BXBX NOVEL Chapter 21 - 21: The Role of Crystallization!
Nanyuan Military District.
Since the sun came up, the spatial channels disappeared here.
The insects that were originally madly attacking humans also found places to curl up.
Only then could Nanyuan’s military take a breather.
After a series of rest and calculations, Military District Commander Wang Dezhen obtained the latest data.
[Total number of Nanyuan Military District is 52332 people, 7435 dead, 15134 injured…]
The casualties were very heavy, and this was fight took place under prepared circumstances.
It’s simply that these beetles are not on the same level as Earth’s creatures; their density is too high!
[Number of superpowered awakened: 544 people, preliminary judgement, chance of ordinary people awakening is one percent…]
Wang Dezhen had seen these superpowered individuals, whose abilities are vast and varied.
There were those who could spew fire, those who could spew water, those whose strength increased, and those whose speed increased.
In the battle against the beetles, all of these superpowered people had shone brightly.
Those beetles that couldn’t be penetrated with bullets often fell one by one to these people.
However, possibly due to having just awakened, these peoples’ abilities were not very strong. After each display of superpower, they had to go through a period of weakness.
Because of this, he had specifically established a special forces group to accommodate these superpowered individuals.
Just as he was going through these files, the head of the research department, Lu Youcai, suddenly walked in.
“What’s the matter?”
The research department generally didn’t come here without cause, and if the head personally came to visit, it must be a big matter. Wang Dezhen closed the door while he asked.
Lu Youcai said with a serious expression: “I have an important piece of information to report to you!”
“The red crystal inside the Black Beetle, we have researched it. It shares the same attribute as the invisible dark matter in the air, but it is more solid…
“This crystal is extremely solid, none of our current methods can cut or destroy it, but strangely, this thing can be absorbed by human bodies once it enters…”
Wang Dezhen frowned: “You used live people for the experiment?”
Lu Youcai shook his head: “They were volunteers. It’s useless to discuss these things at this critical moment for mankind!”
After finishing his sentence, he continued: “Through a large number of experiments, we discovered that among the people who swallowed these crystals, there’s a ten percent chance of awakening a superpower!”
“Ten percent?”
Wang Dezhen was shocked, and asked: “How many superpowered individuals have you managed to create?”
“Not many, just over fifty!”
Wang Dezhen was speechless. Over fifty thousand people on his side had naturally awakened, and only a bit over five hundred individuals had become superpowered. On his side, through experimentation, more than fifty superpowered individuals had been created.
“So you’re saying, ten crystals can cause one person to awaken. Does this method of awakening have side effects? How does the combat power compare to those who naturally awaken?”
Lu Youcai shook his head: “So far, we haven’t found any side effects, and the gap in combat power isn’t large. I speculate that superpowers might be inherent in the human body, and just need dark matter to activate…”
“Those who naturally awaken are usually people who are close to dark matter. They basically don’t need that kind of crystal to awaken. The people who do require those crystals, are the next best at being close to dark matter…” “Wait, you’re saying?”
“We conducted an experiment by making a single subject swallow crystals. We found that, even after consuming more than ten, or even dozens of crystals, some people still couldn’t awaken a superpower!”
“While some people had their superpower awakened even before swallowing ten crystals…”
“Thus, we’ve classified the awakening of superpowers into three categories. The first are the Natural Awakened with a temporary close-to-dark-matter rating of A. Those who awaken by swallowing fewer than ten crystals are rated B. Those who, even after swallowing more than ten crystals, still can’t awaken, are rated C…”
Wang Dezhen interjected, “Are there D-levels?”
Lu Youcai smiled and nodded, “Yes, we have ten test subjects who have swallowed more than one hundred crystals each, but none of them show any signs of awakening… these people are classified as D-level.”
Before Wang Dezhen could speak, he continued, “Furthermore, we have also fed Black Beetle crystals to Superpowered individuals of different levels who have already awakened; their abilities have all enhanced to varying degrees…”
“Which matches the situations I’ve ranked them in; the A-level Natural Awakened, those who are superpowered, often absorb the crystals faster, and their ability to enhance is stronger…”
Wang Dezhen frowned and said, “So, you mean that superpowered individuals can be divided into four levels according to their potential, and theoretically, A-level, or Natural Awakened, grow quickly and have a high limit?”
“Correct!”
“How many crystals have we collected?”
“We have over 5000 red crystals from the Black Beetles; we used over 4000 in the experiments, leaving around 1000. We also have eight orange crystals, extracted from Golden Beetles, which we haven’t experimented with yet…”
“So, among the 50,000 people here, roughly 5000 of them have B-level potential, and each of them requires ten red crystals to awaken. This means that I only need 500,000 red crystals to have 5000 awakened individuals?”
“No, it’s 5 million crystals!”
“Hmm?”
“We currently do not have a definitive way to distinguish a person’s potential; it can only be assessed by their reaction to crystal ingestion. So, if you want to awaken 5000 people, you have to get all 50,000 people to ingest red crystals, ten each…
With this calculation, it means that among ten people, one will have B-level potential. With each person consuming ten red crystals, a maximum of 100 red crystals can produce one Awakened person.
Therefore, it’s quite a feat that over 4000 red crystals have successfully awakened over 50 individuals.
Considering the effects of the red crystals, the orange ones, which contain stronger dark matter energy, are an excellent choice for awakening people and enhancing superpowers.
“What do you suggest?”
“I’ve drawn up a plan. You nominate one general to ingest the orange crystals. If they awaken successfully, you can be next. I recommend that the rest should be used to enhance the abilities of the A-level superpowered individuals!”
Compared to using orange crystals to awaken ordinary people, he felt that it was more urgent to improve the strength of the superpowered individuals.
Because it was clear to them that once night falls, the spatial channels would still appear, and numerous insects would attack again.
“Understood ! ”
Wang Dezhen, without any hesitation, agreed to Lu Youcai’s plan, and started to consider the other seven candidates in his mind.
At this point, he couldn’t afford to be negligent. These candidates had to be both talented and loyal.
In the face of a world-wide disaster, some of those with superpowers might have other ideas.
Although he didn’t have many close aides because the military district command was frequently rotated, thankfully this was a military zone where most people were loyal to the country. He quickly made his selection without much difficulty.
“Call those seven people here to awaken here in front of me!”
Of these seven, in addition to his orderly who would be the first test subject, the other six were higher-ranking officers who were already awakened. They had all gone through many years of military service and were prepared for this.
After they had all awakened, Wang Dezhen gave another order.
“Clear out those hidden insects and collect as many crystals as possible!”
In the meantime, he had already discussed with others.
The collected crystals would be distributed in a 442 split.
Fourty percent would be given to the awakened superpowered individuals depending on their contribution and potential level in order to improve their abilities.
The other forty percent would be used for unawakened individuals who also need to show their contribution, with a maximum limit of ten crystals per person.
At the current stage, they didn’t have enough crystals to awaken those with C-level and below potential, so they decided to prioritize those with higher potential.
The final twenty percent would be given to the research department for experiments.
Compared to using crystals to awaken ordinary people, Wang Dezhen would prefer to use the crystals to develop powerful weapons!