Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Zhou Qimeng found Lu Yan’s request bizarre.

But because Lu Yan was just that good-looking, he complied anyway.

What was the difference between a sucker for a pretty face and an outright simp? Just a single character, really.

After Zhou Qimeng imposed this new "backstory" on the four of them, the oppressive, sinister atmosphere around them lightened considerably. In its place, however, a different kind of yearning clawed its way up from their guts.

It was like a daughter spotting her long-lost mother across a crowded street, an overwhelming urge to run and bury herself in that familiar embrace.

Of course. High-contamination pollutants were never easy to deal with.

[Congratulations. You are no longer pregnant.]

The system’s words were congratulatory, but its tone dripped with such profound disappointment it made Lu Yan’s knuckles itch with the desire to punch something.

The sound of churning water filled Lu Yan’s ears. It could have been tinnitus, or the gurgling of a monster right beside him.

The noise was relentless, drilling into his skull.

The relationship between humans and pollutants was that of predator and prey, cat and mouse. Occasionally, a few bold mice might chase the cat, but most of the time, the first instinct upon seeing the feline was to flee. It was a survival instinct honed over millennia, etched into their very DNA.

Almost without a word, the four of them scattered in different directions.

If even one could survive, that one was responsible for getting the message out.

It was the first line, on the first page, of the Awakener Codex issued by the Prevention and Control Center.

Intelligence and wisdom were humanity’s keys to victory against superior strength.

Once they left Longnu Lake, thick, rolling fog swallowed everything.

Even with vision far surpassing a normal human’s, Lu Yan could see nothing in the blanket of white. Sharp, mocking laughter pierced his ears.

The pollutants watched from on high, like gods amused by the struggles of trapped beasts.

In under three minutes, they all stumbled back to the same spot, arriving from different directions.

“Can’t get out.” The Detective wiped cold sweat from his brow. “My talent ranking isn’t high, but it’s practical. We’ve run into ‘ghost walls’ before. Sneak got us through. This time, it failed.”

[The Detective. Spiritual Power Threshold: 2700. Support Type.]

[Talents: Sneak, Tracking, Clue Perception]

**[Lesion Direction: Amnesia, Hyperthymesia*, Mental Confusion]

Longnu finally hauled herself onto the shore.

Under the moonlight, her hair was a waterfall of inky black. The upper half of her body was sheathed in fine, overlapping fish scales. Below the waist, no human form remained—only a long, serpentine tail.

Though five or six meters of tail already lay coiled on the bank, the rest still vanished into the dark water, a shadowy mass beneath the moon’s glow.

Dragon horns protruded from her forehead. Four or five infant-like creatures, closer to monsters now, clung to her back. Their bodies were in an advanced state of decay, and their milk teeth had elongated into rows of sharp, terrifying shark-like fangs.

The reading on the contamination meter finally settled: 7,200.

“You three, go!”

Zhou Qimeng drew his weapon, stepping in front of the others, his voice sharp.

He wasn’t a combat-type Awakener, but his high spiritual power threshold granted him some fighting capability.

As he spoke, he layered several buffs on himself: [Attack +150] [Defense +100] [Auto-release Neurotoxin: Disrupts Aquatic Organisms].

Once the buffs were applied, Longnu in front of him remained utterly unfazed. A smaller creature near her writhed uncomfortably and slipped back into the water. Behind him, however, Dr. Lu—who had been perfectly calm—clapped a hand over his mouth, doubling over with dry heaves.

[My condolences. Zhou Qimeng just applied an ‘auto-release neurotoxin that disrupts aquatic organisms’ buff. Not that you’re an aquatic organism, of course. But the fish inside you is.]

[It’s about to vomit itself unconscious. Ugh, it’s spewing fish eggs everywhere. Blergh—]

Lu Yan: “…”

The system really didn’t need to be that detailed.

He quietly put more distance between himself and Zhou Qimeng, and the nausea subsided slightly.

The situation was too tense for Zhou Qimeng to notice the detail. He assumed it was just Dr. Lu’s adverse reaction to facing such intense contamination for the first time.

Unaware that in his pursuit of the handsome doctor, he was sprinting in the opposite direction, a champion of self-sabotage.

“When I engage her, you run. Get as far as you can. If you end up back here, find somewhere to hide.” Zhou Qimeng’s tone was tragically heroic, very cool.

He was, after all, a forum-ranked top 100 Awakener, with a peak spiritual power threshold of 7600.

He might have a sliver of a chance against Longnu. The other three combined wouldn’t be enough to qualify as a snack for this pollutant.

The Detective’s eyes grew moist. “Boss! You can’t die! Our gacha mobile game is launching on the official platform next week!!”

Zhou Qimeng snapped, “Enough! I know you’re the mole planted by the Special Operations Department. Don’t try to hook me with that. Damn it, making games is a dead-end road. I’ve wanted out for ages!”

[Longnu isn’t here for you. She came ashore… to look for her ‘father.’ Of course, if your hostility is too blatant, she won’t mind cleaning you up as a side task.]

Lu Yan instantly recalled the background story the system had provided.

A pang of wholly inappropriate pity struck him.

The higher the contamination level, the more complete the pollutant’s retained intelligence.

Longnu had already fused with the hundreds of lesser creatures in the lake.

She lived in perpetual resentment. It was the detail Zhou Qimeng added that had stirred a memory.

She still had an old father at home, waiting for her return. Her mother died of cancer. Her father, under pressure, refused to remarry. He clumsily braided her hair, made her breakfast, raised her into a young woman.

Whenever she talked about her dad with others, she was always met with envious looks.

The last time she saw him was seventeen years ago, through the tiny skylight of a dungeon cell. He was only in his forties, but his hair was completely white, his body worn and haggard.

Lu Yan asked the system, “Can we communicate with her?”

Longnu didn’t seem capable of speech anymore, her eerie, white-only eyes fixed ahead.

[A perfectly evolved Longnu. Contamination 7200. She is part of the lake now.]

[Lesion Talents: Mirage, Maternal Proliferation.]

[Lesion Direction: Sea Serpent Transformation.]**

Mirage was the “ghost wall” they encountered. Maternal Proliferation was what had spawned the parasitic fetuses Zhou Qimeng eliminated.

[She hasn’t spoken in so long, she’s forgotten how. But she can still understand. You can try.]

So, Lu Yan stepped forward, moving to the lake’s edge.

The atmosphere was wire-taut, ready to snap.

Longnu bared her teeth at Lu Yan, revealing fangs just as fearsome as those of the infant monsters.

Zhou Qimeng panicked. “What are you doing?”

As he spoke, that indescribable odor emanating from him seemed to grow stronger.

Lu Yan fought down another wave of nausea and addressed Longnu. “You haven’t evolved mimicry abilities. Looking like this, you can’t enter human settlements to find your father. There are more powerful Awakeners protecting them.”

“I can help you. I can bring your father here. I’m also a state-owned enterprise employee. Here’s my ID.” Lu Yan produced the ID card issued by the Special Operations Department. “Your father—”

[Zhao Cheng.]

“—Zhao Cheng. I’ve seen him. He’s been looking for you.”

In that instant, the lingering fury on Longnu’s face dissolved into blank shock.

“You heard what I said at the Dragon-Locking Well.” Lu Yan made his voice as sincere as possible. “You were a good person. This wasn’t your fault.”

Longnu turned her head, her gaze locking onto Lu Yan. She didn’t speak, seemingly considering.

The pressure of being stared down by such a pollutant was no less than waking up on the morning of the college entrance exam to realize you’d already missed the Chinese language test.

Zhou Qimeng felt his scalp prickle just imagining it. He had to admire Lu Yan’s stone-faced composure.

Longnu opened her mouth and let out a low, grating hiss.

The thick, damp fog around them slowly dissipated, revealing a path out.

But not everyone could leave.

Longnu’s serpent tail slapped the lake surface, and she emitted a high, piercing shriek like a siren’s call. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was so shrill everyone present instinctively covered their ears.

Blood seeped from between the Detective’s fingers. The others fared slightly better, only experiencing mild dizziness.

Hundreds of the smaller Longnu creatures crawled from the lake onto the bank, swarming madly toward the remaining three. Legless, they writhed like grotesque worms on land. Their movements were twisted, but terrifyingly fast.

Chen Shisi, terrified, immediately prepared to use his Iron Sand Palm—he could crush these low-contamination pests one punch at a time.

But Lu Yan’s sharp command stopped him. “Don’t fight back! Trust me.”

Chen Shisi had to suppress his combat instincts, watching as the horrifying, ugly creatures arranged themselves in rows, forming a tight circle around him.

Fortunately, the terrifying pollutants didn’t attack.

Longnu opened her mouth, a long, forked snake tongue flicking out, accompanied by a series of sibilant hisses.

[Longnu says: You have three days. In three days, if you haven’t brought her father, she starts tearing tickets.]

Lu Yan relayed the system’s words to the others, adding reassurance. “Don’t worry. I will return within three days.”

There was no other choice. Zhou Qimeng’s spiritual power was only back in the six-thousand range. Clearly no match for Longnu.

Besides, Longnu had already managed to parasitize him with ghost fetuses without him noticing. They weren’t in the same league.

Chen Shisi, the tough guy, shed a tear. “Doctor, you have to come back!”

Zhou Qimeng was stunned. “Dr. Lu… how did you know what she was saying?”

Without missing a beat, Lu Yan answered, "Talent 914. Cross-Species Communication."

After receiving the 6,200 contribution point reward from Zhou Qimeng, he'd immediately bought a copy of the "Periodic Table of Talents." Dr. Qiao, who had compiled the list, stated the rankings were a comprehensive result based on a talent's power level and its usefulness to humanity.

Talent 914 was simple and single-purpose: it only allowed conversation with intelligent creatures. Many Awakeners with this talent had become excellent veterinarians.

Dr. Qiao also claimed every seemingly useless talent was just a treasure in the wrong place.

At the very least, it was proving useful for Lu Yan to bluff his way through right now.

***

City A. Headquarters of the Special Operations Department.

Inside his office, the Director tugged somewhat stiffly at his tie. Known throughout the headquarters as the "Iron-Blooded King of Hell," he was currently practicing his smile in the mirror. A kindly, grandfatherly smile, like the old man next door who went for his evening stroll every night.

Tang Xian'an disliked dealing with strangers, so the Director was alone.

A few minutes later, a voice crackled in his earpiece. "Tang Xian'an has arrived."

The office door swung open, letting in a gust of sharp, cold air.

Tang Xian'an pulled out a chair and sat across from the Director.

"Where to this time?" He placed Huang Chen on the table with casual indifference.

Director Wang let out a hearty laugh. "You just got back from overseas a few days ago, and you're already itching to go out again? Don't push yourself too hard."

Tang Xian'an didn't take the bait. He simply stared at the man with those calm, unnervingly beautiful golden eyes that seemed to belong to a doll.

Director Wang had no choice but to press on. "Actually, it's like this. We'd like to assign you a new teammate. A healing-type Awakener. He might be of some help to you."

Tang Xian'an asked with genuine seriousness, "Is he being sent here to die?"

"You shouldn't blame yourself so much for what happened back then. We all agree it wasn't your fault." The Director hesitated, then continued. "If you don't agree, we'll drop it. It's just... news of him being a healing-type Awakener has leaked, but he himself refuses to come to headquarters. For his own safety, we thought having him by your side would be the best protection..."

Tang Xian'an felt a sudden urge for a cigarette. He wanted to pet his dog.

"Give me the file," he said.

The Director handed over the dossier. Tang Xian'an studied the contents in silence, his expression unreadable.

The Director's heart twisted with anxious anticipation as he waited.

Finally, he heard Tang Xian'an's ambiguous reply.

"Lu Yan, is it. Understood."