The situation was dire, survival rates abysmally low, yet the rescue efforts outside persisted.
All night, the echoes of gunfire never ceased. Firearms proved effective against bio-contaminants. Headquarters refrained from deploying high-impact missiles, mindful of the hundreds still underground.
Four to five hundred huddled in the shelter's hall, their expressions fraught with unease.
Lu Yan located an armed personnel nearby, displaying his identification tag, trading a pack of smokes for a bow.
These soldiers were the final defense, the safeguard. The rest of the Harbingers had ventured to the frontline underground to contain the spreading contamination.
Lu Yan had no idea what transpired underground. But as survivors dwindled and casualties soared, he could envision the tragic tales within.
This was a safety line built with flesh and blood.
Lu Yan resumed his old profession, aiding the wounded. Amidst the chaos, clad in a lab coat with the institute's tag, no one hindered him.
Some injuries were superficial, while others were mutations caused by the contamination disease. The latter were isolated in a critical quarantine area, pseudo-wards behind curtains, a somewhat comfortable place to await the inevitable.
Lu Yan casually parted one curtain and stepped in, finding a Harbinger with a leg severed.
"Round of inspections. How did this happen?" he inquired.
"The Ghostly Spider bit me. Small creature, massive teeth that pierce through combat gear effortlessly," the Harbinger lying on the bed grimaced. "My captain stayed below to save me. Still hasn't surfaced."
A horrific growth bulged on his knee, vaguely resembling a human face.
This patient was quite the chatterbox. Lu Yan drifted off momentarily, and the narrative had shifted elsewhere.
"Saw some volunteers from the institute. My God, is that what humanity's come to? One could breathe fire, quite a badass. Touch something, it bursts into flames. I asked for an autograph; he said after it's all over. Lives in 907 dorm..."
Lu Yan measured the wound's size with his hand, seemingly earnest. "No anesthetic. Need it cut?"
"Sigh, doc, no point," the patient sighed. "Cut it, and the face grows back. Seen others die like this; the face swells, limbs sucked dry. When the mutation hits 100, spider legs sprout from the face, becoming a new pollutant."
"Calm down, keep still," Lu Yan said calmly.
The severely injured Harbinger appeared puzzled but obediently shut his eyes.
Lu Yan removed his gloves, revealing a slit in his palm.
Having gone months without food, the Kingfisher was famished. In an instant, it latched onto the red growth.
The growth emitted a shrill cry.
Well, not exactly gourmet, but passable.
Lu Yan re-gloved. "Next."
The treatment process proceeded relatively smoothly. After all, it was still early in the catastrophe, and the contamination levels weren't excessively high.
What unsettled Lu Yan was the passing of 24 hours without Qiao Yu surfacing.
At 4 a.m., Lu Yan finished "treating" the ICU patients, feeling stuffed.
A full stomach often leads to drowsiness. He leaned against the wall, not even halfway to a nap when the ground trembled.
A fissure split open in the distance.
The floor cracked, fragmented lines resembling a spider's web spreading.
A long, gigantic ant leg protruded from the crevice.
These little ants surged toward the crowd like a tide.
"The pollutants, they're coming up?!"
The commanding Harbinger broke into a cold sweat, calling for ground support via the comms, learning that seven rescue teams had been dispatched but failed to reach their location.
The shelter on the first floor of the institute had become an island amidst a sea of contaminants.
Lu Yan's ears rang with panicked screams.
The contamination levels on the monitor skyrocketed to 5400 in an instant.
The Harbingers in the ICU, despite their severe conditions, struggled to rise, seeking weapons, urging others to head into the "life capsules."
Though named so, these capsules were merely robust iron boxes, devoid of life-sustaining resources, more akin to a high-tech version of a sleeping bag.
Without addressing the pollutants, entering these capsules would simply mean awaiting death in a different location.
Lu Yan stayed put, tallying his arrows.
The patient beside him grew anxious, grabbing his collar. "Doctor, what are you waiting for? Get moving!"
Half of the giant ant's body emerged from underground.
The ant had a disproportionately huge scissor-like mouthpiece. Behind it were two long, semi-transparent wings. Its swollen abdomen surged with fist-sized eggs.
As it attacked, it also produced; eggs ejected from its abdomen hatched into ferocious worker ants. The instrument panel indicated the pollutant's final contamination value: 8100.
This giant ant stood a whopping sixteen meters tall. It was the ruler of the underground world, migrating for the past two months across half of Huaxia, from the Yunnan Plateau to Yanjing.
There were many pollutants like it underground. Even releasing all test subjects from the ninth level couldn't solve this. Only this lone escapee remained.
Lu Yan believed Yu Zhizhi only awakened today, but ever since the dream from her foster father, this young girl had stepped onto the path of revelation.
As if summoned, pollutants rushed towards the underground research facility on the outskirts of Yanjing, converging like they were headed for a meeting.
Dark worker ants surged toward the crowd, an endless mass that seemed to have no end in sight. Someone sprayed them with a fire extinguisher, but for the countless ants, it was inconsequential. The person at the forefront was soon engulfed by the swarm.
The ants wormed into every crevice they could find, greedily devouring the last drop of blood and bone, leaving only the skin as a hatchery. Satisfied, they crawled out, headed toward the next victim.
Since becoming a harbinger, Lu Yan often had to shield himself.
He pulled out a mint from his pocket, comforting himself, "Stay calm, it's a small scene."
He asked, "Any gasoline? Alcohol works too, bring more."
A harbinger pondered for a moment and exclaimed, "Yes! We have some!"
Lu Yan climbed onto a three-meter-high light, a better vantage point. He tied cotton and cloth to the arrowhead, setting it alight, and shot it into the ant swarm like a shooting star.
These palm-sized ants weren't invulnerable; their contamination level was at most 80, but their sheer numbers prevailed. Flames burst from their bodies, the air carrying the scent of roasted fat.
Bottles of gasoline and alcohol were poured on the ants, flames quickly spreading. The worker ants struggled in the flames.
The enraged queen ant emitted a roar, birthing another kind of white egg.
The white eggs hatched a group of winged white ants with long mouthpieces, flying towards Lu Yan.
Below, patients doused in gasoline shouted, "Damn, these stinky ants are too much! Doctor, come down, let's retreat!"
Lu Yan didn't answer but instead took a dagger from his waist, fine fish scales appearing all over him.
His combat lessons always earned an A.
With swift strokes, the bodies of the white ants fell to the ground.
The patients stared in disbelief, "Are all researchers this awesome now?"
The commotion finally caught the attention of the queen ant.
Lu Yan wasn't the harbinger with the highest psychic threshold here; the commander himself had a threshold of 3700, a rare elite in this era.
The queen initially wanted to deal with the battle-type commander first, but Lu Yan's actions infuriated it.
Despite being stabbed several times, the queen turned and swung its long legs.
While advancing, the queen was slow, but during its attack, due to gravity, it seemed swift.
In an instant, the pitch-black ant legs closed in on Lu Yan, the terrifying barbs on its legs visible, the wind almost knocking him over.
The chasm between power and knowledge was one hard to bridge.
The scales on Lu Yan expanded, protecting every part of his body as much as possible. He positioned himself to increase the area of impact, avoiding being swatted down.
But instead of falling to the ground, he landed in Tang Xunan's embrace.
The degree of mutation had lessened; the dragon scales on Tang Xunan's face had receded. However, maybe due to recent frequent use of his talent, scales reappeared on his face.
Behind him, dark dragon wings expanded, even larger than when they first met.
After placing Lu Yan down, Tang Xunan remained silent, his golden eyes burning like flames.
He gripped a handful of yellow dust and flew towards the queen ant. In that instant, the world seemed to turn gray.
Many wept with joy, but Lu Yan furrowed his brow deeply.
The brief contact revealed something to him: Tang Xunan's mutation was too severe, almost to the extent that the pollutants' odor could seep through the scales. And he seemed injured.
Lu Yan opened his palm, now stained with dark red blood from touching Tang Xunan's arm.
He was injured in the future.
As if confirming Lu Yan's guess, with Tang Xunan's battle against the queen escalating, his abnormal features became more pronounced.
Dragon wings, a tail, claws... even his body continued to swell.
Finally, to the shock of everyone, he transformed into a black dragon.
The black dragon roared, biting the queen ant's neck.
The queen ant became motionless.
The black dragon's scales had shed considerably, wounds covering its body. Its once majestic wings now lay limp, resembling a small mountain on the ground.
The blood flowing was like a stream from the mountain.
The golden eyes of the dragon turned towards Lu Yan.
In that sudden moment, Lu Yan recalled Yu Zhizhi's painting.
A pitch-black dragon and its tearful eyes.
The detection instrument no longer showed the degree of mutation for this black dragon but rather a contamination value.
The instrument emitted a warning sound.
After a prolonged silence, a researcher in white emerged from the crowd.
Gong Weibin pointed at the black dragon on the ground, trembling, "It's not human anymore! If we don't kill it now, when it heals, everyone here will die! You all saw it, right?"
Fear flashed in the eyes of many.
They were all frontline workers, well aware of what pollutants looked like.
The commander raised and lowered the gun in his hand. "But... this, this is Tang Xunan, right?"
"Pollution is irreversible! Minister Wang, don't let compassion cloud your judgment! Are you trying to harm everyone here?" Gong Weibin's voice was sharp, hitting the commander's heart like a hammer.
Others didn't speak, their uneasy expressions saying it all.
"He hasn't fully become a pollutant," Lu Yan suddenly interjected from the crowd.
Gong Weibin's face contorted in anger. "I'm a senior engineer at the research institute! And who are you?"
"I'm his psychological counselor. I've been observing him for the past three months," Lu Yan said, not looking at Gong Weibin but at the commander, sounding resolute. "I have a way. Trust me, let me go."
His confident and composed demeanor made the commander instinctively nod.
In truth, Lu Yan didn't have a solution. He didn't possess any healing talents; it was only Wang Yu who could consume pollutants. From previous treatments, it was clear that after consuming the pollutant source, the severity of the patient's condition significantly decreased.
He was at a loss but wanted to try. Tang Xunan could die like a hero, yet all that remained for him now was a feeling akin to looking at an enemy.
Under everyone's gaze, Lu Yan approached him.
The black dragon's breathing remained heavy and pained, blood filling its mouth.
Its golden eyes narrowed into a vertical line, a signal from nature's hunters before an attack.
The commander's palms grew sweaty with nervousness. He feared the black dragon might open its mouth and swallow Lu Yan whole.
Lu Yan placed his hand on its head, repeating the words from their first meeting: "I'm not here to harm you. Don't be afraid."
Scales on Lu Yan's arm slightly raised, thin white lines extending from underneath.
Since Wang Yu evolved into its second form, Lu Yan hadn't used this method... feeding.
"You'll be fine, I promise you won't turn into a monster," Lu Yan whispered softly.
The black dragon's golden eyes met his.
Despite being severely injured and weak, a tear suddenly escaped from its eye.
At that moment, the dream began to collapse.
Everything around them, whether people or scenery, shattered like broken mirrors.
"You're finally back, darling, I missed you," a voice from the system echoed in Lu Yan's ears after three months of silence, feeling oddly unfamiliar, "Good news, although you've spent who knows how long in the dream, only half a minute has passed in reality."
"Bad news, although half a minute isn't long, your dazed look in front of him has alerted the banyan tree. If I were you, I'd immediately feed your mentor blood, overlay a bloodthirsty gene BUFF, so he can kill this big banyan tree."
As Lu Yan looked up, Tang Xunan also opened his eyes.
The emotions in his gaze were particularly familiar... affectionate.
For some reason, Lu Yan felt unexpectedly embarrassed, as if caught off guard by an online crush revealing themselves.
But time wasn't on their side.
Without hesitation, Lu Yan pierced his index finger with his nail, stepped forward, and inserted his finger into Tang Xunan's mouth guard.
"Lick," he said.
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