The Natives of This World Are Fierce

Ben sat in the hospital room, reaching up to touch the "Ice Bag Clothing" on his chest and back.

When he wasn’t too agitated, the custom-made garment could maintain his body temperature for about an hour.

At night, someone would come in to change the ice packs for him while he slept.

Ben was almost used to this way of resting, but he still couldn’t get used to being bedridden for so long.

He quietly moved an ice pack aside.

Just a few seconds later, his chest began to grow hot and itchy. Startled, Ben quickly put it back to cool himself down.

"Sigh..."

He sighed. It was completely uncontrollable.

Outside his room, people stood guard around the clock. Ben knew he was special now, so he tried his best to cooperate.

As the father of a four-year-old, he just wanted to return to a normal life.

’Is this even considered a Superpower?’

The excitement he used to feel watching popcorn flicks wasn’t so strong anymore.

Gaining extraordinary power should have been a good thing, but in his current state, he had no control. What if he went home to hug his daughter and couldn’t hold it back?

He now deeply understood what his own father had said before his daughter was born.

"You won’t understand what responsibility is until you become a father yourself!"

Right now, Ben would rather give up this useless Ability and trade it for a normal life with his family.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...

After a few knocks on the door, Avin came in.

"How are you feeling?"

His attitude toward Ben hadn’t changed much. He was doing his best to fulfill his duties as a doctor.

Ben could sense this. Compared to the government officials who came every day to offer their warm wishes, Dr. Avin’s daily rounds were what truly put him at ease.

"Doctor, are they going to dissect me?"

Avin walked over and chuckled, lightly tapping him on the head with his clipboard.

"Where did you get such a ridiculous idea? If anyone dared to lay a hand on you, forget me—Commander Norton would be the first to put a bullet in them."

As a renowned physician, Avin not only had excellent medical skills but also a deep understanding of patient psychology.

He fearlessly sat down on the edge of Ben’s bed.

"You’re homesick, aren’t you? Thinking about your daughter again?"

"Yeah. I think I’m going to miss her fifth birthday."

Avin smiled.

"You should try looking at it differently. Imagine you’re four or five years old again. Wouldn’t it be the most exciting thing in the world to know your dad was a fire-breathing Superman?"

This analogy made Ben laugh.

It was true; the world through a child’s eyes was different from an adult’s.

"But I can’t control it at all right now. I can’t even hug Annie like this."

SLAP!

Avin clapped him firmly on the shoulder.

"Do you know the nickname they’ve given you?"

A nickname? Before Ben could ask, Avin announced it himself.

"Fire Dragon Baschel. Ben, your family has produced a truly remarkable figure!"

Avin’s expression suddenly turned serious as he stared at Ben.

"Do you want Annie to be able to say that name with pride one day, or do you want to keep giving up on yourself and passively resisting treatment?"

...

Meanwhile, in a conference room, Xiaoliu was representing his side, explaining their current research progress on Evolvers.

In reality, though, Hua Country was all show and no substance. Their opening remarks had been impressive, but they had actually had very little contact with Evolvers. Many of their theoretical frameworks were just speculation.

Still, they had a head start, and their insights were proving to be significantly enlightening.

RUMBLE...

A faint tremor ran through the conference room.

The entire American delegation jumped to their feet as if on edge, their faces showing a conditioned reflex of tension.

"Again!?"

Everything surrounding the Flame Demon incident had simply left too deep an impression.

Just as Tao Xingzhi and the others were wondering why the Americans were overreacting, the conference room door was violently thrown open.

"Sir! The Fire Dragon—Ben—there’s been an incident!"

Everyone in the room was quick to react. The conference room emptied in seconds.

When they arrived at the treatment area, the most striking sight was the isolation bay. It was mostly destroyed and still smoking, with firefighters already working to extinguish the open flames.

Most of the other patients were in the process of being evacuated. Dr. Avin had just been rescued, his body covered in scorch marks.

The scene was one of utter chaos.

"Where’s Ben? Where’s Ben Baschel?"

A lieutenant on the scene immediately came over to answer Norton’s agitated question.

"Sir, Ben is fine, just shaken up. He’s currently in the fireproof testing area to calm down."

Norton felt a slight sense of relief.

"What in the world happened?"

The lieutenant didn’t know much either.

"Sir, from what I know, a small-scale explosion suddenly occurred in the treatment area. Dr. Avin is severely injured. According to Ben’s own account, he caused it accidentally and voluntarily asked to be isolated."

...

Inside a fireproof glass enclosure in a laboratory, Ben looked as dejected as a child who had done something wrong. His hospital gown was destroyed, leaving him naked.

Although the lieutenant had said Ben was fine, his body was actually covered in blisters from the heat. He was in too much of a state to care about the pain, though.

Cold water sprayed continuously inside the enclosure to cool him down, but much of it evaporated as it hit his searing chest, making the enclosure feel like a steam room.

The laboratory door opened, and people from both the Huamei sides entered together.

Huang Jiutian stared at Norton without blinking, while Baru assumed a defensive posture.

"Ben, can you tell me what happened?"

Norton spoke in a soft, gentle voice, not wanting to agitate him.

"Sir... I... Is the doctor okay?"

Even though Avin had severe burns over 70% of his body and was undergoing emergency treatment, Norton reluctantly lied.

"Dr. Avin is fine. He just has some superficial burns and needs to rest."

"That’s good..."

Ben seemed to breathe a small sigh of relief.

"Just now, I was trying to suppress the urge to breathe fire, but the more I held it back, the more volatile I felt inside. It was like I saw a sea of flames... and then..."

Ben hesitated, then looked at Huang Jiutian.

"Sir," he said, "do you sense something else here? Something besides humans... something else!"

SWISH!

All the accompanying Soldiers immediately raised their guns, on alert. The members of both countries’ special departments all moved to protect their respective leaders.

For Hua Country, it was Tao Xingzhi and Huang Jiutian. For the United States, it was Norton, Baru, and Anthony.

Baru, like a powerful brown bear, chuckled as he squeezed his way out of the crowd.

"Sorry, I don’t need protection!"

CRACK CRACK! The joints in Baru’s fingers and all over his body let out a series of sharp pops.

"Sir, I need a gun."

Norton took a pistol from the lieutenant beside him and tossed it over.

"Your usual M9."

He caught the gun, habitually checked the ammo, and then looked at Huang Jiutian.

"Mr. Huang, it looks like you’ve become our eyes."

In truth, when Ben had spoken, Baru had also felt a slight change in the Magic Power he’d gotten from Qin Xiaoxia, but the sensation wasn’t very sharp.

Huang Jiutian, however, was more relaxed than the others.

"Yes, Mr. Baschel, there is something else. But it’s not out here. It’s inside you."

Jiutian pointed to his own chest.

"I can’t believe it actually deceived my Perception."

His words caused every gun barrel to swing toward the glass enclosure. Ben instantly felt like he was being pricked by a thousand needles.

"Everyone, lower your weapons! It can’t get out. I can feel that it’s a part of Mr. Ben. Or, to put it in biological terms—symbiosis!"

After calming down the men with raised guns, Huang Jiutian turned to reassure Ben.

"You don’t need to worry, either. Although I don’t know what it is, it seems to have fused with your lungs and thoracic structure. From the looks of it, it’s also responsible for your body’s evolutionary changes. That’s how it managed to deceive me."

"But for some reason, it seems to have become active."

How could Ben not worry? Scenes from alien horror movies flashed through his mind.

"What if it gets out? What if it lays eggs? Am I going to die?"

As his emotions spiraled, the color of Ben’s chest began to redden at a visible rate, making him look like a dangerous powder keg.

"Calm down! Calm down! Haven’t you noticed? You haven’t breathed fire for a while now!"

At these words, everyone, including Ben himself, suddenly realized it was true.

Indeed. Although the cold water was on, Ben’s earlier reaction showed that its suppressive effect was poor.

"This thing... it doesn’t seem to bear you, the host, any ill will. On the contrary, it’s promoting your evolution. Or rather, it’s promoting your mutual evolution with it!"

As Huang Jiutian said this, he added another sentence in his mind.

’But it’s possible... you might not be able to maintain your human form in the future...’

At a time like this, if Ben were at the Dawn Secret Place, he could probably get more effective help. What a shame!

PS: Second Chapter for today.