CHAPTER 3: 'Strangers' organization

After a fierce battle, Jona's body felt weak. He barely had the force to stand up. He looked at the dead scorpion in the pool of blood and couldn't help but feeling afraid. For those who killed these mutants for the first time, Jona did pretty well; at least he didn't collapse in fear.

The annoying voice of Dr.Wilson disturbed Jona's thinking once again:" Stop standing there like a fool and open your storage ring! "

Jona saw the delicate ring on his left hand and asked:" How to open this thing?"

"You just think about opening it, and it will automatically open." Dr.Wilson continued, "This ring has a brainwave receiver equipped in it. It can detect what you're thinking by brainwaves."

Sure enough, the storage ring opened as soon as Jona thought about it.

"You're lucky that the two scratches don't have any venom on them. Take out the healing cream and apply it to your wound." Dr.Wilson said as Jona followed his orders...

Slowly, Jona has learned to face all kinds of accidents like a sudden change of weather and dealing with a wound in battle... But the most important thing that Jona learned that bought the training to an end is the ability to activate his outbreak period at will. What's even more, the harder Jona trained, the shorter his period of weakness became. After the harsh training, he only had to eat a power storing pill after using his ability to recover the massive amount of energy he spent.

Jona was a quick learner, and Dr.Wilson was quite fond of him...

Earth, 2437. 2 January. 5144 days after GNW (Global Nuclear War):

Jona had only been trained for two weeks before he reached the minimum requirement for actual combat. In fact, an hour in real life is equivalent to a day in virtual practice, so Jona had done over four months of training in the simulated world during these two weeks.

"Jona, you passed the test, and now you will go to the Strangers' training base for the first time." Dr.Wilson said after Jona killed ten giant scorpions in a row.

Jona was excited but a bit sad. Although he was scolded by Dr.Wilson every day, he was reluctant to do so when it's really time to part.

He said goodbye to Dr. Wilson and was led away by a soldier who was wearing a white uniform with a red badge on his chest. They descended for at least another 200 meters before the elevator opened, leading them to a long corridor with red carpet spreading on the floor. At the end of the narrow passage, they entered the main hall. There were delicate stone carvings on the walls of the enormous hall. Jona could see some soldiers wearing the same white uniform, but with different colors of badges.

"So these are all the 'strangers' Dr.Wilson was talking about, huh..." Jona wondered as he followed the man who led him into another big room.

"This is where new soldiers are recruited. M04-1891, do you see the man standing on the platform? He'll explain all the rules to you." The soldier explained before he left, leaving Jona there alone.

More and more people gathered in the hall, always accompanied by a soldier. And several minutes later, the man on the podium gestured us to be quiet before he said:" Welcome, everyone! You're all the candidates of 'Strangers,' and today, we'll recruit 35 of you, and here's the rule."

His eyes swept over us, and there was something sinister in them. He continued:" By drawing lots, everyone will be paired off. In each pair, only one person will survive, and the winner is decided by real combat. And of course, there's 70 of you, so there'll be 35 pairs, now please line up and draw lots one by one."

Jona gasped. He has never heard of such a rule before. But by looking at other candidates' expression, he could tell that no one knows beforehand.

Jona was in the middle of the line. He could see that after drawing the lots, some people were delighted, some sighed helplessly, some were nervous as their hands trembled slightly.

The person who drew the lot consciously finds his opponent in the line and pulls him out. And Jona was shocked when a muscular man in his twenties suddenly put his hand on Jona's shoulder. He said:" My name is Zakary. You are quite unfortunate for being my opponent, but I can give you a quick death if you want."

Jona was taken back by this powerful remark, but he soon calmed himself down and said:" I am Jona. It's very nice to meet you, but about the combat, we'll see." And he smiled gently to Zakary.

Zakary frowned, and there was a gleam of anger in his eyes. He squeezed his hand holding on to Jona's shoulder so hard that Jona began to groan.

"Looks like you're pretty weak. Are you?" there was a smirk on Zakary's face when he said it. He deliberately spoke loudly so that everyone around Jona could hear it. Jona said nothing but to give the man an angry look.

Everyone turned around and saw Jona's painful expression and thought it was impossible for such a young man to win.

"I'll be waiting for you to impress me, Jona," said Zakary before he went away. Everyone looked at Jona sympathetically...