Devil

Land of Corruption.

A medium-sized pollutant is wandering aimlessly in the Corpse Swamp. With each step it takes, a little bit of "grease" slides off its body, leaving a thick "oil trail" in its path.

It wandered to a place where corpses were piled up like a small mountain.

Medium Pollutant possess a certain degree of intelligence.

But not many.

So it could sense that something was wrong with the mountain of corpses in front of it, that it didn't seem to be a natural product of the Contaminated Land. But its strong urge to eat overwhelmed its limited intelligence, causing it to give up thinking and go straight forward, burying its head in the mountain of corpses.

Soon, a sickening chewing sound echoed through the quiet place.

It is nibbling at the remains of these pollutants, or rather, it is feeding.

In Land of Corruption, small (human) pollutants feed on Medium Pollutant, which in turn feed on Large Pollutant Medium Pollutant, and Large Pollutant, after they die, become food for countless small pollutants.

This is a place with a strict hierarchy, and in this Land of Corruption, almost all living things must follow this rule.

However, this is only "almost".

While the Medium Pollutant were happily feasting, the mountain of corpses stirred.

The next second, a giant net wrapped with countless blades flew out from the mountain of corpses, instantly enveloping the Medium Pollutant. At the same time, the specially made blades embedded in the net pierced the Medium Pollutant's body from various angles, and a liquid that looked like mud and oil immediately gushed out from the wounds.

Now, even the least intelligent Medium Pollutant will know that something is wrong.

It let out a roar that was hard to understand, and then its whole body began to writhe. Tentacles grew out of its body, seemingly trying to tear the net apart with them.

And that's when those specially made blades came in handy.

Hundreds of blades in the net started operating at the same time, emitting a sharper and more piercing metallic scraping sound. Hidden within the blades were even smaller chainsaws, which spun rapidly, transforming into one small Chainsaw Sword after another.

With so many Chainsaw Sword activated at the same time, they almost instantly dismembered all the tentacles that had spawned from the Medium Pollutant, while also slicing off nearly a quarter of its body.

Then it crashed down.

Before it could even stand up, one after another, figures wearing devil masks and wielding even larger Chainsaw Sword emerged from the swamp.

Ignoring the resistance of the Medium Pollutant, and regardless of whether it was still alive, these people silently walked to a designated location, brandished their Chainsaw Sword, and began their work—dismemberment.

The Medium Pollutant struggled and roared, but these people remained unaffected, their hands holding the Chainsaw Sword with remarkable composure.

It was as if this was not a massacre, but just a normal job.

In less than ten minutes, the Medium Pollutant was completely dead, and its enormous corpse was torn into countless pieces by the demons.

But the work was not over.

Afterward, the demons cut the body parts into pieces the size of half a person, and then carried the body parts to a machine that looked like a blender at the back.

In a sense, it is indeed a blender.

The Devil Squad threw the body parts into the "blender" and then had it turned on. Amidst the mechanical roar, there was the sound of the body parts being ground into dust.

Then, the yellowish-gray grease flowed out from the other end of the port, where an iron bucket had already been placed.

Once the oil has filled an iron drum, someone will replace it with an empty one, then seal the previously filled drum and label it "Source Oil" on the drum wall. Once ten drums have been collected, they will be transported together to the rear.

This process lasted a full two hours, much longer than the time it took to hunt down the medium-sized infected creature itself.

During this time, the members of the Devil Squad remained silent, as if performing a bizarre silent play, until they completely dismembered the medium-sized infected creature and converted it all into source oil.

A leading man raised his right arm high, and a hoarse voice rang out from beneath his fearsome demon mask. "Check for infection."

All members immediately began fiddling with their masks and started a "self-check".

About five minutes later, all the members raised their heads and gave a thumbs up, indicating that they were not infected.

The leading man nodded, then glanced at his adjutant standing beside him. Seeing that the adjutant was also unharmed, he gestured. "Withdraw."

Then, the team returned to camp with their day's catch.

The camp was also located in Contamination Zone, but it had special Purification equipment that allowed them to remove their masks.

"This month's supply of source oil is sufficient." The leading man said to his adjutant as he removed his mask after returning to the camp, "The big guys we killed today would have been enough to support the expenses of one of the districts of Lyra for half a year."

The adjutant was a tall and slender woman. She did not immediately remove her mask, but said calmly, "But for now, it will only last for a month."

The leading man shrugged. "There's nothing we can do. Lyra is developing, and more and more mechanical bodies and prosthetics are being created, and they all need energy."

The adjutant didn't speak, but turned his head and looked into the depths of the Contaminated Land.

The team leader knew what she was looking at, so he said, "Don't worry, we're still getting closer. The trailblazers at the very front can already see the Marked Location Number One from ten years ago. Once we deliver this batch of crude oil back, we can head over to provide support."

The woman was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Ten years. We've spent ten years."

"Yes, it took us ten years to catch up with that team," the leader said. "While it was partly because that team possessed the most advanced Purification at the time, which was destroyed in that mission and we haven't been able to recreate it since, forcing us to push forward at an even greater cost... in all other respects, we far surpassed them. Yet, the path they left behind has taken us ten years to follow. Fortunately, we're finally catching up. I know you've been waiting a long time, but this time, it's truly within reach, Ina."

Ina remained silent, gazing quietly into the distance.

Not long after, a member of the devils hurried over and handed a letter to the leader.

The team leader unfolded the letter, glanced at it, and immediately frowned.

"It seems we need to postpone our progress for now."

Ina immediately turned around and looked at the team leader.

The leader unfolded the letter and said, "A message from Bishop Holman. He says... the monster that hid away ten years ago has finally awakened."

Ina immediately fell silent, but the team leader could still sense the heavy breathing that even the thick devil mask couldn't conceal.

The team leader knew how long Ina had waited for this day.

After a long while, Ina raised her hand and with a "click" removed her mask, revealing a delicate yet cold face, as if carved with a knife.

"Let me go back," Ina said softly. "I... can't wait."