The Favored Son of Heaven
The Favored Son of Heaven - Chapter 361: One Violent Night, One Boiling Night, Blood Ranking Eighth,

Chapter 361: One Violent Night, One Boiling Night, Blood Ranking Eighth, Top Ten in the Federation

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Where was Death Omen? Where was the Reaper Squad hiding?

The Tianbei City police system was fully operating to the time the concert entered the countdown stage, yet there was still nothing.

Qin Fen looked at the moon that rose slowly. This result wasn’t too unexpected. If Death Omen was a terrorist that could be located so easily, then his head wouldn’t have a bounty of five hundred thousand and his Reaper Squad wouldn’t be worth five hundred thousand either.

“Deputy Bureau Chief Qin, we have not located the terrorist you mentioned, over.”

After he heard the last message from the armed police search team, Qin Fen placed the communication device on his waist and stood outside of the stadium to thoroughly identify for suspicious individuals in the crowd.

The night had covered Tianbei City completely. There was a huge crowd in front of the stadium. Other than ticket holders, there was also a large number of people who had no tickets flocking the front of the stadium gates. Even the streets outside of the stadium were filled with people.

The concert had not officially started yet and the audience’s shouts had already reached the climax in the huge stadium. The ceiling of the stadium sounded like it could be blown apart by this wave of screams.

Lin Ling stood at the best vantage point at the stadium. She opened the box provided by Qin Fen quickly and assembled the parts inside together.

The huge gun body revealed its malevolent true face – a modified XM109!

It was once the king of heavy sniping in the federation! It was much more prestigious compared to the M82A Barrett. Due to its oversized twenty-five millimeters caliber, the bullets used were modified from the thirty millimeters highly-explosive bullets used by the M789 machine gun on the “Apache” assault helicopter.

The huge caliber could fire a twenty-five millimeter bullet that provided three point five times more armor projectile force than the M82A Barrett. If such a special armor-piercing projectile was used, it could penetrate the lightweight mobile armor such as the Jungle Ranger or City Guardian easily.

With Qin Fen’s personal modification, Lin Ling believed that she could damage the mobile armor instantly if she shoots the weak spot even if she was facing a medium-sized mobile armor.

Eleven-star martial artist? Even if a person practiced Golden Bell Shield plus Iron Mantle and Thirteen Cross Defenders, the body would still be blown into pieces with one shot.

Of course, the martial senses of an eleven-star class are not simple. Even with the tyrannical XM109, it was necessary to hit the target. Otherwise, no matter how strong the destruction power was, it would be a waste.

Lin Ling scanned through all the other vantage points from time to time through the optical scope. The XM109 was like a monster that bared its fangs in the dark after Qin Fen’s modification. The barrel reeked a cold and gloomy killing intention. She didn’t even have to worry at all if there was anyone who would ambush her from the back.

The three apex-level elite from the younger generation, Great Emperor Caesar, Little Dragon King Yang Lie, and Sky Splitter Brooks were hiding behind Lin Ling. They formed a strong and special line of defense. Anyone who wanted to threaten Lin Ling would have to pass through these three people.

Yu Wenqian, who was at the third sniper position also didn’t have to care about threats from the rear. The defense line formed by the four people: Solomen, Du Peng, explosively strong Chen Feiyu and Morad from West Asia was not any weaker than the lineup at the first sniper position.

Qin Fen returned to the backstage of the stadium concert through a special tunnel. Two girls wearing extravagant costumes were tuning their instruments gently, with no fear of being attacked.

Xue Tian appeared from nowhere. He smiled and stood behind the two girls, “As their bodyguard, you have appeared finally. I really can’t take care of them.”

Qin Fen smiled apologetically and looked up to the position of the highest command room in the stadium. No one from the group combination recruits could beat him. However, Xing Wuyi deserved to be the first among the talented recruits if it was concerning the layout of the overall situation. In the eyes of Xing Wuyi, there were still several fatal loopholes in a seemingly perfect defense system. With the help of this friend that came from afar, this stadium could be said to be almost impregnable.

“This kind of defense system…” Qin Fen’s expression carried a hint of doubt, “Where else could Death Omen attack?”

“Who knows.” Xue Tian leaned against the dressing table, “It may be like what the armed police captain, Ke Xiaosong said. This Death Omen may be playing misdirecting tactics and ambush the mayor of Tianbei City secretly instead.”

Misdirecting? Qin Fen’s face looked tired. Would Death Omen use the same tactic twice? If he really wanted to kill the mayor of Tianbei City, then he could really kick the aircraft carrier as Ke Xiaosong is waiting for him there.

Three cannon fires could be heard in the sky. Fireworks burst in the air with brilliant colors. With the joyful cheers from thousands of people, the prelude of the first song played slowly. The two little girls looked at each other and nodded. They took a huge stride across the stage while carrying a guitar and bass in their hands respectively. The instruments resembled weapons on the battlefield.

The first song of the concert was always the famous Flying Hearts song, “Declaration of War to the Terrorists”. Rock music that was roared by the girls could boil anyone’s blood when they listened to it.

“Who used suicide bombers to break up other people’s families?

“Who built those terrible regimes with blood and horror…”

The familiar music sounded again. Qin Fen stared at the two girls on the stage who were immersed deeply into rock music. The music from these two girls became more infectious after not meeting them for quite some time. That stimulating music penetrated and vibrated the soul.

Qin Fen actually had a surge of emotion as the music unfolds bit by bit. His emotion resonated with the two little girls’ music.

At this moment, Qin Fen’s ear shook a little unconsciously. The qi and blood that could not be grasped for long felt like they had met a freezing coagulant at this very moment. He had a faint feeling that he could grasp the qi and blood.

This is…

The blood in Qin Fen’s body began to boil! It was the two girls who used their soul to perform songs that produced oscillation. This was resonance!

Qin Fen’s fist and legs were filled with unyielding fist intent. The two girls wandered around every city in the federation with the risk of being attacked by terrorists. And they held counter-terrorism concerts one after another. Why wouldn’t this be considered an unyielding force?

This power had activated the dormant blood in Qin Fen through music and the soulful singing from the two girls! The loud and clear voices from the girls were like endless waves of the sea that kept on pushing the dormant blood.

At the same time, the two girls shouted toward the sky and adjusted their tone to an unprecedented height. The high voice seemed to pierce the protective layer of the soul and reached the deepest part of the soul.

At this moment, tens of thousands of people in the stadium were connected by this high voice! Everyone’s aura was tuned to the same frequency and integrated completely at the moment when their blood was boiling!

The aura of tens of thousands of people merged together! Even when everyone was small when separated, the moment they come together, a majestic aura was created!

Qin Fen felt the vast aura. The blood that was rolling in his body seemed to have exploded like numerous bombs. It was like a volcano that was awakened.

Blood was rolling and countless points began to boil. The martial art with its firm and fierce aura was self-equipped to integrate into the vast aura. At that moment, his entire person entered a special realm that had never been seen before.

It was not True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth. Blood was essence and qi was spirit! Qin Fen’s aura was combined in the vast hot-blooded aura like a huge sponge and feeling the properties of everyone’s blood.

Everyone had courage and righteousness. Perhaps it was not everyone’s courage that could be ignited fully when facing with gangsters alone, but at least a part of courage could be ignited.

When a woman faced a strong gangster, she might not have the ability to retaliate. But in an instant where she needed to protect her children, her incredible courage would explode.

When a young man faced a gangster, maybe he would retreat. But when his younger brother, sister or elderly parents stood behind him, he would become the most courageous person in the world.

Flying Hearts’ music could hit the most sensitive spot of courage in the audiences directly, and their blood will be released!

The essence had not changed! The spirit had raised!

Qin Fen flashed back quickly to his past battles in his mind, as well as his journey to Qinghai. The high mountains, great rivers, dangerous peaks, and the mirror lake!

Everything gathered together quickly, and the aura in Qin Fen’s body climbed higher and higher! Xue Tian looked at Qin Fen, stunned. What happened? Qin Fen’s aura… this aura of power was integrated into the fist intent, that power…

“Qin Fen!”

A simple call shook Qin Fen’s eardrum through the headphones in his ear and shook him out of that special state instantly.

Xing Wuyi screamed with an unfriendly voice, “What are you doing? Can you hear?”

“Yes, I heard you.” Qin Fen’s eyes showed a bright sense of recovery, and the roots of his ear were shaking again. He looked out of the stadium suddenly. This is…

“Death Omen! He wasn’t even in the venue! His target is not the two girls at all, his target was the audience outside!” Xing Wuyi’s voice had a hint of annoyance, “Perhaps, his ultimate goal may still be the two young girls. But now you have to go outside. Twenty-three City Guardians are advancing at high speed! The pilots inside are all enemies!”

City Guardians? Twenty-three of them? Where did the Death Omen come up with so many lightweight mobile armors? Qin Fen widened his eyes with surprise. These were the city’s special mobile armors that were dedicated to the police by the federation in order to perform official duties in the city. With regards to the actual combat power, it was inferior to the Jungle Ranger mobile armor. One arm of this mobile armor could not even withstand a one-ton load, but its size was quite large. Its height was three meters and sixty-five!

With the firepower in the twenty City Guardians’ hands, they could do anything easily in the crowded area!

“Xue Tian, I’m counting on you.”

Qin Fen dropped a sentence, and he was already at a distance forty meters away. The strength underneath his feet was naturally more adequate compared to the inner worries of his heart. The mobile armor operating skills of this Reaper Squad could definitely match the operational level of the special forces. Mobile armors that were controlled by the policemen were like amateurs! Perhaps they would be dismantled by the Reaper Squad with just an encounter.

The City Guardians from the police station that were outside the stadium gathered together and formed a defense system quickly under the surveillance of Xing Wuyi via satellites. The emergency evacuation alarm sounded at this moment through the loudspeaker.

People around the stadium heard the alarm and looked around very curiously. No one had left or hid after this alarm.

The alarm just rang when there was a roaring sound of the high-speed motor sounded from the depths of the street. Twenty-three City Guardians with caterpillar chassis appeared in everyone’s sight.

Gunshots from the guns in the hands of the City Guardians appeared from the depths of the street! Although their robotic arms couldn’t carry Thunderstorm, which was a monster that weighed one-ton, they could still bear the weight of M134 Vulcan guns. These six-shooter Vulcan guns with long chains around them turned at a high speed and spurted out chilling flame tongue.

The armor of the City Guardians weren’t considered thick! The penetration of the Vulcan cannon was enough to penetrate the City Guardians which were made out of light armored vehicles.

The Reaper Squad experienced trials that involved rain of spears and bullets. Their reactions were far more superior compared to the policemen who had never experienced actual combat. Even though Xing Wuyi was the first to call out the shots through the communication device, the policemen’s execution ability was far from his expectations.

“Crap!”

Xing Wuyi raised his fist and slammed the commanding desk. If these policemen were trained mobile armor warriors, even if they’ve only trained for a few months, the ones falling would be the Reaper Squad.

The police continued to drop one by one in flames. The remaining policemen began to fight back finally. They were not equipped with destructive attack weapons such as the M134 Vulcan guns. As the City Guardians mobile armor, they were equipped with antique M2HB on their arms. These were deterrent weapons that were not lethal. These weapons had strong penetration ability, but the firing rate was way below an M134.

Shua…

The people hiding behind the police’s City Guardians were all stunned. Are the pilots in the City Guardians that appeared suddenly race car stuntmen? As the police fired their shots, they performed all kinds of unimaginable drifting and sliding, not only escaping the gunfire but also counterattacking. They hit two police City Guardians and fire sparked all over the body as it fell down.

People stared at the two sides of the fierce battle and even forgot about fear. These City Guardians from the police forces that patrolled the city with pride were so vulnerable. All of them fell in the blink of an eye, as if they were all made of clay.

Xing Wuyi looked at the screen and the corners of his eyes twitched. The strength of the police’s mobile armor troops was weaker beyond imagination. Their strength during the day training did not even bring thirty percent into play in this battle. These policemen who did not go through an actual war were really weak in actual combat.

“Dear Tianbei citizens, we are the holy war organization of Scarletar. Today we came for the holy war of freedom…”

Twenty-three City Guardians did not rush to shoot immediately. They also did not stop the high-speed movement. While yelling through the loudspeakers, they rushed to the crowd at high speed.

Open fire? Nonono! The Reaper Squad was very clear that real horror was not to kill everyone here with guns. Instead, they would use the City Guardian to ram certain people to death in the crowd, crush them, and shoot them. The influence of their terrorist activities could only be dissipated by leaving some people alive.

At this moment, the dazed crowd finally reacted. They screamed and began to flee while pushing each other. The scene instantly became chaotic.

The City Guardian in the forefront had closed the distance of a hundred meters away from the crowd in the twinkling of an eye. At this moment, the members of the Reaper Squad could already feel the pleasure of ramming through people and the satisfaction of trampling people…

At this moment… a motorcycle spinning at high-speed jumped and flew over the heads of the crowd. This unmanned motorcycle, with its huge weight, made a loud humming noise that broke through the air, like the angered ancient behemoth throat that was low and dissatisfied.

“What is this?”

The member of the Reaper Squad that was in the front was shocked by this visually striking unidentified flying object. His reflexes were delayed slightly, and the flying motorcycle slammed into the cockpit of the City Guardian savagely.

Bang! The motorcycle exploded on impact. The huge explosion and the impact of the tyrannical flight made the City Guardians that were as excited as wild horses fall backward slowly.

What was that?

The remaining twenty-two members of the Reaper Squad were stunned. Dragon Elephant Prajna Art at the foot of Qin Fen suddenly activated to its maximum. A dragon-shaped movement technique flashed through the crowd and appeared instantly in front of the second City Guardian.

A human? Qin Fen’s opponent reacted to what happened finally. The M134 in his hand swung swiftly at Qin Fen. The huge iron arm seemed like a devil’s arm that was able to destroy everything in the world.

“Just with this metal toy? If a military armor was used, I might only escape, but for this inferior product…”

Qin Fen sneered as his arms, injected with Dragon Elephant Prajna Art, crackled. His muscles swelled rapidly under the blood rush, and the black and blue veins intertwined the two elephant-like thick arms.

Today, Qin Fen did not wear the four thousand catty clothes that obstructed his movements. He dressed lightly when he rushed into battle. The cultivation results from the four thousand catty weight training on normal days were revealed fully at this moment.

The metal arm that came smashing down was twisted by Qin Fen with one hand! The sound of the muscle colliding with the metal had not yet spread and Qin Fen’s five fingers clenched suddenly! The metal arm was grasped by force. The other hand was also extended, both the arms were twisted, dragged and tore apart!

Kacha! Zila… zila…

The metal arms that were similar to demons suddenly became more fragile than an infant in front of Qin Fen’s elephant-like arms. They were torn apart by Qin Fen’s bt-level strength and sparks were spraying out from the torn arm continuously.

Everything happened too fast. Before everyone could react, Qin Fen had already thrown away the torn metal arm. Another hand grabbed a car that weighed one point three ton and he swung it in a smashing motion! The car slammed with force onto the head of the mobile armor.

Boom!

The car was bent like a boomerang. The head of the City Guardian sputtered sparks like fireworks and both its knees were on the ground, as if the demons had surrendered under the foot of the Yellow Emperor.

Shocking!

A young man with a height of less than two meters was like a mad konjac. He chose to fight the City Guardian that was made of metal face to face!

What was even scarier was that this young man actually won! With his physical body, he tore the metal arm of the City Guardian apart. He carried a car that weighed one point three ton with one hand as if it was a kitten and threw it on the City Guardian’s head directly!

It was a mobile armor! Even if the City Guardians were considered an inferior product in the field of mobile armors, it was still a mobile armor made out of metal!

That’s it? A policeman that came out of nowhere crushed it to bits?

It wasn’t impossible to turn the mobile armor into this with only someone’s body, but not everyone would be able to create such a violent scene.

In particular, even if you searched for ten-star martial artists around the world, you might not be able to find another!

It turned out that the ultimate violence could be a form of authority!

Twenty-one members of the Reaper Squad climbed out from the pile of scrap metal. The moment they saw Qin Fen’s eyes, the depths of their souls were hit with a heavy chill!

Although Qin Fen was unable to grasp the qi and blood successfully in the concert just now, he had built new sentiment due to the aura that was infused to the crowd with courage. The aura rose successively.

The soaring aura that was combined with the violent fighting tactics caused fear to the twenty-one terrorists that climbed out from the pile of metal for the first time.

Death? It’s not scary! The scary part was when you died with no worth at all, without being able to drag your opponent along with you to hell. This was the deep-rooted concept of a terrorist. Qin Fen’s violent blew in a flash caused the strong-willed terrorists to feel fear for the first time.

Based on the instinct to eliminate fear, the M134 from the twenty-one City Guardians were lifted by the terrorists. Qin Fen grabbed an M134 too.

Shots were fired! But the first shot wasn’t from the Reaper Squad, it was from Qin Fen!

Playing with guns? The difference between the strength of Reaper Squad and Qin Fen was like the gap between the Reaper Squad and the policemen! In front of the Reaper Squad, the City Guardians controlled by the policemen were like amateurs.

In front of Qin Fen, how could the City Guardians controlled by the Reaper Squad not be considered amateurs?

The flame tongue sprayed quickly in the six barrels, and a perfect red fire arc was drawn in the air. The guns in the hands of the Reaper Squad were collectively misfiring.

At this moment, Qin Fen’s brain was a high-speed calculator. His marksmanship had reached an unprecedented height. With a feeling like the whole world was held in his hands, the bullets flew from the barrel at high speed. A motorized weapon that struck the enemy with no mercy.

The high firing rate of the M134 required help from a motor.

However, when the motor was destroyed, M134 would be a scrap metal.

Scrap metal? The Reaper Squad had not yet reacted when the gunshots in the hands of Qin Fen could be heard again. The bullets did not attack the armor of the Reaper Squad. The bullets in the hands of Qin Fen were not enough to penetrate the City Guardian and he had insufficient ammunition.

The chain of bullets that was exhausting rapidly chose to aim the caterpillar chassis of the City Guardian. There is a hidden connection point that was a fatal flaw in Qin Fen’s eyes which may not be detected as a defect in the seemingly perfect armor by normal people.

With these chassis broken, these mobile armors would become immobile trash!

This ghost-like marksmanship! Reaper Squad felt numb in the scalp. M134 was used as a semi-automatic rifle and each shot was used accurately!

Regret. They regretted not shooting the crowd directly. Perhaps then they would have been able to kill this monster directly.

Qin Fen didn’t allow much time for regrets. With a stance of the Dragon Fly, he dashed to the front of the third City Guardian. Both his hand grabbed a smaller sized car. These two cars that weighed less than a ton was moving like table tennis bat under the monstrous power of Qin Fen.

One person held two small cars and smashed the City Guardians brutally one by one. The citizens who were hiding in a distance not too far away had their eyes twitching at this violent sight. Some even have felt sympathetic to the terrorists.

Poor things! More than twenty City Guardians were being beaten up by a person with two cars in his hands… the public remembered suddenly a movie titled “King Kong” years ago.

The giant gorilla that climbed the metal tower and struck airplanes had a similar aura to the policeman in front of them.

Only despair was left in the hearts of the Reaper Squad. This policeman was way too strong. Even if they left the City Guardian, they would only end up dead! They were too careless, so careless that they forgot to bring the holy grenade.

“God… Almighty God… We are fighting for the holy war. Please descend and provide some holy power to vanquish this disarrayed follower.”

Members of the Reaper Squad clasped their hands in front of their chests and prayed devoutly.

“Prayer…?”

Darkness shrouded the top of a skyscraping building thousands of miles away. A super-optical scope observed every movement on the battlefield through the darkness.

A man chewing gum did not aim deliberately at Qin Fen. He knew from his information that this man had an extraordinary sniping abilities, and naturally, he had a unique anti-sniping sense.

The wind blew over the skyscraper, and the windbreaker on the man fluttered gently, The fluttering corner of the clothes embroidered the bright red characters ‘blood’ and ‘eight’.

Blood ranking eighth! It’s another blood ranking killer!

Li Mingzheng turned the glass of wine in his hand gently at the State of Korea across the sea. The red wine that rippled under the illumination of lights was bright red like blood.

In three months, Li Mingzheng’s hair had turned white. The pain of losing a son had always plagued him. He was like a forbearing python, waiting for the best opportunity to come.

When he heard that the Flying Hearts’ concert was being held at Tianbei City, Li Mingzheng knew that this was his chance! Counter-terrorism concerts naturally attracted terrorists, and Qin Fen was bound to be distracted. This would be his biggest flaw in these three months!

This was the perfect night too. The terrorists would be fully responsible for Qin Fen’s death tonight. Li Mingzheng was very satisfied with his arrangement. Snake King would have no evidence to capture him. Now all he had to do was to wait for the sound of a gunshot.

Li Mingzheng adjusted the sound receivers on his ears which were connected to the receiver on the blood ranking eighth, and he could hear the sound as long as the gun fired.

Li Mingzheng adjusted his sitting position slightly. He stared at Qin Fen on the screen. The super optical scope also had an image transmission function. He wanted to watch Qin Fen be killed with his own eyes.

Li Mingzheng had never doubted his opportunity this time. Although the blood ranking eighth was only ranked eighth in the blood ranking, no one knew that it was because he did not have a higher kill count! It was not because his murder technique was weak. Considering the sniper ranking in the federation, he would be in the top ten…

Li Mingzheng smiled. The Gun King hidden in the Australian recruit camp could easily be ranked top three. This blood ranking eighth could easily be ranked top ten in the federation!

Couldn’t a sniper in the top ten of the federation who stood at the pinnacle of the peak shooting be enough to kill Qin Fen? Li Mengzheng was not in a hurry. Tonight when the blood ranking eighth fired his gun…

A chance!

The blood ranking eighth’s eyes suddenly burst with light. It seemed like two electric flashlights under the night. The energy and spirit of the whole body locked onto Qin Fen quickly and his finger buckled the trigger.

This was the chance that the blood ranking eighth had been waiting for! The spirit of Qin Fen in battle was in a special state, and these kinds of martial senses made it hard to determine any external hostility.

The best time was the moment when Qin Fen knocked down the last mobile armor.

The blood ranking eighth was very clear. At the moment of winning, the body and spirit would enter a special period of relaxation instinctually, and the senses around him would become less sensitive.

This was a psychological factor, and almost no one could violate this factor. The blood ranking eighth was very clear on this. Some of them had a longer period of relaxation, some of them had a shorter period. But as long as they had it, even a blink of an eye would suffice.

The blood ranking eighth would never forget. Once there was a fourteen-level constant star-class master. The moment he won and killed his opponent, his true energy, body, and spirit all entered the short-term instinctive relaxation stage, which was how his life was taken away.

Even the constant star-class masters would be killed, what more could a ten-star-class martial artist do? The moment the blood ranking eighth pulled the trigger, the pupil seemed to have seen the end of Qin Fen’s body being blown by bullets.

Lock! Shoot!

Qin Fen looked at the mobile armor falling down slowly, and his ear beat violently all of a sudden. His heart pumped dozens of times in a second, and his mind crossed the thought ‘sniper’ at lightning speed!

Qin Fen’s body had already moved ahead as the thought flashed. The super-charged Dragon Elephant Prajna Art broke out under the pressure of life and death. The tarred road under the foot was hit by the tyrannical force and turned into a thick black oil instantly!

Boom ! The high-speed rotating bullet with the spiral airflow swirled the black oil into the air causing the bullet to hit the ground and left a pothole-sized hole.

Gun! It possessed such terrifying power!

“How can it be?”

Blood ranking eighth was shocked, how could this target not relax his instinct at all? Which apex-level sniper had trained him? Even this instinct could be wiped out completely!

Boom…

Blood ranking eighth heard a heavy voice on his lower body, and he dropped the anti-sniping equipment in his hand instinctively. His body moved horizontally at a high speed. The gun body in the standing position previously had been penetrated by the continuous bullets.

M2BH! Blood ranking eighth flashed the name of an old gun. Although the rate of firing of this heavy machine gun could not keep up with the times, its effective range was six kilometers! The blood of the blood ranking eighth rolled rapidly, and the bullets from thousands of miles away were as moving fast as if they had eyes; they consistently fell in the position where he was dodging.

What is this monster? Blood ranking eighth had a self-deprecating smile, and his eyes couldn’t hide the shock. The thing in Qin Fen’s hand had no optical scope. Even if the top hundred snipers in the federation had it, they might not be as accurate as he was.

Did he also enter the ranking of the top ten snipers in the federation? Blood ranking eighth felt ridiculous. Where did this kid learn shooting psychology? If he wasn’t too far away, he could have already been killed by the M2BH.

No chance! Blood ranking eighth assessed the situation and turned around to evade. A bullet had intercepted his movement.

Boom!

The body of blood ranking eighth was torn into two. He fell to the ground and saw his body. Dumfounded, the last thought that crossed his mind was: how is this possible?