Contaminant

At that moment, Feng Ling said to Huangfu Miaomiao, "See if there are any Xenomorphs among these people."

Everyone's nerves tightened as they stood frozen in place. Even Zhou Diao couldn't help casting scrutinizing looks at the teammates behind him.

Though he firmly believed there couldn't possibly be a "traitor" in the Supervision Bureau... what if there was?

Fortunately, Huangfu Miaomiao quickly shook her head.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

Huangfu Miaomiao pointed at them one by one. "Ordinary citizen, ordinary citizen, ordinary citizen..."

When she pointed at Zhou Diao, she swiftly withdrew her finger and hid behind Feng Ling. "Elite Monster."

Zhou Diao's brows shot up. The frustration he had been holding in finally eased a little. "Ha! So this is how you Xenomorphs classify humans. You can tell I'm elite—no wonder you're so scared."

Feng Ling asked Huangfu Miaomiao, "How many reward Points do you get for killing an Elite Monster?"

Huangfu Miaomiao answered, "The Points fluctuate depending on the difficulty of the kill, usually between 200 and 500."

Feng Ling was very satisfied. Looking at Zhou Diao, she said, "Me, 3,000 Points."

Zhou Diao's pupils shook!

"Impossible!!! What gives you the right—"

"Enough!" Su Yuqing raised his voice from the video call. "Don't forget your mission in Jiangkou City."

Zhou Diao's shock turned to anger. "Lao Su, your favoritism couldn't be more obvious. She hasn't even joined the Supervision Bureau yet, and you're already praising the new while trampling the old?!"

Su Yuqing ignored him and asked Feng Ling, "Feng Ling, what are you doing in Jiangkou City?"

"Someone on the Exo-Star Forum was looking for help killing Xenomorphs, so I came to take a look." Feng Ling paused, then said, "I'm just taking a look. If there really are Xenomorphs, I'll call the police."

Su Yuqing: "..."

Zhou Diao snorted. "Who are you pretending to be, some law-abiding citizen?"

A Special Forces member moved closer to Zhou Diao and whispered a few words in his ear.

Zhou Diao frowned, shooting Feng Ling a sidelong glance as he muttered, "Why is it her..."

He took out his phone and looked at it, then looked at Feng Ling again. "Are you Dousha from the group?"

Feng Ling was slightly startled. "You're in Super Strong Super's group too?"

"I'm not." Zhou Diao lifted his chin arrogantly. "I'm busy every day. Who has time to join this group and that group? I replaced one of the group members and came to see what's going on in the Tunnel."

Su Yuqing said over the call, "Feng Ling, we've recently been tracking a group of Xenomorphs, but every lead went cold once it reached Jiangkou City. It's as if they vanished here for no reason. Jiangkou City currently doesn't have a Xenomorph Supervision Bureau branch, so all Xenomorph-related cases are overseen by Qingjiang City. Since you've run into Zhou Diao, you can act together and look out for each other. Zhou Diao's Cards are very powerful."

Feng Ling said nothing.

She was thinking.

Since they were both on humanity's side, looking out for each other was certainly fine. But she suspected that "looking out for each other" would turn into people ordering her around whenever they pleased.

Feng Ling disliked getting entangled in troublesome interpersonal relationships.

Su Yuqing added, "By regulation, when the Supervision Bureau discovers a Xenomorph, it must report it to Headquarters. Even if the Xenomorph has shown no aggression, it must undergo a series of tests at the Supervision Bureau, where professionals assess its danger level. But your situation is somewhat special. This time, I can temporarily suppress the news to avoid unnecessary trouble and misunderstandings."

He was doing her a favor.

Feng Ling thought it over, then nodded. "I'll cooperate with him as best I can."

Su Yuqing sounded slightly relieved over the video call. "Zhou Diao, explain the Action Plan to Feng Ling. Once the suspect sends over the location, notify me immediately. I'll pull up nearby surveillance footage and assist your investigation remotely."

"Got it." Though Zhou Diao looked utterly displeased, he still agreed.

The video call finally ended.

Zhou Diao put away the two Beast Claws that were wildly disproportionate to a human body and lazily returned to the minivan to catch up on sleep, with no intention of explaining anything.

Feng Ling and Huangfu Miaomiao returned to the Truck as well.

One Special Forces member came over to Feng Ling, looking at her with admiration as he asked, "Can I add you as a friend?"

Feng Ling: "?"

"Ah... what I mean is, we need to add you to the group." Though the member was tall and brawny, his tone was rather shy. "We have a dedicated group for the operation. Information is shared in there."

These days, no matter what you did, you had to join a group.

Feng Ling took out her phone, scanned the code, and added him. Before long, she received an invitation to join the group.

When she entered, she saw that there were six people in it, just like the other group. Su Yuqing was the group owner.

Everyone's group nickname was their real name, so Feng Ling changed hers to her real name too.

Qin Liang: Map.dnf

Qin Liang: Sister Ling, take a look at the map and familiarize yourself with it. Our technicians used phone signals to determine that the suspect is roughly in this area. We haven't found the Tunnel entrance yet.

Zhou Diao: How old is she that you're rushing to call her Sister?

Qin Liang said nothing.

No one else in the group said anything either.

The group went dead.

Feng Ling opened the map Qin Liang had sent. It was a floor plan of a shopping mall, and she could even view the structure of each floor inside. The technicians had truly gone to great lengths.

"Could there be a Tunnel in a mall?" Huangfu Miaomiao asked in confusion.

Feng Ling replied, "Under normal circumstances, no."

As for abnormal circumstances, that was harder to say.

The night was both long and short.

While they rested in the vehicle, several more people arrived at the Train Station. They had all received notifications from Super Strong Super.

They were stopped and questioned by Zhou Diao's side. After learning how dangerous this trip was, every one of them voluntarily withdrew, allowing Zhou Diao's team members to take their identities and continue the operation.

Huangfu Miaomiao watched enviously. "They all withdrew. How about we..."

But when her gaze met Feng Ling's faintly smiling eyes, she immediately pulled her head back and fell silent.

Feng Ling sighed. "With courage like yours, how did you save up 16 Points?"

Huangfu Miaomiao defended herself softly. "Not every mission is dangerous..."

"Mm, then what kinds of missions do you usually do?" Feng Ling asked.

"There are lots of daily-life missions. For example... um, finding a way from the easternmost part of a city to its westernmost part, or climbing the tallest nearby building, or learning to use a vehicle..." Huangfu Miaomiao sighed regretfully. "It's a shame those missions don't give many Points. Killing monsters gives the most."

"Killing monsters?" Feng Ling smiled. "You mean killing people?"

Her smile gave Huangfu Miaomiao goosebumps.

Huangfu Miaomiao hurriedly explained, "No, that's not it. Most monster-killing missions are for killing Contaminants."

Contaminants were failures of genetic fusion.

Feng Ling had learned some things from the information Huangfu Miaomiao had provided. All living creatures holding Cards could end up in one of two states: evolution or contamination.

And the path of evolution was inevitably accompanied by countless risks of contamination.

"Players who kill people randomly on the street are probably Contaminants unless they're mentally deranged... Contaminants are bloodthirsty, brutal, and utterly devoid of reason." Huangfu Miaomiao spoke very, very softly. "When it comes to eliminating Contaminants, actually, we Players and you humans are on the same side... Huh?"

As Feng Ling listened to Huangfu Miaomiao chatter on, she suddenly heard the other girl's tone rise at the end.

"What is it?" Feng Ling asked.

Huangfu Miaomiao stared blankly ahead. "...System notification: a Contaminant has been detected nearby."