In the Marvel Universe: I can summon items from all dimensions.

Chapter 52 The Condensation of Malice

A true heavyweight has appeared!

The Phoenix Force, needless to say, is the intersection of life and emotion in the primordial universe. Even in the movies, where it has been weakened countless times, its power is enough to destroy planets. Jean Grey herself is also one of the Omega-level mutants, and in terms of potential, she surpasses Professor Charles, making her arguably the ultimate power among the X-Men.

However, his current everyday demeanor makes him seem quite approachable, and one cannot even detect the slightest hint of a powerful aura.

"—What are you doing here?"

Lorna slammed her hand on the table, angrily saying without looking up, "What I do is none of your business!"

Jean pulled up a chair and sat down, then sighed and said, "Lorna, the professor and I haven't changed our minds—you don't have to shoulder that burden all by yourself."

"What you think is your business."

Lorna abruptly stood up, turned, and walked away. Her attitude was ambiguous, making it unclear whether she was angry or simply running away. But before leaving, she paused briefly, then uttered her final words: "Want to know what happened? Ask her!"

This was said to Mason.

[”

'

He paused for a moment, then turned to Qin and asked, "Did I step on a really bad landmine?"

He didn't get up to chase after them. After all, it was obviously not the right thing to do to disturb someone who was emotionally agitated without knowing the situation. Perhaps some hot-blooded teenagers could solve problems in this way, but he couldn't.

"You could say that."

Jean watched Lorna's departing figure, sighed almost imperceptibly, and then turned back to ask, "Mason, were all those things you just said true?"

"That's right." Mason nodded. "I didn't find a suitable opportunity to ask before, and I thought now would be a good time, but I didn't expect such a strong reaction."

He thought Qin would tell him stories from the past, but his expectations were not met. When they met eyes, he found that Qin's gaze was quite serious, even scrutinizing.

"So, Mason, have you felt any physical or mental discomfort in the past few days?"

"?"

'

A sense of foreboding washed over Mason. After nervously swallowing, he shook his head and said, "No, everything is normal."

"Is that so? — It seems things haven't gotten to the worst-case scenario."

Qin nodded, her serious expression easing slightly: "I need to explain—Lorna wasn't being spiteful when she said that, but rather she was concerned about you. Because having that kind of contact with her could have escalated into a very bad situation, you should have told her that directly at the time."

"Is that so?"

Mason hissed: "Specifically?"

"It's a complicated story to explain." She rubbed her temples. "I never expected something like this to happen."

Alright, Mason, come with me. For your personal safety, it's necessary to conduct a full check-up.

"

"Then...this is troublesome?"

-

Before he could even get a bite to eat, Mason followed Qin to the elevator in the teaching building. He watched as she entered a password on a control panel, and then the elevator slowly descended.

Half a minute later, the elevator doors opened again, and a futuristic corridor made entirely of metal appeared before Mason's eyes.

Although he had seen this in movies, it would be too fake to say nothing, so after hesitating for a moment, he asked with a hint of nervousness, "This is—?"

"The academy is upstairs, and the X-Men's base is downstairs," Jean replied. "These two are obviously meant to be distinguished."

"I see—no wonder I didn't see the corresponding facilities in the academy. I thought they were located somewhere else."

"Come with me, this examination will be conducted by the professor." Qin glanced at him with some concern, then took the initiative to lead the way forward.

After passing several forks in the road, the two arrived at a heavy metal door with a coded pattern on its surface.

Oh, is this the Brainwave Enhancement Machine, a legendary attraction from the X-Men series?

Mason watched as Jean used her machine data authentication to open the metal door, which was nearly half a meter thick, and then walked inside. He quickly followed.

Sure enough, inside the door was a spherical space supported by metal plates. A suspended corridor extended from the entrance to the center, where Charles was sitting in a wheelchair, fiddling with a machine that looked incredibly cool.

"Professor, it's an emergency."

Jean strode forward and whispered to Charles from behind, "Mason may have come into contact with the black sludge inside Lorna. Just to be safe, we need to do a full checkup."

"Oh?"

The professor looked up in surprise, then maneuvered his hover wheelchair around to look directly at Mason.

His face was covered with wrinkles, but his eyes had none of the dullness of old age; instead, they were as clear as a baby's. Unlike their last meeting, Mason felt a chill run down his spine when Charles looked at him this time, as if his entire being, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, had been seen through.

This is the kind of performance that Earth's number one psychic should have.

After a brief moment of observation, the professor said gently, "Mason, please come closer. This could be very serious, so we must not be careless."

These words made Mason somewhat flustered. He swallowed hard, stepped forward, and asked, "What exactly is the problem that requires such seriousness?"

"Before I answer your question, Mason, please make me a promise."

Charles looked at him and said, "If you want to know the whole story, promise me that after you hear it, you will not tell anyone except the X-Men members. More importantly, you will not look at Lorna with any strange eyes because of this."

'

℃

Mason frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, then nodded and said sincerely, "I can't give an absolute guarantee, but I will do my best within the scope of what I can do."

"Is that so? Well then, a promise made outright may not be as solid as a verbal guarantee."

Charles turned around, picked up a semi-transparent helmet with many connected wires from the table of the brainwave enhancement machine, and put it over his head.

"Qin, you should leave first. Getting too close at this time is not a good thing for you."

"I understand." Qin nodded. "But if anything happens, feel free to call me."

After saying that, he turned and left, leaving only Mason and Charles in the brainwave enhancement machine.

"Don't be nervous, Mason."

The professor adjusted the various parameters on the control panel, saying, "I can tell you're someone who's hiding many secrets, but rest assured, I will never presume to pry into your mind without your permission. What I'm doing now is merely a 'screening,' and will not cause any harm."

"If I were worried about that, I wouldn't even go near the academy."

Mason shook his head and said, "I'm just curious about what exactly happened here. Judging from the images in my memory, it seems that you extracted human malice to enhance Lorna's abilities. Although the scene was horrifying, it shouldn't have escalated to this point. What secret is hidden in all of this?"

"I see. Was that what you saw?"

Charles sighed slightly: "At that time, Eric's abilities reached new heights, which made his confidence so inflated that he ignored my advice and wanted to overthrow human civilization by reversing the Earth's magnetic field, and then lead the mutants to build a utopia in the wasteland."

"It failed, didn't it?" Mason said. "Until a few days ago, I had no idea that something like this could even happen in the world."

"That's right."

The professor nodded: "It's no exaggeration to say that Lorna saved the world at that time."

"Saving the world?"

"You can probably guess what happened," Charles said. "I greatly enhanced Lorna's power by extracting the malice from the human subconscious, giving her the ability to manipulate magnetic fields to rival Eric for a short period of time. When Eric tried to carry out his plan, Lorna began to fight him for control of the geomagnetic field until the X-Men stormed into the Brotherhood's hideout and subdued Eric."

"That was quite a thrilling story."

Since the apocalyptic crisis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is as casual as buying a pack of instant noodles, Mason didn't express any surprise. He simply frowned and said, "But isn't this a happy ending? Lorna and you are all still alive. Why did it turn out like this?"

The professor shook his head: "Before answering that question, Mason, do you think Lorna hates the Academy?"

"—I don't think so?"

Mason recalled Lorna's behavior, frowning as he said, "It's less about dislike and more like a simple desire to avoid her, like she's—running away?"

"That's right, exactly."

Charles nodded, then sighed, "There's one more thing—although I've made some progress in mental abilities, I haven't reached the point where I can extract large amounts of certain emotions from other people's subconscious."

"Then why—?"

Before he could finish speaking, Mason realized Charles's unspoken message: "Something that shouldn't have happened has come true—Professor, did you get some inspiration from something or someone? Or perhaps you used some kind of tool?"

"You guessed right."

Charles looked up, and in an instant, Mason felt a shockwave that didn't affect his body but went straight to his mind, spreading out from him. The spherical underground space suddenly turned into an infinitely vast dark space, dotted with countless points of light like stars. Upon closer inspection, each point of light was revealed to be a humanoid phantom.

The brainwave enhancement machine has been activated.

But the refreshing "starry sky" only lasted for a few seconds before all the lights suddenly went out, leaving only a dark space that was purer than any night, giving people the illusion that they couldn't breathe just by looking at it.

Mason instinctively clutched his chest, suppressing the discomfort welling up inside him, and then he saw the professor reach out and grab something in the vast yet cramped darkness—

A blur appeared before my eyes, then the darkness faded, and the underground spherical space supported by metal was revealed once again.

But before Mason could even catch his breath, his attention was drawn to something hovering in the professor's hand.

It was an amorphous mass of black matter, writhing like sludge. Just seeing it made Mason feel as if hundreds of people were wreaking havoc in his mind, screaming hoarsely about lust, hunger, lust, and power—as if all the evil thoughts a human being could muster had been condensed into that fist-sized mass of black mud. This must be what "horrifying darkness" was all about.

A strong feeling of nausea arose spontaneously, but even without looking at it, just being aware of its existence continued to have an effect, like some kind of virus that could spread through consciousness.

"Oh, oh, oh, this is—this is!!!"

Suddenly, Kuroshi Kasumi exclaimed with unbridled joy: "The essence of malice and resentment!! Such a thing actually exists in such a primitive civilization!! Guest!! Take it!! Its value is enough for you to hire me for over a year!!"

, "

Mason didn't answer her. Instead, he clutched his throat, forcing back the urge to vomit, and then gasped, "What—what is this?"

"I don't know!" Charles sighed in distress. "This is something I got from S.M.A. five years ago. As you can see, it's a product of negative emotions being materialized. How was it made?"

What is its purpose? No one knows. All that is known is that it fell from a hole guarded by S.H.I.E.L.D. When it first appeared, it was only the size of a fingernail, but after coming into contact with researchers, its size gradually increased.

Mason, who felt a strange sense of familiarity with this setup, swallowed hard: "And then?"

"After research, the scientists at S.H.I.E.L.D. believe that it grows by absorbing human emotions, and the more people involved, the faster it grows. If it were placed in a major international city, it would probably grow to the size of a mountain within a month," Charles continued. "Ordinary people would feel physically uncomfortable just looking at it from afar, let alone touching it. After studying it for a while, the people at S.H.I.E.L.D. contacted me, asking me to find a way to destroy it. They even used tactical nuclear weapons, but they still couldn't do anything to it."

"I accepted the commission and tried every possible method, but it was all in vain. Not only did I fail to destroy it, it actually grew larger—in the end, I could only use a brainwave enhancement machine to create a dark zone far removed from any conscious entity," and then isolate it within it to prevent further growth.

"I think I know what's going to happen next—"

"3

Mason's eyes twitched a few times: "Could it be that the thing used to enhance Lorna is—?"

"That's right, it's the essence of malice that I created by imitating it."

Charles grasped the hand that was holding up the black mud, and then the scenery in the brainwave enhancement machine flickered and suddenly disappeared without a trace.

At this point in the story, Mason could guess, even without thinking, that Charles was about to add a "but."

"But that was a hasty attempt, without any experimentation, just following some calculations whose accuracy is unknown. Lorna absorbed the malice of nearly a billion people, which did indeed give her abilities a leap forward, but it also caused a serious problem—" The professor sighed deeply, "She didn't have that strong a digestive capacity," resulting in about a third of the malice remaining in her body in a state similar to black sludge. This, in turn, suppressed her abilities to a very weak level, making it impossible for her to manipulate magnetic fields at will as before."

"I see!"

Mason sighed, then realized something: "It's not just that, is it? She seems so afraid to approach the academy—wait, could that malice have leaked out?"

"You're very smart, Mason." Charles nodded. "That's true. That level of malice completely exceeded Lorna's capacity to withstand. Although a delicate balance was achieved by chance, it could collapse at any time. According to calculations, if the internal balance of Lorna collapses, it will cause at least half of Europe to suffer a terrifying psychological shockwave, and the survival rate of ordinary people will not be higher than one in a thousand."

So, I've been chatting with a human freak all this time?

Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense either. If her explosion would take away tens or even hundreds of millions of people, how could she dare to appear in a densely populated area? Perhaps only Antarctica would be safe for her?

Clearly understanding Mason's expression, the professor continued, "To prevent that from happening, Lorna asked me to place a mind lock on her." If her balance collapses, the lock will kill her before the mind tremor erupts—after all, those malicious acts are merely imitations of mine, unlike the real black mud. They cannot exist independently of the mind world; no matter how large their scale, once Lorna, as their vessel, dies, they can only vanish into silence.

"In other words—"

At this point, Mason finally understood what was going on with Lorna's strange behavior: "Her distancing herself from the academy and behaving that way towards you is actually because—"

"Lorna is a good girl," Charles said slowly. "She understands how serious her problems are, so she rejected help from others, ignored advice and left the academy, wanting to find a solution on her own."