Superhumans from Neon Country

The others were still too stunned to recover when Luke walked up to Dr. Genus. "We have some questions for you."

Then Luke looked at Mitarai Fubuki.

Her mouth hung slightly open as she stared blankly at the sky.

Disbelief filled her beautiful eyes.

What kind of monster have I recruited?

As the leader of the Blizzard Group, she was starting to feel a little out of her depth.

Can I really give orders to a powerhouse like Baldy?

Apart from her sister, Fubuki had never seen anyone put on such an outrageous display of strength.

Luke walked over and waved a hand in front of her eyes.

Fubuki finally snapped out of it.

"Weren't we going to ask him something?" Luke pointed at Dr. Genus, who stood nearby.

Only then did Fubuki remember: they had followed A-Train all the way here to investigate Vought International's dirty secrets.

"Is this a Vought International research base?" Fubuki asked.

"This is the House of Evolution." Dr. Genus shook his head. "I founded it. My name is Genus."

The House of Evolution?

Fubuki frowned. She had never heard of the organization.

If A-Train had gone to such lengths to break in here, the House of Evolution had to have some connection to Vought International.

"What's your relationship with Vought International?" Fubuki pressed.

Genus looked at the two intruders. So they had come for Vought International.

Genus had lost his purpose in life. After witnessing true strength with his own eyes, all his scientific research seemed meaningless. He saw no reason not to tell them about his dealings with Vought International.

So the doctor laid everything out for Mitarai Fubuki: Compound V and the partnership between the House of Evolution and Vought International.

It took Fubuki a while to make sense of it all.

The glass vials she had seen earlier in The Female's living room must have contained Compound V.

And A-Train had won his Showdown of the Century against Shockwave because he had injected himself with Compound V.

Though she understood that much, Fubuki still needed a clear answer to one question. "So you're saying that Vought International's more than two hundred superheroes weren't born as Espers? They were created using Compound V?"

Dr. Genus nodded. "To be precise, every Esper in the Federation was created by Vought International using Compound V."

"How is that possible?" Mitarai Fubuki blurted out.

She was no less shocked than she had been when she saw Luke throw that terrifying punch.

Because she was an Esper herself!

Every Esper. That includes me.

And my Sister.

Vought International created Tatsumaki? You've got to be kidding!

Dr. Genus had not expected his words to provoke such a strong reaction. Then he saw Girl hold out her hands.

Two small vortices swirled above Girl's palms.

"You're an Esper too?" Dr. Genus asked in surprise.

No wonder she was so shaken. Most Espers had no idea where their powers came from. They thought they were special, chosen people who stood above everyone else.

Learning that they were no different from ordinary people, and that their Psychic Powers came from a procedure performed after birth, would be hard for anyone to accept.

Dr. Genus studied the young woman more closely. She had a graceful figure and jet-black hair cut to her ears.

A possibility suddenly occurred to him.

"Wait... Are you from Neon Country?"

Fubuki nodded.

She had been born in Tokyo, Neon Country, but her whole family had immigrated here when she was very young.

With his suspicion confirmed, Dr. Genus took a deep breath. "There are Espers in Neon Country too!"

It was an earth-shattering secret that even Vought International did not know.

Vought International was a giant with a vast intelligence network, but its influence was concentrated in the Federation. It could not know every secret in other countries.

Dr. Genus knew because, twenty years ago, he had briefly collaborated with a research institute in Tokyo.

That institute studied Espers.

Unfortunately, their goals had been at odds, and Genus had soon parted ways with them and cut off all contact.

The institute studied Espers to uncover their secrets and advance its work on creating Synthetic Beasts.

Genus researched genetics to create unprecedented Supes and bring about humanity's complete evolution. That research institute's ultimate goal was to create immensely powerful Synthetic Beasts so its leader could fulfill his ambition of dominating the world.

A Synthetic Beast was a monster with more beast than human in it. That ran entirely against Genus's principles, so he ended their collaboration as soon as he learned what they intended.

The institute eventually paid for its ruthless ambition. Supposedly, one of its extraordinarily powerful Synthetic Beasts went berserk, destroying the entire facility in an instant.

That happened roughly seventeen years ago. The institute vanished afterward, and no one knew whether anyone had survived.

It was through that brief collaboration that Dr. Genus learned Espers existed in Neon Country.

But Neon Country had no organization like Vought International to gather Espers together. Quite possibly, things some Espers had done were being passed around as supernatural phenomena.

No wonder Neon Country had so many tales of gods and spirits.

Dr. Genus explained all this to Fubuki.

Fubuki's thoughts were in turmoil. For a moment, she had no idea where her Psychic Powers had come from.

But she was certain of one thing: neither her Psychic Powers nor her Sister's had come from Compound V.

According to Dr. Genus, the Psychic Powers that appeared after someone was injected with Compound V were random. No one could predict what Psychic Powers they would develop.

Yet Fubuki and her Sister had almost identical Psychic Powers.

The only difference was that Tatsumaki's Psychic Powers were in a completely different league from her own.

Tatsumaki's Psychic Powers were the ultimate, ultimate—seven times ultimate—version of hers.

Fubuki looked over at Luke.

Then what about him? What's the deal with that Baldy?

Luke noticed the doubt in Fubuki's eyes.

"Why are you looking at me?" he protested loudly. "These aren't Psychic Powers!"

"My strength comes from me! I'm just that strong, okay?"

Thanks to reader [Despair] for the monthly vote!

The first monthly vote the author has received... Thank you so much~

(End of chapter)