Chapter 247 Studying the Psychic Corpse
From Cindy, Steven got the lowdown on the West Mountain crew, which made him feel a lot better.
The most chilling thing for people isn't what's coming, but the sheer unknown.
Now that he knew what he was up against, he could at least plan some kind of defense.
Steven ruffled Cindy's hair and grinned. "Cindy, you're awesome!"
Cindy lifted her chin proudly. "It's just a piece of cake for me!"
"Just watch, I'll hack into the whole West Mountain Base network!" Cindy declared.
Steven nodded, still smiling. "Alright, can't wait to see it!"
After chatting with Cindy, Steven turned to Elinor, who was practically bouncing with excitement to share her findings.
Seeing Steven praise Cindy, Elinor was itching to show off what she'd discovered after pulling an all-nighter.
"Elinor, what did you find?" Steven asked, smiling.
Elinor jumped up, grabbed Steven's hand, and said, "Come with me to the lab; I've got something big!"
Cindy wasn't into dissected bodies, so she stayed put.
Steven and Elinor headed to her lab, which was more like a surgery room.
He'd stocked it with all his medical gear, but kept the important drugs to himself.
The lab was now fully kitted out for surgeries.
If they were missing any tools, Aubrey could whip them up.
As Steven walked in, he saw two bodies on the tables.
They'd been dissected, with parts sliced up for study.
Steven was used to seeing dead bodies, so it didn't faze him.
Elinor eagerly pulled Steven over to the experiment table.
Pointing to the slides under the microscope, she said, "By studying these two bodies, I found their cells have mutated. The cell activity is off the charts compared to regular folks! And the energy from the glycogen reaction is weird too."
Elinor picked up two brain slices. "Especially the brain cells, which show the biggest reaction. This might mean the brain is the main source of Supernatural Abilities!"
Steven couldn't help but think about how he absorbed Brittany's Supernatural ability through her brain.
"This is really interesting." Steven nodded, smiling in approval.
But it was clear this info wasn't his top priority.
He wasn't a scientist; he just wanted to know what he could get out of it.
Elinor saw right through his half-hearted response.
She pouted and said, "You don't get how huge this is!"
"How huge?" Steven asked.
Elinor got serious. "So far, human mutations have been from gamma radiation, causing natural mutations. But that's a small group. And the effects aren't always good. Even if they get Supernatural Abilities, they might not be useful."
"But if someone could fully understand Psychic mutations or use cell transplants, they might be able to create artificial Psychics!" she explained.
Now, Steven was really interested.
"So, you're saying everyone could become a Psychic one day?" he asked again.
Elinor stuck out her tongue playfully. "Well, it's possible, but the odds are like 0.0000001%."
She got serious. "With the current state of medicine and biology, it's pretty much impossible to perfectly replicate natural Psychics. I mean, we can't even clone ourselves perfectly!"
Steven shrugged. "Guess that settles it then!"
Elinor added, "But if I use some extreme methods, it might produce... let's say, some really weird effects."
She glanced at Zane's body on the operating table.
"Take this guy, for example. His cell mutations are really odd."
Steven raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by odd?"
Elinor picked up a slide of Zane's cells and explained, "The woman next to him has natural cell mutations, her whole body changed."
"But this guy, his cell mutations are only in certain areas, and a lot of his cells are malignant, causing necrosis and harming his body. And this damage gets worse every time he uses his abilities." She continued, "So I think he might be an artificially created Psychic. Right now, he seems like a defective product!"
Elinor's words caught Steven's attention.
"An artificial Psychic?" he asked. "That explains a few things."
Steven had some questions that suddenly made sense.
First, he couldn't absorb Zane's Supernatural ability.
If Zane was an artificial Psychic, he wouldn't be as perfect as a natural one.
Second, Zane's abilities were pretty basic – just increased speed and agility. Compared to other Psychics Steven had met, like Henry or Lily, Zane was nothing special.
"So he was artificially made! Seems like he's just a bit stronger than regular folks, and his potential is limited." Steven felt relieved.
"So, the so-called Tiger Special Forces of the West Mountain crew could mostly be artificial Psychics," he said.
To him, gaining power at the cost of harming the body, and being weaker than natural Psychics, seemed like a bad deal.
But the upside was mass production.
In the post-apocalyptic world, ordinary lives were the cheapest resource.
"They're just expendable to the West Mountain Base's leaders!" Steven concluded.
At that moment, he had a clearer picture of the West Mountain Base's strength, and his confidence grew.
The enemy didn't have a powerful armed force.
Now Steven felt sure he could defend against their attacks.
But just sitting back and taking hits wasn't his style.
So Steven went to find Aubrey, asking her for a list of materials to make explosives, planning to go out and gather them.
"These materials aren't hard to find. If the goal is to cause damage, even regular black powder, in large enough amounts, can do a lot of harm," Aubrey said.
She handed Steven the list.
After reading it, Steven nodded. "Leave it to me!"
He called Earl, asking him to join him on the supply run.
With Earl's abilities, finding supplies would be a lot easier for Steven.
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