Overly inflammatory words held little sway over Henry, who had lived a second life. What truly mattered was what Magneto intended to do.
However, among those who had joined the Brotherhood of Mutants, as well as those who had just been rescued from the laboratory, Magneto's appeal to their shared suffering struck a deep chord. The mutants gathered on the deck all began shouting excitedly.
After waiting for everyone's emotions to settle somewhat, Magneto gestured for the gradually subsiding cries to stop altogether.
"My fellow mutants, I know you must be wondering how we can make our demands known to the entire world.
"It's simple. We will offer the blood of one person as a sacrifice to the mutant cause. When that happens, the whole world will finally understand the resolve of mutants."
Someone below shouted, "Magneto, who do you want us to kill?"
"One person will be enough. George Bush."
"George… Bush!"
Well, quite a few people still needed a moment to remember the name of the current American president before they understood. Those who did immediately wore astonished expressions.
Only Henry felt like laughing inwardly.
He had finally figured out the purpose of this illusionary world. Wasn't it simply weaving together a situation that would allow the mastermind behind this entire farce to control those trapped in the illusion and make them carry out his will?
According to the movie's storyline, the military wanted to create the fact that mutants had rebelled against the government. That way, they could justifiably strip mutants of their status as "human beings" and turn them into "lab rats."
Sure enough, Magneto continued passionately, "Before today, I didn't know what opportunity we might have to accomplish this. But then I saw Henry Brown—a mutant among our people who possesses the ability to withstand bullets and blades.
"With proper training, he could storm the White House alone and walk out unharmed. Even if he were captured, we would have more than enough time to rescue him.
"He is our best candidate. Henry Brown, are you willing to undertake this great mission for the future of mutantkind—a mission certain to leave its mark on history?"
The man chewing on a baguette replied firmly, "I'm not willing."
Afraid that no one had heard him, he repeated himself.
"There's no way I'm going to carry out this meaningless suicide mission."
Magneto was dumbfounded, and his voice carried a hint of collapse.
"How could this possibly be a suicide mission? I already said that you are the one among us most likely to succeed and return safely. Besides you, is there anyone else qualified to carry out this mission?"
"Even so, I'm still unwilling to do it. What are you going to do about that, Magneto?"
Henry couldn't even be bothered to stand up. He simply leaned against the cabin wall and spoke to the leader of the mutants from where he sat.
Magneto's face darkened, and he fell silent.
Instead, the members of the Brotherhood of Mutants, along with Henry's former comrades from the mutant battalion, erupted like a nest of angry hornets. Every one of them wore the same vicious expression as they shouted.
"Traitor! Go to hell!"
"Anyone unwilling to sacrifice himself for the greater good of mutantkind has no right to live in this world!"
Watching this abnormal scene, Henry smiled happily.
Sincerely. Without a trace of mockery.
All this time, he had been thinking about how to escape this illusionary world. If his guess was correct and he had fallen victim to a psychic attack from a mutant—
He had abandoned the idea of searching for an exit long ago.
Henry had also tried countless forms of intense stimulation that should have been enough to wake him up. Unfortunately, his abilities made every attempt feel like a mere tickle—neither painful nor effective.
Back at the military camp, Henry had even secretly pressed a rifle against his own tonsils and fired. In the end, all he did was retch up a bullet.
Suicide seemed like a possible way to "leave" this world. But this world might have been constructed by a supermind. Everything here followed its own rules and laws, making it appear perfectly reasonable.
If he successfully committed suicide here, would the supermind mistake him for actually being "dead"?
He had heard more than enough stories about the death of consciousness representing the destruction of the body. If things went wrong, he might not even have a chance to regret it.
So Henry had come up with another method: find something unreasonable about this world—something even he believed could never happen—yet which the overall momentum of the world was bizarrely forcing him to do.
And that something had to be connected to the mastermind's objective.
The Illusion Master's ability should be based on this kind of misdirection, luring him into doing "something."
So, from the moment Henry had awakened in the military camp until now, was there anything more unreasonable than this very moment?
A mutant leader who would never use assassination as a method—even someone who had once tried to stop the CIA from assassinating Kennedy, albeit unsuccessfully—suddenly targeting the president of the United States the moment he took action?
A strong-willed leader who would never lay a hand on his fellow mutants, yet allowed everyone to execute a mutant "traitor" right in front of him?
An alien had become a mutant?
The Magneto who knew him had become someone who didn't recognize him!
And what was even more fucking bizarre was that Mystique—the crazy woman—had seen him and hadn't exploded in rage! She even knew how to speak properly!
Most importantly, regardless of whether they knew Henry or not, the comrades in the military camp who had once entrusted each other with their backs, as well as the Brotherhood members meeting him for the first time, were all shouting that he should be killed simply because he refused to carry out an assassination against the American president.
All these abnormalities piled up, and Henry could feel this world beginning to loosen.
Under the supermind's management, the seemingly impregnable logic of this world was being distorted more and more obviously by the intrusion of an external force.
Looking at everyone's grotesquely twisted expressions—men and women, fat and thin, all wearing hateful, mask-like faces—Henry began to laugh.
He couldn't help it.
He burst into loud laughter.
The angrier everyone became while condemning him, the broader his smile grew. It was like pouring oil onto a fire, making them gnash their teeth in fury.
When Magneto returned to stand before Henry, he asked coldly, "Henry Brown, this is your final chance. Are you certain you refuse to cooperate with the greater cause of mutantkind and assassinate the president of the United States?"
"Go fuck your own asshole!"
"Kill him!"
"Cut this traitor down!"
The mutants aboard the ship began shouting like madmen.
And they weren't satisfied with verbal threats. Someone pulled out a rope from somewhere and tied Henry's hands and feet together.
"You don't think that being able to stop bullets means you don't need to breathe, do you? What do you think will happen if you drown?"
It was a clever threat.
But Henry ignored the mutants completely. All his attention was focused on resisting this world and finding a way to dismantle this damned prison.
"You won't submit?"
"What ability do you have to resist us?"
"Are you not afraid of death?"
They tried both harsh threats and gentle persuasion, all in an attempt to shake Henry's resolve.
But he genuinely didn't care about this distorted form of death, because Henry knew very clearly that this was not what he wanted.
What he needed now was this unequivocal resistance—to overturn the sense of reasonability that the supermind had imposed upon this world.
The more fiercely he resisted, the more clearly the external force would be exposed, allowing the supermind to overturn this illusionary world.
"This is your last chance!"
"As long as you nod, we'll let you down!"
The bound Henry was hoisted onto the shoulders of several mutants, who carried him toward the ship's railing together. They looked very much as though they intended to throw him into the sea.
Henry remained silent.
Because he had a feeling that the mastermind's will was wavering, too.
The seabed…
Was that the exit?
Had the other party never considered how to end things if the person under his control would rather die than submit within the illusionary world he had constructed?
When the tightly bound Henry was thrown over the railing of the oil tanker, more than ten meters above the sea, he noticed the sky cracking and the ocean sinking inward.
The entire world was threatening him with death while simultaneously refusing to let him die.
It was an extreme contradiction.
Yet the sensation of drowning and suffocating after being thrown into the seawater was incredibly real. Beyond the backlit surface of the sea, it seemed as though an arm had reached out to save him.
All Henry had to do was submit…
The Kryptonian laughed.
Even in the water, choking as soon as he opened his mouth, he still wanted to laugh.
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