Changes after an ability upgrade

She merely looked at her and asked softly, "Student, why must you enter the city?"

Mushroom Man did not answer. Several snow-white strands of mycelium turned black, and she trembled even harder.

Ye Jiang said, "It's so dangerous in there."

Repeatedly warned of the "danger," Mushroom Man unconsciously "looked" into the city.

Suddenly, her trembling body went still.

Her mycelium kept turning black, the pain beyond words, yet she suddenly quieted down.

Drip.

A drop of milky-white liquid fell from above and splashed beside Ye Jiang's feet. She looked up and saw milky liquid streaming down Mushroom Man's featureless face. Drip, drip.

Mushroom Man "stared" into the city.

She "saw" a mother fleeing with her child after an attack by a Polluted, leaving a trail of blood. She "saw" an old person standing lost in the street, murmuring the names of the dead. She "saw" people making their last stand through their tears, refusing to give up on life despite their despair. She "saw"...

She had grown so enormous, and humans had become so tiny, that she had begun to lose "sight" of them.

Little sister.

Am I a killer?

Little sister.

Did I bring death to this city?

Little sister.

What am I doing?

Obsession and reason pulled endlessly against each other.

She felt a new kind of pain, born of guilt.

Yet she could not stop. Her obsession urged her forward, forward...

"...What should I do?" For the first time, the weeping S-rank Polluted spoke clearly, only to ask for help.

Someone, stop her.

Someone... kill her.

"What should I do?"

"What should I do?"

Mushroom Man kept walking into the city, her body shaking, all her fluttering strands of mycelium drooping to the ground, tears streaming down her face.

"Student."

A human voice reached her.

"Squat down."

Mushroom Man struggled for several seconds but could not stop walking. Her obsession drove her forward.

"Student, squat down."

The voice came again.

I can't.

I can't do it.

Mushroom Man was just about to answer that way when her uncontrollable body abruptly halted. Her knees creaked, and she squatted down.

It was as though the words had bound her.

The next second, the human suddenly reached for her chest. Mushroom Man wanted to dodge, but her body was restrained, leaving her unable to move. The human's hand plunged deep into her chest. With a ripping sound, as though tearing fabric, the human tore a piece of flesh from deep inside her chest.

A foul-smelling, pitch-black lump of flesh.

Stinking liquid splattered.

Mushroom Man shuddered.

"Screee!!"

Mushroom Man let out a shrill whistle that pierced the meninges. On the other side of the wall, every evacuating citizen covered their ears in pain.

A student in an Ability Control Bureau training uniform raced toward the city wall. As a newly awakened A-rank ability user, she could manipulate gravity, making herself light as a swallow. With it, she leaped nimbly and swiftly between the tall buildings.

Ming Xia headed toward Mushroom Man.

This Mushroom Man... was this Mushroom Man her older sister?

Ming Xia had to know the answer, even if it cost her life.

She had broken away from her team and headed for the city gate early on, but she had encountered a group of injured citizens along the way. Gritting her teeth, she had escorted them part of the way, which was why she still had not reached the gate.

Almost.

Almost.

She was almost there!

"Screee!"

The piercing whistle stabbed through her brain. Ming Xia covered her ears in pain and reflexively looked toward the city wall. In her field of

vision, Mushroom Man suddenly began moving violently, her enormous body ramming the city wall like mad, sending dirt and stone flying.

What happened?

Ming Xia had no idea. The next instant, she saw the mycelium on Mushroom Man's body suddenly falling like snow. The enormous Mushroom Man was disintegrating.

"Sis!"

Ming Xia's eyes reddened. Without thinking, she overtaxed her ability, manipulating her body to the utmost as she raced toward Mushroom Man like the wind.

On top of the city wall, Ye Jiang held the lump of flesh. It struggled as though alive, spreading like sludge, trying to stitch itself onto her hand like a flap of excess skin. Ye Jiang felt a slight stinging pain, a sense that her soul had been violated. Threads of red appeared in her pitch-black eyes.

She tightened her fingers, and the flesh abruptly shattered.

"Ah."

She gave a quiet cry, her eyes returning to deep black.

Looking at her hand covered in rotten flesh, her face twitched, and she shook her hand in disgust.

This thing had revealed itself after Mushroom Man's mycelium turned black. It had been stitched to Mushroom Man's chest, pitch-black, looking filthy and bizarre against her snow-white body.

Such lousy stitching. I can't stand looking at it.

So thought Ye Jiang, who possessed the "Sewing Box" ability.

Then she had torn it off.

Mushroom Man stopped twitching, and everything fell quiet. Ye Jiang stood atop the ruined city wall and looked down.

"Huh?"

She made a low, puzzled sound.

Outside the city wall, the dust cleared. Mushroom Man's enormous body had vanished. Amid the mycelium covering the ground, a snow-white "human" lay curled up. Long silver hair covered her naked body. Her snow-white eyelashes trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes, revealing silver irises.

Chapter 33: Changes after an ability upgrade.

Ming Xia had never dreamed this would be the sight awaiting her at the city gate. A great hole had been smashed through the city wall. Through it, she saw a snow-white "human" lying amid thick layers of mycelium. Snow-white hair, snow-white skin-her entire body was as pure and flawless as snow. With her back to Ming Xia, the "human" slowly sat up. Her silver hair slipped down, covering her body of its own accord.

What was this?

Where was Mushroom Man?

Where had Mushroom Man gone?

Could it be...

Ming Xia's pupils trembled. Her throat bobbed several times, and she murmured in a shaking voice, "Sis?"

Hearing her voice, the "human" turned her head. Her eyes were like snow as well.

But...

But that face was... her sister's face.

Ming Xia's mind went blank. What was going on?

Ming Chun blinked slowly, still somewhat dazed. She-how had she become so light? The heaviness in her body was gone, and so was the pain. Her mind was clear, and her field of vision had returned to its normal scale. She-she had regained her human form.

"Sis!"

The familiar voice reached her, full of excitement. Ming Chun blinked. Her little sister ran through the great hole in the city wall toward her and dropped to her knees with a thud, heedless of them, throwing her arms around her.

She was held tight.

"Sis."

"Sis."

Longing overwhelmed her questions, and Ming Xia called softly, again and again, to the sister she had lost and regained.

Countless complicated thoughts flashed through Ming Chun's mind, finally becoming a sigh as she raised her arms and embraced her little girl.

"Mm." She patted her gently and told her little sister, just as she always had, "I'm here."

And so she was held even tighter.

The dense black corruption around them still writhed menacingly. Even Ming Xia, an A-rank ability user, was severely affected, black patches appearing on her skin. With a thought, Ming Chun drew every trace of corruption into her body, leaving not a wisp behind. She spotted a fallen flower a short distance away. With barely a thought, a strand of mycelium emerged from her fingers and curled around it.

Ming Chun froze, suddenly realizing that the power still existed within her body. She was still an S-rank Polluted; she had merely regained human reason and a human body.

No, it seemed there was more to it than that.

A flash of blood-red entered her vision. Deeply shaken, she reflexively curled her fingers-

On her finger... there was now a blood-red mark.

A Blood Moon mark.

The mark of an ability user.

Ming Chun: "!!!"

What exactly had she...

She raised her head toward the top of the city wall. The slight human stood there, looking down at her, a breeze tugging at the hem of her clothes.

Had she done this?

Had she made her like this?

Had she killed that thing she had been and brought her present self to life?

Rumble!

Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The lightning was moving in their direction. Captain Qin of the Ability Control Bureau was fighting his way toward them, brimming with killing intent.

Their current situation would be difficult to explain. Ming Chun's thoughts raced. She gently tucked the fallen flower atop her little sister's head and said tenderly, "Xiao Xia, let's leave this place first."

As she spoke, she kept looking toward the top of the city wall, gratitude in her gaze.

With that, she sent out mycelium to wrap around Ming Xia and took her through the great hole in the wall into the city. In a few swift movements, they vanished.

Before Ming Xia could react, her view shifted, and she was inside the city, carried away by her sister. As they left, she happened to glance back and vaguely saw someone standing on the city wall, a familiar figure. That was...

She was carried away.

The sisters left, both entering the city.

Ye Jiang: "..."

Didn't I say not to go into the city?

All that work for nothing.

She fell silent for a moment, then walked unhurriedly down from the city wall, in a less-than-wonderful mood.

She was going back to the intersection to find Yu Qingyi. Her chess partner would not listen and insisted on entering the city. She had tried to dissuade her; if the other party refused to listen, she could not be blamed. It was getting late, and she had to retreat too. Who knew when that S-rank Polluted would arrive? What sort of vicious appearance would such a powerful anomalous creature have?

Thinking of this and that, she left the city gate.

No sooner had she left than a "person" appeared atop the wall, standing where Ye Jiang had just stood.

Foul-smelling scraps of flesh lay scattered on the city wall, mottled and black. The newcomer ground them under her foot.

"It really does smell like..."

"I smelled it from miles away. Disgusting."

The monster in a nurse's uniform wiped her shoes on a clear patch of ground. Something occurred to her, and the corners of her mouth suddenly lifted, a smile of indeterminate good or evil appearing on her beautiful face.