Pollution throughout the territory

As night falls, the climate in Xizhou is different from that in Dongzhou. The winter here has gone away two months ago, the young grass has sprouted, and some green has appeared on the branches on the roadside.

However, at night, the monsoon wind from the northern Wuji Icefield blows among the tall buildings in the city, and people walking on the streets can still feel some residual coolness.

In the hospital ward, Lu Yi sat on the bench, staring at the ceiling in a daze. Lily's spirit was also a little sluggish for some reason. She huddled in the corner alone, holding the curtains with both hands, and fell asleep with her mouth open.

Qin Yun didn't notice Lily's change. She stayed by the bed and never took her eyes away from Xia Ren.

There is a vase on the cabinet next to it, with several white lilies in bloom. The faint floral fragrance can somewhat relieve anxiety.

Xia Ren put his hands on both sides of his body, his eyes were closed, his expression was peaceful, there was no sound of breathing, as if he was just asleep.

Qin Yun's eyes showed that he was still full of energy in the morning, and his voice and appearance were still there.

Xia Ren has been unconscious for nearly ten hours since the morning. This situation is very rare. The last time he was unconscious was the time when he was taken away by his own mask.

Especially this time, the situation was weird. Qin Yun didn't know the reason for his coma, so she couldn't help but feel worried.

The doctors of the Superman Association in Soli City have all gone to support the areas hardest hit by the atypical insect phobia epidemic. The doctors who stayed here could not find anything strange about Xia Ren's body and could only continue to observe.

While Qin Yun was waiting uneasily, Xia Ren's eyelids suddenly trembled twice.

"you're awake!"

Qin Yun's tired spirit instantly cheered up, and she excitedly held his hand.

"Ah, boss!"

Lu Yi noticed the movement here and leaned over excitedly.

Lily still closed her eyes tightly and hugged the corners of the curtains, as if she didn't hear.

"Um……"

Xia Ren opened his eyes, calmed down for a few seconds, and sorted through his previous experiences before sitting up from the bed with the help of Qin Yun and Lu Yi.

"Get me a glass of water."

He felt that the skin on his lips was dry and cracked, and his mouth was astringent and a little bitter.

While Qin Yun went to pour water, he briefly checked his physical condition.

First, it feels bad.

There was a dull pain in my head, and I could clearly feel the blood vessels on my forehead beating. My mental state was also very depressed, as if I had stayed up all night without sleeping for several days and nights.

Xia Ren clenched his fists and found that he couldn't exert any strength. Whenever he tried to exert force, he felt soreness and swelling all over his body, protesting against his atrocities.

Instinct told him that what he needed most now was to rest.

Xia Ren was a little surprised. He knew very well that his body, this long-lost feeling, was...sick.

"Am I still sick?"

He felt incredible.

He called up the system menu in his mind, and sure enough, the pollution value had reached 35/100. This kind of value had affected his sanity, and there was even a chance that unknown distortion would occur, reaching the edge of danger.

Qin Yun brought a glass of warm water. After being unconscious for such a long time, Xia Ren rinsed his mouth twice and drank two more sips before the bitterness in his mouth faded a lot.

Then he exchanged it for a bottle of secondary anti-pollution liquid and drank it, and the pollution value was finally cleared to zero.

His mental state has improved a bit, but overall it is still very poor. It seems that the root cause is not the pollution value.

Qin Yun took out a wet towel, wiped his face, and then asked: "What's going on? Why did you suddenly faint?"

Xia Ren rubbed his head: "I don't know the specifics..."

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered the scene when he saw Zhao Mingyue before he woke up, and the sticky, disgusting piece of slime mold that was attached to the back of his hand at that time.

His left hand trembled subconsciously. Xia Ren quickly looked at the back of his hand. Fortunately, there was nothing there.

However, there is definitely something wrong with his current state, and the problem comes from the aberration he came into contact with in the morning.

Since the left hand is fine, the only problem is...

The tentacles stretched out. Since the ward was relatively small and Qin Yun and the others were there, Xia Ren only stretched out the upper half stained with blue powder.

Even so, it already occupied nearly half of the room.

After extending his tentacles, Xia Ren's discomfort became more obvious, and he finally found the reason for his coma.

On the parts of the tentacles that had been in contact with the aberrations, the originally smooth and tender skin had a layer of indescribable scars. It was like suffering from a severe skin disease, and some of the surface tissues of the tentacles had been severely eroded.

The densely packed little bumps formed a continuous sheet, and their shape was extremely similar to the slime mold on the back of his hand by the River Styx.

At the top of each small pimple, it has begun to fester. Some have just formed small translucent dots, just like acne on a person's face, while some serious ones have rotted into small holes, with continuous Milky white pus flowed out of the cavity in a disgusting shape.

Some of the suckers were surrounded by leprosy, and the gaps where the suckers and tentacles originally met were now filled with swollen tissue.

Xia Ren was surprised by the changes in the tentacles, and suddenly recalled Zhao Mingyue's reminder in his ears: Don't you want the other hand too?

"Oops, this thick water flowing out is also contagious!"

Xia Ren immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, but there were currently limited methods to control the pollution, and he could not use ordinary toilet paper or cloth to clean it.

He didn't dare to be careless and directly exchanged it for a bottle of level three anti-pollution fluid.

"How did the tentacles become like this?"

Qin Yun was also very surprised.

Xia Ren looked at the small bottle of green liquid and told Qin Yun, "Thank you for bringing me another basin of water."

"good!"

Qin Yun did not dare to delay and immediately walked out of the ward.

Xia Ren poured all the anti-pollution liquid into the basin, and then washed the infected parts of the tentacles with mixed water.

Fortunately, it worked. Although the spots did not disappear, at least they no longer oozed pus.

"Even the third-level anti-pollution liquid can't cure it. What is the origin of those blue powders?"

Xia Ren recalled some details of the morning and couldn't help but feel a little scared.

The blue powder came from the aberration, and the situation at that time was that the aberration was transforming into a fungus-like form. In other words, the blue powder was most likely the spores she was about to spread!

If Lily hadn't devoured him at that time, it would have been a disaster once the corrosive and contagious spores were spread in such a crowded place at the entrance of the hospital!

"etc."

Xia Ren suddenly thought of another thing.

"What's wrong?" Qin Yun responded.

"Where's Lily?"

While speaking, Xia Ren looked around the ward and saw the little guy huddled in the corner.

"When did she start sleeping?"

Xia Ren felt that something was wrong. Lily usually relied on him very much. Under normal circumstances, when she saw him waking up, she would have run over with "brother, brother".

"I did not notice."

Qin Yun also felt that Lily was a little abnormal. She walked over and gently shook Lily's shoulders.

"Lily, Lily?"

no response.

"Bring her here."

On the hospital bed, Xia Ren said worriedly.

The dangerous aberration in the morning caused ulcers and infection just by touching it with his tentacles, while Lily swallowed the opponent whole. Although the digestion ability of the Shoggoth has always been very good, so far it has not She has come across something that she cannot eat, but there is no guarantee that she will encounter an accident when she does.

Just like this time.

Xia Ren took the sleeping Lily from Qin Yun and held her in his arms.

"Lily, wake up."

The little guy frowned, as if he had gotten up early and stayed in bed. He snorted, and then slowly opened his eyes.

"elder brother……"

Lily stretched out her hand, hugged Xia Ren, put her head on his chest, rubbed hard, and messed up her fluffy green curly hair.

Then she raised her head, her face seemed to be sick, and she said weakly: "Brother, I feel so uncomfortable..."

Xia Ren felt heartbroken when he saw the pain in her eyes.

Sure enough, it was because of eating that aberrant body.

Xia Ren patted Lily's back comfortingly: "It's okay, I'm here. Come, brother will check your body."

"Um."

Lily nodded her little head, and then her whole body began to melt, quickly turning back into an amorphous green gel-like object.

On the surface of the object, countless eyeballs appeared one after another, then quickly dissolved, all looking in Xia Ren's direction.

"What's in her body?"

Qin Yun exclaimed.

Xia Ren frowned, his face a little serious.

Although it may look scary to outsiders, Xia Ren, Lily's true form, has seen it many times and is very familiar with it.

There was no extra part in her body, only the countless eyes and gel-like substances that made up her entire body, but Xia Ren saw that there were many water plants floating in Lily's body at this time. blue substance.

Those blue substances were floating like cotton wool, and as Lily squirmed, they were constantly expanding, contracting, and swimming in the body, as if they were alive.

They look like parasites, but they are clearly different from insects.

Xia Ren thought for a while and asked, "Lily, can you separate them?"

Lily's body is not fixed. If necessary, it can even be split into several independent small pieces. However, only one subject can have complete consciousness. Although those separated individuals can also complete some simple instructions, their intelligence is relatively worrying.

But facing these blue substances, Lily was a little helpless.

She returned to her human form, shook her head at Xia Ren, and said in a somewhat aggrieved tone: "They are too tight, and they are everywhere."

Xia Ren was silent for a moment, ruffled her hair and said nothing.

He wanted to exchange for another bottle of level 3 anti-pollution fluid to try the effect to see if it could help Lily, but he had saved more than two thousand points in total before and had just used them all when cleaning the tentacles, so for the time being There is nothing we can do.

Those green substances are obviously the same as those that infected his tentacles. If left alone, they will definitely continue to spread. In the worst case, they may even be life-threatening.

This is not a random guess. Although Xia Ren trusts his and Lily's physiques, he must know that this world is far more dangerous than he could imagine. He didn't see those old gods who were stronger than him and were trapped in the abyss. , can we only influence the human world through apostles?

Qin Yun also sat beside the bed, caressing Lily's back, trying to help her relieve the pain.

She hesitated and said, "Would you like to ask about the longevity of that cow? The Superman Association has been studying pollution, and they may be able to find a way."

"At this point, there is no other way."

Xia Ren sighed, took out his cell phone, and contacted Niu Changshou.

Over the phone, Niu Changshou seemed to be arguing with someone about something. When he heard about Xia Ren's situation, he immediately showed great interest.

But he was currently in Dongzhou, and it would take at least ten hours to reach Soli City.

After hanging up the phone, Xia Ren thought for a while, and then used his black phone to post a help message on the foundation's internal platform, briefly describing his experience in Soli City and the information he currently had.

This platform is designed for investigators to communicate. The main brain and the logistics department cannot handle all troubles. Some investigators encounter problems that cannot be solved during the execution of tasks and will seek help on the platform. But usually, many investigators If they don't persist until rescue arrives, they disappear or die.

Although there is no direct confirmation, Xia Ren estimates that his strength in the foundation is already better than some ordinary A-level, but there is still a long way to go before S-level.

——He has seen what S-class investigator Yi Zhiyu looks like when he takes action with all his strength. That terrifying power and unstoppable violent attitude. If it hadn't been for the arrival of the old ruler Itakua, those children of the wind would have been absolutely unstoppable. There was no way to stop them.

Therefore, Xia Ren does not think that other investigators who have seen the request for help can solve the problem that even he cannot solve. But there is a saying that it is better than nothing. A little hope is also hope.

And Xia Ren doesn't intend to sit still and wait for death.

He never liked being passive. It would take more than ten hours for Niu Changshou to arrive, and there might not be a response to the request for help. The only ones who could save them at the moment were themselves.

"Zhao Mingyue mentioned that these fungi do not come from Blue Star. Only things from beyond can inhibit the growth of fungi."

Xia Ren sat on the hospital bed, his thoughts racing, sorting out messages one by one.

"Besides, we just came to Soli City and encountered such a thing. If it is a coincidence, it would be too false, so it is very likely that someone did it deliberately."

"Before I fell into coma, I saw that figure. It should be the housing agent. But why did he appear at the door of the hospital? Is it a coincidence? Or is he the mastermind behind the scenes?"

But Xia Ren couldn't think of the reason why the housing agent framed him, and the time he had been in contact with the other party was not too short. In such a long time, he never felt that he had the slightest malice towards him.

Xia Ren trusted his intuition. The last time he met the other party was when he left Dongpu City. Although it is still unclear why he knew the place where his parents were killed, his behavior of secretly slipping a small note to himself, No doubt with some good intentions.

However, the facts are before our eyes. The appearance of the aberrant body in the morning is indeed inseparable from the housing agency. As a result, he and Lily have indeed fallen into the dangerous situation they are now.

"Wait a minute."

Xia Ren suddenly thought of another thing.

"The real estate agent came here to investigate the heretic sect. The heretic organization that has not been exposed so far just killed a young couple in Soli City. The activities of the heretic sect are not completely without purpose. They sacrifice ordinary people everywhere. Man, what are you doing for?"

Heretics, serial sacrifices, the corpses of young couples, until...that aberration...

“It’s all connected!”

Xia Ren suddenly said to himself.

"Has the identity of the aberrant body been discovered this morning?"

"I'll ask the logistics department."

Qin Yun said this and was about to turn around and go out.

At the same time, there was a knock on the door.

Qin Yun turned to look at Xia Ren, both of them were a little wary.

However, this is the territory of the Foundation, and safety should be guaranteed.

Qin Yun took advantage of the situation and opened the door. As expected, the person standing outside was seen by Qin Yun. He was from the logistics department.

"Hello."

The other party simply said hello and said: "There was a kid outside just now who wanted to see Mr. Xia and said he had something to give him. Please take a look..."

Before Qin Yun answered, Xia Ren said:

"Bring the kid here."

"Brother, I was wrong. I'm just a gift giver. I don't know anything. And I'm really not a strange person!"

The sound of pleading sounded in the corridor outside, and soon, a boy with blond curly hair in simple clothes was carried to Xia Ren by the logistics department.

The little boy was obviously really panicked. After entering the house, he lowered his head and evaded his eyes, only daring to secretly look at the scene in the house.

To his left and right, two burly members of the logistics department stood separately to prevent him from escaping and to prepare for any accidents that might occur.

The little boy felt very regretful. He shouldn't have coveted the one thousand alliance coins. Now, he had to risk his life just for that money.

Who would have thought that that wretched middle-aged man with a goatee and an unattractive appearance would even trick him, a child who had just turned ten.

No one spoke in the room, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that the little boy could hardly breathe.

He stood restlessly and secretly observed the protagonist in the room - the ridiculously handsome man who was half lying on the hospital bed.

The man's face was sickly pale, and he was unsmiling. He exuded an indescribable temperament that made people subconsciously feel fear.

The little boy didn't dare to look at him and quickly turned his head.

The man was holding a little lolita with green curly hair in his arms. She looked about four or five years old. Her face was so cute that it made your heart melt. The little boy couldn't help but take a second look.

There were two women standing next to the hospital bed. To be honest, the little boy had never met a woman as beautiful as them in real life since he was born. They were more beautiful than the actresses from TV.

"It's over, it's over."

The little boy was extremely frightened.

Just by looking at this battle, one could tell that the identity of the man on the hospital bed was extraordinary. He was definitely a big shot. He didn't even have an identity, and he was an orphan who usually survived by stealing things and receiving relief. The other man could make him look like him just by moving his fingers. Completely disappear from this world.

"I really, really don't know anything."

The little boy's legs were trembling and beads of sweat were pouring out of his hands. He took the initiative to tell everything without waiting for anyone to ask.

"I was wandering on the street, and a middle-aged man with a goatee stopped me and asked me to help deliver something, so I came."

Afraid that the other party wouldn't believe it, the little boy turned sideways, reached into his pocket, and hurriedly took out a piece of money with a face value of one thousand, and a photo that was slightly wrinkled.

"This is the money that someone gave me and the things I was asked to hand over."

He held these things with both hands, stretched his arms, and was so nervous that he felt a little lack of oxygen.

Qin Yun walked over, took the money and the photo, and handed them to Xia Ren.

There was nothing special about the money. Xia Ren took one look at it and threw it aside, but the photo...

Xia Ren narrowed his eyes.

The photo showed a woman who was a little thin and looked very unhealthy. Moreover, this was a naked photo, and the woman in the photo was holding her ID card.

More importantly, this woman is the aberrant body in the morning.

"interesting."

Xia Ren handed the photo to the logistics staff: "Check her identity."

Then he looked at the little boy and said, "You can go. If you don't want to meet a perverted murderer, just forget about what happened tonight."

The little boy was stunned and didn't react for a while. It wasn't until Qin Yun put the thousand alliance coins in his hand again that he hurriedly ran out of the ward like a frightened rabbit.

"Let's go too."

Xia Ren handed Lily to Qin Yun to hold. He endured the discomfort, got off the hospital bed and stretched his muscles.

"It's been a long time since I've been sick. It's really uncomfortable."

"Where are we going?"

Qin Yun held Lily with one hand and took a coat with the other hand and handed it to him.

"Since the clues have been delivered to the door, we can't treat them as invisible."

Xia Ren put on his coat, reached out and rubbed Lily's head lovingly.

"Lily, if you don't feel well, don't go. Let's take a good rest here with Lu Yi. Yun, just come with me."

"good."

There were not many opportunities to be alone with Xia Ren, so Qin Yun naturally agreed.

"Stop following me. Prepare a car for me. I have to go out. Just send me the information you found later."

Xia Ren said to the people in the logistics department again.

After explaining this, he picked up the tea cup on the bedside table, drank the water in it, and walked out of the ward with Qin Yun.

This hospital was still the one they came to in the morning. When the two of them walked to the hospital gate, the logistics department just drove the prepared car over, and the work efficiency was as fast as ever.

This is the first time that the tentacles have been infected, which has directly and seriously affected Xia Ren's condition. He is now like a patient with a high fever, with body aches and pains, and the strength he can exert is estimated to be less than half of normal.

Rarely, he handed over the driving task to Qin Yun.

Qin Yun can drive, and the first car in Xia Ren's life belonged to Qin Yun, but that car died gloriously when he was fighting the apostle Liu Fusheng at Qiu Ming Mountain.

"Where to go?"

Qin Yun started the car and asked.

Xia Ren was sitting in the passenger seat, looking at the information on his phone that had just been sent by the logistics department, and based on the information above, he gave an address.

This information is exactly that of that aberration.

The woman's name was Jenny during her lifetime, and her age was different from Xia Ren's guess. She was only twenty-seven years old this year.

Jenny is unmarried, but has two children. She dropped out of school when she was a teenager and was arrested more than a dozen times for theft and selling silver. She also has a record of smoking white cigarettes. Jenny's parents gave birth to their first child eight years ago. He severed ties with her when he was a child.

With so much experience, it’s no wonder he looks so old in his twenties.

Late at night, there were very few vehicles on the street. Qin Yun drove smoothly and hardly felt many bumps.

"The middle-aged man that the kid was talking about just now is the real estate agent, right?"

Qin Yun asked.

"It should be him."

Xia Ren put away his phone and told Qin Yun all about the figure he saw before he fell into coma and some of his guesses afterwards.

However, the two discussed it all the way, but neither of them figured out what the real estate agency wanted to do.

"Let's take a step and see."

In the end, Xia Ren decided not to make baseless speculations.

At the same time, they also reached their destination.

This is an old community. There is not even a guard at the entrance of the community. At a glance, shrouded in darkness, the buildings inside are full of traces of the vicissitudes of time. Only a few low-rise buildings have lights on here and there. There are still few stars in the sky.

Far away from the city center, there is nothing but dilapidation here.

Walking to the gate of the community, Xia Ren saw an iron cage behind the green belt next to the gate. There was a big and sturdy black dog in the cage. It looked like it was usually very fierce, or it was raised by the property management of the community to be used as a guard. ——If there are real properties in this community.

But no matter what, at least in front of Xia Ren, the big black dog guarding the door was very polite. It tucked its tail and curled up in the corner of the cage, not daring to snort for fear of causing unnecessary misunderstandings.

Xia Ren just glanced at it and walked into the community with Qin Yun.

Qin Yun, who lives in Dongzhou, can hardly imagine that today, when the Supreme Alliance Government has been in power for more than a thousand years, there would still be such a dirty place.

The building in front of them was only six stories high, and there was only a solitary trash can next to the corridor door. Even though it had lost half of its body, it still stubbornly stuck to its post. This kind of conscientious and profound , even the most exploitative capitalists will cry when they see it.

But the remaining half of the trash can obviously couldn't do its job very well. The foul-smelling turbid sewage flowed everywhere, and there was no way to settle down.

Obviously, this kind of historical building that seems to have been left over from the last century cannot be expected to have an elevator. Xia Ren thought for no reason that renting a house in a place like this would definitely be cheaper on the top floor than on the bottom floor.

Jenny's family lives on the top floor.

They climbed up to the sixth floor. They didn't know if the lights in the corridor were broken, or if there were no lights at all - it was completely dark.

The security door covered with various advertisements was closed tightly. Xia Ren took out the coward's ear pick and inserted it into the keyhole. The latter shook it skillfully a few times, and the door lock opened in response.

The room was also dark, but this was not a hindrance to the two of them, as they could still see clearly.

To Xia Ren's surprise, the house was relatively tidy. Although there were not many furniture and they were all rather worn, it could be seen that someone had tidied it up.

There was no pollution here, but he discovered other things.

Xia Ren walked to the bedroom door and opened the door.

Directly opposite the door, there was a large bed. The bed was covered with a quilt, and something was pressed under the quilt, which was motionless.

The skinny little girl sat on the bedside, looking over with her big eyes through her withered hair.

She didn't panic or make any moves, she just said feebly:

"Sorry, sir, there's nothing valuable in the house."

"I'm not here to steal anything." Xia Ren said.

"My mother is not at home."

The girl's voice was a little hoarse and she hadn't drank water for who knows how many days.

"She said when she left that she would never come back."