"Make Mutants great?"
Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique subconsciously repeated Fang Yuan's words.
"As a slogan, it's certainly very appealing." Eric nodded, then asked, "But how?"
Since Fang Yuan dared to say it, he naturally had his rhetoric ready.
"I've listened carefully to your views, and they all address problems Mutants face, both acceptance and rejection."
"But I believe the root of all this lies in whether humans can correctly understand Mutants," he said.
"Exactly, that's why we must stop Shaw to show humans our determination," Charles nodded in agreement.
Eric immediately moved to object, but Fang Yuan spoke first: "That's too naive. Only the official authorities will know what we've done, and they won't give us awards."
"Most likely, humans will only know that Mutants exist, and that they are Superheroes, while the authorities will secretly use naive people like you to do their dirty work, and even conduct inhumane research on Mutants."
This was a common tactic for winning people over: first, smear potential rivals.
"Exactly!"
Now it was Eric's turn to agree with Fang Yuan.
The authorities would not voluntarily treat Mutants as people.
Charles was about to retort, but he couldn't speak against his conscience. When it came to understanding human psychology, who present could surpass him, a telepath?
Didn't they know what the U.S. authorities were like?
At this point, Fang Yuan turned to Eric: "Of course, we also cannot separate Mutants from humans."
"We must acknowledge that Mutants are born from humans and are inherently one with them."
"On a genetic level, even two Mutants can potentially have ordinary human children, so we should focus on finding a way to coexist harmoniously, rather than escalating into a race war."
Whether Mutants could have ordinary human children was something Fang Yuan made up; he didn't actually know if that was true.
But it didn't matter; Professor X and the X-Men, who were just starting out, couldn't be sure either.
Vought would stop at nothing; he just needed to persuade them first!
Charles nodded, feeling that Fang Yuan's considerations were quite comprehensive.
Eric asked directly, "Then what do you think should be done?"
With the groundwork laid, Fang Yuan finally stated his conclusion—
"Boost our fame, and do good publicity!"
The dagger was revealed. Fang Yuan's goal from the start was not to get Professor X and Magneto to work for him immediately. That couldn't be achieved with just words, especially with Shaw's threat looming.
He just wanted Professor X to be his Angel investor, help him start Vought Corporation, and in passing, lay some ideological groundwork for them, to be pursued gradually later.
Even if the direct approach was a bit crude, Fang Yuan only needed the two opposite him to slightly approve of his ideas.
What? There were three people here?
Mystique didn't count; he had already 'convinced' her.
Professor X and Magneto frowned simultaneously.
Being in the 1960s, they couldn't fully grasp the importance of public opinion yet.
Fang Yuan asked, "Have you heard of Hepburn?"
Mystique frowned, her face flushing slightly, clearly thinking of something else.
Eric asked somewhat absurdly, "Are you saying… become movie stars?"
He shook his head; this idea was too far-fetched for him to accept.
"What's wrong with being a star?" Fang Yuan retorted.
"You need to broaden your horizons."
He constantly brewed persuasive words in his mind.
Fang Yuan posed a question: "If Hepburn and John Bob simultaneously expressed opposing views, who do you think people would be more willing to believe?"
"Oh, by the way, John Bob was the boy in the bunk next to mine at the orphanage, and now he's a restaurant worker."
It was then that the three realized Fang Yuan was an orphan.
The answer to Fang Yuan's question was obvious without needing to be stated. In the 1960s, Hepburn was one of the top female stars; if she wore a dress, countless people would rush to imitate it. People would naturally be more willing to believe Hepburn.
"Do you understand now? This is the importance of fame." Fang Yuan began to paint a grand vision for his future employees, laying the groundwork for their future careers as stars.
"The current problem for Mutants is that we are a minority, humans don't understand us, and no one listens to our voices, right?"
Charles and Eric both nodded.
"Think about it, with fame, the public will be willing to understand us, letting everyone know that Mutants are also members of humanity, not anomalies. This can greatly improve the living conditions of our companions."
"But even then, the problems we face will still exist; some people will still reject us," Eric said.
"That's normal. Minorities will always face various prejudiced glances, but at least Mutants will be treated as people," Fang Yuan replied confidently, though he knew in his heart that this was the first thing he needed to do.
It was ironic; the premise for him to find Mutants to be stars was to first make people accept the concept that Mutants are people.
According to the official setting, although Mutants come from humans, Mutants are not actually human.
However, the reason for this, unrelated to the plot, was purely because when selling toys, if Mutants were considered people, they would fall under dolls and incur a 12% tax.
Conversely, if Mutants were not people, they would be classified as regular toys, only requiring a 6% tax.
Simple and crude.
But now that Fang Yuan was in the real World, it was certainly more beneficial for him to insist that Mutants were people.
As for whether Mutants in this World would engulf humanity?
What did that have to do with him?
Moreover, from a lore perspective, almost all humans in the World have Mutant genes, but most simply don't manifest them.
"As for people harming Mutants." He gestured to Eric, "Is your superpower just for show? We can actively protect innocent companions who are harmed."
Eric chuckled; this statement appealed to him.
"We cannot advocate violence; it will escalate conflict," Charles quickly said.
Fang Yuan, however, retorted, "What is violence?"
"Once we have a platform for publicity, we can expose acts of harm against Mutants. Then, resistance will be striking against crime."
Fang Yuan said passionately, "What I mean by making Mutants great isn't just for us to become stars, but for us to become Superheroes!"
"When Mutants become both heroes and stars, they will no longer be seen as anomalies in people's eyes, and more and more people will accept us."
"Most importantly, this heroic reputation will be passed down."
He knew well the importance of a powerful, continuous speech, and continued to paint a grand vision.
"Imagine, when a group of children who grew up hearing stories of Mutant heroes grow up, will they be more inclined to support Mutants or oppose them?"
"Gradually, the right to speak will be in our hands, the Mutants!"
Fang Yuan unleashed his ultimate move: "I have a dream—"
"I dream that one day, Mutants will be completely integrated into humanity, no longer needing to hide, no longer being rejected!"
"I dream that one day, Mutant children and human children will hold hands, without distinction!"
"I dream that one day, humans will rejoice that their child is a Mutant."
"Even if it takes five, ten, twenty years, I am willing to fight for Mutants. Will you join me?"
The essence of a speech is that no matter what nonsense is spoken, in the end, all the benefits of supporting oneself must be framed as what the audience desires.
As for whether it can be achieved, that's not important.
In this era, Dr. King had not yet delivered his famous speech, so when Fang Yuan spoke, it had immense power.
In any case, Charles, Eric, and Mystique were already hyped up. They were all immersed in the beautiful future Fang Yuan described.
And in fact, Fang Yuan wasn't talking nonsense.
Decades later in the movie plot, human perception of Mutants had become entrenched.
Even in that situation, in the Days of Future Past storyline, when the situation was dire and Mutants were on the brink of extermination, Mystique saving the President on live television immediately changed people's views on Mutants.
Mutants indeed needed publicity.
Now, Mutants had not yet been officially revealed, like a blank canvas, allowing Fang Yuan to do as he pleased.
Moreover, it was not impossible for Mutants and humans to coexist peacefully. In the movies and comics, the conflict between Mutants and humans could not be resolved because it was the underlying logical setting of the X-Men story; without this premise, the story couldn't proceed well.
But now that Fang Yuan had transmigrated to this World, he was the one writing the story.
Finally, Fang Yuan added a killer move: "You can join first and let me try it out. After seeing the results, then decide whether to truly commit to this path."
The advantage of this statement was that they only needed to provide a little support to Fang Yuan in the early stages, essentially giving up nothing.
With words spoken to this extent, those present were all Mutants with high ideological awareness; why would they still hesitate?
"I'm in!"
So Charles was the first to speak.
"Me too!"
Mystique followed closely.
"I'm in!"
Eric also nodded. He felt that if Fang Yuan's proposal could be realized, it would be much more reliable than working for the CIA.
Most importantly, they only needed to let Fang Yuan do his thing. Whether this path would work depended entirely on Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan was very confident about this. Opportunities are seized by oneself, and he was confident he could become a leader for Mutants.
Moreover, Fang Yuan had originally planned to use any means necessary to get his first pot of gold, but now, thanks to Mystique, who came to him, he could directly connect with the X-Men and take a legitimate route, which was an incredibly lucky start in this World.
Fang Yuan beamed, immediately reaching into his pocket and pulling out three invitation letters.
"I've been looking forward to this day for a long time, so I prepared for ages. Today, it's finally put to use."
Seemingly prepared in advance, they were actually generated by his system panel.
He handed them to Charles and the other two, one by one.
The text on the invitation letters was simple.
[Vought Corporation sincerely invites you to join us.]
[Inviter: Fang Yuan.]
[Signatory: Blank]
"What is this?" Charles picked up an invitation letter, finding the paper very fine and clearly valuable. "Vought Corporation?"
The Vought Corporation in The Boys World was spelled Vought, while Fang Yuan's was Water; their pronunciations were similar.
"Everything needs a sense of ceremony," Fang Yuan explained. "To raise the fame of Mutants, we always need an organization. Forming a company is just right."
His nonsense flowed freely: "Water is the name I chose for the company. It means 'Water of Life.' I hope that Mutants, from now on, will hold as important a position for humans as water does!"
"When our vision is achieved in the future, I will display these invitation letters on the company's exhibition wall. It will be very commemorative."
Hearing him say this, Charles and the others also thought it made a lot of sense.
Eric even particularly praised, "Water, that's a really good name."
So the three of them all quickly signed their names on the invitation letters.
At the same time, Fang Yuan finally heard the long-awaited notification sound in his mind.
[Congratulations! Company has signed an A+ level ability user: Charles Xavier.]
[Congratulations! Company has signed an A+ level ability user: Erik Lehnsherr.]
[Congratulations! Company has signed a B+ level ability user: Raven Darkholme.]
[Company panel has been activated. Please check your personal rewards!]
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
patreon.com /AZofficial