Chapter 39: The Heir?

Chapter 39: The Heir?

Jiang Yi and Ke Lin were staying at the headquarters of the Wild Wolf Corps.

The next day, they unexpectedly encountered Zuo Lai.

Some time ago, Hera had led a team to rescue minority race Espers who had been imprisoned by the federal government and brought them to the headquarters.

Among these minority races, because they were Espers, they had mostly received kindness from the Federation. The persecution suffered by ordinary minority races was something they rarely experienced.

Thus, even after three months of imprisonment, they hadn’t developed a sense of rebellion. Many still wanted to escape back and join the Esper Teams to resist the Wild Wolf Corps together.

It wasn’t until Tian Rui had them remove their neck rings and proved that all minority race neck rings contained a mental restraint secretly implanted by the Federal Research Institute.

This restraint prevented them from unleashing the power of their bloodline, condemning them to remain in a semi-beast form for life. The genes of the minority races had never degenerated; it was all a conspiracy by the Federal Research Institute.

After that, few people brought up going back.

But also because minority races and humans had coexisted for many years, they had loved ones among the general populace. A full-scale war would inevitably lead to chaos.

Therefore, this war was destined to start from the upper echelons of management.

After rescuing the controlled minority race Espers, Hera forced the mayor of Snow City to sign a resignation letter and had herself recommended as the new mayor. Within a few days, the resisting families in the city were eliminated, while the supportive ones were retained, completing the transfer of power.

The Wild Wolf Corps adopted the same approach in other key cities. Over the past few months, they had seized control of nearly one-third of the Federation’s cities.

Meanwhile, the Federation’s counterattacks grew increasingly fierce, continuously dispatching Esper Teams to attack Wild Wolf Corps strongholds.

Originally, just removing the special neck rings would allow the suppressed bloodline power of minority races to awaken automatically after three to five years. But now, with the urgent situation, more bloodline awakeners were needed among the minority races.

Thus, the few Psychic Ability Espers and healing-type Espers within the Wild Wolf Corps developed a serum to counteract the mental restraint.

The success rate of this serum wasn’t high, and there were occasional side effects.

At that moment, Jiang Yi and Ke Lin were downstairs when they saw a figure in the distance who looked very much like Zuo Lai.

In the Wild Wolf Corps, most werewolves had already awakened their bloodlines and typically stayed in human form. Zuo Lai was still in his semi-beast form, but the neck ring he had worn for years had been removed.

He was leaning against a wall, struggling to move forward, clearly in great pain.

Jiang Yi and Ke Lin hurried over.

“Senior Zuo Lai, what’s wrong?” Jiang Yi asked, supporting his shoulder.

Zuo Lai’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his whole body trembled slightly. His vision was actually somewhat blurry. With effort, he recognized Jiang Yi and said in surprise, “It’s you. How did you get here?”

Jiang Yi replied, “It’s a long story. What’s happening to you? Are you unwell? Where’s the medical room? I’ll take you there.”

“It’s fine. The doctor said… these symptoms are normal. I just… didn’t expect it to happen so quickly…” Zuo Lai’s head spun with dizziness, making it difficult for him to speak.

Jiang Yi wasn’t aware of the Wild Wolf Corps’ plans, but Zuo Lai was his friend. He couldn’t just stand by and watch him suffer.

“Senior, forgive my intrusion.”

Jiang Yi used his Telepathy ability on Zuo Lai, learning about the Wild Wolf Corps’ bloodline awakening plan and seeing that the medical room had injected him with the mental serum.

If it was a mental-type serum, could his own ability help Zuo Lai too?

Jiang Yi activated his “Mental Soothing” ability on Zuo Lai. He had only used this ability on Ke Lin before and wasn’t sure if it could assist Zuo Lai.

Under Jiang Yi's psychic calming, Zuo Lai indeed felt much better, no longer suffering from splitting headaches or blurred consciousness. Instead, a strange, unnatural fever arose within his body.

In the office building diagonally across from them, Tian Rui and Hera watched the scene unfold below through the glass.

"I hope Jiang Yi's ability is effective for bloodline awakening," Hera said.

She knew Ke Lin had awakened his bloodline thanks to Jiang Yi's aid. Originally, she had hoped Jiang Yi could assist them, but after last night's incident, she feared Jiang Yi might bear a resentment against her. Therefore, she specifically put forward Zuo Lai, letting Jiang Yi test his abilities first.

Ke Lin had a keen sense of smell, especially having just smelled Tian Rui's blood.

The moment Tian Rui stood before the glass window, Ke Lin noticed him. He met Tian Rui's gaze briefly before looking away as if he hadn't seen anything.

Guessing their intentions, Ke Lin secretly curled his lip in displeasure. He didn't much like this father of his, who hadn't passed on the fertility trait and also made his master use psychic calming on someone else.

Jiang Yi was still directing his ability toward Zuo Lai when he suddenly sensed a burst of energy about to erupt within Zuo Lai's body.

He hastily withdrew his ability and stepped back two paces with Ke Lin.

In an instant, Zuo Lai's body suddenly expanded, his clothes bursting into shreds. His coat became dense and shaggy all over, his front half crouching forward as he transformed into a blackish-gray adult wild wolf in the blink of an eye.

"Success!" Hera cried out in delight by the window.

It seemed Jiang Yi's ability, combined with the psychotropic serum from the medical ward, could significantly increase the success rate of werewolf bloodline awakening.

Currently, the Esper Teams were launching large-scale counterattacks, and the early strategic advantages of the Wild Wolf Corps were gradually diminishing.

In a direct comparison, human Espers outnumbered and outperformed the Wild Wolf Corps in both quantity and ability.

Only by awakening more werewolves' bloodlines could they stand a chance in battle.

Jiang Yi made a demand: he would help them remove the psychic restraints, but they must release him and Ke Lin, and they must not harm ordinary civilians during the war.

He had initially thought Tian Rui would refuse, but to his surprise, Tian Rui agreed without hesitation. His exact words were: "I never intended to restrict my son's freedom. As for the latter demand, we have been doing that all along."

While using his ability on several werewolves simultaneously, Jiang Yi discovered that he seemed to have awakened another power.

He called it the "Mental Domain." Within the range of his mental energy, he could use his abilities on everyone in the domain—enhancing their strength or suppressing it.

Of course, those with higher Esper levels were less affected by Jiang Yi's restrictions.

Such a wide-ranging ability was vanishingly rare within the entire Esper system.

Jiang Yi speculated that this might be the final ability within his S-class Psychic Ability.

What still troubled him was that Ke Lin's belly was not shrinking as Tian Rui had said it would.

Instead, it continued to grow slowly.

Each time Jiang Yi asked, Ke Lin would calmly tell him that he knew it was a false pregnancy, that there was no child in his belly.

It wasn't until Jiang Yi used his ability on Ke Lin that he sensed Ke Lin's true thoughts.

Ke Lin actually believed he, like Tian Rui, had a gestational sac, but it was too well-hidden to be detected.

These days, Jiang Yi had specifically researched and learned that male werewolves like Tian Rui, who developed a gestational sac after transformation, were vanishingly rare in the entire history of the werewolf lineage.

It was an event of very low probability.

Although Ke Lin was Tian Rui's biological son, it was highly unlikely he had inherited the gestational sac.

Jiang Yi took Ke Lin to the medical room at the Wild Wolf Corps headquarters for a comprehensive physical examination.

The facts proved to Ke Lin that there really was no gestational sac in his body.

Only when Ke Lin truly believed it and gave up on the pregnancy would his belly gradually shrink.

Unfortunately, Ke Lin seemed unchanged and even asked Jiang Yi, if they had a child, whether his master would prefer a boy or a girl.

Jiang Yi didn’t answer, just held Ke Lin, his heart aching, “Having you is enough for me.”

Tian Rui was standing at the door of the medical room. No one had noticed when he arrived.

“Chief, you’re here.” The doctor stood up and saluted Tian Rui.

Tian Rui nodded, signaling him to sit down.

Then he looked at Ke Lin teasingly, “Son, you’re really stubborn—this part doesn’t resemble me at all.”

“Chief, you said Ke Lin’s belly would shrink on its own, but recently it hasn’t gotten smaller. In fact, it’s slowly getting larger. Do you really have no other methods?” Jiang Yi asked.

He didn’t understand. If Ke Lin’s belly continued to grow, it could threaten his life. Yet Tian Rui, as Ke Lin’s biological father, didn’t seem worried at all.

Jiang Yi looked at Tian Rui, wanting to know what was on his mind.

“Are you using your Esper ability on me?” Tian Rui looked at Jiang Yi, his gaze stern, that of a superior whose authority had been challenged. “Don’t waste your effort. You may be S-class, but my Esper level is four tiers higher than yours. You can’t read my thoughts.”

Four tiers higher?

Jiang Yi’s Esper level was Tier 5, so Tian Rui must be Tier 9!

Those above Tier 5 are high-level Espers, and those above Tier 8 are super Espers. In the entire Federation, there are no more than ten super Espers.

Few people know just how powerful a super Esper can be. Even if they can’t single-handedly face thousands of troops, taking on a hundred by themselves is still doable.

Jiang Yi gave up the attempt. Looking at Tian Rui’s sharply defined profile, he suddenly said, “I wonder if the Chief knows a boss named Wei Yi? He runs a beast-fighting arena in the West District.”

Hearing this name suddenly, Tian Rui’s eyebrow twitched involuntarily.

The West District of Snow City had long been taken over by the Wild Wolf Corps, but they hadn’t found the owner of the largest underground beast-fighting arena there.

That bastard. Sooner or later, he would catch him.

He would lock him underground for life.

Tian Rui snorted coldly, “Kid, sometimes knowing too much isn’t a good thing.”

Jiang Yi remembered: he had once seen, in Wei Yi’s mind, the back of an imprisoned Wolf King.

No wonder he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity the first time he saw Tian Rui.

Even though Tian Rui now wore a military uniform, clean and upright, his build and aura were almost identical to that ragged werewolf locked in a giant iron cage.

Federal Research Institute.

An old man sat leaning in his wheelchair, his hair gray, his eyes lightly closed, looking as if he were asleep.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, bright and clear, and he gripped the wheelchair’s armrests excitedly, “He’s here! My successor has appeared!”

His subordinates nearby hurried over, “Director, really? Did you sense where he is?”

The current Director is nearly a hundred years old. Since the time of the previous Director, the Federal Research Institute decided to inject the "Mental Restraint" ability into the neck rings of all minority ethnic groups to prevent their genetic activation.

However, such an advanced Psychic Ability can only be performed by an S-class Psychic Esper.

To ensure the birth of an S-class Psychic Esper in every generation, each Director would have children with different high-level ability users.

The current Director has the most descendants. In his later years, he even directly ordered the use of his sperm to combine with high-quality egg cells, continuously generating his own offspring.

This was because, until he was nearing the end of his life, he still had not fathered an S-class Psychic Esper descendant.

The Federal Research Institute cannot be left without a successor.

And just now, by expending a great deal of psychic energy, he sensed the emergence of an S-class descendant of his own.

Whether it was due to the negligence of caregivers allowing the child to be lost outside, or the child escaping on their own, that child was not within his territory.

But in any case, he had sensed the child's location.

The Director had a map brought to him.

He drew a red circle on the outskirts of West City.

"Take the most elite esper soldiers and go here. Bring my heir back."

"Yes, sir!"

The headquarters of the Wild Wolf Corps, that nationally famous military academy, is located exactly within this red circle.

Author's Note:

The backgrounds of both characters are about to be revealed.