Chapter 97 Guide 25

"You, you... must be expelled! Don't even think about protecting this scourge!" the Baron insisted, his neck stiff with arrogance.

"Your Excellency Baron!" The headmaster raised his voice, his tone stern and unyielding, finally managing to capture the Baron's attention. "Before you demand the expulsion of anyone, I suggest you take a look at this!"

A thick stack of documents was slammed heavily onto the table.

“Since enrolling, there have been more than twenty documented bullying incidents led by Gary! Extortion, malicious beatings, verbal abuse, damage to other people’s property, disruption of class... including this attempt to harm a classmate with a venomous snake! I have to question the upbringing of the Baron’s family.”

The principal's sharp gaze met the Baron's: "If you want to bully others at school, Bai Nan is definitely not a good choice. Gary bears primary responsibility for this incident, and the school has decided to give him a major demerit. As for expulsion? It is your son who should be considered for expulsion. If he behaves similarly again, no matter who the other party is or who the parents are, the school will immediately carry out the expulsion procedure without leniency! Now, please go back and properly discipline your son!"

The baron's face turned from red to green, then from green to purple. Every word the headmaster uttered felt like a whip lashing at his proud aristocratic dignity. He had never suffered such humiliation!

"You...you dare..." The baron trembled with rage, pointing at the headmaster, then sharply at the still silent mother and child, "For these two lowly people...for this monster from the gutter and the little monster she gave birth to..."

The principal said calmly, "I think I am very clear about the power and influence of your family."

In his rage, the baron's gaze unexpectedly met Lu Yangfeng's eyes.

Those eyes reflected his twisted, furious face. There was no warmth in their gaze, only a pure scrutiny, as if they were looking at an inanimate object. An indescribable, bewitchingly cold aura silently enveloped him.

The Baron's heart clenched, as if a cold, slippery hand had gripped his heart.

The disdain and contempt that had been lingering in my heart vanished in an instant.

The rest of the words felt like a hot iron stuck in my throat, impossible to spit out, leaving only a chilling unease, like being targeted by a venomous snake.

Two monsters!

The baron's lips twitched a few times, but he finally shut his mouth in frustration, burst open the principal's office door, and fled from this place that had humiliated him.

"Madam, thank you for your kindness." Lu Yangfeng greeted the principal politely.

Bai Nan dislikes parents' excessive attention to their children's school life, believing it will affect their independence. Parents have only been allowed to enter the school on holidays and in certain exceptional circumstances.

Taking this opportunity, Lu Yangfeng can spend some time with the child.

Dry, cool palms gently enveloped him. The mother's skirt swayed like a poisonous narcissus dancing in the night, casting a tall, warm shadow, silently protecting the child.

He curled his lips into a smile, ran out of the office, ignoring the biting wind and snow, and leaped mischievously and nimbly down the corridor. Lu Yangfeng held his hand tightly the whole time.

"Did you wash your hands?" Lu Yangfeng asked.

Sensing the disdain in his voice, he stopped, his eyes defiant, but his reply was obedient: "Not yet."

Lu Yangfeng smiled, bending slightly forward. His straight, glossy hair draped over his shoulders like a slowly descending night curtain. His tone was affectionate, making no attempt to hide the deep love within: "After you're done playing, remember to wash your hands and clean off all the dirt, okay?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a night wind swept by, and Lu Yangfeng's figure disappeared from the dark sky, leaving only a large shadow following him.

Looking around, the snowy night was completely silent.

All things bowed their heads, daring not to utter a sound.

He walked alone in the quiet night, idly replaying Gary's smugness and fear, the Baron's arrogance and anger in his mind, the distorted faces flashing by, bringing him great pleasure.

Most of his kind were weak in his presence; sometimes he felt he could crush them with a mere touch. Even paramecia know not to provoke creatures stronger than themselves, so how dare those weaker kind of creatures harbor malice and act presumptuously before him?

With her thoughts drifting to this point, Lu Xuejin let out a slow sigh.

"And how dare you provoke me again and again?"

His eyelids lifted, his gaze sharp and cold, and his spiritual power surged forth like a sweeping blizzard, vast and boundless, instantly seizing the tentacles extending from the spirit realm. The monarch, cowering in the darkness, immediately let out a howl, its mouthparts churning with chaotic turmoil. This shriek stirred up an invisible wave that instantly reached the brains of all the contaminants, driving them mad and out of control.

When Lu Xuejin opened her eyes, it was already bright outside.

This was not the first time he had encountered Him in a dream—a serpentine alien creature, as tireless as an earthworm, trying to dig out some fleeting fragments from his mind, silently bewitching his intellect.

When Wan Hong opened the door, he saw Lu Xuejin standing barefoot on the cold floor tiles, her naturally upturned lips pressed flat, her face almost expressionless.

[Dedication Points +5]

"come over."

Lu Xuejin glared menacingly at the bright morning light outside the glass window, ordering Wan Hong around without any politeness. When the sentry obediently approached, he grabbed Wan Hong's broad shoulder, pressed his forehead against Wan Hong's, and without even asking for his consent, his spiritual energy surged into the scene.

After several in-depth guidance and spiritual connections, the gray fog in the core area of ​​Wan Hong Tu Jing showed a faint trend of fading. Presumably, with patience, the fog would eventually clear. However, Lu Xuejin was impatient with the gradual approach and used a rough and forceful method to pry open the invisible barrier.

The sentry held his breath due to the intense pain, but remained by the guide's side, showing no sign of retreating.

"Let me see what's inside," Lu Xuejin's voice wavered.

The gray fog gradually faded under the onslaught of powerful mental energy, but it remained firmly entrenched in its last inch. Lu Xuejin could only vaguely glimpse the shadows of some buildings, unable to see the whole picture.

At the same time, as the two people's mental images became highly similar in a higher dimension, Wan Hong's dull mental power actually touched a cold and sharp space.

—He caught a glimpse of Lu Xuejin's vision.

The world spun around them, and the wind and snow howled. The scene conveyed in that fleeting glimpse made Wan Hong raise his eyebrows in surprise.

It was an upward-looking perspective; Wan Hong was soaking wet, having been doused with several buckets of cold water. The narrow wooden door to the cubicle was tightly locked, and Wan Hong smelled the pungent odor of disinfectant.

A series of footsteps sounded, the first one as light as falling snow, followed by heavy, dull ones.

"Open the door."

It was Lu Xuejin's voice.

After a series of cracking sounds as the lock was opened, the wooden door was pushed open with a thud.

Lu Xuejin walked in, as if draped in a soft, rosy glow. His azure eyes lowered, his gaze filled with pity and caution. He was rather short, his snow-white skin encased in a serious, ancient-looking dark uniform, his face possessing the refined handsomeness of someone just emerging from childhood and approaching adulthood.

"How are you?"

The warm breath exhaled as I inquired reached my face.

Wan Hong was scalded and suddenly lowered his eyes. A strange impulse burned in his chest. The wet and slippery ground reflected a very familiar face—it was the man he had seen in his dream, the man manipulated by Lu Xuejin to destroy himself.

Could this be their past? Their first encounter?

No, no.

Being splashed with water and locked inside—the sentry shouldn't be this weak, nor should his senses be so dulled; Lu Xuejin wouldn't be wearing such an academic uniform in the Dark Zone, and the group following behind him should be a fierce mercenary squad…

Most importantly, Wan Hong sniffed, but couldn't smell any of the pungent sentinel.

This feels like something from another world.

A world without sentinels or guides, a world without pollution.

Just as he was about to continue exploring, the guide seemed to get bored, and his mental energy receded like a tide, breaking the hard-won link.

Wan Hong felt a deep sense of loss.

Lu Xuejin closed her eyes and tilted her head back. After a while, she opened them and looked at him. The coldness in her eyes had vanished, replaced by sincere apology and worry.

"I'm sorry, I lost my temper. Are you alright?"

Upon hearing this, Wan Hong lazily curled his lips and shrugged as if it didn't matter.

He wisely refrained from asking any questions.

...

The pollutants are becoming increasingly active. Previously, they were only present at the border, but now news of their activity can be heard even in Zone 1.

Batch after batch of sentries were conscripted, making the evacuation room unusually quiet. Lu Xuejin had a rare free afternoon and took a walk along the White Tower corridor.

"...Chief Lu."

He Cang waited at the end, his hat brim pulled low, partially obscuring his inorganic eyes. He seemed to have waited a long time and hesitated for a long time before finally calling out softly, "Sir," as he approached.

The subtle hint of longing on his cold, stern face was hardly the expression one would expect from a sentry.

Lu Xuejin looked at her with a smile.

ah.

He remembered.

Beneath the skin of this corpse lies the pollutant he released on a whim.

I found a new toy.

Lu Xuejin smiled slightly, her eyes sparkling, and asked gently with concern, "Hasn't the chief assigned you any work?"

“Well,” Lu Xuejin’s pink fingertips touched the sentry’s stiff shoulder, and as she brushed past him, she turned her face slightly and looked intently at He Cang, “you can follow me for now.”

He had already taken a few steps when the sentry, who had been standing there in a daze, came to his senses and hurriedly followed, slowly walking to a position half a step behind Lu Xuejin.

He Cang, now the thing inside his body should be called A.

A gazed at Lu Xuejin's retreating figure, slowly "breathing." It inhaled the rich scent of blood and a certain chilling aroma hidden beneath human flesh, savoring it deeply.

In a world polluted by pollutants, the survival of the fittest prevails. Those who survive and are recorded by humankind are all the strong who have triumphed over countless battles and devouring.

A was born with congenital deficiencies and for a long time was so weak that it could not even maintain a stable form. If this continued, it would not be long before it was consumed by other pollutants. Fortunately, A was born in a village ruled by pollutants.

Pollutant A—at that time, it did not know what humans called it, only vaguely realizing that the powerful pollutant had a strange appearance it had never seen before.

Pollutants are savage, only knowing how to eat based on instinct, and everything about them is incredibly crude. But before eating, they will wash and cook the ingredients properly, use a clean table to serve the food, and drape a clean cloth over their bodies to cover their seemingly fragile skin. Every move they make carries a sense of order that A cannot imagine.

That's why the contaminant didn't eat A, allowing A to survive and roam in the shadows of the village. Instinct made it afraid to appear in front of the contaminant, always keeping its distance. But as it began to realize the contaminant was harmless, this small but cunning contaminant gradually started appearing near it.

It was from the pollutants that A came to know humans and vaguely heard some concepts about humans, including its name. The pollutants said that names are for differentiation and marking. A did not understand the meaning of these sharp characters, but it possessed something that other pollutants did not have, as if it had more resources, which made it instinctively feel happy.

"Heh, you're only about three years old in your tribe. In humans, that's still the age of snuggling in your mother's arms." The polluted entity stared indifferently at the insect corpses wriggling in the mud, manipulated by A. Its face was stiff and trembling, and a flicker of emotion, whether jealousy or nostalgia, flashed in its turbid eyes.

Mom, Mother.

Pollutants always bring these things up.

A mother is someone who protects her child, shielding it from wind and rain until it grows into adulthood.

A jumble of complex and indistinguishable emotions are mixed in with each murmur. These untouchable emotional responses are like sparkling gems, fatally attractive to the pollutants of numbness, ignorance, and chaos.

As it listened day and night, A developed a primal longing and yearning—it longed to become as powerful as the pollutant, to become a human being, to have a mother who would hold it in her arms on cold nights, whispering words of comfort and care, a mother who would pass on her warmth.

One day, the contaminant captured a human. The tall human had strong limbs, a ferocious expression, and messy fur and gray clothes stained with old and new blood. He saw A's shadow and grinned maliciously.

He spat out a mouthful of blood and said, "Little thing, get lost."

He glared at the pollutant with bloodshot eyes: "What? Our captain, who hates evil like poison and whose presence leaves no trace of pollutants in his wake, didn't kill it?"

The contaminated entity asked hoarsely, "How many people have you killed?"

This question evoked fond memories for humanity. His pupils dilated slightly, and he grinned excitedly, his tone rising as he said, "Haha, you ask me? How do I remember? Ten? Twenty? Their angry curses and cries before they died were so captivating that I killed many without even realizing it."

"What, you want to judge me? Look at yourself now, a corrupted entity! You have the nerve to judge me?"

Humans were imprisoned, and A often heard the pollutants arguing with him.

Pollutants don't have such diverse activities. When they encounter their own kind, they coldly assess their strength, devouring the weak and avoiding the strong. Human-made things are far more complex and colorful than A imagines, which fascinates the straightforward pollutants.

Meanwhile, the villages are running out of resources and becoming increasingly hungry.

This place quickly became a contaminated area—everything was toxic, and weak pollutants could not survive. A stopped moving, curled up in the shadows outside the cell, enduring and waiting, not knowing what he was waiting for.

Until one time, when consciousness blurred and darkness enveloped everything, when I woke up again, the maddening hunger had vanished without a trace, leaving only a warm and cozy feeling.

Feeling full.

The contaminant was also nearby, but when it opened its eyes, the human skin it had maintained melted away like a candle in an instant, replaced by a twisted, bizarre body that was no different from the other contaminants.

It had grown stronger, but the look in its eyes when it looked at A was no longer the tender affection that once lingered within its complex emotions. Like its other uninteresting kind, it regarded A as a slave and a reserve of food.

It became the master of this polluted area.

The cursing human was nowhere to be found. Under oppressive rule, A ruminated on the gems within its barren spirit—everything it had learned from the polluted being, and also, an image of a human child that had suddenly appeared.

It was this footage that saved its life when the human army arrived.

The blond, blue-eyed little human had skin whiter than the trunk of a killer birch tree, delicate and tender, yet his spiritual power was like a giant black hole, devouring everything. A trembled before him, instinctively projecting images, attempting to evoke pity in the human for their young.

A survived.

Before leaving, the little human smiled gently at it, its eyes showing no disgust or hatred for the pollutants, only a warm glow.

Mother.

This name popped into my chaotic thoughts.