All the researchers had been spoken to before they were transferred to this underground laboratory.
They were asked to keep their work confidential, and informed of what they would be working on.
They were to study a supernatural human being who had special abilities.
When they heard that, all the researchers wore a “you’ve got to be kidding me” expression.
Those researchers had all learned from the most renowned professors and teachers in the 90s.
The Qigong craze in the 90s seriously traumatized them, to the point that they would slap the desk and yell at the mention of Qigong
Naturally, their thoughts had been passed on to their students.
So, most of the researchers didn’t like special abilities.
They didn’t even want to work on it.
They had only gathered here because they were required to, and because their superiors assured them that it was real and no folly.
Then, the researchers came with slim hopes.
They hoped to see real superpowers, but they were prepared to be tricked.
So, they all got excited when Roland said that he would run an experiment right away.
All they needed to do was to stay and observe, in order to decide if they should quit the project.
They held all the equipment that was assigned to them, then looked at Roland earnestly.
In their imagination, if Roland were a fraud, he would definitely play a lot of tricks, like letting a snake fly out of an empty pot, or taking some gadgets out of nowhere.
Yet… Roland had concentrated blue fire in his hand with nothing at all.
“It must be more than two thousand degrees.”
“Shoot. It’s truly a heat reaction, or so my detector reads.”
“Back off, back off right now. The temperature is so high that the air is twisted. Damn it. Is the experimenter roasted already?”
“He looks absolutely fine.”
“The surface temperature has risen to three thousand degrees, and the center is four thousand.”
“You sure you didn’t read the numbers wrong?”
“I don’t know. That’s what the equipment displays.” “What kind of trick is this?”
“It looks quite familiar. I think I’ve seen it from somewhere.”
“Wait… Is he Roland?”
“Which Roland?”
“The most popular male host among women in Japan?”
“No, the Roland from the immersive MMORPG.”
“The game with a lot of advanced technology?”
“Yes.”
He was a young researcher who loved watching livestreams.
When he was not working, he could only kill time by watching livestreams, as he was bald and wifeless.
He had naturally watched the livestreams of World of Falan, which was the most popular MMORPG these days.
Although Roland had only streamed a few times, as the strongest Mage player in the game, he was mentioned by every anchor when they talked about magic, freedom, or the marriage system in the game.
All in all, Roland was an unavoidable character in the game.
He would be mentioned even during the interpretation of Warrior abilities.
It was because the Warriors would inevitably run into spellcasters in PVP, and as the strongest Mage, he was naturally discussed. Almost all the anchors stated that the Warrior players who met Roland should just surrender because their resistance would be futile.
It was well-acknowledged that nobody could defeat Roland in a solo battle, not even the Spell Breakers.
So, it was not a surprise that this young research knew of Roland’s famous blue fireball.
“Isn’t it just a game?”
“I knew that game wasn’t so simple. I should’ve applied for a virtual cabin.”
Those researchers discussed with each other and looked at their equipment, only to grow more and more shocked.
The readings of the equipment had already reshaped their outlook.
After condensing magic power for more than ten seconds, Roland had expanded his blue fireball to twenty centimeters in diameter.
It was not nearly as good as the one in the game, but all the researchers were astounded as they read their equipment output. “Take covers! Hide behind the shelters! Hurry! Hurry!”
Douglas ran off too.
As a Mage in the game, he knew that even a blue fireball twenty centimeters in diameter could be astonishingly powerful.
After they hid behind some iron shelters, Roland threw the blue fireball.
The fireball didn’t fly very fast, but it was so bright and dazzling in everybody’s eyes that everything around it was dimmed.
The fireball hit the dummies two seconds later.
After a brief flash, there was a deafening explosion.
As if thunder had just rambled in the underground space, everybody’s ears were humming
Then enormous airwaves, raised by the explosion, gushed out along with red flames. Even though they were hiding behind shelters, they could see flames coming in from the gaps, as if they were being attacked by flamethrowers.
It didn’t last long, but it was truly scary. About five seconds later, all the researchers stood up again.
Someone seemed to have fallen because of the shock, but the first thing they did after they got back to their feet was not to see if they were wounded, but to check the readings of their equipment.
A director shouted, “Call the medics! The experimenter might’ve been heavily wounded by the explosion! Hurry!”
When he rushed back to the experiment area, he found that Roland was still there.
The whole experiment ground was darkened except for Roland as well as a tiny trail behind him, which was as clean as before.
The director subconsciously swallowed. “Are you serious? He has an energy shield?”
At this moment, a lot more researchers came forward too and were all excited to see the scene.
It was a major discovery to them.
A person had launched an attack and a shield with pure energy without using any modern tools and equipment.
It was definitely a skill and ability that could change the world.
The director trembled and held back the thrilled and wonderful feelings in his heart, exactly like what he felt when he first fell in love. He shouted, “Squad One, put on radiation protection uniforms and check for possible lingering hazardous radiations on the explosion site. Measure their amount if you find any.”
“Squad Four, examine the dummies at the center of the explosion and write a report on the energy type.”
“Squad Three, sort out the data from all the equipment and save it to the database.”
“Squad Five, test the experimenter immediately and ask him to give us some of his hair and blood. We need his DNA and cell samples. Now, chop chop!”
Very soon, all the researchers got to work busily.
Roland stood where he was, and a few people wearing protection uniforms helped him move away.
Roland appeared exhausted at this moment. Everybody could tell that he was very weak.
Douglas came over too and helped the other researchers move Roland to the infirmary.
After Roland lay down on the white sickbed, he closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.
Several doctors ran over. Some examined his eyes and some plugged him to electrocardiogram equipment. An old doctor was also taking his pulse. After checking the pulse for a while, the old doctor said, “Give him saline water on his left hand and glucose on his right hand. He’s just exhausted. Nothing serious.”
Everybody was relieved to hear that, especially the person responsible for the research.
Several beautiful nurses cut Roland’s clothes and put a comfortable and loose patient’s uniform on him.
The director asked, “Dr. Huang, can I take some of his blood?”
“You’d better not. He’s very weak.” Dr. Huang looked at the crowd in the room and asked, “I heard an explosion. What happened?”
The medical team in the experiment base was there to protect Roland.
Their order was that if any serious accidents happened in the experiment, they had to use all resources available on Roland and confirm that he was safe before they rescued any others.
The director took a deep breath and asked, “Dr. Huang, you lived through that age too. Do you believe in Qigong?”
“I’ve seen a lot of Qigong masters, but they’re all about meditation. None have special abilities.” Dr. Huang shook his head.
The director chuckled and smiled even more. “You’ve seen one.”
Dr. Huang looked at Roland on the sickbed. “Him? What did he do?”
“Just go to the experiment ground and take a look for yourself.”
Because Roland was simply tired and it was pointless for him to stay, Dr. Huang went to the experiment ground. He fell silent when he saw the blackened floor and the shattered dummies. Then he burst into laughter in delight.
Roland was still asleep.
About an hour later, the researchers summarized the data.
They gathered around and reported one by one.
“There’s a dent, which is 142 centimeters in diameter and 35 centimeters deep, at the center of the explosion. Based on how damaged the dummies are, the energy at the center of the explosion must’ve been more than 16 million KJ, which roughly equals the damage of a 100-millimeter cannonball. The victims within a fifteen-meter radius of the explosion would’ve been killed, and those within a fifty-meter radius would’ve been heavily wounded by the blast and the heat.”
“But he was only thirteen meters away from the explosion, and he’s still alive!”
“He’s inhuman.”
“Does that mean that he is a walking cannon?”
“If he can fully carry out his strength in the game, he’ll be a walking nuclear bomb.”
The director waved his hand. “Let’s leave out the game and the virtual cabins. All the data must be real and not imagined. Other squads, report your data.”
Another researcher stood up with a tablet. “We confirmed that the center of the explosion had a temperature of about six thousand degrees. The temperature dropped as the waves pushed out, but even the space 25 meters away from the explosion still had a temperature of more than a thousand degrees. Then it significantly dropped. The blast of the explosion was very powerful too, as powerful as a five-ton car running at eighty kilometers per second even at a distance of 35 meters. We tested the radiation… The heat came purely from combustion reactions, and it’s mostly infrared!”
The director nodded, showing that he got it.
Someone else stood up.
“We’ve extracted some of the experimenter’s hair, skin, and blood. Quick tests showed that he’s an ordinary person just like the rest of us. His DNA and the performance of his cells are both within the normal range.”
“Then how was he capable of doing that?” asked the director in surprise.
At this moment, another person wearing a doctor’s coat stood up.
“We’ve examined the brain of the experimenter and found something highly unusual.” He projected the picture on the tablet to the screen. “His brain waves are very active. They’re three times more active than average even when he’s sleeping. Their frequency is about 180 Hz at this moment.”
Everybody’s eyes bulged with disbelief.
With enough knowledge in science, they knew what such a frequency of brain waves would’ve caused to an ordinary person.
His director couldn’t help but ask, “How can his neurons have withstood such a huge current of bio-electricity?”
“I’m not sure.” The reporter opened his hands. “He’s the only individual like this. We dare not dissect him or open his brain.”
Everybody laughed. Before they came, they had been repeatedly instructed that no dangerous tests that might hurt the experimenter should be carried out.
Also, more importantly, he was one of a kind so far. What if he lost his ability after his brain was picked at?
The scientists were smart enough not to kill the goose that laid golden eggs.
“It seems his mutations are mostly within the brain.”
Everybody nodded.
His body was normal, but his head wasn’t, so it was obvious that his brain had mutations.
That was quite reasonable.
Human beings distinguished themselves as homo sapiens because of the DNA mutations in their brains in primeval times, which gave them better intelligence and communication abilities and made them the dominator of other creatures.
The more they studied the brain, the more complicated they found it to be.
“We have so little data right now to work on. We have to wait for the experimenter to wake up and see if he can run another experiment, so that we can gather more information.” After a brief silence, the director said, “However, let me make it clear first. The experimenter is free to do whatever experiments he wants. We can’t intervene, or even suggest anything to him! Do you understand?”
The director looked around at all the researchers solemnly.
“It’s more like we’ve hired a master instead of an experimenter!” cried someone in confusion. “This is a rare opportunity. Why can’t he work with us?”
“Didn’t you forget what the superiors told us when you came?” The director said, one word after another, “We have to do anything to cooperate with him. Anything! Got it? If you don’t, I’ll write an application for you immediately. You’ll return to your old post in three days, and someone more obedient will replace you!”
