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Ye Jiang didn't know what Willow Mother Tree was, so she asked in return, "Do you know?"

Upon hearing this, Hua Ling suddenly became serious. Her eyes darkened, and her voice carried a barely perceptible hint of bitterness as she said, "... Yes, I know."

She said, "That was a remnant of a plant-based Polluted's ability. Fifteen years ago, a plant-based Polluted ran into the town. The townspeople fought back fiercely, and the Polluted was no match for them. He was seriously injured and fled, dying on the road and turning into a willow tree."

"So it was Polluted who turned into one," Ye Jiang thought, "Just like the Green Forest Exclusion Zone."

She understood.

"So we can't trade?" Ye Jiang asked.

Hua Ling: "..."

"So do you know where Mei Ti is?" Ye Jiang asked again.

Hua Ling: "..."

No one knew what had happened, but the dark-skinned townsman was enveloped in a visible weariness, and his whole appearance darkened.

She lost the will to continue communicating with people.

"I don't know where that girl went, maybe she went off to cause trouble somewhere." She looked at Ye Jiang and said, "If I see her... I'll tell you."

After saying that, she left.

Ye Jiang stared at her retreating figure, at the thick shadow cast upon it, and forgot to put anything in her mouth.

This person has a secret, Ye Jiang thought thoughtfully.

The young man didn't care whether others had secrets. He only looked down at one person, Ye Jiang, and he did so from beginning to end. Most of the time, his gaze was only on Ye Jiang. Because of his naturally faint presence, his behavior did not attract the attention of others.

After going out into the street, Ye Jiang saw a crowd gathered. She went over to see what was happening and discovered that the Guard were carrying out official duties against a male townsman. Coincidentally, both parties involved looked familiar to Ye Jiang. The uniformed officer was the one who had turned a townsman into a cat-man yesterday, and the townsman being executed was the man who had accused Hua Ling of pinching his buttocks. The townsmen surrounded him in circles, craning their necks, their mouths tightly shut, an unusual silence. Only the man was pleading with the uniformed officer, tugging at his sleeve. "Deputy Captain Hao, please don't do this. I've always followed the town's rules. I participated in the last hunt without hesitation. I've always been law-abiding. You can't treat me like this."

The man in uniform was the deputy captain of the town's Guard. Unlike his captain, who always wore a gentle smile and seemed to be serving the country and its people, he looked somewhat sinister.

He smirked and brushed the man's hand off his sleeve. "Yuan De, you were very obedient before, but now, I really don't know what you're thinking, or if you have any ill intentions."

"No!" The townsman named Yuan De immediately raised his hand and swore an oath. After swearing, his face showed bitterness, and a hint of ingratiation appeared on his resolute face. "How could I dare to say that?"

"Is that so?" Deputy Captain Hao chuckled.

He leisurely took a slender willow leaf from his uniform pocket, displayed it in front of Yuan De, and waved it, "Do you recognize this?"

For a moment, Yuan De lost control of his expression, and his face twitched.

Seeing his expression change, the officer in charge sneered, "I found this willow leaf in my house. I heard you got a willow leaf from the Willow Mother Tree a while ago. You're the only one who's gotten a willow leaf recently, right? Tell me, what are you doing in my house?"

"... Deputy Captain Hao, you're joking. What would I be doing at your house? I received a gift from the Willow Mother Tree, but I already used it up during the previous hunt." Yuan De adjusted his expression and smiled obsequiously. "Deputy Captain Hao, what is your strength? What is mine? How dare I be so presumptuous?"

"You mean this willow leaf isn't yours?"

"No."

"No," Deputy Captain Hao asked the townspeople with a smile, holding up a willow leaf, "Is that yours?"

The townspeople all retreated, and Yuan De, with his head down, changed his expression repeatedly.

"Ha."

Deputy Captain Hao chuckled.

He casually crushed the willow leaf, and the destroyed energy dissipated upon landing, leaving not a single fragment. Yuan De kept his head down the whole time, not daring to utter a word.

"I think it's yours." Deputy Captain Hao's lazy voice came from above. Yuan De looked up sharply, and the uniformed man gave him a wicked smile, saying casually, "If you don't think so, and insist that you have no ill intentions, then prove it."

The officer in uniform declared condescendingly, "The honest and kind-hearted people of Shuiling Town cannot be easily Pollution or infiltrated. Only those with wicked intentions and evil thoughts can lose their humanity. Just one day. If you can hold out until this time tomorrow, I will believe you are a law-abiding citizen of Shuiling Town."

"No!" The tall man panicked.

Deputy Captain Hao raised his chin and glared at him. "Don't you want to prove yourself?"

"I think so, but you clearly know..."

"What do you know?"

Yuan De stopped his pointless words and pleaded, "Please don't do this, please don't do this, give it to me, give it to me..."

The resolute man lowered his head deeply, "I beg you."

The townspeople's bowed heads brought a flicker of satisfaction to the uniformed man's eyes. Their desperate pleas, devoid of dignity, were too sweet to bear; he couldn't hide the smile on his face. More, more—he wanted to hear even more of those sweet voices!

A cruel smile crept across the uniformed man's lips. He gently patted the town's shoulder, and the town's son, thinking he had changed his mind, looked up with delight. Instead, he was met with a kick to the chest. Before the town's son could react, his tall body was kicked open the gate and stumbled into the house, knocking over furniture. Bang! The uniformed man closed the gate, stood at the entrance, and scanned the townspeople who had gathered around.

He chuckled, "Surely no one wants to interfere with this criminal's self-defense, right?"

The townspeople who had been watching fell silent, and for some reason, all of them wore ashen expressions.

They react this way because they feel sorrow for the fate of others.

Such unfair treatment is not uncommon in this small town; it's just that they aren't the main characters today.

One day, just one day.

One day is bearable, it's just quite painful.

Some townspeople left, some arrived, and countless groups of onlookers came and went. The deputy captain of the Guard remained at the gate, seemingly bored, leaning casually against it, until heart-wrenching screams, ominous sounds of impact, and screams of crying and laughing erupted from within...

The uniformed man's eyes gleamed, revealing his pleasure.

Ye Jiang circled the town several times searching for her mission target. When she returned to the courtyard of a townsman named Yuan De, she was surprised to hear a roar coming from inside. Her senses were sharp; she could even distinguish the sound of someone slamming their head against the wall, one blow after another, mixed with splattering blood...

She stopped in her tracks.

Hmm? How exactly are these townspeople proving themselves?

Footsteps stopped behind her, and a hoarse voice said, "Healer, I want to use the healing opportunity you promised me. Please heal Yuan De, the townsman."

Ye Jiang turned around and saw Hua Ling, a resident of the town.

Hua Ling looked utterly defeated; her head hung low, and her eyes were bloodshot.

"You want me to treat someone else?" Ye Jiang confirmed with the other party. Hua Ling's lips moved a few times upon hearing this. After a long while, she deflated like a punctured balloon and said, "Yes, please treat Yuan De."

"Perhaps you think I'm crazy for giving up such a precious treatment opportunity to someone I don't get along with, but actually..." she smiled bitterly, "There's no real animosity, it's all an act."

Ye Jiang merely confirmed, but Hua Ling continued to explain on her own. Or rather, she had long wanted to confide in someone.

There were things she couldn't say to the townspeople, so she could only confide in an outsider.

She stared into the distance, her eyes filled with sorrow as she gazed at the small town where she lived, looking at the plants and trees, and at the people of the town.

She said, "We people have been living a false life all along, all the time, it's really..."

Hua Ling told a story.

Over a decade ago, a madman with superpowers conducted a human experiment using his abilities. He successfully altered the genes of his subjects, granting them an exceptionally high level of superpower awakening. Nine out of ten of the modified subjects were able to awaken their powers. When this was exposed, it caused a huge sensation. Rather than criticism, the world was more excited. The superpowered individual and his group of experimental subjects instantly became celebrities. The world fervently supported the superpowered individual, regarding him as Savior, believing that he would eventually lead the superpowered army formed by his experimental subjects across every suffering land and save the world from the Polluted.

If that hadn't happened.

"Two test subjects accompanied members of the Ability Control Bureau to provide support to the border town harassed by A-Rank Polluted. The test subjects, possessing exceptional strength, overpowered the Polluted, decapitated Polluted, and hung their heads on the city walls. The rescued border town residents cheered in celebration, but the next second, the bodies were separated."

"But—it's too noisy."

Because the crowd was too noisy, the test subjects activated their powers without showing any struggle. Wherever the powers went, blood splattered everywhere—the blood of their compatriots. The test subjects seemed to have no humanity at all. They slaughtered the entire city and hung the heads of their fellow members of the Ability Control Bureau and the heads of the Polluted side by side, showing extreme indifference.

"Then the test subject strolled to the next city and casually slaughtered another innocuous city."

After slaughtering two cities, the two experimental subjects committed heinous crimes against their fellow countrymen, and were eventually intercepted and killed by the Ability Control Bureau after learning of their crimes.

The experimental subject of the crime died, but the horrific story spread, and the public's fear could not be dispelled.

"Cyborgs are failed, inferior products. They lack personality; they are perverts, heretics, monsters!"

"The experimental subjects have had their genes altered; they are no longer among our own and will eventually turn against humanity!"

In the Disaster Day, humanity emphasized solidarity and overcoming difficulties together. There was never a case of fellow citizens massacring each other, a truly horrific event. People were terrified. The world began to doubt other experimental subjects, and they resisted the cyborgs. For the sake of social stability, the Ability Control Bureau had to cease its cooperation with the cyborgs. The cyborgs briefly shone, but what followed was a long period of rejection, fear, and discrimination.