Chapter 9: Naming-Challenged, Can't Think of a Name

In City B, inside a certain secret conference room, over a hundred bigwigs were gathered; nearly all the high-level leadership of Country H were among them.

A middle-aged man who appeared to have long held a high position and wielded great power, sitting in the front row of the conference room, was the first to speak: "Why must this meeting be held in City B? Shouldn't a meeting of this scale and level generally be held in City J? Is there some special reason for holding it in City B? Moreover, it was called so hastily; there wasn't much time to arrange the work at hand."

Another elderly man, also sitting in the front row, followed up with a question: "That's right. For a meeting of this scale, summoning so many military generals and national leaders, the security issues cannot be neglected. Although the military has urgently mobilized several special forces units and an army group from nearby military regions to stand guard in the surrounding area, one still cannot completely ignore the potential risks."

"If any hostile forces have ideas about us and take action, the consequences will be immeasurable."

Although two or three people raised some questions, most had no intention of offering opinions on this suddenly convened meeting. At most, they were like the two or three who had just spoken, having some questions about the meeting location, security issues, and why the timing was arranged so hastily.

After all, summoning so many bigwigs here in such a rush could not be for some minor issue. It must be because the situation was urgent and there was no time for careful arrangement, hence the haste. It might even be because of some major event affecting the whole country or even the entire world, so most were waiting quietly, silently guessing the theme of this meeting in their hearts.

Among them, a portion had already vaguely guessed part of the reason for the meeting. After all, they were all high-ranking officials in their own right; the people under them had more or less encountered some abnormal situations in these past few days, and naturally, they would have reported them up.

Some had even already encountered major special incidents in the regions they were responsible for, causing no small impact and loss, or had directly experienced special situations among their own family members or subordinates, and had already guessed the reason for being summoned to this meeting.

The two who raised questions had not yet experienced anything unusual in their own fields of responsibility, nor had they noticed any major events occurring recently, which was why they asked with some confusion. After all, these abnormal situations had only been going on for a few days and had not yet fully fermented.

"Leaders, please rest assured. Under the current circumstances, those entities capable of posing a threat to us are likely as busy as we are, trying to solve their own problems. As for those who cannot see the current situation clearly and are still thinking of playing little tricks, there is no need to pay them any mind. Furthermore, the current situation no longer allows us the time to prepare slowly. As for why the meeting is not being held in City J, I will explain that to everyone later." A middle-aged man, looking to be in his forties or fifties and appearing somewhat thin, stood up at the podium to explain.

"Since that is the case, let's make it quick and start immediately, Bureau Chief Qian." An elderly man in military uniform spoke with swift and decisive action.

Bureau Chief Qian was the middle-aged man who had just spoken to explain. He was the one who handled the reception work for the meeting, which could be considered getting a familiar face in front of all the bigwigs, and also served as preparation for future work needs.

Upon hearing the old man's words, this Bureau Chief Qian hurriedly distributed the prepared materials. Although he was a bureau chief, in a meeting where bigwigs were gathered like this, he was of the lowest rank. If it weren't for the fact that he had participated in these matters throughout the entire process, and that the higher-ups had already arranged for him to preside over this aspect of the work in the future, he wouldn't even have the rank to attend this meeting, let alone sit at the podium. Thus, he could only run the errands to distribute the materials himself.

As the materials were distributed one by one, the bigwigs present began to read them. As time passed, those bigwigs who were reviewing the materials all began to show strange expressions.

Some were shocked, some were surprised, some had grave expressions, and most were frowning with looks of worry.

The materials in their hands clearly recorded some incidents of superpower awakening and crimes committed by awakened individuals that had occurred within these past few days.

No one felt that these materials were fabricated. After all, playing such a joke in front of all these people, and specifically convening such a high-level meeting to trick them, would be considered insane.

"In these past few days, I have also heard reports from people below about some similar abnormal situations. Although I have paid special attention, I didn't expect it to have become this serious. Is the estimate in your materials regarding the current number of awakened individuals who have awakened superpowers not too exaggerated? How was this calculated in such a short few days?" An elderly man sitting in the front row asked.

Besides recording the abilities, growth rates, and destruction caused by crimes committed by awakened individuals, the materials also contained a line: "It is estimated that the current number of awakened individuals nationwide has reached several thousand, possibly ten thousand, and the number is still continuously increasing."

"Our government institutions and sound social legal system are still highly trusted by the people. Therefore, apart from a very small portion who began to commit crimes after awakening, there are also some members of the public who, after awakening, went to the local government or public security organs to seek help, or treated it as some kind of abnormal illness and went to the hospital. Plus, there are also some people within the government, the military, and the police departments who have awakened superpowers. Therefore, these awakened individuals who have come into contact with government departments and hospitals, as well as those within our official ranks, have basically all been recorded. Based on this number, we then roughly estimated those awakened individuals who did not dare to speak out and were still observing the situation, and roughly arrived at this figure."

"This number may have some margin of error from the actual count, but we still estimated as high as possible. After all, once one possesses a sharp weapon, the desire to kill arises. We cannot rely entirely on the self-discipline of awakened individuals for social stability, so we are making arrangements based on the maximum possible number of awakened individuals to better formulate response plans and prepare for the worst." Bureau Chief Qian answered truthfully.

Another person asked: "According to the materials you summarized, besides the fact that these people who awakened superpowers are generally young, there are no other obvious commonalities. There are people from all walks of life, and people of all kinds of personalities. But this group of people with no commonalities has many who have awakened the same type of superpower. So, has there been any research or analysis into the reasons why these people awakened superpowers? Also, most of these people have not frequently used their powers or conducted corresponding training after awakening, so why do some people's powers grow so fast, and what is the price of using these powers? It couldn't possibly be something created out of thin air, could it?" The question this person asked was also the doubt in the hearts of most people after reading the materials.

"How these people awakened their superpowers has not yet yielded any concrete results from research. Looking solely at the situations when they first inadvertently used their powers, there is basically no reference value. And as for their past experiences, you have all seen them in the materials; they are basically just the lives of ordinary people, with nothing special and no obvious commonalities."

"Currently, it has only been discovered that these awakened individuals have a unique energy in their bodies that ordinary people do not have. Some contain more energy, so the effect and intensity of their superpowers are higher, the time they can continuously release their powers is longer, or the number of times they can continuously release them is higher. Some contain less, so the effect and intensity are lower, and the time they can continuously release them is shorter. It is precisely because they have this special energy that they are able to activate their superpowers. The growth in power intensity is also related to the fact that the energy capacity in their bodies is still continuously increasing."

"As for whether they awakened their powers because they had this energy, or if they possessed this energy because they awakened their powers, it cannot be determined at this time."

"There is also the question of how this energy appeared; currently, there are only some uncertain guesses. But what is certain is that it should have nothing to do with their bodies. At the very least, it is not because their bodies underwent mutations or similar situations that they awakened their powers or gained this energy."

"Through our investigations of some awakened individuals within government departments, the military, and police departments, plus research on some awakened criminals we dissected these past few days, we did not find anything unusual about their bodies. Of course, they haven't had their powers for long, so we cannot rule out that after a long time, those powers might have some good or bad effects or changes on their bodies. However, what is certain is that before they gained their powers, their bodies were no different from those of ordinary people."

"As for the consumption of activating superpowers, we can basically determine that besides consuming that special energy in their bodies, it is related to things like mental power and willpower."

"Through awakened individuals who cooperated with our experiments, we discovered that basically all awakened individuals who excessively consume that energy in their bodies by using their powers continuously in a short period will experience dizziness, confusion, and lethargy, and some even fall into a coma, requiring a certain period of rest to recover."

"After a certain period of rest, even if their mental state has not fully recovered, as long as the energy in their bodies has recovered somewhat, they can use their superpowers again, but the consequence is feeling more severe mental pain."

"The recovery speed of that energy depends on the individual's mental power, willpower, patience, and endurance, and has nothing to do with the amount of energy they can contain. Faster ones can fully recover that energy in about an hour, while slower ones require anywhere from a few hours to a day or two."

"As for the growth rate of abilities, after comparison, we found that those with high spirits, firm willpower, or those who are relatively persistent or paranoid, once their powers awaken, have a higher capacity limit for energy in their bodies than other awakened individuals, and their growth rate and speed of mastering their powers are also faster."

"Therefore, based on these verifications, we can basically determine that what is consumed by using superpowers is some kind of unique energy within these awakened individuals, as well as invisible and intangible things like mental power. And the growth rate of superpowers is closely related to the continuous increase in the capacity of energy in the body and aspects of mental power." Bureau Chief Qian explained.

After saying this, Bureau Chief Qian saw that the group of people below were all frowning and deep in thought, so after a brief pause, he continued:

"The content of this meeting, besides these matters regarding awakened individuals, actually includes some things not recorded in the materials. This is also the reason why this meeting is being held in City B. However, because time is tight, we haven't had time to organize them, so I will now provide an oral account."