Key Element

"Let's get out of here quickly. People from the Guard Hall will probably be here soon..."

Almost instinctively, Little Four took a step away from Xiao Xiao before looking back at the chaotic street and saying quietly, "You go first. I'll stay behind and cover our retreat, and see if there's anything left to clean up."

"Don't worry. I'm very experienced at shaking off the Guard Hall's pursuit..."

"..."

In truth, Little Four still had plenty of questions he wanted to ask.

For example, what was the deal with those three monster-like dogs crouching beside Xiao Xiao, vicious yet loyal, guarding him with their lives?

And wasn't this experiment—conducted just to see whether bullets still had lethal force after passing through a human body—a little too unreasonable?

But he didn't quite dare ask.

Xiao Xiao also had plenty of questions he wanted to ask at that moment.

For example, why had his three dogs gotten a free upgrade, and what exactly was Pain Substance?

But he was a newcomer, after all. An experienced veteran had made the arrangements. How could he disobey?

Of course, this companion called Little Four had left a fairly good impression on him. But what was that business about having plenty of experience escaping the Guard Hall's pursuit?

Did he do this often?

After agreeing to split the mission points evenly between them, Xiao Xiao quickly left the café.

Although many people in the surrounding area had survived, most were still suffering from confused memories. They came and went, and almost no one noticed him or left behind any trace.

After sending the three dogs back first, Xiao Xiao circled around to the street where he had rested with his two coworkers earlier.

However, a serious disturbance had just taken place there. His two coworkers had long since vanished, while the cart they used to haul goods had been abandoned where it was.

After thinking it over, Xiao Xiao left the cart alone. Following several panicked crowds, he departed the street. Since his expression remained calm throughout, even the officers maintaining the perimeter did not suspect him.

After turning into a subway station, Xiao Xiao had no intention of returning to the docks. Instead, he boarded a train heading home.

"Buzz..."

As the subway began traveling through the city and the chaotic lights outside the window stretched into twisted dotted lines, Xiao Xiao's phone rang.

He opened it and saw an email quietly resting in his inbox.

The sender was still the person called "Ye."

Temporary Mission: Despair Vines

Rank: Class D

People Rescued: 109

Mission Points: 60

Additional Reward Points: 545

Accidental Killings: 1

Points Deducted for Killings: -100

Note: Of the 505 points earned, half will be transferred to the collaborator's account.

"Does that mean 253 points?"

Xiao Xiao thought silently as he put away his phone and looked up.

The subway had just emerged from the dark tunnel and was now traveling along an elevated rail line above the city. In the distance, dazzling lights like vivid oil paintings filled his view.

Xiao Xiao gazed at the silent, shadowy buildings beneath the neon lights. It was as if he could see them slowly coming alive, pulling out enormous tentacles and writhing their massive bodies.

It was as if he could see an eye slowly opening deep within the city, staring back at him with cold indifference.

This city was a gigantic monster. Then were the countless people he saw within it parts of the monster, or puppets controlled by it?

It seemed to have very clear principles. It encouraged outsiders like him to save those who might be swallowed up when facing strange, spreading disasters. It even offered extremely generous rewards for doing so. Saving one person earned five points. But more importantly, it valued outsiders protecting the natives. Saving one person earned five points, yet killing one deducted a hundred.

Was it because every native was a part of it?

Xiao Xiao understood perfectly that he had not killed that person accidentally. He had intended to do it from the start.

But even after losing a hundred points, he still did not regret it.

Even now, he still found it difficult to clearly understand the relationship between Aberrant Creatures, Pain Substance, natives, outsiders, and this enormous monster of a city.

Was it really as Yang Jia had explained before? Were outsiders merely helping the city clear away certain diseases?

Then why did he always feel such a tremendous barrier between himself and those protected natives, while the Aberrant Creatures could strike straight into his heart in an instant?

He pondered for a long time before lightly shaking his head and looking up. Neon lights filled the view, while the buildings remained silent and steady, never moving at all.

"No matter what, I have more points now..."

"I haven't even had time to spend the three hundred points from before, and now I've earned another 253. Soon, I'll have six hundred points..."

"Making money is easy..."

Xiao Xiao thought that perhaps, in this city, he should not waste his energy pondering questions without answers. Instead, he should consider how to improve himself faster.

Meanwhile, near the café where the incident had taken place, the Guard Hall personnel maintaining the lockdown were already run off their feet. They made call after call urging others to hurry, communicated with their superiors again and again, and repeatedly tried to calm the panicked crowds. Only after more than ten minutes did they finally receive the "bomb disposal experts" specially invited by the Guard Hall. However, the people in white protective suits were nothing like the bomb disposal experts they had imagined.

Not only did the suits bear the logo of the Black Forest Biological Laboratory, but the instruments in their hands also looked nothing like bomb-disposal equipment.

"Bring me all the surveillance footage."

The man leading them was not even wearing protective clothing. Dressed in a wrinkled suit with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, he waved his hand casually. "And while you're at it, go buy me a boxed meal."

The Guard Hall personnel stared blankly at this man who acted as though he owned the place.

They really did not want to deal with him. He was not even part of the Guard Hall.

But after remembering the call from their superiors, they obediently handed all authority over to the mysterious investigators.

After a while, the man sat on the curb across from the café, smoking with one hand and eating his boxed meal with the other. Beside him lay a laptop connected to the surveillance system, its screen flashing with countless images.

The mangled corpses around him did nothing to affect his appetite. He wolfed down the meal, and by then he had also finished watching the footage once.

At the end, the image settled on a figure in a hooded sweatshirt passing through the crowd.

"Phew..."

He stubbed his cigarette into the scraps in the meal box and casually tossed it aside. Only then did he grumble as he took out his phone. "There's nothing to investigate. Those lunatics are still carrying out what they believe to be justice."

"However, Subject Zero did appear at the scene. Judging by the footage, he played a major role."

"Your guess was right. Those lunatics have assimilated him. He's now become a new member they've taken in, though it probably hasn't been long..."

"..."

The person on the other end seemed displeased by his attitude and spoke harshly for a while.

But the man impatiently switched the phone to his other hand and said, "Heh. Don't expect me to deal with this problem. I'm only responsible for investigating."

"Even you're afraid of them, aren't you?"

"I've heard that mental illness can be contagious too..."

"No matter what, I'm not going. If you really want to deal with him, go find the people at the Red Eye Club."

"They've already been bought off by the Black Forest, haven't they?"

"Only lunatics can deal with those crazies in this city without any scruples..."

"..."

"..."

By the time Xiao Xiao walked out of the subway station, his mood had become completely calm.

He first went to a convenience store and bought three sausages, then hurried to the entrance of his neighbor's courtyard.

Sure enough, the three vicious dogs that had disappeared earlier were already safe and sound in the neighbor's yard. They had even returned faster than he had by subway.

Amazing...

A reasonable appearance?

Heh!

This time, Xiao Xiao had not expected that he would not only accidentally help his neighbor's little sister, but also give the three vicious dogs a free upgrade.

However, when he looked at the three vicious dogs again, he found that there were no obvious changes on the surface. The fur they had shed earlier had grown back perfectly.

Their terrifying, explosively powerful appearance seemed to have been nothing more than an illusion.

The dull one was still dull, the foolish one was still foolish, and the clever one still had a shrewd glint in its eyes.

Yet it was obvious that their bodies now contained a powerful force. They had already adapted to the changes brought by the enhancement and were running excitedly around the yard.

"Gambling on dogs isn't a good habit, but it looks like I won this bet?"

"..."

After observing them closely and confirming that the three vicious dogs showed no signs of transforming into anything strange, Xiao Xiao felt a faint surge of excitement.

By the standards of the Collectors' route, these three vicious dogs should already count as special phenomena, right?

He still knew very little about this strange world, but he now understood that their free enhancement seemed to be related to the Pain Substance they had consumed.

Following that thought, perhaps the points spent on enhancement were originally money used to purchase Pain Substance?

If he helped them enhance themselves out of thin air, then the hundred points he spent had really only been used to purchase Pain Substance from the city's will.

This time, the three of them had first been summoned by him. For their original owner—or rather, their exclusive caretaker—they had taught those bullies a lesson and devoured some Pain Substance.

Then they had experienced Despair Swamp, accumulating enough to undergo an enhancement.

At that point, they would either mutate under the influence of the Pain Substance or become enhanced life-forms capable of coexisting with it.

That led to a conclusion: Pain Substance was the core element behind both enhancement and mutation.

The law of conservation of energy applied in this world too...