Chapter 565: Surrounded by Foes
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
John’s immediate response to this baffling occurrence was to look down at his palms in disbelief.
“No, it wasn’t from my hands, it’s from somewhere in my mind...”
John was taken by shock and surprise at what he had just done. He immediately redirected his attention to the redneck who had just picked himself up off the ground and now had a bright, vicious glare in his eyes.
“Did you just push me?”
Not only was the redneck unfazed by what happened, but he also seemed to be getting more aggressive now. He hardly registered what John had just done to him and was under the impression that he was simply pushed off.
When John saw the redneck charging at him in a fit of rage, he took a deep breath and tried to evoke the same power again. This time, it came to him more naturally. He felt the unknown force flowing through his mind like a gush of air, then he launched it outside and watched it materialize and gain velocity as it flung into the brazen man!
“Bang!”
This time, the redneck’s face was colored with shock. He could see clear as day that John hardly lifted a finger in his direction and yet he felt a tremendous blow to his chest that sent him flying away!
“Crack!”
This time, the redneck was not as fortunate as the last time. He heard the jarring sounds of bones snapping, hinting that his ribs were broken!
“Oh, G.o.d...”
The people nearby cried out.
“What kind of witchcraft is this!”
A wipe of fear finally appeared in the redneck’s eyes. His adrenaline made him overcome the throbbing pain and climb back into his car, then he proceeded to escape the scene...
The confrontation ended as quickly as it began. The light turned green again shortly after that and the onlookers went on with their day, deciding that they had enough of this bizarre drama. John remained rooted to his original spot.
“This power...”
It took a moment for John to come to his senses. He slowly returned to his car and looked at the door that was left wide open. Again, he tried to invoke the mysterious force inside his mind and he watched with widened eyes as the door closed on its own.
“It’s real! This power is real!”
John’s eyes shone upon noting this...
...
In a common alley near a middle school in Europe.
A lean young man with long red hair was walking listlessly toward the school gate.
The young man was somewhere around fifteen to sixteen years old. Due to the lack of exposure to direct sunlight, his skin was as pale as sheets of paper. His complexion was littered with chaotic spots of freckles and apart from that, there was nothing else particularly noteworthy about his appearance.
The young man ma.s.saged his neck endlessly as he walked. A tiny red spot appeared on the back of his neck which he could not see. This red dot would eventually heal and vanish on its own within a day.
This young man was also one among many others who had survived the plague of the Consciousness Stealer.
For as long as he could remember, he had been frail and weak. Half a year ago, his parents had contracted a terrible infectious disease. On that nightmarish afternoon half a year ago, he returned home from school only to be greeted by the image of his parents fused like melted wax candles.
That haunting image was forever scalded into the young man’s mind and deeply traumatized him. He remembered sprinting out of the house as fast as his legs could, then he was picked up by the local military and taken to a secluded concentration camp where he stayed for a period of time.
Upon his return, he had to be taken in by his uncle and aunt. At sixteen years old, the poor boy barely stood over 1.6 meters tall, his figure was frail, and his expression looked constantly drained and hollow.
The death of the young man’s parents affected him greatly and made him reclusive.
The young man was walking along the quiet alley. Just as he approached the end of the alley, two giant figures suddenly appeared from around the corner and cut him off.
These two giant figures meant trouble. They smiled a poisonous smile and took slow, heavy steps toward the young man.
The young man was arrested with shock. He hesitated for a moment and tried to head in the opposite direction but as soon as he turned around, he was stopped again.
Another large, almost obese figure had cut off his route of escape.
The young man suddenly found himself pincered between three men and all he could do was to remain fixed to his spot and wait for their approach.
“Why aren’t you running, Joey?”
The fat one stepped forward with grave intentions and rudely yanked Joey’s signature long hair. “Oh poor Joey, did you bring money today?”
“Please, I don’t have much money left, I only have my lunch money with me now.”
Joey helplessly reached into his pockets to produce a few measly Euro dollar bills. “Look, this is all I’ve got.”
“What, that’s all?”
The fat one was angered by this display. “Didn’t I tell you yesterday that you need to bring a hundred dollars otherwise I’ll beat your nose in!”
With that, the fat one swept at the handful of dollar bills and signaled to the other two bullies. “Search him, see if he’s got more for us!”
The other two bullies grabbed Joey to pat him down.
“Enough!”
Joey could not stand this anymore and pushed them away with a rough shove. “I already told you that I don’t have money!”
Before Joey could finish his sentence, he felt a burning pain on one of his cheeks!
It took him a moment to realize that he was slapped across the face!
“Joey, how dare you push my boys!”
The fat one spat venomously and grabbed Joey by the hair, immediately delivering several blows that threw Joey to the ground.
The other two saw the opportunity present itself and began stomping their feet on Joey as well.
“D*mn it!”
Joey felt throbbing pain on every inch of his body and his face. All he could do was to hug his arms around his head to protect his face and silently suffer their beating. Deep inside, he was burning with rage...
‘Why is my body so weak and frail!
‘Why do they keep bullying me!
‘I want to become powerful, I want strength...’
A tremendous fire was ignited in Joey’s mind. At the same time, he felt something boiling inside the deepest corners of his mind. It constantly bubbled over and he could feel it slowly coming to life. It took on the form of what seemed like a snake and stirred endlessly!
“Bang!”
With one last strained push, this invisible force inside Joey’s mind was finally unleashed. As soon as that happened, he heard the cries of the three bullies and the sound of bodies viciously thumping against the ground!
Upon hearing that, Joey slowly opened his eyes and sat up. Completely disregarding the blood pouring out of his nose, he looked at the three bullies wincing in pain on the ground. The fat bully’s front teeth were knocked out and his mouth was a pool of blood.
“This is...”
Joey could not believe what was happening. He looked at the collapsed bodies around himself and tried to sense the lingering trace of energy inside his mind. His mind that was once filled with fright had become ecstatic.
“Superpower? Could this be superpowers?”
As Joey said that, he looked at the dollar bills scattered on the ground. He tried to summon the previous force again and watched in complete perplexion as the dollar bills hovered across the air, suspended by invisible strings, and returned to his palms!
The three bullies were flabbergasted by what they were seeing and crawled away comically.
“Hahahaha, power! I finally attained power!”
Joey laughed like a mad man. His almost lunatic laughter resounded across the alley...
...
Similar occurrences repeated all across the world in Northern America, Europe, Central Continent, India...
Over the last few days, hundreds of people all around the world discovered they have obtained superpowers.
Some of them were exhilarated by the otherworldly discovery, most were at a loss for what to do with it.
Some brandished their new superpowers publicly while others chose to carefully conceal it to not be discovered.
Some used these powers irresponsibly to commit crimes while others thought it was a symptom of a new disease and went straight to the hospital...
Human nature was unpredictable as ever and all of the recipients of this power handled it differently. Over time, this strange phenomenon began drawing the attention of the local authorities. Most of the superpower users that brandished their superpowers publicly were soon invited to local police stations and kept under tight supervision.
Though nothing major had occurred yet, the authorities of all continents took it very seriously since they were still traumatized by the recent incidents of the Consciousness Stealer.
Meanwhile, the Blacklight Foundation, which was the alliance of all five major forces on Earth, quickly received notice of these events. They immediately directed their watchful gaze to monitor these cases.
Half a month later, in the Blacklight Foundation’s Lilith a.s.sembly.
“Joy Richard, sixteen years old from Linz, Europe. Enlisted in junior high school this year. The first discovery was on the third of June, 2029...
“John Oppenheimer, twenty-nine years old from Clinton, Northern America and graduated from Saria University. The date of first discovery was on the first of June, 2029...
“Sanjay Sharma, thirty-five years old from Mumbai, India. No history of formal education and the date of first discovery is the eighth of June, 2029...
“Zheng Chao, twenty-one-year-old in Chongzhou University, Chongzhou City. The date of First Discovery is on the fifteenth of June, 2029...
“Romon Losov, forty-eight years old from the North Sea Continent...”
The figure in the seat labeled 01 flipped through the files and shrugged. “There are a total of fifty-three cases and these are only the ones we’ve discovered. There’s no telling how many there are in total...”
“It seems their powers emerged out of nowhere.”
04 stated in a grave voice, “There’s one common attribute among them that I’m sure you all have noticed as well... They are all survivors of the Consciousness Stealer. This means that they are the ones who have recovered from the consciousness virus.
“From this, we can conclude that they obtained some sort of strange mental powers from it...”
03 added. “If my theory is correct, this power should be extremely similar to the one displayed by the Consciousness Stealer. I’d speculate that they came from the same source at the very least.”
02 remained silent.
Chen Chen touched the plate in front of him that was labeled as 05 and agreed with a firm nod. “It seems like several months after their recovery, they managed to obtain the power that should belong to the Consciousness Stealer. With that said, everyone can rest your concerns since none of them have exhibited any negative symptoms. I doubt that this is a sign of the resurrection of the Consciousness Stealer.”
“Let’s hope so...”
01 sighed. “The Earth Federation will not be able to handle another similar event like the Consciousness Stealer.”
“Still, it won’t hurt to be cautious.”
04 raised a point. “I think we should still monitor these selected individuals closely, perhaps keep an eye on the millions of survivors as well. We need to know if all of them have acquired similar powers or if it’s just an extreme minority. We have to be cautious of the potential resurrection of the Consciousness Stealer.”
“It’s extremely likely!”
02 noted. “What other explanations can there be for this observation? I believe that this must be the side effects of the consciousness virus, what do you think, 05?”
Everyone present turned to look at Chen Chen.
“We’ll need more data to back up this claim.”
Chen Chen put his hands up defensively. “Don’t look at me like that, I know that you guys recognize the similarities between their powers and mine but what I can tell you is that there’s a very clear distinction. First of all, the powers they obtained clearly originate from the Consciousness Stealer...”
Every one of them remained in pensive silence.
“Blacklight Biotechnology will look further into this.”
Chen Chen continued, his voice veiled with a cryptic undertone. “Perhaps you all can exercise your resources as well and see if you can discover its hidden secrets?”
The other members were intrigued by Chen Chen’s suggestion.
They had seen a presentation of Chen Chen’s superpowers in the Earth Federation Headquarters. They even obtained footage of Chen Chen’s battle with the escaped Consciousness Stealer. It had certainly left a heavy impression on them and seemed like a dormant threat.
It seemed like things like superpowers truly existed in the world...
Now, the survivors of the consciousness disease seemed to obtain similar powers as well. Chen Chen’s not-so-subtle suggestion to research these powers inspired certain ideas in the other Blacklight Foundation members.
...
After the Lilith a.s.sembly, Chen Chen remained in his original seat all by his lonesome. The lights were turned off now and a mischievous smirk appeared on the corner of his lips.
There was a good explanation as to why he had taken this approach.
The L compound needed a convincing origin. After all, this substance would have to be publicized in the future. There was no advantage to keeping it under covers like a taboo substance.
In that case, how would Chen Chen manufacture a plausible origin?
Chen Chen came up with and rejected many possible approaches. There was hardly a chance of the responsible authorities allowing these powers to land in the hands of the commoners. On the contrary, they would much rather take hold of these powers and prevent them from spreading any further.
While doing so, they would also exhaust all their effort to hinder Chen Chen’s goal of propagating the world with these powers.
Therefore, the best approach was to package the psionic power as the side effects of the previous consciousness disease. This meant that the authorities could not obtain the exact figure of the number of people who obtain superpowers.
With that, all Chen Chen had to do was let time run its course before presenting the L compound to the world. This would be under the guise of Blacklight Biotechnology extracting the compound from the blood cells of the superpower users to discover it. From that point, it could be ma.s.s-produced to create more superpower users artificially.
With this maneuver, Chen Chen could ensure he could maintain the offensive the entire time.
Despite the four major continents’ best attempt at extracting the substance from the superpower users, their efforts would turn out fruitless at the end of the day.
The best part was that they would only a.s.sume that their failure stemmed from a lack of biotechnological proficiency.
To alleviate the problem of the influx of superpower users in society, they would soon have to purchase the L compound from Chen Chen at an inflated price. This way, they could use it to strengthen the police force and military. Without requiring any efforts of promoting the L compound, Chen Chen would have a proper foothold in the L compound market.
The increase of superpower users in the world would in time cause a shift in the foundation of basic human civilization. The ones in control would not be able to influence the gradual shift since they did not have direct influence over the propagation of these powers.
This was the first phase of Chen Chen’s plans.