Chapter 559 Testing for Mutants and Their Abilities
Phil walked over to the body, and Wales fell back slightly behind him.
Luke noticed this and had a conjecture.
After he approached the body, Phil took out a device and pointed it at the body. He examined the body’s face in passing and nodded. “Though the face is slightly deformed, this should be our guy.”
The device beeped with a red light. Phil drew back the device and read the information on it. “Sure enough, this is Creech McCoy, a former football athlete and the mutant nicknamed Iron Hide.”
Turning his head, he noticed that Luke was as unperturbed as ever, and he suddenly asked, “This isn’t the first time you’ve seen people like him, right?”
“You mean mutants?” Luke was stumped for a moment, before he nodded his head.
Wales already knew a lot of things about Luke, so it was unnecessary to hide the truth.
Phil’s feelings were complicated as he said, “These people are very problematic. Unless it’s necessary, it would be best to avoid them in a direct confrontation from now on.”
Luke nodded, then looked at the device curiously. “Is this… for detecting mutants?”
Phil nodded. “I don’t really understand the theory, but it can tell if there are any mutants in a ten-meter range.”
Luke asked, “What if there are a lot of people?”
Phil raised the device and pointed it at Wales next to him. “It’s in directional mode at the moment.”
The red light on the device automatically turned green.
Luke’s interest was piqued. “Is that so? Can you test me?”
Phil was stunned. “How can you be a…”
He suddenly stopped and pondered for a moment before he nodded. “Then let’s test it.”
He raised the device and pointed it at Luke.
Luke found that odd. “What’s wrong? No reaction?”
Phil sighed inwardly and finally pressed the startup button.
The device finally activated, and the green indicator lit up.
Phil was stumped. “You… you’re not a mutant?”
Luke chuckled. “If I were one, having a superpower doesn’t seem bad.” Phil forced a smile. “But most mutants… will look very different after they awaken.”
Of course, Luke knew that. He simply nodded. “Forget it, then. I prefer to be handsome.”
As they chatted, Phil noticed that Wales was looking at him strangely. He smiled naturally. “Luke is still young and has a long road ahead of him. Letting him know a little more will help him mature further.” He was speaking to Wales.
Wales instantly got it.
A few months earlier, he had written a proposal that Luke be considered as a candidate for his team, but headquarters very quickly declined his request with the reason that Luke’s age “wasn’t suitable.” Still, the end of that document from headquarters added that they had taken note of Luke.
Wales had been lost for words back then.
Headquarters had done that clearly because they wanted to recruit Luke themselves in a few years and groom him.
But there had been nothing Wales could do except yell profanities inwardly on the matter.
In the end, Luke really was too young.
In their system, combat forces in the field were mostly capable agents aged between 25 and 50.
The younger agents usually weren’t calm or experienced enough, while the older agents had plenty of experience but could tire out very easily.
The operations department was always short of hands.
Wales had secretly cursed when headquarters wanted to poach Luke, but could appreciate the point later.
Also, if Luke worked for Wales, he would inevitably be stuck as a regular agent for years.
But if he came back after training at headquarters, there would be plenty of room for him to climb up the ladder.
Seniority and qualification mattered in every organization, including a secret one like Wales’. After this little interlude, Luke told Phil and Wales exactly what happened.
Naturally, he didn’t reveal all the particulars.
He simply said that he noticed the criminals because he felt that they looked more like soldiers than company employees.
Also, it was quite strange that they would all go to the bathroom at the same time. Phil and Wales mostly kept quiet during his explanation, and occasionally asked a question about the criminals.
When he spoke about Creech’s death, Luke said that he shot the man in the chin five times in a row before he finally killed him.
Both Phil and Wales were dazed.
Wales, as the one who was more familiar with Luke, simply asked, “Iron Hide should be invulnerable to bullets, right?”
Luke casually took out the big gun from under his right armpit. “This is my personal preference. Of course, it has been registered with the department.” Both Phil and Wales were lost for words, as most people couldn’t use the M500 well despite how awesome it looked.
Wales asked again, “You hit Iron Hide’s chin five times in a row with this gun?”
Luke chuckled and walked some distance away from Iron Hide’s body.
As he moved, he raised the gun and mimicked firing.
Soon, he finished the replay of the fight, and Phil and Wales understood that he had shot Iron Hide from up close. Luke’s last three shots, in particular, were made practically right above Iron Hide.
Naturally, that was much less challenging than they had expected.
Luke shrugged. “Actually, he lost control of his body after his jaw was hit the first time. His skin might be bulletproof, but his brain didn’t seem shockproof.” Phil and Wales were lost for words. You can drop the bullsh*t!
Iron Hide was a wanted criminal by their organization. He had once easily escaped capture by two squads of elite agents working together.
How many people could guarantee that they could shoot Iron Hide in the chin accurately while moving fast?
Not only was Iron Skin extremely sturdy, he was also fast and strong.
Before his X-gene awakened, he had only been 1.78 meters tall. He used to be a professional football quarterback, and wasn’t just some meat shield who didn’t know any tricks.
Unfortunately, Iron Hide was already dead, and Luke could say whatever he wanted to say.
That was the privilege of the victor.
After Luke related what happened to the unfortunate Creech, Phil picked up another device which he had put on one of the dustbins earlier, and sighed at the red indicator on it. “We’re in trouble.”
Noticing the curiosity in Luke’s eyes, Phil explained after a moment of hesitation, “You know that mutants are naturally endowed with unusual abilities. Some of them obey the rules, but some use their abilities to commit crimes.”
After a pause, he continued, “This device can detect most traces of mutants using their abilities. These two dustbins were moved into this building by a mutant using special abilities.”
Luke nodded, deep in thought. “That explains a lot. I was wondering how such a serious mistake could happen; even though this isn’t Stark Industries’ headquarters, security here has been very tight recently.”
Phil nodded. “There are similar detectors in various key areas throughout this building. As long as they detect signs that an ability has been used, they will send out a warning. The mutants who know about this won’t do anything stupid, but as for those who don’t…”