by <unknown>
"Don't ask questions you know you shouldn't."
Austin remarked briskly and eyed them scrutinizingly. Hodge and Lane immediately felt numbness in their scalp while Blake covered his mouth to hide his reaction.
After sensing their silent reaction, Austin shook her head and noted. "To be honest with you, I don't have many details either since I'm not connected with the core of the organization. Anyway, you guys better refrain from discussing these matters, got it?"
"Got it!"
The trio replied immediately.
After the elevator reached the rooftop, they saw a helicopter parked there. The trio, accompanied by Austin, quickly boarded the helicopter and were taken to the international airport.
Since Austin was the agent of the BHB Combative Police Force, she would also follow the three to the company headquarters.
…
A day later, the BHB members arrived at Walvis Bay International Airport. Upon stepping out of the airport, they found themselves taken by a strange sense of nostalgia.
"Blake and I also came from Namibia. At the time, this airport was just an ordinary, common-sized airport. In just the span of a few years, it has grown into this unrecognizable spectacle..."
Hodge expressed his sentiments.
"That's to be expected since this is the international airport connecting to the company's headquarters."
Lane commented. The three of them had already put on masks and sunglasses to keep a low profile. When they arrived at the airport entrance, they would once again be surprised by what they saw.
There were countless high-rise buildings in the vicinity of the airport. The skyline of the glorious city of Namibia was a delightful spectacle in no way inferior to the world-famous downtown region of New York City.
"Eco Science City..."
Hodge found himself lost in another world upon witnessing this. Growing up in Namibia, he of all people would certainly be familiar with the sight of the city. However, his hometown had transformed into an international metropolis. This incredible transformation simply could not be put into words...
Furthermore, more buildings in the distance were in the midst of construction, some of them only establishing their foundation. There were easily more than a hundred buildings under construction, the development speed was unfathomable.
"This is Eco Science City?"
Lane was just as much enchanted by what he was seeing. He was a member of an organization against Blackwatch so he was familiar with how much the company was capable of. Despite that, he found himself stupefied by how a company could force the world to submit at their feet to achieve such incredible feats.
While they were admiring the city skyline that went on and on, two black cars suddenly approached them. The doors promptly opened and several men in black stepped out. They each had earpieces attached, with wires hooked underneath their shirts.
The leading agent was tall and slender. The trio suddenly placed themselves on guard without noticing it when the agent approached because they could sense the aura of a lurking beast underneath his common appearance.
"This aura surpasses even that of Sarah..."
Lane was especially alert.
"My name is Clark Brando."
The agent stepped forward and raised his hand. An odd symbol could be seen on the thumb on his right palm. It was the logo of two fingertips touching against each other, one was the finger of a man while the other was the finger of a robot.
Austin immediately bowed as a show of respect and greeted politely, "Sir Brando!"
"Are these the ones who will be inducted into God's Forbidden Zone?"
Brando tipped his head courteously at Austin then diverted his attention back to the BHB members.
"Yes, they have signed the agreement and are now eligible candidates for God's Forbidden Zone."
God's Forbidden Zone!
Lane remembered seeing this strange phrase included in the agreement he signed. He only brushed it off, thinking that it was unimportant but now it seemed that his judgment could not be any more wrong than that.
"Alright, come with me."
Brando made a signal and with the permission of Austin, the three entered the designated vehicles and made for the Eco Science City...
Two hours later, the three of them were stripped naked, save for a pair of pants, and lay down in a laboratory in the Blacklight Biotechnology Research Center.
"Since you guys have signed the agreement, that makes us family now."
Brando was in the laboratory with them as well. He looked at the trio who were all hooked up with large machinery. "You've always been members of Blackwatch, but what you may not know is that there's a deeper connected ring in the upper echelons of the company.
"It's the God's Forbidden Zone..."
Brando paced in front of the three of them. "I know you still have some questions, but all you need to know is that God's Forbidden Zone oversees most of the operations of Blackwatch. This means that by joining this organization, you have become a part of the true core of the company. In the future, each of you may be qualified for greater positions in the company."
The three of them lay quietly on the bed and listened to Brando. Lane, of all people, was especially baffled by this revelation. All this time, there was an organization known as God's Forbidden Zone hidden in the deeper sectors of Blackwatch? Who would have thought!
"Hold on, Brando."
Blake, who had held his tongue all this time, suddenly raised a question. "Are we going to be injected with the L compound now?"
"Yes, do you have any questions?"
Brando looked at him.
"Oh, I was just wondering if you'd stuff a cotton ball or something of that sort in our mouth after injecting anesthesia in us?"
Blake asked, slightly embarrassed.
Brando frowned and smiled darkly. "Anesthesia, I never mentioned that we'd be using anesthesia."
"Not using anesthesia? But that's what I always see in movies."
Blake suddenly became oddly excited. "The evil faction injects anesthesia into the protagonists, then they are out cold. By the time they wake up they find themselves transformed, isn't this how the story usually goes?"
As usual, Lane and Hodge only looked at him in perplexed silence.
Brando only chuckled, completely ignoring these childish remarks. After that, he made a gesture and signaled for three lab personnel in large white lab coats to begin the operation. Each one of them held a blue vial in hand.
"Androids..."
Lane could feel his racing heartbeat. He stared at the Android, his breathing tightening, as the needle was injected into his veins. He heard the sound of air pressure being released and felt the foreign substance flowing into his veins.
"Ow ow, be gentle!"
Blake cried out beside him.
Lane was in no mood for the little games the childish Blake played. He felt his body temperature skyrocketing. It felt as if all the fluid in his body was boiling. His heartbeat, his blood flow, everything in his body accelerated to unnatural levels...
This feeling...
Before Lane could properly register what was happening, a sharp, apprehensive pain took over his body!
"Oh my God!"
All Lane could do was cry out in pain before his conscience was drowned out by the wave of agonizing pain...
Austin suddenly appeared from another corner of the laboratory. She looked at the trio who had fainted almost immediately after the injection and were now twitching occasionally on their beds, then she looked at Brando with her eyes painted in concern. "Sir Brando, are they going to be alright?"
"Even though L compound is a completed product, it's not well optimized just yet."
Brando shook his head. "After injection, there's a fifty percent chance of acquiring superpowers, forty percent chance of it being ineffective, and another ten percent of brain damage or in worse cases, death. This is all written as part of the agreement..."
"I
t's that bad?"
Austin's expression turned gravely. She looked at the trio who were twitching repeatedly on the medical bed and her concern was growing. "All three of them are prized assets of the company. Any one of them dying would bring monumental losses."
"These odds are as good as it gets."
Brando remarked blankly, "At the end of the day, you and I only have to worry about carrying out our orders. Besides, do you have any idea how much information credit these vials cost in God's Forbidden Zone?"
Austin shook her head.
"Ten thousand!"
Brando answered, "Just ten millimeters of this substance costs ten thousand information credit!"
Austin was floored by this extravagant pricing. As a member of God's Forbidden Zone, she was certainly familiar with how precious information credits are. Ten thousand information credit was directly equivalent to a hundred million U.S. dollars!
Upon hearing this, Austin looked at the trio again, this time with a bewildered look wiping over her previous concerned look. How could a vial of substance be this expensive?
Chapter 568: Changing Times |
While their attention was occupied with the emergence of superpower users, Chen Chen requested another Lilith Assembly.
During the Lilith Assembly, Chen Chen held up a vial of blue substance for all to see.
"This is the result of your research over the past months?"
They looked at the vial of glowing blue substance with great intrigue. "How did you do it? Was it extracted from the superpower users?"
"To be precise, we extracted it from their blood."
Chen Chen nodded, not displaying the slightest intention of allowing the other members to inspect the drug closer since the assembly was merely held using holographic projection. Even if he gave them the vial, it would just be a holographic projection and would not help any of them obtain a closer look at the substance.
"Our biology department discovered a specific component in their blood that we've since named as the 'L factor'. We used this extracted L factor to create what is now known as the L compound."
Chen Chen stated surely and confidently, "After conducting a series of experiments, we've concluded that there's a ten percent chance that the injection of this substance would grant the user superpowers. Truthfully, the odds aren't optimistic but if successful, the person will obtain powers similar to that of the Consciousness Stealer..."
With that, Chen Chen played a particular experiment footage for the assembly to see. The shown footage included the series of tests they conducted on the Delta-level subjects and a presentation of their powers.
In the shown footage, the Lilith Assembly members could see these subjects exerting their superpowers by bending spoons, lifting glasses, and sometimes even moving large tables without so much as lifting a finger. Though these subjects had not displayed astounding use of their powers yet, the visual was already intriguing enough.
"What is this, some sort of telekinesis?"
02 asked.
"I call it psionic power."
Chen Chen smiled. "Isn't it amazing? The power they obtained using this substance is the same as those powers we saw originating from outer space."
01 took a deep breath in an attempt to contain his delirium. "Is this the extent of their abilities? If all they can achieve is lifting common household objects, I don't see how it can be of any use to us. It makes these powers look like a mere novelty."
"Of course not."
Chen Chen quickly disagreed with this notion. "Based on our research over the last months, we realized that these powers can be trained."
Although there was no way for Chen Chen to note the expression on the faces of their dark silhouettes, he could tell based on their body language that they were enticed by the idea.
"Still, it's only a ten percent likelihood of success."
04 suddenly raised an arguably valid concern. "Are there any side effects that these lucky individuals should expect? Also, what happens to the other ninety percent?"
"This is a good question."
Chen Chen made a show of heaving a long, deep sigh. "There are no side effects for the lucky recipients of these psionic powers, at least there are none that we have discovered so far. However, we did notice slight changes in their genetic structure and these changes we noted may be inherited by future generations. This means that there's a roughly ten percent chance that their children will be born with similar superpowers.
"As for the unfortunate ones, two-thirds of them shouldn't experience any major issues other than mild discomfort after the injection. However, the other one-third of this population may experience symptoms such as intellectual disability or in worse cases, brain death."
"The drawbacks are so severe?"
This immediately shifted the mood of the room, "This means that there's a ninety percent chance of failure and among this bunch, one-third of them may lose their life in the process?"
"This fatality rate is unacceptable..."
"The success rate itself is discouraging as well.."
This discovery greatly influenced their opinion of this substance. Even 02 tossed his pencil on the table and leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
"These odds are considered quite favorable already."
Chen Chen noted solemnly. "This injection is equivalent to borrowing the psionic powers directly from the Consciousness Stealer and transplanting it into the average human body. All things considered, the risk and reward factor is highly optimistic."
"Another problem is we don't know the extent of these powers yet."
02 shrugged and stated, "05, if these powers can be improved to the level you have displayed in the past, then we more than welcome it. However, based on what we've seen from the footage, it seems unlikely that they can get anywhere near your level. Even the Consciousness Stealer had to claim millions of humans to raise its power to be on par with yours."
"Gentlemen, I'm an extreme outlier."
Chen Chen could not help himself from chuckling as he stated this, "My power is an inheritance from 'that person' and you'll never see anything like this anywhere else in the world. Even if the recipient of this psionic power cannot reach my level, this shouldn't discourage them from further honing psionic mastery. Even I cannot gauge what the ceiling of this psionic power is just yet.
"Perhaps their current level barely matches that of a regular adult's punch, but who knows what may happen in the future? These powers may very well be developed to an unprecedented level."
"Alright, in that case..."
01 was the first to make an offer, albeit quite hesitant still. "How much is the technology for extracting this L factor from the psionicist's blood? We'd like to negotiate."
"I'm sorry, it's not for sale at the moment."
Chen Chen immediately went on the offense. "However, I'd be interested in trading it for your most recent reactor core technology."
"Are you kidding me!"
01 was appalled by Chen Chen's audacity and almost roared.
"If you're not willing to sell the technology, then at least state the price for the product."
"Two hundred million dollars each."
Chen Chen raised two fingers. "I can offer a lower price if purchased in bulk. 180 million U.S. dollars each if you order in a single batch of one thousand units and 150 million if you order ten thousand units in one shipment."
"What?"
"What!"
They cried out in unison, "These prices are a highway robbery!"
"It's not expensive if you think about it."
Chen Chen shook his head impudently then stated in earnest, "I don't think you all realize the tedious process of extracting this L factor component from the blood of the psionicists. The cost of producing each L compound vial reaches up to 140 million U.S. dollars, pricing them at 150 million U.S. dollars each is the best deal I can offer."
The other members of the Lilith Assembly would not let it show, but t
hey were rolling their eyes behind their screen at this mention. They knew better than to take the offer of a businessman at face value.
"With that said, I welcome any other offer that may include trading of other resources or technology."
Chen Chen added. "To be honest, Blackwatch doesn't have much use for monetary funds anymore."
"We'll have to give it some thought."
They eyed the room suspiciously then answered almost in unison. They would be lying if they said they were not at least still slightly intrigued.
"I'll leave it up to you gentlemen to decide then."
Chen Chen nodded and added. "I should also inform you that the current availability of the L compound is extremely limited. We can only produce approximately ten to fifteen vials per day, which comes to hardly five thousand a year. Therefore, the orders shall be shipped on a first come first serve basis."
The current reception of the L compound among the Lilith Assembly seemed rather controversial at this point.
"There's one more thing that I need to inform you about."
As if the previous news was not enough, Chen Chen added again. "We already have plans in place to upgrade our bionic combative police officers. The current bionic police officers will all be replaced with psionicists in due time so that our police forces are well equipped to deal with more psionicists emerging in society in the future."
"You should have disclosed your plans to us earlier."
01 sounded rather upset at this point. "Don't forget that our official representatives are employed in the bionic combative police departments as well."
"If you're against this plan going forward, I can have them resign from their positions."
Chen Chen did not raise his tone despite the aggression displayed. "How much longer do you think we have until people eventually catch on to the emergence of psionicists? Our best move now is to take the initiative and arm ourselves accordingly before it becomes a problem in the future as more people gain psionic powers and we find ourselves overpowered...
"Have you ever considered how things will turn out when these psionicists develop their abilities to a point where they no longer fear the threat of thermal weapons and the likes? How are regular police officers supposed to enforce the laws on superpower users?"
