At those words, Storm and the others' expressions shifted slightly, their brows drawing tight.
They truly had never considered that aspect. In the past, the Professor alone had shouldered every negotiation and maneuver.
Chen Xiao cut straight to the point. "Hank, you mean those people in the White House, and the major financial groups behind them, right?"
Hank looked up, staring at the dark-haired boy opposite him, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes. This child was far sharper than he had expected.
Chen Xiao's voice deepened. "Exactly. While Charles was alive, he was the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads. With him gone, that restraint is gone too."
"But they've forgotten something else. The school itself is also a 'brake.' It keeps us grounded, keeps our emotions from running wild, keeps people from being driven into a corner."
Before he had finished speaking, the corners of his lips lifted slightly. The smile never reached his eyes, yet it made the air turn abruptly cold.
"There's an old saying: kill one man, and you're called a criminal; slaughter ten thousand, and you're hailed as a hero."
"Right now, at full strength, I can exert over a thousand tons of force and move close to the sound barrier. Modern conventional weapons barely tickle me."
"More importantly, I'm naturally immune to psychic intrusion. Even the Professor couldn't read my thoughts back then."
"If I cast aside every restraint and cut loose... I could run hundreds of laps around New York in a single day and reduce the entire city to rubble."
"Or I could target political leaders. Within seven days, Washington would have to replace half its senior officials, unless they started working out of bomb shelters for good."
In an instant, a heavy stench of blood seemed to wash over them. Someone's vision darkened, and they could almost see corpses strewn everywhere and long streets drenched in blood.
Hank stared at Chen Xiao, his face pale, his hands unconsciously tightening around the armrests.
He could not believe such cold, bloody words had come from a teenager's mouth, while not even a ripple disturbed the boy's expression.
It was as though an ancient savage beast lay dormant inside him, merely wearing a mask of human skin for now.
That thin restraint was conscience, rules, the eyes of those around him, and the lucidity he himself still retained.
Hank spoke each word distinctly, his voice tight. "You... are a monster."
"A monster?" Chen Xiao sneered. "Hank, have you really seen things clearly? I'm not the only monster. Every one of us is."
His gaze swept across every face present, his tone as cold as a frosted blade. "In ordinary people's eyes, anyone with mutant genes is an outsider, a threat, an 'anomaly' that needs to be eliminated."
"So please tell those people: don't push us. Once the beast inside breaks its chains, there's no chaining it up again."
Chen Xiao had neither raised a hand nor shouted, yet an invisible pressure had already settled heavily over them, sending chills down their spines.
Hank watched him for a long time before finally giving a bitter smile and letting out a long breath. "Yes... which of us isn't?"
He stood, regarding Chen Xiao with greater solemnity. "Vitas, you carry enough weight. I'll deliver every word you said today to the president's desk, exactly as you said it."
Then he looked at Storm, Wolverine, and Iceman. "I was too hasty just now. Charles may be gone, but the school isn't some pushover anyone can trample."
"From now on, you'll run the school. If there's any movement from the authorities, I'll notify you immediately."
Ultimately, Hank was a mutant himself. Only once he confirmed that the school still possessed enough weight to deter its opponents did the heavy burden on his heart ease somewhat.
Storm and the others were powerful, but Hank knew their nature. They had principles and valued their bonds, yet lacked the ruthlessness to risk everything and the nerve to overturn the board.
Who could have expected that, at this critical juncture, someone even tougher would emerge from the school, his methods so forceful that they almost replicated Charles's old logic of deterrence?
No, he was sharper than Charles. The Professor had offered subtle warnings, building high walls with wisdom and restraint; Chen Xiao held a knife directly to the other side's throat and laid out the bloody consequences.
The murderous intent in his words was no bluff. It was a resolve he had truly calculated, truly contemplated, and could truly carry out overnight.
This was the most terrifying kind of "monster": once freed of his shackles, no one could stop him.
But often, things never needed to go that far.
What truly worked was never the outcome, but the attitude-the ruthlessness to drag everyone into the abyss, even if it meant mutual destruction.
After all, honest people feared bullies, bullies feared madmen, and madmen... feared those who had utterly stopped caring whether they lived.
Just as Hank was about to step through the door, Storm suddenly spoke. "Hank, how's your investigation into the cure going?"
Hank stopped and turned around. "Worthington Labs developed it. It's hidden on Alcatraz. But I still have several crucial questions about it. I need to go there myself and see it with my own eyes before drawing any conclusions."
He had actually planned to leave for Alcatraz the previous afternoon, but Professor X's sudden death had forced him to put the trip on hold.
After Hank left, everyone's gaze fell on Chen Xiao in unison.
Chen Xiao shrugged, his tone relaxed and slightly teasing. "Don't stare at me like that, even if I am quite a sight."
By now, that suffocating pressure around him had dissipated. His expression was calm, his manner natural, no different from usual. Several female team members even rubbed their eyes instinctively, wondering whether the scene just now had been an illusion.
Storm shook her head gently and gave a bitter smile. "I never thought the day would come when a boy would outshine us old-timers."
"Exactly... We have no way back anymore. Apart from this school, we have nothing."
"If anyone dares target the school, they can't blame us for fighting to the death."
As her words fell, her gaze abruptly steadied, and she declared decisively, "Spread the word immediately. As long as the X-Men remain, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters will always keep its doors open."
Smiles immediately blossomed on Iceman's, Colossus's, and Shadowcat's faces.
As the news spread, the tense students in the hallways, on the grounds, and in the dormitories began cheering, their panic and fear vanishing in an instant.
Of course, they had no idea what had actually happened in the meeting room.
They only heard that, after discussion, the X-Men had unanimously chosen Storm as the new headmistress; existing members Shadowcat, Colossus, and Iceman would become combat instructors, leading students in training to face real threats.
As for Chen Xiao... well, he was too young. Becoming a teacher was off the table for now.
"Vitas, you were seriously awesome back there."
In the hallway, Shadowcat looked up at the dark-haired boy walking beside her and offered her heartfelt praise.
Now, no hesitation remained between her brows, nor any unease in her eyes, because she finally knew what she should do and truly understood the mission resting on her shoulders:
Carry on the Professor's final wishes, protect this campus, and let it remain the only safe haven for young mutants.
Faced with Kitty's praise, Chen Xiao merely smiled faintly without replying.
Truthfully, he had not wanted to step into the spotlight.
According to the original plot, just as Storm and the others were hesitating over whether to close the school, Angel, Warren, would suddenly appear seeking refuge. His arrival would rekindle everyone's conviction and allow the school to continue.
Unfortunately, while reality broadly followed the films' storyline, the details often diverged.
For instance, right now, Warren was nowhere to be seen.
More troubling still, mutants in this world faced a far harsher situation than they did on-screen. The pressure came not only from ordinary government agencies, but also from more forces lurking in the shadows with even more ruthless methods.
After repeatedly weighing the pros and cons and sorting through the relationships between the various sides and the potential risks, Chen Xiao ultimately decided to act.
If he continued to remain silent, the situation could very well spiral out of control.
Even if that meant revealing some of his trump cards ahead of time, he accepted it.
Because to him, Xavier's School was worth far more than the risk.
It was quiet enough and safe enough, an ideal nurturing ground for him to steadily improve his strength.
As long as he weathered the current turmoil of the X-Men's third battle, he would gain a rare period to lie low and focus on growing stronger.
Besides, he knew perfectly well that he would not remain in the spotlight for long.
Once the Professor returned safely, all attention would naturally converge on that legendary leader again.
As for whether revealing his strength would lead to people hunting him down, he was not worried at all.
After all, what he had shown the outside world was merely his surface-level stats.
His true killing move was the "Destruction Form" triggered by his X-Gene's second awakening, an ultimate form that could completely reshape his body and unleash his potential.
More importantly, his strength was surging every day.
If someone still used yesterday's standards to judge him today, or even predict his combat strength a week later, they would only run into an invisible wall and take a devastating fall.
After saying goodbye to Kitty, Chen Xiao strolled back to the dormitory rooftop.
Sunlight poured down. He spread his arms and slowly rose into the air, hovering two meters above the ground. His body hungrily absorbed the sunlight's energy, every inch of his flesh quietly transforming.
After his physique completed its final transformation, he distinctly felt that the rate of his strength's growth had increased considerably.
At the same time, his psychic perception finally crossed the threshold and reached the microscopic level.
Now, his consciousness spread throughout his body in fine threads, and he "saw" everything clearly: his cells were dividing and multiplying at an unprecedented rate; with every division, they simultaneously compressed their own structures, steadily increasing the density of his bones, muscles, and nerves.
Another discovery shocked him even more:
The sunlight he absorbed seemed faint, merely a wisp; yet after his Krypton cells converted it, the energy's nature changed completely. Not only did it become increasingly pure, but some unknown mechanism amplified it a thousandfold, ten thousandfold, condensing it into an entirely new power buried deep within every cell nucleus.
Rather than saying he grew stronger by basking in the sun, it was more accurate to say that sunlight was merely the fuse igniting the ceaseless engine of evolution within him.
Once he understood this, everything became clear to Chen Xiao.
No wonder his strength had soared so dramatically in just over half a month through nothing but everyday exposure to sunlight. That little bit of light energy had already been amplified more than ten thousandfold!
Moreover, this amplification efficiency was not fixed, but continued increasing as his physical strength improved.
Perhaps one day, when the grip strength of a single arm exceeded tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of tons, his energy conversion multiplier would also soar into the millions or tens of millions.