Chapter 82
Fan Huacheng had no idea what was happening. The number of polluters was increasing rapidly. These people seemed to spring up like mushrooms after rain, suddenly shattering the peace of the city.
The scary thing is, no one knows when the rain will come.
The emergence of a huge wave often leaves certain traces, but unfortunately, none of those currently swept up in the wave have noticed them.
"Charge in!" In the eyes of the polluters, ordinary people are just lambs trapped in the industrial zone. The polluters are gathered in a dark mass outside the industrial zone, and the defensive line formed by the Awakened and the iron net is about to be destroyed.
"Ms. Yang, please move to a safe location immediately." Fan Huacheng received the letter from the front line and made a quick decision. Yang Xin was the foundation of the industrial zone. If something happened to her, the remaining ordinary people in the industrial zone would also be contaminated.
"What's the situation ahead?" Yang Xin asked calmly. Having experienced several turning points in the city, her weathered eyes held a tranquility born of years.
"For some reason, the people outside suddenly rioted. Their numbers are ten times ours. With our defense system, we can probably only hold out for ten minutes at most," Fan Huacheng told the truth.
"Ten minutes?" Yang Xin murmured to herself. She had a premonition that this city was about to meet its end.
"We can't hold out for much longer; we need to evacuate as soon as possible."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a bullet pierced the glass, followed by a loud crash, and a gust of wind carrying the smell of blood blew into the building.
The room was warm, but a biting wind suddenly arrived, as if foreshadowing an uninvited guest suddenly intruding into the greenhouse.
A human head protruded through the window, its face adorned with dozens of red eyes that greedily stared at the people inside. The body connecting the head to the head was a massive black form with eight claws clinging to the rough surface of the tall building.
This is a different species of spider.
Fan Huacheng is not strong in combat; his talent, Speed, is usually used to help people escape.
Just as he reached for his gun, two bullets struck Spider-Man's head simultaneously. One came from outside, possibly from the owner of the previous bullet, while the other came from Yang Xin, whose hand was very steady.
"It's no use. No place can withstand their attack. If this place is breached, there will be no more sanctuary for humankind in this city, and that damned pollution will eventually engulf it."
There's one more thing Yang Xin didn't mention: why didn't the city lord hear a thing about such a large-scale riot happening in the city? Was it at the city lord's behest, or was the city lord himself being controlled?
Fan Huacheng watched as the woman picked up the gun and resolutely walked out of the building.
She guarded this city for twenty years, and even at the very last moment, she stood at the forefront.
It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining brightly outside. Yang Xin walked along the path, following the sound towards the place where the battle was most intense.
Her steps were light and quick, the hem of her long trench coat fluttering like the wings of a butterfly, carried by the free wind, as she flew forward.
She suddenly remembered how happy everyone was when the purification zone was first built. In their happiness after surviving the catastrophe, they believed that humanity could survive on this saline-alkali land.
"You are a miracle sent by God." Meng Yangzhou hugged her tightly, their two passionate hearts close together. They, along with the other high-ranking officials of Mengchuan City, were filled with hope.
The flames in their eyes burned a hole in the black tide, and the city stood like an island in the vast ocean ever since.
But why did things change later?
Although the number of polluters has increased dramatically, they have begun to shrink the living space of ordinary people. Polluters are transformed from humans, yet they seem to have become two completely different species from humans.
They rioted, attacked humans, and their cruel and bloodthirsty nature was revealed without a doubt.
They became part of the Black Tide.
No one knows what Meng Yangzhou did. When everything settled down, humans and polluters coexisted in this city in a distorted way.
When Yang Xin came out, she thought there would be corpses everywhere, but the situation was better than she imagined. The awakened ones were at the front, and the ordinary people were behind them.
Those faces holding weapons aloft reminded Yang Xin of many old friends. Twenty years ago, when the Black Tide arrived, they stood on this land in the same manner.
Fan Huacheng followed Yang Xin out. On the way, he encountered a mutant attacking an old man. After only a few seconds of hesitation, he rescued the old man from under the mutant.
He knew perfectly well that he was not very capable, but even the weakest person in the action team would stand out among ordinary people.
After rescuing several people from the polluters, Fan Huacheng realized with despair that he had lost Yang Xin.
This is a disgrace in my career.
"Thank you so much, brother." The girl he rescued from the polluters said her thanks. Her few words were a fatal blow to Fan Huacheng. Was he really that old?
He breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the girl was not seriously injured. He was about to advise her to go to a safer place, but when he looked at the person next to the girl, he froze on the spot.
The woman next to the girl was very old, seemingly recovering from a serious illness. Her face showed signs of death, and the skin around her eyes drooped loosely due to age. She looked like an ordinary middle-aged or elderly woman.
But this face had appeared countless times in Fan Huacheng's dreams, and he had sketched its outline countless times, fearing that he would not be able to recognize it when they met again someday.
"mom-"
His voice was low, filled with disbelief and a sense of dazed disbelief.
The woman trembled upon hearing this address, and all her muscles tensed up instantly.
She looked at the man who had just saved her from the monster, a look of confusion on her face.
"Mom, it's me, Xiaocheng. I'm back! I'm home!"
Fan Huacheng stammered that he never imagined he would see his mother again in this way. He had been near the factory for the past few days but had not seen anyone who looked like his mother.
He thought his mother had already died, after all, living in such a godforsaken place.
Unexpectedly, we met again amidst the chaos of war.
"Xiao Cheng, are you still alive?" One of the things Qian Yunxia regretted most was sending her son away back then. She couldn't say she regretted it, but she doubted whether she had chosen the right path.
He knew nothing and was probably completely killed by my stupidity as his mother.
She conducted countless self-judgments on numerous nights.
"Go to the building on the west side quickly, there's no one there." He pointed in a direction.
“We’re not looking for shelter; we’re going to the front lines to fight,” Wang Tan said.
A battle? With the Corruptor? You were almost eaten alive by that monstrous thing!
Fan Huacheng couldn't believe it; this was the first time he'd ever seen groceries delivered to his door.
"You'd better find a safe place and stay put. If I had been playing around for even a few seconds, you would have been that polluter's meal."
His tone was somewhat fierce, and intimidation was a common tactic for those who disobeyed orders.
"But if the defenses break, everyone will die."
The children taught by Qian Yunxia have the same backbone as she did back then, and Wang Tan's gaze is very firm.
Overestimating one's abilities.
Fan Huacheng wanted to say something more, but Qian Yunxia spoke up: "Let's go together. If everyone had retired twenty years ago, we wouldn't be alive today."
He obediently fell silent.
Not all polluters are very strong; they are just humans who have been polluted. Apart from a few exceptionally gifted individuals, the others are not much stronger than humans.
One-on-one might be difficult, but what if it's ten against one?
The armory in the industrial zone was opened, and all the guns were taken. Those without guns picked up iron bars, and the crowd rushed toward the iron gate. Perhaps they were not fighting to defeat the polluters, but for the freedom they had been separated from for so long.
The polluters outside the wall suddenly became agitated, like boiling water.
Silent sound waves echoed in the minds of every polluter. This sound was beyond the range of human hearing, and the guards on high could only see the polluters frantically crashing into the iron fence at the edge.
More polluters poured in.
Fan Huacheng kicked the polluter in front of him to the ground and shouted to those behind him, "Come this way!"
He was positioned at the corner formed by the building and the wire mesh, a good defensive position that could protect the people behind him.
Wang Tan knocked out one of the polluters with an iron rod, while Qian Yunxia opened fire with her gun, hitting the target every time.
"What did you say?"
"Uh, it's nothing."
Fan Huacheng was taken aback by the fighting prowess of the two men. The battle seemed to be turning around. He blinked, and an insect flew to his shoulder.
Bees?
Fan Huacheng waved his hand, and the insect flew to his eyes. He could see the insect clearly—red eyes, thin wings like a cicada, and some antennae clustered in front of it.
This is a pollutant!
A chill ran down your spine from your back. When you find one insect, there may already be a whole bunch of them here.
The polluters are not infectious; their contamination levels, no matter how high, will not exceed the limits of human physiological function. So until the last second, Fan Huacheng maintained an optimistic attitude.
But pollutants are different. Each of them is a large source of pollution. The pollution will spread among the population like a plague, and everyone will turn into monsters and everyone will die.
Fan Huacheng's mind went blank for a moment; he felt as if he had been choked and couldn't make a sound.
The pollution of twenty years ago was a nightmare for this city, and now—the nightmare is about to return.
The insect flapped its wings in the sunlight, flying over the battlefield between humans and polluters. In the midst of the fierce war, no one would pay attention to an insect.
It flew into someone's ear.
Bang-
His hands moved faster than his brain; Fan Huacheng shot the man in the head.
He had done this countless times, but this time, his palms were sweaty.
"What happened?" His act of killing an allied soldier alerted the people nearby.
"Contaminants! Contaminants have appeared!"
Amidst Fan Huacheng's shouts, the deceased collapsed to the ground with a thud, and a red-eyed worm slowly emerged from his mouth, fluttering its wings and soaring high in the sunlight.
Everyone present stared at the insect as if witnessing the end of humanity.
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