He approached the corner with his tray, his tone calm. "Hi, is anyone sitting here? Can I sit down?"
"Ah... sure!" The girl abruptly looked up, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.
As she raised her head, she revealed a small, delicate, oval face, her features fine and gentle, with a warmth characteristic of East Asians.
Her eyes were a pale emerald green from her genetic mutation. A faint purple, birthmark-like marking lay between her eyebrows, with another on each brow ridge, lending her an air of mystery.
A few strands of hair over her forehead were pale purple too, clearly traces left by her mutation.
She really does have a face you could keep looking at. Chen Xiao nodded inwardly.
But she was still young, and it was hard to say whether she would remain striking when she grew up.
After all, examples of adorable children growing into plain-looking adults were everywhere.
A typical example was the lead in Harry Potter, so full of spark as a child, only to lose some of that charm as he grew up.
Letting his thoughts wander, he sat down and offered his hand. "Hi, I'm Vitas Chen."
Seeing that he looked Asian too, the girl instinctively felt a little closer to him. After a moment's hesitation, she replied quietly:
"Hi... my name is Clarice Ferguson."
She was clearly introverted and timid, nothing like the battle-hardened, dashing female warrior from more than ten years ago.
Chen Xiao had only wanted to say a quick hello this time, with no deeper intent.
After introducing himself, he smiled at her, then picked up his pizza and took a big bite.
The girl across from him said nothing, merely lowering her head to continue eating her lunch.
When she was nearly finished, she looked up and discovered that the boy opposite her had long since set down his tray. His elbows rested on the table, his chin propped in his hands as he quietly watched her.
She immediately grew nervous again and instinctively wiped the corner of her mouth. Finding nothing there, she could only stammer softly:
"Wh... what is it?"
Chen Xiao's lips curved. "Nothing. It just suddenly struck me how pretty you are, like a little princess straight out of a fairy tale."
Clarice's cheeks flushed red. She hurriedly lowered her eyes, her voice barely a whisper. "R... really?"
"Really." He nodded, his tone certain.
Westerners expressed themselves directly, unlike Easterners, who were accustomed to restraint and subtlety.
When they liked or admired someone, they often said it outright, never hiding it.
For example, if they happened across a woman with a striking presence on the street, they might approach her, say, "You're really charming," and then ask for her contact details.
As long as she did not object, they might have dinner together that very night. The next day, they could go their separate ways without any psychological burden.
Of course, that depended on not running into her boyfriend or husband.
Behind this seemingly free and easy way of interacting, things were actually far messier.
Most Western women went through multiple intimate relationships over their lifetimes, with even they themselves unable to count exactly how many partners they had had.
The same went for men. Few took the word "commitment" seriously, far less firmly than the Eastern cultural notion of willingly taking responsibility once a relationship was established.
But Chen Xiao merely offered her that casual compliment, then gave a slight nod and rose to leave.
He planned to visit the library that afternoon to look up some information.
Although he already had a general grasp of the current era, the world's background, and its basic circumstances,
this was ultimately a real, functioning world, not a fictional stage where he could freely apply the settings from comics or films.
Therefore, Chen Xiao had to personally verify more firsthand information: which countries were openly hostile toward mutants, which regions saw frequent mutant activity, which cities had seen traces of superheroes, and the current overall level of technological development around the globe...
He also wanted to browse some specialized works on genetic evolution. After all, an X-Gene lay buried within his own body.
Only by truly understanding mutants could he see who he was and how far he could go.
Mutation was the starting point for life's ascent.
It drove us to evolve from the most primitive single-celled organisms all the way to rulers at the top of Earth's food chain.
And this process was suffocatingly long, often spanning ten thousand years, or even hundreds of thousands.
Over the long course of life's history, a large-scale wave of genetic mutations arrived, on average, every few hundred thousand years, driving entire species toward tougher, more complex, and more advanced forms of existence...
Afternoon sunlight streamed through the glass windows, spreading warmth throughout the library. Tiny motes of dust drifted in the air, inducing a lazy drowsiness.
Chen Xiao sat by the window, his whole body immersed in light. Every inch of tissue beneath his skin silently absorbed solar energy. Evolution continued, invisible to the naked eye yet undeniably taking place.
This was precisely the most terrifying aspect of Superman's abilities.
At that moment, his fingertips were turning the pages of Principles of Mutant Genetics, which he was reading with rapt attention.
Whether it was due to his ongoing evolution or not, his logical reasoning and capacity for abstract understanding had clearly improved. He could steadily work his way through even difficult specialist books like this.
By the time he closed the four-hundred-plus-page General Introduction to Genetic Fundamentals, he had established a preliminary but solid framework for understanding the X-Gene's operating mechanisms and the Kryptonian cells quietly transforming within his body.
He set down the book and narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze calm and thoughtful.
He gradually realized that the source of mutants' power, like Superman's, lay deep within their genes.
The difference, however, was that every cell in Superman's body could strengthen and upgrade endlessly under sunlight, whereas the X-Gene inside mutants seemed firmly confined beneath an invisible ceiling.
Take the universally acknowledged top combatants in the comics: Magneto, Professor X, Storm, Iceman... Although official settings called them "planetary-level beings," their actual feats fell far short. In the films, they struggled even to influence a regional conflict.
Clearly, comic-book settings were artistic embellishments in the end and could not be accepted wholesale.
Otherwise, if they really were that powerful, why would mutants around the world be oppressed at every turn, struggling to survive? Humanity should have long since been groveling at their feet.
As for Phoenix, although she bore the title of "strongest Omega-level," strictly speaking, she was not a typical mutant at all.
Her world-destroying power came from the external Phoenix Force, not from an awakened X-Gene. Her actual mutant abilities were limited to telepathy and telekinesis.
More importantly, every time she appeared, she was hyped up to almost mythical heights, yet in reality, she could not control that power at all. Losing control, going berserk, and causing indiscriminate destruction had practically become her fixed routine.
If power did not belong to you and you could not control it, then however strong it was, it was nothing more than a blunt blade hanging over your head. (In Chen Xiao's words.)
At that thought, Chen Xiao sighed softly.
He could indeed clearly sense sunlight continually activating the cells throughout his body, causing them to constantly restructure and strengthen.
But this perception remained at a macroscopic level, like knowing his body was growing taller without being able to say which bone was thickening or which section of cartilage was calcifying.
He still could not precisely detect the minute changes in an individual cell, much less delve into the chromosomal level and see how the DNA double helix unwound, replicated, and rewrote itself...
If one day he could truly perceive the breathing of every cell and every leap in a genetic sequence, perhaps life's ultimate code would slowly unfold at his fingertips.
After all, a being that could evolve infinitely simply by basking in sunlight had already gone far beyond the realm of "powerful" and approached divinity.
His thoughts paused briefly, and he looked up at the seat opposite him.
The girl in a black dress, her black hair falling to her waist, was wearing headphones and sitting quietly at the table. She held a collection of fairy tales with her head lowered, her lashes downcast and her expression focused.
Clarice had arrived much earlier.
Chen Xiao had noticed when she sat down, but he had been immersed in his book at the time and had merely nodded in greeting.
It seemed she really was lonely at the mutant school.
Otherwise, she would not have chosen to sit opposite him that afternoon after only a brief encounter at lunch.
But Chen Xiao vaguely remembered that, in the comics, Blink's adoptive father was Sabretooth, one of Magneto's subordinates.
Although she later fought alongside the X-Men in Days of Future Past, judging by the current point in time, she was most likely still attending the secret elementary school controlled by Magneto.
Sure enough, reality was never as orderly as the silver screen.
As soon as that thought surfaced, Chen Xiao instinctively rubbed between his brows, feeling a slight headache.
This meant that the "known future" in his mind might very well have already quietly veered off course.
Just then, the girl opposite noticed his movement and looked up, her voice very soft. "Vitas, are you feeling unwell?"
Her tone was tentative and cautious, as though she feared even a greeting might scare him away, inexplicably softening one's heart.
"Ah, I'm fine." Chen Xiao's hand paused, and a gentle smile rose to his lips. "I just suddenly remembered something that takes a fair bit of thinking."
Changing the subject, he asked naturally, "By the way, Clarice, I didn't properly introduce myself earlier. I'm from Bri State in Mexico. What about you?"
Clarice froze slightly, her voice so soft it seemed almost to skim the tabletop. "I... I'm from Arizona State in America."
"Arizona State? That's next to Mexico, right? I hear things haven't been very peaceful there lately?" Chen Xiao quickly sketched the outline of a map in his mind.
The girl pressed her lips together and nodded. "Yes, it's very chaotic. The locals aren't very friendly toward nonwhite people or poor people."
Her tone was calm, but she could not hide her detachment and aversion.
"Clarice," Chen Xiao paused, then asked softly, "how did you come here?"
The question was like a pebble gently striking the surface of the water.
A shadow passed over her face, and her gaze dropped.
Chen Xiao immediately realized he had been too direct. He was just about to add, "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," when she drew a gentle breath, her voice trembling slightly:
"That day, lots of people broke into our home... they killed my adoptive father, and then..."
According to her halting account, she and her adoptive father had originally lived on the outskirts of the city. Their lives had been poor but peaceful.
But late one night, half a month earlier, a group had suddenly broken down their door.
In the ensuing melee, her adoptive father fell. Under the stimulus of extreme terror, grief, and anger, she activated her mutant ability for the first time, instantly teleporting away and escaping with her life.
Afterward, she hid here and there in the city for two days, until hunger left her dizzy and faint. Only then did the X-Men find her and take her straight back to Xavier's School.