"Besides that, what are the official plans for the resettlement of Mutants?" Professor X asked calmly in a low voice.
"There are clear new regulations."
Hank continued seriously, "From now on, Mutants within the territory will enjoy the same legal rights as ordinary citizens, and will be allowed to spontaneously establish Mutants communities. However, all Mutants must register their personal information and report their abilities. The authorities will uniformly assess the danger level of their mutant abilities, and they will be strictly subject to legal regulation."
"Oh."
A cold laugh rang out as Storm strode into the room, her eyes filled with mockery. "In the end, it's nothing more than fear of the Ten Rings Empire."
"That's right."
Hank shrugged slightly and stated frankly, "Once all the Mutants in the world flood into the Ten Rings Empire, the overall strength of the Ten Rings will inevitably surge, a result that the Federation absolutely cannot accept. Their current compromise is merely an attempt to retain Mutants; it's a result of being forced into a corner."
"What about the Mutants were previously detained by the authorities? Will they be released?" Professor X pressed for the core question.
"They will be released in batches."
Hank replied truthfully, "Some low-risk Mutants with no major criminal record will be released. But high-risk, violent Mutants like Juggernaut will remain in permanent custody."
Meanwhile, the official arrest warrants for Magneto and his core Mutants remain in effect indefinitely and will never be revoked.
"This is already quite remarkable."
Professor X nodded slowly, his expression softening slightly.
Compared to the endless hunting, imprisonment, and discrimination of the past, the legal rights and living space they now enjoy are a turning point that countless Mutants have been dreaming of.
"By the way, the United States of America is also planning to release Raven out of respect for the X-Men."
Hank said with a sigh.
" Raven is about to be released from prison; I'll go pick her up myself."
Professor X's voice suddenly became low and forlorn.
He and Raven had been together since childhood, growing up together for decades, but eventually drifted apart due to differing beliefs.
Former family members are now like strangers. Later, Raven participated in the Alcatraz Island incident. In order to save Magneto, she was hit by the Mutants antidote, which eliminated her powers. She has been imprisoned by the military ever since.
Hank nodded silently, saying nothing more. He and Raven had also had a period of ambiguity, and looking back, his feelings were very complicated!
A moment later, Hank returned to his dorm room alone.
He stood in front of the full-length mirror, gazing at his reflection— Beast with blue fur, unlike any other human—his expression complex before a faint smile slowly crept onto his face.
To be honest, the Ten Rings Empire's technology of "preserving superpowers and repairing mutated appearances" was incredibly tempting to him.
But he had long held a firm belief in his heart.
If all Mutants are obsessed with reverting to human appearance, it is tantamount to acknowledging that Mutants mutation is a defect, a disease, that needs to be cured and corrected.
This fundamentally negates the significance of Mutants ' existence and the fact that Mutants are a new race.
The technology of the Ten Rings Empire, while seemingly excellent, actually conveys to the world the definition that "mutation and mutation are diseases."
Therefore, Hank quickly suppressed the flutter in his heart.
He then left the room, gathered all the students at the academy, and publicly preached about the racial nature of Mutants.
Mutation is not a disease, nor is it a deformity; it is an evolutionary leap for humanity, a unique characteristic of a completely new race. There is no need for self-deprecation or correction.
Many determined Mutants listened to his ideas and readily accepted and reinforced their belief in being different.
But many more young Mutants, harboring deep-seated inferiority complexes and yearning for a normal life, still secretly waver, yearning for the Ten Rings Empire, and plotting to leave the academy and head to the Middle East.
Compared to the Xaviers of the Xavier Institute, who still have official channels and legitimate identities to breathe, Magneto and his group have no way out.
Even if the United States government softens its stance and accepts Mutants, Magneto and his former rebels remain permanently wanted criminals.
If you don't want to join the Ten Rings Empire and want to develop on your own, you can only hide and slowly grow stronger.
That day, Ching-Lin quickly approached Wenwu and bowed to him with a solemn expression to report.
"My lord, we have discovered that many vampires are lurking within our borders!"
"Vampire?"
Wenwu's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he asked in a deep voice, "Have you caught them?"
Two prisoners have been captured alive.
Ching-Lin nodded and quickly reported the interrogation results, "After the interrogation, we confirmed that they established a secret base in the Middle East a long time ago, and have always treated this land as their exclusive blood bank."
"Their secret strongholds are scattered throughout the Middle East and Western Asia. These vampires capture local civilians year-round to supply their blood, and specifically to support pure-blood nobles abroad."
Now that we have established our Ten Rings, they still harbored illusions and refused to leave. When they tried to commit crimes in secret, they were caught red-handed by our patrol team.
The coldness in Wenwu's eyes intensified.
Based on his memories of his predecessor, he knew clearly that the reason this land was in constant chaos and war was partly due to the intervention of major powers, and also partly due to vampires.
Many local and foreign dignitaries, unable to resist the allure of immortality, willingly became lackeys, covering the vampires' whereabouts, capturing refugees, and disrupting the situation, turning the entire Middle East into a blood-soaked land for vampires to exploit at will.
"Immediately establish a dedicated vampire-hunting squad."
Wenwu coldly ordered, "Notify Ivan to develop a high-intensity ultraviolet-based weapon specifically designed for this purpose. Conduct a thorough investigation throughout the entire territory and wipe out all the lurking vampires in the Middle East!"
"Yes, my lord!" Ching-Lin solemnly accepted the order.
"Also, take those two vampires alive and send them directly to my laboratory. I want to study these dark creatures myself," Wenwu then ordered.
"Clear!"
Ching-Lin responded and immediately withdrew to make the arrangements.
Not long after, two vampires, bound by specially made shackles, were escorted into the core laboratory by guards.
Wenwu immediately activated the full set of sophisticated equipment and began dissecting, sampling, and analyzing the data item by item.
After careful research, he figured out the basic physical characteristics of vampires.
These dark creatures have a body temperature far exceeding that of ordinary humans, remaining constant at around forty degrees Celsius. Their blood circulation is extremely fast, and their bodily functions exhibit many biological characteristics of bats.
Moreover, its vitality is extremely abnormal; as long as its heart is not completely shattered and its head is not completely severed, no matter how severe the injury, it will not be fatal.
As long as fresh human blood is ingested, the injury can heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
During the half-day experiment, one of the vampires was researched to death.
The remaining young vampire remained conscious throughout, enduring repeated disassembly and sampling, until he was driven to the brink of collapse and in unbearable pain.
"Interesting."
Wenwu stared at the severed limb rapidly regenerating on the experimental table, a hint of amazement flashing in his eyes.
The vampire's severed limbs were rapidly growing and regenerating under the continuous nourishment of blood.
"Kill me already! If you've got the guts, just give me a quick death!"
The young vampire on the experimental table was filled with terror, his body trembling violently, his mind completely broken, screaming and begging for mercy.
"Happy?"
Wenwu's lips curled into a cold, indifferent smile, his tone casual, "How could I possibly let such a perfect experimental subject as you die so easily?"
After saying that, he continued with the various virus extraction experiments.
Two hours later, Wenwu successfully extracted a tube of pure black stock solution.
This is a pure vampire virus.
He only took a tiny sample and cultured it with fresh blood. Unexpectedly, the virus multiplied at an extremely terrifying rate, and its reproductive capacity was simply incredible.
"With a few modifications, this thing would be a complete zombie virus."
Three hours later, watching the black virus stock solution in the test tube completely transform into a clear blue stock solution, Wenwu's eyes flickered slightly, and he muttered to himself.
While researching vampire genes, he had a flash of inspiration and, by fine-tuning the virus, unexpectedly cultivated a completely new mutated virus.
This virus is airborne and, if leaked, could trigger a global mutation catastrophe.
The only drawback is that it still retains the fatal weakness of vampires: their fear of strong light and ultraviolet rays.