Chapter 10, 010

　　Downstream of the Winding River.
　　A layer of bubbles rose across the calm water.
　　After confirming there were no surveillance cameras, Shen Qingyang’s wet head emerged from the river. Several tentacles hooked onto the bank, and his enormous body slowly dragged itself ashore.
　　He was still not accustomed to remaining underwater.
　　But almost as soon as he climbed from the river, Shen Qingyang sensed someone nearby.
　　His vigilant gaze swept the surroundings again and again, yet he could not see a trace of any living creature.
　　It almost made him want to hide beneath the water again.
　　Just as Shen Qingyang prepared to do so, a human voice finally came from behind him.
　　“I’ve been waiting here for you for a long time.” The speaker had an elegant female voice that quickly shifted into a deep male register. “You are my most outstanding creation in K City.”
　　A man in a black robe stepped from the shadows. He had no mouth, only one enormous eye on his face.
　　“Who are you?”
　　Several tentacles behind Shen Qingyang slowly writhed into attacking positions.
　　“You may call me the Prophet,” he said. “The human world no longer welcomes you. In the past three hours, your information has already been transmitted back to Prevention and Control Headquarters. Since you haven’t begun harming humans yet, you’re low on their priority list. But I know ‘that person’ is already on the way. He has a bad temper, and he’s currently in a berserk state. He might stop by and eliminate you on the way. He and Bai Qiushi aren’t on the same level. Would you like to come with me?”
　　Shen Qingyang smiled. “I hate the way you smell.”
　　The Prophet lowered his head and sniffed.
　　The stench of corpses was extremely strong, but he had long since grown used to it.
　　“I know. Your heart still tells you that you’re a member of human society. But those inferior Homo sapiens are merely a species on the verge of elimination. The future world will belong to us.” The Prophet’s voice was hypnotic. “We are the gods of the new world. I know many things. I can give you greater power…”
　　Shen Qingyang had no interest in listening to a long speech. He turned and began walking toward the mountains.
　　“Wait.” After a long silence, the Prophet called after him again. “I know what you want.”
　　The Prophet opened his eye. His pupil contracted continuously as he stared into Shen Qingyang’s eyes.
　　[Talent—Bewitchment].
　　[Talent—Precognition].
　　Under the combined influence of the two Talents, Shen Qingyang unexpectedly experienced the illusion that the person before him was trustworthy.
　　“You’ve always been grateful to him. He saved you from death. You were an illegitimate child, abandoned by your biological parents and abused by your adoptive parents. After finishing middle school, you escaped that mountain village… Yes, the very village you were just about to return to. You want to make those people pay.”
　　“You aren’t a good person, but he is. You were complete strangers, yet he advanced your medical expenses and gave you a job. You only dared watch him secretly when he left for work and returned home. You know you aren’t worthy of him. He appears well-born, highly educated, and handsome, with many admirers. He may not even be attracted to men. You don’t dare imagine it, much less say anything.”
　　The Prophet could not see much. He did not even know who that person was, but this was already enough.
　　The calm on Shen Qingyang’s face shattered. For the first time, he even looked angered.
　　No one enjoyed being seen through at a glance.
　　The human face on the back of the Prophet’s head curled its mouth into a deep smile. “Now can we have a proper conversation?”
　　“Yes. But first you need to understand one thing. I haven’t retained very many human emotions.” Shen Qingyang’s expression returned to calm as he spoke unhurriedly. “He truly was special to me when I was human, but that may no longer be the case. I trust you aren’t foolish enough to use him as leverage against me.”
　　The Prophet smiled and nodded. “I understand. When I was still human, I had an obedient son who now lives in K City. I once thought I would always retain my paternal love for him… Never mind. Let’s not discuss that. Let me see how far the King Fish inside you has developed.”
　　Shen Qingyang frowned in confusion. “What King Fish?”
　　For once, the Prophet was visibly stunned. “It didn’t parasitize you?”
　　*
　　Lu Yan was so exhausted that he fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow.
　　But because the place was too unfamiliar, he woke repeatedly through the night, always suspecting that someone might assassinate him in the next second.
　　The center of Lu Yan’s left palm felt hot and faintly painful. From time to time, it twitched uncontrollably.
　　The System said this was because he had absorbed more contamination source than his body could handle.
　　[It’s a little earlier than I expected, but it really has begun its second stage of evolution. My knockoff is probably furious by now.]
　　When morning came, Lu Yan touched his forehead and confirmed that he had developed another fever. His throat hurt badly, as though it had been scorched.
　　He put on his coat and opened the door.
　　The staff member stationed outside immediately followed him. “Dr. Lu, you’re awake this early… You don’t look very well.”
　　Lu Yan answered calmly, “I have trouble sleeping in unfamiliar beds. I didn’t sleep well.”
　　“What kind of bed do you usually sleep on? We can purchase one. Are you heading to the cafeteria? I can show you the way.” The staff member’s attitude was exceptionally warm and attentive.
　　“Rounds. Where is my patient?” Lu Yan asked.
　　His voice was hoarse, and his mouth tasted dry and metallic, like rust.
　　An embarrassed smile appeared on the staff member’s face.
　　A Pollutant had escaped from directly under their noses. Bai Qiushi had flown into a rage and spent three hours racing along every major river in K City, yet still failed to locate Shen Qingyang.
　　Information about Shen Qingyang had been transmitted back to Headquarters overnight. Before long, he might even appear on the bounty board maintained by the Prevention and Control Center.
　　“If you mean the patient brought over from the shelter, his condition worsened during the night and he escaped from the Prevention and Control Center. Relevant personnel have already gone to handle it.”
　　Without revealing any emotion, Lu Yan unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and drank to relieve the dryness in his mouth. “I see. When can I go home?”
　　If he were still in his previous condition, Lu Yan would not have minded staying at the Prevention and Control Center. Occasionally seeing several young men in military uniforms even gave him a strong sense of security.
　　But in his current state, remaining here was not ideal.
　　When he fused with the King Fish before, Lu Yan had briefly lost consciousness. He was worried he might suddenly black out here.
　　The staff member looked troubled. “I’ll ask Captain Lin.”
　　Lin Sinan was not currently the highest-ranking official at the Prevention and Control Center, but he had met Lu Yan before and could loosely be considered an acquaintance. Headquarters worried that suddenly assigning someone else to communicate with Lu Yan might make him uneasy.
　　The two sat down in a relatively open café area.
　　The food at the Prevention and Control Center was excellent. Lin Sinan, however, ate without much appetite. His Spiritual Power Threshold was only 1,600, but because he frequently fought in the field, his Mutation Index was actually quite high. Ordinary food no longer held much worldly appeal for him.
　　Lu Yan asked the System, “I can’t tell what part of him has mutated.”
　　Lin Sinan’s gaze was clear and resolute, carrying an unmistakable military air. Even when seated, his back remained perfectly straight.
　　[Lin Sinan. Captain of the Third Detachment, Group Six, Special Operations Division. Spiritual Power Threshold: 1,600.]
　　[Enlisted at twenty-two. At twenty-three, assisted in handling a pollution-disease incident. That same year, he voluntarily applied for exposure to a contamination source and awakened as an Awakened.]
　　[Talents: Tracking Shot, Firepower Suppression.]
　　[He looks fine on the outside, but his insides are badly corroded. Uh, I honestly don’t really want to look. It’s disgusting. Parasitic fish eggs are much cuter than parasitic worm eggs…]
　　[Here’s a secret. If he ever becomes a Pollutant, he’ll most likely turn into a writhing mass of worms. White ones. Like rice.]
　　Lu Yan: “…”
　　Thank you. He had completely lost his appetite.
　　[I should have told you already that to become an Awakened, you first have to come into contact with a contamination source. But contact with one carries a high probability of immediate death or mutation. Only a very small number of people become Awakened.]
　　[After years of research, the institutes did develop a special medication. It has a certain chance of returning newly contaminated mutated people to normal.]
　　[But most volunteers sign up prepared to die. If they fail to awaken, even the special medication won’t help. There’s only one path left for them after that.]
　　[Logically, few people should volunteer for something with such a high mortality rate. Yet the soldiers in the China Region rarely back down… That’s also why pollution disease is controlled far better in the China Region than overseas. The Greater China Region currently possesses the strongest Awakened in the world and also the largest number of organized Awakened units.]
　　Lu Yan remained silent for so long that Lin Sinan coughed. “Dr. Lu, did you see the news broadcasts from earlier? Do you know what an Awakened is?”
　　Lu Yan nodded. “I do.”
　　Lin Sinan said, “That makes this much easier. Awakened are divided into three systems: combat, support, and special. Our preliminary assessment is that your Talent is ‘Devour,’ a healing-type Talent belonging to the special system. Healing-type Talents are extremely rare. Headquarters has sent a researcher here in the hope of observing and documenting your ability. Naturally, they’ll ask for your consent first.”
　　“You saw what happened with pollution disease in K City. In fact, there are many other cases like this around the world, and they vary greatly…” As he spoke, Lin Sinan took out a tablet and logged into his internal account. “I don’t know whether you’d be interested in seeing them.”
　　Lu Yan accepted the tablet. It displayed a forum whose largest section was titled “Pollution Disease Case Studies.”
　　Cases were classified from S through F according to the strength of their contamination source.
　　The K City outbreak already seemed extremely severe in Lu Yan’s eyes, yet it was only classified as “C-rank.”
　　“That’s because it’s highly contagious, but the fatality rate isn’t high. The Pollutants produced by the mutations are also low-level,” Lin Sinan explained.
　　Every case file had a rank. Lu Yan glanced through several. So far, there were two S-rank contamination incidents, codenamed “Natural Disaster” and “Divine Kingdom.”
　　Note: Currently unsolvable. Human populations in surrounding areas have been evacuated. A-rank Awakened “Muramasa” and “Hokushin Ittoryu” died while assisting the evacuation.
　　There were far more A-rank cases: “Slaughterhouse,” “Nightmare City,” “Wall of Resentment,” “Luochuan Botanical Garden”… Dozens scattered across the country and abroad.
　　Lu Yan casually opened a case called “Wall of Resentment.”
　　[Wall of Resentment]
　　Introduction: An extremely narrow alley that appears randomly in the center of a given urban area. Countless dead souls and skeletal remains are embedded within its walls. When a living creature passes through, the resentment within the walls drags it into its deepest obsession, forcing it to begin cycle after cycle of reincarnation. Success allows the victim to leave the wall. Failure turns the victim into part of it. No successful escape has currently been recorded. Seven Awakened have undertaken this mission. Fatality rate: 100 percent.
　　[The following mission information is publicly available within the China Region.]
　　[Appendix: (Audio File) “Calling Headquarters. This is ‘Giant Bear.’ This will be my final mission report. My Mutation Index has reached ninety-seven. I have completed a total of six cycles inside the Wall of Resentment. The intelligence and precautions I obtained are as follows… I regret that I won’t personally see this world return to normal. There’s no need to send anyone to rescue me. Please tell my wife that I love her.”]
　　Note: Observation indicates that the Wall of Resentment continues to expand in length. The number of people it has devoured has exceeded five figures. Researchers in X Country state that if allowed to continue growing, its final length could exceed the Great Walls of the Qin and Ming dynasties.
　　This was the other side of the world, one Lu Yan had known nothing about.
　　He had thought he was prepared. Yet faced with information this cruel, bloody, and even tragic in its heroism, he still could not stop his soul from trembling.
　　He trembled at his own weakness—and in respect for those unyielding souls.
　　“This world is already on the brink.” Lin Sinan tried to make both his voice and expression as sincere as possible. “We need every bit of strength. You’re a healer. You won’t need to go onto the battlefield frequently. We’ll do everything in our power to protect your safety.”
　　He took out a document and placed it in front of Lu Yan. “I hope you’ll join the Special Operations Division.”
　　Lu Yan said nothing, only revealing a thoughtful expression. Lin Sinan could not help becoming nervous.
　　After a long while, Lu Yan looked up and asked, “Is it a permanent government post with full social insurance and housing fund? And if it’s a 996 schedule, do I get overtime pay?”
　　The priorities of a working stiff were always wonderfully simple.