The Human Empire that once ruled the Milky Way Galaxy divided Psionic Power into twenty-four ranks, which could be consolidated into seven levels of "Positive Psionics."
F-Rank: ordinary people with no signs of Psionic Power.
E-Rank · Low-grade Psionic Power: manifested only under extreme pressure, but impossible to control effectively.
D-Rank · Mid-grade Psionic Power: awareness of Psionic Power's existence, with control possible through training.
C++ · High-grade Psionic Power: manifested Psionic talent from birth, posing a potential security risk to the Empire.
B- · High-risk Psionic Power: a faint possibility of appearing in only one person among several billion. Such individuals displayed extreme tendencies from childhood and had to be forcibly controlled.
A-Rank · Extremely Dangerous Psionic Power: Exceedingly rare and dangerous. When necessary, the Star Realm Army was authorized to conscript and execute its users.
The research department of the Galactic Human Empire stated that humanity's current evolutionary level did not allow for the control of A-Rank (Alpha Grade) Psionic Power. Nearly all A-Rank Psionicists suffered from mental illness to some degree, and their mental states were extremely unstable.
A professionally trained A-Rank Psionicist could tear apart an Adamantium-built, hundred-meter-tall Titan-class Construct with a single thought; destroy an organized interstellar armed force with one incantation; crush a Cosmic Battleship with a few gestures; and, by unleashing their full power without regard for the cost, tear apart tectonic plates and forcibly halt a planet's rotation.
Beyond that lay the highest, rarest, and most dangerous S-Rank · Calamity rank.
S-Rank · Calamity Psionic Power: monsters that could not be precisely defined. Their very existence posed a catastrophic threat to the Material Universe. Unless there was a 100% chance of capture, they were to be executed on the spot at all costs upon discovery. Even destroying planets and burning star systems was considered acceptable.
In theory, there was nothing a professionally trained S-Rank (Alpha+) Psionicist could not do: extinguish stars, alter the flow of local time, summon armies of Greater Daemons...
All of the above was "Positive Psionics." Where there was "positive," there was naturally "negative."
"Negative Psionics" was the nemesis of "Positive Psionics." Because its users lacked "souls" or had their connection to the "Warp" completely severed, they were immune to the mystical effects of "Positive Psionics," and were commonly known as "Untouchables."
In game terms, "Negative Psionics" could simply be understood as 99.99% magic immunity plus a small amount of fixed magic resistance.
They were the "hunters" of Psionic Power. The famous "Silent Sisters" of the Human Empire, for example, captured and hunted down the unstable factors threatening the Galactic Human Empire in organized operations.
No two kinds of Psionic Power in the universe were exactly alike. Based on how Psionicists affected the material world, the Empire broadly divided Psionic Power into five major categories.
Biochemical System, Energy System, Telekinetic System, Mind System, and Divination System.
And now, the "Psionic monster" facing these hyenas had displayed one of the basic and common abilities of "Positive Psionics · Mind System": "Psychic Attachment · Puppet Drive"!
"What are you afraid of? When people are killed, they die. Psionicists are people too!"
"So what if it's the Mind System? Find its true body and kill it!"
The gang's man in black raised a Large-caliber Hand Cannon and repeatedly pulled the trigger. The Puppet being bombarded by gunfire seemed to suffer from some kind of "network delay."
The hyenas affected by Mental Interference saw their "opportunity." Grinning viciously and wielding all kinds of weapons, they stomped through the dark green, foul-smelling fluid on the ground and surrounded the Puppet from both sides.
"Move! Take down this Puppet, find the Psionicist's true body, and trade him for a chance to enter the Upper Hive District!"
Shouts of slaughter, roars, gunfire, the sound of flesh being cut apart by sharp weapons...
Wave after wave of scavengers swarmed the Puppet, attacking every vital part with extreme brutality.
Its head, throat, heart, spine, and numerous other weak points were struck, yet the nearly shut-down Puppet did not resist.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but beneath the cracked white devil mask, the corners of its mouth seemed to curl into a satisfied smile.
They're close enough. Being one head short won't matter.
Then—activate: Body Detonation!
The explosives embedded inside the Puppet activated. This time, there was no "network delay." The Puppet simply and decisively exploded.
Sharp metal fragments, metal pellets, and deadly pollutants, accompanied by a sky full of blood and debris, enveloped an area of more than a dozen square meters, "presenting" every hyena and jackal with a generous gift.
At such close range, the grenade-like blast blew the hyenas and jackals beyond recognition. Their shrill wails and curses rang through the night, and before long, they breathed their last.
The gangsters lost a large portion of their "comrades" in an instant. Extreme fear allowed the gang's man to barely break free of the mental interference, and he turned and fled in panic.
Psionic Impact—Psychic Scream!
The black-haired young man lying atop a nearby three-story building crooked a finger at the fleeing gangster.
The invisible, intangible power of the mind transformed into a sharp blade that destroyed the enemy's mind and soul.
The gangster's fleeing motion came to an abrupt halt. Without making a sound, he collapsed and entered an eternal sleep.
He fell asleep the moment he was told to. Young people really did have healthy bodies. Perhaps this was what it meant for the strong to never complain about their circumstances.
The hunter and prey had switched places.
After turning the encirclement into a counter-encirclement and successfully completing a "black-on-black" robbery, Meng Yi slowly rose to his feet and pressed a finger to his brow as he murmured.
Psionic Expansion—Wide-area Mental Detection!
His vast mental power formed a hemispherical three-dimensional structure, sweeping through every corner within a five-kilometer radius.
A building, a body, a pebble, a drop of wastewater... Everything appeared clearly within Meng Yi's mental field of vision.
"Phew—good. Looks like there aren't too many people fishing for me."
"I can't stay in the 'Black Guns Zone' for a while. I'll take the spoils to the district beyond the next one."
In less than half a minute, Meng Yi had scanned 78.5 square kilometers of land. Unless something made of "Untouchable Material" blocked him, his mental detection would not contain the slightest error.
Even buildings made from stacked "Untouchable Material" or equipment manufactured from it would appear as invisible black regions within the domain of mental detection.
Meng Yi finally relaxed somewhat. With agile movements, he leaped from the roof of the three-story building. Along the way, he grabbed a rusty railing to slow himself down, curled up before landing, rolled twice across the ground, and rose smoothly to his feet.
He strolled to where the gangster had fallen. Meng Yi kicked the gangster's wrist, and when the Large-caliber Hand Cannon flew up, he raised his hand and caught it with perfect precision.
He toyed with the "American Iai" twice before joking to himself.
"Your American Iai may be powerful, but could Meng's surprise Psionic attack truly be any less effective?"
After inspecting it and engaging the safety, he tucked the Large-caliber Hand Cannon around his waist.
Meng Yi's gaze fell upon the gangster, who was brain-dead and had fallen into a vegetative state.
"I lost a Puppet in the 'Black Guns Zone' today, only to replenish it from the 'Black Gun Gang' in the blink of an eye. There's a balance to everything under heaven."
Psychic Attachment · Puppet Drive!
After splitting off a wisp of will, Meng Yi rubbed his slightly aching brow and recited a line from "The Filial Son · Lich King Arthas."
"Warriors of the Hive Wasteland, arise!"
As his words fell, the shut-down gangster climbed up from the ground with some "network delay."
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