Although his home was already spotless and the frogman’s bones had been disposed of in the salted vegetable jar, Lu Yan started cleaning again simply because he had nothing else to do.

The System sighed and lamented in his ears: [Motherf*cker. Why. Why on earth did you flush the minced frog meat down the sewer? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find fresh meat these days?! You spendthrift.]

This showed that the frog meat was genuinely delicious, or that the System desperately wanted him to eat it; otherwise, it wouldn’t have repeated the complaint so many times.

Lu Yan sneered: “Heh.”

While cleaning the TV cabinet, he accidentally knocked over a potted plant.

Ever since the city-wide lockdown, Lu Yan had pulled out the delicate flowers in the pot and planted cheap, tasty chives instead.

After more than half a month, a new batch of chives had just grown, and he had intended to cut them for a scrambled egg dish at noon. He hadn’t expected the flowerpot to take action on its own.

The clay pot shattered all over the floor.

The fish egg that had been buried in the soil rolled out, stopping right at Lu Yan’s feet.

It was golden. One could vaguely see a tiny white fish larva inside.

The King Fish egg had been buried in the soil for over ten days; due to the lack of water, it looked a bit withered. It was a testament to its exceptional quality. If it had been an ordinary fish egg, it would have died on the second day of being buried.

Lu Yan carefully picked up the egg with tweezers and placed it in a dry cup.

His expression was somewhat dazed.

“System. I remember you telling me that a hatched King Fish can devour the eggs of other parasitic fish.”

[Fighting poison with poison? That is indeed a method for treating the disease.]

“How do I do it?”

[Pollution is a form of evolution. One of the paths for an Awakened’s promotion is the constant integration of pollutants.]

[However, during the integration process, one’s own mutation rate will inevitably rise. And not all pollutants can be fused with the human body.]

[Ha, speaking of which, your human race’s current strongest combat power is the result of the combined action of technology and the pollution disease. That person’s mutation rate is already as high as 95, yet he still runs around fighting fires like an tireless mule, tsk. He knows he’s dangerous, and the person in charge knows he’s dangerous. But what other choice is there? Danger is still needed to resolve danger.] The System’s tone was filled with mockery.

[I can teach you how to integrate the King Fish egg. As your talent, how could your little System possibly have any malicious intent?]

[But I must warn you of the risks to avoid being reported for scamming. The process of integrating a pollutant is irreversible; even if you regret it halfway through, you cannot stop. And there is no guarantee of 100% success. In short, as long as you don’t die, it counts as a success.]

Lu Yan: “You have already told me many times that this disease, or rather, this way of biological evolution, will break out all over the world. K City is only the beginning, not the end.”

“If most regions in the world are polluted, I cannot remain unscathed. A pollutant’s physical stats far exceed those of a normal human; ordinary people have no way to fight back.”

He needed power. Otherwise, he was just waiting to die.

Furthermore, since this pollution disease is called “evolution,” the species that are eliminated will one day vanish into history, becoming archaeological relics.

“Besides, I am a doctor. Saving lives is my vocation.”

Lu Yan hadn’t spoken such a long sentence since he was in his mother’s womb.

Instead of analyzing, he felt more like he was convincing himself.

“Tell me, what do I need to do?”

Lu Yan had held a scalpel many times, but given that he had no tendency toward self-harm, this was his first time using a blade on himself.

He vaguely remembered that when he was feigning sleep in the psychiatric hospital, he had overheard the attending physician and nurses chatting, saying he was one of the few patients in the intensive care unit who would not harm himself.

According to the System, he needed to cut his blood vessels and insert the egg to hatch. He would know the result in about 1 to 3 days.

As for why not swallow it… Lu Yan had already dissected a person who had orally consumed a fish egg.

Given the convenience of operation, observation, and ease of treatment, Lu Yan chose his arm as the incubator.

Disinfection, local anesthesia, grip the knife, act.

Lu Yan did not cut an artery, so the blood only overflowed; there was no bloody scene of it spraying onto the ceiling. The depth was just right.

Foreign objects entering blood vessels cause embolisms, which can lead to paralysis in severe cases. Judging by the diameter of this egg, blocking the main artery would not be a problem.

Lu Yan inserted the pale golden egg and then stitched the wound.

The entire process took no more than 3 minutes.

It was 11:00 AM when he finished the minor surgery.

Lunchtime was approaching, so Lu Yan started steaming rice and stir-fried eggs with chives. He also reheated the leftover corn and pork rib stew from yesterday.

His cooking had always been quite good.

However, today, upon swallowing the first bite, Lu Yan couldn’t help but vomit.

“35 minutes post-operation. Body temperature has risen significantly. Accompanied by dizziness, palpitations, and intense nausea.”

Vomiting too often would cause stomach acid to irritate the throat and cause irreversible damage to the esophagus. But Lu Yan did feel an indescribable hunger.

Therefore, he chose to hook himself up to a glucose IV.

The sound of waves continued to drift into his ears from time to time.

K City was very close to the sea. During hospital team-building events, Lu Yan had visited the seaside several times.

Because of the difference in latitude, the tidal forces exerted by celestial bodies on the surface varied, causing tides in different regions to be different.

He could tell that this was the sound of the Qu River tides.

Lu Yan wrote a line in his notebook: “55 minutes post-operation, symptoms of tinnitus appeared.”

“6 hours post-operation, high fever, 42 degrees Celsius. Considering the possibility of cellular functional impairment or necrosis.”

“However, the fact that I haven’t fainted yet is probably also a function of evolution.”

The System’s tone was very strange: [To be honest, I think a normal person would choose to just go to sleep.]

Lu Yan was forcing himself to stay awake. Every time he felt like he was about to pass out, he would frantically pinch his philtrum.

Coma itself was a self-protective mechanism of the human body, at the very least it could cut off most of the pain.

A layer of weak sweat broke out on Lu Yan’s body. He shook his head and replied: “Since I know I might die, at the very least, I want to die consciously.”

A conscious death, or perhaps, a rebirth.

…

…

Twenty-four hours post-operation, fish scales grew on Lu Yan’s arm.

Thirty hours later, the fish scales disappeared.

On the third day, the fever broke. The physical discomfort began to subside.

“Human body temperature, stable, but too low… 27 degrees Celsius.”

Current thermometers were electronic; the probability of error was small.

Lu Yan opened his eyes and looked down at his hand. The previous wounds had vanished without a trace, leaving only a row of neat stitches.

He could feel something swimming in his blood vessels. Fast and slow, very active.

[It’s a King Fish larva, a symbiotic state. Congratulations, you have been enhanced.]

[Now, you can rip apart three of those toads like Zhou Kaiwen with one hand.]

It seemed it wasn’t an illusion.

Symbiosis and parasitism were two completely different states.

In fact, perhaps because Lu Yan had remained conscious during the integration process, his surgical outcome was even better than the System had anticipated.

Lu Yan’s body and consciousness had remained in a state of resistance throughout; the excruciating pain that was enough to make one pass out and wake up repeatedly only caused him to sweat profusely.

Lu Yan wanted to take a bath, but there hadn’t been any rain lately, and there wasn’t much water left in the rainwater filter, so he had to settle for a quick rinse.

Afterward, he conducted some simple experiments in the kitchen.

Lu Yan took out a kitchen knife and, without changing his expression, swung it at his own arm.

With a loud “Duang—” sound, it was as if he were chopping pork ribs with a cleaver.

His arm had rolled the edge of the knife.

Lu Yan looked thoughtful: “No pain.”

But his actions seemed to have startled the larva inside his body; a small lump bulged on Lu Yan’s arm, as if in silent protest.

This level of strength was limited to the arm that had grown fish scales; although other parts of his body were enhanced as well, it clearly wasn’t as terrifying.

Afterward, Lu Yan filled a basin with water and buried his face deep inside.

An hour passed; other than feeling uncomfortable due to the low oxygen content in the water, there were no signs of drowning or suffocation.

As for other potentially possible changes, restricted by the venue, he couldn’t test them for now.

Lu Yan finally asked the question he was most concerned about: “The King Fish has hatched, how do I treat other people’s pollution disease?”

[I told you on the first day.]

The System’s tone was extremely helpless.

Lu Yan thought back carefully, and four words blurted out: “Shark evolution…?”

Then, he couldn’t help but frown: “But the King Fish is inside my body. Does that mean I have to take it out every time I need to devour something?”

System: [Hmm, why don’t you go outside and find a mutant to test it out?]

Lu Yan turned his head and looked at the gloomy sky outside the window.

It was 7:00 PM, and it was already completely dark.

Because of a severe power shortage, starting three days ago, K City would have power cuts at 8:00 PM, with electricity returning only at 8:00 AM the next morning.

“Indeed, I’ve been cooped up at home for so long, it’s time to go out.” Lu Yan muttered to himself.

The power outage in K City wasn’t entirely due to electricity supply issues.

According to the latest findings, in the dark, the mutated pollutants in K City were phototactic.

This was also why night-fishing fishermen liked to bring high-intensity flashlights.

For the past few days, the central square of K City had been brilliantly lit.

It was piled high with the corpses of pollutants.

Because there was no time to deal with them, some had begun to rot, emitting a pungent, fishy odor. Mixed together, it smelled like 50-year-old fermented herring.

Lin Sinan emptied another magazine. The monsters in the distance didn’t even get close before collapsing to the ground.

His feet were piled high with cigarette butts, or rather, military-grade tranquilizers.

Lin Sinan hadn’t closed his eyes for five days. For an Awakened, this wouldn’t cause sudden death, but he was inevitably a bit mentally exhausted.

There were too many of them.

K City was originally a densely populated major city, and the spread of the pollution was faster than imagined. The species that evolved were all sorts of strange and bizarre things.

There were fishmen with weak aggressiveness who would spray fish eggs whenever they saw people. At least two-thirds of the pollutants in the city were infected by them.

There were frogmen with stronger aggressiveness who were exceptionally sensitive to living people. These pollutants possessed preliminary intelligence and would emit noise to attract fishmen to complete the pollution. When the density of pollutants in the same space was too high, these frogmen would choose to eat directly.

And the fewest in number, the algae people who stayed in place but grew and polluted incessantly.

The algae person that gave the pollution control center the biggest headache was an “involuted 007” corporate slave.

This algae person was from the internet industry and had voluntarily worked overtime in the company during the quarantine. After becoming an algae person, he refused to fall behind others. Now, his lush green sea algae had broken through the windows, squeezed out, and hung on the glass of the technology building, spreading for dozens of meters.

These sea algae grew from the algae person’s stomach. Although green, they looked like segments of intestines. The thick algae leaves were covered with eyeballs used for observation and pollution.

In short, it was very “san-draining.” When the staff performed circuit maintenance, they didn’t even dare to look up.

The most terrifying thing was that according to the images returned by the drone, this pollutant didn’t realize it had been polluted at all and was still repeating the last line of code written before its death…

Because of it, the headquarters didn’t dare to cut off the power to the technology park. They had to perform network maintenance every few days, just in case this brother found out there was no internet and ran all over the city as a mass of algae.

Its pollution value had reached a staggering 1200.

Headquarters decided to wait until the pollutants in the city were under control before letting Bai Qiushi perform an excision.

The pollution disease generally followed an evolutionary principle, but many times it could not be explained by normal science.

In his headset came the sound of the liaison: “Captain Lin. According to the instrument, your mutation rate has reached 52. We suggest you return to the prevention and control center immediately for rest and treatment.”

“Not necessary.” Lin Sinan replied, skillfully changing his magazine, “This is the last area, let’s get it over with early.”

There were a total of 62 Awakened stationed in K City. Among them, 12 were newcomers in the combat category who had just awakened recently.

In the past, these newcomers would have needed at least three years of training at headquarters before starting work. But these were extraordinary times, and there was a severe shortage of Awakened; they could only adopt a “veteran leading newcomers” training method.

Among them, Bai Qiushi was at the edge of the city, responsible for using his talent to isolate pollution. Lin Sinan and three others were at the central square, responsible for the annihilation of most pollutants. Seven Awakened were guarding the containment center.

The remaining 50 people were divided into 25 small teams to clean up the hiding pollutants.

Because they had the detectors sent by the research institute, and the mutation time of the pollutants was short, the pollution value topped out at 200, so there was basically no danger; it could only be considered manual labor.

Now, in the entire K City area, only the Qu River District hadn’t been cleaned up. This was also the origin of the pollution disease.

…

…

Qu River District, Galaxy Residential Complex.

Lu Yan was wearing black, carrying a bow, and armed with a knife, sneaking open the door.

“It seems my night vision has also become stronger.” He gently closed the door and muttered to himself, “Today I’m going to beat… oh no, treat ten of them.”