Chapter 488: Korean-descendant Mutant: Opportunity (Second update, please subscribe!)

A moonlit night.

The pitch-black alleyway exuded a pungent stench, with all sorts of trash piled up like a mountain. A rat scurried through the garbage, searching for a tasty morsel.

Suddenly, a sneaker with a hole at the toe kicked it flying. After landing, it let out a few squeaks and scurried away in a panic.

"This is my territory!"

A woman with messy, matted hair, whose features were obscured, wearing tattered clothes and covered in filth like a beggar, cursed viciously in the direction the rat had fled.

As her voice faded, she seemed to sense something; her hair stood on end, and she turned around to stare fixedly at the alley entrance.

Two people stood at the mouth of the alley. Although their faces were unclear, their attire revealed them to be a man and a woman, and they were watching her.

"This is my territory, get out of here!" She hissed in a low voice, baring her teeth like a beast guarding its domain.

"Are you sure we didn't come to the wrong place? Is she... is she really the mutant you're looking for?" Laura looked at Su Quan, hesitating to speak.

Although she hadn't encountered many mutants, in her understanding, mutants were superhumans with superpowers. Even if they were in a difficult situation, they wouldn't sink so low as to treat a garbage dump as their territory, right?

This wasn't a mutant; this was a homeless person.

No, perhaps even worse than a homeless person—this was a beggar!

"That's right, this is the mutant I'm looking for." Su Quan shook his head with a smile and beckoned to the woman in the alley.

"Whoosh—"

In an instant, the woman was involuntarily teleported from the alley to stand before Su Quan and Laura.

An indescribable, pungent odor hit them head-on.

The woman was stunned for a moment, a flash of panic crossing her eyes beneath her tangled hair. Immediately after, her dirty little hand pushed toward Su Quan, trying to seize the chance to escape.

"Ding!"

"Combat detected, drop reward: Weaken or Enhance nearby mutants (Opportunity)"

That's right, this woman who looked like a beggar was the support-type mutant Su Quan had previously discovered using his psychic abilities.

She was a girl of Korean descent, her real name unknown, codenamed Opportunity, possessing the ability to weaken or enhance mutants in her vicinity.

Her dirty little hand passed eerily through Su Quan's body. Caught off guard, Opportunity stumbled as she turned and fell to the ground with a thud.

The ground was hard, and her nose stung. She lay on the ground with red-rimmed eyes for several seconds before scrambling up on all fours, then quickly retreated a few steps, watching Su Quan and Laura with vigilance.

Laura explained gently, "Don't be afraid. My name is Laura, and his name is Su Quan. We mean no harm. You're safe now; we want to help you."

Opportunity did not lower her guard, still saying defensively, "I don't need your help, you can leave!"

Laura frowned and shook her head, saying, "We really are here to help you. Do you want to keep living in a pile of trash? Come with us, you'll have delicious food, clean clothes, and a safe place to stay."

"I don't need it!"

"And I don't trust you!"

Opportunity's attitude was firm, showing not the slightest change.

Laura was about to persuade her further, but Su Quan patted her shoulder and shook his head, saying, "Her memory is damaged; she doesn't even know her own name. Her past experiences make her instinctively distrust everyone. Even if you talk until your lips are dry, it's a waste of effort."

"Then what should we do?"

"We'll figure it out!"

Su Quan snapped his fingers, and with a 'pop', the three of them vanished from the street.

A hotel suite.

Su Quan pointed toward the bathroom and said to the panicked Opportunity, "You have two choices now: either clean yourself up before talking to me, or I'll notify the Essex Corporation to come and take you away!"

Opportunity froze instantly, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"Essex... no... I won't go... I'd rather die than go... please... don't let them catch me!!!"

Although she didn't remember what the Essex Corporation was or what she had experienced there, the name itself triggered deep-seated fear within her!

The Essex Corporation was hell! No, it was a place even more terrifying than hell!

"As long as you listen and go wash yourself clean, I won't notify the people from the Essex Corporation."

Opportunity breathed a sigh of relief and, without another word, began taking off her clothes and entered the bathroom.

Before long, the sound of splashing water began.

"Is she a victim of the Essex Corporation?" Laura asked in a low mood.

Su Quan said, "Her memory is severely damaged, and there isn't much my psychic abilities can read. I just used the Essex Corporation to test her; I didn't expect her reaction to be so intense."

"Can her memory be restored?"

"It's difficult."

"The Essex Corporation is too despicable!"

Laura cursed viciously. From Opportunity's intense reaction of fearing the Essex Corporation like a tiger, one could guess what kind of torture she had endured.

Opportunity was definitely not an isolated case!

There must be many other victims like her. From one leaf, one can see the autumn; it shows just how cruel the Essex Corporation is toward mutants.

"We won't let the Essex Corporation continue like this, right?" Laura asked indignantly.

Su Quan nodded, saying, "I am very interested in the Essex Corporation's genetic and cloning technology, so a battle is inevitable! However, dealing with the Essex Corporation is easy; the difficult part is dealing with Mr. Sinister."

"He has prepared many clones for himself. If we can't eliminate them all, he will make a comeback once we leave this world!"

Laura nodded, pondered for a moment, and suggested, "Mr. Sinister and the Essex Corporation's mutants are certainly no match for us. The difficulty now is mastering the locations of all of Mr. Sinister's clones. Perhaps I can infiltrate the Essex Corporation; I might be able to gain something."

Don't look at the fact that Laura has no superpowers and little practical experience; she has the heart of a hero and is a genuine superhero.

Su Quan thought for a moment, then shook his head, saying, "Even if you successfully infiltrate, it's impossible to quickly gain trust, let alone obtain the locations of all the clones."

"However... if we can enter the headquarters' server room and obtain information on all the laboratories, we should have a significant harvest."

"How about this: there is also a person named Takashi Matsuya, codenamed Little Wizard, a mutant with the ability to modify any machine to have any function he can imagine."

"He is a person from the Essex Corporation. Let's find him first, and then start dealing with the Essex Corporation and Mr. Sinister."

"Okay."

Laura nodded, following his lead.

— Author's Notes —

PS: The temperature difference is too great; I've caught a cold again.