Warning the weak S-rank contaminant.

The observer had overused his ability, leaving his eyes bulging and bloodshot. He looked at Ye Jiang in alarm. "Y-you scared me! When did you get here?"

"Just now." Ye Jiang had been about to drink some water, but seeing his condition, she held the bottle out to him. "Want some water?"

The observer waved several times in refusal. Seeing Ye Jiang in ordinary clothes, he asked, "What are you doing here? Didn't you get the evacuation notice?"

Ye Jiang took a sip of water. "I heard it. No rush."

She was going to evacuate with Yu Qingyi, and as a member of the Ability Control Bureau's logistics team, Yu Qingyi had to leave last. With so many citizens still here, Yu Qingyi couldn't leave first. So there was no rush.

Her "no rush" almost had the observer frantic. "How can there be no rush? The sooner you evacuate, the sooner you're safe..."

Then he spotted the Blood Moon symbol on Ye Jiang's finger. "Oh, you're an ability user?"

Ye Jiang: "..."

She didn't really want to talk about that.

Her eyelids drooped listlessly as she lowered her head and drank.

The observer's anxious attitude changed at once, and he chuckled. "So you're an ability user. Are you a cat person here to help? It's pretty safe here. You don't need to protect me."

Cat people was what some people in the Ability Control Bureau liked to call members of Part-Time Cat.

The observer had barely finished speaking when a Polluted with bone wings came hurtling toward them. Winged Polluted were rare, and this was the first one the observer had encountered in all his time here. He shouted in alarm, "Move!"

His warning came too late. Ye Jiang had already grabbed the swooping Polluted's wing and yanked. Fluid splattered, and the bone-winged Polluted, stripped of half its means of transportation, flailed as it fell to the ground.

Ye Jiang turned to look at the observer. "Hmm?"

The observer: "..."

He swallowed. "Boss, I really need your protection here. Thank you. Please, you absolutely must stay."

Ye Jiang: "..."

She hadn't come here to protect anyone, either.

Forget it.

Let him misunderstand. It wasn't the first time she'd been misunderstood anyway.

Chapter 31: Warning the weak S-rank Polluted.

Ye Jiang stayed at the city gate, leaning against the wall and gazing into the distance.

Far away.

Mushroom Man stopped gathering flowers. It extended many fine, soft hyphae to curl around the fallen blossoms. The sight looked somewhat incongruous, but no one dared say anything. It stood up, and that single movement made the three renowned A-rank ability users nearby tense at once, their hearts involuntarily racing and their adrenaline surging.

"Is it leaving?"

"Looks like it."

Mushroom Man had long known that three humans were standing in the tree ahead, but it didn't care. Once a Polluted reached its level, ranks no longer distinguished human ability users. They were all equally weak, as fragile as the fallen blossoms curled in its hyphae, and it could destroy them with ease.

Ignoring the humans, Mushroom Man set off again.

It began to run.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning struck ahead of it, and a rift appeared out of nowhere. Mushroom Man's steps briefly faltered. The ground beneath its feet suddenly turned to quicksand, tipping it forward as it lost its balance. Several thick iron chains shot toward it, locking around its arms to drag it into the ravine... That was the plan, anyway. But the chains failed to aim precisely at Mushroom Man's arms. Mushroom Man reacted quickly and dodged sideways. The chains swept past the front of its arms, missing their chance to bind it, and merely struck its chest before sliding off.

[Screech!]

Mushroom Man shrieked and shook in pain, its hyphae lashing out in every direction, out of control.

The three A-rank ability users immediately dodged, searching for their next opening as they evaded the attacks. Xiao Pei was closest because she had been using her chains. She tilted her head up to watch above her. Suddenly, something fell overhead, black and white objects cascading from Mushroom Man's chest. She darted aside, and they clattered down beside her feet.

Did Mushroom Man have another means of attack?

Just as the thought crossed Xiao Pei's mind, she looked down and discovered that what had landed beside her feet were only... game pieces.

Black and white Go stones.

The discovery surprised her so much that her movements slowed a little. She failed to notice another object falling, and it struck her shoulder. Deflected by the iron-hard body of a high-level ability user, it dropped into her field of vision.

This time, what had fallen was... a small stone with a distinctive shape.

Deeply shaken, Xiao Pei abruptly looked up.

"Watch out!"

The second team's captain called out a warning from afar. Xiao Pei instinctively dodged, avoiding an attack from a thick hypha.

She glanced at the enormous Mushroom Man, her mind reeling. Abandoning the next attack she had prepared, she dodged out of close range and retreated to the two branch captains.

"Found something?" Qin Daichuan asked the moment she returned, as keen as a hawk.

Xiao Pei couldn't settle her turmoil for a long time. In her field of vision, Mushroom Man had abandoned its pursuit of the humans and was using its hyphae to pick things up from the ground.

Xiao Pei clutched at her chest, closing her hand around a small stone. It dug into her palm.

Her voice was slightly hoarse. "I think I know who Mushroom Man was before being contaminated..."

Both branch captains looked at her.

Xiao Pei gritted her teeth. "But there's no point discussing that. Polluted are already brain-dead after being contaminated. Whoever it was, whatever kind of person it was before, none of that had anything to do with her anymore the moment it became Polluted."

But was that really true?

Mushroom Man behaved far more gently than Stormbringer. It was already Polluted, yet it still cherished even the plants. It would stop for fallen flowers, and even the A-rank Polluted influenced by it were gentler than they otherwise would have been.

Just like her personality when she was alive.

Ming Chun-the previous server at the little restaurant, a gentle, peaceful girl who was always good-tempered.

So that girl had become Polluted.

The stone pressed painfully against Xiao Pei's chest.

"Indeed." Qin Daichuan's calm voice rang out, sounding somewhat cold.

He raised a hand, and a tremendous thunderstorm crashed down. Wind howled and thunder roared, lightning flashing in bizarre patterns. This strike was even more powerful than the last, and the sky abruptly darkened.

Xiao Pei seemed to sense something as a cold, sinister aura washed over her. She looked toward Mushroom Man and saw that it had stopped gathering the Go stones and pebbles. It had grown considerably taller again and was releasing its oppressive aura without restraint.

It seemed angry.

Abandoning its game of playing house with the humans, Mushroom Man revealed strength that overwhelmed all three present. Hyphae danced wildly and lightning crashed down, but its enormous body passed straight through the thunderstorm, its raised leg spanning the ravine. In that instant, the thunderstorm lit its silhouette like a white asura.

Qin Daichuan's lightning, Xiao Pei's chains, and the second team's captain's sand ropes attacked Mushroom Man together. But its hyphae shredded the thunderstorm, the chains were knocked back, and the sand ropes collapsed into a shower of sand. Mushroom Man strode over the three of them and left without looking back.

The three pursued it for a while, only to be left far behind.

"Whatever it was before, all I know is that right now, it poses an enormous threat to our city!"

Mr. Mobster went berserk. Lightning wreathed his body, and dark clouds writhed overhead.

He surged forward in pursuit, instantly breaking away from the three-person team as he chased Mushroom Man, his entire body enveloped in a frenzied aura of lightning.

Xiao Pei: "..."

City A's Mr. Mobster certainly lived up to his reputation.

She sped up to follow.

A desperate pursuit played out in the wilderness. Atop the city gate, the observer watched Mushroom Man draw ever closer, his body trembling involuntarily. It's coming! It's coming! Mushroom Man is coming!

How could it be so fast?!

Most of the citizens haven't had time to evacuate!

This is bad!

So bad!

Mushroom Man's figure was already clearly visible. The wind had changed, turning cold and damp, like countless fine needles pricking the skin.

The observer stopped watching, turned, and struck the warning bell three times in succession.

Dong-

Dong-

Dong-

Announcing the arrival of an S-rank Polluted.

His eyes blood-red, the observer ran down the city wall. His task was finished. He could do nothing about what came next, and he, too, had to flee for his life.

Reaching the foot of the wall, he looked back and saw that the boss was still up there.

He froze for a moment, then shouted, "Boss, what are you doing? We have to go! Hurry!"

She might be a boss, but compared with an S-rank Polluted, she was nothing worth mentioning.

As if she couldn't feel any of the observer's urgency below, Ye Jiang gazed down at him and said calmly, "You go. I'll wait a little longer."

Yu Qingyi hadn't called to hurry her along yet. There was no rush.

Ye Jiang didn't know that she hadn't received a call because the S-rank Polluted's arrival had disrupted the signal, making calls impossible. When the three warning bells announcing its arrival rang throughout the city, the entire city descended into chaos. The citizens who hadn't yet evacuated to the intersection nearly broke down.

Stormbringer had killed a million citizens and displaced millions more. What kind of hell would Mushroom Man bring?

Despair spread through the city.

Ye Jiang, an amnesiac, knew none of this. She did intend to evacuate, but-

"No rush."

She spoke to the observer below.

Her leisurely manner left him dumbfounded. What? Mushroom Man is practically upon us, and there's still no rush?

The observer remembered something, and his face suddenly filled with emotion.

No, the boss was staying to stop Mushroom Man from entering the city! She was going to use her mere flesh and blood to create a barrier for humanity! Just like those capable captains!

So that was it!

That was what the boss intended!

The corners of the observer's eyes grew wet. He gave Ye Jiang a long look. "Boss, I'll remember you!"

"All of humanity will remember you!" he cried, his eyes reddening.

With that, he rubbed the corners of his eyes and resolutely left, unwilling to waste the boss's devoted sacrifice.

Ye Jiang: "?"

There seemed to be something she hadn't understood.

Just as she was about to think it over, a gust blew toward her. The cold air was so damp it seemed saturated with water, and the sky was gloomy. Ye Jiang paused her thoughts and looked outside the city. The enormous Mushroom Man was running toward the city gate, shrouded in dense black contamination. Behind it was a blood-red sunset. Blood and black mingled, creating an indescribable sense of evil.