Chapter 372: Two Lois in the Frame
The conversation with Jean Grey was a chance encounter, or perhaps it was the natural attraction between two powerful beings who did not fit into their respective worlds. After sharing a coffee, they each went their separate ways, busy with their own affairs.
Given the general technological level of this world, neither of them left a contact method behind, making their meeting a true encounter of passing strangers.
Jean Grey's appearance also served as a wake-up call for Clark.
Although he was reluctant to admit it, this visit to the X-Men universe presented Clark with a severe problem that he had never encountered after his reincarnation in the Marvel universe: financial issues!
The X-Men stories are set in the 1980s, and ignoring the possible differences in currency between the two parallel worlds, even the designs of US dollars have changed several times from the 1980s to 2018.
This meant that the cash he had brought from the movie universe was unusable in this world.
If it had been an earlier time, he could have easily used some gold and silver as currency, but that was not feasible in the 1980s.
This awkward era made him very uncomfortable because it left him penniless in this world!
He even had to let Jean Grey pay for the coffee, despite being one of the top billionaires in the Forbes rankings in his universe!
Unable to bear the situation, Clark decided to acquire some money. He didn't need much, considering he didn't plan to stay long, but at least enough to avoid further embarrassing situations like today.
How to get the money?
The simplest way would be to "rob the robbers," but Clark found that too bothersome. By chance, he passed by a jewelry store and, with a thought, used his reality-altering abilities to create a gold bar the size of a brick and walked in with it.
...
Ten minutes later, Clark walked out of the jewelry store, satisfied with $100,000 in cash. The store owner, utterly baffled, watched as Clark disappeared into thin air. If not for the large gold bar left on the counter, the owner might have thought he was hallucinating or not fully awake.
This time, Clark teleported a great distance, leaving Earth and the Nine Realms to arrive on a desolate planet called Morag.
Wanting to understand the essence of this world, Clark's first investigation was not about how mutants lived, but to see if the world contained the Power Stone.
Power Stones exist in almost every Marvel parallel universe, constituting a fundamental part of the Marvel multiverse, nearly an indispensable element.
Without the Infinity Stones, it wouldn't be Marvel.
However, despite having seen the old and new trilogies of the X-Men series and the three Wolverine movies (Clark had traversed before the release of "Avengers 4" and "Dark Phoenix"), he had never seen an Infinity Stone in them, leading him to doubt their existence in this world.
After a thorough search on Morag, Clark confirmed that there was no Power Stone. Not only was the stone absent, but even the desolate temple that usually housed it was nowhere to be found.
It seemed as if there had never been any sign of civilization on this planet!
It appeared that the biggest difference in the X-Men universe compared to the Earth he knew better was still out in the vast cosmos.
Thus, Clark began his exploration of the universe.
Asgard, desolate!
Sakaar, barbaric!
The Dark Quadrant, only darkness, no religious order...
Kree Empire, Skrull civilization ruins...
Nothing, nothing, still nothing!
Everything was lacking compared to the above, especially the Shi'ar Empire, the strongest of the three great empires in the movie universe. Although still referred to as one of the three, it had essentially become a dominant superpower.
Yet, in this X-Men universe, Clark found no trace of the Shi'ar Empire, not even their home planet, M'Kraan.
By identifying the surrounding celestial bodies, the location where M'Kraan should have been was just empty space. It suggested that the planet had either been moved by a powerful being or destroyed outright.
A moment of silence for the mighty Shi'ar Empire...
As Clark was rushing around the X-Men universe, his beloved daughter Lois also finally arrived on the Earth of the X-Men universe.
Unlike Clark, who felt nostalgic seeing the surroundings, Lois was indifferent to the backward scenery.
This represented the so-called generation gap. Living in different eras, experiences, and knowledge inevitably lead to drastic changes. In ancient times, the technological level from the start to the end of a dynasty didn't change much. But in modern times, the rapid development of science and technology meant that what was common decades ago could soon become obsolete.
How could young people feel any connection to the stories and things mentioned by the older generation which they had never even seen?
After realizing that Clark was not around, the young girl soon felt bored and
aimlessly wandered the streets of New York, casually disciplining a few hoodlums who tried to approach her, when suddenly her eyes lit up.
Because in this world, she sensed an unusually familiar aura, as if connected by blood, yet it definitely wasn't coming from Clark.
Could it be that in this strange world, some fate awaited her?
With that thought, Lois leaped into the air and flew towards the source of the aura, utterly unconcerned about whether her actions shocked or awed the public.
...
"Sometimes, this ability doesn't feel like a gift from the heavens."
"No one understands you, and sometimes they even fear you."
"Wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to hide our abilities?"
These lines weren't just idle narration; they were the opening lines of an enrollment advertisement for Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which was currently being recorded and not yet broadcast.
Led by Professor X, key members of the school including Mystique Raven, Beast Hank, Havok Alex, and Jean Grey, who was being considered for a teaching position due to her exceptional abilities, were all present, witnessing this crucial filming that would bring the school into the public eye.
As the opening lines concluded, a girl dressed in a black shirt, a yellow casual jacket, denim shorts, long wavy hair, pink sunglasses, and two golden hoop earrings large enough to be bracelets, walked in front of the camera and waved: "Hi, I'm Huanhuan."
This girl, serving as the face of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, was Lois.
Lois's counterpart in this world seemed to have a natural talent for performing as she naturally spoke to the camera: "Not long ago, I had those thoughts. But then, I became a student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, and everything changed!"
"How did it change, for better or for worse?"
Suddenly, a voice nearly identical to Lois's sounded, followed by the appearance of a vibrant Eastern girl who looked somewhat like Lois but was several notches more spirited. She casually draped an arm around Lois's shoulder and asked with a smile: "Staying at such an old-fashioned school, are you really happy here?"
Seeing this unexpected girl, everyone was baffled.
Please!
We're filming an ad, could you please not mess it up?
But it was too late for any objections. Professor Charles Xavier quickly signaled to Beast Hank, who was handling the camera, to turn it off, and everyone's gaze then turned to the spirited girl who had just appeared.
She was dressed similarly to Lois, in a yellow casual jacket and denim shorts, but her clothes, whether in craftsmanship, material, or design, felt incredibly futuristic.
This young girl with an Eastern face, who exactly was she?
Finding out wasn't difficult.
Charles, pretending to be casual, rubbed his temples, but his psychic powers were already silently spreading into the mind of the spirited girl.
Under normal circumstances, Charles would never casually probe someone's mind, as his strong principles and moral boundaries were key reasons he was respected as Professor X.
However, with the universe being subtly corrupted by Dormammu's dark energy, Charles's approach had also changed without him realizing it.
This time, Professor X was undoubtedly in for a surprise.
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