Chapter 86

86

Tang Xian'an's embrace was crushing, tight enough to make Lu Yan's bones ache.

He could feel the faint tremor in the other man's hands.

Tang Xian'an couldn't bear to think about what would have happened if that blade hadn't stopped.

Lu Yan patted his back. "It's alright. I'm still here."

The rescue had been executed with flawless, wordless precision, delivering the best possible outcome.

[Let's give a warm round of applause for the victims successfully snatching Princess Yanyan back from the hands of the land's single most powerful pollutant,] the system quipped. [01 teleports back only to find he's now enemy number one to the entire world.]

[My advice? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Might just live to see the ending.]

Almost the instant Lu Yan was pulled to safety, the area where 01 stood was engulfed in a storm of artillery fire.

Conventional weapons might not finish him, but they could pin him down. And that was all the time Tang Xian'an needed to deposit Lu Yan in a secure location.

Lu Yan found himself surrounded by the ordinary survivors of the operation, being prepared for evacuation to the surface. He didn't feel that weak, honestly thought he could head back to levels 1 through 3 and clear out a few more pollutants. But the system's words changed his mind.

[Speaking of which, there might be a chance to take out Lu Cheng right now. Want to give it a shot?]

*

01's expression was thunderous.

From the shadows, a spear hurtled toward him, its tip crackling with electricity.

He raised a hand and caught it. The point sliced a neat gash across his palm.

Elsewhere, a bowstring thrummed, an arrow sheathed in biting frost shooting toward 07.

With the hostage secure, the Special Operations Division launched their first counterattack.

"Get the others out," 01 ordered 07. "I'll handle this."

Tang Xian'an's gaze locked onto 01. He drew his blade and gave his own order to his team. "I've got this. Secure the ninth floor. Protect the experimental subjects."

01 let out a bitter, incredulous laugh. "So you're telling me. Even knowing what these animals have done, you'll still protect them? And stop me in the process?"

He had thought Tang Xian'an, once one of them, would at least understand, if not support.

Gu Zheng didn't want unnecessary bloodshed. He just wanted to retrieve the other subjects. His companions were powerful Awakened; they would become powerful pollutants. Ordinary humans were destined to be left behind by evolution. And from the ashes, 01 would build a new order.

01's reflection swam in the gold of Tang Xian'an's eyes. "I'm not protecting them. I just can't let you take the others."

Just as he had told 07 from the start, there was a better way.

The subjects could leave the First Research Institute, but not with 01.

They were still human, not pollutants.

Justice delayed might not be justice. Tang Xian'an understood the logic driving 01 and 07, but he could not condone this brand of "justice" built on the corpses of countless ordinary people.

Today, the First Research Institute might fall to the pollutants' vengeance. Tomorrow, it could be City A.

01 exerted a terrifying pressure.

Berserker, Phoenix, Teleportation, Super Strength… with these gifts layered upon him, Gu Zheng was a born warrior.

Tang Xian'an's dragon scales splintered, golden blood spattering the ground; 01's metallic prosthetics shattered at the joints, sparks and currents fizzing from the breaks.

One had wings, the other could blink through space. Within a few breaths, the underground eighth level of the research block was nearly torn in half.

In another brutal clash, a sudden, perverse memory surfaced in 01's mind.

"Remember your deputy team leader? Codename Golden Crow. Gift: Phoenix."

Tang Xian'an's movements hitched for a fraction of a second—then came back faster, fiercer, a blur of motion. His strikes carried a reckless, trade-wounds-for-wounds ferocity.

"But did you know, when they delivered him to the First Institute, he wasn't dead yet—"

Suddenly, Gu Zheng dropped all defense, letting Huang Chen's blade pierce his own heart.

"The story they spread was that you finished him."

A smile, devoid of any warmth, twisted 01's features—

"He died because the institute you're so keen to protect transplanted the Phoenix gift into me."

Gu Zheng's hand shot up, gripping the blade embedded in his chest. "I admit, you're stronger than most give you credit for. Time and Dragon Bone… those gifts make you stronger than pollutants of your rank. But kill me? Can you?"

"Even if I die, a single surviving cell is all I need. I will always return."

"Besides, your corruption index isn't exactly low right now, is it, Number 10? Sure you want to keep this up?"

……

……

Acrid smoke billowed through the institute, the source a fire that had sprung up from nowhere.

It consumed not just laboratories, but decades of research—the life's work of generations.

The First Research Institute had been destroyed once before in history. From its ruins, that batch of researchers had built anew.

Some data had been salvaged, forming the core of the Third Research Institute. The rest remained here.

However twisted some of their experiments had become, their achievements weren't nothing.

Many now rushed to save what data they could. The temporary holding area for pollutants descended into mild chaos.

A figure in a black cloak slipped furtively into the space.

Shen Qingyang, blood loss severe, had fallen into unconsciousness, his breathing shallow. The Prophet used hypnosis to trick the guard into handing him over. By the time the guard snapped out of it, one of the detained pollutants had been replaced with a pillow.

A mental attack like that—minimal damage, maximum insult.

The guard's face tightened as he contacted headquarters.

*

Once back on the surface with the other evacuees, Lu Yan didn't report in or head back underground.

He'd left his phone at home. From the firing range, he took down the bow hanging on the wall.

[Lu Cheng will pass this way,] the system informed him.

The designated spot was a small wood, not far from the city moat.

Lu Yan was an excellent hunter. A patient one.

He waited three hours, until the rustle of leaves finally broke the silence.

Lu Yan narrowed his eyes, nocking an arrow. He became one with the night.

Soon, the Prophet emerged into his line of sight, clutching the unconscious Shen Qingyang.

The Prophet ran fast, one arm missing, his hair thinning on top because of the face growing out the back of his skull—a far cry from the handsome youth he'd once been.

Dog barks echoed from a few kilometers away. Search hounds, handled by other operatives. If Xiao Tian hadn't been at home all day watching streamers, he could have been one of them.

A pollutant's biology defied conventional understanding. Just as Shen Qingyang's weakness was the nest of tentacles in his eye, Lu Yan knew the Prophet's vulnerability was the face on his back.

His expression remained placid as he waited for the Prophet to turn.

[He's badly wounded. Basically immobile,] the system noted.

In other words, left alone, he'd just wait to die.

"I thought," Lu Yan said after a moment's silence, "Lu Cheng would run alone."

He didn't seem the charitable type.

[His gifts are Precognition and Hypnosis. To a degree, Precognition subconsciously guides him toward beneficial choices and away from harm.]

[So, what's your play? Kill the Prophet and let Shen Qingyang die with him? Or call it off?]

Lu Yan's bow was fully drawn, the arrow taut against the string.

He didn't deliberate long.

The next second, the arrow shot forth with a sharp whistle, cutting a phantom trail through the air.

The silver bolt struck the Prophet's throat, the tip punching through his windpipe. Black blood welled up like a spring.

Agony made the Prophet stumble. A wet, rasping wheeze escaped his ruined throat, but he didn't stop running.

In his frantic flight, he didn't even spare a glance back to see who had fired.

The City Lord, that turncoat recruited mid-operation, had seen how the wind was blowing and cut his losses, making some excuse about fetching the Gu Master.

The Prophet was on his own. He lacked Shen Qingyang's gift of Mimicry. With a corruption value over six thousand, he shone on detectors like the morning star in a dark sky.

The outcome of bombing the institute was nothing like what his precognition had shown.

Perhaps rushed into it to placate 07, the pollutant side had been utterly routed. They'd managed to haul out a few experimental pods, but the security codes were unknown.

Lu Yan's movements were mechanical as he fired again. One arrow, two… five in total.

The projectiles tore through Lu Cheng's limbs like bullets.

Crimson blossoms burst in the air, a fine mist of blood settling around him. Lu Yan used specially-made institute arrows, their tips coated with a neurotoxin.

For something with a corruption value as high as the Prophet's, it might not be fatal, but it would leave him severely weakened for a long time.

In his sights, Lu Cheng had reached the moat's edge.

The distance now exceeded Lu Yan's maximum effective range.

He fired one last arrow anyway, aiming for the base of the Prophet's skull.

It felt less like a kill shot, more like venting pure fury.

A faint tinge of red bloomed and spread on the water's surface.

"Did he die?" Lu Yan asked.

[No. Blinded.]

Lu Yan lowered his bow, his breathing slightly ragged. His expression was unreadable.

[You still held back. Because the little dirt octopus saved you?]

"Yes." The admission was blunt. "Kill the Prophet, and Shen Qingyang dies too. He just saved my life."

He couldn't exactly take care of a pollutant. Not unless he wanted a bounty on his head.

There were times Lu Yan felt this world was utterly expendable, that its fate meant nothing to him.

But then he'd think about leaving human society—no more access to Hospital surgeries, the school district apartment in City S he still hadn't sold, Commander Li Dongcheng losing twenty pounds from stress worrying about him… and he decided the status quo was preferable.

[He is a pollutant.]

"I know."

The system considered this. [Whichever side you choose, I'll always be right here with you.]