After the last mountain gliding test, two peaceful weeks passed by.
In the dim light of early morning, Wei Tianyang got out of bed, ran six laps around the courtyard, and by the ti the sun had fully risen, he was already drenched in sweat, tilting his head back to drink from a large bottle of mineral water before heading inside to take a shower.
Baphot would also take this opportunity to hop onto Wei Tianyang’s bed for a nap, preferring the soft mattress to the hard floor mat.
When Wei Tianyang finished his shower, the sky had already brightened completely, and it was only 6:30 am.
He wiped his hair, poured so coffee beans into the grinder, started turning the handle, and then, poured the ground coffee into the Moka pot to brew.
Baphot was lying on its side on the bed at that mont, legs stretched out in all directions, its sheep mouth twitching occasionally, not sleeping soundly, looking almost as if it were about to die.
Wei Tianyang kicked the bed fra, and Baphot abruptly woke up, kicking its tiny hooves into the air a couple of tis before its whole body suddenly stood up.
"Ah... it was just the echoes of the past... Good, good..." Baphot sighed.
It slled the aroma of the coffee, looked sideways at the Moka pot, and sighed again, "Slls nice, how co it tastes so bitter? What a strange liquid!"
"What you just ntioned, ’echoes of the past,’ wouldn’t happen to be a dream, would it?" Wei Tianyang said.
Baphot nodded.
"Then call it a dream, and don’t use those ssy words with in the future," Wei Tianyang said.
The coffee was ready, and he poured two cups, then took bread, salad dressing, and so ham out of the small fridge, making two breakfasts.
Baphot jumped off the bed, also ready to eat sothing, and Wei Tianyang pulled out a basin of grass from under the table and kicked it towards it.
As Baphot watched Wei Tianyang serve the two breakfasts on plates, it looked reluctant but had no choice but to bow its head and eat the grass silently.
"What dream did you have? You looked almost like you were about to die just now," Wei Tianyang asked.
"I thought you wouldn’t care about that," Baphot chewed on the grass, but it didn’t interfere with its ability to speak.
"I thought you creatures wouldn’t dream," Wei Tianyang said.
"I dread of the great terror, of my battle with It, as if I had returned to that Chapter..." Baphot shook its head.
"Tell more about your fight with those black giants. How did you start fighting? What exactly happened at that ti?" Wei Tianyang pulled up a stool and sat down.
"I encountered It in a segnt, and It sent out seven of Its progeny to besiege . The one you occupy was one of them," Baphot said.
"Progeny..." Wei Tianyang murmured to himself, it must an sothing like family or kin.
"That refers to self-replications, they originated from the dispersal of Its energy," Baphot explained.
"If that’s the case, then why did It divide itself? Couldn’t It defeat you in Its whole form?" Wei Tianyang asked.
"I have more kin, It couldn’t take on a hundred, so It wanted to use Its progeny to split the target, causing my kin to separate. Anyway, in the end, both I and Its progeny fell," Baphot said.
"Who is that ’It’?" Wei Tianyang asked.
"I do not know what to call it, for my encounter with It was also by chance. That segnt seed impromptu, almost like a mistake in writing, but the conclusion was fixed. Without Its progeny, It would not have had an easy ti. Perhaps by now, It has been shattered by other inhabitants, or It has also fallen to this place," Baphot said.
Wei Tianyang sighed; it seed fear was not exclusive to mankind.
The fear of being killed, the fear of betrayal, the fear of loss... Baphot could be considered a life form, after all, any sentient life would have the emotion of fear.
Wei Tianyang handed the breakfast bread in his hand to Baphot.
The black sheep hesitated for a mont, drooling over the bread in his hand, but dare not take a bite, afraid it might be a trap.
Wei Tianyang shook his hand and said, "I suddenly feel like eating noodles, and we shouldn’t waste the ones that are already made. You eat them."
Baphot hesitated, then leaned in, took a bite, and ran off.
Reaching the balcony, it munched contentedly on the food, praising the deliciousness of the ham.
After finishing his coffee, Wei Tianyang took his plate downstairs, woke Yaha up, helped her wash, and then had her sit at the table for breakfast.
After tending to Yaha, Wei Tianyang received a ssage from Helena Mina. It was brief, rely instructing him to log into an encrypted frequency for a eting imdiately.
He hurried back to his room, set his laptop on the long table, logged into the custom client, and put on his AR glasses and headphones.
Soon, in the vision of the AR glasses, Helena Mina’s figure appeared at the head of the table, flanked by three military-uniford individuals—the Chief of Staff of the United Council Army and two commanders.
"It’s only been two weeks, and the world is already tumultuous," said Wei Tianyang.
"The world has never been peaceful," Helena Mina replied somberly.
"What’s going on? Another war has broken out? You must be in a bad situation to activate ," said Wei Tianyang.
"Besides the usual warfare observation tasks, we wouldn’t wake you unless absolutely necessary," the Chief of Staff explained.
"Yet these ’absolutely necessary’ situations seem to be happening quite frequently," Wei Tianyang pointed out.
"The world has gotten more complex, Wei. In the past few months, new religious groups claiming your na have erged around the world. Most are frauds, but a few are genuinely anti-human organizations," the Chief of Staff explained.
"I’ll kill a few to teach them the consequences of their actions," Wei Tianyang said with gravity.
"No, if you really appeared on the territory of one of those cults, even if you killed them all, it would serve as positive propaganda for the others," Helena Mina shook her head.
"Right. After all, Rada Gan in the sacred texts is a fictional character, but you are real. Your appearance would be seen as answering the call of the ssiah for them..." the Chief of Staff added.
"I’ll do it quietly," Wei Tianyang said.
"No, let our counter-terrorism forces handle that. You have thornier issues to deal with," Helena Mina interjected.
"Thornier than this? I can’t imagine anything other than war," said Wei Tianyang.
"You need to go to Heisai State," Helena Mina instructed.
Wei Tianyang’s eyes flickered for a mont. Going there? It was the perfect opportunity to track down Rada Gan and see what he was up to now.
"Here’s the situation: the formula for Type I Neutralizer has been leaked," the Chief of Staff disclosed.
Wei Tianyang was taken aback, understanding the implications.
Formulas for semi-finished Black dicine had long been available on the black market for a high price. After all, they were only semi-finished—ineffective and thus not taken seriously by governnts worldwide.
Without a neutralizing agent to ease and suppress the spinal toxins, the use of Black dicine superpowers would lead to certain death, which is why there hadn’t been a worldwide proliferation of superpowers.
For places like Yaha’s Black House, without pharmaceutical company support, progression would have been impossible.
"What does Type I Neutralizer an?" asked Wei Tianyang.
"It’s the initial version of the neutralizer. Its effects are not as potent as the current military version. After a single use, one must rest for a week to ensure no toxin buildup," the Chief of Staff explained.
"Still, that’s like opening a Pandora’s box. Having it is very different from not," noted Helena Mina.
"So... now we have uncontrolled superpowered rcenaries?" Wei Tianyang asked.
"No... There are superpowered terrorists," Helena Mina corrected.
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