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The waitress, too!

Ye Jiang moved behind the students, avoiding the owner's gaze.

With little attention to spare for the disobedient students and waitress, the owner refocused on the drum-headed creature. This was an A-Rank Polluted in front of her. It was merely at a disadvantage, not dead.

The owner and the drum-headed creature exchanged several more rounds. More and more people gathered to watch, and everyone realized that the creature was no match for her.

"Who is she?"

"Someone from Part-Time Cat? We have someone this capable at Part-Time Cat here in City A?"

"Those chains look a little familiar..."

The onlookers murmured among themselves. Just then, **bang-**the drum-headed creature crashed to the ground and did not get back up for a long time. The owner closed in, gripped the chains in both hands, and crossed them around its battered neck with a wrench. Its drum-shaped head went flying.

Silence.

Then thunderous applause erupted.

Her clothes in tatters, the owner stood beside the creature's corpse. She smoothed her hair with a bloodstained hand, tucking the loose strands of short hair behind her ear, then raised her eyes to the crowd. She saw mothers holding children, lovers leaning against each other, and friends holding hands. They looked at her with grateful smiles. Something flickered in her eyes. She had been about to lower her head when she spotted those dozen or so students and the waitress. Her mouth twitched, and she strode toward them menacingly.

"Boss, y-you were incredible!"

"Boss, you were so badass!"

"Boss, your cooking might taste awful, but your ability is awesome!"

Their young faces tilted up, the students babbled every word of praise they could think of, their eyes full of admiration.

The owner: "..."

She kept her face stern. "Didn't I tell you to leave first? What if I couldn't handle that drum-head..."

Ye Jiang reached out and touched her clothes. A second later, her beggar's rags were gone, and her clothes were as good as new.

The scolding caught in her throat. The owner paused and looked at Ye Jiang in surprise. "Is this your ability?"

Ye Jiang nodded expressionlessly.

The owner's mouth twitched. For a long while, she said nothing, her eyes filled with astonishment. What kind of ability was this?

"...Does it have any other uses?"

Ye Jiang repaired the bandages wrapped around her hands.

The owner: "..."

"Your ability must be high-ranked, right?" The owner was certain of it. Her ability was so specialized, yet she was an excellent fighter. Perhaps her high-ranked ability had greatly enhanced her body, giving her such good fighting skills.

Ye Jiang's face grew even more wooden. Reluctantly, she said, "Class F."

The owner: "..."

She opened her mouth, unsure what to say. Ye Jiang turned and went back to the restaurant, hoping the owner would count today as a full day's work, too.

She had barely taken a few steps when a dark mass flew toward her. She reflexively raised a hand and slapped it. Splat. It felt as though she had slapped a lump of soft dough. A hole suddenly appeared in the wall across the street, its edges splattered with inky liquid. A tentacle quivered as it emerged from the hole. After a few tentative movements, it went limp again. Whether it was gravely wounded or dead was unknown.

A few steps away, the owner

had just sensed killing intent belonging to an A-Rank Polluted. It vanished in an instant, so quickly that she had not even had time to shout a warning.

Her keen eyes tracked across the street to the hole in the wall over a hundred meters away. A trace of bewilderment froze on her face.

Huh?

The crowd did not know what had happened, only that another Polluted had been dealt with. Suddenly, they felt this place was incredibly safe. Only the owner remained silent, staring at a certain Class F ability user with a complicated look in her eyes.

In the southern part of the city, the thunder gradually subsided. Qin Daichuan undid his shirt cuffs and rolled up his white sleeves. He stared thoughtfully at the corpse of the A-Rank Polluted on the ground.

Unlike the A-Rank birdman he had killed half a month earlier, the A-Rank Polluted at his feet seemed... milder.

He had originally come to provide support against the B-Rank Polluted swarming the southern part of the city, only to encounter this A-Rank Polluted unexpectedly. Before he arrived, it had been roaming the streets and destroying quite a few things, but it had not actively attacked humans. There had been no casualties nearby. Its strength and contamination had reached A-Rank, but its killing intent seemed much weaker. What was going on?

"Aaah!"

A scream came from the distance. Qin Daichuan stopped thinking and looked up, spotting a winged Polluted. Faint killing intent drifted toward him.

Another A-Rank Polluted.

Strangely, despite having a pair of wings that aided its movement, this A-Rank Polluted did not attack the humans fleeing below. It merely circled leisurely overhead. Only after hearing the humans scream did it flap a wind blade at them, and even that missed.

Many A-Rank Polluted had suddenly appeared in City A.

These A-Rank Polluted were relatively mild.

Qin Daichuan quickly identified the anomalies.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something white emerge from the Polluted's corpse at his feet and burrow rapidly toward the ground. Without thinking, he sent a thin strand of lightning at it. The unidentified white thing was struck, and a section broke off, lying motionless on the ground.

Qin Daichuan lowered his head to look at the white thing.

He crouched to examine it, then picked it up between his fingers.

This was...

The noodle stuck to his subordinate's shoe-no, it was a hypha.

In the eastern part of the city, the captain of Team Two crushed an A-Rank Polluted's neck underfoot. A hypha emerged, and he stepped on it.

A hypha?

The captain of Team Two frowned.

The A-Rank Polluted he had killed had originally been B-Rank. According to the team members who had fought it earlier, it had suddenly evolved rapidly into A-Rank. Strangely, after evolving, it had become less inclined to attack, its desire to slaughter weaker than before its evolution. Before evolving, the Polluted had brutally killed several citizens. After it evolved, the team members fighting it were outmatched and made a tactical retreat, calling for backup. Throughout that interval, this A-Rank Polluted had never once actively attacked a human, unless someone accidentally got too close.

What was going on?

Was it related to this hypha?

"Captain, A-Rank Polluted! More A-Rank Polluted have appeared over there!" A subordinate rushed over in a panic, his voice strained. "Three of them!"

The captain of Team Two's pupils contracted.

Something was wrong. How could there be so many A-Rank Polluted?!

A-Rank Polluted, rarely seen at the best of times, had appeared en masse throughout City A. East, west, south, north—not one part of the city was spared. A-Rank Polluted were everywhere, in scalp-prickling numbers. When the news spread, the branch leaders abandoned the meeting they were still attending at headquarters and hurried back.

Headquarters was shocked, too. These were A-Rank Polluted!

The citizens stopped fleeing. Danger was everywhere. Where could they run? Despair spread through the city once hailed as a blessed land.

On the city's outskirts, Zhao Yi, whom the captain had sent to track the traitor, stopped beneath a tree. Having just dealt with a Polluted, he wiped the liquid splattered across his face and muttered, "Can't find that guy Yan, but there sure are plenty of Polluted... Tsk, why are there so many today?"

He had encountered so many Polluted along the way that he could not help wondering.

The bright sunlight suddenly dimmed. He instinctively glanced up, then straightened the next second.

W-what was that?

He gaped, speechless.

A gigantic, snow-white Polluted entered his field of vision. Its body, entwined with hyphae, towered into the clouds and blocked out the sun. Countless hyphae moved behind it without any wind, like enormous writhing snakes.

Mechanically, he took the detection bead from his pocket. The moment it touched the air, despite the great distance still separating him from the Polluted, the contamination in the air was so dense that the bead instantly shattered.

S-Rank.

Beyond the detection bead's measurement range, enough to shatter it. This was... an S-Rank Polluted.

Within the city, people began spotting the gigantic Polluted one after another. They raised their heads and stared blankly.

"...What is that thing?"

Qin Daichuan, the captain of Team Two, and the restaurant owner—the three A-Rank ability users—looked up at the enormous Polluted, their chests reverberating. An S-Rank Polluted.

An S-Rank Polluted was heading toward City A. Every few steps it took, another Polluted evolved into A-Rank. This was how all the A-Rank Polluted throughout the city had come to be.

Mushroom Man's second ability-

Borrowing strength.

It could raise Polluted to A-Rank.

"Hyphae... mushrooms..." Qin Daichuan's expression darkened. "Is this that Mushroom Man from the trial grounds?"

This was an S-Rank Polluted no weaker than Stormbringer.

Ignoring the A-Rank Polluted that showed little inclination to attack, Qin Daichuan took out his phone and immediately issued an order. "Evacuate the citizens from City A! Hurry!"

There was no resisting a Class S contaminant. Only getting far away offered any chance of survival.

Outside the little restaurant, the owner's face was deathly pale as she looked at the S-Rank Polluted.

Once again, once again... powerless.

Her hands could not protect others.

She was so insignificant, like a speck of dust.

"Excuse me..." A citizen came up to the owner and asked quietly, "Are you Captain Xiao Pei from the Ability Control Bureau Headquarters?"

The owner lowered her head.

"It's you, isn't it?" Unaware that hell was about to descend, the citizen clenched his fists in excitement. "I'm from City S. You saved me three years ago, and I moved here. I thought your chains looked familiar just now. No one but you could wield such a mighty ability!"

The owner fell silent. After a long while, she said bitterly, "I... didn't save anyone."

Yes, she had saved no one. In the face of Stormbringer, she had been as helpless as the ordinary citizens, watching as the storm destroyed everything. Lives were like fragile wheat seedlings, easily reaped. There was nothing she could do.

What was the most tragic thing?

Xiao Pei, former chief captain of the Ability Control Bureau and the foremost A-Rank ability user, felt her heart turn as cold as ice. She was the strongest in A-Rank, but only she knew that her ability index had not changed in a very, very long time.

Three years ago, standing before the people as their protector, she had looked at the S-Rank Stormbringer and suffered a tremendous mental shock.

The Polluted were still growing stronger, while humanity had already stagnated.