Zhou Yuanyuan chewed gum, blew a bubble calmly, popped the bubble with a snap, bit it back into her mouth, and then nodded lazily to Xie Xuan.

The man who had argued with Ling Wenqing at the beginning finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Now that your team is complete, I will assign you tasks right away."

He tapped a few times on the terminal. "An infection has occurred on the third floor of Area A, 02 Convention and Exhibition Center, 275 Street. Preliminary rating: D-level reproductive area. Team 320, Captain Ling Wenqing, and team members Zhou Yuanyuan and Xie Xuan are currently handling the matter."

As soon as Xie Xuan finished speaking, a message box popped up on her terminal again. "You have received a mission assignment. Please proceed to the entrance of Precinct 45 within five minutes. The shuttle bus number for this service is 739."

Zhou Yuanyuan ignored her captain and turned around and walked out of the office.

Ling Wenqing glanced at Xie Xuan and said as they walked out, "Our lockers are in Area D on the third floor. When you return from this mission, the logistics department will hand over the protective suits and communicators to the designated personnel in Area D for safekeeping. The next time you go on a mission, they will be responsible for placing the well-maintained protective suits and communicators on the shuttle bus in advance."

Xie Xuan nodded obediently, "Okay, I understand."

Ling Wenqing: "If you want to go out and take private work, you don't have to hand in the protective suit. The corresponding logistics department will not be responsible for the maintenance of the protective suit. But the communicator must be handed in. If this thing is not properly kept and circulated, it will be very troublesome. Remember this."

Xie Xuan felt that the people in the Ecology Bureau were very cautious about the communicator, so she asked tentatively, "Is it because Bai Ze was developed by the Ecology Bureau itself that it can't be circulated?"

Ling Wenqing shook his head. "No, it was developed by Noah Technology. Noah Technology provides almost all information technology support to the Ecological Bureau."

Xie Xuan silently repeated the name "Noah Technology" in her mind, and thought of Ding Qiaoyun's mysterious smile just now, "Bai Ze should be more than just an artificial intelligence, right?"

Ling Wenqing didn't answer the question immediately. He turned to look at Xie Xuan and asked a seemingly unrelated question: "Do you think artificial intelligence can develop self-awareness?"

If Xie Xuan still lived in the era she remembered, she would definitely give a negative answer, but now is an era where even living people can be covered with fungi, so it doesn't seem surprising that artificial intelligence develops self-awareness?

Xie Xuan hesitated: "I think... it should be possible?"

Ling Wenqing retracted his gaze. "According to current research, spores can parasitize all entities with self-awareness."

Xie Xuan immediately understood what Ling Wenqing didn't mean.

Bai Ze is most likely an artificial intelligence with physical form and self-awareness, and is a special being that has become a mutant after being parasitized.

When Xie Xuan was distracted, the elevator had already stopped on the first floor.

Ling Wenqing: "What is your special ability?"

Xie Xuan was stunned by the question.

The panel provided by the system showed that her special ability was still inactive, but her ability had been expanded to include a creature with a lower control intelligence than the user, which she didn't know how to use, and a sharp dagger in the props.

The interface is so simple and shabby that it is embarrassing for the vast majority of time travelers.

Xie Xuan: "Uh... I have a sharp dagger."

After saying this, Xie Xuan even felt that she was being funny.

But Ling Wenqing accepted it well and said, "It's a pretty good ability."

Xie Xuan:……?

Ling Wenqing: "My ability is to manipulate living plants within a two-meter radius, but because plants also have the risk of infection, living plants are almost invisible in the city, so I usually don't use my ability. Zhou Yuanyuan's ability is to create a bubble that can isolate spores, but it can only create one at a time. It has almost no offensive power, but it is very useful when the protective shield is infected and loses its effectiveness."

Xie Xuan now understood why Ling Wenqing said that his special abilities were quite useful. The conditions for applying their special abilities were more demanding than the other. What was the difference between this and having no special abilities at all?

Ling Wenqing seemed to be able to guess what Xie Xuan was thinking. "So we usually rely on firearms. Can you use a gun?"

Xie Xuan nodded, "Yes."

Ling Wenqing didn't ask any more questions, "As long as you can use weapons, that's fine."

He took Xie Xuan to the parking lot in the square in front of the Ecological Bureau.

This is a temporary parking lot dedicated to shuttle buses, with rows of pure white shuttle buses parked neatly in the parking spaces.

The Health Bureau's shuttle bus looks very similar to the white van used to transport goods in the past, but its appearance is much more advanced than the van. Where the license plate should be hung, there is a pure white sign that starts with the Ecological Bureau's number "0645-" and ends with the shuttle bus number.

When they found shuttle bus No. 739, Zhou Yuanyuan was already on the bus wearing protective clothing.

The interior of the shuttle bus is pure black, and various hot weapons are hung on the walls.

Zhou Yuanyuan skillfully put on the black protective suit and almost blended into the car body.

After Ling Wenqing and Xie Xuan got on the bus, the unmanned shuttle bus started heading for the destination.

Although Ling Wenqing looks very strict, he is very responsible as the team leader. He put on protective clothing himself while guiding Xie Xuan.

Ling Wenqing: "We need to ensure that the protective suit is completely sealed. There is a special air filter inside the protective suit, which is sufficient under normal circumstances. In special circumstances, it needs to be completely sealed and there is also an oxygen cylinder inside that can support one hour."

But if it has developed to a special situation, they will generally turn into mushrooms within an hour.

However, Ling Wenqing did not say this out loud.

Ling Wenqing: "You should have been in the field before. I won't say more, but you are now in a team. The most important thing is cooperation. Do you understand?"

Xie Xuan nodded, "I understand."

Ling Wenqing helped Xie Xuan put on protective clothing, but did not rush to put on helmets. Instead, he took out a small box containing a communicator.

Ling Wenqing: "Once we put it on, it will start sending our location information to the branch. Once the mission officially begins, the communication function will be activated. If the situation develops to an extremely dangerous point, after authorization from the branch, it will intervene with the completion of the mission as the first priority."

Xie Xuan had just heard Yuan Xiao mention the word "intervention," and now when Ling Wenqing mentioned it again, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "What does intervention mean?"

"Infection." Zhou Yuanyuan, who had been silent the whole time, said, "It will infect us before we are completely infected by the domain."

Before joining the Ecological Bureau, Xie Xuan made up for it by studying some common knowledge about spore infections that she could find on the Internet.

The parasite can and can only control the infected within the domain generated by itself. According to Zhou Yuanyuan, Bai Ze, as a mutant, can not only actively infect other creatures, but also ignore the domains of other parasites.

Wouldn’t such ability be too terrifying?