"You son of a—" William Bolton could hardly believe how an ordinary human could possess such overwhelming power. Driven mad in the face of death, a fireball suddenly flashed in his palm.

Evolvers above B-level possess the ability to manipulate water and fire. The interrogator cried out, "Inspector, watch out!"

In that split second, Brian Sullivan kicked William Bolton hard to the ground, pulled out a special collar from somewhere, and snapped it around William Bolton's neck like lightning. With a click, the metal lock automatically engaged, displaying a digital serial number—B002465.

Immediately after, he reached into his suit pants pocket and pulled out a controller, pressing down.

"Ahhhhh—"

A scream echoed through the interrogation room as two hundred thousand volts of high-voltage electricity crackled through William Bolton, making his whole body sizzle and explode. Only after more than ten seconds did he finally collapse, violently convulsing as scorched smoke rose from him.

The four evolver guards, each wearing the same collar, stood outside the door, casting indifferent glances inside.

Brian Sullivan rolled up his pant leg, crouched down, and waved the small silver controller in front of William Bolton's dazed eyes:

"Specially designed for evolvers. It can instantly release a million volts of high-voltage electricity. Anyone below A-level will die in a single strike."

William Bolton gasped violently, his once arrogant expression completely gone, primal fear reflected in his pupils.

"You committed arson with a weapon, causing severe social harm. You will serve a life sentence at the Shenhai City Inspectorate. From now on, you have only two choices: obey me like a dog, or be wiped out like an ant."

"Now," Brian Sullivan grabbed a handful of William Bolton's blood-soaked hair, forcing him to look up and meet his gaze, and asked calmly for the last time, "Where are your three accomplices?"

Chapter 2

Half an hour later, countless police cars wailed across the city, racing toward the airport.

"Inspector," a B-level evolver turned around and handed a tablet to the back seat, "This is the information on flight MN538 just sent by the Aviation Authority. The background checks on the other three hijackers are here as well."

Inside the speeding car, Brian Sullivan took the tablet, the screen's glow reflecting off his cold glasses.

According to William Bolton's broken confession, the other three accomplices would hijack a civilian airliner flying from Country M to Shenhai Airport today, using the passengers as bargaining chips to negotiate with the government and demand the release of William Bolton.

And the hijacked MN538 was already approaching Shenhai Airport, with only an hour and a half left before landing.

"Customs is urgently retrieving the personal information of the passengers on board. As soon as it's ready, they'll send it to us immediately. Um, Inspector..." The B-level evolver swallowed nervously, looking at the profiles of the three hijackers in Brian Sullivan's hand, his voice slightly unsteady. "Those two C-level accomplices with abilities aren't much to worry about, b-but the mastermind..."

The tablet displayed the grim face of the hijacking mastermind.

David Bolton, thirty-five years old, unemployed, William Bolton's cousin.

A registered fugitive A-level evolver.

Though the situation was urgent, the air inside the cramped car seemed to freeze.

The fully armed B-level evolvers all kept their mouths tightly shut, not daring to look up at Brian Sullivan's expression.

The sudden evolution of humanity began five years ago.

It started with a once-in-a-century meteor shower, which, according to later statistics, brought over 4,000 meteorites to Earth. A significant portion of these were found to be a very special extraterrestrial substance—

Evolutionary radiation sources.

Not long after that meteor shower, people who had suddenly evolved began to appear around the world. For various reasons, after coming into contact with the meteorites containing the evolutionary source, their physical abilities were dramatically enhanced overnight, and some even developed abilities of varying strength.

Afterward, the radiation sources were quickly collected by governments worldwide, and the 100,000 evolvers across the globe were registered one by one, classified into four levels—A, B, C, and D—according to the strength of their abilities:

There are over 80,000 C- and D-level evolvers, whose abilities are within controllable limits—mostly things like x-ray vision, moving objects, or heightened senses. Their social impact is quite limited, and most have been absorbed by inspectorates or special forces in various countries.

Fewer than 20,000 B-level evolvers possess formidable physical strength, are hard to kill with ordinary bullets, and have stronger abilities such as controlling water and fire. They are a key focus for monitoring and protection by governments, with high research value.

At the very top of the food chain are the more than 2,000 A-level evolvers worldwide.

They truly stand at the pinnacle of human evolution.

They possess extremely high individual combat capabilities, unique control over natural elements, electric currents, and magnetic fields, and some can even influence the weather within a certain range, causing floods, hail, and other natural disasters. These 2,000-plus A-level evolvers are like more than 2,000 time bombs hidden within human society.

A B-level William Bolton is already a major headache for the Inspectorate, but a bloodthirsty and violent A-level David Bolton could make the entire city of Shenhai pay the price.

Meanwhile, at the airport.

"You all must evacuate! All non-evolvers, evacuate immediately!" A young man in an Inspectorate uniform, wearing a B-level evolver collar, roared in fury, one hand pointing skyward and the other clutching the SWAT captain's collar. "There's an A-level mutant on that plane—it's extremely dangerous! If you stay, you're just throwing your lives away!"