Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Back when Lu Yan got his driver's license, for the sake of convenience, he’d gone for the Class A1 certification.

The whole driving school was full of people testing for the standard Class C1 license. Only he paid the highest fees to drive the oldest, largest training vehicles.

His instructor never understood it, especially after learning Lu Yan was a doctor.

After all, an A1 license qualified you to drive intercity coaches. What use did a doctor have for that?

But now, as Lu Yan navigated the motorhome along the winding mountain road, he had to admire his own foresight.

If he hadn’t gotten that A1 license, safety regulations would have barred him from driving this beast. He’d be hiking out of these mountains on foot instead.

Walking mountain roads was exhausting.

He might not even make it out before the three-day deadline expired, and Zhou Qimeng and the others ended up torn apart by the furious Longnu.

Lu Yan drove alone for about two hours before his phone finally picked up a signal, re-entering service range.

He dialed the unified customer service number provided by the Prevention and Treatment Center.

He’d been wondering if anyone would even answer at five in the morning, but within a minute, someone picked up.

An old acquaintance, no less.

"Mr. Lu." Su Fufeng's voice was as gentle as ever. "It just so happens I’m on customer service duty today. How may I assist you?"

[Tch. What a coincidence. No surprise, he’s probably been promoted to your dedicated liaison.]

The Special Operations Department didn’t accept just any Awakened.

First, you needed a clean background, no unforgivable criminal record. Second, your talent had to be useful—useful specifically in combating pollutants.

Fighting pollutants was more dangerous than imagined. The mortality rate for Special Operations staff had always been alarmingly high. Sending people with zero combat capability up there was just sending them to their deaths.

While the forum had sixty thousand registered Awakened, excluding those abroad and those with useless talents, the Special Operations Department still had fewer than five hundred members.

So, behind each member stood a whole team of support personnel.

From researchers at the science institutes down to the most inconspicuous cleaning staff at the Prevention Centers.

Dedicated liaisons like Su Fufeng were on call 24/7.

"I need to find someone," Lu Yan said. "If possible, arrange for him to meet me at the fastest possible speed. I have my location tracking enabled."

"His name is Zhao Cheng."

*[From X City, ID number ******]*

As an outsider, knowing this much was hardly scientific.

But Lu Yan thought it over and recited the ID number anyway.

Time was tight. The name Zhao Cheng was too common. Checking files one by one might take too long.

If pressed, he could always blame Longnu.

"Understood, Mr. Lu." Su Fufeng sounded puzzled. "May I ask why you're looking for him?"

"I went to a low-level pollution zone with some friends…" Lu Yan gave a brief summary of events. "If you find him, tell him we’ve found his daughter and want to take him to see her."

Hiding this was pointless. There were still three people back in the village.

Su Fufeng's tone immediately turned serious. "You're saying there's a pollutant in Longnu Village with a pollution value exceeding seven thousand?"

His other hand was already clicking open the headquarters' dedicated distress line.

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll immediately request headquarters dispatch a team to resolve the pollution."

Lu Yan’s brow furrowed slightly. "She’s been in Longnu Village a long time. Over a decade, and she’s never left. She just stays in Longnu Lake, and her targets for revenge are all people who hurt her back then. If possible, I’d prefer you not take any unnecessary action."

"Mr. Lu, don’t view pollutants through a human lens. They are merely aberrant monsters." Su Fufeng's voice grew slightly urgent. "Mercy towards pollutants is cruelty to our own kind. Please don’t cling to such naive goodwill."

Lu Yan’s frown deepened. "Low-level pollutants might be just that, but I’ve encountered high-level ones several times. In my eyes, they are beings capable of communication…"

Su Fufeng, with his thorough training, clearly grew more vehement. "Pollutants possess a primal craving for human flesh. Without feeding, they enter a state of starvation. Humans are merely food to them. No one can endure hunger for long, not even pollutants. They don’t starve to death, which makes them more easily driven by that hunger to hunt. Does a lion feel remorse for killing a gazelle?"

[He’s not wrong. Pollutants do crave sustenance. But who said the food source has to be humans? Pollutants often eat people simply because humans taste good and are easy to hunt.]

"Mr. Lu, in my eyes, you are a calm person with your own principles. But I truly don’t believe this course of action is mature—"

His words were cut off mid-sentence.

A commotion came through the line, and soon, another unfamiliar male voice replaced his.

"Hello, Mr. Lu Yan. I am Li Dongcheng, Deputy Director of the K City Pollution Disease Prevention and Treatment Center."

"My apologies for the unpleasant experience. Su Fufeng’s father died at the hands of a pollutant. He was rescued by Special Operations members from the rubble. That’s why he’s particularly antagonistic towards pollutants."

"Perhaps he’s right," Lu Yan sighed. "But this is my transaction with her. My companions are still in her custody. I don’t want any actions that might provoke her."

"Please wait a few minutes. We’ll first dispatch staff to contact Zhao Cheng."

Lu Yan waited about ten minutes before the Prevention Center called back.

Director Li spoke. "Your proposal has been carefully considered by headquarters. The final decision is to dispatch an experienced Special Operations member to accompany you. If the pollutant is confirmed to be highly dangerous, removal procedures will be enacted. Is this solution acceptable?"

"Acceptable."

"Good. Please remain where you are. Do not disable your location tracking," Director Li said warmly. "We are already arranging a light aircraft and pilot to your location."

Lu Yan glanced around at the rugged mountain road. It didn’t look like any place a plane could land.

Not knowing how long the wait would be, Lu Yan took out an eye mask and earplugs and caught a nap in the motorhome.

He hadn’t slept all day, driving through the night. He was bone-tired.

[Sleep, sleep. I’ll wake you if anything happens.]

Lu Yan didn’t know how long he slept. He was woken as the sky began to lighten by the sound of rotor blades.

He pulled off the eye mask and stepped outside. A helicopter circled overhead.

The sun was rising, a thread of crimson dawn breaking on the horizon.

The helicopter’s side door slid open. Lu Yan saw a man holding another person in his arms leap straight out from the sky.

From that height, a normal person would be a direct candidate for the mortuary.

Backlit, Lu Yan couldn’t make out the man’s face, only saw a pair of pitch-black wings suddenly unfurl from his back in mid-air.

The morning light glinted off the scaly feathers of the wings. It was beautiful.

Tang Xian’an landed steadily, the massive wings—spanning nearly four meters—folding away behind him.

Though he differed somewhat from the figure in the dream, he wasn’t hard to recognize, especially with those eyes gleaming like burnished gold.

To be honest, seeing his own face in the mirror daily had somewhat desensitized Lu Yan to "good-looking humans."

Still, Tang Xian’an possessed a striking appearance that made one take notice.

Different from the dream, Tang Xian’an wore a muzzle-like apparatus, the lower half of his face shadowed by the metal contraption.

"Hello," Tang Xian’an said, producing his work credentials. "Special Operations Department, Tang Xian’an."

He seemed much more formal and serious than in the dream.

"Lu Yan."

For Zhao Cheng, it was his first experience with a high-altitude jump. Though Tang Xian’an’s movements were steady, Zhao Cheng’s legs still trembled uncontrollably upon landing.

A moment later, catching his breath, Zhao Cheng pulled out a cane, tapping it anxiously on the ground. "My daughter? Where is she?"

His eyes had lost their focus, his gaze wandering blankly.

Tang Xian’an explained quietly, "After his daughter disappeared, Zhao Cheng cried himself blind years ago. We found him in a community nursing home."

Lu Yan pressed his lips together. "Uncle Zhao, I’ll take you to see her."

Taking a human to see a pollutant was, in fact, a risky move.

That’s why Tang Xian’an had specifically brought Huangchen on this trip. He wasn’t much of a talker; in recent years, he’d spoken more to dogs than to people. The journey was mostly silent.

Though inwardly, he wasn’t exactly calm.

Several hours later, the group returned to Longnu Village.

The trip must have felt interminable to Zhao Cheng, who couldn’t resist asking "How much longer?" multiple times.

The air grew increasingly damp. The motorhome drove all the way to the shore of Longnu Lake.

By the lakeside, Zhou Qimeng and the other two were sitting together playing a heated game of cards.

He wasn’t the only one keeping his word. Longnu had honored the agreement as well.

Almost as soon as the vehicle stopped, Zhao Cheng scrambled out, cane tapping, calling hoarsely, "Yuanyuan! Yuanyuan! Daddy’s here!"

In the lake water, Longnu surfaced once more. She hadn’t expected Zhao Cheng to arrive so quickly. A flicker of panic crossed her normally expressionless face.

She reached a hand toward Zhao Cheng, then suddenly caught sight of her own razor-sharp nails and the scales covering her skin.

In the next moment, Longnu did something that even stunned Tang Xian’an.

She bit off her own nails, then began tearing off the scales from her arm, one by one. Deep crimson blood welled from the raw flesh, streaming down her arm and mingling with the lake water below.

It all happened in less than a minute.

Longnu struggled, hauling herself onto the shore.

One could not see. The other could not speak.

Yet, as if guided by some invisible thread of fate, Zhao Cheng found her. He moved with an unerring precision, stopping right before her.

The moment his hands touched hers, a sob tore from his throat. "Yuanyuan... it's Dad."

His face flushed a deep, mottled red, tears carving tracks through the grime. He was terrified this was just another cruel dream. But the feel of her hand in his—cool, scaled, real—was undeniable.

Seventeen years. If not for the Pollution, if not for what she had become, the only reunion waiting for Zhao Cheng would have been at a graveside.

Longnu's mouth opened, straining to form words. Only a rasping, guttural croak emerged.

Lu Yan watched, his own emotions a distant, muted thing. But the scene before him held a brutal, devastating beauty.

A monster, bleeding and raw. An old man, worn down by the years. Together, the image was haunting.

"Uncle," Lu Yan said softly, "her throat... it's damaged. She can't speak."

It was true. Her vocal cords were gone, reshaped by the Pollution into something meant only for swallowing, not for sound.

But then, a voice. Faint, scratchy, pushing its way into Lu Yan's mind.

Like a child forming its first word, Longnu forced the syllables out, each one a struggle.

"Da... Dad..."