Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Agence France-Presse reporting, Blackwatch has once again benefited all mankind for the third time now after tackling the field of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease by using bionic organ transplantation as an alternative to human organ transplantation. Its biomedical department announced today it has once again made an innovational breakthrough in stem cell technology and the cost of the ‘Age-reversal Treatment’ 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 Treatment’ 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 Treatment’ will be streamlined and commercialized 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 commencement of the ‘Age-reversal Treatment’ 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 America, 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 time 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 somewhere in New York City, three men and one woman were huddled together in front of a projector. The projector was playing an exclusive TV program of Blackwatch in the Northern American region.
It seemed to be somewhere around mealtime 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 men in a white tank top.
“The next logical step from here is probably to delay the age of retirement.”
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 anytime 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 me unless you want me 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 commercial on the screen ended as well and the program shifted into the main segment. 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 members 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 America.
After the intro to build up the excitement of the audience, it was finally time 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, welcome to the 2028 Call of Duty show – The Bionic Combative Police Trial. I’m Algernon, your host for the Northern American Division. This year’s trial is unlike last year’s because thanks to Blackwatch’s many technological innovations, there are fewer strenuous requirements 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 American 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 same time, 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 assessment, the contestants may be qualified to become bionic combative police officers.
Some of the contestants that manage to stand out above the rest may even get the chance to make their debut to become the same internationally renowned superheroes as the BHB Combative Police Force.
Due to the popularisation of superhero themes 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 become police officers. Most governments 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 become an entertainment 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 crime 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 mental capability.
At the end of the show, the audience would get to vote and select the contestants that they deem deserving of qualification.
This time, 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 employment contract from Blackwatch on the spot.
At this point, it was pretty much a guarantee that Lane would be enlisted into Blackwatch and become 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 time 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 time to celebrate just yet.”
This sensible statement seemed to have calmed 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 time 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 excitement flowing through his veins. When he faced the camera, he seemed to see countless people waving back at him. For the first time 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 immediately found a suitable place to park his wheelchair before he got his phone out and started looking through the comments of the previous show.
The comments 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 comments of the audience rooting for him, he could no longer stop a smile from forming on his lips.
“Excuse me, are you Pedro Lane?”
While Lane still had his head buried in his phone and relishing at the moment, he suddenly heard a soft feminine voice beside him. He instinctively turned up and saw a young and innocent-looking girl somewhere between fifteen to sixteen years old staring back at him nervously.
“That’s me, you are…”
Lane responded instinctively.
“Ah, it’s you!”
The girl cried out in joy. She immediately 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 comment with an awkward chuckle. “But I’m just an ordinary person…”
“No, I believe that you’ll become 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 name 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 tournament!”
Their conversation seemed to have caught the attention of the people around them. Several youngsters quickly rushed toward Lane and formed 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 become 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 members of the crew would come to notice that the usually quiet and reserved Lane was becoming more passionate. He was surging with vibrant energy every day and fully immersed 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 America 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. Meanwhile, 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 tournament commenced, 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 met up to the expectations of the vast amount of audience and managed to emerge second place in the overall score for the third round. Meanwhile, he claimed 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 tournament. He had become the most discussed contestant in the Northern American region.
Underneath the facade of fervent applause and dazzling spotlight, Lane was confronted with a harsh reality…
“What do you mean I have to give up on the rest of the tournament?”
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 some 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 tournament 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 become the regional champion of Call of Duty, I might even become the global champion by the end of it. I can become a superhero on par with the likes of the BHB Combative Police Force…”
