"Natural reserve?!" In the hall of the United Nations General Assembly, the ambassador opposite Sebastian twisted the microphone and then said, "Are you crazy? What is a natural reserve?!"
Don't think Sebastian couldn't understand either, but he was also an old hand at this, with phrases and sets of arguments ready to go.
"Watch your attitude, Mr. Ambassador," Sebastian began with labeling, "your current attitude, which is infinitely close to a personal attack, makes me feel that you and your country have a serious discrimination against mutants. If you don't want to hear my speech, you can leave by yourself. Okay?"
After speaking, he ignored that ambassador and continued, "In fact, I think there is a misunderstanding internationally about the activities of mutants on Clarkia Island. Mutants are merely developing a newly discovered natural reserve. There are over twenty thousand new species of plants and animals on Clarkia Island, all of which are endangered. As the first group to set foot on this island, although we temporarily use this island as a footing point, it's more about contributing to the human race's environmental conservation efforts. For this reason, mutants have established the 'Clarkia Environmental Protection Foundation' to ensure that the flora and fauna on Clarkia Island can receive good protection..."
These words left the ambassadors from various countries in shock. Many ambassadors had already begun to whisper to each other. What's going on with mutants? Have they suddenly gained wisdom? Or are they being guided by some high-profile figure?
Everyone had to admit that the move not to establish a nation was already very clever, but the establishment of a natural reserve and foundation was even more brilliant.
Firstly, not establishing a country. Anyone with a bit of diplomatic knowledge knows that targeting a country is very simple. Externally, you can raise tariffs, impose land, sea, and air embargoes, suppress trade, or unite to influence the currency exchange rates. Internally, you can initiate color revolutions, ethnic struggles, regional splits, etc. Doing these things within the mutant community is also very easy, as mutants aren't originally united as one.
In fact, all major powers are prepared on both fronts. On one hand, they're ready to vote in favor of the mutants establishing their nation; on the other hand, they've already started sending mutants under their control to Clarkia Island, ready to stir up trouble at any time.
It can be said that once Clarkia establishes a nation, it will immediately face comprehensive international suppression. All countries will openly and covertly target them until the mutant nation collapses from within to without.
But now, mutants not establishing a nation has made things a bit trickier. Because without establishing a nation, there's no reason to change the current ruling model.
The ruling model of mutants is very primitive, simply put, whoever is strong is right. If they choose to establish a nation, they would have to integrate into the international community and must update to a sufficiently modern ruling model, namely democratic politics. Even if they don't want electoral politics, they would have to change, which would create more room for operation.
But if they say "I am barbaric," and insist on being primitives, not connecting with modern society, then you can't run to a primitive tribe and demand they vote to elect a chief. Magneto and Professor X would always be the absolute core leaders. With the powerful strength of these two, it's very difficult to shake the mutant community.
It can be said that while the human race has developed modern technology so rapidly, possessing such high technology, mutants still haven't been exterminated, not because humans are benevolent. The existence of organizations led by Magneto and Professor X is the only reason. These people are just too hard to deal with, and without being able to shake them, it's impossible to completely wipe out mutants.
So, not establishing a nation, or rather postponing establishing a nation, can be said to be a very clever way of retreat in order to advance. It prevents modern countries from targeting mutants, using many common suppression methods used by modern society, and instead, it doesn't let them fall into traps.
Furthermore, the "establishment of a natural reserve" is an ingenious extraordinary move, turning "self-serving actions" into "altruistic actions."
Mutants are not establishing a nation for themselves, but to protect the rare flora and fauna on Clarkia Island, thereby staying on the island. It's all for the protection of Earth's ecological system.
Of course, this could also be problematic. Soon, an ambassador sharply pointed out, "Then why are mutants protecting it? If there are truly such rare flora and fauna resources, wouldn't it be better to let professional biologists and plant protection scholars handle it?"
"If they are mutants, of course, they can,"
"Why must they be mutants?"
"This you may not know," Sebastian sounded as if he was waiting for them to ask, he said, "Clarkia is a living island. You can understand it as it is a special mutant."
Suddenly there was an uproar below, with everyone breaking into intense discussions. An ambassador opened his mouth to ask, "What do you mean when you say it's a special mutant? How can an island be a mutant?"
"Turning into an island is Clarkia's mutant ability," Sebastian said, "There are many different mutant abilities in this world. Some people can transform into diamonds, so naturally, some people can transform into islands. Unfortunately, Clarkia does not welcome ordinary people; it only accepts mutants to permanently reside on its surface."
After a brief pause, Sebastian continued, "The Clarkia Flower, which could previously cure diseases, is a magical plant native to Clarkia Island. This plant is quite rare and holds significant economic value. And there are many such plants on Clarkia Island. Mutants must make efforts to protect these rare flora and fauna, which also means safeguarding precious natural assets of Earth. Establishing a natural reserve and environmental foundation is only logical."
Down below, the ambassadors began whispering to each other, clearly looking for loopholes. One ambassador spoke up, "But if you don't allow ordinary people on the island, how do we know there are natural resources that need protection?"
"We never said ordinary people weren't allowed on the island, we just said they can't stay there long-term. In fact, ordinary people might not be able to adapt to the environment of Clarkia. The climate and natural conditions there are not suitable for ordinary people without superpowers to live for extended periods. Many essential trace elements and nutrients for the human body cannot be supplemented in time. However, with their own supplies, they can stay for a short period."
"In fact, mutants sincerely invite ambassadors from various countries to visit Clarkia for tours and research," Sebastian carefully chose his words, avoiding terms like "visit" or "come," and only used the words "tour" and "scientific exploration."
Saying this made the questioning ambassador retreat. They already mentioned that the place is not suitable for ordinary human survival, and if they get sick and die there, mutants may not even compensate, since they've already issued a warning.
Moreover, it's been said that there are tens of thousands of new plants and animals there; what if some are aggressive? What if some are poisonous? Those flying and burrowing mutants aren't afraid, but ordinary people, if they encounter a little animal like a rabbit or cat, it's one thing. But if they run into a black bear or tiger, they might not even be able to escape. Wilderness survival is an extreme sport.
The murmuring subsided significantly, but soon another picky ambassador raised a question, "How can mutants ensure that your activities there protect rare resources and do not harm the environment?"
This drew a lot of agreement. After all, there are quite a few mutants, and there might be more in the future. Each one having superpowers, they would need to build something to survive there, right? Isn't that damaging the environment?
Sebastian was a bit stumped because he indeed wasn't too familiar with environmental protection. Nervously sweating, he thought of deflecting, but then received a message from Magneto. He nearly choked as he focused to read it.
"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."
Sebastian gasped for breath for several moments before recovering. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then said, "I apologize, you may have misunderstood. The Clarkia nature reserve we plan to establish will include mutants."
The room went silent for a moment; many people didn't understand what he meant. An ambassador grabbed the microphone to ask, "What do you mean by including mutants?"
"It means that we are also one of the rare species that need protection." Even Sebastian couldn't help but laugh at his own words, "The main purpose of establishing this nature reserve is to protect mutants."
Visibly, a row of question marks popped up among the audience. Sebastian was slightly embarrassed, cursing Magneto's whimsical ideas internally, but he had to brace himself and continue saying, "The nature foundation we establish is also for the purpose of protecting all the rare flora and fauna on Clarkia Island, including mutants."
"But... but..." Some ambassadors were already incoherent, saying, "You are not wild animals..."
"We are," Sebastian replied boldly, "The current mainstream perspective including that of mutants themselves is that mutants do not belong to the human race. We have genetic differences from modern Homo sapiens. Mutants and modern Homo sapiens should have a parallel relationship, not a subordinate one, i.e., humans are mutants and humans are Homo sapiens. In that sense, from the perspective of Homo sapiens, mutants and chimpanzees in the hominini subfamily should be considered wild animals too."
This speech stunned everyone, including Sebastian himself. As he spoke, he thought it through and realized it seemed to be true.
Currently, most of the human race and mutants think humans and mutants are not one species. However, there are almost no scientists who do a clear classification because it's hard to research these things. If even chimpanzees can't be easily caged, let alone mutants. It's too complicated to study.
Although some institutions conduct mutant human experiments secretly, such research conclusions cannot be published; otherwise, Magneto would surely retaliate. Many of Magneto's so-called terrorist attacks are to rescue captured mutants; no one dares to reveal their actions.
This has led to a lack of systematic categorization in the academic world regarding mutants. Everyone feels they are different from humans, and so do they, but what species or order exactly they belong to has not been thoroughly studied.
Now, mutants have provided an answer. They believe they are another species within the genus Homo, between late Homo sapiens and mutants. Of course, scientifically speaking, late Homo sapiens should be divided into two types, mutants and non-mutants. Since the two aren't reproductively isolated and differ only in the X Gene, they should belong to the same genus.
But for mutant independence, they are classified separately from Homo sapiens into another human genus, which is a very astonishing conclusion.