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Kevin didn't know what exactly happened last night.
Because he didn't stay overnight at the farm.
But from the expression on Charles's face and Logan's softened attitude towards Laura, it was clear they must have had a heartfelt talk.
The words Charles couldn't convey to Logan even before his death in the movie were surely well-communicated to Logan during that undisturbed night.
Logan was perhaps persuaded by Charles because of this, agreeing to take Laura to North Dakota to find Eden, which the nurse had mentioned.
Then, they would buy a yacht, name it the rising sun, and live on the rising sun from then on.
This was Charles and Logan's plan, and Kevin listened without interjecting.
Only Caliban grumbled, 'I think they must have forgotten me,' but it was clear that neither Charles nor Logan had forgotten him.
After all this time, they had long since become family.
After breakfast at the farmer's house and bidding farewell to the farmer, everyone set off again.
Taking out the map to North Dakota, Logan instructed Laura:
"I'm only responsible for getting you there, but if there's no so-called Eden there, I won't listen to you anymore. Then you can do whatever you want..."
"Logan, don't be like that to the child."
Charles wanted to persuade him.
Logan was about to respond to Charles, but then he heard Laura say:
"...Okay."
"?"
Logan's movement to start the car paused, and he looked at Laura with a bewildered expression:
"Wait a minute, you can talk!?"
Laura glanced at him, but didn't continue speaking.
Charles couldn't help but laugh:
"I never said she couldn't talk."
"But... it's been two damn days! She hasn't said a single word before!"
"If someone is always yelling at you and being unfriendly, you wouldn't want to talk either... Don't look at me like that, this is Laura's thought."
Charles said with a chuckle, and Logan's eye twitched continuously.
As for Laura, sitting in the back seat, she noticed Logan's expression when he looked at her, let out a soft hmph, took off the children's sunglasses on her head, and propped them on her nose, looking out the window.
Logan couldn't do anything about her, muttered something under his breath, and started the car towards North Dakota.
During this time, Kevin did not interrupt; he simply picked up his phone and filmed them.
Charles looked at his raised phone and asked curiously:
"What are you doing?"
"Filming family daily life. You guys just continue, don't mind me."
Kevin said with a smile.
He planned to record a video about Laura, and then use post-production voiceovers to explain Laura's identity and what the Alkali-Transigen was doing.
"He plans to use public opinion on the internet to bring down the Alkali-Transigen."
Logan suddenly said, explaining to Charles:
"Yesterday, he already posted a video of him breaking into an Alkali-Transigen branch. His appearance is already known to most people, otherwise, why would he be wearing glasses and a fake beard today?"
"Internet..."
At the mention of the internet, Charles showed a hint of blankness.
Charles certainly knew what the internet was, but for an elderly person like him, the internet, in his perception, was just a special communication tool.
Now Logan was telling him that he could use the internet to deal with the Alkali-Transigen?
Noticing Charles's confusion, Kevin patiently explained:
"The 21st century is the information age. Anything can be posted online to attract attention. Mutants are currently being persecuted; this is a confirmed fact. As long as we send this information online, we will receive countless help and sympathy."
"...Can it be done?"
Charles didn't quite understand, looking blankly at the rearview mirror and meeting Logan's eyes.
"Don't look at me, I don't know, although I don't think what he's doing is useful."
Logan's understanding of the internet was limited to creating his ride-share driver identity online; beyond that, he didn't know much.
For these old-timers from the last century, the internet was indeed a very mysterious existence.
Realizing that these old and young people in the car were basically 'special individuals' who didn't interact much with the internet, Kevin temporarily put down his phone and began to explain to them:
"Under normal circumstances, videos I post online would be quickly deleted by the Alkali-Transigen. If that were the case, then what I'm doing would certainly be useless.
"But I have special methods to ensure that the video continues to circulate online. Even if they want to ban it, the video will pop up from other places.
"And the internet... can connect to any corner of the world. As long as a certain number of people know what the Alkali-Transigen is doing, no matter how much they try to hide it, they will eventually face a horde of opponents."
Charles could roughly understand what Kevin was saying, but he was still a little worried:
"But the conflict between mutants... and humans has been going on for a long time..."
"How long is 'a long time'? A hundred years? Or two hundred years?"
Kevin retorted.
The conflict between mutants and humans seemed to have been going on for a long time, but their actual appearance in the public eye was in the 1960s of the last century.
The mutant group led by the Black King attempted to cleanse the world by launching nuclear missiles, establishing a society led by mutants.
From then on, mutants gradually became known and slowly evolved into the situation twenty years ago, where humans and mutants seemed to be irreconcilable.
Overall, the open conflict between humans and mutants has only lasted less than seventy years.
Seventy years is but a negligible page in the long history of humanity.
And there isn't really that much deep-seated hatred between the two races.
The most active mutant villain, the mutant extremist most familiar to the general public, was only Magneto.
When Magneto disappeared, and mutants gradually faded into obscurity, the general public's hatred for mutants would also slowly disappear and shift.
In this situation, the video Kevin posted would indeed attract sympathy for mutants.
Kevin continued:
"The conflict between mutants and humans hasn't been as long as imagined, and currently, mutants are the vulnerable group, and humans are naturally sympathetic to vulnerable groups."
Logan did not refute Kevin's statement.
Because it was a fact.
Charles was deep in thought. Having just taken his medicine, his mind was still very clear, allowing him to ponder complex matters.
He thought of his conflict with Magneto, Erik. One tried to make mutants and humans coexist peacefully, while the other wanted to establish a nation solely for mutants.
They both seemed to be right, and yet both seemed to be wrong.
Originally, Charles had stopped thinking about these things, because they were no longer important to him in his current state.
But at this moment, hearing what Kevin said, Charles vaguely sensed that perhaps another way for mutants and humans to coexist peacefully was about to emerge.
Charles adopted a listening posture; he wanted to hear more.
Kevin thought that since he was free on the road anyway, he began to explain to Charles:
"Actually, it all boils down to one word: 'propaganda'. In my opinion, mutants are terrible at propaganda. You haven't grasped the key to modern society.
"Are mutants a threat? Of course, but at the same time, some of them are helping everyone, like the X-Men.
"But why can people only see the threat and not the efforts of the X-Men? The problem lies in propaganda.
"The government has characterized mutants as a threat, especially the Brotherhood led by Magneto, which has been doing things that make humans hostile. In the past, newspapers and television were flooded with similar news, while positive news about mutants was scarce.
"How many mutants have been abandoned by their parents due to defects in their mutant abilities, and how many mutants have been bullied simply because of their unusual appearance?
"People can only see what mutants have done to humans, but they have never seen what humans have done to mutants... And what I'm doing now is to expose what humans have done to mutants, to let everyone see how many cruel things they have done."
Kevin was like a pyramid scheme leader, passionately describing what he was doing.
But what he got in return was Charles's deep concern:
"But wouldn't that make mutants even more hostile towards humans...?"
"Then that brings us to the second question." Kevin raised a finger, indicating the number two. "Why view humans and mutants as two separate groups?"
"...What?"
Charles was a bit confused, and Logan also frowned.
Kevin said with a smile:
"I remember someone once did research, and everyone actually has the X-gene in their body; the difference is whether the X-gene is dominant or recessive.
"If the X-gene is activated, they become a mutant. Conversely, if the X-gene cannot be activated, they remain an ordinary person their entire life.
"That's why you have situations where two ordinary people in a family give birth to a mutant child.
"Humans may become mutants in the future. Everyone's race is actually the same, so mutants should not be hostile to humans, and humans should not be hostile to mutants."
In fact, precisely because of this point, the Alkali-Transigen would find itself in a passive position.
Because everyone has the X-gene, no one can guarantee that the gene-modified food developed by the Alkali-Transigen would only affect mutants.
Furthermore, most of the public is always blind, but once they realize that products from the Alkali-Transigen are harmful, even if Kevin doesn't personally incite them, they will spontaneously organize to oppose the Alkali-Transigen.
Charles finally understood what Kevin was saying. He closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time before slowly asking:
"This... must be difficult to do, right?"
"Not too bad, I'm quite experienced in this area."
With his work experience at Vought, Kevin would handle these matters with ease.
However, before that, Kevin still needed to establish a propaganda company and win over some congressmen who were unhappy with the Alkali-Transigen. Only then could the plan proceed more smoothly.
The conversation ended there, and Charles no longer asked Kevin what he intended to do.
He was old, and often couldn't distinguish who was who, lacking the strength to deal with such energy-consuming matters.
He chose to trust Kevin and Logan.
At least Charles believed that Kevin was indeed thinking of them.
With the conversation concluded, silence once again fell in the car. After driving for several hours along the road to North Dakota, as they were nearing the next service station, Charles suddenly turned to look behind him.
"...Logan, what's in the back of our truck?"
"Uh..."
Hearing Charles's question, Logan suddenly didn't know how to answer.
Because in the black bag at the back of their truck was the body of X24, which Kevin had requested they bring along.
And judging by Charles's expression now, it was clear that X24 was probably about to revive and wake up, otherwise Charles wouldn't have asked Logan such a question.
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