Chapter 491: Lane
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Agence France-Presse reporting, Blackwatch has once again benefited all mankind for the third ti now after tackling the field of cancer and Alzheir’s disease by using bionic organ transplantation as an alternative to human organ transplantation. Its biodical departnt announced today it has once again made an innovational breakthrough in stem cell technology and the cost of the ‘Age-reversal Treatnt’ will once again be made affordable. The price is expected to go down from the market price set two years ago of 200,000 U.S. dollars to an average of 30,000 to 50,000 U.S. dollars.
“The cost of the ‘Age-reversal Treatnt’ once cost upwards of a million dollars for each person. It only took six years for Blackwatch to fulfill the promise they once made that the ‘Age-reversal Treatnt’ will be streamlined and comrcialized to a price range that can cater to regular citizens.
“According to the data analysis of the Earth Federation Physiological and Health Research Group conducted over the past three years, ever since the comncent of the ‘Age-reversal Treatnt’ in 2023 till now, the average life expectancy of the human population has soared from 70 years old to 78 years old today. Among all demographics, the average life expectancy of developed continents such as Northern Arica, Europe, Central Continent, and the East China Sea Continent has risen to more than 85 years old. This number is only expected to continue trending upward as ti goes on!
“Experts predict that by 2050, the average lifespan of humans will surpass 110 years old...”
Several days later, in the corner of a garage located sowhere in New York City, three n and one woman were huddled together in front of a projector. The projector was playing an exclusive TV program of Blackwatch in the Northern Arican region.
It seed to be sowhere around alti since the four of them each had a variety of fast food in their hands and were happily gobbling down their food in their respective seats. There were even several empty cans of beer set in front of one of the n in a white tank top.
“The next logical step from here is probably to delay the age of retirent.”
The pink-haired lady among the group suddenly noted dryly. “This proposal has received the support of several regions, it should be receiving attention from Congress anyti soon.”
“You have to admit that this is an excellent solution that Blackwatch has devised, at least the issues caused by an inflated elderly population is alleviated.”
A black man in the group shrugged. “The ones that get the short end of the stick are people like us...”
“That’s enough, Digit. Don’t you dare sing praises of this company in front of unless you want to beat you up!”
Before Digit could finish his detailing his observation, the man in the tank top broke off their conversation by viciously slamming a can of beer on the ground and reprimanded Digit in an alcohol-fueled craze.
“Ok, no problem.”
Digit put his hands up to suggest that he was surrendering before he turned around and left.
“That’s enough bickering, we’re here to watch the live feed aren’t we. Lamb will be showing up.”
Kraken stopped the two from arguing any further.
Just as she said this, the comrcial on the screen ended as well and the program shifted into the main segnt. There was a quick flash on the screen and the phrase “Call of Duty” appeared shortly after, accompanied by energetic background music.
After that, the figure of the three signature mbers of the BHB Combative Police Force appeared on screen again. Their figures slowly faded out after that as the image transitioned into the iconic red, blue, and white flag of Northern Arica.
After the intro to build up the excitent of the audience, it was finally ti for the main event. A broad-shouldered bald man wearing an army uniform appeared on the screen.
Apart from his poster muscular build, his facial features were well-defined as well. He was almost a spitting image of the famous Vin Diesel in his youth. He started with a stream of introduction.
“Dear audience joining us today on the television, welco to the 2028 Call of Duty show – The Bionic Combative Police Trial. I’m Algernon, your host for the Northern Arican Division. This year’s trial is unlike last year’s because thanks to Blackwatch’s many technological innovations, there are fewer strenuous requirents for bionic prosthetic users. Therefore, starting this year, our participants will no longer be restricted to severely disabled ex-soldiers or police but open to many others with basic disabilities...
“This is part of the reason that the number of contestants has increased dramatically compared to last year. We have up to a hundred contestants in the Northern Arican division alone. We’ll be putting this group of contestants through multiple trials which includes a triathlon, combat abilities trial, shooting accuracy trial, and more to determine their potential. At the sa ti, we’d also like to invite our audience to show support for their favorite contestants by using the barcode below...”
The program flow appeared on the screen following the narration of the host.
This program was essentially a talent show launched by Blacklight Biotechnology to promote the use of bionic prosthetics.
This selection process functioned to expand the local police force. Upon undergoing the systemic training and passing the assessnt, the contestants may be qualified to beco bionic combative police officers.
So of the contestants that manage to stand out above the rest may even get the chance to make their debut to beco the sa internationally renowned superheroes as the BHB Combative Police Force.
Due to the popularisation of superhero thes in blockbuster movies, bionic combative police had attained the status of celebrities all over the world to a point where countless young people had stated that their dream was to beco police officers. Most governnts did not have complaints regarding this reception so they did not take any actions to thwart the popularity of these shows. Therefore, the popularity of the show continued to snowball day by day until it had beco an entertainnt show even surpassing the WWE and NBA.
The show began with brief interviews of the contestants that managed to pass the first round of screening. They were allowed the chance to discuss their views on bionic prosthetics as well as the overall cri rate in modern society. This way, the audience was given a chance to get to know these contestants. After that, there were various forms of tests to determine the contestant’s physical and ntal capability.
At the end of the show, the audience would get to vote and select the contestants that they deem deserving of qualification.
This ti, Lane continued to express his unique views on television. His perspective and insistent pursuit of values of justice ended up garnering the interest of a portion of viewers who decided to commit their precious votes on him.
At the end of the two-hour-long show, Lane had unsurprisingly advanced to the third round along with eleven other candidates. He also got an employnt contract from Blackwatch on the spot.
At this point, it was pretty much a guarantee that Lane would be enlisted into Blackwatch and beco inducted into the team of bionic combative police. The group stages, semi-finals, and grand finals over the next few days were only done to filter out which one among the twelve of them would be crowned champion and allowed a chance at stardom like the BHB force.
Seeing Lane successfully infiltrating the Blackwatch as a legitimate contestant on-screen and officially being registered as an employee of the Blackwatch, everyone in the garage cheered and clinked their beer together.
“This is great, our hard work all this ti has finally paid off, Lane finally infiltrated this d*mnable company!”
Wildfire declared with an unruly roar, “Blackwatch’s streak of good luck ends here!”
The group celebrated rowdily.
It was only Kraken who suddenly noted with a light frown. “Lane has only made it through the doorstep of the company. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done if we want to dig into the dark history of BHB and get an edge over this company. This isn’t the ti to celebrate just yet.”
This sensible statent seed to have cald down the hot-headed crew who were getting ahead of themselves. Kraken breathed a deep sigh and glanced in the direction of the garage entrance.
Could a ragtag group like them trump an international company of such scale?
...
It was midnight by the ti the first match concluded.
Lane wandered the streets in the middle of the night in a wheelchair by himself. The gentle night breeze caressed his skin gently and although the air was cool, he still felt the burning rage of excitent flowing through his veins. When he faced the cara, he seed to see countless people waving back at him. For the first ti in his life, he knew how it felt to be under the spotlight.
Lane had never experienced anything better than that...
After Lane boarded the subway, he imdiately found a suitable place to park his wheelchair before he got his phone out and started looking through the comnts of the previous show.
The comnts provided insight into what the audience thought about the performance of the contestants, which one they thought had the most potential, and which one they liked best. Lane realized that he was more popular than he ever expected himself to be. There was only one other contestant who had an equal level of performance as he did, but Lane still had the most supporters rooting for him.
When Lane saw the steady stream of comnts of the audience rooting for him, he could no longer stop a smile from forming on his lips.
“Excuse , are you Pedro Lane?”
While Lane still had his head buried in his phone and relishing at the mont, he suddenly heard a soft feminine voice beside him. He instinctively turned up and saw a young and innocent-looking girl sowhere between fifteen to sixteen years old staring back at him nervously.
“That’s , you are...”
Lane responded instinctively.
“Ah, it’s you!”
The girl cried out in joy. She imdiately fumbled around in her bag and quickly produced a notebook. “Lane, I watched Call of Duty in school today. You had an excellent performance, may I have your signature please?”
“Sig- signature?”
Lane started to sweat a little, he tried to brush off the comnt with an awkward chuckle. “But I’m just an ordinary person...”
“No, I believe that you’ll beco a superhero equivalent to the BHB Combative Police Force!”
The girl shook her head side to side before declaring insistently, “I believe in you!”
“Alright...”
Lane nodded at her high praises before receiving the pen and notebook then proceeded to scribble his na on the notebook. “I’m sorry, my handwriting is poor.”
“That’s alright!”
The girl happily took her notebook and carefully placed it into her bag like a treasured artifact. “Good luck Lane, I know you’ll win the tournant!”
Their conversation seed to have caught the attention of the people around them. Several youngsters quickly rushed toward Lane and ford a circle around him. One of them cried out in a mix of awe and delight when he took a closer look at Lane, “It’s Lane! I saw you just now but I wasn’t sure if it was you.”
“Lane, I’d like a signature too!”
Another chubby boy tried to get his piece in as well.
In a matter of seconds, Lane found himself surrounded by a mob of youngsters...
Lane found himself in unfamiliar territory dealing with his crowd of young supporters. Without realizing it, his empty heart was being filled with a strange sense of satisfaction.
‘What are the chances that I could beco world-famous superheroes just like the BHB trio? No, those people were hypocrites and actors, only I’m a true Nobel hero!’
Such ideas began to take shape in the depths of Lane’s mind...
...
Over the coming days, the other four mbers of the crew would co to notice that the usually quiet and reserved Lane was becoming more passionate. He was surging with vibrant energy every day and fully imrsed himself in his VR training sessions.
To obtain a better ranking, they raised enough money to customize a pair of high-end bionic prostheses for Lane to allow him to stand up from his wheelchair.
It was worth noting that from the third round onward, Blackwatch would gather all the contestants in Northern Arica together in one spot and create customized bionic prosthetics for each contestant. However, Lane could get an advantage over the other contestants by having prior personal experience with a bionic prosthetic beforehand.
After all, the combat abilities of the contestants were tested in the third round.
The tests ranged from close combat practice to firearm use, then to actual combat drills. These were all activities that required plenty of accumulated experience. anwhile, a majority of the contestants Lane had to face were either retired soldiers or police officers.
However, there was another facet to it. It was because of that that the young and tender-looking Lane managed to stand out among the contestants and attract the most attention from the audience.
When the third round of the Call of Duty tournant comnced, Lane had managed to accumulate a significant amount of combat experience. The third round was unlike the second round that only took place over a day. It was a week-long event that was almost like a reality show.
During this week, the organizers would record the journey of each contestant and compile a training montage of the contestants after they obtained their designated customized bionic prosthetics. On the final day, the contestants would participate in the grand trial.
Lane t up to the expectations of the vast amount of audience and managed to erge second place in the overall score for the third round. anwhile, he claid first place in fan votes which qualified him to the fourth round, which was the semi-finals.
Lane’s popularity had skyrocketed over the span of the tournant. He had beco the most discussed contestant in the Northern Arican region.
Underneath the facade of fervent applause and dazzling spotlight, Lane was confronted with a harsh reality...
“What do you an I have to give up on the rest of the tournant?”
Lane stood at the entrance of the dimly lit garage and looked at the four of his accomplices in utter disbelief.
“I’m sorry about this Lane, there’s been so change of plans. You’ll have to do this.”
Kraken advised gently, “You should know that everything we’re working on is funded by this person called ‘Cain’. He issued an order yesterday and said that you’ll have to drop out of the tournant because there’s another mission that our entire crew has to be a part of...”
“I don’t understand.”
Lane shook his head. “I’m about to beco the regional champion of Call of Duty, I might even beco the global champion by the end of it. I can beco a superhero on par with the likes of the BHB Combative Police Force...”
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