After the disaster: wasn't this the Mushroom Man who died?

"A human, crushing... flesh with her bare hands." Nurse gazed in the direction Ye Jiang had left. "Interesting."

Rumble.

Thunder rolled in with dark clouds. Mr. Mobster skidded to a halt before the ruined city wall. No Mushroom Man, no contamination, no killing intent-only mycelium strewn across the ground.

His wildly excited nerves slowly cooled, and Mr. Mobster calmed down.

Qin Daichuan frowned. He withdrew his lightning and walked over to the thick pile of mycelium.

What happened?

Was Mushroom Man... dead?

Who killed her?

Who could kill her?

A gaze fell upon him. He abruptly looked up. Atop the city wall, Nurse leaned against the shattered parapet, chin in hand, watching him idly.

A monster!

Qin Daichuan's body instantly tensed, and he watched her warily.

Nurse giggled, finding his reaction interesting.

But that interest paled beside what she felt for the other human. Nurse quickly stopped smiling, pursed her lips in boredom, and vanished in a flash.

Only long after Nurse left did Qin Daichuan relax. Several sets of footsteps approached: Xiao Pei and the second team captain had arrived.

The moment Xiao Pei arrived, she saw the mycelium covering the ground. Complicated feelings flickered in her eyes. Only after a long while did she ask Qin Daichuan what had happened. Qin Daichuan looked down at the mycelium and said, "Mushroom Man might already be dead."

"Might," because he had not seen it happen himself.

But Mushroom Man was so enormous. If she were not dead, how could she hide?

Oh, saying "hide" was far too disrespectful to an S-rank Polluted. It strode brazenly through the streets; the weak humans were the ones who hid.

Xiao Pei said nothing after hearing this. Sorrow surfaced in her eyes, while the second team captain asked anxiously, "Who could kill her?"

Qin Daichuan looked toward the city wall, now empty, and coldly uttered one word: "Monster."

Silence.

Xiao Pei looked at Qin Daichuan in alarm.

She had once been the Ability Control Bureau's chief captain, so of course she knew monsters existed. She had not expected to hear that term here.

"Which one?" she asked. Which of the nine monsters in the archives had come and killed Mushroom Man?

A hint of exhaustion settled between Qin Daichuan's brows. "Nurse."

"Nurse?"

"A new monster pending review," Qin Daichuan said. "A ninety percent likelihood of being a monster."

Xiao Pei: "..."

Another monster had actually appeared.

This monster had dealt with an S-rank Polluted, sparing humanity a city-destroying disaster. Then she...

"What's her stance? Does she lean toward humans?"

Xiao Pei could not help asking.

Qin Daichuan did not dare make unfounded claims. This was a monster. Afraid his judgment might mislead others, he merely gave a factual account of his first encounter

with Nurse at the Zhou Family estate. His account matched what he had entered into the Monster Archives. Xiao Pei was astonished after hearing it. The previous A-rank contaminant incident had ended swiftly, with little damage, and the official notice had stated that the water-controlling contaminant had vanished for unknown reasons. So this had been behind it.

So this monster had helped humans take action against high-risk Polluted twice?

No, she couldn't think that way.

Even if the monster had truly done those things, it did not necessarily mean she had done them for humans. Perhaps monsters had merely acted on a whim. If they turned their power against humanity in the future, that might also be nothing more than a whim.

Whether monsters were good or evil was unknown. Their motives were unknown. Their movements were unknown.

Trusting monsters readily was inadvisable. Monsters were far too powerful compared with humans, and placing trust in them too readily might deal all of humanity a crushing blow.

As a former member of the Ability Control Bureau, Xiao Pei understood this deep down.

The three A-rank ability users each had their own thoughts. Xiao Pei set aside her suspicions about the monster for now, shot out her chains, and used them to scale the city wall, looking out over the city-

How were things in the city now?

Inside the city, several minutes earlier.

Mushroom Man suddenly let out a shrill whistle, then her enormous body twisted wildly. The sight terrified the citizens out of their wits.

"Mushroom Man is coming in!"

"Mushroom Man is going to smash through our city wall!"

The citizens were terrified and despairing. Hell-hell was about to descend.

Yet after Mushroom Man's tremendous commotion, the dust cleared, and she was nowhere to be seen.

Huh?

The citizens inside the city hesitantly slowed their fleeing steps, staring blankly at the city wall, bewildered and uncertain.

"Mushroom Man... she's gone?"

The citizens looked at one another, not understanding what had happened.

After a long time, someone began to sob, then a second person, a third... The tears the citizens had been holding back finally spilled.

Although they did not know what had happened... the catastrophe seemed to have passed.

Had a god heard their pleas and descended here to save them?

"Waaah..."

The first person began bawling, drawing out more cries.

That day, millions of citizens experienced a harrowing day. Fortunately, a "god" heard their prayers and took the disaster away.

The evacuation plan was suspended. Escorted by Ability Control Bureau members, the citizens returned home and followed the official notice to stay indoors and remain on alert.

Night fell. Operations team members moved through the darkness, killing the remaining Polluted, and were surprised to discover that every A-rank ability user in the city had disappeared. More precisely, they had not disappeared; their contamination ranks had plummeted, returning to their original ranks. This also indirectly proved that Mushroom Man was dead.

As dawn broke, streaks of vivid color pierced the pale blue sky, and morning light spilled down. Bathed in dawn, City A regained its peace. All low- and mid-rank Polluted had been killed. Hope rose alongside the morning sun, and the logistics team began its work.

Xiao Pei finished a night of operations, her ability overdrawn. She rested beneath the window of a residence. Morning light bathed her face, softening her somewhat stern features. She lowered her eyes and waited for her limbs to stop trembling.

The window opened a crack, and a tiny, plump hand reached out to wipe the filthy blood from Xiao Pei's face. Xiao Pei abruptly raised her eyes, but before their cold sharpness fully emerged, that soft touch wiped it clean away. She froze. The child gazed at her with clear eyes and giggled.

She spread her hands and sent chains shooting out to eradicate vicious Polluted, all for a smile like this.

Xiao Pei mustered a slightly stiff smile for the child.

Rested, she silently left the window before the child's family discovered her.

She headed toward her little shop.

The streets had become quiet and safe. Once she relaxed, she suddenly noticed something unusual.

Puzzled, she opened her ability system. The system's light screen popped up, displaying her ability interface before her.

Ability: Corrosion Chains.

Rank: A

Ranking: 1/88

Ability index: 9999999

The ability index was the numerical quantification of an ability. F-rank ability indices had two digits, E-rank three, D-rank four, C-rank five, B-rank six, and A-rank seven. Changes in the number allowed users to see their abilities grow.

Many years ago, Xiao Pei's ability index had already reached the threshold of eight digits, making her an A+ among A-ranks. The Ability Control Bureau speculated that once she broke through from seven digits to eight, her ability would reach S-rank.

Unfortunately, her ability index had not changed for many years, as though it had already reached the limit of the abilities the system could grant humanity.

But at some point, her ability index had moved, going from 9999998 to 9999999, an increase of one point.

Xiao Pei was stunned. Her ability index had actually, actually moved!

Why?!

With the evacuation plan canceled, Ye Jiang returned to Yu Qingyi's little apartment. Bored, she leaned over the windowsill to look outside, fiddling with her fingers. She accidentally touched the Blood Moon mark and brought up her ability system.

A light screen popped up.

Ability: Sewing Box (can reweave any torn clothing to make it as good as new).

Rank: E.

Ranking: ??

Ye Jiang glanced at it.

"Hmm?"

Had her ability evolved?

Interested, Ye Jiang began playing with her new ability. After a round of experiments, she discovered...

Her ability had not changed at all.

Refusing to give up, she poked all over the ability screen and accidentally entered that strange "Domination" interface. Something had been added to its item storage slots. The first slot still held that pitch-black "sesame ball," while the second held a lone red point of light. This was the new addition. It looked no different from the points of light in the "sesame ball," only larger and brighter. Those in the first slot were "sesame seeds"; the new arrival was a "watermelon."

Ye Jiang still remembered the dizzy discomfort she had felt after poking a point of light in the "sesame ball." With no desire whatsoever to investigate this new thing, she exited with a wooden expression.

Losing interest in her ability system, she closed it with a blank face.

Ye Jiang did not know that the moment Mushroom Man became "human," a Blood Moon mark had appeared on Mushroom Man's finger, Ye Jiang's ability rank had risen to E, and the ability indices of every ability user in the world had jumped by one to several points.

Chapter 34: After the disaster: wasn't this the Mushroom Man who died?

The ability indices had changed across the board, but individually, aside from people like Xiao Pei, whose indices had remained unchanged for years, other ability users would not pay much attention. After all, their indices naturally changed along with their proficiency in using their abilities.

Xiao Pei cared-very much. She even covered her face and trembled over it. Xiao Pei had once despaired over humanity's stagnation and had fallen into a slump because of it. Now, that one-point jump in her ability index told her that hope was being rekindled for humanity!

What an astonishing gift!

There was just one thing-who had given it?

Two days later, First Hospital.

So comfortable. Her body felt as though it had plunged into snow-white clouds, cool and soft. She wanted to sink deep into them, roll over, and stay like this forever... No, she couldn't sink into this. The S-rank Polluted had started running. The people of an entire city wouldn't have time to evacuate. She had to stop her, hold her back for a minute—no, a second. Even one second would do!