Chapter 235: He Didn’t Want to Live
Chapter 235: He Didn’t Want to Live
No one had expected the arrest operation to proceed with such abnormal smoothness.
When the operation against Maritime Nation’s expert team began, no one was free from tension.
This worry peaked especially when they rushed towards the young man wearing the red cloak to place the Ability Suppressor and Protective Helmet on him. After all, he was an S-Class Ability User. No matter how fast they moved, they had no idea what they might face.
But unexpectedly, the man showed no reaction whatsoever.
He submitted passively as the Ability Suppressor and helmet were placed on his head. He offered no resistance, not even when special weapons were aimed at his head.
…
…
Mr. Su glanced at the S-Class Ability User and slightly frowned.
Then he turned his gaze to the Old Captain: “So, what exactly is your plan?”
“…”
“Mr. Su, you should leave now.”
Armed Personnel moved to block his view, and people around him urged him incessantly.
However, Mr. Su showed no intention of leaving. He just kept staring at the Old Captain.
It took the Old Captain some time, filled with heavy breaths, to catch his breath and partially recover from the Fear and shock he had just experienced before he was able to speak clearly again.
He glanced towards the young man in the red cloak, who was now under control.
His hood obscured most of his face. Fitting the Protective Helmet inside the hood had disturbed it, revealing more of his features. He was visibly young, but his complexion was exceedingly pale. He maintained an unnatural silence, seemingly devoid of interest in anything around him.
From every angle, he appeared to be the frailest individual among the group.
Even the Old Captain, who needed IV drips to function normally, seemed to possess more vitality and spirit compared to him.
…
“Hadn’t we already agreed to share information about the S-Class Ability User with you?”
The Old Captain rasped out: “This child… he was born in Maritime Nation. His Psychic Magnitude isn’t actually that high. Multiple tests placed it well below the one-thousand threshold. Yet, his ability… is incredibly terrifying. No matter how many detection instruments from the Lunar Eclipse Research Institute we employed, we couldn’t determine his true ability. We only know it’s fundamentally different from others.”
“Maritime Nation witnessed numerous Psychic Contamination Incidents. He resolved them all with terrifying ease.”
“Originally, yes, we planned to nurture this child into Maritime Nation’s guardian deity, someone who could ensure our safety. Unfortunately… he developed a profound problem himself. A problem we, with all our resources and thought, could find no solution for.”
“…”
Professor Bai turned his gaze towards the young man with keen interest: “What kind of problem did he develop?”
After a moment of silence, the Old Captain smiled wryly, tinged with helplessness, and said: “He doesn’t want to live.”
“Every moment, he endures constant pain beyond ordinary comprehension. Therefore, he has but one Desire.”
“To have himself killed.”
“Only through death can he allow his spirit to return to what he calls…”
“…the True Homeland.”
“…”
“The True Homeland?”
Hearing these four words, many among the accompanying personnel frowned slightly.
Psychic Contamination was never a trivial matter.
They had all been instructed to familiarize themselves with the Spiritual Contamination incidents documented in Qinggang City, as well as influential cases elsewhere. Naturally, they were aware of this particular mysterious organization that had been completely eradicated back in Satellite City No. 4.
Its notoriety stemmed partly from its audacity in attempting to recruit members of the Special Operations Team as proselytes.
Originally, it had seemed like a minor incident confined to Satellite City No. 4.
But hearing these same four words mentioned by Maritime Nation’s Old Captain struck an unnerving chord within them.
…
…
“We tried every possible method, but we couldn’t persuade him to live on…”
While expressions of alarm and confusion spread across the faces of others, the Old Captain’s own face also held a bitter smile: “Our conventional moral standards dictate that taking a life casually is wrong. Yet facing him, we discovered another truth: persistently trying to make someone who yearns for death continue enduring the agony of life feels profoundly immoral as well… and it proved utterly futile to stop him.”
“The only compromise we could achieve was to make him promise to carry out his suicide at a designated place.”
“It was seen as… a way for him to make some contribution to Maritime Nation…”
“…”
The atmosphere inside the Conference Room was heavy, oppressive, and profoundly eerie.
The Old Captain’s matter-of-fact tone, describing such a plan, held an unsettling quality that made people deeply uncomfortable.
An individual who constantly craved death and was utterly impossible to stop…
Especially when that individual was an S-Class Ability User!
Mr. Su adjusted his posture slightly and gazed quietly at the Old Captain. “So, he intends to attack Qinggang with his life?”
“What about you?”
His eyes fixed on the Old Captain. “Do you also plan to leave your life here?”
“Look at the state I’m in; I can’t even smoke my favorite pipe anymore…”
Listening to Mr. Su, the Old Captain couldn’t help but laugh. “Is my life still worth anything?”
Mr. Su was silent for a moment before slowly nodding his head.
“So…”
The Old Captain took a deep breath, then forcefully steadied it, striving for a more commanding tone. “This is a war. Because I knew such a war would inevitably come, I chose to participate personally. My life isn’t worth much anymore. I came this time because I wanted to see my own handiwork with my own eyes…”
As he spoke, he looked towards the young man in the red cloak, his voice betraying a slight tremor:
“And also to see… what a true God might look like…”
“…”
Just as he finished speaking, the view outside the window faintly reddened. For as time passed, true night had finally arrived. The Crimson Moon now dominated a large portion of the night sky beyond the glass. Its bright crimson red was starkly visible against the dark backdrop. Even the lights inside the room couldn’t prevent the moon’s red glow from pouring in, illuminating the young man in the red cloak, his head bowed.
As if stirred by the Crimson Moon, he stiffly turned his head to look at it.
“Can I be freed now?”
Beneath the Glass Helmet, his pale face wore the first smile since arriving in Qinggang.
It was a feeling of genuine happiness.
As he spoke, he drew himself up straight.
With this movement, the gun barrels surrounding him tensed, advancing slightly forward, almost pointing at his face.
The people protecting Mr. Su and Professor Bai immediately shielded the pair, pushing and maneuvering them out of the Conference Room. Now was not the time to indulge the old men’s display of composure. They were forcibly escorted away…
Not just them, the Old Captain and his entourage were also seized, fitted with Protective Helmets and Handcuffs, and swiftly dragged from the Conference Room.
Left inside were seven Ability Users, including the Watchdog.
They all turned their gaze to the figure in the red cloak.
Some visibly prepared to unleash their abilities, while others had already activated theirs.
The air began to ripple with thin, distinct, yet interwoven distortions.
Whoosh…
A notepad on the table was rapidly flipped by an unseen wind, its pages rustling sharply.
The fluorescent lights overhead abruptly became dazzlingly bright, then instantly dimmed, the light flickering erratically.
Various abilities simultaneously converged on the young man in the red cloak.
Yet, he seemed oblivious. His body remained motionless. Slowly, he tilted his face upward.
The movement was laborious because of the Ability Suppressor fastened around his neck.
Still, he managed it. He let out a soft sigh, crossed his hands gently across his chest, embracing himself.
In the next instant, his pupils turned white as he activated his ability.
…
…
Crackling—!
A violent surge of electricity erupted instantly from the Ability Suppressor clamped around his neck. Instantly, his body convulsed under the shock, and the faint smell of burning flesh filled the air.
His physical form began to tip slowly backward, collapsing.
Yet, something bizarre happened. As one version of him fell, another knelt where he had been.
It was a translucent Shadow, also draped in a red cloak, bearing a pale face.
Separated from the physical body, this Shadow wore an expression of profound joy and smiled. Then, slowly, it began to rise. As it did, its form continuously expanded and grew more ethereal. The fluorescent lights within the room flickered wildly. Currents surged chaotically within the wiring.
Everyone inside the room heard a strange, overwhelming drone in their ears; their vision blurred.
Someone yelped in agony and fired recklessly at the Shadow.
Several special Plasma Bullets passed straight through its form, erupting into dazzling Electric Arcs inside the room.
…
…
“What was that?”
Lu Xin suddenly turned his head, looking towards the eastern side of Qinggang.
Simultaneously, within the Main City, many Ability Users sensed something too, turning their gazes eastwards with alarm.
The detectors hanging at numerous people’s waists suddenly pulsed with a fierce red light, their needles climbing relentlessly towards numbers that kept growing larger and larger.
“What’s happening?”
Unease and fear spread. People stared dumbly towards the east, desperate to understand what was there.
Everyone’s vision could now make it out: a figure slowly rising into view near the East Sea Grand Hotel.
The figure was impossibly tall. They could see it because it stood a full head taller than the thirty-three-story East Sea Grand Hotel. From this distance, it appeared like a Divine Statue, quietly assuming its place beside the towering structure.
It held its arms crossed over its chest, projecting a sense of serene piety. A red cloak covered its head, obscuring its face.
…
Crack crack crack…
A sound like frying beans erupted from nearby.
This noise came from those corralled within the Quarantine Zone set up in advance by the City Defense Department – all the forcibly contained Mutants.
The Monsters bonded to them seemed powerfully drawn by something. Simultaneously, they twisted their heads towards the direction of the towering figure.
This turning motion was so abrupt, so unnatural, that the heads of many among them rotated to impossible angles, exceeding 180 degrees.