Kitty let out a long breath as she reappeared in the distance.
Looking at the block of ice glowing with a cold blue light, Iceman Bobby curled his lips slightly. "Looks like that was all it had."
But on the rooftop diagonally opposite, Wolverine frowned deeply, his nostrils twitching. His beastlike instincts were still sounding a sharp warning: the danger had not passed.
His gaze suddenly fixed. Beneath the ice, Sentry's shell was gradually turning from grayish white to crimson!
"Careful! It's still alive!" Before his roar had faded,
Boom!!
The icy shell exploded, and flames shot skyward! Sentry became a blazing fireball, the solid ice evaporating inch by inch as fragments scattered like snow.
When the flames subsided a little, its entire body was covered in a dark red, emberlike skin, resembling the surface of cooled lava. Its energy had clearly diminished.
Then,
Thud!
Its head dropped to the ground.
The instant it broke free of the ice, Wolverine had kicked off a building's eaves and leaped, pouncing through the air like a leopard toward the back of its neck!
Cold light flashed from both sets of claws. As swift as thunder, a single slash severed its neck, clean and decisive.
At the same moment, on a high rooftop, another Sentry had just fired its last bullet when Chen Xiao shattered the concrete edge beneath his feet. His dark silhouette streaked through the air like lightning, reaching its side in an instant.
Sentry was still twisting around when Chen Xiao's fist came crashing toward it, wreathed in golden light!
Boom!!
Pure, brutal, irresistible force erupted! Sentry's left arm broke off at the shoulder, and its enormous body slammed toward the ground as though struck by a ten-thousand-ton hammer.
The ground cracked, shock waves surged, and fierce winds swept rubble across more than ten meters!
Before it could struggle to rise, Chen Xiao descended from the sky and stomped on its right elbow joint!
Boom!!
Its arm, cast from refined steel, snapped on impact, the broken ends twisting out of shape.
Yet the old sneakers on Chen Xiao's feet remained completely undamaged. He had long since mastered releasing and restraining his strength at will.
Whoosh!
Before his afterimage faded, he had flashed beneath Sentry's abdomen. Both hands clamped around its left leg like iron pincers, veins bulging along his arms as he gave a violent wrench.
Boom!!
The shriek of tearing metal erupted as its left leg was forcibly ripped off. Wires crackled and flared at the break, filling the air with a scorched smell.
The right leg followed.
Hum.
Red light suddenly blazed in Sentry's eye sockets, an energy beam poised to fire!
But one-tenth of a second before the beam could shoot out, a fist shimmering with pale gold had already struck beside its temple.
Boom!!
Hundreds of tons of impact force exploded outward. Sentry's head erupted in a shower of electrical sparks, its entire metal skull flying through the air and smashing into a distant building. Dust and sparks scattered amid a thunderous crash.
Before Chen Xiao, this Sentry was as fragile as paper, utterly unable to fight back.
Just as Chen Xiao finished off this machine, the battlefield on the other side fell silent as well.
Only the collapsed buildings, cracked roads, and lingering flames silently bore witness to the brief but violent battle.
Everyone gathered.
Storm nodded. "Although this combat drill was short, our overall coordination was smooth. Everyone worked together and eliminated all the targets cleanly and efficiently."
Standing before the wreckage of the robot Wolverine had beheaded with one strike, Iceman bent down to examine it for a moment and sighed. "This thing really is tricky. It's equipped with modern weapons systems and can use mutant abilities, too. It poses a considerable threat in actual combat."
"Fortunately, it's only a training device the Professor designed."
Shadowcat and Rogue Anna exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly. "Exactly. If someone actually built something like this in the real world, mutants would probably face an unprecedented crisis."
Chen Xiao's eyes shifted slightly, but he said nothing, standing quietly to one side.
With training over, everyone filed out of the underground training ground.
Sunlight streamed through the corridor's high windows. Kitty hurried a couple of steps forward and patted Chen Xiao's shoulder, praising him sincerely. "Vitas, your combat performance really is getting more and more consistent."
"You took one down all by yourself in just a few moves."
Chen Xiao chuckled softly, his tone calm. "I did all right. You were all excellent, too."
Anna shook her head and interrupted. "Vitas, stop being modest. We all saw how strong you are. I was the one who barely helped out there."
As soon as she finished speaking, her expression dimmed slightly.
Her ability allowed her to briefly copy another person's mutant power through touch, but it placed a tremendous strain on the original owner and could even endanger their life in severe cases.
After years of repeated adjustments and self-restraint, she had brought the damage within safe limits. Yet precisely because of that, she could only watch most of the time, unable to truly join the fighting.
"Anna, don't think that way."
Noticing her low spirits, Kitty immediately leaned closer and comforted her softly. "The Professor said there are no useless abilities, only people who haven't found the right way to use them yet."
Hearing this, Anna forced the corners of her mouth upward and gave her a faint smile.
Ahead, Wolverine and Storm talked as they walked. Logan's voice was low, carrying a trace of suppressed irritation. "I don't get it. What exactly are these drills supposed to accomplish?"
"Keep the kids on edge all the time, hinting that war could break out at any moment?"
Storm's brows drew together slightly. "Logan, this was just a basic combat exercise."
"No, I don't believe for a second that this was just an ordinary drill."
Logan's tone was cold and hard. "Charles always has a purpose. He never makes pointless arrangements."
"Perhaps." She paused, her voice calm but weighty. "But don't forget, we only took down Chris Laboratory last week. Our situation is nowhere near secure."
"Are you all that eager for a war?"
"Scott has the older students practicing combat and tactics every day. Now Charles has even started putting the X-Men through intensive group training." Clear dissatisfaction seeped into Logan's voice.
He had been caught in too many bloody battles throughout his life and had watched loved ones leave him time and again. He had long since tired of blades and gun smoke.
He did not want this sanctuary to gradually take on the rusty smell of a battlefield, too.
Storm's gaze darkened, but her voice grew clearer. "I don't want to fight either, but there are always people who refuse to give us a chance at peace."
Logan turned to glance at her and said quietly, "When you're covered in thorns, even someone reaching out a hand will be afraid of getting pricked."
Their conversation stopped there. Each preoccupied with their own thoughts, they parted in silence.
Logan was not questioning Professor X himself. Rather, he was wary of the increasingly aggressive pace of his recent war preparations. He feared that this sense of urgency would eventually drag the school back into the flames of war.
This world-weary mutant looked cold and ruthless, his hands stained with blood, yet deep inside, he still guarded a warmth that had never died.
"Big brother!"
Chen Xiao had just stepped out of the underground base's entrance and into the teaching building's lobby when a little blond girl came running over and grabbed his trouser leg, bringing him to a halt.
The child was about seven, with delicate features and a slightly pale face. Looking up at him, she clung tightly to his thigh with both hands.
A wheelchair slowly approached, and Professor X spoke gently. "Vitas, this is Wei'er Kadi. You should still remember her."
Kitty froze for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Little Wei'er! You recovered so quickly?"
The Professor nodded with a smile. "Her injuries were the lightest, so naturally she recovered a little faster."
"Hello, big sister!"
"Thank you, bearded uncle!"
"And the white-haired big sister, too..."
Blinking her bright, watery eyes, the little girl earnestly thanked them one by one, her voice soft and sweet.
Even Wolverine, who rarely smiled or joked, unconsciously softened his gaze as he looked at her.
Little Wei'er's sudden appearance surprised everyone somewhat, but soon a caregiver gently led her away.
Although her external injuries had mostly healed, she was still somewhat weak and should not remain outdoors for long.
Watching the child leave, Professor X turned to Chen Xiao and the others with a warm smile. "Perfect timing. I'm teaching the senior students a class on ethics this period. You're welcome to listen in."
As both headmaster and teacher, Professor X rarely taught classes, and his schedule was packed. His classes never covered formulas or theorems, only choices of values. Put plainly, he helped young people sort out the boundaries between good and evil.
The space called a "classroom" looked more like a bright, spacious office. A dozen or so senior students sat scattered across the chairs in various postures.
Professor X sat in his wheelchair, his frame lean, yet possessed of a quiet strength. His gaze was clear, and he spoke slowly, but every word struck home:
"Students, when a person possesses power far beyond that of ordinary people, even the slightest use of it can shake everything around him."
"Will he choose to use that power to advance progress, protect the weak, and become a true guardian?"
"Or will ambition sweep him along onto a path of control, until he stands above all others, perhaps even tearing this world apart with his own hands for his selfish desires?"
His gaze slowly shifted to the back row and settled on Chen Xiao's face. His voice remained gentle, but grew especially solemn:
"We must face this question, because 'that person' is us."
"As people who possess extraordinary power, what counts as its proper use? What counts as abuse, as crossing the line? Where does that boundary lie?"
"The answer is not in rules and regulations, but in our hearts. It is morality."
"Once that bottom line is lost, even the greatest power will breed tyranny."
At this point, Colossus raised his hand, looking puzzled. "Professor, you said before that morality is a social consensus and has no fixed, unchanging standard."
"But we mutants are marginalized, rejected, and even regarded with hostility by mainstream society. Which moral code should we follow?"
"An excellent question. Where exactly does morality's specific standard lie?"
The Professor smiled faintly. "In my view, morality has no unchanging yardstick to begin with. It continues to evolve as times change and ideas are replaced."
"If we must name a tangible reference point, it is the law. The law is morality's bottom line, while morality often moves ahead of the law, paving the way and filling its gaps."
"As long as your actions do not cross the law's red line, they remain within the bounds of what morality permits."
"Once you break the law-for example, by using your abilities to steal, plunder, or even take lives and seize other people's property-those actions are not only illegal, but inevitably fall outside moral boundaries."
"And that is precisely the fundamental reason mainstream society distances itself from us."
"Because the power we possess is enough to bypass oversight and evade accountability. We can do bad things without anyone being able to identify or punish us."
"The vast majority of ordinary people have no such ability. They can only stay obediently within the circle drawn by the law."