Debut

Chapter 7: Debut

To prevent his ability from being exposed, Typhoon Sally's name had been changed back after their mission concluded.

Regarding the mission involving this typhoon, fundamentally it happened because Xiao He had "accidentally" whipped up a tornado, causing a large portion of the typhoon's energy to be instantly drained. With the typhoon's total energy weakened, its wind force naturally dropped as well.

At the current wind force of the typhoon, it was estimated that it would practically dissipate before fully making landfall.

Precisely because of this, the typhoon's impact shrank drastically. In other words, this Saturday and Sunday's torrential rain in Beichang City would not arrive, and their department could go on an autumn trip together!

Xiao He planned to add Huang Ling on WeChat in the next couple of days, then discuss the autumn trip in advance. That would make it easier to prepare some necessary items beforehand and, by the way, deepen their bond.

However, before that came the "press conference" scheduled for the following day. At this press conference, he and Ye Wanqing would officially make their "debut" as China's mutants.

Yet living together with Ye Wanqing was harder than he had imagined, especially during that time every morning when the two of them fought over the bathroom. Ye Wanqing would stay in the bathroom for a full half-hour, whereas he tended to go to sleep rather late at night playing games and watching drama series, making it impossible for him to get up earlier than her. The result was that every morning he had to hold it in for a long time.

"Hurry up!" Ye Wanqing called out in the living room with disdain. "The press conference is starting soon!"

"What are you rushing for! I'm taking a dump!" Xiao He said impatiently from inside the bathroom. "You watch it first; anyway, the beginning isn't the main point!"

"Aiya, how vulgar..." Ye Wanqing complained, and the living room fell quiet.

Recalling how he and Ye Wanqing clashed in every conceivable aspect, Xiao He felt his prospects were utterly bleak: just living together like this without arguing every day would be a blessing, let alone pretending to be a couple... Pretending my ass.

When he returned to the living room after finishing in the bathroom, the press conference had just begun.

At that moment, a video was playing on the screen, which was precisely the scene of Xiao He "fighting" the typhoon.

Sure enough, out on the ocean surface, a figure spun around at high speed, flying extremely fast. Under his flight, a whirlpool quickly appeared on the sea, and the air currents condensed visibly into a tornado.

"Whoa..." Xiao He couldn't help letting out an exclamation. When he was actually there in person, viewing it from his first-person perspective hadn't given him nearly as clear a picture as seeing it from a third-person perspective.

Watching the tornado form with one's own eyes, the impact was still massive.

However, this video was not released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but rather published by "netizens" online.

Of course, as for calling them netizens, both Xiao He and Ye Wanqing knew very well that Cui Man had deliberately published it and then "shifted the blame" onto netizens, simply finding an excuse for them to debut under the identity of "mutants."

"This footage was 'inadvertently' captured during a drone aerial survey. May I ask if this is a mutant discovered by China?" A reporter at the scene stood up and asked after being called upon by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson cleared her throat with a serious expression: "At this point, we won't conceal things much longer. That's right, this is indeed our country's mutant, and the codename we have given him is 'Yinglong', which is the name of an ancient divine beast of our China."

At that moment, the domestic and foreign reporters below exploded in a flurry, all raising their hands and wanting to ask questions.

Yet these reporters' questions were all quite similar: "Is this mutant male or female?" "What is his ability?" "Is he an LV5 mutant?" "When did China discover this mutant?"

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson answered these questions in an orderly manner: "As for the specific details regarding 'Yinglong', it is currently inconvenient to disclose them. However, everyone can surely see the strength of our mutants, so I won't elaborate. China is a land blessed with outstanding people, and we believe we can find even more powerful mutants. Although China will not actively initiate trouble, we will never allow ourselves to be bullied!"

Though simple, these remarks made the information to be released very clear: you've all seen the strength of our mutant, and we won't tell you what LV he is—you know well enough in your hearts. After this, we will continue to look for more powerful mutants, and you O Continent and M Country people shouldn't be too full of yourselves. While we won't actively look for trouble with you, don't even think about bullying us either.

Nonetheless, although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs kept a low profile, the eyes of the netizens online were sharp. Everyone had also witnessed the mutants of M Country and O Continent online, the most powerful among them being M Country's "Iron Man" and O Continent's "Bomb Man." Both of these were mutants whose official introductions had been released via video by their respective countries, and they were heavily hyped and propagandized to make them seem like national spokespersons.

Iron Man could transform his body into steel; in terms of defense, he could take a tank's shell-fire head-on without a scratch, while in terms of offense, he could lift a heavy-duty truck weighing seven tons straight above his head. As for Bomb Man, he could create explosions out of thin air, with his strongest explosive power comparable to one ton of TNT and capable of blasting out a deep crater over ten meters deep and twenty meters wide, covering a blast radius two hundred meters in diameter.

The strength of these two mutants was formidable, but to eliminate a typhoon or create a tornado? Pure delusions.

"They didn't mention you, hey." Xiao He watched the news conference and said with curiosity.

"It's best not to be mentioned. I'm not the combat type, so out of safety it's better to be exposed a bit later," Ye Wanqing said indifferently.

However, soon the news spokesperson added one sentence: "Aside from 'Yinglong', we have also found another mutant, 'White Marsh'. Ta is a partner to 'Yinglong'. Both of these are mutants our country takes great pride in."

These words immediately stirred up a wave of whispers among the reporters at the scene. Although there was no information whatsoever regarding "White Marsh," since ta could partner with "Yinglong," perhaps ta possessed comparable strength?

Naturally, the news spokesperson did not elaborate further, and after mentioning a few more topics concerning their stance, the press conference concluded.

The impact brought by the press conference was immediate. That very day, search indexes for "Yinglong" and "White Marsh" on Chinese websites exploded, and the topic most discussed by Chinese netizens was "Foreign mutants are absolute trash compared to our 'Yinglong'." With this, "Yinglong" and "White Marsh" officially debuted under the identity of "mutants."

As for the impact of the event, it was not limited to the domestic sphere; it quickly stirred up ripples abroad as well.

M Country, the Pentagon.

An elderly balding potbellied man with graying hair fell into deep thought as he looked at the tornado on the screen.

"Just how fast does one have to move to form a tornado?" The old man tapped the desktop with his index finger and asked. He was none other than the M Country Secretary of Defense, Schofield. A technician on the side replied: "Regarding this point, it's impossible to verify because there are currently no hypotheses about humans triggering a tornado, and we'd also have to factor in the speed of the typhoon at the time as well as atmospheric pressure..."

"Speak English!" Schofield said impatiently.

"Judging from the diameter of Typhoon Sally..." The technician nervously glanced at Schofield. "It's at least around two to three times the speed of sound, or even higher..."

"Two to three times the speed of sound..." Schofield continued tapping his desk with his index finger. His breathing gradually accelerated, and his complexion flushed red bit by bit. In the end, he finally erupted, pointing at the footage on the screen and roaring at the several people behind him: "Look at other people! Not only can people fly, but they can also create tornadoes! And what about you lot!? Huh?!"

As he spoke, Schofield pointed at a skinny young man and scolded angrily: "Still Iron Man!? Transforming once requires absorbing several tons of steel, and it can only last a dozen minutes! I might as well make those steel materials into weapons; at least those can be used repeatedly!"

Then he turned to another flippant muscular man: "And you as well! What goddamn Speedster! What use is running fast? Colliding with a fly can punch a hole right through your body!"

"There's no help for it, because the speed is too fast. Even if it's just a fly, hitting it is equivalent to getting struck by a bullet. It's the same principle as an airplane hitting a bird in flight..." the Speedster muttered aggrievedly.

"So what use do I have for you lot!? Aside from shooting a few promotional videos, can you step onto a battlefield!?" Schofield pounded his desk hard and said hysterically, "A bunch of trash! You're simply wasting taxpayers' money!"

"What should we do, sir? This Chinese mutant is very powerful, able to fly at that speed in heavy rain; I'm afraid he might even have a body of steel rivaling Iron Man's," the technician on the side said, hesitating.

"Get straight to the point!" Schofield said anxiously. The technician sighed: "I think our country probably has no weapons capable of handling this mutant right now. If he genuinely has that intention, he could fly directly to the White House, assassinate our president, and leave without a single scratch—no one could stop him..."

"Then go find someone who can stop him!" Schofield roared angrily. "Go to those poor countries, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and India! Go to those populous yet poor countries, and trade economic aid, weapons, and food with them for powerful mutants! Go right now, quickly! I'll give you one month to find a mutant stronger than this Yinglong!"

"Yes, sir..." The technician at the side retreated in trepidation. Meanwhile, Schofield walked over to the television set, grinding his teeth and roaring with spittle flying: "These damned yellow-skinned pigs... M Country is the overlord of the world! M Country is number one in the world! I will never allow anyone to shake our hegemonic status!"

Having said that, Schofield returned to his desk, grabbed the telephone, and aggressively instructed: "Put me through to the CIA director immediately. Have them dispatch people to China right away to investigate this 'Yinglong''s identity, and then find a way to win him over! Money, women—give him whatever he wants! No matter what, make him join M Country nationality!"

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