Foreseeing the Future

Tom was a true-born Montanan, and his family had been herders on these vast grasslands for generations.

As times had progressed, herding had become incredibly easy.

The great prairie was all unclaimed land, so they could graze their sheep anywhere. They only needed to find a patch of grass and let the flock feed as much as it liked. Once they had eaten their fill, Tom would drive his vehicle, bring along his sheepdogs, and herd the flock from one pasture to another.

After dark, he could simply sleep in the vehicle. Every sheep had a tracking collar around its neck, so there was no need to worry about losing them. Besides, on this boundless prairie, the sheep didn’t have the nerve to run off. As for wolf packs, even they had to give way in the face of submachine guns.

Although it was rather boring, the income wasn’t low. Tom didn’t need to attend college. After graduating from high school, he took the vehicle keys from his old man and began his own life as a herder. In a few years, he would find a big-bottomed woman, get married, have children, and complete his life.

To keep the sheep from eating all the way down to the roots, they couldn’t stay in one pasture for too long. Today, Tom was once again herding his flock toward the Rocky Mountains.

White clouds drifted lazily across the boundless blue sky. A gentle breeze carried waves of fresh grass through the air.

Tom had been driving along and humming a tune when he suddenly stopped. He got out, climbed onto the roof, and gazed into the distance.

The prairie was vast and open, making it easy to see far away. At the distant horizon, Tom unexpectedly spotted traces of metal structures.

"Damn it!" Tom cursed under his breath.

"This has to be another mining company coming here to dig!"

"Those state legislators are all a bunch of greedy hyenas. For money, they’ll issue mining permits recklessly!"

Tom frowned and thought it over carefully before shaking his head and muttering,

"No, I have to go take a look. I’ll find out which company it is, then have the agricultural association make them pay!"

He got back into the vehicle, went around the flock, and drove straight toward the pointed structure in the distance.

A mountain might look close, but it could kill a horse before it reached it. Although the structure seemed nearby, it took Tom more than half an hour of driving across the prairie to reach it.

As he drew closer, he could see the structure much more clearly. He was startled to discover that although it wasn’t very tall, its enormous footprint far exceeded his expectations.

It was an extremely futuristic-looking base, seemingly made entirely of metal. It stretched for several miles in every direction and seemed to be continuously expanding outward.

At the very center of the base stood a strange, metal, prism-shaped building. Its base was enormous, with sides more than a hundred meters long. It narrowed toward the top, as if construction had not yet been completed, and had only around ten levels.

"Damn it! How much pasture has this thing taken over?" Tom grumbled as he continued driving forward, still unaware of the seriousness of the situation.

Then, after he approached a certain point, he seemed to trigger an alarm. An opening suddenly appeared above the prism, and a robot flew out.

Tom poked his head out of the vehicle, raised his middle finger at the robot, and shouted, "FUCK YOU! Which company are you from? This prairie is only for grazing! No industrial mining allowed!"

But the robot had no intention of speaking with him. It flew over, tore the vehicle door off, and yanked Tom out of the vehicle with one hand.

"Hey! That’s illegal! Put me down!" Tom still shouted fearlessly, punching and kicking the robot. "I’m warning you! I’m injured! I’m going to find a lawyer and sue you! I’ll bankrupt your company! I…"

Tom was dragged into the prism while cursing furiously the entire way. Then he fell silent.

Before Tom’s eyes, robots moved constantly throughout the prism, while a robot production line stood nearby, with large numbers of robots coming off it.

And within the enormous Prism Base, there wasn’t a single human being.

Only then did Tom realize what he had encountered. His face went pale as he murmured, "Oh no. The robots have rebelled!"

Dr. Zola had not expected the plan to be discovered by a human so soon after it had begun.

"It’s a little earlier than expected, but never mind. Plans can’t keep up with changes. We’ll have Alexander’s side help cover this up."

Carl didn’t know how he had survived, nor how much longer he could live. But his mind now held only one thought: rescuing his wife and daughter from that demon’s grasp.

Perhaps he was being sustained by that powerful fixation. Or perhaps the Qigong he had previously learned from his daughter had helped to some degree. In any case, Carl dragged his crippled body back to the room.

He picked up the phone and thought for a long time before finally finding someone he could ask for help—Raina.

He knew that Raina had gone to China to find Daisy, but he didn’t know that Raina had been the one who betrayed him back then. In fact, even if he had known, he couldn’t afford to worry about it now. He needed Raina’s help.

"Raina, I need your help!"

The moment he spoke, Raina’s broken, furious cursing came from the other end:

"Stop coming to me! You liar! That thing ruined me!"

Raina had taken the Obelisk to a temple in Puerto Rico and successfully completed her transformation, becoming a… freak who could foresee the future!

The awakening of the Inhumans was much like the situation with Mutants. Most people gained useless abilities, and many couldn’t even maintain their original appearances.

Raina’s ability was actually extremely useless. She could foresee certain fragments of the future, but she couldn’t change them. Everything she did would ultimately cause the things she saw to happen.

On top of that, she had originally been a beautiful black pearl, but now she had turned into a black porcupine. No woman could withstand that kind of blow!

"Raina, I’m dying! Daisy and the others have been captured! All the Inhumans have been captured! If you’ve also used the Obelisk and become an Inhuman, he won’t let you go either!"

Carl spat out bloody foam as he gasped, trying to persuade Raina to help him.

Raina had originally intended to refuse, but her useless precognitive ability suddenly activated. One after another, scenes of world-destroying devastation appeared before her eyes.

She saw a head that seemed larger than Earth itself hanging in the sky and covering most of the planet. Beneath the head, all kinds of bizarre alien warships flew back and forth.

She also saw countless robots pouring across the sky like a tidal wave, along with many powerful Magnetic Field Warriors fighting one another. Shock waves swept outward in all directions. The earth was devastated, mountains collapsed, rivers changed course, and cities became ruins. Corpses, blood, and wreckage were everywhere.

"Gasp…" She sucked in a breath and immediately changed her mind. "Fine, I’ll help you. Where are you?"