Chapter 207: Collecting the X-Gene
The only ones left within his perception range were the mutants.
"So few?"
Chang Wei was a bit surprised, then seemed lost in thought. Suddenly, he recalled the original concept behind mutants.
In the comics' lore, the Celestials visited Earth a million years ago and experimented on early humans. The "X-Gene" was implanted into the DNA of some of them. Anyone capable of activating the X-Gene would become a mutant.
Though they all share the same origin, their superpowers differ vastly!
While all mutant abilities stem from the X-Gene, the gene itself is incredibly mysterious. Even the Celestials, who created it, couldn't fully decipher its secrets—so the powers it gives rise to are wildly diverse.
The reason the Celestials themselves couldn't comprehend the X-Gene is because its potential is simply too vast! There are quite a few mutants whose strength even surpasses that of the Celestials!
Take Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, for example. His power level is ridiculously overpowered. Even though his parents aren't mutants, Franklin himself was born an Omega-level mutant!
Back when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men, they were inspired by the social atmosphere and international climate of the time.
One early explanation for the emergence of mutants was the increase in atmospheric radiation caused by nuclear weapons testing. That's why Stan Lee dubbed mutants "Children of the Atom."
So, prior to the era of nuclear testing, the number of mutants born was extremely low. Azazel was one of them, as were Wolverine and his brother.
Professor X and the others belong to a newer generation of mutants—those whose X-Gene was activated by post-nuclear radiation exposure.
Could it be that the movie versions of mutants actually follow this setup?
If so, Chang Wei wouldn't have many targets.
But it didn't matter. For Chang Wei, it was simply a matter of waiting.
Activating Schrödinger's power, Chang Wei appeared behind Azazel.
Azazel was the father of Nightcrawler, conceived after he, well, forcibly had his way with Mystique. Nightcrawler was the blue-skinned mutant who tried to assassinate the American president.
Azazel was one of the oldest living mutants—he had existed for thousands of years. Since biblical times, he had gone by many names, many of which terrified humanity. Some of the demons in folklore, including Satan himself, were merely aliases he'd adopted.
Azazel and other "demonic" mutants were targeted by another group of mutants with wings. These winged mutants were recorded by ancient humans as "angels," and X-Men's Angel was part of this lineage.
So, aside from Apocalypse, the oldest mutant was Azazel—unless the Hellfire Club had a Black Queen hidden away somewhere. But from what Chang Wei saw in Sebastian Shaw's memories, there was no such person in the club.
Mr. Sinister didn't exist either, so the oldest remaining mutants were those two.
Azazel was enjoying himself when a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, startling him so much he almost jumped out of his skin.
"Be my dog and crawl beneath my feet."
Chang Wei had already taken his X-Gene—and at the same time, implanted an irresistible mental command via psychic manipulation.
This was even more effective than a Mind Control Seal. Azazel retained his own consciousness and memory, yet couldn't defy a single one of Chang Wei's commands.
For instance, he was now crawling on all fours at Chang Wei's feet.
Azazel's face was full of fear. He had no idea what just happened. In all his years, this was the first time he'd encountered something like this.
"Keep up."
Chang Wei vanished, and Azazel instinctively followed.
One used Schrödinger's ability; the other used teleportation—a psychic-space-based form of instantaneous travel.
But naturally, Chang Wei's ability was far superior. He couldn't be bothered to use Azazel's teleportation. Schrödinger was faster, more convenient, and—more importantly—unrestricted.
Even under observation, Chang Wei could break free by observing himself. The idea he once came up with—forcing billions of humans to observe Schrödinger to try and collapse the wave function—still had a high chance of failing, all because of this self-observation ability.
If it were just the uncertainty of the cat alone, it wouldn't be such a pain to deal with. Self-observation was the truly troublesome part.
They arrived at a battlefield. A squad of soldiers was advancing under heavy fire when two men suddenly appeared in front of them, startling them all.
Especially one of them—he looked bizarre, almost like a demon from ancient mythology.
"Wolverine and Sabretooth, still fighting a war at this point…"
Chang Wei had to admire the two brothers' thick nerves. Normal people would've mentally collapsed long ago after so much killing, but to these two, it was like taking a nap.
Chang Wei wouldn't be so reckless, even if he were just immortal. Avoiding death was always the smartest option. The healing factor might restore brain cells, but who's to say the person hasn't died countless times already, with only their memories and consciousness being "revived"?
Ever since acquiring the Blacklight Virus, Chang Wei rarely used immortality recklessly. He usually just sent a clone into battle while his true body stayed hidden.
After all, with powers like his, why charge through gunfire like Alex Mercer?
"All of you, be my dogs."
Chang Wei happened to want to observe how the X-Gene behaves in different individuals, so Wolverine, Sabretooth, and even the American soldiers in their unit were all turned into crawling dogs at his feet.
Noticing that many of them didn't have the X-Gene, Chang Wei simply injected it into them and then released atomic radiation.
He had Godzilla's genes and cells and had even mastered nuclear fission—generating this kind of radiation was child's play. More importantly, with his energy emission ability, he could directly convert energy into nuclear radiation.
Of course, to avoid killing them outright, he kept the radiation output about the same as a mobile phone's.
That level of radiation was within the human body's tolerable range.
Chang Wei didn't look down on Wolverine or Sabretooth's X-Genes either—he absorbed them both.
Next up was Magneto, Erik—master of magnetic fields. That power was basically born to be a magnetic-field war god. Conservatively speaking, he was one of the original top four mutants in terms of raw potential, perhaps even stronger.
The only problem was that Magneto didn't know how to properly use it—neither in physics techniques nor in applying magnetic field rotations.
If Chang Wei got his hands on it, he could fully develop the magnetic field rotation. Human studies of magnetism are still mostly theoretical, not definitive truths—who's to say it won't work in practice?