The De Facto Partition That Overturned the Ruling Order

"Hereby, I officially announce the establishment of the Mutant Nation!"

As Raven, wearing a crown, made the announcement in a ringing voice, all the spectators erupted into thunderous applause. The Mutants cheered and celebrated, turning the entire stadium into a sea of joy.

Although there had been a few twists and turns along the way, the final result was perfect. The Mutant Nation had been successfully established.

There were many more guests at the scene, all of them forcing smiles onto their faces.

They had already received news of what Magneto had done elsewhere in the world. Twenty or thirty major cities in Europe and America had been destroyed by the wreckage of the fallen Sentinel Robots, with casualties strewn everywhere. Washington and the Pentagon had lost contact with the outside world, and they had presumably vanished from the face of the earth as well.

Especially through the satellites, they had seen the enormous abyss that had appeared out of nowhere in Washington. It looked like the entrance to hell, splitting open its giant maw and mocking every human watching the satellite images.

There were certainly people in this world who would spit in Magneto’s face even at the cost of their lives. Unfortunately, those with the courage to do so were not qualified to set foot on Paradise Island, while none of those who could come to Paradise Island possessed such courage.

On one side, everyone was beaming with joy; on the other, they looked as if a close relative had died. The stark contrast put Zhan Liu in an excellent mood.

There had originally been a celebration party after the ceremony, but Professor Charles was considerate enough to cancel it when he saw the human guests’ ashen faces.

With Charles at the forefront, the X-Men led all the guests out of the country. Perhaps to spare the human guests’ feelings, Magneto did not show himself again afterward. But his very existence had already become the most powerful deterrent in the world.

After giving it some careful thought, Zhan Liu decided against asking Magneto to modify his genes and give him a mutant ability to control electromagnetism.

It was not that he was too proud to ask. What did dignity matter if it helped him achieve his goal? He had that much awareness. But Old Magneto was simply too petty. He held on to the slightest personal grudge forever and lacked generosity.

After muttering a few complaints about Erik under his breath, Zhan Liu said goodbye to Raven and the other acquaintances before flying back to New York.

New York was lively too!

The matter of Washington suddenly going offline had been investigated and clarified very quickly. Seeing such a huge hole in the earth from the satellites, anyone who did not panic would have been strange.

Washington happened to be the Federation’s political center, and most administrative agencies had their headquarters there. Now that all those people had died, the states of the Federation had instantly descended into chaos.

The politicians at the top knew what the abyss was, but the people at the bottom did not. As a result, rumors of all kinds came one after another.

The end of the world had arrived, the abyss was invading, hell and the abyss had moved their great battle to Earth… There were all sorts of wild rumors, with people saying everything imaginable.

Those cults took the opportunity to cause trouble, recruiting believers everywhere. Some were even preparing to conduct blood sacrifices.

Even a major city like New York was full of smash-and-grab robberies and looting.

The Pan-African Alliance had absorbed many of the Black residents from the slums, but that had not improved the social environment at all. The only difference was that the original participants had changed from Black people to white people.

As long as the slums had not been emptied, such things would never be avoidable.

The state and city governments had originally been able to deal with these problems, but the rulers were now in a panic and had fled to who knew what distant corners. They had no mind to manage public security in the cities.

Public security in New York City was now being maintained entirely by various superheroes working together with the magnetic field warriors in the police department.

The problem was that the magnetic field warriors were slightly too destructive, and their control over their strength was slightly lacking. Wherever they joined a fight, they often turned both the criminals and the hostages into minced meat.

Fortunately, they all had law-enforcement authority, so they would not be subjected to legal punishment for it.

And the results were excellent. Nowadays, whenever the gangs or looters saw magnetic field warriors appear and heard the Miranda warning, they would immediately surrender without hesitation.

New York State did not have the death penalty anyway. No matter what they had done, the worst that could happen was a prison sentence, and life there might even be more comfortable than life outside.

Only criminals who were also magnetic field warriors would often violently resist arrest. After the ensuing battle between the two sides, the entire neighborhood would often be gone.

Such incidents were rare, however—almost nonexistent.

That was because after becoming magnetic field warriors, they were basically immune to conventional firearms. Working as mercenaries for any country would definitely earn them more than being petty thieves and robbers. Even martial artists at the Current Drive level disdained to rob people personally. It was much better to become the boss and have their underlings pay tribute.

In a capitalist country, one had to have the awareness to become a capitalist!

In fact, the current boss of New York’s underworld was a magnetic field warrior. All his lieutenants were fellow disciples at the Current Drive level. Without Current Drive-level ability, it was impossible to rise through the ranks.

As for Kingpin, The Hand, and all the other miscellaneous gangs, they basically had to watch his mood to get by.

This had forced many gangs to teach themselves Chinese and go to martial arts schools to study under masters, using those skills to fight back against him.

Originally, many gang bosses had been unwilling to study themselves, so they sent Chinese Americans who understood the language to study under masters in their place. But when those Chinese Americans returned with their skills and overthrew the bosses through sheer force, all the gang bosses had no choice but to go in person.

It was unclear how things were in other cities, but in New York’s Chinatown, martial arts teachers were in incredibly high demand. Anyone who opened a Chinese tutoring class could make a fortune.

The universities that had previously offered Chinese courses had now produced their first batch of graduates. A few clever students pooled an investment with several classmates and directly opened a formal Chinese training school, specializing in after-school tutoring for children from wealthy families.

Once this educational model was launched, it immediately won Wall Street’s favor. It smoothly secured Series A funding, then blossomed everywhere as branches were opened across the city.

Now, in New York City, there was bound to be a chain Chinese training school every few blocks. Hell’s Kitchen was no exception.

No matter how run-down a neighborhood was, nobody dared attack these Chinese schools. Their boss might very well be sitting in one of the classrooms studying.

During the day, New York belonged to the magnetic field warriors of the police department. At night, New York belonged to the magnetic field warriors of the gangs!

Before anyone realized it, the disciples of the martial arts schools had already secretly overturned the entire ruling order of New York City, forming a de facto partition of power.