Upon seeing Fang Mo, Charles's facial expressions were extremely varied.
He had been teaching the children and hadn't received the notice from Storm. Seeing Fang Mo suddenly, he was momentarily stunned.
Memories long sealed away surged forth like a tide, as if to overwhelm him.
He recalled Mystique, Raven, Magneto, Erik, and the scenes of their first battles together. It all seemed so vivid.
But that was already decades ago...
Back then, Charles was a young man full of ambition.
And now, though he still held onto his ideals, his body had aged considerably. After all, so many things had happened over these decades, so much so that Charles had almost forgotten Fang Mo.
"You've come back…"
After a long silence, Charles finally said with a complex tone.
However, unlike Charles's sentiment, Fang Mo rushed over upon seeing him, marveling and clicking his tongue.
"Tsk tsk, time really is a butcher's knife."
Fang Mo couldn't help but say, "A perfectly good James McAvoy, in such a short time, has been ravaged by time into Patrick Stewart… You've aged, and you've gone bald."
"You haven't changed a bit."
Hearing this, Charles felt a long-lost headache: "Still speaking in ways that no one understands."
"Hey, actually, I haven't changed completely."
Fang Mo chuckled and waved his hand: "It's just that my changes are less obvious compared to yours. By the way, you've changed so much over the years. If it weren't for your bald head… I would have thought I was seeing Hawking today."
"You…"
"Oh, right."
Before Charles could speak, Fang Mo suddenly slapped his head as if he had remembered something, then reached behind him: "I almost forgot this thing, wait a moment."
Not long after.
Fang Mo suddenly pulled his hand back.
This time, he was holding a shiny golden object.
As Fang Mo let go, the object dropped to the ground with a loud thud, shaking the whole room and cracking the floor. Most of the object embedded itself deeply into the ground.
Charles looked closely.
It turned out to be an exquisite toilet.
Yes, it was a toilet, and it was made of pure gold.
The toilet seat was encrusted with all kinds of precious gems: emeralds, diamonds, rubies, agates, jades, lapis lazuli, densely packed around the rim. Just looking at it seemed uncomfortable to sit on. And the toilet lid was engraved with a large 'X' logo.
Additionally.
The bottom of the toilet even had four suspicious wheels.
"Ta-da!"
Like presenting a treasure, Fang Mo pointed both hands at the golden toilet and said: "Haha, surprised? I made your golden toilet!"
"…"
Even though Charles was now much calmer due to his age, he still almost blacked out.
"Come, let me give you a detailed introduction."
Fang Mo enthusiastically pushed Charles's wheelchair to the toilet: "Look, first of all, the material of this wheelchair… it's made of pure 24K gold, very fitting for your noble and elegant stature as Professor X!"
"No, wait…"
"And then there's the logo on the toilet lid. I remember your logo should be this, right?"
Before Charles could speak, Fang Mo interrupted again, patting the toilet lid: "Oh, and the toilet tank contains a small beacon that theoretically can infinitely enhance your psychic powers as long as you sit on it."
"There's also the flushing mechanism."
"There's a hot spring dagger in the tank that can create unlimited water. As for the drain, I placed a black hole amulet there, so whatever you flush down will automatically go into the void…"
"Of course, the most important part is these four wheels."
"These wheels are made of cobalt blue. I specifically coated them with redstone and infused them with explosive chorus fruit. Theoretically, their speed can reach up to 120 miles per hour… yes, you heard that right. This thing can not only serve as a toilet, but you can also use it as a wheelchair!"
After saying all this, Fang Mo proudly asked, hands on hips: "So, impressive, right?"
"It's quite something."
Charles tiredly rubbed his temples, taking a deep breath to keep his blood pressure in check: "Next time, please don't make something like this."
"Come on, give it a try."
Fang Mo didn't respond directly; instead, he seemed eager to encourage the other party.
"What did you say?"
Charles looked up, somewhat bewildered.
"I told you to give it a try." Fang Mo gave Charles a curious look. "I made this golden toilet for you with great effort, and you're not even going to give me some face?"
"Fang... Fang Mo..."
Charles struggled to recall Fang Mo's real name. "You need to understand, this is a reception room; no one uses the bathroom here."
"No, no, no, I disagree."
Fang Mo shook his head directly upon hearing this, then suddenly encouraged Charles with great positivity: "You are Professor X, be confident. You should do whatever you want!"
"But this is something I really don't want to do..."
Charles said, holding his forehead in frustration.
"People eat, and then they shit. It's a natural law, isn't it?" Fang Mo urged again. "Hurry up, or you'll soil your pants..."
"Can we change the topic, please?"
Charles couldn't take it anymore. He hadn't expected that Fang Mo, despite all these years, hadn't aged but had become more persistent. So he quickly changed the subject: "Let's talk about something I'm more interested in. I remember you once said you could cure my legs. I've been waiting for you for decades..."
"Maybe if you sit on the golden toilet, your legs will be cured."
Fang Mo spread his hands.
"Even you don't believe that," Charles sighed. "But honestly, I did wait for you for a long time back then, holding on to that hope. During that time... I guess I was very miserable."
"I can probably imagine how you looked."
Fang Mo smiled. He had seen that scene in the original "Days of Future Past." Charles was indeed in a bad state, drinking and taking drugs all day, which eventually led to his dementia in old age.
"I was desperately trying to find you."
Charles lowered his head, seemingly lost in those painful memories. "I even disregarded others' objections and used the Cerebro countless times, searching the world over and over, but I still couldn't find you."
"Wow... Anyone who doesn't know might think you were looking for your first love."
Fang Mo couldn't help but quip.
"Everyone was very disappointed in me at that time. Many chose to leave me."
Charles ignored Fang Mo's comment and continued: "But later, I found the answer in Logan's mind. It turns out you were a deity traveling through different worlds and had already gone to other realms... Although I had some guesses, I was still greatly shocked upon learning the truth."
"You really are incorrigible."
Fang Mo frowned.
"Haha, indeed." Charles smiled faintly, acknowledging Fang Mo's mockery. "A lot happened after that. It took me a long time to move on from this."
"I thought for a long time and finally realized where my flaw lay."
"It wasn't my legs I should have cared about... Compared to the suffering other mutants were going through, my suffering was insignificant. And I had the power to save them. That was my duty, my mission."
A kind smile appeared on Charles' face. "So I pulled myself together. Even though many friends had left me—Raven, Alex, Sean—I still founded this school, trying to bridge the gap between humans and mutants and make everything better, including myself."
"Is that so?"
Fang Mo smiled too upon hearing this. "It seems you've indeed grown."
"Yes, just as you said."
Charles nodded, sighing. "Although the cost was high, growth itself requires paying a price."
Hearing this, Fang Mo had already made a decision in his heart. Indeed, when he left the X-Men world, he had said that once Charles learned to grow, he would come back and cure him. Now it seemed the time to fulfill that promise had come.
While Fang Mo was thinking about this, Charles continued with another topic, unaware.
"By the way, Fang Mo…"
Charles pondered for a moment, then asked, "I heard from Logan that your purpose for traveling was to witness different landscapes for your own pleasure, is that correct?"
"More or less," Fang Mo nodded casually. "Why do you ask?"
"Then why have you returned now?"
Charles' expression turned slightly more serious. "I know you seem to have the ability to foresee the future, so is your return related to Erik? Last time, you appeared because Sebastian wanted to destroy the entire world, and this time... is Erik plotting something again?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Charles' question, Fang Mo was taken aback.
"Does it have anything to do with that girl?" Charles asked again. "I've received information that Erik seems to have targeted a mutant girl named Anna-Marie."
"Oh, you mean that."
Fang Mo reacted, "Indeed, your little troublemaker is up to something big again."
"What on earth is a 'little troublemaker'?"
Even though Charles had become more composed, he still found Fang Mo's peculiar phrases hard to handle. "Why do you always speak in a way we can't understand? You clearly speak English, but you make 'trouble' and 'maker' sound like the same thing... how is that possible?"
"Hmm?"
Fang Mo was surprised and glanced at Charles, "Big Charles, your telepathic abilities have improved... you can even sense my meme pollution now?"
Of course, when he said meme pollution, Fang Mo was referring to his "Localization Module" ability.
As one of his functional modules, its power was naturally formidable. Fang Mo had poor academic performance and didn't know any foreign languages. However, this bizarre Localization Module could translate any language indiscriminately, even those beyond human languages, such as the languages of Cthulhu mythos outer gods and some intelligent beasts or monsters.
What was more terrifying than an ordinary translation...
It could even translate puns.
For instance, when Logan crashed his car into a tree, Fang Mo clearly said "vertical" (竖), which in English is entirely different from "tree" (树), both in meaning and pronunciation. Yet Logan inexplicably heard it as "tree."
(TL: I can't do that.)
This wasn't just translation but a kind of forced mental pollution. It twisted everyone's perception, making them think Fang Mo was speaking their native language, and they couldn't realize it. They all believed Fang Mo was communicating in their mother tongue.
Japanese anime characters would think Fang Mo spoke Japanese. American comic characters would believe he had fluent English. Even pets like Pochi, Shoggoths, and little scrubs would think their owner was exceptionally good at mimicking cat/dog sounds.
The most absurd part was that this Localization wasn't limited to sound. If Fang Mo wanted, he could even express his thoughts through subtitles/text, and no one would notice anything amiss.
For example, if someone asked Fang Mo what he was reading, and he replied he was reading "xi, you, ji" (Journey to the West), the text would translate to "希犹记" if he wished, making it seem like an unfamiliar work.
Suppose Nick Fury heard Fang Mo's answer. He would immediately question, "What the hell kind of Journey to the West is that?"
Yet, even so, this bizarre translation wouldn't seem strange to Nick Fury; it would appear normal, as if under some mental suggestion.
To be honest, Fang Mo had grown accustomed to the convenience brought by this Localization Module.
However, what he hadn't expected was...
Charles could sense something amiss.
"As expected of a man about to sit on a golden toilet, your insight is truly impressive." Fang Mo gave Charles a thumbs up. "Let me give you a 6."
"So, I'll never live down this toilet thing, will I?"
Charles sighed helplessly. "Can we talk about the important matters first? What is Erik up to this time?"
"Oh, that guy is working on a machine."
Fang Mo shrugged, indifferent to spoilers. "The machine can extract..."
However, just as he began to explain, there was a knock at the door. A red-haired woman hurriedly entered and said anxiously, "Professor X, the man who passed out earlier has woken up and is causing a commotion outside!"
"Jean, you..."
Seeing this, Charles knew it wasn't good.
As he feared, Fang Mo stopped mid-sentence upon hearing Logan had awakened and turned his attention to the woman.
"What! You say Logan is awake?"
~~~
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