Strongest Superhuman System - Chapter 334

Chapter 334: I Don’t Like This Plan
Mark was not even interested in reading through what his systems sent to him. What Jeanne just told him made his stomach squeeze in disgust, and when he turned to look at the dead anima, he looked at it from a different perspective. No wonder Mark thought it looked so human-like. It was made up of humans mashed together. Who would do something like that?

“Patrick, did you get all that?”

Mark spoke into his AirPods, and the sound of retching reached him first before Patrick grunted in the affirmative. Patrick spat something out and used the back of his hand to clean his mouth before he finally spoke up.

[Fuck this. That’s the second burger I’m puking today.]

“I need you to find out anything you can about this. Look through news outlets and missing person reports that spread around recently. There should be news about this if this many people go missing. Maybe we can get the general location of the person responsible.”

[Yeah, I already did that. There’s something that’s been happening recently, but I didn’t pay it any mind. I thought it was just another random superhuman situation that didn’t mean much. Some superhumans have been going missing around City A. They were all in the lower power spectrum, around F rank to C rank, so it was just swept under the rug by most news outlets since word about your promotion to SOVEREIGN is still hot in the news. From what Jeanne said, it might not be far-fetched to think the worst happened to them. Do you think this is the same as what happened with Arit? Except, well… worse.]

Mark turned around to look at the pile of mutilated humans again. Mark also thought that it was possible this was the same thing that happened with Arit. Arit was mutated into some human-anima hybrid using a special technique that Mark didn’t know enough about. The NSA took over the investigation of the island once the raid was done, and since Mark already got Arit, he didn’t care what the NSA did with the island.

But maybe it would have been more sensible to have given Pat that pod to carry out some tests on it before giving it to the NSA. Mark felt like smacking his past self in the back of his head now that he was thinking about it! He basically handed a biological weapon to the government! That was so fucking stupid!

In Mark’s defense, he did not know that Salazar was the bastard that he was when he went on that island raid. Mark thought the NSA was a good, clean organization that just wanted to help the country. How the hell was he supposed to know that a snake was in charge of running it?

From everything that was happening now, Mark couldn’t help but think that Salazar was part of it somehow. The coincidence was too uncanny. Don’t tell me Salazar is trying to use that pod to create another human-anima hybrid. If he’s trying to replicate what happened to Arit, I’ll fucking annihilate that bastard.

“Pat, the NSA took the pod that the ant-headed anima was using to create Queen. If anyone is responsible for this, then it’s most likely them.”

Pat hummed knowingly. His haughty voice was a lot more subdued as he spoke, and the sound of keyboard keys clacking echoed through the call.

[You really thought it was a good idea to hand over something like that to the government? You didn’t think they would ever abuse it?]

Pat’s sarcasm was like a physical sword stabbing Mark’s chest, and it just made Mark frown in irritation! Yeah, I know I fucking messed up.

“Get off my fucking case. I didn’t think that far ahead back then. I was more concerned with Arit than anything else on that island. I’ll go handle it. If I find anything, then I can just destroy it right there.”

[No, not you.]

Mark’s brow furrowed.

“What? Why not?”

Pat shook his head on the other side of the call while opening up a map of the NSA building. He easily memorized the blueprint of the building before moving on to an inner schematic and memorizing that too.

[Mark, you’re a force of nature. The entire world has its eyes on you now because you are a SOVEREIGN. I understand that you want to just get this over with once and for all, but we can’t allow the NSA to know that we know about them being involved in this. They are getting bolder, and if you are seen going into the building to apprehend them, then it is likely they will accelerate their plan and blow things out of proportion. That could make a lot more people lose their lives. And besides, everything we’ve said till now has been nothing but speculation. We don’t know if they are really involved in all this or not. We need a stealth mission. In and out with enough proof to prove that the NSA is involved.]

Mark could see the sense in what Pat was saying, but he was obviously not happy about it. Mark frowned in annoyance while putting his hands in his pocket. Mark knew becoming known world-wide would become an annoyance eventually. Opposite him, Jeanne was wondering what was making him so annoyed.

“So what do you want me to do? Do you want me to sit on my hands and just wait for someone else to tell me that it’s okay to move? What the fuck is that?”

[Mark, let me handle this.]

“You?”

[Yes, me. I’ll put together a team and send them in. We’ll get what we need and we’ll get out. You said you wanted to build a guild, didn’t you? Well, this is what guilds do. The various members handle what they can do best for the sake of the mission. This is what I do best, so let me handle it. In the meantime, I’m going to need you to act normal.]

“Pat, I do not like this plan.”

[You need to learn to trust others, Mark. You’ve been working alone for so long that it’s become normal for you to do everything yourself. This is a request from your future vice-captain. Trust me with this.]

Mark closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head in irritation as he heard what Pat was saying. This was really not what Mark would do if he was handling things. Wouldn’t it be easier to just go in and find what they need?

But Pat was also right. If Mark acted rashly, then whoever was responsible for this would likely accelerate what they were planning, and things would blow out of proportion. The amount of property and human life lost in the ensuing battle wouldn’t be worth the end result. It was going to be more sensible to first carry out a covert operation and find out as much as possible about the NSA before going in. That way, it would be easier to get the help of other superhumans as well as the government in evacuating citizens and apprehending whoever was responsible.

“I don’t like this plan.”