Jean Grey

As for Li Qianhuan’s counterpart, Li Congxin merely sensed her briefly before immediately withdrawing his mental power.

Although the girl resembled his daughter in both appearance and temperament, they were ultimately different people, and he had no intention of wasting too much of his time on an unrelated person.

After all, his daughter was safe and sound right beside him. There was no need for him to pay attention to someone who merely resembled her.

Suddenly, Li Congxin sensed something special. With a thought, he used teleportation and appeared in front of a familiar building.

What came into view was a gym that had left a deep impression on him.

Martha’s Gym!

Looking through the window into the gym’s lobby, he saw a young couple frantically bustling around an unconscious little boy. Beside them, a somewhat battered basketball had rolled far away, but no one paid it any attention.

"Congxin, Li Congxin!" The Chinese man excitedly shook the little boy’s shoulders. "What happened to you? Don’t scare your dad! Just tell me what you want, and I’ll guarantee I’ll buy it for you, okay?"

"Clark!" Beside the man, a beautiful white woman said nervously, "My poor child. Oh God, what should I do?"

"What should we do? Take him to the hospital, obviously! What else can we do?" As he spoke, the man scooped up the boy and hurried outside.

The white woman suddenly remembered something and quickly asked, "Don’t we need to take care of things here first?"

"What is there to take care of? Is the money more important, or is our child?" The Chinese man was visibly impatient. "Hurry up and open the car door for me. Stop dawdling here. Women really are long-haired and short-sighted. They don’t know what’s urgent and what’s not…"

Amid his complaints, the two hurried out through the gym’s main entrance.

Li Congxin did not go over to greet them, nor did he intend to offer them any help.

In fact, the little boy’s coma was partly his unavoidable responsibility. Because of his appearance, this counterpart from a parallel universe had inadvertently received some knowledge that originally belonged to him. It was only a drop in the ocean, and Li Congxin had severed the connection the moment he noticed it.

But the effect had already taken place. The counterpart, having inherited some knowledge of the future, would not only be perfectly fine, but after waking up, he would also gradually become a super-genius—at the very least, he would be no worse than Tony!

And Li Congxin did not want to disturb their lives.

Watching the family drive out of sight, Li Congxin began wandering around New York. He planned to wait for Li Qianhuan to catch up, then explore this world’s secrets together with his daughter.

As he walked, Li Congxin’s gaze suddenly fell on a young girl, and shock appeared in his eyes once again.

She was like a lotus rising unstained from the mud, like a water lily blooming beyond all others!

Ever since Li Congxin arrived in this world, everyone he had encountered had been more or less corrupted by Dormammu’s Dark Energy, imperceptibly developing a vicious aura.

Yet this girl had not been tainted by even the slightest trace of Dark Energy!

Before the Dark Energy drifting through the air could approach her body, it was repelled by a peculiar energy hidden incredibly deep within her, like identical poles of a magnet. It simply could not get near her.

As for the vicious aura, Li Congxin keenly sensed that the girl concealed within her body an aura more intense than that of everyone else he had encountered in this world combined. It was filled with the desire to devour and destroy, as though it were a primordial beast that might devour someone at any moment. However, the girl had forcefully suppressed it with her powerful willpower, preventing an irreparable disaster.

What a familiar feeling!

Li Congxin was naturally extremely familiar with the power hidden within the girl. In fact, he might understand that power even better than the girl before him, its master.

That was the Phoenix Force!

If so, then this girl before him was the perfect host of the Phoenix Force—Jean Grey!

Just as Li Congxin noticed Jean Grey, Jean’s gaze also landed on him. After merely one glance, she was drawn to the unique air surrounding him.

There was a legend about a king whose kingdom had a river. Anyone who drank from it would go mad. The king alone knew this secret, so he had never drunk from the river. Eventually, everyone except him drank from it and went mad. In their eyes, the king, whose behavior differed from theirs, was the truly insane one, so they decided to overthrow the mad king’s rule.

Left with no choice, the king drank the river water that drove people mad, joining his people in their revelry.

In truth, Jean’s current situation was somewhat similar to that of the only king who remained sane. Although she did not know what had happened and could not drink from the river to join everyone else, she had keenly sensed that something terrible had changed in all the people around her. It made her feel completely out of place in this world.

What truly attracted her to Li Congxin was not his heaven-defying looks, which surpassed those of everyone across the multiverse, but the fact that, like her, he lacked that unpleasant, peculiar aura—Dark Energy.

"Hello, sir." Sensing that familiar feeling from Li Congxin, Jean Grey almost involuntarily stepped forward and greeted him. "I’m sorry to bother you, but would you care to have a cup of coffee with me?"

Li Congxin had not expected her to be so forward. He could not help smiling as he asked, "Your treat?"

Received 1,234 Impression Points from Jean Grey!

Jean Grey: "No problem. How about that coffee shop over there?"

"Whatever you say."

As they spoke, Li Congxin followed Jean Grey into the coffee shop. After finding a seat near the window, Jean Grey took the initiative to ask, "I haven’t asked your name yet, sir."

"You can probably tell that I’m Chinese. My name is Li Congxin. But if you find the pronunciation difficult, you can call me by my English name—Clark." Li Congxin introduced himself courteously, then added, "Clark Li."

"All right, Clark." After calling Li Congxin by his name, Jean instinctively glanced around. Only after confirming that no one else could hear their conversation did she lower her voice and ask, "May I be so bold as to ask whether you’re a Mutant too?"

In the eyes of comic-book and movie fans, Mutants were basically another term for people with superpowers, and it carried a positive meaning. But in the universe of the X-Men, things were different. They were discriminated against and ostracized by ordinary people. For Jean Grey to ask Li Congxin such a question upon their first meeting could be considered quite rude.

It was rather like asking a woman in modern society, "Do you work in the adult-services industry?" The feeling was probably much the same.

Even though Jean Grey had implied that she was one as well when asking, it still gave people an unfriendly impression.

That was why she had asked so cautiously.

But Li Congxin naturally had no prejudice against Mutants. He merely shook his head lightly and said, "In fact, I have no discrimination against Mutants, but I am not a Mutant."

After hearing Li Congxin’s answer, Jean’s gaze grew somewhat dim.

The existence of Mutants was already considered abnormal in the eyes of ordinary people, while Jean Grey, as the host of the Phoenix, was an outlier even among outliers. She had thought that meeting Li Congxin meant she had found someone among her own kind who was even more like her, but his answer left her somewhat disappointed.

Does this count as being one of a kind among the unusual?

Taking a small sip of coffee, Li Congxin casually praised it. "This Blue Mountain is quite good." After a slight pause, he added to his earlier answer, "Although I possess super strength, super endurance, super speed, super agility, a super brain, Light Energy Vision, and control over the laws of vibration, light energy, power, space, reality, and souls in the universe, I really am not a Mutant."

Received 9,999 Impression Points from Jean Grey!

Faced with this utterly unusual man, Jean Grey no longer knew what to say about him.

Apart from being handsome, this man dressed unusually, acted unusually, and, although his speech was humorous, even his manner of speaking carried an unusual air. He truly was a strange man—one who was impossible to understand, yet impossible not to investigate further!

After changing the subject from Mutants, Jean no longer spoke as cautiously as before. With a curious tone, she said directly, "Actually, the reason I took the initiative to greet you today is that you give me a very strange feeling. It isn’t because you’re handsome."

Li Congxin nodded and took another sip of coffee, signaling for her to continue.

Jean Grey: "I sense an extremely pure feeling from you, one that makes people want to draw close. I also sense something incredibly mysterious, something that makes people want to uncover its secrets. And…"

After hesitating for a moment, Jean Grey continued, "You also give me a vague sense of pressure. I even find myself feeling afraid of you deep down… No! More accurately, I feel wary of you. Don’t you think that’s strange?"

"You should know that, from childhood until now, no one has ever made me feel this kind of wariness. You’re the first."

Li Congxin waved his hand and casually explained, "There’s nothing strange about it. You think my body is pure and feel willing to draw close because both you and I conceal powerful forces within us. Those forces can protect us from the corruption this world inflicts upon us. As for the mystery, that’s simply because you don’t understand me. And as for your wariness… it actually has nothing directly to do with you."

As he spoke, Li Congxin pointed at Jean’s chest. "The one truly feeling wary of me isn’t you, but it—or rather, the powerful force hidden within you!"