Chapter 8
The machine made a loud noise, and waves of heat spread out, kicking up dust several meters high into the air.
The intense heat seemed to be the nemesis of the vines, which twisted their bodies wildly, and large amounts of sap flowed onto the ground, churning like boiling water and corroding the floor, leaving it pitted and uneven.
Xiao Shengyun's heart didn't settle down until he was pulled onto the plane. He leaned back in his seat, his fingers trembling unconsciously.
One by one, members of the operations team jumped off with parachutes on their backs, their figures gradually disappearing into the gray clouds.
"Are you alright? Calm down first." Someone next to me handed me a small white bottle, the kind I saw at the prevention and treatment center last time. The medicine inside has a calming effect.
After a long silence, Xiao Shengyun rested for about ten minutes before poking him.
There was no movement.
Is this kid scared out of his wits?
He held his hand in front of A Zhe's eyes and shook it twice.
Ah Zhe's eyes moved slightly, and he seemed to come alive from his pale corpse. Before he could even open his mouth, two streams of tears were already flowing down his face.
"Brother, I'm still alive! I'm still alive!"
You're older than me, so who do you call "brother"?
Also, snot got on my clothes.
Xiao Shengyun's lips twitched, and he moved the guy who was pounced on him aside.
Before Ah Zhe could fully savor the ecstasy of surviving a disaster, he clutched his stomach, his knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground.
He still had traces of contamination on his body. Xiao Shengyun explained the situation to the action department. After receiving instructions from his superiors, a helicopter was temporarily dispatched to urgently transport A Zhe to the research institute for treatment.
The battle is nearing its end.
The gunfire below continued for three hours. Under the cover of black clouds, red lights flickered faintly—the flames rising from exploding ammunition.
During the fight, a large amount of energy was released into the air, altering the climate of the area.
Rain poured down, sprinkling onto this scarred land.
The flashing red disappeared.
After being injured, the pollutant burrowed back underground and quickly fled north, which surprised everyone present. Was it so easy to defeat an S-class pollutant?
Everyone went into battle with the mindset that they might not return, but in the end, they punched cotton.
"Captain, the signal only lasted a few minutes before it disappeared. We can only barely determine the direction in which the pollutants escaped."
"Understood," Ye Ting wiped the rainwater mixed with dust from his face. "Notify the security department to seal off the scene, count the ammunition, confirm everyone's condition, and then upload all the data and images from the scene to 'Skynet'."
Skynet is a remote network jointly established by all countries in the world, covering the entire globe, and containing information on all pollution incidents uploaded by each country.
The team member was silent for a few seconds. "Captain, Lao Yang is seriously injured this time, and his contamination level was already close to exceeding the critical threshold. I'm afraid..."
Pollution has brought both death and evolution to humanity. Some infected individuals have a chance to develop supernatural abilities, becoming Awakened. Compared to ordinary people, the pollution level in Awakened rises more slowly because their abilities are essentially derived from source matter. However, this does not mean they are immune to losing control. Once the pollution exceeds a critical threshold, Awakened individuals will be brought under surveillance.
"Get him to treatment as soon as possible."
"Captain, if you were to face death one day, what would you be thinking?"
He had only recently joined the team, and this was his first time on the scene, facing the departure of his former teammates.
What are you thinking about...?
Looking at the gray sky, Ye Ting said softly, "I guess it's a case of getting what you ask for."
If one day my death can dispel the gloom hanging over humanity, that would be wonderful.
On the plane, everyone breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the signal that the mission was complete.
They then landed and picked up the operations team.
"What the hell are you doing here?" The first officer to arrive looked at Xiao Shengyun as if he'd seen a ghost. "Don't tell me you're involved in this pollution incident again!"
Xiao Shengyun shrugged, indicating that he didn't know either.
He was just an unlucky and innocent passerby; who knows why he was repeatedly dragged into crime scenes?
"Brother, you should go back and get another checkup. Maybe you've awakened some kind of talent that attracts pollutants."
This person looked familiar. Xiao Shengyun thought for a moment and realized that he should have seen him a few times when he was with Ye Ting.
"If I really have this talent, you guys should protect me, right?"
Xiao Shengyun was also a little uneasy. He didn't really believe in metaphysics, but there had been too many bizarre things happening one after another in the past two days.
As the saying goes, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Rather than having unexpected encounters with these things every few days, it would be better to seek official protection.
He had already begun to consider a hundred ways to conceal his true intentions, but the blond-haired man's next words shattered his dream: "Those guys will probably use you as a lightning rod. Do you know how people hunted in the old days? They used a trap with a piece of meat inside, and the prey would come running at the scent. You'll be the meat then. If the trap doesn't hold, well, the result is..."
"Yang Jing, who are you chatting with this time?"
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Huang Mao instinctively stood at attention. "Reporting, Captain, I am questioning the victims of this pollution incident to gather more information for writing the report."
When Ye Ting walked over and saw Xiao Shengyun's face, his expression was the same as Huang Mao's, with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Following the familiar procedure, the inspection and statement taking were conducted. Before leaving, Xiao Shengyun specifically asked about A Zhe's condition.
"He'll be fine. There's very little pollution left in his body. You might see him lively and energetic again in a while."
Ye Ting comforted her.
Even so, humans have not yet found a way to eradicate pollution and can only use antagonists to suppress it in the long term.
Dai-ichi Life Research Institute
"ah-"
Under the cold white light, the man lay on the operating table, bound hand and foot, emitting a pig-like scream.
He was stripped naked except for his underwear, and his seven-month pregnant belly was shivering from the cold.
The type of contamination was the same as that suffered by Wang Qing, except that this time the embryo was discovered before it was fully developed.
This person was really lucky. Because the pollution level was too high, it was reported directly through the chain of command, and they were able to get an appointment with a specialist as soon as they entered the clinic.
The director of the First Research Institute personally performed the delivery, the sharp knife drawing a circle in the air before stabbing into the man's stomach.
""etc-"
The knife came to an abrupt halt mid-air, and Zhou Zhi's deep voice came from behind his mask, "What's wrong?"
"Slice it so directly, without anesthesia? If you really can't, you can knock me out."
"Anesthesia is bad for the fetus."
There is still no definitive conclusion on the question of "what effects human drugs have on pollutants." Just as we try not to touch bugs as long as a program can run, since this substance is already in a temporarily stable state in his body, researchers dare not use it well without knowing the effects of the drug.
"You only care about the children, not about whether the adults live or die!"
Looking at the gleaming knife, the man silently shed two streams of tears. He seemed to have seen this thing before at the butcher's stall; with a single cut, the white fat and bright red meat were separated cleanly and efficiently.
The knife sliced through the flesh, and several tentacles and a lump of flesh squeezed out from the gap, reaching towards the researcher holding surgical instruments.
Even though they had seen many different types of pollutants, the researchers still felt nauseous and terrified, and it took all their strength to keep from throwing down their tools and running out the door.
It's really hard to earn this money. The mental compensation for the staff of these polluting institutions is an astronomical figure every year.
With a blank expression and skillful movements, Zhou Zhi cut off the tentacles and chunks of flesh, making the incision even larger.
The embryo's activity became more vigorous; it seemed no longer content to stay in the abdominal cavity and began to slowly wriggle upwards.
I don't know if the man is really that remarkably healthy, but the embryo has been in his belly for so long without damaging any of his organs. He seems to be just a quiet fetus.
But now the baby senses danger and tries to devour its mother to gain power.
Golden patterns appeared in Zhou Zhi's eyes. This was the third time he had used the top-tier skill of Sequence Three—Mind Control.
In different fields, the criteria for judging ability are different. The Superpower Administration looks at political means and connections, the Special Operations Division looks at military force, and the Research Institute looks at papers and evaluation criteria.
To outsiders, the research institute is just a group of weak, bespectacled scholars, most of whom have awakened only minor auxiliary abilities and are at the bottom of the food chain.
But Zhou Zhi broke this situation.
Director Zhou rarely takes action. He has a refined demeanor, and no one would guess that he once helped the Operations Division kill several Class A or higher pollutants.
A qualified researcher not only needs to study slices, but also needs to have the ability to turn monsters into slices.
The embryo stopped struggling under the gaze of those golden eyes.
Zhou Zhi took out the embryo, cut off a part of the monster's body to calm it down, and then put it into a box full of potions.
call-
The surgery was a success, and everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
On the machine next to them, the red value gradually turned green, indicating that the patient's contamination level was about to return to normal.
Dozens of kilometers underground, a massive pollution formation, formed by coiled tentacles, struggled violently, as if a part of its body was being ripped away alive, causing excruciating pain.
Stepping out of the operating room, Zhou Zhi drank a bottle of nutritional fluid to replenish his strength. His face showed obvious signs of fatigue, not only due to physical exhaustion but also due to the mental pollution he had suffered from facing high-level pollutants.
He could clearly sense that this pollutant was different from the previous ones; it was quite intelligent, otherwise mind control wouldn't have worked.
Does that mean that pollutants could also possess intelligence comparable to that of humans?
Even higher?
"Chief, Captain Ye is here." His assistant's voice interrupted his thoughts.
After a series of insincere greetings, Ye Ting took out something.
It was a small glass bottle containing a bright red liquid that trembled slightly inside; it was blood that had just been taken from Xiao Shengyun's body.
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