Chapter 28

Chapter 028

On his second day home, Lu Yan received a message from Zhou Qimeng.

"Looked into the trafficking case linked to Zhao Yuan. Took a while, but I found a likely suspect. Guy was executed twenty years ago—multiple charges: gun smuggling, trafficking women and children."

A pause, then another message followed. "Something felt off, so I dug up the confession transcripts. Interrogation lasted a week. The guy confessed to a lot. Most of the women were found based on his statements. But Zhao Yuan's name never came up. Not once. And at that time, she'd just been sold to Longnu Lake."

A third message. "Also tried to trace the original forum poster through official channels. Got stonewalled—no permission. By the time I looked, the post was gone. Water's deep here. The detective's sent the full report back to headquarters."

[The trafficker had been hypnotized by the time he was caught. He didn't remember a thing about her.]

Lu Yan only thought for a moment before asking, his tone certain, "Lu Cheng?"

[Yes. Or, you might know his current designation better: 'Prophet'.]

Lu Yan had read plenty of pollutant profiles on the Celestial Revelation forum.

Prophet. A-Class Pollutant. Formerly Experimental Subject No. 18 of the First Research Institute.

Abilities: Precognition, Persuasion, Hypnosis.

Note: Low combat capability but extremely high threat level. The Institute once mobilized Agents for an arrest operation. The lead operative, 'A-Class Agent: Titan,' is currently missing, presumed dead. No confirmed traces of Prophet activity have been found in any contaminated zones.

"Where is he now?"

[Are you sure you want to know? I can look. But the moment I do, he'll sense you looking back. You're the one person in this world who knows him best. You know the consequences, don't you?]

Lu Yan's expression smoothed back into placid calm. "You're right."

He picked up his compound bow, drawing the string back until it formed a sharp, perfect angle. The arrow shot forward, its metal tip piercing the bullseye and burying itself deep in the wall behind. It was only because Lu Yan hadn't used his full strength that the wall didn't collapse outright.

He asked a different question. "He orchestrated the trafficking. Then he went to Longnu Village and persuaded the villagers to drown Zhao Yuan in the pond. What was the point?"

Everything had a purpose. Even a serial killer on a spree wanted to vent their rage, to feel some twisted satisfaction.

Someone like Lu Cheng never did anything without a payoff.

[To create a god.]

[For the base, baseness is their passport; for the noble, nobility their epitaph. The gilded sky is filled with the twisted reflections of the dead.]

[Only suffering can forge a truly great soul. When such a soul's body undergoes complete evolution, it becomes an exceptionally powerful pollutant. He's set seven such schemes in motion over the decades. The Longnu Lake you saw was just one of them.]

……

……

Longnu Village.

The Prophet clutched his bleeding hand. The massive eye on his face was webbed with fine, angry red veins. His hand had been bitten clean off at the wrist by the Longnu.

The Prophet could see the future. But the future he had seen contained no possibility of this.

This… miracle.

In that moment, every lesser Longnu at the bottom of the lake had flown to their "mother" like fledglings returning to the nest, merging into her body.

The monster, as if in a final, desperate surge, had bared her fangs.

Secondary Evolution.

The Prophet couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such agony. His voice was thick with fury. "You could have stopped her. Why did you just stand there and watch?"

Shen Qingyang's face still wore its gentle smile. "But stopping her would have hurt me, too."

"Don't act on emotion. Isn't that what you taught me, teacher?"

*

Lu Yan took the pale golden snake-fish from the refrigerator.

The golden snake-fish had been dead for some time. Soaking in water, it gave off a peculiar scent.

A normal person might smell fish. But in Lu Yan's olfactory system, the scent was damnably sweet.

The King Fish had changed him, too.

"What's this for?" Lu Yan asked.

The system answered without inflection. [King Fish larva. Same species as the eggs you saw. Very useful. I recommend cooking it thoroughly before consumption. Do not swallow it raw.]

[The effect will be weaker this way, but it will prevent the two fish inside you from fighting. The white one is your firstborn, but it's quite jealous.]

[If it discovers you have a second child, it might try to kill the newcomer when you're not looking.]

[After all, eating it would make the firstborn stronger, too.]

A significant part of a pollutant's evolution relied on consuming its own kind.

Occasionally, there were extreme cases that relied on other things—courage, faith, rage, willpower. But those were more akin to miracles.

Lu Yan promptly set a pot of water to boil.

The finest ingredients often required the simplest preparation.

"Will soy sauce or cooking wine affect the fish's properties?" Lu Yan asked.

The system paused. [No. But it will make it taste better.]

Lu Yan was satisfied.

He scored the fish's back, marinated it in cooking wine, sprinkled it with minced ginger and scallions, then steamed it for ten minutes. After plating it, he drizzled it with a light soy sauce.

The flesh was tender, sweet, and succulent. The rich, pale golden broth it steamed in was so delicious it made him want to swallow his own tongue.

Lu Yan declared it the best fish he'd ever eaten.

[The King Fish isn't a fish… Never mind.]

Unlike the last fusion, the rejection symptoms this time were mild. At least there was no high fever or vomiting.

Lu Yan felt like he'd had too much to drink—a dull, foggy headache.

That was probably because he was already an Agent with a spiritual power threshold nearing 1000.

The translucent scales on his arm surfaced. They were much larger than when they first appeared, now resembling the scales of a koi kept for over a decade.

The scales shifted from red to a pale gold.

Lu Yan lay on the sofa, hand splayed toward the ceiling.

"One hour post-ingestion: Fish scale mutation. Apparent disorientation and loss of motor coordination noted."

"Four hours: Scale coverage extends to entire right hand."

"Six hours: Gill-like slits, three in total, appear behind ears. Resemble shark gills."

"Eight hours: Dental mutation. Teeth become serrated, shark-like… Two additional rows of teeth appear, upper and lower."

……

……

"Thirteen hours: Mutation concludes."

A layer of clammy sweat broke out over Lu Yan's body as he stopped recording. His blurred vision cleared.

The system's congratulatory message echoed in his ears. [Congratulations, host. Acquired Talent #167: Regeneration.]

Regeneration, a Special-type Talent. As long as the Agent is not dead, any severed limb or body part can regrow.

Paired with a Combat-type Talent, it would make for a notoriously difficult opponent.

[Had you swallowed that fish raw, you would have acquired Talent #29: Phoenix. An advanced version of Regeneration. Much like I am an advanced version of the Prophet's talent.]

[However, I do not advise that course of action. Excessively dangerous. While the first King Fish inside you is docile, even displaying no aggression… it is, in fact, the larval fish with the strongest evolutionary potential and ultimate form among all King Fish.]

Lu Yan took out his monitoring device to check his vitals.

Spiritual Power Threshold: 1450. Pollution Index: 10.2.

He swallowed one of the special pills issued by the Prevention Center. The index dropped to exactly 10. A second pill produced no further decrease.

"How many in total?" Lu Yan asked.

He received the expected answer. "Seven."

*

The organization's grand matchmaking scheme was aborted due to the Tyrant's lack of cooperation.

Headquarters had to arrange things for Lu Yan differently.

In the K City Pollution Disease Prevention Center, Director Li adjusted his tie, waiting for Lu Yan's arrival.

He had sent the invitation on Lu Yan's first day back from Longnu Village, but the other party had been unavailable. It was only three days later that they finally had a chance to meet formally.

Director Li had heard Lu Yan had an appreciation for good-looking male comrades. He had been quite the looker in his youth, a flower of the Prevention Center. But now, past forty, busy years had taken their toll, including some hair loss, which made him somewhat apprehensive.

The organization deemed Su Fufeng unsuitable to continue as Lu Yan's liaison. The role fell temporarily to Director Li, who had at least had one phone call with Lu Yan.

Unlike Su Fufeng, who only knew Lu Yan was an Agent, Director Li also knew Lu Yan was a rare Healing-type Agent. Still in his growth phase, but with limitless potential.

Being a liaison for an Agent, especially a powerful one, was a promising career path. For instance, Tang Xian'an's former liaison had been promoted to management in the Special Operations Department.

Thus, Director Li wanted to make the best possible impression.

Half an hour later, Lu Yan arrived at the Center's office, right on time.

Director Li greeted him with a full-faced smile. "Agent Clairaudient, you're here."

Lu Yan gave a slight nod. "Just finished a surgery. Traffic was bad. My apologies."

"It's quite alright. To be honest, there's no major issue requiring your visit today," Director Li said with a jovial laugh. His slightly balding head gave him the look of a merry Buddha. "Due to a work error, your profile was accidentally leaked. Fortunately, the spread was limited by the time we discovered it. The higher-ups have already dispatched personnel to perform a memory wipe on those exposed."

"To prevent a recurrence, the organization has decided to alter the details in your file, changing your classification from Special-type to Support-type. We also hope you'll visit the Research Institute to undergo an aptitude transplantation procedure—to receive the 'Swiftstride' aptitude."

Swiftstride, Aptitude #679. Allows the user to run across any surface at high speed, ignoring factors like gravity and buoyancy.

This was also the aptitude listed on the falsified profile Headquarters had prepared for Lu Yan.

"Additionally," Director Li continued, "the Special Operations Department headquarters is about to commence a new round of training for newly-inducted Agents. It lasts three months. All new Agents are required to attend. Coincidentally, Mr. Zhou Qimeng is traveling to City A to sign a contract. You could go together."

Lu Yan's eyebrows arched high. "Aptitudes can be transplanted?"

Director Li wasn't overly familiar with the procedure and could only answer vaguely. "I hear it's the latest technology from the First Research Institute. No post-operative pollution or backlash reported. The results are quite good. However, it can only be used to transplant some of the lower-ranked, less critical aptitudes."

He couldn't be sure if it was his imagination.

But in that instant, Lu Yan heard the system emit a single, icy snort of derision.