Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Never underestimate the operational power of a state machine.

Once the Silkmother incident was reported, queues formed outside Pollution Prevention Centers in every district and county for contamination level screenings. The insecticide, a joint product of the First, Third, and Seventh Research Institutes, found its way into countless households. For a while, even flies and mosquitoes became scarce in City A.

Unfortunately, that insecticide was useless against the flies in City X.

With so little effective data, the Institutes still hadn't figured out the Slaughterhouse's operating principles.

[The City X Slaughterhouse has lasted this long for a reason,] the system commented. [The proprietress understands the art of measured advance and retreat. She dances right on the red line of the Prevention Centers' tolerance. The more socially hazardous ones, like the Divine Kingdom and the Botanical Garden, were all contained.]

This was the Special Operations Department's resolve. Humanity's resolve. Even with heavy casualties, they'd fight to mutual destruction, to make other high-level pollutants think twice.

Eighty years ago, when the "Ember Project" began, the Pollution Disease was just emerging. Faced with this unfamiliar plague, everyone was at a loss. Some advocated for hiding—building underground survivor bases or fleeing to space. Others chose to face the pollutants head-on.

Thus, the first volunteers were born. The thirteen Research Institutes were established. The Special Operations Department and the Pollution Disease Prevention Centers came into being.

The ember might dim, but it would never go out.

The class monitor had no idea that his decision to invite Lu Yan to the reunion, motivated by nothing more than Lu Yan's looks, had indirectly saved City A. Even the school administration viewed him more favorably now; his internship conversion next year looked promising.

The system said, [I think you can return to City K. Lu Zhi lingered in City A for about a day, but gave up tracking the Pig-Head Butcher's order, considering the risk too high.]

Lu Yan frowned. "Is that so?"

He had a vague suspicion the system had sent him to City A specifically to deal with the Sacred God and the Silkmother.

The system was indignant. [How can you sully my good name like that!]

[The First Research Institute is about to blow. When it happens, every Awakener in the city will be summoned to defend it. You're no exception.]

[Though in my eyes, you're still pathetically weak, a little fledgling needing protection. But among all Awakeners, you're now in the top seven percent. You could even lead a small squad independently. If you don't want to wade into this mess, you can go back to City K.]

The Awakener Forum currently had just over 72,000 registered members. The top seven percent put Lu Yan roughly in the global top 5,000.

His current spiritual power threshold had reached 4,000. If the him of now went back to the beginning of the year, he could slice apart not just the Fish-Men, but several Seaweed-Men too.

Any other Awakener of his level would have died ten times over going through what he had.

Lu Yan thought for a moment. "I'll stay in City A."

Whether the First Institute blew up or not was irrelevant. He mainly wanted to witness history.

He felt like returning to the hospital for surgery. He mentioned this to his liaison. Director Li said they could squeeze him in at Yan University Affiliated Hospital.

Lu Yan calculated the commute time from his suburban villa to the affiliated hospital and the daily travel required. In the end, he chose to be a homebody.

He lounged for days.

To watch the Institute's fireworks display, Lu Yan started practicing with firearms at the shooting range.

Overusing one's innate talent accelerated lesion progression. So, Headquarters had always pushed hard for firearm adoption.

The pistol in Lu Yan's hand was a Fifth Institute product.

Cost: 2,000 contribution points. It could deal significant damage to pollutants with contamination values under 1,500, handy for dealing with minor nuisances.

He started with standard rounds, then switched to the Institute's special ammunition. The former was for accuracy; the latter was to quickly get a feel for the specialized bullets, minimizing errors in actual combat.

Sometimes, the smallest error was fatal.

These practice bullets were expensive. The Prevention Center provided 50 free rounds monthly; the rest required contribution points.

The bullets were the fruit of a pea-like pollutant. A C-Class Awakener like Lu Yan had a monthly quota of 500 rounds.

Because Wang Yu frequently stole them, Lu Yan's bullet expenditure was staggering.

At least half ended up in his "good son's" gaping maw.

The system sneered. [Just spoil it.]

Tang Xun'an occasionally came to the range to practice too. He'd "accidentally" leave behind plenty of bullets for Lu Yan to use.

He had money. More contribution points than he could ever spend.

Over half the high-grade spiritual items in City A's Prevention Center warehouse were things Tang Xun'an had "requisitioned" from various pollutants and handed over to Headquarters.

He actually preferred using a blade. But as the saying goes, live long enough, and you can learn anything.

Tang Xun'an practiced with intense focus. But when he reached for his ammo box, his hand brushed against the soft, red tongue Wang Yu was using to pilfer bullets.

Staring at that fleshy tongue, Tang Xun'an froze for a full three seconds. Then his eyes followed the tongue back to Lu Yan, several meters away.

Wang Yu could now move around on Lu Yan's body. It had boundaries, of course, avoiding inappropriate areas. Currently, it was nestled on the back of Lu Yan's hand.

Lu Yan glanced over, his expression calm. "Sorry if it startled you."

Wang Yu's actions had Lu Yan's tacit approval. He couldn't hide it forever.

The system remarked, [It seems you're learning to trust humans. You've made your choice, haven't you?]

Lu Yan didn't confirm or deny it, feeling the system was hinting at something.

As Lu Yan's spiritual threshold steadily rose, Wang Yu's tongue had grown longer. Not just long, but now dotted with tiny, white milk teeth.

The teeth on this tongue were sharp, like a shark's—more like spikes on a mace than teeth, with tiny barbs at the tips. One lick could strip flesh.

It greeted Tang Xun'an, gave his fingertip a tentative lick, then brazenly started devouring the golden bullets he'd left on the table.

The system's tone was mournful. [Well. Stepfather has gained the good son's preliminary approval.]

"..." Tang Xun'an watched the tongue in silence for a moment. "Headquarters' files don't seem to list your lesion direction. Back on Mermaid Island, when I saw your tail, I assumed it was mermaid transformation."

Lu Yan ran his own tongue over the four rows of sharp shark teeth lining his mouth. "I just have multiple lesion directions."

He fired another shot.

This time at a moving target, a simulated humanoid pollutant. The bullet struck dead center between the eyes.

Tang Xun'an, however, looked concerned. "Is it a fused pollutant? Fused contaminants with this level of autonomous consciousness are highly dangerous. It's best to find a way to remove that consciousness."

Tang Xun'an's dragon wings and tail were also fused pollutants. The difference was, their original autonomous consciousness had been stripped during implantation. Even so, they brought significant side effects: more frequent post-talent backlash, higher lesion values.

A fused pollutant with its own consciousness, like Lu Yan's, was clearly far more hazardous.

In earlier years, others had tried. Many Awakeners gained greater combat power, but without exception, they later suffered backlash from the transplanted pollutants within.

He and the system offered the same advice. The system knew through cheats; Tang Xun'an drew from experience.

The difference was, the system just talked in Lu Yan's head. Tang Xun'an said it right in front of Wang Yu.

The "good son" swelled with rage, the teeth on its tongue looking even more terrifying. It seemed eager for a fight, but Lu Yan forcibly retracted it.

Tang Xun'an set his gun down, speaking earnestly. "I can contact the Third Research Institute for you."

The top ten intermediate staff members got one free surgery opportunity per year. Lu Yan was currently ranked first. He could wait for the year-end assessment and contact them himself.

Lu Yan answered almost without thought. "No need."

Tang Xun'an continued, "Director Ji was a student of a student of Professor Qiao Yu. He also has a genetic fusion talent. The failure rate is very low. And even if it fails, it just means failing to strip the pollutant's consciousness. The impact is minimal."

He thought Lu Yan was worried about the surgery's effectiveness.

Tang Xun'an himself was a product of fusion surgery, a masterpiece crafted by both human technology and natural evolution.

He had existed almost as long as the Institutes, witnessing their iterations. There were failed experiments, of course, but overall, they guided humanity toward a better future.

In other words, he didn't know the First Institute had strayed from its founding purpose.

A fact that had left Lu Yan with a deep aversion to any Institute involved in human or medical research. He was a doctor, but he especially hated lying on an operating table himself.

[Some information was deliberately kept from him. They didn't want Tang Xun'an's faith to waver.]

Lu Yan met Tang Xun'an's gaze.

Those golden eyes were still clear, overlapping with the nineteen-year-old version in his memory.

That nineteen-year-old Tang Xun'an had already undergone over a hundred fusion modification surgeries. When Lu Yan saw him then, he was a pitiful sight, like an abused kitten tossed in a dumpster.

But Lu Yan had never asked him if he regretted it. And Tang Xian'an probably never would.

Lu Yan thought for a moment and decided to change the subject.

He stepped forward, his hand closing over the back of Tang Xian'an's. "Look at me," he said, his voice low. "I have a question."

Tang Xian'an paused, then bent down.

The words brushed against his ear. "I want to know. Which day in the future did you hide Yu Zhizhi?"

Lu Yan held his gaze, unwavering.

This was something he'd needed to know ever since that dream in the Luo River Botanical Garden. He'd combed through headquarters' archives afterward. Not a single document mentioned the name 'Yu Zhizhi'. Only 'Subject Zero'. And whether Subject Zero even existed was still a matter of debate.

He'd asked the system. The system claimed it lacked the clearance.

In other words, it was information currently beyond his reach.

So he chose to ask the source directly.

The muscles in Tang Xian'an's arm corded tight.

A long moment passed before he answered, his voice measured. "I hid her on the day I die."

"And then?"

Tang Xian'an's gaze softened. "Then, I gave Zhizhi to you."

"In that moment," he said, the words quiet but certain, "you were the hope."

It wasn't the answer Lu Yan had expected.

Just like he'd never expected a word like 'hope' to ever rest on his shoulders.

[Interruption. Interruption.]

The system's voice cut in, sharp and sudden, like a disapproving matriarch breaking up a tender scene.

[Listen up, everyone. The First Research Institute is on fire.]