"Shiller has entered the battlefield too?" Magneto repeated Professor X's words, then fell into deep thought.
"Did you check to see what's going on?" he asked.
"No, I can't disturb them now," Professor X said. "If they've really encountered some danger in the Psychic Battlefield, my interfering with their brainwaves now could lead to unpredictable and severe consequences."
Magneto's expression darkened, because he knew that Charles never exaggerated when it came to his field of expertise. If he believed that the battle in the Psychic Battlefield was so critical that it couldn't be interrupted, then it must be true.
"Have they been attacked on Earth during their days in the Andromeda Galaxy?"
"What kind of enemy are they facing?" Magneto inquired.
Professor X shook his head and said, "It's hard to tell right now, but from their manifest behavior, they don't seem like ordinary Demon Gods. It's possible they are monsters born within the Psychic Battlefield."
"Specifically targeting the psyche?"
"It seems so."
"Can't you help?"
Professor X let out a soft sigh and said, "That's exactly the issue. To know whether I can help, I'd have to interrupt them, at least try to communicate with them. But if my communication were to distract them, causing some serious consequence, then we..."
Magneto understood what Professor X was worried about.
Although the Mutants and the Humans represented by The Avengers appeared to have a good relationship on the surface, in reality, they were very clear that they were outsiders to each other.
Mutants and Humans had common interests in some areas, but in others, they could never truly come together. They helped each other, but they also guarded against each other.
This led them to have to follow the standard procedures of operation as much as possible, like strangers, otherwise any accident could easily be misinterpreted as intentional sabotage.
To make this clearer, let's consider a specific example. There are some Human engineers in the Andromeda Galaxy nowadays, a result of a cooperation between New Xanadu Country and an Eastern Great Nation.
The work processes of these Human engineers are completely different from those of the Mutants in the Andromeda Galaxy. They spend a lot of time recording every step of their task; their entry and exit to the Star System are well-documented.
This significantly slowed down their work progress and even caused a lot of discontent among them, feeling that the Mutants were too guarded.
But in reality, this wasn't a demand from the Mutants; it was included in the cooperation agreement by the Eastern Great Nation.
So why did they do this?
It was actually to avoid unnecessary responsibilities.
Now, if a part that drives important equipment on the Capital Star has broken down, causing losses to the Mutants, if it were a Mutant who failed to perform maintenance on time, Magneto would at most scold him and then reassign him.
But what if it were a Human engineer?
With Magneto's wisdom, he would not suspect the person was intentionally causing trouble, because there was no need for that. He was very aware of how highly the Eastern Great Nation valued these technicians and knew they wouldn't sacrifice one just to create a minor inconvenience.
But other Mutants might not have his perspective. If it was just a machine that broke down, that's one thing, but if there were casualties, others would surely wonder if the Human had intentionally sought to harm them.
Their suspicion wasn't unreasonable; for nearly a century, they had been subjected to such persecution, yet never found anyone to take responsibility.
If such a situation really occurred, even if only to appease his people's discontent, Magneto would have to take action.
The Eastern Great Nation was unwilling to sacrifice its technicians, but the Mutants wanted an explanation. Under these circumstances, the cooperation between the two sides could no longer continue.
And who would be happiest to see their cooperation fail?
From this reasoning, it could be deduced that certain Western Great Nations would spare no effort in creating disturbances to thwart their collaboration.
Thus, out of cautious consideration, they recorded every detail of their work; this way, if anything went wrong, they could quickly absolve themselves of the blame and provide an explanation to their people.
Similarly, the Mutants had to do so with Humans, otherwise if something happened, Humans would think there's always someone out to get me.
This is why Professor X does his best not to interfere with any work of The Avengers—it's for the same reason.
But now, if The Avengers were handling a formidable enemy and something went wrong because of his interference, would they really harbor no suspicions? Professor X didn't think so.
Even if they could not blame the Mutants for anything, in the event of a significant loss, they would certainly have to account for it to their people. Then the currently harmonious situation would be disrupted.
Earth's relations with the Andromeda Galaxy had soured, and of course, the happiest about this were the Three Great Empires.
Previously, it had been said that although the Mutants of the Andromeda Galaxy were strong in combat, they lacked many foundations. If they fell out with Earth, their rate of development would certainly slow down significantly, and the Three Great Empires would naturally be glad to see this happen.
By the same logic, in order to achieve this effect, the Three Great Empires would definitely make clandestine moves. If this was a trap and Professor X stepped in it, it would be difficult for him to extricate himself cleanly afterward, because the other side would undoubtedly have all sorts of methods waiting for him.
The two seniors, who had walked through more than half a century together and seen countless storms, of course understood what each was worried about with regard to the kind of traps they had encountered countless times.
"With Shearer there, I think he has a handle on things," Magneto said. "I don't think he would allow the Three Great Empires to extend their reach to Earth. If you really saw 'One Hand,' it must be a trophy that Shearer has hacked off and brought back."
Professor X couldn't help but be amused by his old friend's metaphor, but on reflection, it made sense. They were well aware that what truly protected Earth wasn't the Magical Defense Network or anything else, but rather the most dangerous elements in the universe.
Thinking of this, Professor X paused; he tapped on the armrest of his wheelchair and said, "Do you remember that phone call Shearer gave me?"
"The one where he told you about the Life Fusion Plan?"
"At that time, I felt he was hinting to me that the situation arising from the Andromeda Galaxy was related to the Life Fusion Plan, and he might want me to investigate it."
"That's not surprising," Magneto said sitting down. "He knows the Xia Empire is our turf, which naturally makes investigation convenient."
"But from what's in that otter's head, this plan shouldn't be related to the Supreme Evolution releasing a virus into the Andromeda Galaxy. Would Shearer tell such an easily debunked lie?"
"That means it may not be a lie," Professor X mused. "Shearer has some channels of information that we're not aware of, proving that these two things might indeed be related."
Professor X fell silent suddenly, as if guessing what Shearer truly intended.
All at once, he looked up and said, "Erik, run this errand at these coordinates; I've found the laboratory for the Life Fusion Plan."
Magneto disappeared silently while Professor X furrowed his brow, apparently reading the information he had extracted from someone's mind.
After a while, his brow relaxed, and he let out a light sigh, whispering, "So that's how it is... Lorna, Bobby, come to my office; I have a task for you."
Soon, Polaris entered Professor X's office. She looked much more mature and was no longer wearing that expression that suggested everyone owed her money. Instead, she looked exhausted and worried, clearly worn out by recent events.
Following her was Bobby, who was characteristically stable in spirit, in good health, and still lacking success in pursuing Lorna.
"Professor, you called for us."
"Yes, I have a task that needs your attention."
"No problem," Polaris agreed readily. "The situation with the biological uprising has improved a lot, and it's about time for us to go on patrol anyway."
Professor X nodded and said, "Your father should recover a hibernation pod from an Xia Empire laboratory—it's a product of the Life Fusion Plan. We'll talk about the plan in a moment."
"You and Bobby head to the lab now. Bobby, you're responsible for bringing back the pod. You and your father stay there and make a fuss, but the key is that you must use your special abilities."
"Our special abilities? Oh, you mean 'Magnetic.'"
"Yes, your father alone won't be able to handle it. You'll have to help him. It's essential to leave your mark over a wide area, making it unmistakable that it was the work of Magneto."
Polaris nodded and said, "No problem. I've pretty much learned his skillset already. Are we just blowing up a few suns? Leave it to me!"
Bobby was more thoughtful as he asked, "Why do this? Weren't we supposed to keep a low profile a few days ago?"
"It's for fishing, of course." Professor X was not the Riddler, patiently explaining to his students, "I learned from Professor Shearer that the biological outbreaks in the Andromeda Galaxy might be connected to something now in the hands of nobles from the old Skrull Empire, called the Life Fusion Plan."
"I tried searching the psychic brainwaves of the Xia Empire, but couldn't find anything. That means they have brainwave cloaking devices, or they may have voluntarily altered or deleted their memories. From that time on, I began to scrutinize everyone whose brainwaves were untraceable or whose memories were problematic, and I still found some loopholes."
"I've found the secret lab for the Life Fusion Plan just now, and Erik has breached the lab's defenses. Their cloaking of brainwaves has failed, and I've learned the general situation of the plan."
"What is it?" Polaris asked curiously.
"They did succeed once," said Professor X. "But they'll never succeed a second time."
"Why not?"
"Because their success wasn't due to the actual usefulness of the plan, but rather the subject they chose for their experiment."
Polaris seemed to understand, commenting, "So, you're saying the subject of the experiment was already very strong?"
"Yes, he was once a human, named Robert Reynolds."