X-Men

Alex paused slightly at Emma’s words, then turned to look at her, his face full of confusion. AIM was, after all, merely Hydra’s technology division, filled with nothing but tech nerds. Even if Strucker could bring some trusted subordinates out of Hydra, how many could there really be?

"Strucker is planning to control the Descendants of Atlantis and use them to seize the Savage Land," Emma said coldly, casually tossing the minor leader aside. "And they have already successfully controlled quite a few Descendants of Atlantis."

Alex was not worried in the slightest when he heard that. Thinking of the weakness and incompetence the Descendants of Atlantis had displayed before, he was confident that even if they attacked with their entire nation, he could still crush them completely.

Seeing Alex’s unconcerned expression, Emma’s face grew even more serious. "Control is only their first step. The second is modification—modifying the Descendants of Atlantis."

"Modification?" Alex frowned slightly in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I don’t know the details. It’s just that the modification left an especially deep impression in his memories." Emma shook her head with a bitter smile and pointed at the minor leader nearby. "It sounds extremely formidable."

"Could they be biochemical mutants?" Alex had read plenty of novels in his previous life, especially urban novels that often mentioned biochemical mutants with exceptionally powerful and unusual abilities.

Emma did not know what Alex was thinking. She glanced at the minor leader on the ground again, then asked gravely, "Alex, what should we do now? Take the initiative, or defend passively?"

"Of course we take the initiative!" Alex snapped back to his senses and answered without hesitation. "Perfect timing. There’s something I need to discuss with you as well."

As he spoke, Alex told her about his plan to establish the X-Men. In truth, Alex had brought up the idea of the X-Men long ago, and Emma had strongly supported it—she had been even more enthusiastic than Alex.

"Good. It should have been established long ago." Emma clapped excitedly, then said impatiently, "I’ve already started selecting people. I picked one hundred candidates from the academy’s students. Shall we go back and take a look now?"

Before Alex could speak, Emma continued, "Once the X-Men are established, this battle will be the perfect training opportunity."

Listening to Emma ramble on, Alex shook his head with a wry smile. After casually dealing with the minor leader, he returned to the academy with Emma.

Less than ten minutes later, the one hundred candidates Emma had selected were standing before Alex. These one hundred might not have been the strongest fighters in the academy, but they were unquestionably outstanding in ability, combat strength, and intelligence. Some were academy instructors, while others were students.

Alex trusted Emma’s judgment. With a brief sweep of his gaze across the hundred candidates, he gained a rough understanding of each person’s abilities and fighting prowess.

"You are all the academy’s elite, and in the future, you will become an outstanding generation among mutants." Alex cleared his throat. Seeing excitement rise across one hundred young, still somewhat immature faces, he smiled faintly and continued, "Now, I have a mission for you. Are you willing to accept it?"

All one hundred candidates were excellent, but Alex did not need so many people. Twenty members would be enough for the X-Men in its early stages. Yet he was troubled over how to select them. After some thought, he simply decided to set a mission and choose the most suitable candidates based on how they performed.

"The mission is simple: find Hydra’s base in a city and destroy it." When Alex decided to take the initiative, he had already made such plans. Originally, he had intended to lead the X-Men in completing this mission. Now, the candidate X-Men would complete it on their own, and it had become their assessment.

After speaking, Alex secretly watched the changes in the hundred people’s expressions. Not a single one showed even the slightest fear. On the contrary, every one of them seemed somewhat excited.

Alex nodded inwardly and began explaining the mission in detail. Starting with Poseidonia, he laid out every difficulty and precaution. After all, this mission was still extremely dangerous. If anything happened to these people, Alex would regret it for the rest of his life.

"Before the mission begins, I’ll send you to Poseidonia. You will have to complete the rest of the mission yourselves. I will not provide any help." Alex looked at the candidates, who had begun lowering their heads to consider strategies, and did not forget to warn them, "The mission is important, but it is never more important than your lives. Your safety comes first in everything. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" A hundred voices rang out at once, perfectly unified.

Alex nodded again. "Good. You have one day to prepare. We leave tomorrow morning."

After the candidates filed out one after another, Emma walked over from the side and asked worriedly, "Isn’t this too dangerous?"

"Don’t worry. I’ll follow behind and protect them." Alex smiled and reassured her softly, though his eyes remained unwaveringly firm. In fact, given the strength of these hundred candidates, there were very few things in Poseidonia that could harm them.

Emma knew Alex’s temperament and understood the strength of the candidates she had chosen. She did not say anything further and instead asked, "Why wait a day? Why not go immediately?"

"The X-Men are not one person. They are a team—a mutant team." Through the window, Alex watched the hundred candidates who had already gone outside, his gaze turning deep. "Giving them a day to prepare will give them time to adjust. More importantly, I hope they can use this day to get to know one another and, ideally, form small teams on their own. That will be of enormous help for this mission and for their futures."

Emma fell silent for a long while before looking at Alex meaningfully. "You really have this all planned out."

Time seemed to pass particularly quickly then, and before they knew it, the next morning had arrived.

Alex and Emma waited early at the Floating Temple. This was today’s assembly point, and it would also be the future gathering place of the X-Men.

As the morning sunlight had just begun streaming through the transparent glass above the temple, the hundred candidates started arriving in twos and threes. In less than five minutes, all one hundred had arrived.

Sweeping his gaze across everyone present, Alex said in a deep voice, "I’ll ask one last time. Does anyone wish to withdraw from this mission?"

A full minute passed, and no one spoke.

Alex did not waste any more words. Psionic Power enveloped everyone, and in an instant, they appeared in a small forest on the outskirts of Poseidonia. Their mission was to find Hydra’s stronghold and destroy it, so naturally, Alex could not bring them directly to the base beneath the artificial lake.

"All right, that is the capital of the Descendants of Atlantis—Poseidonia." Alex looked through the sparse bushes and pointed at the prosperous city in the distance, his expression calm. "The rest is up to you. I’ll wait for you here."

The observation would be conducted in secret. Alex wanted to see what the candidates were truly like.

The hundred candidates exchanged glances. Without the slightest hesitation, they quickly rushed out of the small forest and headed toward Poseidonia in the distance.