The First Order

Translator: Legge

When Ren Xiaosu heard Qin Sheng say the other party’s power was blowing saliva bubbles, Ren Xiaosu was stunned for some time. Qin Sheng added, “I heard that person’s saliva bubble power is extremely powerful. The other superhuman was blown more than ten meters away by his attack. I wonder why there’s such a strange superpower like that….”

Then Qin Sheng noticed Ren Xiaosu had a strange look on his face. Curious, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I think I might know that supernatural being,” Ren Xiaosu said with a sigh.

Even elemental superpowers would have very obvious differences. For example, there was the covert supernatural being from Fortress 178 who could turn water into lifelike underwater beasts such as a killer whale among other creatures. Only through this could he unleash his greatest destructive power.

And now, the person who could blow saliva bubbles might just turn out to be that Zhang Baogen that Ren Xiaosu knew.

Back then, he and Zhang Baogen used to live in the same town. But because some refugees harbored evil intentions against him, they reported him to the authorities.

His parents thought he was doomed after he was taken into the stronghold, so they killed the entire refugee family who reported their son before taking their own lives.

Wang Fugui and Zhang Jinglin were even the ones who helped bury the corpses of Zhang Baogen’s parents, while Wang Fugui paid for their burial.

At the time, Ren Xiaosu also thought Zhang Baogen would definitely not survive. However, the earthquake saved him. During the escape, Ren Xiaosu even saw from afar how he repelled the Experimentals with his superpower.

But he did not expect Zhang Baogen would appear in Luoyang City as a supernatural being that acted alone.

After Ren Xiaosu related Zhang Baogen’s story to Qin Sheng, Qin Sheng was also stunned. “Wow, there’s even something like that? Then let’s quickly go over and have a look.”

The place where the battle broke out was Triumphant Road. When they arrived there, Ren Xiaosu saw strange fracture marks on all of the surrounding residential buildings. It was as though a bomb had been thrown at the walls, but there were no scorch marks left behind at all.

It looked like the battle was already over. Qin Sheng was told the two superhumans had fought each other for over 20 minutes as they battled across several hundred meters. In the end, it was the superhuman who could blow saliva bubbles that killed his opponent. Right now, he was hiding inside a building and holding someone hostage.

The garrison troops of Luoyang City surrounded a bicycle shop while a negotiator standing at the door was negotiating with the superhuman inside. “We’ve surrounded this place. Even if you kill the hostage, you can’t get away. Why don’t you tell me your terms and we might consider letting you off?”

The person inside sneered, “Y’all will let me off? What a joke! There’s no need to convince me to release the hostage.”

Ren Xiaosu quietly walked away from Qin Sheng and climbed to the top of a building across from the bicycle shop by himself.

This location was more than 700 meters away from the site of the incident, and it was a perfect spot for sniping.

He took a look inside the bicycle shop with his spotting scope first, and he was surprised by what he saw.

In the bicycle shop, Zhang Baogen was hiding behind his human hostage shield. And the hostage turned out to be the person he tripped the previous night! Was this a coincidence? Or were they putting on an act?

Ren Xiaosu called Qin Sheng. “I’m getting ready to make my move.”

Qin Sheng had a confused look on his face. He looked around and realized Ren Xiaosu had disappeared off to somewhere. “Where are you now? What do you plan to do?”

“I’m gonna snipe him from far away.”

“But he’s well-hidden. It’ll be very difficult to kill him without injuring the hostage,” Qin Sheng said doubtfully.

Just as he finished speaking, everyone at the site heard the crack of a sniper rifle. Qin Sheng immediately turned to look at the bicycle shop and saw the hostage inside had been killed on the spot.

Qin Sheng was confused.

Bro, when you said you were making your move, did you mean you were going to just kill the hostage?

The sniper bullet was fired precisely through the carotid artery of the hostage’s neck. However, it did not hurt Zhang Baogen, who was standing behind the hostage.

Ren Xiaosu said on the phone, “Alright, get him to come out and surrender, but don’t kill him yet.”

Qin Sheng felt helpless. Meanwhile, the Qinghe Group’s negotiator phrased it in a different way. “The hostage has been killed. Will the criminal inside please come out and surrender immediately…”

Everyone was dumbfounded. Zhang Baogen was even more confused. What kinda nonsense was this? Why did they shoot and kill the hostage?!

Zhang Baogen stared at the black barrels outside the shop. He wanted to charge out, but he gave up on the idea in the end.

After dragging the situation out for such a long time, all of the Riders in Luoyang City would probably have arrived by now. Since their ally had killed the hostage so decisively, they were prepared to go in and kill him as well.

He raised his hands and slowly walked out of the bicycle shop as Qin Sheng and Zhang Qingxi converged on him from both flanks. However, they only pressed Zhang Baogen down to the ground. As he did not resist, they did not continue hurting him.

After the farce was over, Ren Xiaosu followed the vehicle convoy of Qin Sheng and the others. He wanted to ask Zhang Baogen about something.

As for the hostage who had died, he would soon be forgotten.

While the convoy was traveling, the vehicle Zhang Baogen was being escorted in by Qin Sheng and Zhang Qingxi suddenly split from the convoy on a remote road and headed in another direction.

Zhang Baogen, who was sitting in the vehicle, asked, “Where are y’all taking me?”

Qin Sheng smiled and said, “An old friend would like to meet you. However, his identity is special, so in order to not expose him, we had to shake off some spies first.”

Zhang Baogen did not say anything else. He was already resigned to fate. However, he was a little puzzled. How could he still have any old friends?

The vehicle turned left, then right, and finally stopped at a section of a park. When Qin Sheng and Zhang Qingxi led Zhang Baogen out of the car, Ren Xiaosu emerged from the woods in the park.

When Zhang Baogen saw Ren Xiaosu, he was shocked. “You’re… Ren Xiaosu, the one who’s sick in the head?!”

Ren Xiaosu’s face darkened. Why the hell are you bringing up something from so long ago!

As the four of them stood in the dark in a spot in the park, Zhang Qingxi and Qin Sheng looked at each other and wondered what was about Ren Xiaosu being sick in the head.

However, Ren Xiaosu said, “Your parents…”

Zhang Baogen said anxiously, “What about my parents? Where are they?”

After Zhang Baogen got captured, the stronghold was already destroyed by the time he regained his freedom. He was still unaware of his parents’ situation and tried looking for them, but he couldn’t get past the Experimentals at all. His only choice was to escape.

Ren Xiaosu whispered, “After you were taken away, your parents killed the entire family of the one who reported you before taking their own lives. The schoolteacher, Mr. Zhang, and Wang Fugui helped with your parents’ funeral. They’re buried outside the town. You should be able to see their tombstones if you go there in the future. That place might still be intact.”

Actually, Zhang Baogen already knew his parents were probably not alive anymore. But when he got confirmation of the news, he still felt upset and forlorn.

Ren Xiaosu and Qin Sheng looked quietly at Zhang Baogen and waited for him to calm down.

Half an hour later, Zhang Baogen looked up at Ren Xiaosu and said, “Thank you for telling me about this. You can ask me anything you want to know. I’ll answer all of your questions.”