn't quite right. That's why I called you here to discuss it again."
"Professor, do you mean that poor fellow mutant who awakened his powers in the street and killed his own girlfriend?"
"We don't really have any grounds to help him with something like that, do we? After all, he did it in public."
The one asking was Phoenix, Jean Grey.
"No, Jean, I'm not talking about that poor fellow mutant. In fact, after I learned about the incident, I carefully scanned that area with my psychic power."
"I discovered that, besides that fellow mutant, there should have been another fellow mutant who had also awakened his powers."
"But from what I sensed, there was something strange about this fellow mutant, because he didn't seem to have lost control."
"Damn, he was lucky. Mutants who don't lose control when they awaken are pretty rare!"
Logan spoke with his cigar between his teeth, as crude as ever.
"Logan, you're so crude!"
Unsurprisingly, it was Cyclops again.
"Logan, you're right. He was indeed very lucky, but that isn't the point."
"I scanned the area a few more times afterward. I originally intended to send that fellow mutant a message and ask whether he wanted to come to our school, but I discovered a problem."
"My initial impression of that fellow mutant was that he was very weak, just like an ordinary person whose powers hadn't awakened. There was nothing wrong with that. Many of our fellow mutants are just as weak."
"But just as I tried to establish a mental connection with him, my psychic power was blocked. I discovered that this wasn't an ability he had consciously activated himself. I felt as though there was something on his soul protecting it."
That was indeed a little strange. He had not activated his powers, yet something was protecting his soul. Mutant abilities generally required active use; passive ones were practically nonexistent.
"Professor, could he be one of those very rare mutants whose abilities activate on their own, and his ability is to protect his soul from harm?"
Phoenix, Jean Grey, offered a reasonable analysis.
"Jean, your analysis makes a lot of sense, but I haven't finished."
"A few days ago, I checked on that fellow mutant again. After all, his situation was very unusual."
"Then I discovered that his X-Gene energy signature was gradually weakening, until it almost disappeared entirely! I'm quite certain there was nothing wrong with what I sensed!"
"I thought his life was in danger and nearing its end, so I tried to force my way through his soul's defenses to have him leave us some information."
"To my surprise, his soul's automatic defenses were gone, and his soul simply swallowed my psychic energy! Fortunately, I reacted quickly, or there's no telling what would have happened."
"Only then did I realize that his life wasn't in any danger. He was probably activating his powers."
"Then I discovered that his aura weakened for a while before slowly recovering. After that, his energy signature kept growing stronger, while his X-Gene energy signature disappeared completely."
"I've been monitoring his condition over the past few days. I've found that his energy signature has never stopped growing stronger, but his X-Gene energy signature has never appeared again."
"That's why I called you here today."
After Professor X finished speaking, the X-Men present all frowned involuntarily.
As everyone knew, mutant abilities resided in the X-Gene. If its energy signature disappeared, that meant the mutant was either dead or had been injected with a suppressant.
In either case, the mutant would become terribly weak.
Yet what had they just heard?
The X-Gene energy signature was gone, but his energy signature kept growing stronger. Didn't that mean this mutant had not only avoided becoming weak, but was constantly growing stronger instead? This was truly shocking news!
All these phenomena already indicated that this unknown fellow mutant had used some unknown means to free himself from the X-Gene's influence.
He had gained complete mastery of his power, rather than passively using it while also enduring the X-Gene's adverse effects.
Then could he help other mutants fully master their abilities as well, so they would no longer suffer from their abilities' flaws, or even completely escape the X-Gene's adverse effects just as he had?