Chapter 19

Beneath my feet lay soft, damp black earth, and ahead stretched an endless wilderness, with only a few withered trees in sight. The blazing orange sun shone on this land, like the setting sun at dusk, yet it possessed something more chilling than a typical sunset.

Zhou Zhi had lost track of time; he only knew that he had been walking in this wasteland for a long time, but he could not see the end.

More than physical exhaustion, he was mentally exhausted. He felt like a traveler thrown into an endless desert, walking forward step by step, but unable to find his way or know what lay at the end of the road.

"A long time...until..."

A voice suddenly rang in my ear.

Zhou Zhi's heart skipped a beat; he suddenly realized that something seemed amiss.

His five senses seemed to have changed.

As an expert in the field of biology, Zhou Zhi believes he understands his own body well enough and has even conducted experiments on himself.

A high-level Awakened One's senses are sharp enough that they perceive the world more clearly than ordinary people.

But at this moment, almost half of his five senses had disappeared.

He couldn't smell anything at all; he didn't smell anything.

He appeared to be wearing a full set of protective gear.

This device was invented by Zhou Zhi's teacher. After studying the principles of pollution, he discovered that there were two possible causes: one was source material contamination, and the other was that human nerves produced nerve signals that could not be accepted by the human body after being stimulated.

The former can be made into protective clothing using materials that isolate the source of the substance, while the latter is more difficult to handle.

However, although humans do not know what information causes neurological abnormalities, we can find alternative approaches.

The dean created a massive database containing all currently known information about humanity—history, mathematics, philosophy, economics, and more. This device is directly connected to the human nervous system. When worn, sensors in the device collect information from the environment, then retrieve relevant information from the database, simulating images, sounds, and other data to transmit to the wearer's brain. This ensures that the wearer will not be mentally corrupted by receiving unknown information.

Because odors require chemical reagents, this device can only block the sense of smell and cannot simulate odors.

He cannot perceive his surroundings because the device protects the user while also isolating him from the outside world.

Zhou Zhi was completely bewildered by the situation before him. It seemed as if he were in a dream, but he only felt disoriented for a moment before he began to observe his surroundings.

This place is like a desolate mountain, surrounded by withered branches and weeds, with only grass in front and no road.

Why did it stop?

A sound suddenly exploded in his ear, and Zhou Zhi almost jumped up. He thought the weight on his shoulders was because he was wearing protective clothing or some kind of equipment, but he didn't expect that this thing could make a sound.

He reached out and took the thing off. He felt a soft touch through the glove, and there was a black mass in front of him.

Like a black cat.

"I'm thirsty, hurry up, there's water not far ahead." The cat wagged its tail.

But Zhou Zhi wasn't a cat lover, so he put the little thing on the ground, the meaning of which was obvious—walk on its own.

He walked towards the water source.

The cat paused for a moment, then followed like a little tail.

Three minutes later, it reappeared in Zhou Zhi's hand, because the little thing moved very slowly, and even its twisting legs couldn't keep up with Zhou Zhi's two legs.

"Waaah—"

It writhed a few times in the human's palm, found a comfortable position, and slumped into a puddle of liquid.

This area defies human geographical knowledge. Not far from the wasteland, you reach the water source, where waist-high grass grows along the water's edge, concealing various creatures.

Zhou Zhi placed the small creature on his shoulder and pulled the dagger from the pocket of his protective suit. Common sense dictates that many predators lurk in the grass, and this place was no exception.

"Waaah—"

The little creature on my shoulder chirped twice, and the grass to my right shook violently, startling the small flying insects that were nestling in it. Something was coming this way.

倏—

The short knife was drawn and quickly sliced ​​open the attacker's body. It was a three-headed snake; one head had been cut off, and the remaining two heads were still hissing and flicking their tongues.

The reed-like plants swayed, perhaps because of the snake's blood, or perhaps because of this outsider; more alien species were attacking this place.

A large number of flying insects hovered around; these insects could not penetrate the protective suit, but they could interfere with vision and movement.

Zhou Zhi instinctively drew his flamethrower, and the flames roared to life. He quickly ran towards the water source, and the flying insects were instantly driven away by the flames and thick smoke. The three-headed snake writhed in pain and lunged at Zhou Zhi's body.

But the next second, a black tentacle pierced through the junction of the three heads, the alien's source core was dug out, and the body with a hole fell into the flames.

Zhou Zhi held a short knife in one hand and a gun in the other. The bullets and blades were like a meat grinder, constantly killing the alien species that pounced on him.

Because his vision was limited by the protective suit, he didn't notice the little monster on his shoulder licking his bag; the alien's body and source core were filling the little monster's body.

Their bodies, which were originally like kittens, gradually grew larger, and their tentacles extended. The aliens that were chasing them seemed to have seen something terrifying and stopped in their tracks.

Zhou Zhi didn't notice any of this; he was busy dealing with the monster in front of him.

So when they finally reached the riverbank, Zhou Zhi was surprised to find that the kitten on his shoulder had grown a lot bigger.

...

Nanshan Hospital

Everywhere here is blindingly white: white walls, bright white lights, and people in white coats walking around.

Zhang Min drank the nutrient solution in one gulp. The hospital's benefits were quite good; they provided meals for every patient. However, the strong smell of disinfectant in the air made him feel nauseous.

I can't remember what day it is. There's a clock on the wall, though it's been broken for ages, and it occasionally goes around in reverse, giving the residents a taste of the joy of time flowing backward.

There was a knock on the door three times, and then it opened with a creak.

The doctor who came in looked like a recent graduate, with a youthful face. He kept his head down and said timidly, "Routine check-up, I need to draw a blood sample."

"It's Dr. Liu today, long time no see," Zhang Min greeted warmly, making it seem like the two were very close. "Could you please tell me that my watch is broken and can't tell the time? I need to find someone to fix it."

"Don't you have a cell phone? Can't you check the time?" Dr. Liu thought to himself that with the outside world in such chaos, and so many people coming into the hospital every day, who would have time to fix a watch?

"Oh, you really have no sense of romance. I just wanted to chat with you for a bit. There's no one here, I'm so lonely!"

After the others were amused and frightened like rabbits, Zhang Min stretched out his hand. His forearm looked normal, but when he reached up from his elbow, it was covered with a thin layer of black scales, which was why the doctor was afraid.

He didn't mean to play a trick on anyone; he just didn't want to see that look in other people's eyes—looks filled with fear.

Zhang Min was originally just an ordinary office worker, working diligently from nine to five. He was content with just being able to feed himself and not have any family to worry about. He didn't like this tiring and boring life, but were there any other options?

Perhaps heaven heard his wish, because one day he found himself mutated, or rather—"contaminated".

This is truly an undeserved disaster, but accidents happen all the time in the world. Even without "pollution," there are car accidents and terminal illnesses. What can we do besides cursing God for being unfair?

It wasn't until the Operations Department came knocking that he realized this wasn't a dream; he hadn't mutated into a superhero, but was gradually turning into a monster.

Pollution levels initially spiked, then decreased after medication, then rose again during home isolation.

Like a terminally ill patient, the illness goes on and on, with constant relapses and struggles.

But he himself is quite optimistic, perhaps because the medication he's been taking recently has been effective, or perhaps because the doctors who have been coming to check on him lately have been quite interesting.

As long as you're alive, there's always hope.

In a sense, the patients in the ward are no different from the pigs in the pen. They eat, sleep, and play on their phones every day. One advantage of the mutation is that their eyes don't hurt even after playing on their phones for a long time.

"What are you standing there for? Give him a heal, he's going to die!"

With the moon high in the sky, Zhang Min was diligently fighting a bloody battle in the game. He was halfway through a dungeon when his character suddenly became unresponsive and crashed with a "pop".

"Holy crap, what's going on?"

Upon seeing the small red circle in the upper right corner, he angrily slammed his mouse down, losing contact at a crucial moment.

Sorry, your internet connection has been cut off.

A voice suddenly came from inside the room.

"Do you know I've been trying to get through for half an hour? I was almost there!" Zhang Min said angrily.

Then it suddenly dawned on me, where did that sound come from?

A man appeared out of nowhere behind him. The man had an ordinary appearance, but he exuded an extremely dangerous aura.

Zhang Min's eyes widened, and he hurriedly pressed the call button by the bedside, which was connected to the doctor's on-call room.

There was no sound.

He pressed the button a few more times, but there was still no sound.

“It’s no use, I’ve destroyed all the electrical circuits in this room.”

The man grabbed Zhang Min's right arm and twisted it hard, and the arm broke off limply.

A sharp pain shot from his arm to his brain a second later. Before Zhang Min could even cry out in pain, a huge vine burrowed into his throat, wrapping around his blood vessels and internal organs.

He transformed into a bottle, with flesh and blood as the soil, and the things inside quickly took root and sprouted.

vomit-

The air in his lungs was constantly compressed and squeezed out, and because his spinal cord was also destroyed, he felt no pain.

A few seconds later, Zhang Min's limp body stood up again, like a coat with a wooden frame inside to support its basic shape.

The severed arm was also reattached.

The demon that had taken over his body got up, walked to the mirror, and repaired his slightly loose skin.

He repaired the damaged circuit.

A message came through my computer from my teammate: "Hey, is your internet working? Come over here for a dungeon, we're one short."

Zhang Min replied, "The internet is working. I'm a little tired today, so I'm going to rest now."