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Chapter 181 - Chapter 181: Sage’s Struggle

"Wish Journey function?"

The system's prompt made Raymond's eyes narrow slightly.

Still, before he understood exactly how it worked, he had no plans to tell Professor X's sub-personality or any of the others—better not to get anyone's hopes up for nothing.

There was no doubt that, for the older Professor X, his greatest wish was to change the fate of mutants in his world, to keep them from going extinct.

On his own, the sub-personality could never achieve that. But for Raymond now… it might not be impossible.

Of course, the exact way to make it happen would need careful planning.

From the system's wording, the function seemed a lot like entering an "instance dungeon"—except these "dungeons" could only be the worlds the sub-personalities' originals came from, and had to be tied to their wishes.

"…Hm? She's waking up?"

Pulling his thoughts back, Raymond noticed Sage across from him slowly regaining focus.

This time, though, she didn't startle or panic like before—she just looked a little lost.

"What's wrong with her?" Raymond asked, glancing at Professor X's sub-personality and pointing toward Sage.

"I shared with her a little of my memories," the sub-personality replied without hiding anything.

"Your memories?" Raymond's eyes narrowed, and he instantly guessed the intent.

But instead of questioning it, he decided to let the sub-personality take the lead for now.

"Those things just now… were they real? Are you really the Professor?" Sage asked in a daze.

She didn't seem willing to believe it, yet her expression betrayed her doubt.

"With your vast database and analytical abilities, I think you can tell whether those were fabricated illusions or things that truly happened, can't you, Tessa?" Professor X's sub-personality smiled faintly.

Sage's face tightened in discomfort.

That was exactly the answer she didn't want to face.

Those strange memories, so different from the events of this world, held not a single trace of falsehood.

Yes, a telepath could implant false memories—but to someone like her, a living supercomputer, fake memories were useless. Her abilities could detect even the tiniest inconsistencies.

The smallest flaw would be magnified, exposing the lie.

And yet, in the scenes she had just seen, there was not a single flaw to find.

From experience, even the real Professor—the one who had sent her to infiltrate the Hellfire Club—could never realistically create such an overwhelming amount of fake memories.

That alone convinced her they must have truly happened.

On top of that, the way this "second Professor" had passed effortlessly through the psychic barrier in her mind was deeply unsettling—Because normally, such a shield would only allow the "owner" to pass without any reaction at all.

The fact that this "second Professor" could pass through her psychic shield without any resistance meant the shield hadn't regarded him as an outsider—proof enough that he really might be another Professor.

With her limited knowledge, she could hardly imagine another explanation.

Those flawless memories, the behavior patterns and reflexes of that "other her"… all of it forced her to accept the possibility.

The man before her could indeed be a Professor from another parallel world.

It was the only way to explain all those earlier strange details, from those memories, she had clearly died in that world.

Died in the middle of a mission to save mutants.

If that was true, the ending of that other self didn't surprise her.

She had been prepared for it for a long time.

Her infiltration of the Hellfire Club was already a mission taken at great personal risk.

And in that world, the mutants' situation seemed even more dire than here—death might have been a release.

As for the existence of parallel worlds, it wasn't hard for her to accept.

Her own database held ample proof of the multiverse, along with evidence of many worlds beyond it.

The Hellfire Club itself had a perfect example—Longshot.

The core members all knew he wasn't from Earth, not even from this world at all, but from another universe entirely.

Even he couldn't explain how he had come here, but it was almost certainly true.

His genes were unlike any human's, his very life pattern completely alien.

The evidence for his otherworldly origin was overwhelming.

So a parallel-world Professor suddenly appearing wasn't world-shattering for her—it was strange, yes, but still within her ability to accept.

What she couldn't so easily accept was the fate of mutants in those memories.

She had seen too many friends die there—full of despair and unwillingness—and even her own death had been tragic.

Even though that was only the ending for mutants in one parallel world, just one possibility…

This world seemed more complicated, more dangerous. Could the mutants' fate here truly be better?

The thought made her shiver.

From those memories, she could see the second Professor had once acted very much like the one in her own world—Full of compassion and understanding, trying to integrate mutants peacefully into human society.

But in the end, humans could not tolerate mutants' existence, and used their genes to develop the ultimate weapon—the Sentinels—before launching a great purge.

Could this world escape the same fate?

This world had the Sentinel Services too. And in that other world, it was the Sentinel Services who had created the killer robots.

Who could guarantee they wouldn't do the same here?

If that happened, the mutants' end might not be much different.

Even if most humans didn't hate mutants, fear was inevitable.

And given the chance to eradicate mutants, most humans would likely stand by and watch.

Humans and mutants might still end up at war.

"Now… do you understand my concern?" Professor X's sub-personality asked with a deep sigh.

"What do you plan to do?" Sage asked.

Unknowingly, her attitude had softened, and her tone carried a trace of respect.

"I haven't decided yet… but I hope you'll help me," the sub-personality said, meeting her gaze.

"You want me to betray the Professor?" Sage's brow furrowed sharply.

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