What would it be like if he performed at full power?
This question popped up in the minds of all the ability users at once.
Soon they found out.
Lin Juan swung his hand again to test the hardness of the “shell,” this time putting a bit more force into it.
“Bang—”
“Bang—”
One hit, two hits… After a few punches, the cracks grew larger and larger until it finally couldn’t hold and collapsed with a boom.
The expressions on the ability users’ faces shifted from shock to astonishment, then to questioning their life choices, changing nonstop.
Were they too weak, or was Lin Juan too strong?
Everyone firmly believed in their hearts that the former might be part of it, but the main reason was definitely the latter.
“He didn’t use any supernatural ability, right…?” After who knew how long, an incredulous voice broke the silence.
“No supernatural ability fluctuations were detected.” Sheng Tianzong, who had witnessed Lin Juan’s power before, was the first to reply.
Last time against the Mushroom Wall, he had already known just how strong Lin Juan’s power was. That was why, during the voting meeting, he had been the first to agree with the proposal to primarily win Lin Juan over.
It was absolutely irrational to make an enemy of someone who possessed such overwhelming power.
What appeared after the “shell” shattered was not a normal sight, but a sticky substance glowing with a weird cyan color, flowing and slowly seeping out.
It was just like blood flowing from a wound.
Lin Juan took a step back, making sure the sticky substance didn’t get on his clothes.
“Is this the thing you’re looking for?” Lin Juan pointed at the sticky substance and asked.
“This is the mucus secreted by the 【Impermanent Snail】. Everyone, be careful not to let it touch you.” Zhuang Yufeng took a protective suit from the person next to him and handed it to Lin Juan. “Mr. Lin, put this on first.”
Lin Juan didn’t refuse. He wasn’t affected by weird pollution, but he didn’t want to touch this gooey stuff. He put on the protective suit, tied back his hair and tucked it into the hood, put on the protective face mask, and in an instant, he perfectly blended into the team of ability users.
They needed to enter through the shattered opening in the “shell” to find the main body of the pollutant.
Zhuang Yufeng and Sheng Tianzong took the lead, with Lin Juan following behind them. Along the way, Zhuang Yufeng gave Lin Juan a simple introduction to what kind of weird the 【Impermanent Snail】 was.
In simple terms, it didn’t have high attack power. The hardest thing to deal with was its tough “shell.” Inside the “shell,” it could hide anywhere, and once its secreted mucus touched someone, it would pollute and mutate them in an extremely short time.
They needed to eliminate it before the 【Impermanent Snail】 fully digested the entire hospital.
Time was tight.
Everything inside the “shell” was dim. Occasionally, they could see limbs that hadn’t been fully digested yet—some from animals, some from humans.
“Isn’t snail mucus supposed to repair skin? How did it mutate and end up with the complete opposite effect?” It was too quiet. Lin Juan’s heart felt heavy, like he couldn’t breathe. His intuition told him he needed to break this atmosphere.
“Maybe because pollution twists everything in a bad direction.” Zhuang Yufeng analyzed.
With the sound of conversation, the ability users who had fallen into some inexplicable mood instantly snapped out of it.
“Everyone, be careful. The atmosphere here affects people’s minds!” Before Sheng Tianzong finished speaking, an ability user at the back suddenly lost control and unleashed his supernatural ability on the person next to him.
“What are you doing?!” The person next to him was caught off guard and got hit in the arm, tearing a hole in his protective suit.
Sheng Tianzong quickly flashed to the back and restrained the out-of-control ability user. “Doctor Zhuang, come take a look at him.”
Lin Juan followed behind Zhuang Yufeng as they went over. Zhuang Yufeng first purified the pollution on the attacked ability user, then checked the out-of-control one.
Lin Juan’s sharp eyes spotted a tear in his protective suit. He pulled over his arm and rolled up his sleeve.
“Look at this.”
On that person’s arm, a hard shell was faintly visible, slowly forming.
Under Zhuang Yufeng’s purification ability, the ability user regained a sliver of reason. “Did I lose control?”
In his mind, a seductive voice kept ringing out.
“Kill them.”
“It’s all their fault, or else you wouldn’t have gotten polluted.”
“If you hadn’t joined this crap mission, you’d still be a high-and-mighty ability user, a hero of the people, not dying quietly in some dark corner.”
“This had nothing to do with you, right? You even took leave…”
“Shut up!” The out-of-control ability user snapped fiercely in his mind.
He felt a foreign, powerful force fighting him for control of his body. He didn’t want the moment to come when his supernatural ability became a blade stabbing toward his teammates.
His vision was covered in opaque mucus; he couldn’t see anything. Relying on instinct, he tightly gripped someone’s arm—whose, he didn’t know—and a voice overflowed from his throat. “Kill me.”
“Kill me!”
Silence fell.
A thick wave of sorrow surged in Zhuang Yufeng’s heart.
Countless times, the blades in their hands had pierced not only at weird phenomena but also at former teammates.
Sometimes, the polluted teammates had already lost all reason. More often, it was when they still clung to a thread of sanity, not yet fully mutated, that they drove a sharp dagger into each other’s hearts.
One strike to kill.
If an ability user’s pollution value maxed out and they mutated into a new pollutant, it would be a massive new threat to humanity’s already precarious living environment.
They had no choice.
Even after going through it countless times, Zhuang Yufeng still couldn’t accept this outcome calmly.
He might never be able to accept it calmly.
He only hated that his supernatural ability wasn’t stronger, more powerful—maybe then he could delay his teammates’ mutation and save them.
Zhuang Yufeng desperately poured his purification power into the out-of-control ability user’s body, but his pollution value was rising too fast; there was no time.
“Don’t say that,” Zhuang Yufeng’s voice choked. “I can save you. I definitely can save you.”
Even though he knew better than anyone that he was lying—he couldn’t save him at all.
Was there really no way?
Cyan-gray crept up the out-of-control ability user’s eyes, his black pupils covered by a layer of cyan-gray. Chunky “shells” grew on his face; he was slowly transforming into something inhuman.
Sheng Tianzong’s grip tightened on his weapon.
No one wanted to turn their weapon on a teammate they had fought alongside.
But…
“We need to hurry.”
It was a reminder to the others and to himself.
Sheng Tianzong’s voice was calm, but those who knew him well could hear the deeply buried grief in his tone.
Zhuang Yufeng knew too that they couldn’t afford to waste time.
There were too many people waiting for them outside.
“Can’t we just knock him out?”
The heavy atmosphere was broken by a cool male voice.
Zhuang Yufeng looked at Lin Juan and shook his head. “No. Once he passes out, without his own willpower to resist, the pollution will speed up.”
They had tried that method before, thinking knocking someone out would do the trick. They hadn’t expected the knocked-out person to rapidly mutate into a monster, catching the whole team off guard and causing heavy casualties.
I see.
But Lin Juan clearly remembered that Lu Mingxuan and the others he had knocked out hadn’t accelerated their pollution after passing out. Lu Mingxuan had even woken up after a brief coma.
The only difference was that Lu Mingxuan and the others had been knocked out by him.
Could it be related to him?
Lin Juan raised his hand, fully covered by the dark combat glove, showing no abnormalities.
He wasn’t affected by pollution—maybe because he wasn’t from this world. What about those he knocked out? Could it slow their pollution?
He would find out by trying.
“If you trust me, let me give it a try?” Lin Juan suggested.
“Try what?” Zhuang Yufeng didn’t react at first.
“Knock him out.” Lin Juan rotated his wrist. “If it doesn’t work, I can subdue him right away.”
All the ability users present had witnessed his terrifying strength, and a flicker of hope rose in their hearts.
It just might work.
After a brief discussion, they unanimously decided to let Lin Juan try.
Lin Juan walked up to the ability user whose sanity was nearly gone. “I can’t guarantee it’ll work, so don’t get your hopes up too much.”
To avoid trouble, Lin Juan added, “If it doesn’t work, you can’t blame me. The result will be the same either way.”
“Don’t worry,” Zhuang Yufeng said, as if grasping at a lifeline, his eyes lighting up as he looked at Lin Juan. “No matter the outcome, we’ll accept it.”
Seeing Zhuang Yufeng’s stance, the others nodded one after another.
It was a death sentence anyway. Fighting for a chance at survival would be a huge win.
With the answer he wanted, Lin Juan raised his hand and chopped down, easily knocking out a B-rank ability user.
Everyone gripped their weapons, bodies tense. If anything went wrong, they would strike down their mutating teammate immediately.
One second, two seconds… A minute passed. The ability user holding the pollution testing device shouted in surprise, “It’s stopped! It’s stopped! His pollution value isn’t rising anymore!”
Great!
No matter if this ability user had any hope of recovery after they got out, at least at this moment, they didn’t have to end the life of their comrade-in-arms with their own hands.
“We’ve wasted enough time already. Let’s pick up the pace!” Sheng Tianzong called out.
“Yes!”
“What about him…”
“Bring him.” Lin Juan thought of Lu Mingxuan, who hadn’t been further polluted even after approaching the 【Fantastical Mushroom】’s main body, and figured there shouldn’t be any issues.
An ability user hoisted up their unconscious teammate and carried him along.
No one objected. After what had just happened, they had an almost blind trust in Lin Juan.
They proceeded even more cautiously from there.
Fortunately, no further incidents occurred.
“Something’s approaching.” Lin Juan stopped.
The others halted too. Whatever appeared at a time like this was definitely no good.
They had walked a long way, deep inside. They should be very close to the 【Impermanent Snail】’s hiding spot by now.
Sure enough, the ability user in charge of the pollution detector shouted loudly, “The pollution value is rising faster! Everyone, be careful!”
A slippery, slithering sound came from overhead.
Lin Juan looked up. A black, sticky, massive sheet-like thing was slowly crawling toward their position.
“Watch the ceiling!”
The colossal thing moved fast. Up close, Lin Juan saw that its body wasn’t smooth but rugged and uneven, with pits and hollows roiling with an ink-green liquid so dark it was nearly black.
Countless white maggot-like bugs, but thousands of times larger, writhed inside.
Everyone got ready for battle.
Lin Juan was the only one who took a step back, making it especially obvious.
Noticing his movement, Zhuang Yufeng’s heart leaped to his throat. “Mr. Lin, is it really tough to deal with?”
“No,” Lin Juan silently shifted back into position. Knowing he’d caused a misunderstanding, he explained, “It’s just… too disgusting.”
He absolutely didn’t want to touch it!!!
