Chapter 111

Chapter 111

This sprawling, empire-like abandoned factory must have been a world-renowned production center in the human era.

A system prompt echoed in Lu Yan's mind: [The first batch of pollutants have entered the arena in an orderly fashion. It's worth noting that the surveillance cameras in this factory are still operational.]

[Many pollutants, having recently fed, aren't currently interested in joining the hunt. They will, however, watch the broadcast via the cameras, savoring the spectacle of human demise. This provides them with a certain… spiritual delight.]

[Though you've encountered many unusual pollutants, I advise you never to expect too much from them. Even if they can think, feel emotions, and even look human, they remain higher lifeforms that feed on humanity.]

[If humanity falls, the entire world will become one vast Divine Kingdom.]

Lu Yan looked up. A red indicator light glowed in the corner of the ceiling.

He raised his pistol and squeezed the trigger.

The gunshot was quieter than the sound of the shattered camera.

On Ning Huai's face, the two remaining pairs of closed eyes snapped open. Eight slender, chitinous spider legs sprouted from his waist, making his disfigured visage all the more terrifying.

The White Wolf and the Fierce Tiger also shifted forms. The fluffy tails that appeared behind them drew Lu Yan's surreptitious glances more than once.

"Split up," Ning Huai stated succinctly, fixing a Bluetooth earpiece to his ear. "North, south, east, west. One direction each. Call for backup if needed. Maintain contact."

Lu Yan glanced back at Song Jingchen. "I can't protect you the whole time. Hide well."

Song Jingchen nodded obediently.

The terrain was ideal for sniping. A pity sniper rifles were too conspicuous to smuggle in.

Nearly five hundred humans and one hundred pollutants occupied the factory—not a small number, but the contaminated zone was so vast that encounters would be scarce, at least initially.

Fortunately, Lu Yan had the system. Almost the moment he entered, a detailed map of the facility unfolded in his mind. Blue dots for humans. Green for allies. Red for pollutants.

His own position was marked by a black arrow.

In the lower left corner of his vision, lines of white text scrolled as prompts.

[Follower 154 - OUT].

154's last known position wasn't far.

Lu Yan moved silently toward it. In a corner, a long-limbed pollutant crouched over a piece of meat, eating with bestial ferocity. The severed half of 154's arm lay on the ground before him.

[Divine Kingdom - Common Godkin.]

[Pollution Value: 3500. Its appearance is distinctly alien. Its head is covered in folds, and it moves on all fours. As a Godkin without a secondary brain, it is an object of discrimination by those who possess one. In the outside world, they are called Fissure Feeders.]

[Where there is disparity, there is hierarchy. Isn't that right?]

Lu Yan fired a single shot.

A crimson flower bloomed in the snow-white pollutant's chest.

It didn't die. With a ragged snarl, it struggled, its maw gaping to reveal a mouthful of needle-like steel fangs.

[The primary nerve cluster controlling its body is located at the base of its neck.]

Lu Yan drew Hellfire. As the creature lunged, he pivoted, executing a clean hip throw that slammed it to the ground. The dagger plunged into the specified spot.

Black, viscous blood gushed forth, foul and thick.

In the corner lay the other half of the unfinished meal. The eyes were wide open, the lips parting and closing like a fish gasping on land.

Lu Yan leaned close, listening.

The words were a whisper: "It… hurts…"

Even a lifetime of indoctrination—that being consumed by the Godkin was a blessed return to paradise—could not override the animal instinct etched into her genes.

Injury brought pain. Death brought fear.

"…Take me… away."

Her vacant eyes fixed on him. Massive blood loss had left 154's body cold. A fist-sized hole in her chest revealed the faint, dying flutter of her heart.

Lu Yan was a doctor. But he could not save her.

This was not a Hospital. There were no medicines. Only caged, ignorant souls, and a brief, traceless life.

A wisp of white—her soul—peeled away from her body and dissolved into the ground.

*

The footage from the cameras caused an uproar in the Central Divine Court.

Besides the Sacred God, the Ten Guardians of the Central Divine Court were the highest rulers of the Divine Kingdom. As nobility among the Godkin, they naturally did not participate in the hunt; guarding the Court was their paramount duty.

"Who is that? What is happening?!"

"Which hatchery sent him?"

These pollutants were accustomed to their lofty status and the groveling deference of their followers. The idea of their own kind being slain by prey was unthinkable.

One Godkin wore a look of shock and suspicion. "Could it be the vile heretics? But how could heretics reach the Central Divine Court without alerting Our Lord?"

Within the Divine Kingdom, even the pollutants themselves were unaware that the outside world called them "pollutants," creatures to be hunted and exterminated.

They viewed all others as insects. The notion that their own kind could become prey was nearly impossible to accept.

Nearly all eyes turned to the man at the center.

He was a Guardian of the Divine Court, the Sacred God's most trusted subordinate. He possessed a God-granted secondary brain weighing 1580 grams, granting him cognitive abilities nearly on par with a human's.

His name was Feng Qing. Rumor said he was once a heretic, codenamed 'Azure Bird.' But since the former Divine Court Guardian had died by his hand, fewer and fewer Godkin dared discuss Feng Qing's origins.

His eyes were the azure blue of a vast sky, yet utterly devoid of life.

His gaze fell upon the surveillance feed, lingering on four anomalous figures. His pale lips parted slightly. "The dignity of the God cannot be defiled."

"These are heretics. Kill them."

*

Most of Lu Yan's past battles had been against overwhelming odds. Now, facing the pollutants of the Divine Kingdom, he found himself moving with a strange, lethal ease.

The red dots on his mental map dwindled steadily. He'd long stopped counting his kills.

Evening approached. Though the sun was invisible, the fog-choked sky bled with hues of warm, sickly yellow.

Suddenly, four slightly larger red dots appeared on the map.

The system announced: [These are high-level pollutants from the Central Divine Court. Pollution Values around 7000.]

The moment these new dots entered the battlefield, they began converging on the green ally markers.

Lu Yan held his breath, finding a concealed vantage point with a clear field of view.

[The pollutant you are about to face… you've seen him before, in Song Jingchen's memories.]

[He is one of the Divine Court Guards, codename 'Malaria Mosquito.' His appearance is that of an anthropomorphic mosquito. Like his insect counterpart, his elongated proboscis can drain blood and inject parasitic eggs into a host's body.]

[Pollution Value: 7200.]

[Talents: Hemophilic Gene, Plague Carrier.]

[I suggest you find a way to break its wings first. Otherwise, this fight will be exceedingly difficult. Fortunately, its physiology does not support sustained high-speed flight.]

Lu Yan thought for a moment. He cleanly sliced his own palm, smeared the blood on a nearby dead pollutant, and tossed the corpse down a concrete utility shaft.

Activating his Regeneration talent, the wound on his hand sealed shut in moments. He then scaled to a higher position, concealing himself completely.

He opened his comms, whispering to the others, "Heads up. Something's coming."

The Malaria Mosquito moved fast. Within thirty seconds, it was in the area.

What does a mosquito, magnified several hundred times, sound like in flight?

The thrumming vibration assaulted Lu Yan's ears, making them ache and causing a momentary dizziness. Pollutants living in the Divine Kingdom all carried a faint aura of mental pollution.

His grip tightened on the dagger.

With the local cameras destroyed, the Malaria Mosquito couldn't pinpoint Lu Yan. It was hunting by scent, tracing the blood.

After a few breaths, the creature moved into Lu Yan's line of sight.

It sniffed the air, ambled to the edge of the shaft, and peered down.

Lu Yan erupted from his hiding place. He drove the dagger deep into the pollutant's back, wrenching and tearing away half of one membranous wing.

Crimson blood sprayed across Lu Yan. The pollutant roared in agony. From its back sprouted another pair of arms, sheathed like scabbards, stabbing toward Lu Yan's abdomen.

It became a battle of equals.

The only imbalance came from the omniscience in Lu Yan's mind.

[Abdomen, three inches down.]

[Stab the compound eyes.]

[The other wing.]

The system's guidance was always succinct and devastatingly effective. A creeping dread took root in the Malaria Mosquito's mind.

Its every move seemed laid bare before this human.

But this human's frame was slender, his thighs not even as thick as the pollutant's neck. How could he possess such terrifying combat awareness?

It had only one pair of wings. Both were now torn from the roots, bleeding profusely. New membranes struggled to unfurl from its back. The thought of retreat bloomed.

The next instant, a hand clamped around its throat, slamming it violently into the ground.

Lu Yan's eyes were pools of reflected crimson. A faint, cold smile touched his lips.

"Did I say you could leave?"

Lu Yan’s fourth knuckle protruded, the long nail driving deep, punching straight through the pollutant’s armored hide.

Half his forearm vanished into the giant mosquito’s abdomen from behind.

His fingers closed around a pulsing, fist-sized brain.

Like a heart, it was threaded with the creature’s blood vessels and nerves.

[This is the Sacred Divinity’s secondary brain.]

Unlike the ordinary kind, the secondary brains within Divine Court Guards were intrinsically linked to the Sacred Divinity itself. Destroying them weakened the god. And in turn, they could transmit information back to the primary mind.

[With this much commotion, the Sacred Divinity has awoken from its slumber.]

[But it still has confidence in its guards. It isn’t planning to flee. Not yet. Building a new Divine Kingdom now would be far more difficult than before…]

Lu Yan’s hand clenched into a fist without hesitation.

The secondary brain shrieked—a sound that scraped against the soul.

White matter oozed between his fingers.

[You could eat this, technically. It’s just a secondary brain, though. Doesn’t taste as good as the Sacred Divinity’s own.]

Without Wang Yu here, Lu Yan had little appetite for it himself.

Besides, consuming it would offer almost no benefit. He let the notion go.

A few golden scales shimmered on the back of his hand, a stubborn residue of overused talent.

More pressingly, his clothes were ruined. Stained with pollutant blood, they’d likely never come clean.

His back arched as he sucked in a ragged, heaving breath.

Sustained high-intensity combat was a death sentence for Awakened.

He pulled the dagger free, checked the reading on his phone. His Pollution Index had climbed to 52.1.

From his pocket, he produced a dose of suppressants, slipping the mint-like tablet into his mouth and letting it dissolve on his tongue.

He knew, even with the medicine, it wouldn’t drop back to where it was before.

The Pollution Index was a countdown, hanging over every Awakened like a blade.

Staying even remotely sane under that pressure—maintaining a mental state rated “Medium” or above—was a miracle in itself.

The scent of his blood drew more pollutants. None were serious threats.

After sunset, the world plunged into absolute black.

Here in the Divine Kingdom, shrouded in sea-fog, there was no moon, no stars.

Lu Yan kept watch by the Malaria Mosquito’s corpse, frowning as he used his dagger to pick insect eggs from its flesh.

Ning Huai’s voice crackled in his earpiece. “Advance Team, Ning Huai. Checking in. Sector One cleared. Seventeen pollutants eliminated. Do any other sectors require assistance?”

“Advance Team, Fierce Tiger. Took some damage. Pollutant saliva was toxic. Lost an eye. It’s manageable.”

“Advance Team, White Wolf. I… cough… miscalculated enemy numbers. Got surrounded. Situation’s handled. Problem is… talent overuse, plus heavy exposure. My index… it’s about to break one hundred.”

“Used suppressants. Didn’t do much. Ning Huai… I don’t think I can hold on.”

“It was an honor. Half a century as your colleague.”

Lu Yan cut in. “Can you hold? I’m coming.”

“Don’t. Too late.”

White Wolf looked down at the blade he’d driven into his own heart. Summoning the courage to end it himself had been the hardest part.

Consciousness fraying, he slumped beside the corpses of the pollutants he’d killed. His face had fully shifted, features now entirely lupine.

The sky was still choked with fog. Drifting, White Wolf murmured, “Haven’t seen the moon in so long.”

“So long” meant forty-five years.