Awakening

The general of the Frontier Nation finally regained consciousness and summoned the two inside.

The floor of this house was so polished and smooth that it almost reflected a person’s silhouette; Qi Xi was nearly mesmerized by the sight. Seated directly ahead was a man whose gaze was profound and whose presence exuded competence.

Meeting the eyes of this important figure, Qi Xi felt as if his very soul had been drawn out, leaving him dazed.

“So, you say you’ve discovered relics from the Old Era?” the general of the Frontier Nation asked with a smile.

“Yes, sir, that’s exactly it. I’ve brought this news to you in hopes that you’d accept me, a refugee, into your ranks. Look, I’m free from radiation sickness, I’m young and strong…” Qi Xi’s words were abruptly interrupted by the imposing man.

“All right, enough. I don’t have time for your rambling. Tell me in detail about the location and features of these ruins,” the general said impatiently.

“Certainly… It’s in…” As Qi Xi was about to reveal the information, the general suddenly cut him off, saying, “You don’t need to say anything more, you poor actor.”

Qi Xi’s heart skipped a beat at those words. What did he mean by that? He was certain he hadn’t given himself away; he’d spent more than three months meticulously preparing this plan, covering every possible detail—there was no way he could have made a mistake. What did this man see that he didn’t? Cold sweat broke out down Qi Xi’s back. “Sir, General, please forgive my ignorance. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Do you truly not know?” The general looked at Qi Xi indifferently.

“I really don’t.”

“I said, you’re acting, clown,” the general said.

“Acting… General, every word I’ve said is the truth,” Qi Xi replied, bracing himself and meeting the general’s gaze.

“If that’s so, perhaps I’ve misjudged you…” Just as Qi Xi was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the general changed his tone. “Your acting isn’t entirely terrible, after all. Not bad, clown.”

Qi Xi broke out in a cold sweat; he could no longer pretend. Where—where had he gone wrong?

“Do you want to know where you slipped up?” the man asked.

Could he read minds? Qi Xi was shocked.

As if truly perceiving Qi Xi’s thoughts, the general continued, “I can’t read minds. I simply possess special abilities.”

The instant the general finished speaking, Qi Xi knew without a doubt that this was not a bluff. In a flash, he drew a razor-sharp blade and launched himself at the general.

The guard who had come with him was startled, instinctively readying his weapon, but this was close combat—using a firearm was practically foolish. Qi Xi’s knife moved like lightning, about to slice open the general’s throat. At that moment, the general’s finger twitched, and a small piece of metal hurtled through the air, moving so fast Qi Xi’s eyes couldn’t follow. It pierced straight through his palm.

“Aaah!” Qi Xi howled in pain, his dagger flying from his grip without injuring the guard. The guard, not as witless as he seemed, finally reacted and swung the butt of his rifle at Qi Xi’s head.

Thud!

It struck Qi Xi square on the temple. In an instant, all sound faded from the world, and his body felt beyond his control as he collapsed to the ground. The guard, emboldened, continued raining blows on Qi Xi’s skull.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The general did nothing to stop this; he had no reason to. Such an ordinary man was beneath his notice.

Qi Xi was beaten within an inch of his life; his teeth were knocked out, his mind was in chaos, and everything before his eyes blurred. Dimly, he saw a figure approach and, despite his confusion, managed to ask, “Why?”

Looking down at Qi Xi, the general halted the guard’s assault and smiled. “Because I am a Geneman—something you cannot even begin to imagine.”

“Ah…” As if he had received his answer, Qi Xi’s eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.

“Kill him. And call a few people to clean up this mess,” the general instructed the guard. “And next time, be more alert!”

“Yes, General!” the guard replied, trembling, and then drove his knife into Qi Xi’s heart.

There was a sickening squelch.

Qi Xi’s breath gradually faded…

But his consciousness did not vanish completely. He felt his body being dragged away, and in his stupor, memories began to surface. He was not of this world; he had crossed over from elsewhere. Everything that had happened in his dreams was not mere illusion, but reality. As Qi Xi recalled these things, the genes in his body began to strengthen rapidly…

The wounds on his chest, head, mouth, and hand healed visibly before the naked eye. Even the heart that had been stabbed began to regenerate at remarkable speed.

His genes raced, driving the evolution of his body.

Evolved, Advanced Evolved, Geneman, Advanced Geneman—there was no halt; the evolution continued, Genegeneral, Advanced Genegeneral, Genemarshal, Advanced Genemarshal!

The process stopped only after reaching the Advanced Genemarshal stage.

The guard dragging Qi Xi’s corpse noticed something strange—the body seemed to open its eyes!

With a single glance at his would-be handler, Qi Xi sent the man into a sleep from which he would never awaken.

“Whew. Who would have thought I’d slumber for a hundred and twenty years…” Qi Xi felt a complex mix of emotions.

Rising to his feet, he returned to the general’s quarters.

The general, who had been perusing books from the Old Era, looked up to see the supposedly dead youth enter. His eyes widened in disbelief.

A ghost in broad daylight!

“You…” the general stammered, but before he could finish, Qi Xi interrupted him.

“Your ability must be mind reading, correct?” Qi Xi said coolly, sitting on the sofa in the room and fixing the general with his gaze.

“How did you know? How are you not dead?” The general still could not believe what he was seeing or hearing.

“Because I am something you cannot even begin to imagine,” Qi Xi replied, echoing the general’s earlier words and returning them with a wry smile.

“Who… who are you, really?”

“What do you think?” Qi Xi asked maliciously. With a casual wave, a floor tile was lifted and instantly ground to dust, which then coalesced into a sharp blade. With another flick of his hand, the blade shot toward the general at unimaginable speed, striking him in the shoulder before he could react. Blood spattered, and Qi Xi inhaled deeply, drawing the blood into his mouth.

“The ability to read minds is certainly convenient,” Qi Xi said with a wicked grin. He closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them.

“What exactly do you want?” the general tried to negotiate.

“I want to know the true state of the world. This little place of yours is beneath my notice,” Qi Xi replied indifferently. “Just now I absorbed your ability—mind reading, right? After I devoured it, it evolved into [Memory Extraction].”

“Do you want to know what that means?”

“You… are you the legendary Genemarshal?!” the general finally realized the truth, his voice trembling with terror.

“Bingo. You’re right,” Qi Xi snapped his fingers. A surge of electromagnetic force stunned the general before he could say another word. Qi Xi strode over, placed his hand on the man’s forehead, and began [Memory Extraction], harvesting the general’s memories.

“So this is what the world has become…” Qi Xi frowned. “The main thing now is to lay new plans and find Xigua.”

From these memories, Qi Xi learned that one hundred and twenty years ago, after being killed by Roger, the Genemarshal known as the Second Batman, he did not revive immediately; the resurrection process took nearly a week. But five days later, nuclear bombs destroyed the earth. Qi Xi, only barely revived, and Xigua were killed in the blast. The harsh environment forced them into a cycle of revivals and deaths for over eighty years, draining almost all their genetic energy. As a result, when Qi Xi finally revived, his memory was gone and his powers temporarily sealed. Without his memory, Qi Xi had led a group of young soldiers, wandering and surviving. If he hadn’t been killed, it might have taken another three or four years for him to fully awaken.

The greatest change in the world had been wrought by the nuclear blasts: the polar ice caps had melted entirely, submerging the world in ocean. Yet that did not last—tectonic plates resurfaced and began drifting at nearly ten thousand times their previous pace. In a hundred years, all landmasses had collided and fused. The former United States and China were now connected.

The world had become a single, true continent.

“What the hell…”