107: Chapter 107 erupts in silence.

Inside the villa, Parker looked down at Mary's open hand and silently placed his own on top of it.

"Group Leader," his palm was sweaty. "I used to be the most cowardly person in school. When Tom blocked me, my first reaction was always to calculate which direction was the fastest to run."

"Today in the shop, when A-Zu's eyes turned red, my first reaction was also to run, but Group Leader, you showed me what bravery is."

"Since I've joined the New Era Youth, I'll always be your team member. Tell me what to do, I'll follow your orders! Group Leader."

Gwen also placed her hand over the back of Parker's. "My dad is the Chief of the New York Police Department. Growing up, I've seen too many people crying in the reporting room because of unfair treatment."

"I realized then that there are some things that if you don't stand up and fight for, no one else will fight for you."

Three hands were stacked together over the coffee table, one on top of the other, and they pressed down heavily three times.

After the third time, six eyes looked up simultaneously, seeing the determination in each other's gaze.

Mary withdrew her hand and cleared her throat. "Now, in my capacity as the Group Leader of the New Era Youth, I am assigning tasks."

She pointed at Parker. "Parker, you're responsible for helping me record the video. Ensure the quality is top-notch."

Then she pointed at Gwen. "Gwen, you're in charge of writing the scripts and the backend operations. Which platforms to post on, what titles to use, how to manage the comments, and how to filter private messages—I'm leaving all of that to you."

Finally, she poked her thumb against her own chest. "And I will be the one showing my face and speaking."

Parker was about to nod when his brow suddenly furrowed. "Wait a minute, don't we need to show our faces?"

Mary shook her head, her tone brook no argument. "Once this video is posted, if it really goes viral, the person showing their face might be targeted by those aliens."

She fixed her gaze on Parker's face. "So I'll be the one showing my face. All the cameras will be on me, and all the titles will have my name. That way, all the heat will be directed at me."

"No!" Parker shouted loudly. "We're a team. You stood in front of A-Zu alone today; you've already stood alone once. This time, let me..."

"Think about your family, Parker." Mary's tone became serious. "You're not like me. My parents passed away long ago, and my sister Maya is the Ball Chief's secretary. Even if they really want to take action, they'll at most kill me alone; they won't involve anyone else."

"So I'll show my face alone, and you guys stay behind the camera. It's settled."

Parker sat there, his fingers clenching and unclenching. Finally, he slowly exhaled through his nose and nodded.

So the three of them split up to get to work. Parker kept adjusting the equipment, Gwen racked her brains over the video script, and Mary kept taking deep breaths.

——————

At nine o'clock that evening, a video titled "Refuse to Buy Alien Potions, Humans Are Not a Low-Level Race" quietly appeared on the internet. At first, it made no sound, but as time passed, the video began to spread like wildfire.

In the video, Mary sat upright in front of the camera. "Hello, fellow humans. My name is Mary Rodriguez."

"You might not know me, but you definitely know my sister, Maya Rodriguez, the Ball Chief's personal assistant."

"That's right, I am the sister of the Ball Chief's secretary."

"Of course, I'm not posting this video today to show off my status or to chase clout."

"I'm posting this video because something happened today—something that left me standing on the streets of New York, trembling with rage, until I finally decided I had to turn on this camera."

"This afternoon, I walked into the Wuhu Special Ability Potion Shop on Fifth Avenue with two of my classmates."

"There, we saw with our own eyes the leader of the Wuhu Planet people, A-Zu, say something in front of a room full of humans."

"He said humans are a low-level race, and that humans will only ever remain silent."

"Below is the video we recorded at the time."

The screen cut to a clip of A-Zu insulting humans with a look of disdain.

The screen cut back to Mary, who continued, "The girl in the video demanding an apology is me."

"I drank one hundred and ten bottles of their potion, but I didn't awaken at all."

"I won't conclude whether what they're selling is a Special Ability Potion or just blueberry-flavored sugar water."

"But one thing I confirmed with my own eyes today: their leader insulted all of humanity in public."

"We spent money, we stood in line, and then we stood there being insulted. After being insulted, most people continued to shell out money."

Mary's voice began to rise. "We are humans, an intelligent race. We might not be considered high-level in the entire universe, but we have our dignity!"

She pressed her hand to her chest. "So, as the human Mary Rodriguez, I want to say one thing to everyone who can see this video."

"If you still consider yourself human, if you still consider your parents, your friends, and your children human, then please think: when you spend a thousand dollars to buy that bottle of potion today, are you buying a chance to awaken a Special Ability? Or are you buying into the default assumption that humans are a low-level race?"

Mary's voice softened. "Finally, I hope everyone who sees this video can say to themselves: I won't buy it, because I am not a low-level race."

The screen went black, and the video ended.

In the comments section below: [To be honest, these alien potions are a real scam. Not only are they expensive, but they have zero effect after drinking. They just rely on those few success stories to fool people.]

["Sister, are you sure you didn't awaken? When you stood there and said 'apologize,' you looked more like a superhero than all the people throwing fireballs in those awakening videos combined."]

["Mary, you're right. If a race is insulted and remains unaware of it, then it truly is low-level. Thank you for speaking up."]

[We're both high schoolers, yet while I'm still worrying about tomorrow's math exam, you're already going head-to-head with aliens. That was legendary.]

["The Ball Chief's secretary's sister stands up to scold the aliens, while the President is licking alien boots on Twitter. I know who I'm stanning now."]

["These rag-tag aliens dare to call humans a low-level race? I can live without buying their crappy potions. Starting tomorrow, whoever goes to the Wuhu Shop to line up, I'll talk them out of it whenever I see them."]

["Their alien tech is indeed more advanced than ours, so what's the big deal if they say a few unpleasant things? Is it worth getting this worked up?"]

[Reply: "It is. Today you get used to him saying unpleasant things; tomorrow you'll get used to him doing unpleasant things. The day after, you'll be used to kneeling."]

[And I don't see how they're all that advanced? At least compared to the Ball Chief's Guga Civilization, they're worlds apart.]

[I'm a sci-fi writer, and I can't write my draft tonight. Because I suddenly realized that the Alien Invasions in my writing are always spaceships and laser cannons, but a real-life invasion only needs a bottle of blueberry-flavored sugar water and a sentence saying you're a low-level race.]

[The most ironic part is that the invaders didn't even force you; you lined up to buy it yourself.]

[Defending human dignity is everyone's responsibility. Tomorrow I'm organizing people to go protest at that crappy alien shop!]