"Did I do something wrong?"
At this moment, Professor X, Richards, was deep in troubled thought. He had recalled all the students. Artoria's prophecy had come true; some individuals had clashed with the Mutants, completely souring the relationship between Mutants and ordinary people. Much of the online discourse was smearing the Mutants. However, the ones who had clashed with the students were just a few thugs who had been rude to them. This matter was difficult to handle. Thanks to the efforts of generations of politicians, the image of Mutants in the public eye had never been good, with people viewing them as a bunch of genetically mutated freaks. Just a while ago, he had seen a turning point. Because of Hydra, people had suffered disasters, and the actions of the Inhumans had been a revelation to him, especially since the Inhumans had successfully left a very good impression in people's hearts.
So, he intended to imitate them by sending some good-tempered students along with teachers to assist those affected. Providing medical equipment and food were minor matters; the focus was on changing people's misunderstandings about Mutants. The starting point was excellent, and the results were good too. But he didn't know what exactly had gone wrong for this to happen. If it wasn't handled well now, the Mutants' reputation would be completely ruined. He was reflecting on what had happened. Finally, a saying from Taiwanese made him understand a truth about human nature: "A measure of rice breeds gratitude, but a bucket of rice breeds enmity." Helping others requires knowing the right balance.
The Professor was very intelligent and immediately grasped the meaning of the saying. However, being kind-hearted to the point of having a "saintly" personality, he still couldn't fully agree with it. Perhaps it was because his ability was too heaven-defying, leading him to believe he deeply understood the complex emotion of human nature. Now that this had happened, he began to doubt himself.
"The method wasn't wrong; it was my guidance that was wrong."
After analyzing his own problems and comparing them to the success of the Inhumans, Professor X instantly realized his mistake. He had been too eager to integrate Mutants into ordinary society, forgetting that the traumatized public was highly vigilant. Once an "outsider" like a Mutant intervened, even with good intentions, they would be met with suspicion, like a wounded Beast. The Inhumans had appeared at the perfect moment, acting as Angels in white when they were needed most, giving people respect, and leaving immediately after providing aid, leaving no time for people to find fault. He had done this very poorly. In his eagerness to change the Mutants' image, he had been impatient and had them do too much, which was precisely what shouldn't have been done at that time. Thinking of this, Professor X couldn't help but blame himself. If he had been calmer at the time, the current situation wouldn't have happened. Professor X clearly took all the blame upon himself, feeling it was his error that caused this to happen. Sometimes, people with a "goody-two-shoes" personality are very stubborn.
"Professor, this is not your fault."
Just as Professor X was lost in self-reproach, Jean suddenly appeared. As the perfect host of the Phoenix Force, Jean possessed immense potential that even Professor X didn't have, capable of ascending to an Omega-level Mutant. The powerful psychic energy brought by the Phoenix Force allowed Jean to sense the sliver of emotion Professor X was unconsciously leaking. She could feel Professor X's deep sense of self-blame and understood what he was blaming himself for, but this matter really couldn't be called Professor X's fault. Various accidents had made this happen suddenly. Jean knelt by the Professor's wheelchair, looking at him as he wallowed in self-reproach, and comforted him worriedly.
"Jean, let the past be the past! I might truly not be fit to be a leader."
Facing Jean's comfort, Richards realized he had been overthinking things, but from another perspective, he was indeed not fit to be a true leader. The same went for Eric; he understood everything about his friend. He could only be considered an ambitious hero, someone who would only use violence and extreme methods to conquer others. This included his current view on humanity; he believed Mutants were a superior existence to humans, and that humans must submit to Mutant rule. This was the exact opposite of his own theory. Richards believed that Mutants were also a type of human, and that there was no such thing as survival of the fittest. Neither of them was suitable to be a leader for the Mutants. He was only fit to be a psychology teacher, guiding children, while Eric was only fit to retire to the countryside.
"It seems the future can only be left in the hands of you young people."
When saying this, Richards seemed to age a dozen years, no longer looking like that energetic middle-aged man, but rather like an old man. He was very worried when he said this. He didn't really have many talented people he could use; there was only Hank, but Hank was suited for being a researcher. The rest was Cyclops, Scott. Although this kid could calmly consider things in the long term, he was prone to dropping the ball at critical moments. He intended to cultivate Cyclops as his successor and entrust the X-Academy to him, letting him lead these children. But Cyclops was still too young and needed to be tempered properly. As for Jean, she was the girl he worried about the most.
Although on the surface she seemed more thoughtful than Cyclops and could calmly handle anything he entrusted to her, Jean was not suitable to be a leader. Moreover, the power within Jean made even him break out in a cold sweat—that power that wanted to destroy everything, dark to the extreme. Sometimes he was very afraid that if he were to pass away unexpectedly, and there was no one to suppress this power, would it bring a catastrophic disaster to the entire world? These were all things Richards did not want to see. He felt exhausted now, physically and mentally drained from worrying about the future of the Mutants.
"Jean, invite Ms. Artoria Stark tomorrow. I want to talk to her."
After thinking it over, Richards said to Jean. There were some things he wanted to chat with Artoria about. He felt that only this young lady of wealth would be able to treat Mutants well. As for the others, he couldn't trust a single one. Nick Fury, that Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., had expressed more than once his hope to take in the Mutant children. But one must absolutely not trust that man's words. Even without using his abilities, he could clearly see the consequences if these children went there; they would definitely be trained as Special Agents. He would not let such a thing happen. Even handing them over to Eric would be much better than handing them over to those guys. At least Eric would treat his own kin well, while those guys would not.
"Alright, Professor."
Not knowing how many things the Professor had imagined in his head, Jean nodded obediently, indicating she would help the Professor make contact. After hearing Jean's reply, Richards's wheelchair automatically moved away. Richards waved his hand, signaling Jean to rest early, and the wheelchair moved into the house automatically. In the night, this way of moving was just like seeing a ghost, but everyone was used to it. Jean watched Richards leave her line of sight.
"When do you plan to marry her~!"
Ms. Artoria, whom Richards had set his sights on, was currently facing the greatest predicament: parental pressure to marry. Artoria would rather fight Thanos for hundreds of rounds than face her mother right now. At this moment, Maria was holding Mordred and pulling Artoria aside to whisper. She was very satisfied with this woman, Gaea; she looked very virtuous. Judging from the movements of making formula and feeding this dear, sweet granddaughter, she must have practiced quite a few times.
"Don't worry about this! I'll talk about it when I'm ready."
Facing Maria's blunt urging for marriage, Artoria replied very calmly. "You already have a child to play with, what are you rushing for? She's not going to run away. Do you believe that if I ran away, this woman would just grab me back? So there's no need to rush this matter at all." Compared to the elaborate ways her parents in her previous life urged her to marry, this was nothing. Artoria could still handle this. As long as she could hold out for another year or two, when Thanos arrived, who would still care about a small wedding? Artoria decided at this moment that she must drag this matter out to the very end.
"Don't break her heart."
Seeing Artoria's "dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water" attitude, Maria knew she couldn't get through to her daughter, so she could only give up. After leaving that one sentence, she held Mordred and went off to play elsewhere.
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