Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There was a fifty percent chance across the board for the felon experiment subjects to have their psionic potential awakened with just a standard vial of L compound injection.

Psionicists were not worth too much. It was the L compound that was considered valuable.

Following Chen Chen's orders, ten psionicists were transported to Spire 2 with the Watchman teleporter. Upon their arrival, they threw up all over the place like they just stepped off a roller coaster. This was the side effect of interplanetary teleportation.

These psionicists were not particularly powerful. They were made to stand in a line by the Black Knights for Chen Chen to evaluate them. With a glance, Chen Chen quickly noted that the strongest of the bunch were the three Gammlevel psionicists while the remaining seven were all of the lowest Deltlevel. Even mere Gammlevels were considered elite among this group.

These felon subjects were also fitted with a custom-made tungsten collar around their necks. At Gammlevel, they did not yet possess the strength to resist the explosive capabilities of these tungsten collars, not even with spirit form since it would only be at novice level, therefore it was easy to keep them in line this way.

Their psionic manifestations were relatively common as well. Among the three Gammlevel subjects, two of them acquired steel body fortification which was as common as they come while the other one was fortunate enough to attain a power known as “astral sight”.

After the L compound injection, the person's eyes turned into a fogged mirror-like his iris had developed cataracts. There was no cure for this symptom, even if the help of the reality anchor was employed. If not for the psionic presence in his body, any observer would think that he was a regular person plagued with a cataract.

The only function of this ability was that he could detect the presence of other psionicists…

What a strange power…

Chen Chen stepped in front of the psionicist with cataracts. The psionicist had his eyes shut tightly. Since his vision was clouded by this ability, he always had his eyes shut like he was a blind man.

Chen Chen sized up this weakly looking man who was still trembling with fear. An idea sparked within him and he proceeded to ask, “What's your name?”

“Shaw Winfred.”

The man shuddered when he heard Chen Chen's voice, his voice quivering. “You can just call me Shaw.”

“So, your ability allows you to identify psionicists, will you tell me how that works?”

Chen Chen asked casually.

“I, I just need to open my eyes and if there's any psionic presence nearby, I can see them…”

Shaw trembled like a feeble branch disturbed by a storm. “Well… I can only see a luminescent silhouette of psionicists with my eyes, I can't see regular people at all…”

“You're afraid?”

Chen Chen suddenly s.h.i.+fted the topic and looked straight into Shaw's eyes. “Why are you shaking? What are you afraid of?”

“I…”

Beads of sweat trickled down Shaw's forehead relentlessly. His legs gave out under him and he tumbled onto the floor.

Chen Chen winced at this sight and became even more perplexed. “I've looked up your information. Based on your background, I made you out to be quite competent, what makes you so terrified?”

“Sir, it's… I'm blinded by this dazzling light…”

Shaw buried his head into his chest. “Even with my eyes shut, I can still see the radiant sunlight stubbornly penetrating the gaps between my eyelids…”

Chen Chen raised an eyebrow and seemed to understand what Shaw was suggesting. “You mean you can see me?”

“Yes, I've never seen anything so bright in my life…”

Shaw saying something like this could easily be mistaken as a pathetic attempt at s.h.i.+ning Chen Chen's boots, except it was an honest statement because this was Chen Chen he was dealing with.

Could this imply that Shaw's true ability was gauging the psionic potential of a person?

A blind man who could measure psionic level?

It was a profound idea. Chen Chen had an inkling of suspicion that this person called Shaw could offer some surprisingly meaningful contribution to his subs.p.a.ce navigation technology…

With that, Chen Chen moved on from Shaw and turned to the others. “All ten of you have had your task relayed to you earlier but there's one more term I'd like to add – if you can survive this experiment, I promise to grant you freedom.”

These psionicists were shocked to hear of such a grand promise. They exchanged glances with each other as their eyes flickered with excitement.

“This person here is the supreme leader of Blackwatch.”

Nancy stepped forward and added. “You can trust him.”

This further riled their spirits.

“Provided that you can offer your cooperation in this experiment.”

Chen Chen added, his voice symbolic as ever. “If you don't abide by the orders issued from the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p just so you can keep yourself safe, I promise that you'll face severe consequences when you come back alive…”

This threat was extremely effective and quelled whatever ideas they were conjuring in their minds.

“Alright, get ready to depart.”

Chen Chen shot an intense look at Shaw one last time before leaving the teleportation hall.

After leaving, Chen Chen looked up Shaw's information again on his wrist.w.a.tch.

Shaw Winfred, thirty-five years old, born and raised in Sydney. This was a man with powerful conviction.

The reason Chen Chen evaluated him so was that years ago, Shaw had chanced upon his wife cheating on him with another man. In a fit of rage, he murdered the two of them then fled to Gambia, Africa.

Unsurprisingly, he had a hard time finding a place for himself in Gambia and resorted to the life of a nomad, seeking food and shelter everywhere he went. One time, he accidentally killed a local civilian in his frenzy for food and shelter and was sentenced to thirty years in prison by the Gambia officials. This was how he came to be sold to Blacklight.

This was a summary of Shaw's life.

Chen Chen looked at Shaw's psionic powers doc.u.mentation. The nature of his psionic manifestation was queer, to say the least, and would not give him a respectable placing in Blacklight Biotechnology. Despite these setbacks, he worked himself off night and day and honed his power as close to perfection as he could until he was finally promoted to Gammlevel. If not for the work he had put in, he would never see the light of day nor be brought to Chen Chen today.

Ten minutes later, Nancy reported again, “The transport rocket has successfully docked with the Courage Voyager. All ten psionicists have entered the transport.”

“Give them a rundown of the safety precautions.”

Chen Chen replied with a quick nod then diverted his full attention back to the current experiment.

…

Shaw always felt his life was separated into two distinct halves – one plagued with more misfortune than the other.

He was born in a wealthy family and things went just as well as they could for him during an early age. His parents loved him and he was relatively bright compared to most of his peers. He managed to enroll in the university of his choice. His venture in business after university went well and he even met the girl of his dreams.

Everything went downhill after he married her…

It was a regular day. He remembered some trivial incident had happened at work that day so he got to head home early. He wanted to give his beloved wife a surprise but life had a way of irony at times because he was just as surprised as his wife when he came home to what he saw.

In an instant, he went blind and senseless with rage. All the reasoning in the world went out of his mind. The only thing in his mind was a voice screaming at him to kill this person!

By the time he came back to his senses, he was sitting in a pool of blood joined by two puddles of blood, and feeling the cold steel of the gun in his arms.

To escape the judgment of the law, he had to escape his family, friends, and everything he acquired in his life to that point. He got in touch with a friend familiar with underground dealings and got himself ferried to Africa.

Things went well enough till the point when he arrived in Africa. That was when things went south again. It turned out that the friend that s.h.i.+pped him to his destination was never on his side to begin with. As soon as they arrived, he was stripped of all his possessions and abandoned in a fis.h.i.+ng village somewhere in the region.

With that, his life took another sharp turn as if things were not terrible enough as it was.

Someone who was once in the IT industry himself quickly realized that there was no demand for his talents here. He became homeless and would spend his days hiding in the reefs on the coast and venturing into the village at night to steal food from the fisherman's homes.

One day, during one of his many thieving episodes, a large, vicious man caught him in the middle of the act. They struggled for several minutes on the ground and Shaw accidentally killed the man with a brick.

Only this time, there was no way for him to escape and he was soon arrested by the local authorities.

What followed after was several months of prison before circ.u.mstances changed again.

One by one, the prison inmates were drugged and secretly s.h.i.+pped off to a secret inst.i.tute. In this place, Shaw and the rest of the inmates were well fed and taken care of for the better part of the year until one day, he was injected with a mysterious substance.

Shortly after that, he was blinded. He lost his regular sight and the only thing visible in his lens were luminescent objects.

Since he had been stripped of his freedom already, what difference was losing his sight was going to make anyway?

The trials and tribulations did not end there for he was further subjected to many inhumane experiments like a discardable a.s.set. In time, he found himself put into a rocket and transported to outer s.p.a.ce against his will.

“I wonder how many people can say that they have lived a life like mine…”

Stepping into the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, Shaw broke into a sour smile while he contemplated everything he had been through so far.

Some time ago, Shaw had realized that there was no hope left for him in this sorrowful life and there was no point in preserving anymore. However, with a strange twist of fate, this person whom they call to be the boss of Blackwatch just extended a chance at freedom to him, provided that the experiment was a success.

Although this promise was merely a faint mirage yet to be realized, he had to admit that it gave him strength.

Perhaps this was not another attempt at swindling him…

Shaw reflected while the Black Knights ushered him to his isolated room.

Upon entering the room, he inspected his surroundings by using his palms to feel the walls. He found out that he was now locked in a single room only roughly three square meters large. There were only the bare necessities here which were the bed and a toilet.

Shaw sighed and slowly settled himself into the bed. After so long, he had grown accustomed to life without regular vision so he honed his senses in other departments such as hearing and touch.

“Good afternoon, Deltlevel research subjects.”

In the midst of Shaw's silent contemplation, a broadcast broke his stream of thoughts. He was startled by the suddenness of it and could tell that this was an electronically synchronized voice of a female.

“As partic.i.p.ants of today's subs.p.a.ce navigation experiment, there's one thing that you are to keep in mind.”

The voice said with fixed composure, “You all are familiar with the term ‘psionic' by now. You've been injected with the L compound and thus successfully gained psionics abilities. The reason for your partic.i.p.ation in this experiment today is that we have specifically chosen you as the suitable candidates.

“In one hour, the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p will embark to perform a crucial task. Your only responsibility during the course of the experiment is to await orders and shut your eyes when you're instructed to do so.”

“Shut my eyes?”

Shaw frowned at this mention, what sort of crucial task was this supposed to be?

“Due to the significance of the experiment, your full cooperation is requested, otherwise, you'll be stripped of your rights to freedom after the experiment concludes…”

“Rights to freedom…”

Shaw's breathing accelerated when he heard this. As cynical as he tended to be these days, he was certainly moved by the prospect of freedom. Though he was still skeptical, he was willing to hold on to the slightest slither of hope!

“This is all that is needed of you all.”

The voice went on. “After you shut your eyes, there's a small possibility that I may issue further orders. The only thing you should keep in mind is that you must follow whatever orders I provide. Once the experiment is completed, you'll regain freedom!”

This final declaration marked the end of the announcement.

“Phew…”

Shaw tried to contain his antic.i.p.ation with a dragged-out sigh. He clenched his fist and felt something warm and fuzzy burning inside. He dearly wished that these people would fulfill their end of the promise.

Then, Shaw felt the floor beneath his feet trembling vividly. He felt his balance being slightly thrown off. It was an extremely subtle sensation and he only managed to feel it because his blindness had sharpened his other senses.

“This… Has the s.h.i.+p taken off?”

Shaw quickly understood what was happening. A faint smile formed on his lips. With how things had worked out for him since adulthood, he never expected himself to be able to board a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p at any point in his life. Yet, it seemed the impossible had happened.

In time, he felt the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p's gradual acceleration. The acceleration was rather tepid. There were hardly any signs of acceleration apart from the first slight turbulence he had felt. At one point, he even began to doubt if it was all in his head.

However, by the one-hour mark, another broadcast confirmed his suspicions.

“All partic.i.p.ants, the Courage Voyager will be preparing for s.p.a.ce warp. Please shut your eyes immediately.”

s.p.a.ce warp? Did it not only exist in sci-fi novels?

Shaw was perplexed by the usage of this queer term. He was aware that humans were now in the era of s.p.a.ce travel but based on his understanding, they were still eons away from achieving something like s.p.a.ce warp.

The gap between current technology and s.p.a.ce warp was like comparing wooden gears to modern machinery.

“I repeat, please shut your eyes immediately. Your cooperation will determine the outcome of this experiment!”

Shaw found this prompt almost insulting and shook his head. He was a blind man and he did not need anyone to tell him to shut his eyes. They were already shut in the first place.

“s.p.a.ce warp countdown: Thirty seconds…”

“Ten seconds…

“Nine, eight, seven…

“Three, two, one!”

Nearing the end of the cooldown, Shaw's heart was thumping like he had just ran a marathon. A second the end of the countdown, he took a deep breath. The entire s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p suddenly jolted violently. His ears were filled by the vicious roar of gus.h.i.+ng currents.

“Swoosh…”

Shaw listened to the sound of this strange, vicious current. It was around the same point when he smelled something obscure in the air. The reason it carried such an obscure quality was that it did not exactly feel like something he “smelled” with his nose. It was closer to an unplaceable awareness of its existence.

“Is this sulfur? Or biogas?”

Shaw found the experience disorientating. He even tried to sniff it deliberately but something in his mind recognized that this did not exist and that it was just conjured by his mind.

While this odd sensation continued to arrest him, the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p shook again. The jolt this time was so strong that it nearly threw him off the bed. He was taken aback by this. How could a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p in the void of the universe possibly encounter anything that would cause it to quake so greatly?

Unless it collided with something in the middle of the s.p.a.ce warp…