Under the immense population base, ability users sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain: fire-wielders, electricity manipulators, ice conjurers. Though for now, these were mere parlor tricks, their power barely distinguishable from conjuring, let alone serving as frontline combat forces. Yet, every individual who gained an ability was brimming with confidence, believing they could become a heaven-defdefying powerhouse like the protagonists of web novels.
However, as countless people rejoiced at acquiring their superpowers, many problems arose in their wake.
In the initial period after receiving the news, governments worldwide had considered blockading the Spirit Rivers, but they quickly abandoned such impractical notions.
Firstly, the sheer number of Spirit Rivers was extraordinary. Essentially, whether a volcano was dormant or active, large or small, as long as it was a volcano, it corresponded to the eruption of a Spirit River. No country possessed the manpower required to blockade all of them.
Secondly, such blockade efforts would undoubtedly incite strong public discontent. In some countries where the ownership of firearms was permitted, it could even lead to large-scale conflicts between the military and civilians.
Finally, in the face of readily available power, would the loyalty of those tasked with enforcing the blockade be sufficient to resist the temptation?
After a round of secret consultations, the upper echelons of various nations eventually compromised. Most simply dispatched personnel to maintain order and control security around the Spirit Rivers, even arranging for entire units of troops to enter the Spirit Rivers for training exercises during specific periods. The crumbling social order was thus barely maintained through these concessions.
But soon, a new and even more severe problem confronted humanity—after absorbing spirit qi, the body required a massive replenishment of external energy to optimize its structure. Therefore, coming out of a Spirit River would lead to a significant depletion of food supplies.
Now, with the entire world swept up in a spirit qi frenzy, the food problem was, for the first time in history, unprecedentedly laid bare before the major developed nations.
"Although we haven't reached a state of food scarcity yet, we must start considering the issue of food consumption far exceeding production, as we don't know how long this event will last," U.S. President Joseph Lee stated during a meeting with European Union heads of state.
Meanwhile, in Sub-Saharan Africa, where food was generally scarce, after witnessing the first wave of people emerging from the Spirit Rivers consume vast amounts of food, subsequent individuals had to start weighing whether the amount of food they possessed was enough to take the gamble before entering a river.
The massive food consumption caused many African civilians to hesitate at the sight of the rivers. Of course, some ambitious individuals and warlords also began using the Spirit Rivers to train their troops, or directly recruit daredevils willing to risk it all by entering a Spirit River.
In Huaxia, due to the prevalence of various web novels, a larger proportion of people initially believed the rumors that venturing into a Spirit River could grant superpowers. Coupled with Huaxia's immense population, the number of people going to the Spirit Rivers for "trials" was almost incalculable.
The military could only dispatch soldiers in four shifts, twenty-four hours a day, with each shift lasting six hours, tirelessly maintaining order. They controlled the social order of various Spirit Rivers throughout the day, arranged the queuing sequence, and also set aside three hours daily exclusively for military and government personnel to enter.
The compromise between the government and the general public ultimately became the mainstream approach. In some autocratic countries, attempts to monopolize the Spirit Rivers by force largely failed due to the aforementioned reasons, eventually leading them to make concessions and seek mutual reconciliation.
During the three days Bai Mo was dormant, according to incomplete statistics, nearly two million people worldwide gained abilities through various Spirit Rivers, averaging hundreds of thousands per day.
How to treat this newly emerged social group of ability users became a question that many social scientists, and indeed society as a whole, had to face. This group represented millions of people.
Although they currently showed little difference from ordinary people, and the abilities of most ability users were still at the level of parlor tricks at this stage, the island-wide sensation caused by the case of an ability user's power evolving in Hawaii dispelled everyone's doubts about whether ability users' powers could evolve.
If, in the near future, someone truly reached a point where they could single-handedly rival a nation, how should they view this stratum composed of former compatriots? Would the social structure undergo profound changes? Would an era of strongman dictatorship arrive? These were all questions that needed attention.
Many people thought of works like X-Men and the Marvel series, which were products of fantasy exploring the relationship between superhumans and ordinary people.
However, their settings depicted the number of superhumans as far fewer than ordinary people, so rare that most believed ability users were mere urban legends. Such settings did not align with the current situation.
And now, people all over the world knew of the definite existence of ability users. They were not rumors, not legends, but countless individuals among them. News even mentioned fleeting glimpses of high-tier ability users appearing in Hawaii.
Supported by these rivers flowing with unknown gases, the immense number of ability users continued to increase daily, leaving nations everywhere at a loss in the face of such sudden changes.
Mainstream human viewpoints were primarily divided into three factions: pro-ability user, anti-ability user, and neutral.
Some believed that ability users represented the direction of human evolution and strongly supported their emergence. Many young people, as well as the ability users themselves and their relatives and friends, were strong proponents of the ability users' appearance.
Naturally, some hardliners believed that these individuals could no longer be considered legitimate humans and should not be treated as ordinary people. The rest comprised the neutral faction, who didn't care much either way.
Furthermore, some immensely wealthy individuals, not long for this world, who had long been dedicated to seeking eternal life, had already begun plotting to capture some ability users for experimentation, hoping to find a way to live longer.
To survive, these madmen, who wouldn't live much longer but possessed astonishing wealth and influence, would try every possible means to struggle, even if there was only a shred of opportunity.
Driven by the ticking countdown of their lives, these madmen became exceptionally crazed, completely disregarding the consequences.
It was only the third day since the emergence of ability users, and small-scale cases of ability user disappearances had already begun to occur in various parts of the world.
Initially, few paid attention to these disappearances, as missing person cases were common in major cities daily. It wasn't until the families of the missing connected with each other that they discovered nearly all those who had disappeared in recent days were newly awakened ability users.
This revelation caused a stir not only within the ability user community but across the entire world.
Ability users themselves numbered in the millions, and when their relatives and friends were included, it constituted a population group in the tens of millions. Moreover, many of the police officers investigating these cases were themselves ability users.