Contaminant

Chapter 19: Contaminant

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

Everyone's nerves tightened, and they stood frozen in place. Even Zhou Diao couldn't help casting a probing glance at his teammates behind him.

Though he deeply believed there couldn't be a "traitor" in the Supervision Bureau, still... what if?

Fortunately, Huangfu Miaomiao quickly shook her head.

Everyone let out an unconscious sigh of relief.

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

When she pointed at Zhou Diao, she quickly retracted her finger and hid behind Feng Ling, saying, "Elite Monster."

Zhou Diao raised an eyebrow at this, and the pent-up frustration finally eased a bit. "Ha! So you Xenomorphs classify humans like this. You can tell I'm an elite—no wonder you're so scared."

Feng Ling asked Huangfu Miaomiao, "How many Points is the reward for killing an Elite Monster?"

Huangfu Miaomiao replied, "Points fluctuate based on the difficulty of the kill, usually between 200 and 500 Points."

Feng Ling was satisfied and looked at Zhou Diao, saying, "Me? 3000 Points."

Zhou Diao's pupils quaked!

"Impossible!!! How could you—"

"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, don't be so blatantly biased. She's not even in the Supervision Bureau yet, and you're already lifting her up and stepping on me?!"

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 to kill Xenomorphs, so I came to check it out." Feng Ling paused, then said, "I'm just looking. If there really are Xenomorphs, I'll call the police."

Su Yuqing: "..."

Zhou Diao snorted. "Playing the law-abiding citizen, huh!"

A member of the Special Forces team leaned in and whispered a few words to Zhou Diao.

Zhou Diao frowned, glanced sideways at Feng Ling, and muttered, "Why her..."

He pulled out his phone, looked at it, then back at Feng Ling, asking uncertainly, "Are you that 'Bean Paste' in the group?"

Feng Ling was slightly taken aback and asked back, "You're in the Super Strong Super group too?"

"I'm not," Zhou Diao said, lifting his chin proudly. "I'm busy every day—no time to join this group or that group. I'm filling in for a group member to go into the tunnel and see what's going on."

Su Yuqing said over the call, "Feng Ling, we've been tracking a batch of Xenomorphs recently, but all leads stop at Jiangkou City. It's like they vanished here. There's no Xenomorph Supervision branch in Jiangkou City yet, so all Xenomorph-related cases are managed by Qingjiang City. Since you've run into Zhou Diao, you might as well work together and look out for each other. Zhou Diao's cards are very strong."

Feng Ling didn't speak.

She was thinking.

As fellow humans, looking out for each other was fine, but she suspected that "looking out" might turn into being bossed around.

Feng Ling really disliked getting tangled in troublesome relationships.

Su Yuqing continued, "According to regulations, if the Supervision Bureau finds a Xenomorph, we have to report it to the head office. Even if the Xenomorph shows no aggressive behavior, they still need to undergo a series of tests at the Bureau, with professionals assessing their danger level. But your situation is a bit 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 and nodded. "I'll try to cooperate with him."

Su Yuqing on the other end of the video call relaxed a little. "Zhou Diao, explain the action plan to Feng Ling. As soon as the suspect sends their location, notify me immediately. I'll pull up nearby surveillance footage and assist you remotely."

"Got it." Zhou Diao, though his face was sour, agreed.

The video call finally ended.

Zhou Diao retracted his beast claws, which were completely disproportionate to a human's proportions, and lazily went back to the Minivan to catch up on sleep, showing no intention of explaining anything.

Feng Ling and Huangfu Miaomiao also returned to the truck.

Instead, a member of the Special Forces team came over to Feng Ling, looking at her with admiration, and asked, "Can I add you as a friend?"

Feng Ling: "?"

"Ah... I mean, I need to invite you into the group," the team member said, though tall and burly, his tone was shy. "We have a dedicated action team group where we share information."

Nowadays, no matter what you do, you have to join a group.

Feng Ling pulled out her phone, scanned the code, added the friend, and soon received an invitation to join the group.

She entered the group and saw it also had six people. 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 to get familiar. Our tech team used the suspect's phone signal to pinpoint their approximate area. No tunnel entrance found yet.]

[Zhou Diao: How old is she that you're already rushing to call her sister?]

Qin Liang didn't reply.

No one else in the group spoke either.

The chat went silent.

Feng Ling opened the map Qin Liang had sent. It was a floor plan of a shopping mall, complete with an interior layout view. The tech team had really put in the effort.

"Will there be tunnels in the shop?" Huangfu Miaomiao asked, puzzled.

Feng Ling replied, "Normally, no."

As for abnormal situations—that was anyone's guess.

The night was both long and short.

During their rest in the car, a few more people arrived at the train station one after another, all summoned by Super Strong Super's notice.

They were stopped and questioned by Zhou Diao's group. After learning the danger of this mission, every single one of them voluntarily withdrew, letting Zhou Diao's team members take their places to continue the operation.

Huangfu Miaomiao watched with envy. "They all dropped out... maybe we could too..."

When her gaze met Feng Ling's half-smiling eyes, she immediately shrank back and shut up.

Feng Ling sighed with feeling. "With guts like yours, how did you manage to scrape together 16 Points?"

Huangfu Miaomiao defended herself in a low voice. "Not every mission is dangerous..."

"Oh? Then what kind of missions do you usually take?" Feng Ling asked.

"There are plenty of daily-life missions. Like... uh, figuring out how to get from the easternmost edge of the city to the westernmost, or climbing the tallest building nearby, or learning to use a vehicle..." Huangfu Miaomiao sighed regretfully. "Too bad those missions don't give many Points. Killing monsters gives the most."

"Killing monsters?" Feng Ling laughed. "You mean killing people, right?"

Her laugh gave Huangfu Miaomiao goosebumps.

Huangfu Miaomiao quickly explained, "No, no, it's not like that. Normal monster-killing missions are all about killing Contaminants."

Contaminants—failed products of gene fusion.

Feng Ling had learned a bit about them from the materials Huangfu Miaomiao had provided. All creatures holding cards would produce one of two outcomes: evolution or contamination.

And on the path of evolution, the risk of contamination would accompany every step.

"Players who go around killing people randomly—if they're not psychopaths, they've probably turned into Contaminants... Contaminants are bloodthirsty and violent, with no reason left." Huangfu Miaomiao said very, very quietly. "When it comes to eliminating Contaminants, actually, we players and you humans are on the same side... Huh?"

Feng Ling was listening to Huangfu Miaomiao ramble when she suddenly noticed her tone pitch upward at the end.

"What's wrong?" Feng Ling asked.

Huangfu Miaomiao stared blankly ahead. "...The system alert says it's detected a Contaminant nearby."