Chapter 200 Jiang Wang's Evolution
Dusk, a hilly area in Tiannan City.
I was patrolling alone in the area southwest of the stronghold. It was not far from the Black Dragon Gang, about 2 kilometers away.
The reason why we are patrolling here is that a few days ago, when the patrol team was exploring this area, they were attacked by monsters that they had never seen before. In order to find out the situation, I decided to place a fake lens nearby for surveillance.
The lenses themselves were fake, so there was no need to worry about the Bureau discovering them. Even if they did, I'd be able to sense them and remove them immediately if they took the initiative to investigate.
Just as I finished my work and was about to return, I suddenly sensed an extremely faint movement.
I frowned and my figure disappeared from the mirror in an instant.
After a while, Jiang Wang was seen peeking around nearby.
He looked a little disheveled. Although he had no obvious external injuries, he felt weak from overusing his mental strength.
At this moment, I noticed an unusual light spot on his arm. It seemed to be infected with the same fluorescent lichen that I had seen before, and now it had spread all over his arm. It looked like a fluorescent map.
I sighed silently and walked slowly out of the shadows. The sound of my footsteps startled him.
Jiang Wang suddenly looked up and saw that it was me. A complex light instantly burst out in his eyes, including the joy of finding the target, the embarrassment of being seen, and more of a kind of stubbornness of "I finally found you".
He subconsciously wanted to walk forward quickly, but he staggered due to the movement and had to slow down, his brows furrowed tightly in discomfort.
"You are indeed nearby." He panted, his voice hoarse but with a hint of pride.
"You risked being infected and came to me alone without the knowledge of the Bureau?" I walked up to him, my tone calm, my eyes fixed on his glowing arm.
"What else?" Jiang Wang raised his head, sweat dripping from his forehead. "Waiting for you to come to us when 'necessary'? Ji Ling, I know you are still the same person. Your eyes can't deceive me."
He was a little excited, and the fluorescent light on his arm became brighter, making him grimace.
I looked at his glowing arm and frowned. Although my memory of him was a little hazy, the familiar feeling was still there.
"You've been infected. Do you want to lose control or evolve?" I took a step forward and looked him in the eye.
Jiang Wang chuckled: "Of course I want to evolve..." He took a deep breath, as if enduring the feeling of being polluted.
"But it's too late to go back to the investigation bureau now. I need your help." He looked down at me with a sincere tone.
I looked at him with amusement: "Are you so sure that I will help you? Aren't you afraid that I might suddenly mess up while you're evolving?"
He shook his head, his sweat-soaked hair plastered to his forehead, but his eyes were remarkably firm: "You won't. I believe in you, from the very beginning."
Since I absorbed more and more of Gali's power, my emotions have become more and more indifferent.
To be honest, I don't really care what the people from the FBI think of me. They can't do anything to me anyway.
But the unconditional trust in Jiang Wang's eyes was like a needle, piercing through the layers of calmness I had wrapped myself in.
The fluorescent blue veins on his arms brightened a little more and even began to pulsate slightly, like living parasites wriggling under his skin.
His breathing became heavier, fine beads of cold sweat oozed from his forehead, and his body began to tremble almost imperceptibly.
"Ugh..." He couldn't help but let out a suppressed groan of pain, and his other hand suddenly grasped the glowing arm, his knuckles turning white from the force.
And his flesh and blood inevitably began to show signs of dissolving.
Just as his eyes began to blur and his body began to stagger, I stopped hesitating.
"Focus! Look at me!" I shouted softly, took a step forward and grabbed his shoulders which were collapsing and dissolving a little.
The moment our eyes met, I projected cloud and thunder patterns into his subconscious.
Jiang Wang's body suddenly stiffened and his eyes suddenly widened.
"This is..." Jiang Wang muttered to himself in a daze, seeming a little confused, but in this situation, he couldn't think too much.
This process lasted for nearly ten minutes.
When the chaos in his eyes gradually became clear, Jiang Wang suddenly took a deep breath. His whole body was soaked in sweat, as if he had been pulled out of the water. However, his eyes were surprisingly bright, full of fatigue yet a refreshed look.
The fluorescence on his arm had completely stabilized, turning into a deep, luminous gem-like blue pattern, faintly merging with his own power.
Jiang Wang raised his arm in disbelief, looking at the blue light pattern that had become his own, feeling the power contained in it, which was stronger and more peculiar than before.
He slowly raised his head and looked at me with a complicated look in his eyes, filled with gratitude for surviving the disaster, joy of successful evolution, and some indescribable gratitude and inquiry.
"That pattern just now..." His voice was still a little hoarse, but full of strength, "What was that? You..."
I retracted my strength, took a half step back, and returned to a calm tone. "It's just a little trick to calm your mind. You're lucky you made it through."
Night fell quietly, and the faint light on his arm became the only soft light source in the ruins.
I laughed and jokingly said, "That's good now. It has evolved into a mobile night light."
Jiang Wang raised his eyebrows and protested in dissatisfaction, "Why do you have to imitate Sister Yu Bing's aloofness and Song Nanxing's bad mouth when there are so many people you can imitate?"
"So what?" I shrugged.
The slightly more relaxed atmosphere allowed me to regain some long-lost emotions that a human being should have.
Jiang Wang also smiled, but the smile quickly faded. He moved the glowing arm, feeling the new power contained in it, and his expression gradually became serious.
"Honestly, Ji Ling," he looked at me, his eyes appearing particularly serious in the dim light, "the situation out there right now... is very complicated. It's probably even more chaotic than you can imagine."
He paused, his voice deepening. "The pressure on the Bureau and those above them is increasing. They used to be able to maintain order and establish safe zones, but now... monsters, pollution sources, and various cults are constantly emerging, and resources are becoming increasingly scarce. Friction is growing between the authorities and those large shelters."
"Some shelters feel they've grown strong enough and no longer want to be controlled. They want more autonomy, or even a monopoly on resources. But the higher-ups... will never let go."
He sighed, "On the one hand, we have to deal with inhuman monsters, and on the other hand, we have to be wary of internal conflicts caused by the struggle for power among our own people. In many places, the situation is almost out of control, and small-scale conflicts occur frequently."
His words made my heart sink slightly. Many shelters are able to survive only because of official endorsement. If they were to fall apart, the death toll would likely increase. And I'm afraid someone is deliberately stirring up emotions behind this.
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