[Although I am reluctant to believe this possibility, the worst-case scenario has still occurred.] The System’s voice was significantly more serious than usual. [In the past, it was always humans who initiated challenges against pollutants. Although they were the weaker side overcoming the stronger, they always stood a fighting chance due to complete intelligence.]

[But this time, it is the pollutants who are surrounding and wiping out humanity. And traitors have even appeared among humans.]

[Back then, Lu Jiahe appeared briefly in M City like a flash in the pan. The archive assigned him the number 11. Do you know what that represents? It means that before him, there were 10 other pollutants of the same caliber. Because there was no way to deal with these high-level pollutants, the two sides always left each other alone. However, due to the frequent outbreaks of the pollution disease in recent years, humans have gradually fallen into a disadvantage in battle, and this balance has been shattered.]

[Now, what they want to do is make the situation collapse even more thoroughly. This critical juncture has fallen upon Tang Xun’an.]

[He is currently humanity’s only S-Rank Awakener—though perhaps not the only one. But if the First Research Institute is allowed to release Experimental Subjects 1 through 3, it would introduce far too many uncertainties. When that time comes, Awakeners will seem even more like consumables than they do now. Furthermore, after an incident like this, wouldn’t the remaining Awakeners in the Special Operations Department truly feel disheartened?]

[Therefore, as long as Tang Xun’an dies or mutates into a pollutant, their goal will be achieved.]

[It’s a hilarious irony: humanity is still locked in internal strife, each faction acting for itself. Yet, the pollutants have taken the lead in forming an alliance.]

P City. Pollution Disease Prevention and Control Center.

The staff members gathered together, waiting for the results. They were also ready to provide support at any moment.

Perhaps sensing that the atmosphere was too solemn, the person-in-charge, Ms. Chen, was the first to smile. “Don’t all look so grim. We have to believe in the Special Operations Department, and we must believe in Captain Tang.”

“Yeah, as long as the Botanical Garden is taken care of, the remaining small pollution zones in P City won’t be anything to fear. By the end of the year, we can even report this up as an alternative survival base option. Since the start of the pollution, this shadow has loomed over P City for decades… I really envy those ignorant people.”

Ms. Chen looked out the window. The setting sun cast a pale golden light onto the white flower on her chest.

She said, “To let others live ignorantly and happily, never having to live under the dread of the pollution disease—isn’t that the very meaning of what we’ve been fighting for all this time?”

Her words brought happy, tranquil smiles to the faces of the staff members present.

Among them, the only one who seemed somewhat out of place was Ren Xuan, who had come over from the First Research Institute.

Ren Xuan found it incredibly dull to listen to.

When he first joined the institute, he too was a passionate youth harboring grand ideals and purposes. Today, he was merely an emotionally cold, detached middle-aged man. The only thing that brought a pang to his heart was the culmination of his twenty years of work—Subject 07.

Yet Ms. Chen’s words ultimately stirred a hint of sentimentality in him.

Ren Xuan left the conference hall, walked onto the rooftop, and dialed a number. “Teacher, is what we’re doing… truly right?”

“Child. This isn’t a matter of right or wrong,” an old voice answered over the phone. “Think about it, over all these years of human experimentation we’ve conducted—even if it was never for the purpose of sadistic slaughter—have the numbers of people who died at our hands been few? Even for pollutants, a mother will shed tears when she watches her child be killed. We are human, so wouldn’t our hearts ache too?”

“But we still persist with the experiments. Why? Because we walk upon the path of truth, even if this path is fraught with sacrifice. Even if this path requires us to pay a heavy price—”

“What is humanity? What we need is divinity.”

“That bunch of outsiders knows nothing, yet they think they’re fit to point fingers at our research? The Third Research Institute is nothing but a traitor! They took fifty years of our intellectual wisdom for nothing, only to turn around and criticize our current experiments. Remember, even if everyone says we are wrong, the truth cannot be wrong! Time will give the most impartial verdict.”

“In the past development of clinical medicine, how many animals died for the sake of in-vivo testing? Did anyone care? Perhaps, but were in-vivo experiments abolished because of it? We have simply changed the targets of our experiments into humanoid creatures. Our ultimate goal is always to save more people.”

Ren Xuan pulled a sedative cigarette out of his pocket and slowly lit it for himself. “Teacher, if this operation fails, I will lose 07 and become the scapegoat, won’t I?”

If Tang Xun’an died, the only forces left that the rest of society could rely on would be those few experimental subjects from the First Research Institute.

Ren Xuan’s colleagues would also obtain more research funding. No one would oppose some of their highly controversial studies anymore.

“…This is a necessary sacrifice to preserve the First Research Institute.”

Ren Xuan nodded. “I understand, Teacher. I am currently on the rooftop of the P City Pollution Disease Prevention and Control Center. No matter whether we succeed or fail in the end, I will jump.”

“You’ve worked hard,” the voice replied.

Ren Xuan watched the setting sun slowly sink, the horizon swallowing the last sliver of dawn. He suddenly understood: what he and the others were doing was no different from anyone else; everyone had just chosen different paths.

Tears welled in Ren Xuan’s eyes. “For the future of humanity.”

The voice on the phone echoed, “For our future.”

Within the span of a few minutes, the bow in Lu Yan’s hand had already fired six arrows.

These arrows never missed their mark, proving exceptionally useful against those flying insects.

The insect-humans hiding in the woods were far more than just mantises. Glancing around cursorily, Lu Yan saw that some mosquitoes had already evolved human faces. Upon their withered countenances sat long, hideous, needle-like proboscises, and the flapping of their wings emitted an annoying buzzing sound.

Judging by the length of the proboscis, getting stabbed by this mosquito would likely drain a person to death.

And from the bulging, blood-filled sac on its abdomen, there might already have been a first victim.

Both Zhou Zheng and Chen Anzhi looked noticeably strained.

Zhou Zheng specialized in close combat; his entire body could metallize, rendering him impervious to blades and bullets. However, most of these insects could fly, leaving him feeling utterly frustrated—like a scholar trying to reason with a soldier, completely unable to use his strengths.

Chen Anzhi’s talent was even more limited in this situation. These pollutants hadn’t even evolved higher cognitive reasoning; they only retained their primal instincts.

Lu Yan raised his hand and fired another arrow.

The arrowhead pierced through the mosquito’s abdomen, pinning it firmly to the tree trunk behind it.

Blood burst out like a squeezed water balloon.

As Lu Yan retrieved his arrows from the ground, he remarked mockingly, “Combat department, heh.”

Zhou Zheng’s face flushed crimson, while Chen Anzhi stared thoughtfully at Lu Yan’s lowered hand.

Having drawn his bow multiple times without proper protection, the lines on one of Lu Yan’s palms had split, with faint traces of blood seeping out.

He set down the sprayer, pulled a bandage out of his portable first-aid kit, and frowned as he wrapped his hand.

Back when he was still in K City, Lu Yan had discovered that pollutants were exceptionally sensitive to the scent of his blood. Shen Qingyang had even specifically mentioned that he “smelled different from others.”

Lu Yan didn’t know what was different, but it clearly wasn’t a good thing.

Later, inside the Wall of Resentment, after receiving the “younger sister’s” gift, Lu Yan rarely placed himself in dangerous situations where he would bleed.

He didn’t know if bandaging would help, nor did he know what kind of things his blood would attract. More importantly, if he kept fighting in this manner, he wasn’t sure if it would expose his bodily abnormalities.

Therefore, acting alone was the most logical plan for him.

Lu Yan looked at his two teammates and said, “Let’s split up. Don’t follow me.”

Zhou Zheng frowned. “If the three of us stay together, our survival rate obviously goes up. Maybe you think you’re protecting us right now, but I am still an Awakener with a spiritual power threshold of 1,700 after all…”

But Lu Yan didn’t listen. Instead, he picked a path alone and walked ahead.

Zhou Zheng: “Hey!—”

He wanted to catch up, but very quickly, an arrow shot past with a swoosh, thudding right in front of him.

Had the arrow been any faster, or had he walked any quicker, it would have dug deep into his knee.

With Lu Yan’s current strength, shattering his knee outright probably wouldn’t have been an issue.

Zhou Zheng looked up, catching a glimpse of the expression on Lu Yan’s face.

Cold and brimming with murderous intent. Like an assassin’s blade unsheathed—silent and lethal.

Frozen in place as he watched Lu Yan’s fleeting silhouette, Zhou Zheng was left utterly dumbfounded. “Holy crap, you’re playing for keeps?”

A gentle smile remained on Chen Anzhi’s face as always. “Lu Yan has always been a loner; it’s not like this is your first day knowing him. Forget it, it should be fine. The instructor is still keeping an eye on things from the shadows.”

As his smile widened, many of the trainees scattered across different locations in the pollution zone—regardless of gender or age—wore the exact same smile on their faces.

It looked as if they had all been stamped out of the same mold.

The System sighed: [The werewolf is about to reveal themselves aggressively. Surrounded by songs of Chu on all sides, your chief instructor seems to have taken up the script of the Hegemon King bidding farewell to his concubine this time.]

Lu Yan carried the pesticide tank on his back, spraying pesticide section by section.

A few minutes ago, he had already called the instructor via his detector watch to request external backup.

However, the watch face showed absolutely no response.

[Aside from the talent ‘Karmic Fire,’ Subject 07 has another talent called ‘Magnetic Interference.’ It was only recently transplanted.]

[Oh, you don’t know 07. But it doesn’t matter; your watches are all broken anyway.]

Lu Yan took a silent breath, then smashed the watch violently against a tree trunk.

This watch, capable of tracking location, calling for help, and detecting pollution levels, was indeed a masterclass of the research institute’s craftsmanship; even their mass-produced gear was incredibly durable.

The tree trunk cracked, yet the watch kept running.

It was just that its owner had no intention of picking it back up.

The System said: [Anger is useless. Except making ‘him’ come out faster. You don’t want ‘him’ to come out, and neither do I.]

“I know.” Lu Yan closed his eyes, forcing his emotions to calm down.

[Well, though the situation is already severe, who can help it when I am the omnipotent System?]

[Little Koi. I have two methods. The first method can get you out of here alone, but the people of P City, and even all the nearby cities, will definitely die. As for how things will develop afterward, it’s too far off; I can’t see it.]

[With the second method, you might die. But if you succeed, the world will take a different branch.]

[Doesn’t that sound interesting? The ‘Great Man theory of history,’ which has been denied for countless years, becomes a reality at this very junction. The turning point of the future world’s direction has indeed, at this moment, fallen into your hands.]

[Now, tell me your choice, Host.]