[16] Professor X's Approval

In the living room of Professor X's villa.

Professor X lowered his hand from his temple, his face filled with shock and emotion.

He gave Brian a long, deep look, his eyes filled with complexity.

Just now, he had used his telepathic ability to invade Brian's mind and read his memories.

He saw Brian as a child, just after awakening his mutant ability, being feared and hated by those around him.

He was bullied, shunned, and called a freak.

Yet despite all this, Brian never resented them, and he never tried to hide who he was.

He wasn't afraid to show his mutant ability in front of others.

Even when faced with fear and hate from those around him, Brian stood tall.

The young Brian used his actions to demonstrate that his mutant ability was a gift, not something to be ashamed of.

Professor X was moved by Brian's unwavering belief, even as a child.

He also saw how, after meeting Darwin, young Brian began to be guided.

Although Darwin was just a child himself, he took on the role of a life mentor, using his precognitive ability.

He constantly foresaw the future and guided Brian on how to develop his mutant abilities.

He also saw that Brian and Darwin had a bond like brothers.

Similarly, he saw the predictive comics that Brian and Darwin drew together when they were young.

Through these predictive comics, Professor X witnessed the scene of his childhood encounter with Mystique.

He also saw a young boy crying out in pain in front of the Auschwitz concentration camp, with an iron gate gradually being bent and twisted before him.

Likewise, Professor X saw Black King Shaw, with a massive nuclear explosion behind him.

He also saw that after the nuclear explosion, countless humans evolved into mutants due to nuclear radiation but ultimately died miserably because of the same radiation.

He also saw large numbers of robots called Sentinels.

He saw some scenes that were clearly from the future as well.

However, these scenes were fragmented and scattered, making it impossible for Professor X to get a complete vision of the real future from these disjointed images.

This was Brian's intention.

When creating false memories, Brian deliberately included many plotlines from the X-Men series to prove Darwin's identity as a prophet.

However, to prevent Professor X from understanding the future through these depictions and losing his narrative advantage, Brian selected scenes that were ambiguous, appearing significant but whose true implications were beyond Professor X's grasp.

In Brian's memory, Professor X also saw the scene of Darwin's tragic death.

To prevent the nuclear explosion from happening in the future, Darwin used his precognitive ability to locate Black King Shaw and tried to persuade him to abandon his plan.

Then, Brian saw with his own eyes that Black King Shaw cruelly cut open Darwin's head and destroyed his brain.

Brian, who witnessed Darwin's death, was heartbroken.

Years of brotherhood blinded him with hatred.

He wanted to seek revenge on Black King Shaw.

However, Black King Shaw was too powerful.

He could not defeat him at all.

That is why Brian sought out Moira and eventually found Professor X.

"Ah.. Brian, I'm.. I'm very sorry for Darwin's death..."

After finishing the memory reading, Professor X's face was filled with grief. He was affected by the pain Brian experienced in his memory.

"Professor X, what did you do to me?"

Brian cooperated perfectly, recalling the feeling of grief after the memory was read, and asked with a pained expression.

"I'm very sorry, Brian.

I read your memory without your permission."

Professor X stood up and apologized to Brian sincerely.

Then Professor X solemnly extended his right hand and invited Brian:

"Brian, I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation."

"Yes, Charles, the fate of the world depend's on this cooperation."

Brian glanced at Professor X, knowing that he had fully trusted him. This made Brian smile sincerely.

As the two shook hands, it marked Brian's successful infiltration into Professor X's team.

From now on, he just needed to advance the plot steadily, let Professor X use the Cerebro machine to locate Mutants, and Brian could take advantage of the situation to find powerful mutant abilities to harvest.

"Brian, according to Darwin's prophecy, how should we stop Black King Shaw?" Professor X asked Brian humbly for advice. After viewing Brian's "memories," Professor X was fully convinced of Darwin's identity as a prophet.

Thus, as Darwin's brother and partner in the predictive comics, Brian was regarded as a half-prophet himself.

"Darwin once said that at the West Coast port of Miami, Florida, another future Mutant leader, depicted in that comic's scene will appear to assassinate Black King Shaw.

To defeat Black King Shaw, we need the help of this 'Scene Man'."

Brian casually fed Professor X the next part of the plot.

"Another Mutant leader? Scene Man? Is this a code name? Or his ability?"

Professor X was puzzled. He had a feeling that 'Scene Man' was just a nickname, but couldn't find any evidence.

"That's what Darwin said."

Brian shrugged, pushing everything onto Darwin.

"Okay, let's go to Miami to meet this Scene Man."

Professor X thought for a moment and decided to go to Miami, Florida, according to Brian's prophecy.

Having made his decision, Professor X didn't hesitate. He directly communicated his plan to Moira and Raven through telepathy.

"Cool, are we going to fight?" Raven asked excitedly after hearing Professor X's decision.

However, Moira frowned. "Professor X, Brian, I think we should first report Black King Shaw's plans to the CIA headquarters."

As a CIA agent, Moira's first instinct was to report the situation involving the Mutants and Black King Shaw's conspiracy.

"Moira, the CIA leadership will not tolerate the existence of Mutants," Brian said calmly, glancing at Moira.

Now that he had successfully joined Professor X's team, Moira's role had become minimal. He certainly wouldn't allow her to report the Mutant situation to the CIA leadership.

Once the CIA learned about the existence of Mutants, they would immediately begin locking them in laboratories for inhumane experiments. In that scenario, the Mutant situation would become even more dire.

"Brian, you have to believe in the CIA leadership. They won't just round up all the Mutants," Moira insisted, refusing to be swayed by Brian's persuasion.

Brian frowned, his expression changing from calm to indifferent.

The gentleness in his eyes faded as he looked at Moira.

He stepped in front of her, and with a confused glance from Moira and Professor X, he pressed his right hand against her forehead.

"I'm sorry, but you'll be a hindrance" Brian muttered softly, and his mind released the newly evolved Occlusive Brain ability.

Unlike the physical abilities that would disappear or regress once the extreme environment had passed, the evolution of brain consciousness had no such limitation. Since the development of Occlusive Brain, it had become a part of Brian's mind consciousness—permanent and fully integrated.

Brian could now use this ability anytime and anywhere, as naturally as using any part of his body.

Occlusive Brain had become Brian's second mutant ability.

From now on, anyone who tried to explore his memories would leave empty-handed.

As Brian pressed his hand against Moira's forehead, the mind consciousness activated the Occlusive Brain ability.

His mind consciousness instantly delved into Moira's brain.

Brian quickly read Moira's memories of the past few days. The Occlusive Brain ability allowed him to seal all memories, emotions, thoughts, and more deep within the brain.

Similarly, it also granted him a limited ability to read memories.

However, unlike Professor X, who could instantly read all memories, Occlusive Brain could only access memories from the past few days.

But that was enough for Brian.

With a hum, Brian found Moira's memories of recent days and sealed them deep in her subconscious.

When Brian released his hand, Moira's previously clear eyes became clouded with confusion.

"Why am I here?"

"Who are you?"