"But that alternate personality of hers isn"t very easy to talk to," Old Charlie said."That"s because she"s been locked up for so long. Professor X has imprisoned her in a mental cage a long time ago because she"s too dangerous. In theory, she can actually combine with Jean"s main personality to produce a new personality, the White Phoenix," replied Sheyan.
"Why do I feel like we"re playing with fire here?" remarked Old Charlie with a forced smile.
Sheyan laughed. "It"ll be fine. We can talk to Jean about it first. If she doesn"t agree, we"ll turn to Jasper Whitlock Hale instead. He"ll do anything for Alice Cullen, and we"ve fortunately left a pretty good first impression on her. Give me some time, I"ll think about how to talk to Jean."
***
Night gradually arrived. Sheyan inhaled a deep breath. In eight hours, the smooth ride they had so far would end. The enemy parties would be freed. Party Ace still had no idea what the opponents" mission objective was, but since Party Ace had chosen Salvation while the others had chosen the opposite path, their objective should either be slaughter or destruction.
Party Ace actually had some basic guesses of their own about the contestants on the other side. They were currently facing an immense pressure. Not only did they have to fight against the apocalypse, they also had to confront the forces established by other legendary figures as well as all the other contestants in this world.
Therefore, the difficulty rating of the mission received by the contestants on the other side must be lower than theirs, but it would not be significantly lower.... Otherwise, it would not match the high difficulty rating of this world.
"Could it be?!" Sheyan suddenly had an epiphany.
"Maybe there"s a limit to the number of people who can complete the mission on the opposite side! For example, only the ten people who raked in the highest amount of achievement points in this mission would complete their mission, while those outside the top ten would fail and face penalties like a deduction in attribute points! Maybe the bottom three contestants would even be killed! Or, maybe killing other contestants would allow one to directly inherit their achievement points?"
"Yes, that makes sense. This way, although all the other contestant parties share the same objective, they"ll never be able to cooperate with each other in good faith!"
Sheyan did not stop walking while he was immersed in his thoughts. He soon came to a bar next to a residential building.
Although they"ve only been in this base for a short period of time, everyone here had extraordinary abilities, so they had managed to turn this temporary base into a pretty solid fortress. Furthermore, it also contained a lot of facilities, despite not being a very large base.
Besides the bar, there was also a supermarket that was as large as a Wal-Mart. Professor X personally scanned all the goods transported into the supermarket for the sake of safety. The people living in the base could take anything they needed from the supermarket for free.
The one in charge of the supermarket must also shoulder the responsibility of procuring a large number of daily necessities. When the time came, they would not be able to obtain supplies for a month or more. He had to make sure everyone had enough supplies to survive through the apocalypse.
He must also take into account the needs of the vampires. The vampires only needed one kind of food, and that was blood. Even the "vegetarian" vampires like the Cullens needed to consume artificial blood or animal blood.
Such a large-scale purchase of grain, oil and food supplies had naturally attracted the attention of the government, but it was a really critical time right now and since they were not firearm transactions, the government chose to ignore them.
It was precisely because the base was so well built that they could prevent the people living inside from going out, as that may cause unwanted accidents. Fortunately, there were not many people in the base, and all of them knew it was no time to cause trouble, so that had greatly reduced the workload of Professor X.
Sheyan pushed open the door of the bar. A few gazes immediately s.h.i.+fted in his direction. News of his strength and achievements had been spread by some of the blood slaves. It was common for people anywhere to wors.h.i.+p the strong. He instantly attracted some seductive glances.
Sheyan flashed a polite smile and looked around. He found the Cyclops, Scott Summers, exchanging whispers with Jean in a corner (they were lovers). Sheyan went straight towards them.
Jean did not have a good impression of Sheyan. She rolled her eyes and ignored him. But Scott Summers was friendly enough. He thought Sheyan was only here for a drink, so he invited Sheyan to sit with them.
Sheyan accepted the invitation. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Do you two believe now that I"m from the future?"
Scott Summers nodded. Although Jean had a very bad impression of Sheyan, she would not go against her conscience. She nodded after a short hesitation.
"I"m glad that"s settled. Now, I have a few words that I"d like to say to the both of you. Alone."
An ominous premonition rose in Jean"s heart. Scott" expression turned serious. He stood up and was about to follow Sheyan outside when Jean suddenly caught him. She was gripping his hand so tightly that her fingernails were stabbing into his flesh. She took two heavy breaths before she said with some difficulty, "No, don"t go with him. I have a terrible feeling about this!"
Scott frowned.
"What"s the matter?" he asked, "Are you worried that he"ll harm us? Don"t worry, Seaman came to us in the first place to save us. Why would he harm us? Besides, the professor is constantly monitoring the base. If anything happens, he"ll activate the emergency measures in less than ten seconds. What"s there to be afraid of? Surely we can last for more than ten seconds, even against enemies stronger than him."
Arrogance was br.i.m.m.i.n.g in Scott"s speech. Jean could not find any words to retort. She could only follow him outside after Sheyan.
Sheyan led them to an empty rooftop. He stood still and only turned around after a long time. He said to Scott, "I venture to ask, Mr. Summers, but have you ever imagined how you would die?"
A chill immediately crept down Scott"s spine upon hearing this question. Jean was also stunned.
Scott apparently did not expect Sheyan to ask him a question like this. He forced out a laugh. "Well...No, I"ve not considered this problem yet."
"How do you wish to die, then?" asked Sheyan with a smile.
If it was any other person asking him this question, Scott would have been enraged. But, he knew that Sheyan was from the future. Why would Sheyan ask him something like this at such a time? It gave him tremendous pressure. He took a deep breath and suddenly looked at Jean who was standing next to him. He smiled.
"If I have to die, I hope I can die in the arms of the person I love."
Sheyan let out a heavy sigh. "What a coincidence....In the future that I witnessed, that"s indeed how you"ll die."
The faces of Jean and Scott turned pale at the same time! Scott"s hands started trembling.
Sheyan continued, "I know you"d like to know who the murderer is so that you can kill him and change the future. The unfortunate thing is, this murderer can"t be killed."
"Impossible!!!" exclaimed Jean.
Sheyan stared straight at Jean and said, "That"s because the murderer is you!"
Jean staggered unsteadily. "No way! Why would I kill Scott?"
Scott burst into wild laughter. "Like h.e.l.l I"ll believe you!" he resolutely exclaimed.
Sheyan said unhurriedly, "Sure, the Jean in front of you now loves you so much that she"s willing to die for you, but what if the one who kills you isn"t this Jean?"
Sheyan continued in an aggressive tone, "You might not know this, Scott but there"s a terrifying power hidden inside Jean"s body. That power belongs to her alternate personality - the violent, crazy, vicious Dark Phoenix! A powerful Cla.s.s 5 mutant! She"s currently sealed by Professor Xavier"s mental cage, but if she manages to break free, she"ll completely take over Jean"s body!"
Scott stared at Jean, shaking.
"Jean, you.... Tell me that"s not true!"
Sheyan continued, "Sometime in the future, Jean will be severely injured and her main personality will fall into a coma. Her body will be dominated by her alternate personality. Then, you"ll find her and give her a deep kiss...and the powerful Dark Phoenix will decompose you into cosmic particles and scatter you all over the sky. This is your end that I saw."
Hearing Sheyan"s words, Jean became as still as a statue! Her true love will be turned into ashes by her own hands! What a mockery that was!
Scott shook his head vehemently. "No, no, that can"t be true! That can"t be true!"
"It"s true," Professor X"s indifferent voice suddenly emerged in their minds. "At least, the part about me sealing Jean"s alternate personality, the Dark Phoenix, with a mental cage is true. Calm down, Scott. Since Seaman has brought this matter up, he must have a solution in mind."
"I do. Since Professor X"s plan to keep Dark Phoenix sealed forever has proven to be a mistake, I think we need to correct it."
"You mean...."
"Before the alternate personality that"s Dark Phoenix become strong enough, we must fully integrate it with the main personality. Let the gentleness and kindness in Jean"s main personality neutralise the malice in the Dark Phoenix personality! If we succeed, Jean"s power will increase and she"ll become the Cla.s.s 4 White Phoenix with the potential to improve to Cla.s.s 5. Most importantly...this power is controllable," said Sheyan.
"But the risk of failure is very high. There"s a great possibility the main personality and the alternate personality will reject each other, which will cause Jean to fall into a deep coma. That"s why I chose to imprison the alternate personality with a mental cage in the first place," remarked Professor X calmly.