Cover Up!
***
Zed fell asleep, unworried about his actions as Kiba. The same couldn't be said for the top echelons of Delta City. The golden lightning and the slaughter in the slum have taken away the sleep of many...
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The Wasteland outside Delta City.
It was deep in the night, and usually, at such a time, there would be no source of light besides the moon and stars. But currently, the wasteland was filled with balloon lights and headlights of vehicles.
On the ground, there were trucks and cranes along with rescue operators from the government. They were having a difficult time treading the path, for there was no path. As far as they could see, the land was a deep crater.
In the sky, there were around dozens of helicopters. The shock the people riding in the helicopters faced was far more severe than the difficulty faced by the people on the ground. How could they not be shocked to see a crater so vast that it occupied the entire wasteland!? No! The entire wasteland had turned into a giant crater!
There were no more barren mountains and plateaus or the yellow soil. Now, there was just a crater with solid landmass. In some places, even the groundwater was seeping out.
One of the helicopters landed on the ground where a temporary camp was built. A few injured people were being given emergency treatment by mutants specialized in healing. Next to them, dozens of mutant soldiers were on guard.
A middle-aged man with brown hair stepped out of a helicopter. The soldiers on the ground gave a salute, but the man ignored their presence and arrived in front of the medical team.
"Sir Sylvan, we are sorry, but 90% of the team is dead," A female medical officer directly reported.
The expression on Sylvan's face was unsightly, but he tried his best to control his emotions. After a moment, he said, "When I left the office to arrive here, I was informed that we have lost half of the team's life signals, but now you are saying that 90% of the team is dead! You better give me a convincing explanation; otherwise, you will join the departed."
The female officer felt a chill down her spine. She hastily replied, "When we arrived here, the surviving members were on the brink of death. Their internal organs were ruined, and even though we used the healing serum, it wasn't effective..."
"The healing serum didn't work? Does that mean my team was attacked by a chemical attack similar to the one used by those terrorists?" Sylvan asked.
"No, sir. The chemical bombs used by the terrorists targeted the genetic matter by making them resistant to treatment or the powers of mutants. While the damage from such an attack makes it impossible for one to recover even with the cloning technology, life can still be saved. But in the current case...the very source of life has been severed. No matter what we do, it is proving useless. I have never seen or heard of such a thing," the female officer replied.
Sylvan took in a breath of air to calm himself. He was regretting his earlier action of sending a team to investigate the golden lightning phenomenon when it began.
He thought he could find what Castor Damon was seeking...
"Damn," Sylvan cursed, thinking about the loss of S-class vehicles and dozens of personnel. Those assets belonged to the world government, and as the chief supervisor of the city, he couldn't escape the responsibility.
"Sir...there is one more thing," the female officer stammered.
"What?" Sylvan asked.
"The abilities of those who survived have been erased. There is no difference between them and ordinary humans," the female officer replied.
"What did you say?!" Sylvan couldn't believe her words.
"Every sign of mutation inside the survivors has been erased," the female officer explained again. She knew how shocking her words were. When she checked the conditions of the survivors, she was shocked in disbelief.
There do exist multiple ways to neutralize the abilities, but ways to erase the abilities were unheard of.
Of course, there were cases of mutants losing their powers due to serious injuries like Kiba's 'caretaker,' but that was different from the erasure of abilities.
"I am afraid the survivors won't live for long. At most they would live for an hour," the female officer concluded.
Sylvan snapped his teeth in frustration. He walked towards the survivors. There were four survivors in total who were in a sorry state, their entire bodies covered in wounds.
"How did your comrades die, and how did you lose your abilities? Tell me everything from the start," Sylvan ordered.
His current mood made it impossible for him to care about the emotions of survivors.
"After we got your order, forty members of the team left for the wasteland in the S-class vehicles. As soon as we entered the wasteland shrouded by the golden lightning...we felt an extremely strong pressure on us. At the start, the pressure was strong but bearable thanks to the military-grade vehicles. But the further we traveled, the pressure amplified. We had barely covered a distance of half a mile when our vehicles lost power. We thought there was an EMP wave or something, but a moment later, the vehicles started disintegrating into dust and ultimately turned into nothingness," one of the survivors informed.
"Nothingness?" Sylvan asked in disbelief.
"Yes, sir," the survivor said, his voice containing obvious traces of fear and agony.
Sylvan thought of the crater after hearing about the pressure. He thought it made sense if the pressure disintegrated the earlier landmass into nothingness; otherwise, there should be dust or soil outside the crater. But how can something be turned into nothingness?
"Continue."
"We didn't even get time to process after the vehicles disintegrated. With the loss of vehicles, the pressure was directly faced by us. Team captain transformed into a bird and flew away, but within a second, he fell down. The pressure in the sky was far too high due to the golden lightning. We all tried to use our abilities to return but failed. By every passing moment, our abilities were being erased. Not only our abilities, but our bodies began fading from existence. Some of the weaker members turned into nothingness in a second, and for others, it took 5-6 seconds. We would have died as well, but we were lucky..." the survivor said with a self-mocking smile.
He thought there was nothing lucky seeing they have lost his abilities and many of those who survived died later. Perhaps they would die as well.
"Lucky?" Sylvan asked.
"Yes, at least that's what we thought earlier. Just when we thought the pressure has become unbearable and would turn us into nothingness, the golden lightning disappeared. The sky was no longer covered with dark clouds. We thought we were lucky enough to survive long enough for the golden lightning to disappear. If it has existed for another moment, we would have been dead," the survivor said bitterly.
"The rescue team came later and gave us treatment. But more died after the treatment," another survivor continued.
"You didn't see any other person in the wasteland during the golden lightning phenomenon?" Sylvan asked.
"No, sir."
"Did you find anything that could have been the source of the phenomenon?" Sylvan once again asked.
"No, sir."
"Then you are useless trash deserving your fate!" Sylvan's eyes emitted blue laser beams aimed at the survivors. They released a horrifying scream before burning into ashes.
The female medical officer and the soldiers nearby were terrified. Sylvan ignored their reactions and moved towards the helicopter while thinking of today's events.
"I can burn someone into ashes but not into nothingness!" He then thought of Castor Damon - the Rank IX scientist from World Government. "Castor, just what is this power which can turn anything into nothingness? Are you alive? Or did you die four years ago when the golden lightning phenomenon occurred first?"
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Sylvan took a seat inside the helicopter. A junior officer beside him explained their findings.
"Sir, we have sent our team throughout the wasteland and I think we have found a possible point from where the golden lightning first originated."
"Oh? How did you do it?"
"Sir, some distance away from here, the crater is somewhat strange."
"Strange?"
"Yes, sir. The damage created from the pressure was very low compared to the surrounding. I believe an important event occurred there... even if that area is not the source of golden lightning."
"Good job. Have you found anything from that area then?" Sylvan had a bit of expectation.
"Sadly no, sir. We used all types of scans but found nothing," the officer replied.
"Every single one of you is fucking useless trash," Sylvan cursed. He thought the junior officer had found something useful, but it was nothing but empty words.
Sylvan wanted nothing more than to find what Castor Damon was seeking, which is why he used all his influence for searching the wasteland. He was afraid that he has lost the head chance all due to the incompetence of his subordinates.
*beep beep*
The attention of Sylvan and the Junior officer was directed towards Sylvan's cellphone. Sylvan opened the phone to read a message.
After reading the message, his face turned more unsightly.
"What happened, sir?" The officer nervously asked.
"Every single Overlord in the Western Slum is killed. Not only overlords but anyone associated with them as well," Sylvan gritted his teeth. The message explained what the slum dwellers saw but no information on the culprit.
The main profiteers of organ harvesting and prostitution were the top echelons of society. These businesses were conducted by the overlords in the open but in secret, they were backed by the corporate, politicians, and officials. Sylvan earned a decent profit by supporting a few overlords secretly.
Now, not only has he lost his government assets but also his private assets.
"The night is getting only worse," Sylvan cursed out loud.
*beep beep*
"Now what? " His hands started trembling after checking the name of the sender. The message was from Holy City.
The capital of the World Government!
The message read: "Cover the details of the golden lightning phenomenon from the public. Collect all information regarding the phenomenon and send it to Holy City as soon as possible. Also, try to prevent the corporate and mysterious heritages from gathering information regarding the same."
Sylvan ground his teeth in anger and frustration.
"How am I supposed to cover a phenomenon witnessed by everyone in the city?" Sylvan asked the officer.
"Sir, we could say it was an advanced missile test or something. The public is not aware of the details as we are," the officer replied.
"Like I don't know that already. But to cover it up for good, we need to divert attention. Not to mention we need to buy off the media," Sylvan said.
"We need a lot of money and a scandal!" The officer thought.
"Let me make a call," Sylvan said after some time. He dialed a call to a master of a profession he didn't like: Journalist!
After some time, a video projection was displayed above his phone screen. The projection showed a blonde man in his early forties with fair skin.
"Well well~ How come the great chief supervisor of Delta City contacts a poor guy like me?" The blonde man asked.
"I need a favor," Sylvan answered.
"Let me guess. You want to hide the news of your incompetence in the wasteland," the blonde man said with a mocking tone.
"You know?" Sylvan asked. He didn't let the mocking tone affect him, or at least on the surface.
"Everyone knows. For the last hour, everyone in the corporates is talking about the deaths inside the team you gathered. Anyways, you want me to hide the news, right?"
"Yes. I want you to spread that a lightning missile test was conducted. Plus divert the public's attention," Sylvan said.
"Aha~ You want me to cheat my viewers? I could do no such thing! I am an ethical media owner!" The blonde man said.
"Daniel, stop your honesty bullshit. Name your price," Sylvan impatiently said. The Constitution offered rights to the journalists; otherwise, Sylvan would kill every single one of them. Unless the matter concerned with world security or the 'Nation of Terrorist,' the journalists were free to report anything.
"$50 million, plus a plot in the industrial zone with full clearance for my new pharmaceutical company," Daniel listed out his demands.
"You are asking too much. Lower your demands, and I will consider," Sylvan angrily said.
"I am already asking you such a low price. If I wanted too much I could have asked spirit fruits from mutated trees," Daniel countered.
"I can't grant you a license and clearance for a pharmaceutical company. The mayor has an exclusive right on it," Sylvan tried to reason. Each city was controlled by a chief supervisor and a mayor. The chief supervisor was selected by the World Government, but the mayor was elected by the people.
"You think I am a fool? You can easily influence the mayor by granting him a favor in return," Daniel said.
"That fat bastard would definitely ask for a big piece of the pie," Sylvan said.
"You loot common people, I loot you, mayor loot both you and people, someone loot him as well. Everything is a cycle as it should be," Daniel mused.
"Fuck your cycle. You only take but not give," Sylvan cursed.
"That's the perk of my profession. Anyways, do we have a deal?" Daniel asked.
"Yes. But you better divert all the attention," Sylvan answered.
"Don't you worry about that, I have a perfect scandal waiting for people's consumption. Anyways, you should contact other media houses as well. You are going to make so many people happy tonight," Daniel said with a laugh as the video conference ended.
Sylvan was enraged thinking about the loss he would suffer. He has more calls to make...
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Meanwhile, at SBC News Headquarters.
Daniel sat in his office room along with his wife, who appeared to be in her late thirties. She had raven-black hair and a fair complexion. Her eyes were deep brown in color.
"You really made the best deal," Daniel's wife praised him.
"Sarah, everything is thanks to your charm," Daniel replied.
"You give me too much credit," Sarah said with a smile.
"My love, not only did you guide me in dealing with Sylvan, but you also brought a perfect scandal for us. The timing couldn't have been better. It's as if God is helping us create so many events in a single night!" Daniel laughed happily.
When he mentioned 'the scandal,' he was especially excited about the TRP ratings.
"I was lucky that I was here when that kid brought the story. We could really spin it well," Sarah chuckled.
When she said the word 'kid,' she focused her attention on the virtual screen. On the screen, there was a live feed of a young man being trained by professionals in the art of speaking in front of the cameras.
The young man was the guard fired by Jack. He was the only person in the world who rejoiced at being fired from his job!