Chapter 58: The Meeting (bonus)

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: The Meeting (bonus)

Bang!

The military official, his uniform covered in medals, slammed his hand down on the conference table as the screen went black.

"How dare he do this?! The audacity! Absolute recklessness! This is a provocation! Send people immediately and take him out!

No one challenges the authority of the United States military!"

The moment the senior officer exploded in anger, the entire conference room fell silent.

It was so quiet that a pin drop could have been heard, as no one dared speak. Everyone stared at the table in front of them, keeping their mouths shut and pretending not to notice anything.

After a long while, one young officer suddenly stood up and walked toward the exit without saying a word.

The senior officer frowned.

"Where are you going?"

"Reporting, sir! I’m going to mobilize troops and eliminate the target."

The young officer felt quite pleased with himself. He was the first person to step forward and take action. Surely the higher-ups would remember him after this.

And now, promotion was practically guaranteed!

In a sense, he wasn’t wrong. The military official really did remember him.

Staring at the young man for several seconds, he couldn’t help but wonder where this idiot had come from.

’I only said that to vent a little. Why are you actually trying to do it? Now you’re making me look bad!’

Was the target an ordinary person?

Of course not! If he didn’t say a few harsh words, how was he supposed to maintain the military’s authority?

Wasn’t this just part of the process?

Yet this fool had taken it seriously!

The officer glared at him.

"Sit down!"

"Yes, sir."

The young officer immediately returned to his seat.

Since some of the people present had only recently arrived and still didn’t fully understand the situation, the senior officer turned to his secretary.

"Brief everyone."

"Yes, sir."

The secretary opened the report folder in his hands.

"Early this morning, Dr. Lawson, the person in charge of Project Pegasus, unauthorizedly took one of the experimental photon engine aircraft and departed the facility."

"Later, the aircraft crashed. Dr. Lawson and test pilot Carol Danvers both went missing. Dr. Lawson has since been confirmed dead.

Carol Danvers disappeared without a trace. The base’s report concluded that she is also presumed dead."

"Project Pegasus has officially been terminated."

The secretary placed several photographs onto the table.

There were pictures of the aircraft, pictures of Dr. Lawson and pictures of Carol Danvers.

"The individual seen in the satellite footage earlier has been identified through intelligence records as Carol Danvers’s biological younger brother, Daniel Danvers."

"He is currently a student at MIT."

"According to all existing records, the target was previously an ordinary human."

"Heh... Ordinary human?" the senior officer interrupted with a cold laugh.

The secretary glanced at him. After receiving a nod, he continued.

"At 5:10 PM, the target, Daniel Danvers, somehow learned about Carol Danvers’s disappearance."

"He then flew directly from his dormitory to Lackland Air Force Base."

"Due to incomplete data, we can only estimate that Daniel reached the base in under one minute."

"Possibly even faster, maybe within a few seconds but as we couldn’t get the accurate number, this is the closest estimate."

"The hurricane force winds generated along his flight path caused nearly 100 million dollars in damages."

The secretary paused before adding.

"The straight line distance between MIT and Lackland Air Force Base is over 2000 miles."

The room immediately erupted.

"Wait a minute."

One person couldn’t help speaking up.

"You’re saying that he flew over 2000 miles in less than a minute?"

"That’s impossible!"

The secretary nodded.

"Correct."

"Less than a minute."

Hearing the confirmation, the room became noisy. People leaned toward one another, whispering furiously.

"That can’t be real."

"Are the calculations accurate?"

"What kind of aircraft could even do that?"

"Quiet."

The senior officer’s voice cut through the discussion.

"Continue."

The secretary took a breath.

"At Lackland Air Force Base, the target emitted energy beams from his eyes."

"Every object touched by those beams was instantly sliced apart."

"This included fighter jets parked outside the base, reinforced concrete walls, and even the ground itself."

"All of it was cut apart in an instant."

As he spoke, his voice began trembling slightly. Even now, he was struggling to remain calm. After a brief pause, he continued.

"Finally, we received a report from the base instructing us to track the target via satellite."

"As everyone witnessed moments ago, the target discovered the surveillance."

"He immediately flew into outer space and destroyed the satellite."

The secretary closed the folder and let out a long breath. The conference room fell silent once more as everyone sat frozen in shock.

Even the senior officer, who had already known the entire sequence of events, couldn’t help being stunned again upon hearing it laid out from beginning to end.

"This is impossible!"

After a long silence, someone finally spoke.

"Human beings cannot do something like this."

"This has to be a joke."

"Today isn’t April Fool’s Day."

No one wanted to believe it.

Daniel’s appearance represented something more terrifying than nuclear weapons. If one day he lost his temper and decided to slaughter people indiscriminately.

Who on Earth could stop him?

No one.... not a single person.

And everyone in this room would be powerless to escape. These men had spent their lives in positions of power.

They had witnessed endless conspiracies, betrayals, and the darker sides of human nature. Because of that, they were even less willing to place their lives in someone else’s hands.

If they were honest with themselves...

If they possessed such overwhelming power...

They would have started doing whatever they wanted long ago.

"Much as I dislike admitting it, this is reality."

The senior officer finally broke the silence.

"Something has appeared on this planet that is beyond our control."

"That’s practically a god..." someone muttered.

"Can we deal with him?" another asked.

The senior officer looked toward the secretary.

"Explain the target’s capabilities."

"Yes, sir."

The secretary opened the folder again.

"Based on our current assessment, the target’s physical strength remains unknown, but it is likely far beyond human limits."

"His speed exceeds the speed of sound by a hundred of thousand times, but I think it could be closer to the speed of light, as by the looks of it he was holding back quite a lot."

"He also possesses an extraordinarily durable body."

"He can emit laser-like red energy beams from his eyes."

"He has enhanced sensory abilities."

"And he is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space."

The secretary paused.

"Those are merely the abilities he has openly demonstrated."

"We estimate that the target possesses far more power than what has currently been observed."

"His threat level exceeds all existing evaluation standards."

"There is nothing available for comparison."

"Our recommendation is simple."

"Do not make an enemy of him."

He looked around the room before delivering the final blow.

"As far as we know, no weapon currently in humanity’s possession can even scratch him."

The room became even quieter.

"So we’re completely helpless against him?" someone asked.

"Yes."

The secretary answered without hesitation.

"We are."

A man suddenly raised a question.

"Could we control his parents and use them to control him?"

According to the available intelligence, Daniel clearly values his family deeply.

Otherwise, he would never have caused such a massive incident merely because of Carol’s disappearance.

Many people in the room had already become tempted. His abilities were simply too unbelievable.

They were too perfect... too invincible.

If Daniel could somehow be controlled...

Just imagining the possibilities made their hearts race.

Some even began fantasizing about studying him.

Dissecting the source of his powers.

Replicating them.

What if they could obtain the same abilities themselves? For a brief moment, the room was filled with dangerous thoughts.

Fortunately, the senior officer was the first to regain his senses.

"Get that idea out of your heads!"

His voice was sharp enough to make everyone jump.

"Can you stop him?"

"With the speed he’s demonstrated, before you even have time to react, he’ll already have rescued them."

"Then he’ll send you to meet God while he’s at it."

Everyone who had been daydreaming suddenly shuddered. The image of themselves being instantly killed flashed through their minds. It was a terrifying thought.

"What we should be discussing right now is how to deal with the target in the future."

The officer swept his gaze across the room.

"Not listening to a bunch of terrible ideas."

After a brief pause, he voiced his own conclusion.

"My recommendation is simple."

"Leave him alone."

"Pretend none of this ever happened."

As an old man, he had received enough shocks for one day that could last a lifetime.

His heart was already struggling to keep up, and he didn’t have many years left anyway. What he wanted was to die peacefully of old age.

So, provoking Daniel was absolutely not on his list.

"I agree."

"I agree."

"I agree."

The moment the senior officer stated his position, nobody dared object. Voices of agreement immediately echoed throughout the room.

"Good."

"I’m going to meet with the President and report everything that has happened."

He stood up and gathered his documents.

"The moment you walk out of this room, you forget everything you’ve heard today."

"If I hear so much as a rumor leaking out, I’ll see every one of you in military court."

"The meeting is adjourned."

The officer moved decisively towards the door. Just before leaving, he stopped and looked back one final time. His expression turned deadly serious.

"Let me make one thing absolutely clear."

"Do not entertain thoughts you shouldn’t entertain."

"If anything happens because of your personal actions, it has nothing to do with the United States military."

"And it certainly has nothing to do with the United States of America."

-------------

Yeah, guys we actually reached top 20 rankings, so crazy man. Now, please throw some more stones y’all, let’s aim for the top, haha...

And if you want some extra Chapters, be sure to check out my Patron page, it’s 27 Chapters ahead of webnovel and the Chapters are also long so you can check it out.

p at reon . com / NovaScribe

(Just remove all spaces and then search)