Vivian fidgetted nervously, clinging onto William’s arm. Marianne sat beside her sister, occasionally casting her concerned looks while Yuxia brooded at the other corner of the room. Zacharias sat across them, shifting ever so slightly like an unprepared interviewee while Victor sat on the meeting table with one leg over the other. William groaned internally. Must everyone be so formal?

“What’s going on?” Vivian whispered, looking at William worriedly. “Why does everyone look so serious?”

“No need to be scared; we’re all friends here,” William comforted her as though she were a five year old. “It’s alright, Vivi.”

“D-don’t call me that!” Vivian gasped wide eyed, tugging at his shirt.

“I suppose we should get started then,” Victor said.

“What were we waiting for in the first place?”

“For someone to start asking questions? But I suppose I’ll start first then.”

Zacharias leaned forward in response.

“We know that Firdaus is slowly taking over this entire region by absorbing all the other small settlements. How is he doing that?”

“The old fashioned way. Violence. And an army,” Zacharias replied. “An army of zombies, to be specific.”

“How does he control zombies?” Victor asked. “Is he an enhanced as well?”

“He controls them using an enhanced mutate. A mutate queen, if I may.” Zacharias pointed at Vivian. “You.”

Vivian flinched in response, shaking her head violently as if to fling out the horrible memories. Marianne instinctively moved to hold her hand.

“I don’t approve of his methods; I never did.” Zacharias closed his eyes and shook his head. “To inflict such mental torture on a young girl… It’s just inhumane.”

“C-can you elaborate?” William asked, trying his best to hide the pain from Vivian’s iron grip.

“The queen’s bio electric field resonates with the Earth’s electromagnetic field. All the other mutates within her range resonate in turn, thus making them directly controllable by the queen. However, this is a unique circumstance that can only be brought out with a terrible side effect. The queen must be under a state of extreme distress for her mind to be fractured enough. She’s trapped in her own mind, continually reliving her worst memories.”

“So any enhanced can be the queen? Does this mean that we’re all potential targets?”

“Yes, but not exactly.” Zacharias pulled a camera out and quickly snapped a photo of everyone. “If I’m not wrong-” He paused for a moment, inspecting the results intently. “Vivian is the only one who has a red glow.”

“That camera displays our auras in grey, green, yellow, red, and blue,” Marianne said excitedly. “The most evolved mutates are usually around red to blue, whereas normal humans are grey. Mine was yellow.”

“Very good, Marianne. You paid attention.” Firdaus beamed at her like an impressed teacher. “With Vivian’s evolution level, she can easily control mutates within the range of an entire region. That’s why Firdaus chose her; he’s not interested in anyone less evolved.”

“Wait, something’s not right. Firdaus mentioned that Vivian was experimented on as a child, but the mutation wave hasn’t happened yet. So how does he know she would be an enhanced?” Marianne asked.

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“Ah, I don’t suppose civilians would know about this,” Zacharias replied. “Contrary to common belief, the mutation wave was a man-made disaster that originated from Sector 162.”

“What?!” William shouted in surprise, jumping up from his seat.

“The government had been toying with the idea of human evolution for a few years,” Zacharias continued. “There was a theory that each and every human is at a different stage of evolution, and some of us are actually already evolved enough to push through to humanity’s next stage of evolution. Thus, a secret project was held to look for children with the potential to reach that next stage. Vivian’s parents were the first to volunteer her to be experimented on, and I was part of the team assigned to find a way to jumpstart our evolution.”

“It was a success, unfortunately. By altering the surrounding electric fields to interact with their own bio-electric field, their physical capabilities were augmented by at least tenfold via a passive form of ESP that they developed in the process. We tested child after child, never knowing if their parents consented or if they were simply kidnapped off the streets. We put them within a localised electric field, trying again and again to trigger their full mutation, but all of them lost their minds before it was complete. Vivian was the first successful test subject to trigger her complete mutation, not only retaining her mental capabilities, but developing an additional psychokinetic ability as well. And that’s where all the trouble began.”

He hung his head in regret. “The government immediately split into two factions; one side believed that we were messing with nature and insisted on a total shutdown of the project. The other pushed for a worldwide implementation of this concept, by altering the Earth’s very own electromagnetic field itself to trigger a mass mutation. I think it’s obvious which side had their way in the end.”

“Which side were you on?” Victor asked.

“The correct side,” Firdaus answered simply. “Vivian was successful only because she was evolved enough. Those who did not meet the bar only gained physical strength but lost all sense of their humanity, so they had to be put down.” His voice rose in agitation. “The answer was obvious! But of course, those short sighted bureaucrats never listen to reason.”

William’s eyes glazed over in shock. Billions of people dead, families torn apart, people living in fear of the outside world… All because of some petty squabble? He clenched his fist, holding in the primal rage that built within him. William wanted to scream, to knock some sense into those foolish officials. But he was too late, and too far away.

“So if I were to hazard a guess, Firdaus’ next move would be to secure a new queen to continue his conquest?” Yuxia spoke up, changing the subject abruptly.

“I don’t think so; he’s not the type to improvise. Knowing him, he would still be looking for his ‘Vivi’.”

Vivian shuddered at the name. Marianne reached out her hand again to comfort her sister, only to see Vivian already holding William tightly, buying her head in his shoulder. Marriane’s eyes narrowed.

“Then we should use her as bait to lure him out and finally end this madness,” Yuxia suggested.

“What? No way, that’s too dangerous!” Marianne exclaimed.

“He’s going to be coming for all of us eventually anyway. We should be taking the offensive before he gets the upper hand again. I’m sure Vivian can handle a few minutes of danger.”

“Shut up! That’s my sister you’re talking about!” Marianne yelled, walking up to Yuxia threateningly.

“Look, fight club,” Yuxia said unfazed. “We haven’t met yet, but you’re not the only one who has someone you care about. We all have our own goals too. All I’m suggesting is to get rid of whatever’s threatening your sister as quickly as possible. Why don’t you just listen to reason and stop whining?”

Anger flared in Marianne’s eyes. “I’m not taking instructions from a killer,” she retorted spitefully.

“Childish,” Yuxia muttered under her breath.

Marianne glowered at her, but Victor quickly stepped in between them before the room went up in flames.

“Calm down, ladies. Yuxia isn’t entirely wrong, but Vivian’s in no condition to act as bait at the moment either. We shouldn’t rush this. Our best course of action is to shore up our defences to protect her for now.”

“Tch, whatever.” Yuxia rolled her eyes and walked out of the room.

Victor walked back to the centre of the room as Marianne went back to her seat. William gave her an appreciative pat on the shoulder.

“So have I earned a place in your settlement?” Zacharias asked hopefully.

“Yes, you have earned it a hundredfold. Rest assured, we do not function like Firdaus’ settlement,” Victor said warmly. “We will be prepared should he come knocking down our doors. For now, let’s wait for Masako to wake up and keep an eye on Mr Cha.”