CHAPITER 2: Virtual Training

Earth, 2436. 18 December. 5129 days after GNW (Global Nuclear War):

Jona opened his eyes slightly. "Why am I here?" he wondered. Jona suddenly felt something on his head. He fumbled it with his hands and concluded that he must be wearing an advanced machine that resembled a helmet.

Temporarily ignoring the thing on his head, Jona looked around and saw a lamp suspended from the roof that gave off a blinding light. The walls of the room were made entirely of transparent bullet-proof glass. He could see the outside of the room. Outside the chamber was an enormous machine with all kinds of buttons.

Then, a serious-looking man, with a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, came and sat in the leather chair before the machine. He opened the microphone and said:" M04-1891, is it?"

His voice could be heard clearly over the radio in the empty room. And Jona nodded his head, meaning yes. "And your name is Jona?" asked the man. Jona nodded again.

"Jona, do you have any memories before you're ten years old?" asked the man while his hands kept on pressing different buttons. Jona was a bit surprised, because when a noble speaks to a worker, he addresses him by code name. But he said nothing, he just shook his head. It was true that he didn't remember anything before ten years old.

The man nodded but didn't say anything. He punched several lines of code into the console board of the machine.

"Jona, every Worker here has no memories before ten. That's because we paralyzed a part of your brain that stores memories so that you don't recall the bloody scenes of the war." the man hesitated a little before continuing, "From the blood test report, we found that your blood cells' mutations are very similar to those of the 'mutants.'"

Jona didn't understand clearly what the man said. The man saw his puzzling expression, so he added: "To put it simply, you are a mixture between a human and a mutant. "

"Because of this, you have an unnatural ability, but it is very hard to control. Your ability is a short period of outbreak. During your outbreak, you will activate all potentials in your body. Your metabolism will speed up, and you'll feel unlimited power." the man said, ignoring Jona's doubtful expression, "But each time after using this skill, your body becomes feeble for a short time. Even a 10-year-old boy could easily kill you during this period."

Jona asked:" Do I really have a supernatural ability?" He obviously didn't believe such nonsense. The man nodded before he said with a serious tone:" Because the elders never left any potential talent, they've decided to make you a member of the Strangers."

Jona frowned at him, then he asked cautiously, "What is Stranger?" The man seemed to be keeping him in suspense by purpose, for he just coldly said, "You'll know about this later." Then, as if he suddenly realized he forgot something, he added: "By the way, I'm Dr.Wilson Hill, you can call me Dr.Wilson."

"Alright, Dr.Wilson. You explained a lot to me, but what exactly will I do?" Jona asked out of curiosity. "You will be a Stranger and do tasks on the front line. But before we go that far, I'll have to train you first." Dr.Wilson said as he pressed a prominent red button with the word 'start' written on it. Jona didn't even have time to react before the machine on his head suddenly emitted an electric current, putting him into a deep sleep...

The next time he woke up, he was astonished by the scene before him: He was standing in a deserted street. It used to be a busy shopping district, but now there were only a few ragged buildings. The ground was covered with sand, and the thickness has even reached the second floor of some buildings. It felt as if a gentle breeze would stir up the sand all over the sky.

Dr. Wilson's impatient voice bought Jona back to reality: "This is a simulated environment based on real data from the earth's surface. Everything you feel will be just like in reality, including your pain. And this is where you're going to train."

Jona nodded and suddenly found himself wearing a heavy suit that covered himself entirely from head to toe. "If you're wondering what you're wearing, this is the radiation protecting suits. And by the way, I am monitoring you on my machine, so I can see what you're thinking, what you see, there's nothing I can't see. So don't think about lewd stuff..."

"Isn't it you who thought of that?" Jona didn't even know what to say to this perverted old man. Dr.Wilson selectively ignored the part where Jona said he's a pervert. He continued:" Studies have shown that your ability is only activated in life or death situations. So your goal will be to activate it whenever you want, and don't let the desire to kill take over your consciousness like you did last time."

"Now, I'll be going to spawn two enemies in front of you. Your mission is to kill them, understand?" asked the doctor. Jona nodded.

In a blink of an eye, two beams of strong lights appeared in front of Jona. As the light faded, Jona saw two giant scorpions, the size of a child. The blood-red eyes of the two scorpions were fixed on Jona, the way a hunter looks at his prey.

The two scorpions wagged their tails ferociously, shooting out two venomous sting shot from the end of it. The two shots went like bullets, going directly for Jona's heart and left eye. Jona's mind flashed with strange scenes again, just like the last time. With the previous experience, Jona knew that he'd soon go into an outburst and tried to focus on something else to distract himself. He didn't want the desire to kill to get ahead of his mind.

The resentment in Jona's heart grew stronger and stronger, and the time that lasted less than half a second seemed like a century for him. Jona gritted his teeth, and beads of sweat rose from his forehead. And just before the poisonous spike was about to penetrate his eye, Jona avoided the two mortal stings by lowering his body to its extreme.

Then he ran like the wind, leaving a deep footprint in the sand each step. And before the two scorpions could react, Jona grabbed the tail of one of them, then twisted its tail in two with the bare force of his hands. The scorpion fell to the ground, completely dead. But the other reacted quickly, reaching out with its forepaw and clawed at Jona so hard that two scratches left by the scorpion stained his clothes with blood.

Regardless of the pain, Jona whirled around and kicked the scorpion so hard that it banged against an abandoned building's wall and fell to the ground. The scorpion was already half-dead, and Jona crushed its head with a heavy stomp...