Chapter 257 – The Announcement of Superpowers
Min Tao stood up and glanced around the first-floor hall. Yao Bei and Li Wenchuan were working together to subdue an alien. Two high-ranking pioneers had managed to suppress the alien in less than ten minutes, and now they were in the final phase of the fight.
The researchers, dressed in white lab coats, stood by, waiting for the pioneers to finish off the alien so they could collect its corpse and take it back to the research institute.
The guards from the Executive Department were busy searching through various rooms in the temple, trying to track down the whereabouts of the rebel, Tu Ran.
Min Tao withdrew his gaze and let out a long sigh.
Xiao Di couldn’t help but speak up, “Did Tu Ran… really do all this by herself? Why did she…” He didn’t dare finish his sentence.
The head of the Pang family, one of the three major conglomerates, the future heir of the Xie family—the most powerful conglomerate—two sons from the Mu family, another top ten conglomerate, and the eldest daughter of the Song family, also from a top ten conglomerate…
These people were all at the pinnacle of the pyramid, protected by layers upon layers of security, untouchable by ordinary people. Yet, they were all dead now—killed by the alien or by the hands of a rebel pioneer.
Their deaths were so brutal that they were too horrifying to look at directly.
Min Tao lifted his eyes and glanced at Ding Naiqing across from him. He stood there looking like a lost soul, clueless about the situation. Shaking his head, Min Tao said, “The higher-ups will give an explanation. Let’s just wait.”
Meng Fancheng, who had been eavesdropping, had hoped to overhear some information from these pioneers that he didn’t already know. Unfortunately, they were just as in the dark as he was.
“In the footage Zero provided, the person who did this was Sister Tu Ran—Tu Ran,” Xiao Di blurted out, instinctively calling her “sister” before quickly correcting himself. He glanced around nervously, relieved that everyone’s attention was on Zeng Jing, and no one had noticed his slip.
He slapped his own mouth a few times, warning himself not to make that kind of mistake again.
Zero released part of the surveillance footage from the scene.
One of the clips showed Tu Ran sitting on top of Zeng Jing, using a knife to dig into the back of her neck.
“What is she doing?” Min Tao asked, puzzled.
Meng Fancheng craned his neck to look at the projection on Min Tao’s communicator and then glanced at the back of Zeng Jing’s neck, lying on the ground.
“She’s looking for something,” Meng Fancheng replied.
Min Tao shot him a glance and turned off the projection from his communicator.
Meng Fancheng shrank back, lowering his head to focus on his own work, helping his companion lift Zeng Jing onto a stretcher.
Ding Naiqing heard their entire conversation.
He watched as they carried the stretcher with Zeng Jing downstairs, and fragments of memories flashed through his mind. He hurried to check the other surveillance clips that Zero had released.
These clips were authorized for release by the Federal Government. For now, they were given to the pioneers and guards, but they would later be handed over to the media and fully released as evidence to capture Tu Ran.
One of the clips showed Tu Ran grabbing the head of the Pang family by the tie, yanking him out from the protection of his bodyguards. She said something, but it was during a gunfight, and the sound of gunfire drowned out her voice. She didn’t wait for his response before she twisted his neck and killed him.
Another clip, positioned near the stairwell, showed Tu Ran kicking a guard so hard that the impact sent the guard and those behind him flying. She then shot and killed the group of guards.
Ding Naiqing rewound the footage to the moment when Tu Ran kicked the first guard.
Something was off—very off. Why did Sister Ran’s kick have such enormous force?
Even a physically strong man couldn’t produce such force.
And snapping the neck of a grown man with one hand wasn’t something that could be done so easily either.
Due to the limited footage released by Zero, and the fact that none of the clips clearly showed Tu Ran using her powers, Ding Naiqing could only make guesses based on small details.
His mind drifted to the Hook Snake on the Reigaken farm.
Why had they shot him unconscious back then? And what had the snake said to Sister Ran after they knocked him out? When he woke up, he briefly glanced at the Hook Snake’s corpse, noticing a knife embedded in the back of its neck.
The back of the neck again—was this just a coincidence?
Ding Naiqing recalled the time he asked Sister Ran why Zhao Yan had killed General Xie Hong. She had been evasive, and in the end, she said, “The Federation is about to announce it. You’ll know soon enough.”
Announce it? Everyone already knew that Zhao Yan had killed General Xie Hong. What else needed to be announced?
Various overlooked memories flashed through Ding Naiqing’s mind. He had a vague sense of a shadowy connection but couldn’t quite grasp the answer that seemed just out of reach.
…
…
[Superpowers Emerge! Genetically Modified Humans No Longer the Only Path to Transcendence!]
[Superpowers! Inner Cores! Genetically Modified Humans! What is the Future for Humanity?]
[The First Multi-Powered Individual is Rebel Tu Ran!]
[Shocking! Pioneer Tu Ran Knew About Superpowers All Along! Using Her Position to Seize Inner Cores!]
[Exclusive Report: A Look at Tu Ran’s Multiple Superpowers!]
[Pioneer Team Caught in a Media Storm—How Many Pioneers Have Superpowers?]
News about superpowers flooded the entire Federation, rivaling the attention that had once surrounded the Threshold gates’ arrival.
Among the frenzy, the Pioneer Team was at the heart of the media storm. Countless reporters swarmed to the locations where pioneers were on missions, trying to get a scoop.
At that moment, the pioneers were scattered across the forty-two states of the Federation, with each location under siege by local media, severely disrupting their work. The Pioneer Team had to temporarily suspend all external missions and recall all pioneers.
Now, all the recalled pioneers sat in Conference Room 721.
“Superpowers, my ass! If I had superpowers, would I have gotten my arm bitten off by an alien?” one man, sitting in a chair, pounded on his rock-hard left arm. His voice was gruff, filled with anger. “These reporters can only come after us! Why don’t they try interviewing Tu Ran if they’re so capable?”
Beside him, another man gritted his teeth, speaking with resentment. “Who knows when Tu Ran found out that aliens have inner cores? She’s been to the Threshold so many times, she’s probably stockpiled a bunch of inner cores.”
“To cause such a huge uproar and still not have the Executive Department find a trace of her, she must have quite a few powers,” a woman calmly stated the obvious.
“Hah, I always wondered why she was so skilled in training camp but seemed so mediocre once she got out. She stayed a low rank for so long, just a junior. Turns out she was never on the same level as us to begin with. Even if we make it to intermediate or advanced levels, we’ll still be crushed by her. We’re probably just a joke to her!” someone muttered bitterly, casting a glance at Yao Bei sitting in the front.
The sarcasm was clear.
Yao Bei sat with her back straight, eyes lowered, staring quietly at the table in front of her, waiting for Xie Zhao’s arrival, as if she hadn’t heard the mocking remark.
Not getting a response, the person let out a cold snort and said nothing further.
*
Meanwhile, the very person they were heatedly discussing—Tu Ran—was leisurely strolling through the bustling streets of the black market, completely unbothered.
