This was precisely the gift of mental power far beyond that of ordinary people.
But it was only a sketch, and none of the three dwelled on it. The conversation soon moved on. Chen Xiao turned to Colossus. "Peter, could you let me try your ability?"
"Kitty said you can not only turn your own body into steel, but transform other people along with you. I want to experience what it feels like for myself."
"No problem."
Colossus was straightforward. Without another word, he reached out and clasped Chen Xiao's wrist. With a thought, he activated his ability.
In an instant, his skin took on a cold, hard sheen, visibly transforming into silver-black metal.
Chen Xiao focused his senses. A strange energy surged from their point of contact, rushing up his arm like a tide and swiftly spreading through his entire body.
His body was quietly reconstructed: his bone density soared, his muscle fibers tightened like steel cables, and although his flesh retained its warmth and elasticity, his strength increased several times over.
Boom!
An almost tangible pressure suddenly erupted. The air seemed to tighten in an invisible giant hand, trembling faintly.
Kitty and Clarice caught their breath, feeling as though a heavy block of iron pressed against their chests.
The metal man hovering in midair flexed his wrist, his voice filled with wonder. "This is incredible... I've clearly turned into metal, yet I still retain the vitality and responsiveness of flesh and blood."
"I'm starting to understand why ordinary people fear mutants and avoid them."
Compared with those exceedingly rare superheroes or people with special abilities, mutants were numerous, numbering in the hundreds or thousands at the very least, and potentially beyond counting. More importantly, their abilities were often strange and unpredictable, with astonishing upper limits.
For instance, the seemingly delicate Shadowcat could actually break herself down into a particle state, passing through walls and obstacles as easily as walking on level ground;
Then there was ten-year-old Clarice before him, who could tear open a rift in space and create a portal with a casual lift of her hand.
That didn't sound so frightening?
But manipulating atoms and molecules already touched upon the fundamental laws of matter's existence. If someone truly mastered it, destroying heaven and earth would take no more than a wave of their hand.
And space itself was the very foundation upon which the universe existed, invisible and intangible, yet utterly real.
There was also Professor X's mental domination, Magneto's mastery of magnetic fields, Storm's control of the weather... which of these didn't overturn common sense?
Faced with such power, how could ordinary people not feel fear, envy, and resentment?
Why wasn't I the one who mutated?
Why were they born holding the key to rewriting the rules?
Why did they get to possess immense power while looking no different from ordinary people?
Such thoughts were practically etched into most people's instincts, so rejection became the most natural response.
Of course, the ones people envied were always those mutants with powerful abilities and normal appearances;
As for their hideously deformed, weak counterparts, they often didn't even qualify to be feared.
"It seems... it really worked."
After seeing Colossus and Kitty off, a trace of surprise flashed through Chen Xiao's eyes.
He noticed that shortly after Colossus withdrew his ability, some of the cells in his body had quietly begun making minute adjustments. They were so faint as to be almost imperceptible. Had his mental power not been evenly covering his entire body the whole time, he would never have noticed.
"Could Kryptonian cells have an environmental response mechanism? Can they optimize themselves and evolve iteratively based on external forces they come into contact with...?" His brow lifted slightly.
Then he gently shook his head.
"It's still too early to tell. Is this change an active evolution of Kryptonian cells stimulated by outside energy, or did they simply absorb some characteristics of his ability and use them to strengthen themselves?"
"Vitas, what's wrong?" Seeing him suddenly shake his head, the girl beside him blinked and asked softly.
"Nothing. It's almost noon. Let's go eat at the cafeteria." He smiled at her.
"Okay!" Clarice nodded obediently.
Over the next two days, Chen Xiao quietly observed the changes in his body. On the morning of the third day, he suddenly felt a faint tremor within him,
Immediately afterward, all his cells resonated together, and a subtle yet resilient force field quietly took shape, gently enveloping him.
Before the bell rang to end class, Chen Xiao abruptly rose from his seat by the window. "Teacher, I need to use the restroom!"
Before he finished speaking, he had vanished from his seat, and the classroom fell silent for a moment.
That urgent? Was he about to lose control, so desperate he couldn't even bother hiding his ability?
Within a few breaths, he had rushed out of the teaching building and landed on the small sports field nearby. He took a deep breath and, unable to contain his excitement, activated the newly formed force field.
The force field silently spread throughout his body. His feet left the ground, and he slowly floated upward.
Except...
"After all that, this new ability isn't invulnerability at all, but flight... no, hovering at best, and only a meter off the ground." Chen Xiao looked down at the ground just a meter beneath his feet, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
He then spent some more time examining the ability.
He soon understood: his cells could release an extremely weak force field that happened to counteract part of the Earth's magnetic gravitational pull, making him as light as a feather and allowing him to float in midair.
Better still, he could adjust the force field's strength and direction to move slowly.
Chen Xiao nodded slightly. "Looks like this is more or less how Superman's flight works. It's just that my force field is far too weak right now, barely enough to support my body."
"Also, mutant abilities really can slightly activate Kryptonian cells. I'll have to find time to test that properly."
"Maybe before I even reach the Silver Age Superman stage, I'll already have several abilities, with more balanced combat strength and fewer weaknesses."
As he thought, he slowly withdrew the force and landed steadily on the ground.
But rather than returning directly to class, he tightened his abdomen, bent his knees, and drew a deep breath. Every muscle in his body abruptly tensed, then unleashed its power!
Boom!
The soil beneath his feet exploded, sending a ring of broken stones flying. A deep crater more than a meter across collapsed into the ground, while he shot straight into the sky like a black arrow loosed from a bow!
In an instant, the teaching building shrank rapidly, becoming a cluster of buildings surrounded by a sea of trees.
Amid the vast woodland, a winding concrete road cut through the greenery and stretched straight into the distance, where high-rises crowded together and streams of traffic wove through a bustling cityscape.
At that same moment, many people on campus looked up and cried out in surprise: a black shadow had shot into the sky!
In the underground laboratory, Professor X abruptly raised his eyes.
By a third-floor window in another teaching building, Cyclops and Storm looked outside at the same time, their eyes filled with astonishment.
Only after soaring more than four hundred meters into the air in one burst did Chen Xiao begin to fall, his body tracing a long arc as he glided down toward the other side of campus.
He picked up more and more speed.