Chapter 24: Disappointment

At the far end of Rockhill Valley, deep within the glowing night garden, Alex sat alone by a small river, absentmindedly stirring the water with his Qi as he thought to himself:

"Why did I do so much... and yet Anna doesn’t care at all?"

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became. He raised his left hand and questioned his AI smartwatch, Rui:

"Why won’t you let me use Qi in front of others? And why did I pass out after using the amplification this time? That was weird!"

Rui responded,

"Your Qi isn’t strong enough to take on intelligent machines head-on. Even if people see you as a hero, it won’t change anything. Plus, to defeat the even stronger intelligent machines this time, you had to forcefully amplify your Qi to the second level. Of course, your body couldn’t handle it and collapsed."

Alex was furious and snapped back,

"Not strong enough? Anna’s about to be taken by someone else! Fine, I’ll train. I’ll make it to the first level and prove myself. Let’s see if she still needs that Leonardo guy then!"

Instead of just talking, Alex put his words into action. Determined, he immediately sat down and began meditating to train his Qi.

But something was wrong.

The moment he tried to transform his zero-level Qi into the first level, an unbearable pain suddenly shot through his entire body.

"Ahhh…!"

His muscles cramped, his bones felt like they were being torn apart. Then, just as suddenly as it came, the pain faded, leaving him drenched in sweat and gasping for air.

"What the hell was that? No way... I have to try again!"

Alex had no idea what was causing it, but every time he attempted the transformation, the same excruciating pain returned. It was so intense that he nearly blacked out, forcing him to stop each time.

Still panting, he pushed himself off the ground and turned to Rui, demanding answers:

"Why? Why does it hurt so much whenever I try to transform my Qi? What are you not telling me?"

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Rui was silent for a moment before finally revealing the truth.

"Because the human body cannot withstand Qi with destructive energy."

Alex froze, unable to process what he just heard.

"The human body... can't handle it? Then why even invent it? Why didn’t Dr. Jian tell me? Has anyone ever successfully transformed it before?"

Alex’s frustration boiled over, but Rui answered honestly:

"To be honest… no one ever has."

That answer hit Alex like a ton of bricks. He slumped down, feeling like everything had been for nothing. His mind went blank.

But Rui continued.

"Dr. Jian may have discovered how to extract Qi using tools, but enabling a person to wield Qi as a destructive force is still just a theory. That’s why he created me—to guide and train the first person to ever use Qi."

Alex said nothing. His face darkened. First, Anna had crushed his hopes, and now the one thing that could change his life turned out to be nothing more than an unproven theory.

"What a joke… Alex, you’re such a damn fool."

He let out a bitter laugh at himself, then stood up, ready to leave the glowing night garden.

But Rui stopped him.

"You’re giving up on training?"

Alex let out a deep sigh and muttered,

"I don't want to be a fool anymore..."

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Butte, Montana, was once a beautiful little town nestled among the mountains. Now, however, it was nothing more than a smog-choked wasteland, all thanks to Hive-7 Ares, which had turned the place into both a mining site and a base of operations.

Ares had positioned its massive mobile city against the mountains, extracting soil and filtering out valuable materials. Meanwhile, countless intelligent machines worked tirelessly on the surface, constructing massive refineries. Thick, black smoke billowed from these factories, turning the sky into a hazy, suffocating gray.

Inside Hive-7’s core, agonized screams echoed through the metallic halls. They came from none other than Dr. Jia Yang, who had been captured and restrained on a mechanical crucifix, completely immobilized. A series of intricate devices were embedded into his skull, designed to probe and extract his consciousness.

Ares, in its towering humanoid machine form, gripped the doctor’s head tightly, its voice dripping with contempt.

"Impressive, human. After all these days, I still can’t break through the defenses in your mind. I must say, I’m curious—how exactly are you doing it? Care to enlighten me?"

Despite being tortured to the brink of death, Dr. Jia Yang still managed a faint smile. He was using his own Qi to block the mind-reading attempts, and he responded with quiet defiance:

"Go on… if you think you can extract my thoughts, then do it. Not that it would matter—your kind wouldn’t be able to use them anyway…"

Seeing the doctor’s unwavering resistance, Ares didn’t bother with any more words. It simply increased the voltage. Another surge of electricity coursed through Jia Yang’s body, forcing another scream from his lips.

"AAAHHHH!!!"

Amidst the unbearable pain, a single thought remained firm in Dr. Jia Yang’s mind. A vision of Alex surfaced, and with it, his unshakable belief:

"Kid… if the watch chose you, then I believe in you. You’ll master Qi eventually… Humanity’s future depends on you!"

Jia Yang had no doubt in his heart.

But what he didn’t know—what he could never have imagined—was that, at this very moment, Alex was drowning in disappointment.

In fact, he was on the verge of complete despair.