Chapter 569: Recruiting Psionicists
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Phew!”
It was early in the morning. John Oppenheimer slowly opened his eyes on the hotel bed.
He looked at the unfamiliar naked girl lying beside him who was still in a deep sleep and got up without a care to put on his clothes and headed to the bathroom.
This was the thirty-fifth day since he had acquired his superpowers.
Ever since the day when he flung the overly aggressive redneck into a truck, John had trouble falling asleep at night, occupied with thoughts of how he suddenly attained such powers.
During the first week, John was deeply disturbed by this unexplainable phenomenon. He even went to the hospital for a full body checkup for fear of it being a symptom of a disease, but the reports showed that he was perfectly healthy.
In the following days, after verifying that there was nothing abnormal with his body, he began to calm down.
Still, John continued monitoring his situation closely and dedicated a lot of time to researching similar superpower reports on the Internet. He quickly discovered that in between June to July, many similar cases were discovered all over the world. There were a handful of such reports surfacing every day. He even saw reports of his confrontation on the highway.
Due to the poor resolution of the pictures taken, John believed that his ident.i.ty was not exposed just yet.
John went through a rollercoaster of emotions ever since he acquired his superpowers. He went through from periods of excitement to agitation, and finally to being cautious and keeping a low profile. He was worried that if the government had discovered him having superpowers, he would be forcefully taken to a laboratory to have unethical, inhumane experiments conducted on him.
Just like Einstein’s brain...
Not only did John maintain a low profile, but he even lived an even hermit life than he did in the past. The first thing he did after finishing work was to head straight back home where he would experiment with his powers.
Throughout John’s experimenting and training, he started to notice changes to his physique. The more he honed his powers, the tougher the texture of his skin became.
Last night, John went to the bar for a special occasion and a drunkard was trying to pick a fight with him for no reason. At the time, when he was provoked by the drunkard, he felt a scorching sensation around the corner of his eyes and had a feeling of some kind of power inches away from bursting out. Fortunately, the rational part of his mind knew better and immediately suppressed it.
“This power is as much a blessing as it’s a curse...”
John muttered to himself as he stepped into the bathroom. He came in front of the mirror and looked at his reflection, then he combed his beautiful golden locks, fashioning them tidy the way he liked them.
John had always been a handsome man and his hairstyle only added more to his charismatic appearance. John could be easily slotted into any Northern American fashion magazine and fit in like he had been a model all his life. Coupled with the fact that he was an eligible bachelor, he was always showered with attention from young ladies whether he was at the company or mingling at bars.
This was to say that his private life was very eventful, to say the least.
The girl sharing the bed with John was one of his many conquests throughout his adulthood...
John could not care less about the girl. His head was still replaying the scene of the drunkard challenging him last night. Due to his increased physical strength, things certainly did not end well for the crazy drunkard, but this was not what he was fixated about. He was thinking about the burning sensation around the corner of his eyes last night.
“What’s with that burning sensation I felt?”
John thought about it, still confused. He took a long, deep breath and held it in then stared at the mirror for a long time.
Staring at the mirror, nothing abnormal seemed to be happening.
After trying a few more times, John was ready to give up. It was around this point when he suddenly heard the doorbell ring.
Somebody was at the door of his hotel room.
John quickly exited the bathroom and went to the front door and asked, “Who is it?”
“Room service, sir.”
John heard the brisk remark of the hotel employee.
John gently opened the door without suspecting anything. He was surprised to see that instead of a hotel employee, three men in suits wearing sungla.s.ses although they were inside a hotel corridor were in front of his door.
“We’re from the FBI. We have some questions for you. Would you mind taking a walk with us?”
The man who spoke presented a card that was his FBI identification.
John felt his heart sink as soon as he recognized the FBI label. He knew what they were here for but he feigned innocence. “Can I know what this is about? I don’t think I did anything illegal.”
“You’ll know soon enough.”
The leading agent flashed an indiscernible smile and left it at that.
‘Oh no, did I slip up last night?’
The disguised remark only served to raise John’s alertness. He looked at what he was wearing and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry gentlemen, do you mind if I get changed?”
“Sure. We’ll be waiting for you right here.”
The FBI agent nodded.
John closed the door calmly and his complexion immediately transformed dramatically. He looked around the room to weigh his options and his attention quickly landed on the half-opened window leading to the balcony. He changed into proper attire immediately and crawled out the window without sparing a glance at the girl in the bed still sleeping.
John was staying on the fifth floor of the hotel. After looking out the window for a brief survey, he quickly planted his foot on the thin platform protruding along the exterior of the hotel.
After that, he gripped another window next to him firmly and slowly, carefully shuffling over to the next room.
In the past, John would never be mad enough to perform such a lunatic stunt. However, ever since acquiring his superpowers, he found himself experiencing significant growth both in his physical prowess and courage as well.
“Ding dong...”
Shortly after climbing out the window, John heard the crisp sound of the doorbell ringing from his previous room. His heart tightened and he quickly sped up his pace. He tightened his firm grasp on a brick and in one swift motion, swung himself toward the window in another room.
“Bang!”
The tranquility of the morning was suddenly invaded by a ferocious crash that came from his previous room. It sounded like a door getting barged down. It was quickly accompanied by the horrified shriek of a girl. John was frightened by the sudden invasion. He briefly glanced below him and immediately jumped down from the window!
The wind whistled in his ears as he fell. When John fell near a window on the third floor, he immediately grabbed the exterior window sill with both hands and stopped his falling!
“He’s getting away, get him!”
There was a noisy commotion just a small distance above him. He saw an FBI agent poking his head out the window and they both made eye contact. Then, the agent disappeared from the window and informed his fellow agents of what he saw.
“You want to catch me?”
John became as mad as he was desperate. He let go of his grip again and descended to the second-floor window this time, suspending himself over the window like a stuntman shooting an action movie scene.
After adjusting his balance, he repeated the same sequence and this time, landed with both feet planted firmly onto the ground in front of the hotel entrance.
“Phew...”
John’s shirt drenched in sweat clung to his back stubbornly. He knew that the slightest slip up earlier could have easily resulted in a gruesome injury. He would never have attempted something like that if not for having gained superpowers.
Before he could decide his next move, John heard a thunderous voice coming from behind him. “Don’t move, put your hands in the air!”
John was startled by the sudden command. He slowly turned around and saw yet another FBI agent stepping out of a car who was holding a gun, aiming at him.
John held his breath in utter shock the moment he looked into the barrel of the gun!
“Put your arms around your head and get on the ground, now!”
The agent barked the same orders at John again.
John realized the precariousness of his situation. He fixed his gaze at the barrel of the gun and he felt the same sensation that he felt last night at the bar rushing at him...
John winced irresistibly. It felt like his eyes were going to burn and melt into their sockets. Even his vision had turned stark red like someone had pasted a red overlay on the world...
“Put your hands in the air now!”
The agent ordered again. To John, this voice sounded like it came from afar, distant sh.o.r.e and slowed down to a crawl like an audio clip in a slow-motion video. It seemed like the entire world had slowed down to a snail pace!
While the world was glowing red, John saw the unthinkable. The muscles along the agent’s fingers trembled slightly!
John could sense the looming danger sweeping over him, ready to consume him at this point. He slowly opened his mouth and emitted a sharp roar, something burst outward in between his eyes!
“Boom!”
John saw the world trembling within his eyelids. The bright red overlay immediately vanished as well. He saw a gigantic ring bursting outward, then he saw the gun disintegrate into nothingness, and a hollow, red-shaped hole appearing at the center of the FBI agent’s chest!
The gun was melted without a trace and a gigantic hole formed out of nowhere in the middle of the agent’s chest. John, horrified by what he saw, could smell the horrid scent of charred flesh lingering in the air.
Wide-eyed, he watched as the agent collapsed lifelessly onto the ground. That was when John realized that he had accidentally killed an official FBI agent!
“c.r.a.p!”
John cursed out loud, realizing that the situation had made a sharp turn for the worse as if it was not bad enough already. This was not the time for empty regrets. He planted his pivot feet to the ground and immediately took off into an alley, not paying any mind to his car that was parked by the roadside waiting for him!
John ran and ran for more than ten minutes before he arrived at an isolated alley that he deemed safe enough to rest. He leaned against a wall and gasped for air.
“What, what did I just do?”
John closed his eyes, the haunting image replayed in his mind against his will. It was not his intention to kill since all he wanted was to get away. If he had not done what he just did, it would be him lying on the ground now with a bullet lodged in his head.
“I have to get out of Northern America...”
John resolved. Just as he prepared to take off again, he heard the abrupt sound of tires screeching to a halt. A black off-road vehicle stopped at the mouth of the alleyway.
The driver was a woman so beautiful that she looked like a dream. She flung the pa.s.senger door open and yelled at John, “Get in!”
John hesitated for a moment and asked, “Who are you?”
“Just get in, the FBI is almost here!”
The woman’s voice was anxious. “If you still stand there, both of us are going to get caught!”
John clenched his teeth and sprinted into the car. The drumming of the muscle engine echoed across the alleyway as the car took off into the distance...
After they drove away from the previous area and were in the clear, John finally allowed himself a moment to calm down. He looked at the driver and saw her very minimal make-up, then he sensed that she exuded a fierce atmosphere around her. It was like looking at a thorned rose, so captivating and yet so dangerous.
“Who are you?”
John probed cautiously.
“I’m a part of Blackwatch.”
The driver held up an identification card. “The company has had its eyes on you for some time now.”
“Blackwatch?”
John was not expecting to hear the name of the world-renowned mega-corporation. He immediately connected it to his superpower discovery last month and asked, “Does this mean that you guys are aware of what happened to me?”
“Of course.”
The Blackwatch agent nodded and handed her identification to John. “The company has been aware of your existence since the day you’ve awoken your ‘psionic’ powers. But don’t worry, we don’t come with any hostile intentions.”
John was unsure of what to make of this. He carefully took the identification card and saw the label “Black Security Service” printed on it. He jogged his memory and was sure he had never heard of this unfamiliar phrase before.
“The mission our department is tasked with is to get in touch with psionicists like you who have recently awoken your powers. We want to recruit you into our organization. If you join us, we can take care of the previous incident involving you killing an FBI agent.”
“Psionicist...”
John tasted the syllable on his lips then asked, “Does this term refer to the power that I’ve obtained?”
“Of course.”
There was a subtle smirk on the BSS agent’s lips. “‘Psionicist’ is the universal term for anyone who has awoken their psionic abilities. I’m sure you’ve also heard of others branding people such as yourself as superpower users. The reason you have come to possess these powers is due to your previous contact with the deadly virus. I’m sure you remember that as well.”
“Is that so?”
John immediately connected the dots. Half a year ago, the world was struck with an odd and dangerous virus that caused the infected to fuse into a disgusting monstrosity. At the time, n.o.body knew what was happening. After everything was wrapped up, only then did the details become public knowledge. The entire mess was taken care of when the Earth Federation and Blackwatch combined their efforts to find an apt solution and rescue mankind from the brink of death.
“That means everyone who has contracted the virus has obtained this power as well?”
John raised another question.
“Of course not.”
The BSS agent quickly shook her head. “Only an extreme minority managed to awaken these powers. Based on what we’ve discovered so far, the psionic powers awoken vary from person to person. Yours is an especially peculiar sort.”
With that, she pressed “play” on a recorder and the previous footage of John’s confrontation with the FBI agent immediately played on the screen built into the infotainment system in the car.
That was when John realized that this car had been trailing him the entire time during his escape. Only he did not notice it since his mind was occupied with running.
John paid close attention to the display and saw the FBI aiming a gun at himself in the footage. Then, he saw his eyes glowing bright red with an ever-growing intensity that made his appearance resemble the Devil.
“Swoosh!”
In an instant, John saw two beams of light shooting out of his eyes. It instantly pierced through the gun and penetrated the chest of the FBI agent!
John gasped. He could not believe that something like that was summoned from his eyes. The sheer idea of it was baffling!
“Everyone has different psionic power manifestations.”
The BSS agent explained, “At the moment of their psionic awakening, it’s usually manifested as common telekinesis abilities. However, as time pa.s.ses, the psionic potential in each individual will slowly develop and undergo changes. That’s when it manifests into different forms...
“Some people gain the ability to fly, some gain superhuman strength... The manifestation of your psionic power is known as optic blast. We haven’t discovered any other psionic manifestation so far.
“However, based on the data we’ve collected, psionicists aren’t restricted to only one psionic manifestation...”
By this point of their conversation, they had arrived at Blackwatch’s New York branch office building. They entered the underground parking lot of the building...