Lucky was frail, but lucky.

Too bleak.

Too hopeless.

The world needed a powerful Ability Control Bureau captain, and she was not one. She was merely a weak person crushed by a hopeless future. Who could someone like her save?

She had fled, resigned from her post, and holed up in the safest city, afraid to grow close to anyone.

"What? You're Captain Xiao?!"

"Oh my god, this is my first time meeting you in person! Hello, hello! I've heard about what you did. You once went into an A-rank Polluted's lair alone to protect the residents of an entire building!"

"My daughter married and moved to City M. She's a teacher. She told me you and your team protected the Polluted that broke into the school!"

"Captain Xiao, you're incredible!"

The citizens temporarily forgot the shock of Mushroom Man and surrounded Xiao Pei, gazing at her with fervent eyes.

Xiao Pei opened her mouth several times without making a sound, somewhat stunned. Had she... had she saved so many people?

Outside the crowd, Ye Jiang watched her boss, a faint ripple stirring in her ink-black eyes.

The restaurant owner was actually someone this great?

Then... could she still bring herself to ask her for a full day's wages?

Ye Jiang was seriously wrestling with this when she heard Xiao Pei's voice. "City A is in danger. Come with me and leave this place!"

Her boss straightened her hunched body, her voice ringing firm.

"Move!"

She was so weak, but these hands of hers, these helpless hands, still had to fight to protect humanity until the very last moment.

In the end, she still could not let go of... her fellow humans.

Chapter 27: Lucky was frail, but lucky.

[To all citizens of City A: observations indicate that an S-rank Polluted is approaching City A. For the safety of all citizens, the Ability Control Bureau has decided to evacuate. Citizens with vehicles are now requested to drive them to meet the nearest Ability Control Bureau member and follow Bureau personnel out in an orderly manner.

Evacuation routes include National Highway 311, the BH Expressway...

Note: the A-rank Polluted currently within the city show little active aggression. Simply avoid them if encountered. Do not attack.

In this time of crisis, humanity must stand more united. We ask all citi

zens to maintain order and not abandon their humanity.]

The Ability Control Bureau's broadcast spread throughout the city. With an S-rank Polluted appearing, evacuation was a foregone conclusion, but how to evacuate was far from simple. City A had too many permanent residents. Although most citizens were good by nature, a population this large inevitably harbored a few rats. If they stirred up trouble in this turbulent moment, the harm would be immeasurable.

Atop the city gate, the branch leaders stationed there had not evacuated with the citizens. Instead, they gathered at the gate, gazing toward that astonishing colossus in the distance. The enormous Mushroom Man swayed as she moved, pollution blanketing the sky above her as if it had substance, like black clouds pressing down overhead. Even from far away, her oppressive presence was chilling.

Fortunately, she moved slowly and would still take some time to arrive.

"An S-rank..."

The leading official seemed to age considerably in an instant. Once the citizens left their homes, would they ever have a chance to return? After Mushroom Man destroyed City A, where would she head next? Was the apocalypse coming?

As though thinking of the consequences an S-rank Polluted would bring, everyone on the wall fell silent. After a long while, an uncertain voice sounded as a middle-aged official hesitantly spoke. "Then... should we go ask that one?"

At the mention of "that one," silence spread once again.

The Ability Control Bureau held a guarantee of safety known only to its upper ranks-"If humanity truly reaches the end of its rope, with nowhere left to turn, go to Mount Songjing to find that one and ask him to leave the mountain."

These words were preserved in the Ability Control Bureau's top-secret files and could be traced back three hundred years. But too much time had passed, and it was no longer possible to discover who had made that promise.

A guest did indeed live on Mount Songjing, a man who never left the mountain.

According to the top-secret files, humanity had survived the catastrophe three hundred years ago not only because humans had awakened, but also because that man had intervened.

Yes, three hundred years ago.

That man had lived for three hundred years, cold, withdrawn, and hardly friendly toward humanity.

A monster.

Monster Archives, entry 0: Rong Yin.

He was the monster entered into the archives alongside the monster Gambler 217 years ago. Centuries had passed, yet his appearance had not aged, and he had rarely left Mount Songjing.

On closer examination, that guarantee of safety recorded in the top-secret files actually held quite a few questions. Who had said those words? Who could possibly restrain such a powerful monster?

Leaving that aside, although there was a guarantee, the monster would not obediently do as asked. Three years ago, when the S-rank Polluted Stormbringer appeared, the Ability Control Bureau sent people to ask him to leave the mountain. He gave no answer.

Mount Songjing was right in City A. This time, would they once again go to ask this guest who was so difficult to persuade?

The people on the wall swallowed involuntarily. Three years ago, they had climbed Mount Songjing's ten thousand stone steps with members of the City S branch and waited anxiously for a day and a night, yet never saw the man appear.

How much compassion could a monster have?

They did not know, but probably not much. Otherwise, they would not have received only silence three years ago.

And yet-

"Go." The branch's highest-ranking leader glanced at the enormous Mushroom Man, who was still approaching. Not long ago, both headquarters and the branches had been delighted that the secret hidden within Mushroom Man might bring hope to the world. Now, none of them dared associate hope with this S-rank Polluted. They did not know what had happened to Mushroom Man, or how she had gone from a C-rank Polluted to such a colossus in so little time. But one thing was certain: an S-rank Polluted could not help people awaken. She would bring only destruction and death. Hell. Hell was coming.

"If we don't even try, how can we face our citizens, who have abandoned their property and left their homes?" The branch's highest-ranking leader spoke in a desolate voice. "Let's go. To Mount Songjing, before Mushroom Man arrives."

A convoy of four vehicles was heading out of the city. Four vehicles and over twenty people, every vehicle packed full-this was Ye Jiang's group. They had already planned to retreat with Xiao Pei. Not long afterward, they heard the Ability Control Bureau's broadcast, and the few who had still been hesitant immediately understood the reason for the evacuation and no longer dared waver. Leave. They had to leave!

Several people in their group were neighbors from nearby, and the vehicles came from among them. There were too few vehicles, and one also held an unconscious young man in uniform with barely a breath left in him. He was the Ability Control Bureau member sent flying by the evolved drum-headed being. Unexpectedly, he had not died in the incident. Ye Jiang's group had discovered him while retreating and picked him up along the way. That left even less room inside the vehicles, but there was no other option. They could only make do.

Space was tight inside the vehicles, and even the trunks held people. But Ye Jiang did not even qualify for a seat in a trunk. Her boss had hauled her onto the roof to sit alongside her and clear the way for the convoy.

"From the looks of it, low- and mid-rank Polluted are more aggressive now. They're the ones we mainly need to watch out for. Don't let them get close to the convoy!"

On the roof, Xiao Pei spoke while lashing out with her chain, sending an approaching B-rank Polluted flying.

Ye Jiang: "..."

She stared broodingly at her boss as the fierce wind blew against her expressionless face.

She understood the reasoning, but dragging even her into doing this work-wasn't that being a little too indiscriminate? She was merely a frail F-rank life-type ability user who could not even truss a chicken.

Her slender frame was buffeted by the wind.

Xiao Pei slouched lazily. Without having to deal with A-rank Polluted, merely attacking the lower-rank ones that approached was a trivial task for the strongest A-rank, hardly worth mentioning. It left her enough attention to observe the F-rank ability user beside her, whom she could not figure out, even as she dealt with the Polluted.

"Hey, waitress," she suddenly said.

Ye Jiang turned to look at her.

Xiao Pei toyed with her little stone and asked, "What's your name?"

"Ye Jiang."

"Ye Jiang?"

Ordinary.

No such name in the Ability Control Bureau, nor among the famous ability-user families.

Yet her strength was unfathomable.

Had the waitress not lied? Was she really F-rank?

Xiao Pei silently questioned it, the image of the waitress casually slapping a Polluted away flashing through her mind.

"Waitress, you..."

Xiao Pei was just about to speak when she suddenly sensed malice. A huge boulder fell from the sky. She instantly shot out her chain, wrapping it around the boulder to fling it away. But the boulder was unexpectedly heavy, and she actually failed to throw it aside on her first attempt. The chain creaked under the opposing forces. Xiao Pei shifted from sitting to kneeling to gain leverage.

Boom!

The boulder was finally flung aside, smashing into a nearby convenience store.

A figure appeared before the convenience store's ruins, covered in black scales, its face retaining most of its original appearance.

Startled, the convoy stopped. Xiao Pei jumped down and stared warily at the black-scaled Polluted.

"Ah."

A quiet exclamation came from the roof. Xiao Pei recognized the waitress's voice. Keeping watch on the black-scaled Polluted, which was not attacking them for the moment, she asked, "What?"

"Teacher Yan." Ye Jiang spoke a name. He was the teacher at the trial grounds with the famous quote.

"You know this Polluted?"

"Yes. He's the annoying, short-tempered teacher who led the team at the trial grounds." The situation was tense, yet Ye Jiang was adding useless, unnecessary qualifiers.

Xiao Pei: "..."

"How did the team's teacher turn into a Polluted?" Xiao Pei asked. Ye Jiang did not have that question. How was she supposed to know? Ye Jiang did not answer, and Xiao Pei did not ask again. It was pointless. The Polluted before them was undoubtedly the source of the murderous intent she had just sensed. It was so thick it made her sick to her stomach. This Polluted was clearly A-rank too, yet unlike the other A-ranks wandering throughout the city, its murderous intent was more blatant, sharper, leaving no doubt that it had nothing whatsoever to do with the word "gentle"!

Xiao Pei's perception was not wrong. Yan Pei was not a Polluted borrowing Mushroom Man's power. After Mushroom Man transformed it, it had been too close to her and absorbed her pollution, evolving independently to A-rank. No, more precisely, A+!

He had entered the city before Mushroom Man and slaughtered his way here, human blood dripping from his scaled armor.