Chapter 9, 009

　　The shelter was thirteen kilometers from the Prevention and Control Center.
　　Shen Qingyang was confined inside. With his movement restricted, he could only pass the time by studying an English vocabulary book.
　　If not for this sudden outbreak of pollution disease, he had planned to take the College English Test Band Four. He wondered whether they would refund the registration fee.
　　The shelter was restless at night.
　　Although meals were provided, they were not the kind of food mutated people wanted to eat. The special medication could slow the progression of mutation, but it could not ease the hunger in their stomachs.
　　Every night, mutated people disappeared. No one reported it, so naturally no one investigated.
　　Shen Qingyang’s new neighbor was a fish-man in the late second stage of mutation. Barring any surprise, he would be dragged away for cremation in a few days.
　　The neighbor lightly tapped on the sheet-metal wall, thin as paper. “Stop memorizing vocabulary. I know you’re too hungry to sleep too.”
　　Shen Qingyang put down his book and quietly said, “Mm.”
　　“Insurance covers the treatment, but I don’t think any of us are getting out alive. You know the patient from Building Two? Early the next morning, when the supervisor made rounds, there was nothing left on the bed but blood. Bits of flesh were stuck to the ceiling. They told everyone he died from the illness, but really, he got swallowed in the middle of the night.”
　　“But the mutated person who ate him was taken away for disposal the next day,” Shen Qingyang said gently. “Justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent.”
　　“Why are you calling him ‘the mutated person’ like you aren’t one too? Better a miserable life than a good death. Who wants to die?” The neighbor sounded irritated. “I just got transferred here from Building Three. This counts as intensive care, right? How long have you been here?”
　　Shen Qingyang considered. “People in the late second stage are basically all brought here. I haven’t been here that long, though. Maybe a week?”
　　“Ha. Didn’t expect the place to be this orderly. Buildings One, Two, and Three go insane at night. Even the supervisors can’t control them… Hey, bro, I’m a little hungry.”
　　Shen Qingyang answered softly, “There are apples and instant noodles in the room. They provide them every day.”
　　The neighbor clicked his tongue heavily. A moment later, chewing sounds came from the tiny room next door.
　　Shen Qingyang’s fingers remained resting on the cover of the English book. He had a feeling the night would not remain peaceful.
　　Clearly, his new neighbor was troublesome. Otherwise, the supervisors would not have deliberately placed him next door to Shen Qingyang.
　　Sure enough, in the latter half of the night, fingernails began scraping across the thin metal wall.
　　Sharp fingers punched through the sheet metal with a tremendous screech.
　　By rights, the five senses of mutated people had all been enhanced. At night, even a mosquito buzzing could keep an entire building awake. Yet despite such an enormous noise, nobody reacted.
　　The mutated residents of Building Four merely sneered in the darkness, turned over, and pulled their blankets over their heads with complete disinterest.
　　The sheet-metal wall was torn open. The neighbor ripped through it and muttered to himself, “Sorry. I know this is wrong, but I’m really too hungry. I can’t take it. You’ll die if I eat you, but you’ll also die if they send you to be cremated. Better to die in my stomach. I’ll spend the rest of my life being grateful to you…”
　　As he spoke, the bald neighbor felt as though he had stepped on something.
　　He looked down. It seemed to be a long tentacle. Fleshy tumors covered its surface, and eyes hung from those tumors one after another. Some gazes were pitying. Others were mocking.
　　“Is that so?” Shen Qingyang asked gently from where he sat at the desk.
　　The neighbor stiffly raised his neck and looked at the person before him.
　　Shen Qingyang’s face still retained its original appearance, but below the waist, his legs had disappeared. In their place were countless octopus tentacles.
　　Those tentacles filled the cramped, narrow room and climbed the walls like plant roots.
　　It was not true that nothing unusual had ever happened in Building Four.
　　Something happened on the very first night. When the supervisors woke, every mutated person in Building Four was dead except Shen Qingyang.
　　Shen Qingyang said he had merely acted in self-defense. The surveillance footage did indeed support that claim.
　　Although he was mutated, Shen Qingyang never attacked anyone first and even helped maintain order. Added to the fact that he stubbornly refused to enter the third stage of mutation, the authorities remained divided over how to handle him.
　　By the third day, however, the supervisors no longer had that problem.
　　They had concluded that even all of them together would not be a match for Shen Qingyang…
　　Because of his presence, Building Four—supposedly the most chaotic ward—had instead become the most orderly building in the entire shelter.
　　Tentacles wrapped around the neighbor’s body, giving him almost no opportunity to struggle.
　　Shen Qingyang still wore a warm smile. “If you understand that even a miserable life is better than a good death, why did you come looking for death?”
　　…
　　…
　　Wet, sticky sounds came from the tiny room. Shen Qingyang did not feed with his mouth, but through the countless tentacles.
　　The tentacles bored into the mutated man’s brain. Before long, the nearly two-meter-tall body had been sucked into a desiccated husk, leaving little more than a skeleton.
　　When the supervisor switched on the light and opened the door with a key, his hands were trembling.
　　He pushed the door open. The room, barely more than ten square meters, reeked of blood.
　　At first, Shen Qingyang had been given only 2.7 square meters of room to move. But as his tentacles grew longer and longer, the supervisors had been forced to break through the walls of several adjoining rooms to give him enough space.
　　Shen Qingyang pointed at the dried corpse on the floor. “He attacked me first.”
　　The supervisor nodded repeatedly. “I understand. I understand.”
　　They could no longer beat him. If they also failed to show tact, life inside the shelter would become very dangerous indeed.
　　The supervisor said, “Actually, I came to see you tonight because we received an order from above…”
　　Shen Qingyang looked slightly surprised, then quickly became calm. “I understand. Could you give me two minutes to write a will?”
　　“No, no, you’re not going to the incinerator.” Cold sweat had already soaked the supervisor’s back. “The Prevention and Control Center sent a notice. They want us to find two mutated people at different stages to test a new medication. We thought we could send you… Testing a new drug does carry some risk, but in your current condition, the special medication used at the shelter no longer works on you. You might as well try it. Of course, the decision is mainly yours.”
　　Shen Qingyang was silent for a moment. “I have no objection.”
　　The supervisor hurriedly took out a testing device. “Good. I’ll create a record for you first, then we’ll take a car to the Prevention and Control Center.”
　　According to relevant international standards, once the Mutation Index* exceeded 100, the subject no longer belonged within the human category, but had completed an evolution.
　　Shen Qingyang rose, standing from the chair for the first time.
　　His head immediately struck the ceiling. Thick black tentacles rolled and surged, gathering into a writhing mass beneath his torso.
　　When the instrument scanned the person before it, it emitted a shrill warning beep and flashed red.
　　Shen Qingyang. Mutation Index: 99.9.
　　*
　　Lu Yan sat in front of the examination table. Bai Qiushi was on his left, Lin Sinan on his right.
　　After all, Lu Yan was about to directly face mutated people here. With the slightest mishap, a fragile healing-type Awakened with no combat ability could be killed. Powerful protection was therefore necessary.
　　Lin Sinan handed him a circular metal patch. “Stick this to your skin. The instrument can use it to monitor changes in your Mutation Index.”
　　According to Lin Sinan, frequent contact with Pollutants and excessive use of Talents could both raise a person’s Mutation Index. The process was usually irreversible. Bai Qiushi’s four pupils, for example, had already grown in and could not exactly be dug back out.
　　A physician could not heal himself. Healing-type Awakened were therefore extremely cautious when using their Talents on themselves.
　　“Can I really still eat any more?” Lu Yan asked the System.
　　Although he felt that he had digested some of his meal on the way here, his stomach was still painfully bloated.
　　[Not a big problem. Relax. Once you hit the limit, you break through. They washed the food clean and delivered it right to you. Isn’t that better than going door to door searching for isolated salted fish?]
　　Lu Yan thought that made sense.
　　The first subject brought in was someone in the first stage of mutation.
　　He looked newly contaminated and not particularly dangerous. There were only mild changes to his face, and even the webbing between his fingers had not fully formed.
　　The mutated man was bound tightly to a chair. His expression was terrified, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
　　Lu Yan stood, slowly approached him, and extended one hand.
　　A thin layer of translucent fish scales appeared. Fine white filaments emerged and rooted themselves into the top of the mutated man’s head.
　　The sight was somewhat eerie.
　　But the two people present had spent years fighting Pollutants. Strange scenes no longer surprised them.
　　Fish eggs were pulled out one after another. The juvenile King Fish also seemed to sense danger and remained hidden inside Lu Yan’s body, quiet as though hibernating.
　　On the instrument, the mutated man’s Mutation Index dropped dramatically. It fell continuously from fifty-seven until it finally reached zero. His body would still need several days to recover, but his mind had clearly become far more lucid.
　　“Ah-ba, ah-ba, ah-ba… Thank you, doctor.”
　　Lu Yan’s own Mutation Index barely changed, increasing by only 0.07.
　　This instrument was much more precise than an ordinary electronic scanner.
　　Seeing the result, Lin Sinan could not hide the joy on his face.
　　It proved that Lu Yan truly could treat pollution disease and that his own readings remained extremely stable.
　　Bai Qiushi filled out the record form and transmitted the relevant data back to Headquarters.
　　Lin Sinan asked, “Dr. Lu, would you like to rest for a while?”
　　Lu Yan was painfully full and had intended to nod, but the System suddenly spoke. [I suggest you take a look. If you wait too long, you won’t get another chance.]
　　“Look at what?”
　　[The process from human to Pollutant is called “evolution,” but evolution can succeed or fail. Everything you’ve seen before—mutated people and Pollutants alike—were failed pathological evolutionary forms. The next case, however, is a perfect evolutionary form.]
　　“A perfect evolutionary form… How is that different from a pathological one?”
　　[If I absolutely had to compare them, probably the difference between a phoenix and a chicken.]
　　Lu Yan admitted that the System’s little trick successfully piqued his curiosity.
　　He smiled. “I’m fine. No need to rest. Let’s finish everything in one go.”
　　So Lin Sinan spoke several words into the intercom.
　　A moment later, four strong officers carried in an iron cage.
　　The cage had been rushed over from a zoo. Its surface was wrapped in a fishing-net-like electric grid to prevent whatever was inside from escaping.
　　Now the cage contained an… octopus?
　　Pitch-black tentacles completely filled the three-meter-high cage. Eyes embedded along their surfaces looked in every direction with curiosity and a hint of wickedness.
　　Bai Qiushi’s four pupils spun around his sockets like compass needles. He frowned. “How is this any different from a Pollutant? Who sent it?”
　　As soon as he finished speaking, the tentacles parted, revealing Shen Qingyang at the very center.
　　Shen Qingyang gripped the bars, visibly delighted. “Dr. Lu. I didn’t expect to see you again.”
　　Lu Yan stared at his face, somewhat surprised. “Neither did I.”
　　He had assumed the property manager would become a frog-man.
　　“Seeing that you’re all right puts my mind at ease. I’ve been worried about you these past few days.” Shen Qingyang asked, “Why are you here, Dr. Lu?”
　　Lu Yan answered concisely, “Treating patients.”
　　Shen Qingyang smiled, his eyes curving gently. “Then it seems I’ve become your patient again.”
　　Although Shen Qingyang had behaved meekly throughout, Bai Qiushi’s gaze remained full of vigilance.
　　Lu Yan stepped slightly closer to the cage, stopped, and extended his hand.
　　The fine white filaments spread again. As they approached Shen Qingyang, however, they hesitated faintly.
　　Shen Qingyang looked encouraging. He even deliberately extended a tentacle and touched it against Lu Yan’s white filaments.
　　Naturally, the tentacle was unexpectedly shocked by the electrified grid.
　　But Shen Qingyang’s smile barely changed, proving the electric net was essentially meaningless to him.
　　The fine threads wrapped around the tentacle. Once the King Fish realized the other party had no intention of resisting, it became visibly excited.
　　It began extracting the contamination source from Shen Qingyang’s body.
　　The System supplied detailed information.
　　[Shen Qingyang. Perfect evolutionary form. Pollutant. Contamination value: 6,100—look at that. You mutated at about the same time, yet he’s far stronger than you.]
　　[Mutation Talents: Mimicry, Life Drain.]
　　[Mutation Direction: Gigantification, Tentacles.]
　　Lu Yan was deeply shocked. “He’s already a Pollutant?”
　　[Yes. Mimicry taught him how to disguise himself.]
　　“But he still appears to retain human thought patterns and social behavior.”
　　[That’s why it’s called a perfect evolutionary form.]
　　…
　　…
　　“His Mutation Index is falling.” Lin Sinan stared at the instrument, tense and serious. “But very slowly.”
　　A full half hour passed, and Shen Qingyang’s Mutation Index had only fallen to ninety.
　　In contrast, Lu Yan’s Mutation Index rose by two. His Spiritual Power Threshold increased explosively by two hundred seventy, reaching a total of 440. He was almost ready to leave the lowest classification behind.
　　“Stop the experiment,” Bai Qiushi ordered decisively. “Don’t return this mutated person to the shelter. Keep him at the Pollution Control Center for now.”
　　Lin Sinan and Bai Qiushi had been resident trainees in the same cohort and had even shared a dormitory. That was why Lin Sinan was always so casual with him.
　　He knew Bai Qiushi extremely well.
　　Lin Sinan could tell that Bai Qiushi had developed killing intent.
　　He simply did not understand why.
　　Shen Qingyang did not look upset. “Thank you, Mr. Lu. I’m genuinely happy to know that you’re safe.”
　　Traditional Chinese medicine had a phrase: a weak body could be too depleted to endure strong nourishment.
　　Lu Yan felt it described his current condition perfectly.
　　His whole body felt weak and languid. All he wanted was to sleep.
　　Lu Yan nodded. “All right. See you tomorrow.”
　　Since Shen Qingyang was his patient, naturally he needed treatment. Even if he was a Pollutant.
　　Shen Qingyang froze, then a faint smile blossomed across his face, though he did not agree aloud.
　　Still inside the cage, he was locked in a sealed, pitch-black room within the Prevention and Control Center.
　　The walls were built from special materials designed to suppress a Pollutant’s condition as much as possible.
　　The smile on Shen Qingyang’s face slowly vanished.
　　The tentacles inside the cage writhed continuously, then finally gathered and retracted into a single bundle.
　　Two legs returned beneath him.
　　He looked more human than before. But if anyone had scanned him with a detector, they would have discovered that Shen Qingyang’s Mutation Index had already exceeded the dangerous threshold of one hundred.
　　On his second day in the shelter, he had ceased to be human.
　　Shen Qingyang pulled open the electric net. High voltage made his hair stand on end. The slight tingling sensation was actually rather comfortable.
　　He walked to the room’s door.
　　The door required three separate passwords. An ordinary person could never break through it.
　　So Shen Qingyang did not use an ordinary person’s method.
　　A tentacle emerged from behind his waist and lashed viciously into the wall in front of him, producing a thunderous collapse.
　　The wall, made from special alloy, broke open like tofu, leaving a huge hole.
　　The alarm began to blare, but Shen Qingyang did not care. He even had enough leisure to stop before the grooming mirror outside the restroom and straighten his clothes.
　　At the far end of the corridor, Bai Qiushi entered an obvious combat stance, his gaze full of vigilance.
　　[Talent—Barrier]. An invisible wall of force enveloped the area, sealing off every route of escape.
　　Shen Qingyang sighed. “I don’t mind fighting you. But I’d rather Dr. Lu not see me like this. Besides, Dr. Lu sleeps poorly. If we make too much noise, we’ll wake him.”
　　He turned on the faucet and, in an instant, transformed into strands of fleshy tumors that slipped into the plumbing.