It's well known that Lu Yan was once Zhao Yan's doctor. The two spent at least 24 hours together in the same dimly lit room.
Tang Xunan's speculation seemed somewhat plausible. After all, Subject 01 messaged saying to bring Lu Yan along because Subject 07 wanted to see him.
Lu Yan replied expressionlessly, "You're overthinking it."
Tang Xunan: "Oh."
They fell silent afterward.
At three in the morning, Lu Yan was almost asleep again when he suddenly heard the system's noisy voice —
[System: Seriously? I went offline for 6 hours just to make room for you guys, and you're just here sleeping under the covers?! Do you even want to conceive a puppy dragon?]
Lu Yan was disturbed from his sleep, feeling a headache coming on. "You're so annoying."
The system's tone was full of disappointment: [Fall in love, and suddenly I'm a bother. If you get married, am I supposed to scram then?]
Lu Yan didn't feel like answering that question.
He now only needed 4 hours of sleep a day, and when necessary, he could go without sleep for 60 hours straight. Tang Xunan probably needed even less sleep.
But on rare occasions when they lay on the same bed, both slept deeply.
When Lu Yan woke up, he felt his bones a bit soft. Looking down, he saw his familiar dragon tail wrapped around his waist.
After enduring for a moment, Lu Yan couldn't resist and scratched the base of Tang Xunan's tail. Although most parts of the dragon tail were covered in scales, this section felt soft and plump, quite elastic.
He scratched happily, then looked up to see Tang Xunan opening his golden eyes, holding a pillow and staring straight at him.
It made Lu Yan feel a bit embarrassed.
The black dragon tail trembled in Lu Yan's hand and curved up a little: "Won't you continue?"
System: [He's seducing you!! Shameless old man!!]
Lu Yan withdrew his hand. "It's time to go to City X."
Trading with pollutants was actually a risky decision, with no precedent before this. It was just for the sake of the tens of thousands of survivors in Changjia and the Truth Society that had persevered until now. Even though the danger was apparent, the headquarters had to give it a try.
Lu Yan put the butcher's work permit into his pocket, grabbed weapons, sedatives, and special drugs. Also, he picked dozens of walnuts from the brainflower tree.
He split the walnuts in half and put them in Tang Xunan's clothes pockets.
Suddenly, the system spoke up: [When someone harbors fear in their heart, they become hesitant and shrink back.]
[Before meeting you, Tang Xunan never knew fear. But after meeting you, he hasn't wholeheartedly used the Yellow Dust for a long time.]
[Because he's afraid. Afraid of a high degree of mutation. A slight oversight could turn him into a monster. He wants to look at you a bit longer.]
[But you completed the operation in the Divine Realm alone, which probably reassured Tang Xunan.]
Lu Yan was taken aback. "Reassured about what?"
[Reassured to believe that even if he's gone, you can face this world with great resilience, without needing anyone's protection.]
Lu Yan frowned slightly. "Why bring this up all of a sudden?"
[I just remembered. If I don't say it, neither will he. You would never know. Someone, decades before your birth, loved you across time.]
*
Third District.
Michael casually took a selfie, several golden feathers under his white wings shining in the sunlight.
Last time at Kroman Manor, he almost plucked all his golden feathers. So Michael felt his wings were too ugly and hadn't taken any selfies for a long time.
After taking the photo, Michael set his phone down and made himself a star-gazing pie. When he picked up his phone again, unsurprisingly, he saw over 999+ new notifications.
- Michael, you're so handsome!!
- Honey, I love you. I want to give birth to little angels for you!
- ... ...
Flipping through, a black powder comment popped up.
- Seriously, with so many Harbingers around the world working tirelessly every day, the Tyrant from the neighboring First District hasn't taken a break in 82 years. After Michael finishes a job, he needs to rest for half a year. Can you believe this hype??
Michael clicked into the person's profile, skillfully blocked them, scanned briefly, and found their bio: "Guardian of the world's best Tyrant."
Michael: "...Fuck. Are you trying to stir trouble between me and Old Tang, my longtime friend?"
Speaking of which, Lu Yan, a Harbinger from the First District, also registered an account on the social media platform. Michael stayed up every night checking Lu Yan's updates. He was relieved to find out that Lu Yan's popularity was only half of his own.
Just then, a notification popped up on his phone.
Although Michael was fond of surfing the internet, the only app he allowed notifications from was the Special Operations Department app.
Normally, when messages like this popped up, it meant there was a task that required his participation.
After the Cromann Manor incident, Michael rested for almost two months and has been idling since attending Ulysses' funeral. He felt like he should take on a task now, or else he would be mocked by the little black powder fans for not working hard enough.
However, when he read the task name clearly, Michael couldn't help but squint slightly: "...Slaughterhouse?"
---
First District.
The detective pushed open Director Zhou Qiming's office door: "Boss, our company got invited to the XX International Gaming Expo!"
Director Zhou Qiming was overjoyed: "Really?! I thought they only invited big companies like Bloodthirst, VineTech, SONE, and Blade Heaven in the past! Why such good luck for us?!"
Detective: "Our newly released game, 'Global Evolution,' is selling well on the Steam platform! The rise of domestic AAA games! Boss!"
Zhou Qiming had always loved playing games since he was young and unfortunately became the boss and game producer of a game company when he grew up.
His biggest dream was to take domestic AAA games to the whole universe.
And the XX International Gaming Expo was always known as the Oscars of the industry. Regardless, Zhou Qiming wouldn't refuse this opportunity.
He slapped the table and stood up: "That's great! I'll book the tickets right away. By the way, where is the expo being held this year in X City?"
"It's in X City! Very close!" The detective's expression was very sincere.
Zhou Qiming exclaimed: "That's indeed close. By the way, the Special Operations Department sent me a task assistance request before. It's also in X City. Let me check what it is and we can take it together."
With that, he took out his phone.
"...Damn, a slaughterhouse?"
---
City A.
Yan Bei sat in a spacious and bright studio, his long hair tied into one side, dipping into a nutrient solution every few minutes.
The nutrient solution's level slowly went down. After a few hours, it bottomed out.
The staff monitoring all this in the surveillance quietly brought in a new bottle of nutrient solution, gently opened the door, and avoided disturbing Yan Bei's creation.
She carefully replaced the old bottle with a new one. A white flower bloomed at the tip of Yan Bei's hair.
"Auntie Li," Yan Bei suddenly said, "Thank you."
Most of the time, Yan Bei was very quiet, especially when painting. He could hardly hear any outside noise and often forgot to eat.
Li Ping was taken aback, then smiled and replied, "What's there to thank for? Auntie is just doing her job."
Different. Perhaps it was because of his creative process, Yan Bei was particularly sensitive to others' emotions, feeling different.
Some people treated him merely as a matter of duty, while others genuinely cared for him.
Even though he was actually over a hundred years old, he had lived longer than those taking care of him.
Li Ping was chosen to be Yan Bei's liaison before, and her original job was actually a university professor.
Headquarters approached her because she looked somewhat like Yan Bei's mother.
Li Ping, forty-seven this year, had no children. Seventeen years ago, she took her child to the amusement park, where they encountered a B-grade pollutant bear doll. She was saved, but her child could never grow up again.
Later, her husband asked her to have another child, but Li Ping refused, so they divorced, and she never remarried.
Many people said she was foolish, tying her life to a sinking ship. But she blamed herself too much. If she hadn't taken him to the amusement park that day, could her son have grown up healthy?
She looked at Yan Bei, as if looking at her own child. Sometimes she would hallucinate and think that her child, when grown up, would look a lot like Yan Bei.
Her child also liked painting and would draw a portrait for her on her birthday with a childish brush.
Yan Bei stopped painting and turned around: "Tell the headquarters, I agree to go to X City. And also, this is for you."
Yan Bei tore off a page from the watercolor paper and handed it to her.
Yan Bei painted everything, oil paintings, Chinese paintings, watercolors, as long as there was paper and a pen.
But what he painted, either Lu Yan or landscapes, occasionally numbered experimental subjects like 01, 02, and 07.
But now, this painting depicted her.
Li Ping looked at the painting, squatted down on the ground, hugged the paper, and suddenly burst into tears.
---
X City.
Lu Yan's private plane landed at the airport and was unsurprisingly surrounded by a large number of flies.
After not seeing each other for a few months, there seemed to be even more flies here.
The entire city was filled with an indescribable stench.
On Lu Yan's way from home to school, there was a lamb shop. It slaughtered sheep every morning, emitting the same smell.
The newly slaughtered sheep were hung upside down on iron hooks, emitting hot steam in winter.
[Due to the slaughterhouse, X City has been relocating for years, and the population is only one-fifth of what it was thirty years ago.]
The last time he came to X City, he reported the situation here to headquarters; unfortunately, the response was respectful but action was yet to be seen.
[Actually, it's not completely without action. The team signing the contract this time is too luxurious.]
[The opponents are 01, 07, and Yu Zhizhi. But these three pollutants rarely appear in the human world, two of them even became pollutants only this year, and headquarters is unclear about their level. In addition, there is a group of butchers from the slaughterhouse and dogs from the hunting base.]
[If appropriate, there will be action at the contract signing scene...]
[If not, we'll just have to sign the contract peacefully.]
At this moment, Lu Yan's phone vibrated.
He took out his phone and found a task message from the app.
[Task Code S-04]
[Executor: Lu Yan (A, Mental Type)]
[Formation: S1]
[Team Members: Tang Xunan (S, Combat Type, Captain); Odin (A
, Combat Type); Michael (A, Combat Type); Bai Qiushi (A, Combat Type); Yuan Chen (A, Combat Type); Qin Woyu (A, Healing Type); Zhou Qiming (A, Special Type); Bai Ze (A, Mental Type); Yan Bei (B, Support Type)]
[Task Overview: In order to let Chang Jia see the daylight again, we need to obtain Volunteer No. 9 Ye Liangshan from the hands of the pollutant hunting dogs. With the efforts of headquarters, the hunting dogs have agreed to trade with humans. However, they propose to use the talents of the pollutant Orochi for the transaction in X City.]
[Task Objective 1: Safely retrieve 04, Jan Yihan, and 09, Ye Liangshan.]
[Task Objective 2 (Pending): Kill the Orochi and the hunting dogs.]
[Task Objective 2 (if): Safely complete the contract signing.]
Author's : 【Lu Yan】
Basic Information: Spiritual Threshold 8100, Morbidity 40.6.
Talents:
6 - Omniscience
4 - Mental Remolding
25 - Devour
111 - Delirium
167 - Regeneration
Weapons: Dragon Bone Bow, Hellfire
Aberrant Features:
1. Amphibious, can switch to mermaid form.
2. Silver eyes with red pupils, can ignore most mental attacks.
3. Can use the Devour talent through the kingfisher (already stupid).
4. Can grow golden fish scales to protect the body.
Props: Brain Walnut, Slaughterhouse Work Permit.
Aftereffects of excessive use of talents: Arrogance.
【Talent Sequence List (Contradictory parts in previous text have been modified)】
1- Harbinger
2- Life and Death
3- Time
4- World
5- Judgment
6- Omniscience
7- Nirvana
8- Fission
9- Dragon Bone
10- Soul Contract
11- Oracle
12- Revival
13- Genetic Recombination
14- Mental Remolding
16- Natural Manipulation
17- Life Absorption
23- Berserker
25- Devour
29- Phoenix
30- Holy Light
33- Fusion
37- Devouring Giant
39- Virtual World
42- Fire Element
66- Precognition
70- Grace
74- Bloodlust Gene
89- Barrier
99- Dream Entry
104- Gene Editing
111- Delirium
119- Plague
129- Combat Specialization
138- Mirage
144- Life Extraction
145- Hallucination
159- Sever
162- Telepathy
167- Regeneration
168- Proliferation
170- Longevity
172- Neurotoxin
178- Adamantine
197- Hypnosis
198- True Knowledge
201- Masochism
206- (Fungal) Infection
211- Bestial Transformation
216- Heavenly Eye
219- Bone Blade
221- Electrolysis
238- Mimicry
250- Information Cocoon
271- Teleportation
273- Gigantism
288- Soul Detection
309- Tracking Shot
310- Fire Suppression
311- Lone Wolf
319- Stealth
322- Empathy
346- Clue Sensing
371- Tracking
378- Affinity
392- Heavy Pressure
432- Cell Division
444- Psychological Counseling
501- Warning
519- Signal Interference
679- Swift
914- Cross-Species Communication
(Setting 999 talents initially for fear of not having enough talents, truly visionary.)
【List of S-Class Tasks Issued by Headquarters】
S-01: Natural Disaster
S-02: Divine Realm Operation (1)
S-03: Divine Realm Operation (2)
S-04: Slaughterhouse
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