Lu Yan felt that many things seemed like choices but actually never had any room for choice. For instance, a college graduate who, instead of returning home to inherit the family business, tirelessly searched for a job—was it because they liked working? No, it was because there was no family company to inherit in the first place. It was just like the situation now. Lu Yan pondered for three seconds and replied, "I don't care about the future. I only want to know which choice makes it easier for me to kill Lu Cheng."
System: [The second one, if it goes smoothly.]
Lu Yan answered, "Okay, tell me how."
[System: This new pollutant added... I won't say their name since you already know. One of their talents is called 'Divine Descent,' which allows their believers' bodies to become disposable vessels for it. These vessels can gain up to one-tenth of its power. Don't assume that one-tenth of an S-class pollutant equals 1000 pollution points... it doesn't work that way.]
[Without exception, these vessels will explosively perish after being used by it. But it doesn't care because it has them all over the world. What's most disgusting is that as long as the vessel exists, it won't die completely.]
[Its second talent is called 'Conversion.' As the leader of Paradise, it used this talent to spread its teachings early on. That's why it's descending now. As long as Tang Xunan converts to Paradise, it will have the most powerful believers.]
[After all, as an S-class pollutant of the psychic type, it's good at playing mind games, but in an actual fight among its peers, it's weak. It needs someone to charge into battle for it.]
According to the data on the Apocalypse forum, it's still uncertain what kind of being the true master is. But judging by the system's tone, the true master was once an ordinary person.
Being able to expand Paradise in such a grand manner, the true master must have had impressive salesmanship skills.
[So, what you need to do now is to eliminate its vessels as much as possible. It can descend simultaneously.]
A map lit up in Lu Yan's mind. It was the botanical garden map sent by the Disease Prevention and Control Center. Now, there were more than twenty dots lit up on the map, one of them being red.
[The red one is the source of this mutation, Chen Anzhi. The remaining green dots are the new followers he has developed.]
The entire training center only had 60 students, yet Chen Anzhi managed to convert more than a third of them.
[He targets those with lower guard and weaker psychic thresholds. But as vessels, they suffice. They're disposable anyway.]
Lu Yan said, "I want to deal with Chen Anzhi first."
[System: You can, but he's not easy to kill. And he has a righteous fist by his side.]
Lu Yan didn't reply but moved toward the direction of the red dot.
In the past two months of study, tracking and anti-tracking were the skills he excelled at the most.
Night fell. Small sleeping bags were set up around the perimeter of the botanical garden. The students had finished their day's work and were preparing to rest.
This was why they were originally grouped in threes during formation. Surviving alone in this situation would be exceedingly difficult.
Zhou Zheng took out a hemostatic agent from the medical kit and gritted his teeth, pulling out the stinger of a toxic bee from his arm. The stinger of the pollutant had evolved into barbs, and since Zhou Zheng hadn't understood well during emergency aid classes, he accidentally gouged out a chunk of flesh, causing blood to gush out.
Beside him, Chen Anzhi wore an expression filled with guilt. "I'm sorry, Zhou-ge. If it weren't for saving me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."
Zhou Zheng nonchalantly replied, "It's okay. You're of the psychic type. Of course, you're not as effective in battles relying purely on physical attacks like me. I even have iron arms, and it pierced this deep into your body. Wouldn't it pierce through on you?"
One couldn't help but note that Zhou Zheng still carried much of the camaraderie from his days in the underworld.
"But damn," Zhou Zheng cursed, "there are way too many pollutants along the way. I wonder if Lu Yan is still alive."
Chen Anzhi's eyes flickered. Under the reflection of the deep red bonfire, he seemed somewhat enchanting.
He said, "I'll take the night watch today. As a psychic-type Apocalypser, not sleeping for a day doesn't affect me much. You're injured, so you should rest first."
Zhou Zheng didn't refuse. After dealing with his injuries, he plunged into the sleeping bag. There was a reason why they encountered so many pollutants.
Lu Yan pricked his own finger and smeared the blood on their path. The scent of grass could effectively mask the blood, and the tree trunks were extremely dark. Except for the natural predators, no one would notice.
Now, he finally awaited the night.
The night vision ability made Lu Yan not even need a light source.
He lurked in the treetops, quietly waiting for the right moment.
The downside of cold weapons is that they easily reflect light, so Lu Yan hadn't drawn his arrow yet.
He saw Chen Anzhi take out an aromatic candle from his backpack, lit it, and placed it in front of him.
As a devout disciple, Chen Anzhi preached to the new disciples he developed in their dreams every night.
His table was already filled with lost souls, awaiting the arrival of God.
Without any surprises, today would be the last page of the old century.
["The ability to enter dreams is really annoying," the system, which hadn't spoken for a while, suddenly said. "After falling asleep, Chen Anzhi can sense nearby spirits."]
Lu Yan furrowed his brows, preparing to withdraw.
["The only thing to be grateful for is that he also wants to kill you. Not for any reason, he's been a good person during the day for too long, his character has twisted, and he finds you annoying."]
["But I can understand this, exceptional people always attract jealousy."]
Chen Anzhi closed his eyes for half a minute and then slowly opened them.
He still wore a gentle and harmless smile.
Chen Anzhi looked at the sleeping bag and extinguished the campfire. Judging by the situation, it seemed like he wanted to go for a night walk.
Lu Yan naturally followed.
Chen Anzhi knew Lu Yan was there and wanted to kill him. So he wanted to use this information gap to turn the hunter into the hunted.
He thought he was on the fifth floor with this move.
But unexpectedly, because Lu Yan had the cheating system of omniscience, this move was on the atmospheric level.
["Uh, he lit a calming incense. This kind of incense can temporarily induce a deep sleep state. But it's easy to be awakened by external forces. He seems to want to hypnotize you into suicide."]
For Lu Yan, holding his breath wasn't too difficult. He had two respiratory systems.
Lu Yan splashed some water behind his ears. Not much, but enough to prevent suffocation.
He walked toward the direction Chen Anzhi left, cautiously making no sound.
But after entering the range of the calming incense, Lu Yan, as if in a daze, stood still and didn't move.
Lu Yan's eyes closed, eyelids trembling, and the eyeballs below were making rapid movements.
After a long time, Chen Anzhi's figure appeared from behind the tree trunk.
Chen Anzhi's eyes were now occupied by pitch-black pupils, and upon closer inspection, the irises had accumulated pigments in various shades, making his pupils look like overlapping black circles.
"Your soul is black," Chen Anzhi suddenly said, perhaps because he usually presented a disguise, he was unusually talkative now. "Ordinary people are blue, Tang Xunan is golden. Believers are red. Yours is black—those pollutants that retain consciousness are also black."
"But you are clearly just a human, with a low degree of mutation. Why is that?"
As he spoke, he walked towards Lu Yan.
"Open your eyes and look at me. I know you're tired of this world full of slaughter and conflict, your soul is exhausted..." Chen Anzhi's face once again carried a smile, but unlike during the day, he looked sickly with his eyes complementing the appearance.
Lu Yan, as he wished, opened his eyes, but specifically avoided looking into Chen Anzhi's eyes.
He reached behind himself and thrust the sharp wasp needle into Chen Anzhi's chest.
Lu Yan moved too fast. By the time Chen Anzhi reacted, he only felt a pain in his chest.
Everyone knew Lu Yan was skilled with a bow, but few knew that his first weapon was actually a dagger.
Lu Yan grabbed his neck with one hand, preventing him from shouting for help. With the other hand, he pulled out the not-so-long tail hook and replaced it with the dagger.
He pressed Chen Anzhi to the ground. Despite his fair face turning red, and the hypnosis ability being used to the extreme, Lu Yan remained unaffected.
The dagger rotated in Chen Anzhi's chest, making a sticky, fleshy sound.
Chen Anzhi's hand painfully grasped Lu Yan's arm, leaving a few shallow marks: "W-why are you..."
—Not affected by hypnosis?
"Yeah, why is that?" Lu Yan retorted, his eyes showing a hint of mocking coldness.
Antagonists always die from talking too much. So, only after confirming Chen Anzhi's complete death, did Lu Yan start talking to his corpse.
"My father didn't like me, he liked my younger brother."
"I'm an only child, but I do have a brother. Doctors call him the second personality. Since they discovered him, my father has wanted him to come out every day—so, I'm often hypnotized. I know I'm being hypnotized. Lu Cheng wants to kill me and leave this body to him."
"My brother often tells me that if it hurts too much, I don't have to endure it. He will take care of everything for me."
"But I won't let him come out. In all these years, he has only come out once."
"That time, after he appeared, there was an instant distortion on my father's body. I saw a second head grow behind Lu Cheng. I felt power, but I also felt fear. I lived in fear. You wouldn't understand, and no one understands."
Lu Yan wiped the blood off his face, nodded again, and said, "I won't let him come out."
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