Chapter 1705: Slight Disappointment and Farming Base
When it came to superpowers, one couldn’t just look at their effects.
Emma had always thought that her ability was to control flames, but it was actually temperature control.
The system’s explanation was still the most reliable.
Big Dipper had an aloof persona with Lorna, and it wasn’t appropriate for him to take out hard cash or poker cards to bet with Marcos.
So, beating him up was the simplest and most effective way.
Besides, he didn’t hit Marcos in the face!
Thinking that, Luke felt that he was still a refined, easy-going and magnanimous person.
Selina, however, asked, “Is his ability to turn into a big lightbulb?”
Luke thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Just treat him like a convection oven.”
Selina asked, “A what oven?”
/
It seemed she had never heard of this thing.
Luke said, “It’s similar to a microwave, except that it uses a lamp to cook the food.”
Selina got it. “So, his ability isn’t just to s.h.i.+ne, but to barbecue?”
Luke said, “…He absorbs and controls photons. Light and heat are just some of the characteristics.”
Selina snorted. “But he seems very weak right now.”
“That’s right.” Luke naturally agreed.
Compared with Lorna and Carol, Marcos’s power was definitely a step behind.
Carol’s self-healing ability was very useful in the beginning, but later, she became overly defensive and didn’t do enough damage.
Lorna’s Magnetic Control had never been weak.
She could already easily use thin and sharp metal objects to kill and obstruct her opponents. If she progressed further, becoming a human electromagnetic cannon would be a piece of cake.
If she was smart and loved to learn, there was no end to what she could do with this ability.
On the other hand, Marcos could only use his ability now like a flash grenade or a low-output branding iron; the practical effect was minimal.
If he progressed further, however, becoming a human laser cannon wasn’t impossible.
But that was just on paper.
Many superpowers were terrifying in the later stages. The real key was how to get to the late stage.
Most superhumans weren’t good students or weren’t talented enough, and didn’t get good grades – this limited the possible growth of their superpower.
Most superhumans relied on luck to grow.
The people who managed to catch them would first make sure that they were under control before studying ways to magnify their abilities.
n.o.body wanted to create a super powerful enemy for themselves.
Luke’s mood wasn’t affected by what had become a usual regret — sure enough, he couldn’t learn Marcos’s ability.
But knowing how to manipulate photons wasn’t actually anything great – it wasn’t like he was a fan of Ultraman Tiga.
Selina also felt slight regret. “It seems we won’t be getting any new teammates.”
Luke chuckled. “Even if Lorna and her partner dared to come, I wouldn’t dare use them. They’re too young and lack experience; maybe in eight or ten years.”
Like if they broke up or something! Luke secretly added: After all, people tend to mature more quickly after going through a breakup.
…
Two people and one dog set off again, as relaxed as ever.
Apart from daydreaming, Luke also tried cooking some South American dishes.
A lot of the food still needed to be adjusted slightly to suit his taste.
Selina didn’t have high requirements for food. As long as it was “good,” she would eat it with gusto. However, she wouldn’t refuse if it tasted better.
As they pa.s.sed by northern Chile, they basically never went ash.o.r.e.
The northern part of Chile had a tropical desert climate and was mainly populated with mining towns.
Many parts of Texas were also desert-like, and the desolate and majestic scenery here was similar.
Luke and Selina’s main objective on this trip was to relax – harvesting points was secondary.
They weren’t interested in this sort of scenery, and naturally couldn’t be bothered to visit the mining towns.
Just like that, the yacht sailed all the way to Lima, the capital of Peru, before two people and one dog disembarked and entered the city.
After five days in Lima, two people and one dog put on their armor at night and flew northeast over the border into the depths of an uninhabited jungle in the Brazilian state of Acre.
After flying for about an hour, they stopped and landed.
After they landed in an area hidden by large trees, they entered a deep gorge, and Selina looked around in astonishment. “This… is magical.”
Luke simply nodded in agreement.
The best words in English to describe this place were probably things like “magical”, “beautiful” and so on. In Chinese, it could be described as “the work of the G.o.ds.”
The gorge was hidden from above by giant trees and vines.
Luke and the others had landed on a rocky cliff next to a waterfall.
They had to get closer to the edge in order to be able to see that there was a small valley down below which was five to ten meters wide, 100 meters deep and 200 meters long.
It was already night, but there were glowing green patches on the otherwise pitch-black walls of the valley.
On these glowing green cliff faces, dark red fluorescent lights flickered in the night wind, creating a strange and magical image.
These were none other than the six-petaled Blood Orchids.
The Blood Orchids’ red color was very dark, but they still pulsed in the dark, as if they were breathing.
Selina was stunned for a few seconds. After enjoying this beautiful, dark fairy tale-like scene, she murmured, “This is the raw ingredient for Life 1… the Blood Orchid?”
Luke also admired the view.
After interrogating Sloan about where the Blood Orchids were farmed, Luke didn’t come here often; he had only been here two or three times in two years.
However, the Blood Orchid had a strange trait.
It bloomed once every six years, and would quickly wither and decay after a week or so.
To make it easier for Sloan, that sly old fox, to control the base, he planted the Blood Orchids in three batches so that there was a harvest once every two years.
He only needed to do a routine patrol every year and collect the Blood Orchid extract every other year.
This way, it was impossible for the employees at the base to secretly take the Blood Orchid extract for their own use.
There had been over 50 workers here before, who were mainly men and who were mostly a neutral yellow or an evil light red. Naturally, they couldn’t all be killed.
So, Luke used Sloan’s face to keep this place under control for the time being, then secretly got the innocent people out. He left it to Rebecca to send them to other countries in South America, and gave them financial compensation.
Luke didn’t owe these people anything, but these were the people who had planted so many Blood Orchids.
He was happy to tip them for it.
After being hypnotized, the innocent people who were sent away forgot everything here.
In addition, the base was 300 kilometers away from the nearest residential area.
Not only had the cunning Sloan completely cut off contact with the outside world, he had also specially chosen people who weren’t very cultured.
These people didn’t have the ability to escape, and they didn’t know the base’s location.
Just knowing that it was in the Amazon jungle was meaningless. It was too remote.
The last dozen or so employees were all bright red, and Luke had left them here as “prison camp laborers,” but that would stop today.
Isolated from human contact, these dozen or so people had developed severe psychological issues. Something might happen if this continued.
What Luke was afraid of wasn’t that something would happen to them, but that something would happen to the Blood Orchids, so he was taking this opportunity to clean these people up.