Martial Hall
Fifty-four children from team two lined up with their heads bowed. Benjamin did not even dare to lift his head.
He felt ashamed, guilty, and disappointed in himself. All kinds of negative thoughts mixed in his head.
Heero was still sitting on his rocking chair as usual. He scanned the children calmly. There was no trace of anger or disappointment on his face.
He had heard the story and it would be a lie if he said he was not disappointed. But he did not show it on his face, not even worrying about Xu Lingxun staying behind to fight the mutant.
The silence deepened and only the creaking of a rocking chair could be heard in the great hall.
There was no scolding from Heero, no consolation for the fact that they had had an encounter with a mutant in the Green Zone. His silence made the children uncomfortable.
Of course, it was not as if Heero had done nothing after hearing the children's story. In fact, he was on the Internet, searching for mutants on his smartwatch.
It was the first time he had heard of mutants. A mutant was a person who had undergone a mutation. The expert said that there was a genetic change that caused the mutation.
As for the source of the mutation, no clear answer could be found online. It seemed that the experts had not yet found the cause of the mutation, which was why the cure had not yet been found.
Heero opened the Star Forum and searched for more information about the mutants. What he found was quite shocking. If there was no post about how savage the mutants were, there was a post about someone bragging about killing mutants.
Some of them even posted a picture. How proud they were of killing a child who had turned into a mutant.
There was no post about sympathizing with mutants. It was as if humanity, or at least the people of Star City, considered mutants their natural enemy.
Heero closed the forum and took a deep breath. It was a shocking discovery for Heero. He had not expected the humans on Earth to be so cruel.
At least in Heero's eyes, they were pretty cruel. Even though the mutants had undergone a mutation, they were still human. It was not as if they lost their minds after the mutation and became mindless killers.
It was completely different when a human turned into a specter. When a human turned into a specter, their heart also changed. They would naturally hate or instinctively want to kill humans or turn humans into specters. This was completely different from the mutant who only underwent an appearance mutation.
After a long silence, Heero finally opened his mouth with a question, "So... what are mutants to you?"
"Monsters!!!" Half of the kids answered in unison.
It was what came to their minds when the word 'mutant' was mentioned. Or at least it was what the parents told their children when they asked about mutants.
"Are they?" Heero asked doubtfully.
"Yes! They are monsters, my mum said..."
"My dad told me the mutants are human flesh!"
"My grandpa..."
The fact that mutants were monsters had become a doctrine to the masses. Elders told their children the worst about mutants. They began to forget that mutants were also human beings.
Heero could not blame the children either. After all, they were still children. The oldest was thirteen, they could not be blamed for not having their own thoughts. They were influenced by the people around them.
The children murmured about how scary the mutants were. Then he clapped his hand and the children stopped and looked at him.
"Benjamin! What's mutant to you?" Heero pointed at the dejected second prince of the Royal Kingdom.
The dejected Benjamin raised his head and met his master's kind gaze. Yes, despite the mistake he had made, his master had never blamed him.
Taking a deep breath, he gave his answer. He would not fail his Master again, never. The first step was to give a serious answer to his master's question.
"A mutant is a human being who undergoes a mutation. We, the Royal Kingdom, would kill or lock up the mutants with violent tendencies, but we would give a place to the mutants with normal behavior. A sanctuary where they can live until we find the cure!"
"Well, for me... mutants are human beings who suffer from a disease! They look different, but that doesn't mean they aren't human!"
Heero was surprised by Benjamin's answer. Not only surprised but also pleased.
As for the other children, they now looked at Benjamin with a strange expression. The definition of mutant was completely different between them.
The other children hummed as they whispered to each other. They talked about how strange it was for Benjamin to think of a monster as a human.
"All right, children! Stop whispering! Mutants are not monsters! They are human, just like you, and Benjamin is right. They're just like us, only they suffer from diseases!"
Heero lectured the children, hoping to change their minds about the mutants.
"But they are monsters! They eat human flesh!"
"They look at us as if we were their food!"
"The mutants have also killed many people!"
The children voiced their opinions together, which contradicted what Heero had said.
"All right, who said the mutants ate human flesh? Raise your hand!" Being contradicted by his students, Heero was not only not angry, he even smiled at the kids.
Perhaps because Heero looked like someone who was angry, the eleven-year-old boy raised his hand.
"Lin Bao! You said the mutant ate human flesh?" Heero called out to the boy. He remembered all the names of his students.
Lin Bao nodded his head with certainty. He trusted that his father would not lie to him.
"Have you seen it? The mutant that ate human flesh?" Heero asked smiling.
The moment Lin Bao heard the question, he opened his mouth, but no words came out. He wanted to say that his father had told him about it, but that did not answer his master's question.
In the end, he stuck to his original answer: "My father told me..." The boy replied with a lowered voice.
"So you haven't seen a mutant eating human flesh?"
Lin Bao shook his head.
"Then did your father tell you that he saw it? The mutant that ate the human flesh?"
"I..." Lin Bao was confused, his father had only told him that the mutant was a monster that ate human flesh. His father always told him that if he disobeyed, the mutant would eat him.
Lin Bao lowered his head.
"Changpu, you said a mutant killed many people?" Heero changed his target to another child who said the mutant had slaughtered many people.
Unlike Lin Bao, Changpu confidently gave a detailed answer, at least he thought so, "Yes. It was reported in the news. You can look it up online, Master!"
Heero nodded his head.
Looking at his master, Changpu smiled proudly.
"So this mutant represents all mutants as a mindless butcher?"
Changpu's smile stiffened, but then he remembered that there were many cases of mutants killing people on the forum. He regained his confidence and replied, "Yes, there are many cases of mutants attacking humans. You will know if you search the forum, Master!"
"I see..." Heero nodded again and opened the forum. He searched for a case where a mutant attacked the humans and ran away afterward.
"Did you know why the mutant attacked the humans?"
This time, Changpu frowned. After organizing his answer in his head, he replied uncertainly, "Because they hate us?"
"Correct! But why do they hate us?"
Changpu fell silent as his mind went blank. As a child, Changpu's thoughts were quite simple and shallow. It was normal for a child.
"Because we isolated them! We humiliated them! We condemn and curse their ugly appearance! Instead of helping them to find a cure for their disease, we persecute them!"
"If you don't believe me, open the forum and search..." Heero directed the children to the forum.
There, Heero began to teach the children that a mutant was not a monster. In most cases, the mutant's attack was caused by the human who was bothering the mutant.
The mutant's attack was more like the mutant's retaliation against the human harassing them. For thirty minutes, they gathered in the center of the arena.
"I'm not saying that mutants are good. There's a bad mutant too. They kill people, but don't humans kill people too? Do you remember the "Crazed Dong Incident"? He is human, but he killed thousands of people. Does that make all humans the same as Crazed Dong? A crazed killer?"
"No!" The children replied simultaneously.
After that, the door of the Martial Hall opened. Everyone looked at the door and saw Xu Lingxun enter the hall.
He was carrying someone, but no one could see who he was carrying. He was covered in a large cloak, but Heero could see the beautiful amber eyes through the gap in the cloak.
The amber eyes flickered as they met his own. Heero smiled softly before looking back at the children.
"Well, that's all for today! Your senior has returned in good condition! It's time to decide on your punishment! You know your mistake, right?"
Heero grinned at the children, causing them to shudder when they saw what was in store for them. Running, the punishment must be running with more training rings.