Chapter 363 Irony
On the night after the antidote conference, more than double-digit underground gatherings of mutants were secretly held throughout the federation.
A large number of scattered mutants continued to gather through rallies. They fiercely argued against the release of the antidote, and gradually formed dozens of mutant groups, large and small, belonging to three distinct factions.
One of them believes that the antidote is redemption, which gives those low-level mutants who have had enough of persecution and discrimination a second chance to choose life. The members of this faction are mostly composed of mutants with obvious flaws in their abilities and tend to be naive and weak. .
They called on all compatriots to remain rational. The injection of the antidote adheres to the principle of voluntary and non-compulsory. Therefore, there is no need to engage in a head-on confrontation with the government and the Wasington Group government. Just respect the voluntary choice of every fellow mutant. It is excessive. Intensifying conflicts will only push the already bad situation to rapidly develop in a worse direction, and may even lead to armed suppression by the government. These are typical appeasement factions.
The second one believes that the antidote is a harbinger of war, a precursor to mankind's preparations to encroach step by step and eventually completely exterminate the mutant race. Most of the members of this faction are relatively powerful and controllable, and have tough personalities or far-reaching plans. of mutants.
They advocate that the entire mutant community can no longer continue to be silent and appeasement. The consequences of letting it go will be to be gradually divided and cannibalized by humans in the process of disintegration. Mutations are talents and evolution, not diseases slandered by the Worthington Group. Human beings cannot tolerate more Powerful aliens, so they are ready to use the antidote to castrate their talents and kill their limbs, causing them to gradually become the same mediocre fellows.
Faced with this vicious plan to exterminate families, mutants must unite, use protest marches, and even armed riots to make their voices heard, and resist the release of the antidote with the strongest or even decisive attitude. The only way to do this is to Only in this way can they protect their right to survive in the future and not be forcibly deprived of it. These are typical hard-liners.
The third is the most mixed neutral faction. They have not expressed any clear views on the antidote. They do not despise the compatriots who are preparing to inject the antidote, nor do they support the groups that openly oppose the antidote. All they want is this. During the initial period of the turmoil, you can protect your wealth and life by holding together to keep warm. The members of this faction include all walks of life, and they all focus on protecting themselves. In a sense, the external attitude of X College can also be classified as a neutral faction. within.
The press conference held by the Worthington Group was like a big rock thrown into the middle of the lake. In less than a day, it stirred up the mutant society, which was originally a stagnant pool of water, into an unspeakable world. of chaotic life.
A large number of mutant groups with different opinions and sizes began to emerge one after another. The more they experienced persecution from mainstream society, the more they understood how insignificant the power of a few individuals was compared to the collective. Only by uniting can they survive in this cruel world. The world has a foothold and a voice.
Among these numerous groups, the most powerful one is the Brotherhood of Mutants. That night, Magneto, who has never been seen in the Federation, showed his body for the first time at a mutant rally.
With his unparalleled personal popularity, he swept the entire scene. In just one appearance and one speech, he directly took more than half of the mutants in the assembly under his command and reestablished the federal branch of the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Subsequently, these newly joined Brotherhood members began to spread out under Magneto's instructions. They traveled to various mutant gatherings in the Federation to promote the Brotherhood's ideas and recruit members without any conditions. Soon, the Brothers The scale of the society expanded rapidly like a virus, and it didn't take much time to engulf several mutant groups belonging to hard-line factions.
For those mutants who live in the shadows of society and make a living by fighting for strength, Magneto's reputation is far stronger than that of the relatively 'weak' professor, and it is no exaggeration to call him the spiritual leader of the hawks.
Prevent the Cuban Missile Crisis, single-handedly crush the modern military, create the Brotherhood of Mutants, openly resist the national government, commit many major crimes in succession, assassinate President Kennedy, interrupt the Mutant Registration Act, and establish a metal island unique to mutants. Keyu Island…………
These far-reaching major events jointly created Magneto's huge reputation as a bipolar mutant. This tough-minded old man has spent his life striving to achieve the greatness of mutants, although in the eyes of humans, he is the most powerful person in this century. The leader of a terrorist organization with the worst influence, but from the perspective of a mutant, he is an out-and-out hero.
So when he appeared in the Federation and raised his voice, countless mutants who admired his deeds began to flock to him. By the time dawn broke, at least 70% of the hard-line members in the entire Federation had united under his command. .
Many members of other factions have also changed their ways. In this world where extraordinary abilities exist, the cohesion that a strong leader can represent is immeasurable.
And to what extent can Magneto's personal power reach? Under his most basic metal manipulation, various weapons such as firearms, missiles, and even nuclear weapons, which are the basis of the modern army, have become large toys that can be arbitrarily kneaded.
It can be said that as long as he joins the command of Magneto, the deterrence of the national army will be reduced by at least 60%, and with the Brotherhood station as a backup, no matter how big the chaos is caused on the land of the Federation, the worst is to follow him to the lonely country. It's the island of Keyu that hangs offshore.
These conditions constitute the practical reason why so many mutants joined the Brotherhood without hesitation. The combination of spiritual worship and practical factors allowed Magneto to assemble an army of considerable combat power in just one night. Mutant army, and the number of members of the army is still expanding at an extremely fast rate.
On the second day, as the sky began to shine, all the changes that occurred in the night were silenced, and the overall atmosphere of the federation became increasingly turbulent.
Both the human military and the mutant community have gradually become aware of the abnormal changes in this undercurrent. Among them, the most obvious one is the Worthington Group, which held a press conference on the antidote the day before.
With the strong promotion and subsidies from the government, the release of the antidote has begun to be fully promoted today. Tens of thousands of antidote medicines that have been prepared for a long time have begun to be sold publicly at various injection points. Although the sales price is not free, it is low. It is unimaginable and even provides loan injection services.
Basically, as long as you are willing to inject, you can still get the antidote even if you can't pay a penny. The only restriction is that it must be used on site.
The effect of the antidote is exactly as advertised by the Worthington Group. It takes effect on the spot in less than ten seconds after injection, and does not produce any side effects or discomfort. On this day, countless mutants with distorted shapes appeared on the scene. The injection site burst into tears of joy.
From a biological point of view, mutants refer to mutant races produced due to genetic mutations. It can be said to be evolution, but it can also be interpreted as deformity. The mutated genes give them extraordinary and special abilities, but they also produce numerous Monsters with deformed bodies, and there are not a few of them.
In various injection points in the Federation, you can see various orcs that look like beasts, weird human races with changing skin colors, skeletons with exposed bones, rickety and twisted dwarfs, aliens with terrifying bodies, etc. that are very different from normal humans. Many monsters, these monsters have a unified name in the hierarchy of mutants - Ypsilon-level mutants.
Their abilities are weak, but their appearance is all kinds of strange due to genetic mutations. They are the failures of mutant genes. Let alone human society, they are at the absolute bottom even among the mutant population, accounting for 20% of all mutants. , it doesn’t sound like a lot, but within the total base of 17 million, there is an exaggerated number of more than 3 million.
If we talk about the group that is most excited about the release of the antidote, then the human government can only be ranked second. These Ypsilon-level mutants are the well-deserved first. Among the long queues of people currently queuing outside the injection site, Nearly 80% of the place was occupied by this group of people. Their clothes were in tatters and smelled bad. Their faces showed fear and fear that they had not seen in the light for a long time, but their eyes were full of anticipation and longing for new life.
This group of people is also the main reason why Hank the Beast still chose to support the release of the antidote even after he knew clearly the dangers of it. For those 'monsters' who can only hide in the dark corners of society forever and linger, the antidote is their only option. of salvation.
Now they finally have a second chance to choose life. A large number of 'monsters' neatly walked into the antidote injection point under the dispatch of armed guards. Then at the exit on the other side, one by one, the costumes were the same as the previous 'monsters'. 'Existences that are the same, but whose appearance is no different from that of normal humans, come out one after another.
The first thing this group of people did when they walked out of the room was to take off their large clothes that could almost cover their whole bodies, revealing their haggard but normal human faces in the bright golden sunlight. Some of them collapsed and cried, or some looked crazy. Laughing, then running away from this place.
In fact, even if they were injected with the antidote, their social status at the end would not change, but after breaking away from their status as monsters, they finally had the qualifications to live under the sun again.
Of course, not all mutants are rejoicing for the antidote. The number of people who hate and hate will only increase. The streets outside the injection site are filled with groups of mutants marching in opposition. They hold high banners with letters written all over them. Signs with various protest slogans shouted "We don't need an antidote!" in unison, looking amazingly powerful.
What's more, they will glare at and curse their fellow mutants who are waiting in line for injections; and when facing their former compatriots who have turned back into humans at the exit and are experiencing a mixture of joy and sorrow, they have no trace of sympathy. Pity or blessing, there is only the extreme indifference and disgust caused by the betrayal of the race.
But the most ironic thing is that the people queuing up have weird shapes and abnormal body shapes, and their identities as mutants can be identified almost at a glance. However, most of the people who object outside have the same appearance as ordinary people, unless they are holding high in their hands. Placards, it is difficult to tell with the naked eye that both sides are compatriots of the same category.
Those who queued up were still queuing in silence, and those who were angry were still yelling fiercely. With the staff and journalists maintaining order in the middle as the dividing line, this ethnic group that should be compatriots was invisibly divided into two incompatible groups. .
At the back of the parade, Xu Yue, Storm and Logan quietly looked at the ironic picture in front of them. After a long time, he, who was at the front of the two people, said quietly:
"Ororo, now do you know why the professor is not opposed to the antidote?"
Beside her, Storm looked at the former compatriots who lost control of their emotions and ran away at the exit of the injection point. Then she glanced sideways at the weird-looking 'monsters' in the queue. She pursed her lips. I was speechless for a moment.