Chapter 2
That incredibly powerful contaminant, capable of driving even awakened beings to mental collapse, was utterly powerless against this person. He was slapped into the air, his viscous liquid splattering all over Yue Yang.
Any skin that came into contact with the liquid instantly turned black. This liquid was extremely lethal. Waves of pain traveled from the affected area along the nerves to the brain, instantly waking Yue Yang from the drowsiness caused by the direct contact with the pollutants.
When did such a powerful figure appear in this area? Yue Yang was filled with doubt and surprise. Where did this person come from? The True Knowledge Society or the Special Operations Division?
The Special Operations Division is the official organization that handles such strange events, and over the years it has included most of the top Awakened Ones. However, in recent years, the situation has become chaotic and increasingly treacherous in the shadows, and the remaining Awakened Ones have begun to form small groups.
The True Knowledge Society, however, is a church steeped in materialistic ideology and is the greatest enemy of the Rose Church, to which Yue Yang belongs. The reasons are both simple and complex: the Rose Church worships a deity called the "Fertility Mother Tree." Yue Yang doesn't even know what this deity looks like; he's just a lowly member who joined the church simply because he had nowhere else to go and could find shelter by working there. His level of faith in this deity is about the same as those middle-aged women who believe in Christ while clutching eggs.
He didn't believe, but the church leaders did. Any organization, business, or even nation that wants to unite needs a unifying force to bind its members together. A company's cohesion comes from money, but the Rosary Church doesn't have that much money; what brings people together is their faith in this deity.
The True Knowledge Society, on the other hand, adheres to the motto "God perish, truth endures," and pursues the most fundamental rules governing all things. The various strange events of recent years have fueled their fanaticism; if gods truly exist, these madmen probably fantasize about dissecting them.
Whether it's the True Knowledge Society or the Action Department, no matter where the other party comes from, he must die today.
Yue Yang drew the short knife hidden at his waist. He was not good with this weapon, but with his superhuman speed and strength, he could still unleash tremendous power in this unfamiliar weapon.
The blade moved with incredible speed, tearing through the air and flying towards Xiao Shengyun with a whooshing sound.
Yue Yang knew very well that if he couldn't kill his opponent today, he would soon become fertilizer under the roots of the mother tree.
Xiao Shengyun never expected that this madman would actually slash at him with a knife. The knife was fast, but his eyes were even faster.
He instinctively lunged to the left front, the tip of the knife grazing his face and leaving a red stain.
When someone dodged the knife for the first time, Yue Yang was startled, and his face became even more serious.
Yue Yang is a mediocre spar; all his swordsmanship skills were learned from a children's martial arts class when he was young, but this sword has been invincible for more than ten years.
A corrupted physique will be strengthened several times over; a good knife combined with sufficient speed is enough to kill.
But when facing Xiao Shengyun, he was extremely annoyed, as the other party slipped past him like an eel.
Under the onslaught of the storm, the tables and chairs in the room could not withstand the force of the attack. A corner of a wooden table was sheared off, arcing through the air before crashing into the dormant embryo in the corner.
The embryo stirred, seemingly recovering from its dizziness and slowly regaining consciousness.
The smell of blood attracted it. Xiao Shengyun was still fleeing in a sorry state when a soft ball of flesh stuck to him before he knew it.
The embryo that had ingested the blood swelled rapidly, quickly transforming into a massive mountain of flesh, seemingly covered with many mouths that constantly dripped transparent mucus.
For Yue Yang, this was a good opportunity, but the next second, Xiao Shengyun made a strange move—he fell straight to the ground.
Without dodging or retaliating, he simply lay down on the floor.
Yue Yang froze for two seconds, then instinctively slashed.
"Bang-"
A sharp whistling sound came as a bullet whistled through the air and pierced his wrist.
A group of people broke down the door and entered.
"I think I've been scammed by this kid?"
This sentence suddenly popped into Yue Yang's mind.
...
Special Operations Division
"Yue Yang, 30 years old, Class C Polluter. He awakened his talent five years ago, with the mutation direction being plant-based. His pollution level rose to 1000 in a short period of time, and he was sent to a prison specifically for polluters—'Island Nation'. He then escaped from the prison and joined an organization called the Rose Church."
"After joining, he participated in several church operations, during which he was ruthless and indiscriminately killed innocent people. Including the two people this time, a total of 103 people have died at your hands."
A member of the operations team flipped through the records in his hand.
"Ah, aren't there three victims in this case?" a team member next to me asked.
"But only two people have been confirmed dead, and the last one is still being treated at the prevention and control center. These three are neighbors living on different floors. It's really pitiful that they were dragged into this pollution incident for no reason." Several team members whispered among themselves.
Snap—
The door opened, and a man in black with a cold, hard face walked in, a Browning pistol tucked into his waistband.
Ye Ting, captain of the first squad of the Special Operations Division.
The talent is "Shadow Transformation," which allows one to conceal their whereabouts like a shadow, and in this state, their movement speed can be up to a hundred times that of an ordinary person.
"Is the interrogation over?"
"Pretty much. Any one of this guy's crimes would be enough to warrant the death penalty, not to mention cultivating Class A pollutants..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yue Yang, who had been calm, suddenly became agitated: "What A-level? The highest level of pollutants I need to collect is B-level."
The embryo is cultivated from the seed of the mother tree, and its power is less than one-thousandth of that of the mother tree. That is why the Pope casually assigned this task to his subordinates.
The pollutants suddenly became stronger, and then there was the intruder at the scene...
"Why are you only arresting me? The other man here was also contaminated!"
The team members were filled with doubt and uncertainty. In dealing with a pollution incident, any one of the pollutants that slipped through the net could cause irreparable harm.
“At this point, you still want to drag others down with you? I just came back from the prevention and control center. The survivors have already passed the physical monitoring and pollution level test.”
This was said to the other members. Ye Ting sat down and slapped a piece of paper on the table. "As for you, you can fill out this form now and choose a way you like to die."
"Your estate will be used to compensate the victims' families and repair public property, including the house you bombed last night."
A huge pot fell from the sky.
Yue Yang opened his eyes wide and was speechless for a long time.
Two hours ago
Xiao Shengyun woke up at the pollution prevention and control center. Before he could even catch his breath, he was bound hand and foot and "brought to court."
"Name"
"..."
"age"
"Twenty."
After saying this, he lowered his head, his hands clenched tightly, his eyes filled with timidity and fear.
The staff at the prevention and control center were used to it; every ordinary person who experiences a pollution incident will develop PTSD afterward, so this young man's performance was quite remarkable.
He took out a bottle of medicine and handed it to him, saying, "It contains calming ingredients that can help you calm down."
"Thank you," the person on the other end said softly, bowing their head as they took the money.
"Profession"
"Quantum Magnetic Field Engineer"
"Um?"
"He works in a factory repairing machines. That factory is responsible for producing something called a quantum entangled magnetic field detector. The boss said adding a prefix would make it easier to sell."
"Graduation exam score?"
In this era, there were no primary school graduation exams, middle school exams, college entrance exams, etc. Everyone completed compulsory education at the age of sixteen, and then took a graduation exam. It was a one-off deal; those who scored high went on to do academics, and those who scored low went on to learn technical skills.
With the development of technology, most of human needs can be met by artificial intelligence, and only a small number of high-end fields will require talent.
"Isn't this an invasion of privacy?"
Xiao Shengyun tried to hide it.
"We are an official institution here. Why don't you say that applying for an ID card is a breach of privacy?"
"Okay, 300 points."
This score is really not high; he's a complete academic failure. The staff member looked up at the young man sitting in the chair. The man opposite him was sitting in a chair with his back hunched over and his hands on his knees, looking very nervous.
The staff entered the information into the computer, and all the information was printed on it: ordinary scores, ordinary job—it was an ordinary resume.
In the next room, several staff members from the prevention and control center were gathered around a machine, their faces full of surprise and doubt, craning their necks to get closer to the machine.
"What's wrong? How much mental pollution does this person have?"
Ye Ting rubbed his temples beside him. Each exposure to pollutants caused his own contamination levels to rise rapidly, and a dull ache throbbed in his head. For some reason, there were no traces of pollutants at the scene of the accident. If Yue Yang's personal information hadn't been registered with the Operations Department, it would probably have been mistaken for a murder committed in the marketplace.
According to information from informants, this group recently injected pollutants into human bodies, using these bodies to create even more potent pollutant embryos. However, when the action team arrived at the scene today, they only found four unconscious people and Wang Qing's body. The scene was clean, with no residual pollutants, and the pollutant embryos were nowhere to be found.
The two members of the Rose Church were detained elsewhere, while the two unconscious ordinary people were taken to the prevention and treatment center.
The staff looked at the numbers with surprise and disbelief: "The instrument shows his contamination level is zero."
"Zero?"
Ye Ting's first thought was that there was a problem with the instrument. People who have been exposed to pollutants will definitely have higher levels of contamination, just to varying degrees depending on their individual constitution. But in any case, the contamination level could not be this low.
"Yes, it started at around 300, but dropped to zero within half an hour. We collected his blood sample, and just in case, we also performed an EEG. His physiological indicators were the same as those of an ordinary person who had never been exposed to the pollution."
The staff members looked serious; this was the first time they had ever seen anything like this.
"Let me see the test results."
Ye Ting opened the data page stored on the instrument, and all the data was normal.
However, at certain times, normality can also mean abnormality. Since joining the action unit, Ye Ting has handled nearly a hundred similar cases, large and small. The pollution levels of all participants would rise, and in severe cases, they would even experience mental disorders and physical mutations, without exception.
However, this young man's body did not undergo any changes after being exposed to Class A pollutants.
Xiao Shengyun had another vial of blood drawn, and in front of a group of people, the data graph showed a straight line with no increase whatsoever.
"Is this a machine problem?"
"Could it be that this kid has extraordinary bone structure and is completely immune to pollution?"
"It was fine just now."
Several machines in a row produced the same result, and a group of engineers stood around, completely baffled.
“Let’s call those people at the research institute and see where the problem is.”
Ye Ting kept a close eye on Xiao Shengyun's movements to prevent any unforeseen circumstances.
So when he saw that the other person's face was pale and his lips were trembling, he immediately gripped the pistol at his waist.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
The first stage of contamination is mental abnormality, and the second stage is physical deformity. These two stages are very close in time and may even occur simultaneously.
"Uh, no, I'm a little hungry. Are there any breakfast places around here?" Xiao Shengyun gave an awkward smile.
He was really hungry, but the discomfort didn't come from his stomach; it felt more like it came from... his brain.
A hungry beast seemed to be awakening inside him.
Due to the extremely low pollution levels, Xiao Shengyun was eventually released and allowed to return home, but he had to wear a monitoring device, which he could not remove for another month.
It was midday when they left the prevention and control center, and the sun was glaring. A Rolls-Royce was parked at the center. Seeing such a luxury car at the entrance, Xiao Shengyun subconsciously took a second look.
cluck cluck...
He was so hungry that he swallowed hard, as if there was food emitting a delicious aroma around him.
The car door opened, and a man dressed in a pure white lab coat stepped out.
The man was tall and slender, and the lab coat seemed a bit too big on him. As he walked, the hem of the coat fluttered, making it look like he was wearing a haute couture trench coat.
With his good eyesight, Xiao Shengyun could see the words on his name tag: Zhou Zhi, Director of the First Life Research Institute.
The director? So young?
Xiao Shengyun glanced at the handsome face a few more times, and the other person seemed to notice, giving him a sharp look.
These eyes, hidden behind thick lenses, are extremely beautiful, but there is a layer of ice in their depths.
Xiao Shengyun subconsciously looked away, lowered his head, and relaxed his body as he walked to the other side of the street.
He vaguely knew that the people at the prevention and control center and the research institute were dealing with something strange, and he kept his distance from them.
Just like fish avoids the cutting board.
"stop-"
A stern and cold voice came from behind.
Xiao Shengyun's heart tightened.
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