Chapter 24

"Hey, looks like I'm lucky, I arrived just in time."

A man dressed in a white hospital gown jumped into the room. The gown was a bit too big for him, hanging loosely on his body. His hair was messy, and he looked unkempt at first glance.

Xiao Shengyun was about to rest when he unexpectedly sensed the pollution fluctuations downstairs.

"How much does your church pay? You're working so late at night, are you not even getting overtime pay?"

He deftly dodged several bullets, black threads appearing in the air and wrapping around the man's vines. With a flick of his finger, the long vines were neatly cut in half.

"Are you from the Operations Department?"

The vines twisted in agony; in just one exchange, he could sense that his opponent was no weakling.

His own strengths lie more in stealth and disguise, placing him at the bottom of the polluted food chain, making him extremely unlikely to win in a head-on confrontation.

As long as Zhang Min's identity remains undiscovered, he can continue to lie low. Even if it is discovered, he can simply pick another unlucky person from this hospital.

A huge plume of smoke rose into the air, and when it dissipated, the figures had vanished.

"No way, this is way too cowardly!"

Xiao Shengyun was surprised by the speed at which the other party slipped away, but he did not continue to pursue, because Yue Ning seemed to be in very bad condition.

Yue Ning curled up on the bed, her long hair covering most of her face, her whole body trembling violently.

"Xiaojing...don't leave, don't go..."

She seemed to be trapped in some kind of nightmare, making it hard to connect this erratic woman with the former head of operations.

Xiao Jing...

Yue Ning's younger sister seems to be named Yue Jing, Xiao Shengyun recalled the information he had seen.

The two sisters have been separated for more than ten years. Why did Yue Ning call out her sister's name again at this time? Was it because she missed her, or did she see her sister again?

Now is not the time to think about this. Xiao Shengyun hesitated for a moment, but still reached out his hand, and the black source essence on the other party's body gradually withdrew.

"Consider this my overtime pay for tonight," he murmured.

Yue Ning closed her eyes tightly. After the pollution was removed, her complexion became much rosier, and the brown on her face almost disappeared, revealing her original beauty.

She was still dreaming, tears streaming down her face, soaking her pillow.

Clearly, given Yue Ning's current state, it would be difficult to obtain any useful information from her.

Even though she had been away from the church for three years, the church still sent people to hunt her down, which shows that Yue Ning possessed very important information.

and……

Xiao Shengyun felt the source essence he had just absorbed. This power contained a strong life force, and its aura was similar to that of the recently vegetative patients.

Pollutants in churches probably have a kind of "regeneration" ability.

After confirming that there was no trace of the polluter around, he climbed out of the window and left using the same route he had come from.

The room was completely dark, except for a hidden camera that recorded everything.

On the other end of the monitor, Li Qianfang looked at the silent man beside him and asked in confusion, "Don't we need to arrest the church members? We finally managed to lure them out, but now the investigation is making no progress. Maybe he's the key."

Zhou Zhi's fingers flew across the keyboard as he stared at the screen. "This is a matter for the Operations Department, not within my jurisdiction. This was indeed a ploy to lure out the snake, but it wasn't this particular snake."

"Huh?" Li Qianfang was taken aback, then came to his senses. "You still doubt this kid. Since he has passed the Action Department's rigorous tests, there shouldn't be any problems. Right now, everyone needs manpower, so why are you focusing your energy on your colleague? Your talent is indeed very strong, but in recent years, various mutations have emerged one after another. Just because you can't control him doesn't mean he's been corrupted."

The operations department has very strict recruitment standards. In addition to ability, background checks are also required. In this era, the state possesses a database of all identity information, making it easy to access all an individual's details.

Zhou Zhi blinked his dry eyes and hesitated, "It's probably just intuition. I always felt there was something wrong with him. The first time I saw him, I had a feeling of familiarity."

This feeling filled him with a sense of dread. He inexplicably developed a liking for a stranger, and sometimes even wondered if he was being controlled by other polluters.

Of course, he didn't tell anyone these things.

"What an outdated pickup line. Maybe you've fallen for her at first sight. You're like a human robot. If you ask me, you should go out and interact with other people more. Staring at those pollutants all day can easily cause psychological problems," Li Qianfang complained.

Whether as a doctor or a friend, he was very worried about Zhou Zhi's pollution level. Due to years of close contact with pollutants, his pollution levels fluctuated daily, just like his electrocardiogram, and his body would eventually give out.

"This mission is over there, so you don't need to worry about it. Besides, this is my territory, nothing will go wrong here."

...

it hurts!

Starting from the legs, at first, it felt like an invisible hand gently and slowly scratching deep into the bones, a tingling sensation mixed with an indescribable, hidden pain.

However, as time went on, the pain gradually intensified, no longer a gentle touch, but like dense needles, piercing into the bone marrow again and again, from the legs to the limbs and then to the torso.

The body instinctively resists the pain, and the muscles involuntarily tense up, trying to alleviate the torment caused by the pain.

Xiao Shengyun curled up in the blanket, clenching his teeth, letting cold sweat soak his forehead. Black and red interwoven patterns and scales had appeared on his arms.

He underestimated the source essence he obtained from Yue Ning's body, which contained extremely powerful energy, so powerful that he could hardly absorb it while maintaining his human form.

Just as humans experience growing pains at a certain stage, if Xiao Shengyun absorbs too much source matter or runs out of power, he will be unable to maintain his human form.

For a moment, he even wanted to revert to his monster form.

But……

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains and fell on his face. Only then did Xiao Shengyun open his eyes; it was already morning.

He drew the curtains, sat up in bed, and stretched.

"Hiss—" His muscles and joints were still slightly sore, but fortunately, the source essence had been completely absorbed.

After washing up, he crumpled up the sweat-soaked sheets and clothes and threw them into the small washing machine.

After tidying up, Xiao Shengyun leisurely went downstairs to have breakfast.

I've been through so much lately, and this is a rare moment of leisure.

Yue Ning's source essence has been mostly absorbed, and she should be able to regain her senses soon. Zhang Min was injured and should not be able to take action in the short term.

If not now, when?

The hospital cafeteria is located at the far west end of the first floor. Normally, only patients from the bottom three floors can eat here. Xiao Shengyun glanced at the food with his tray and saw that the selection was quite plentiful, including rice porridge, steamed buns, and cold dishes.

Most of the polluters do not eat human food, and since it was still early, there were only a few people in the canteen at that time.

Xiao Shengyun spotted the man leaning against the wall at a glance. No wonder, among a group of pollutants, he was a rare normal person.

Like a white dot on black paper, it stands out conspicuously.

A plate appeared on the opposite side. Zhou Zhi looked up and saw the person from last night's surveillance footage.

He was a little puzzled, because there were plenty of seats available, and there was no need to find someone to share a table with.

"Dean Zhou, are you feeling better?" Xiao Shengyun blinked, making sure he wasn't seeing things.

Yesterday he could still see the polluting particles on Zhou Zhi's body, but today the pollution has disappeared.

Is this human? Even pollutants can't be absorbed this quickly!

And he sadly discovered that even though he was full, Zhou Zhi still attracted him.

Have humans now developed a talent for attracting pollutants?

"I'm much better now, and I should be able to be discharged in a few days. Don't call me 'Director,' just call me by my name."

Although he seemed aloof, after meeting him a few times, Xiao Shengyun found that Zhou Zhi's personality was actually quite gentle, and he could tolerate even inappropriate jokes.

Zhou Zhi sipped his rice porridge slowly, the steam quickly fogging up his glasses. Since he didn't have a cleaning cloth, he simply took off his glasses and put them aside.

When he looked up, he found the person opposite him staring intently at him.

"What's wrong? Is it strange?"

Zhou Zhi asked hesitantly, explaining that since being contaminated, his eyes had undergone some subtle changes and could only be covered with special glasses.

From the moment the glasses were removed, the entire world lost its color, leaving only humans or pollutants. Every living being has countless dense threads connecting limbs, organs, blood vessels, the brain…

It's like an X-ray scanner; nothing about any living being can escape its sight, including their thoughts.

He wanted to try one last time.

There was nothing there.

Xiao Shengyun remained unchanged in sight.

"Your eyes are beautiful," Xiao Shengyun said sincerely, oblivious to anything else.

Those eyes were clear and bright, like a bottomless pool, still and deep.

He didn't feel there was anything wrong with a man speaking to another man like that.

Although he had lived among humans for twenty years, Xiao Shengyun's disguise was almost flawless, but only almost. In his interactions with people, he sometimes still couldn't understand them.

However, smiles and compliments can always act as a lubricant.

According to his mother, when you encounter a difficult person, first flatter them and make them happy, then the rest will be easier.

Of all the people Xiao Shengyun had met in the past twenty years, Director Zhou was one of the most difficult to deal with. He couldn't even be as friendly and approachable as he was with others.

Therefore, when Xiao Shengyun faced Zhou Zhi, it was like a computer encountering a bug, only able to output a bunch of gibberish.

Zhou Zhi: "..."

He reluctantly put on his glasses, wondering if it was just his imagination, but he always felt that nothing good ever happened whenever he met this kid.