Lauren Harris drove William Carter along the highway into a mountain village. Along the way, William Carter finally understood from Lauren Harris what an esper was, as well as how the current state of the world came to be, and why the once-prosperous world had turned into what it is now.

Back then, in humanity’s pursuit of developing all kinds of weapons—especially the excessive development of genetic and biochemical weapons—he had not been asleep for long when, according to legend, one country made a breakthrough. Somehow, the base terrorist organization got hold of the virus, and together with two rogue nations that were being suppressed at the time, launched a viral war, releasing the virus on a massive scale all over the world.

Some say the spread of the virus actually had another cause, and was not the work of the terrorist organization. Others claim it was all part of a shocking conspiracy.

This type of virus spread extremely quickly, and it didn’t just affect humans—it was just as effective on other creatures. Once a monkey was infected, not only would its strength increase dramatically, but its ferocity and physical abilities would also be greatly enhanced. Even rats, cats, and stray dogs would undergo massive mutations.

By the time humanity realized the severity of the situation, it was already too late to stop it. Almost all scientists and weapons manufacturers were dead, and nearly all the munitions factories had been taken over by monsters. Overnight, humanity fell from the top of the food chain to just another link in it.

A huge number of humans died, and many more were infected by the virus. People no longer had time to investigate the real reason for the sudden outbreak or the truth behind it; everyone was doing whatever they could just to survive.

Just as humanity was on the brink of extinction, among those infected by the virus but who hadn’t lost their sanity, some suddenly gained superpowers. It was said that perhaps one in a million could become an esper.

These espers could easily deal with ordinary mutated creatures. Advanced mutated creatures also possessed considerable intelligence and would instinctively avoid dueling with espers to prevent mutual destruction.

For survival, large numbers of survivors gathered under the banners of various espers, forming new cities of all sizes, barely scraping by under the protection and exploitation of the espers.

Over more than fifty years of evolution, the zombies had developed a bit of intelligence and knew not to provoke cities with espers lightly.

With a little space for peaceful survival, humans often fought each other for the pitifully scarce resources, and conflicts between espers were also common because of this.

Through constant struggle, even more powerful espers emerged among them. There were a total of nine such espers in the world, known as the Nine Overlords. It was said that ten years ago, there had even appeared a Super Esper King who surpassed the Overlords, but this Super Esper King was only a legend—no one had ever seen him, and no one dared to ask the Nine Overlords if he really existed.

Those unwilling to be exploited would also organize themselves, forming small tribes to try to protect themselves. Lauren Harris’s tribe was one without any espers.

“Superpowers?” William Carter glanced at his left hand, recalling the miraculous experience he’d just had in the city when he killed a zombie.

He hadn’t touched the body, nor was there any sound of an explosion, yet the zombie’s head had exploded in an instant, as if high explosives had been planted inside.

“We’re here! Stop daydreaming! Get out of the car! Come with me to see the chief.” Lauren Harris patted William Carter on the shoulder, then shouted to the others nearby, “A few of you, come over and take the supplies from the car to the warehouse.”

William Carter followed behind Lauren Harris, observing the surroundings as he walked.

This was not a very large tribe, surrounded by stone walls about three meters high. The entire mountain village covered at most one square kilometer. Small round-roofed wooden huts were scattered across the limited land, and the people walking back and forth wore extremely simple clothing, making it clear that the standard of living here was very low.

“To be able to build such a defensive structure on a mountaintop is no small feat,” William Carter nodded slightly.

“This was built by an esper before he became powerful. Now that esper has his own city. After this place was abandoned, we moved in,” Lauren Harris glanced around at the buildings and sneered, “It’s really laughable—those of us who don’t want to be ruled and exploited by espers, who don’t want to rely on them to survive, in the end are only able to eke out a living because of the buildings they left behind. If only I were an esper! Then I’d use my powers to build a city where everyone is equal. No exploitation, no war, no suffering, no…”

No exploitation? No war? No suffering? True equality? A trace of disdainful mockery appeared on William Carter’s face as he muttered under his breath, “Espers…” firmly committing the term to memory.

After passing a few wooden huts, Lauren Harris arrived at the door of a low wooden cabin, knocked lightly twice, and then pushed open the shabby wooden door.