A mission to S City to see a big house.

The snow-white Polluted woman thanked her three times in a row, her feelings sincere. When she mentioned her current condition, she even trembled slightly with excitement.

She could not bear to hurt humans and did not want to become their enemy. She would rather have died, but...

She was still alive now. Not only that, she had regained her sanity and gained such a special physical form. It was nothing short of a miracle!

Ye Jiang agreed that it was a miracle. Mushroom Man looked better now than before. That enormous body had looked inconvenient in every way and made it impossible to fit in. Her current size was just right.

Ye Jiang agreed, but wait, what did any of this have to do with her?

Saying she had stopped her was fine, but helping her regain her sanity and recover a human-sized body-was she supposed to get credit for those things too?

Ye Jiang found that quite a few people had serious misconceptions about her, and this one was particularly outrageous. It was practically deifying her.

She had stayed silent in the past, but this time, she felt she needed to clear things up.

"It wasn't me," she denied outright.

How could she possibly have divine powers like that?

She had only torn off a piece of rotten flesh. It had taken no effort, just a casual gesture. She had done none of the rest.

In fact, she was also very curious about why Mushroom Man had become like this. She wanted to know what had happened to Mushroom Man too.

"It wasn't me," she stressed.

At Ye Jiang's clarification, Ming Chun merely smiled slightly, her eyes curving. "Yes, all right. It wasn't you."

Ye Jiang: "..."

"Please don't worry," Ming Chun said. "I won't reveal my identity as one of the Polluted to anyone. Even if I accidentally expose myself, I won't reveal what you've done. I will never cause you trouble, unless you choose to display your abilities yourself."

She actually really wanted to let the boss who had taken such good care of her know she was safe, but she had only watched the restaurant from a distance without approaching. She could not cause trouble for the teacher who had given her a new life.

Ye Jiang: "?"

What abilities of hers?

What did she have that could be exposed?

With a deadpan face, Ye Jiang stated once again, "I'm just an ordinary ability user who only recently advanced from F-rank to E-rank."

Reshaping the Polluted had absolutely nothing to do with her.

"You advanced?" Ming Chun congratulated her. "Congratulations."

Ye Jiang: "..."

Some of the Polluted had a rather skewed ability to grasp the main point.

Ye Jiang had never liked explaining too much to people, and this was already her limit. Since Mushroom Man insisted on misunderstanding her this way, Ye Jiang gave up clarifying. She had said everything she should. Mushroom Man was the one who refused to believe her.

In fact, not only did Mushroom Man not believe her, neither did Mushroom Man's younger sister. Ming Xia stared at Ye Jiang and said, "Just as there are exceptional cases among the Polluted, like my sister, who retained a sliver of sanity when she became Polluted, I think there must be exceptional cases among ability users too."

The implication was that Ye Jiang was an exceptional case.

Ye Jiang fell silent. She did not feel exceptional. She was quite ordinary.

It was a misunderstanding.

The sisters had already decided that Ye Jiang was special. The older sister, Ming Chun, told Ye Jiang, "From now on, I'll disguise myself as an ability user and do my part for humanity."

This was to make up for the harm she had done to humans.

She added, "Teacher, if you ever need anything from us sisters, please contact this number. We'll do everything we can."

She left a number.

"Teacher, we'll be going now. We won't disturb your rest any longer. There's one more thing..." Mushroom Man introduced herself with a smile. "Teacher, my name is Ming Chun."

The Ming sisters left.

Ye Jiang was alone in the small living room. She sat in a daze for a while, then summoned her ability system with a subtle expression. The light screen popped up, clearly displaying: Sewing Box, E-rank.

She closed the system, her face blank.

All right, it really was a misunderstanding.

A transparent figure came through the wall from next door. Invisible Man rubbed his hands and circled around Ye Jiang. Finding him annoying, Ye Jiang raised her eyes and stared at her darkly. Invisible Man stopped and stammered, "Friend, you're acquainted with M-Mushroom Man too?"

Ye Jiang did not deny it. "Yes. She's sane, just like you, so it's fine."

Invisible Man opened his mouth but made no sound.

It's not a question of whether it's fine. You're a human, living peacefully alongside an S-rank Polluted, and that S-rank Polluted is even incredibly obedient toward you. That's the important part!

Come to think of it, I seem to feel a kind of obedience toward the person in front of me too. If she wanted me to do something, I'd willingly do it.

Hmm.

This human is toxic.

While Ye Jiang saw off all her guests, flopped onto her bed, closed her eyes, and drifted comfortably off to sleep, the City A Branch of the Anomaly Control Bureau was still burning the midnight oil in a post-disaster meeting.

The meeting had three topics: first, discussing the newly discovered monster "Nurse" and Mushroom Man, who was suspected to have been killed by "Nurse"; second, discussing post-disaster relief and compensation arrangements; and last, and most importantly, discussing the abnormal awakenings at the trial ground.

The abnormal awakenings at the trial ground were a matter of great importance, concerning all of humanity. Had the S-rank Polluted incident not suddenly occurred, this matter would have been put on the agenda long ago.

"Trial Ground 165 produced twelve B-rank ability users and one A-rank ability user. This is by no means normal. We initially believed the factor influencing their awakenings was the Polluted testing these thirteen students—Mushroom Man. Now it appears that Mushroom Man was only one of the factors."

"Mushroom Man evolved extremely quickly. While at the trial ground, its rank should already have exceeded C-rank. Over those two weeks, the students remained in close contact with it as it continually evolved, exposed to highly concentrated contamination every day. This far exceeded the usual trial standards, which was why an abnormal number of B-rank ability users awakened, and even an A-rank ability user."

"Mushroom Man affected their awakenings, but the most important thing wasn't Mushroom Man. It was-

"Most of these students did not have outstanding aptitude. How exactly did they withstand such highly concentrated contamination?"

The person presenting these views to the branch leaders was Qin Daichuan, captain of Operations Group One. He had reached these conclusions by questioning the thirteen gifted newly awakened ability users and combining their accounts with the facts of Mushroom Man's evolution.

The leaders present discussed it among themselves. Qin Daichuan's points were very reasonable, but the question remained unanswered. What exactly had helped the students withstand the highly concentrated contamination? What was special about Trial Ground 165?

Qin Daichuan swept his gaze over the leaders deep in thought and spoke again:

"I have an answer."

His words stirred up a storm. All the leaders raised their heads to look at him. The closer they came to the truth, the harder it was to contain themselves. Branch Director Shi Tao barely maintained his composure as he asked, "Captain Qin, what are your thoughts?"

Qin Daichuan said, "My answer is the contracted cat-person who looked after those students-A Turbot."

"..."

"..."

Before the meeting began, Qin Daichuan had submitted the records of his previous interviews. Naturally, they included the cat-person named "A Turbot." According to the students, that cat-person was merely an F-rank ability user, whose ability was neither mental nor healing.

Admittedly, there was nothing special about 165, and identifying the factor that had helped the students withstand highly concentrated contamination was exceedingly difficult. But was that cat-person particularly special?

It seemed she was, a little.

The records said that every student described her petting as very comfortable.

It was rather absurd. How could an F-rank ability user possibly help students withstand highly concentrated contamination? She was already lucky not to have been contaminated herself.

Yet she did seem to have the strongest presence in this whole affair. Perhaps they should trust the theory that once all impossibilities had been eliminated, whatever remained, however impossible, must be the truth.

Shi Tao felt somewhat inclined to agree with Qin Daichuan's answer, but as the branch's highest-ranking leader, he could not reach a conclusion lightly. He said, "Regardless, we have to find that cat-person. We absolutely cannot miss her. Only by finding her will we have a chance of uncovering the truth."

The other leaders nodded in agreement. Yes, they had to find her. They could discuss the rest afterward!

Shi Tao instructed Qin Daichuan, "Send your people to look for her."

After issuing the assignment, Shi Tao remembered something and added a reminder. "Quietly. Don't make a big show of it. Keep the reason for the search secret for now."

Qin Daichuan nodded, understanding his meaning. Humanity was not

completely united in purpose. The concern was that word might leak and someone with ulterior motives might intercept her along the way. This concerned all of humanity, so it was better to be cautious.

When Ye Jiang woke up, it was broad daylight. Wrapped in her quilt, she did not want to move for a long time.

She wanted to lie there all day, but she could not. She had to make money.

She could no longer go to the little restaurant, so she listlessly opened Part-Time Cat to look for new money-making jobs. Upon entering, she found quite a few new tasks in the task hall, many of them well suited to her ability. A glance showed that all the posters were "Ability Control Bureau City A Branch-XX." She wondered whether the bureau had suffered some sort of rat infestation overnight. It seemed everyone suddenly needed sewing and mending.

She chose none of them, instead taking a job escorting someone out of the city. The reason was simple: she had done it before and knew the ropes.

It also paid more than the bureau's mending jobs.

Who would take that sort of odd job when they had other options?

Chapter 36: A mission to S City to see a big house.

Ye Jiang escorted her client to the expressway entrance leading out of the city. They did not encounter a single Polluted along the way, and everything went incredibly smoothly. Yet once they reached their destination, the client started making a fuss. Sticking out his fat belly, he haggled with her, arguing that she had done nothing the entire trip and that he had even driven the car himself, so she should only charge half price. Ye Jiang thought he deserved a beating, so she gave him one. She persuaded him through physical means, and the client quickly saw the light, willingly paid her, and gave her a five-star review. Both parties became very happy.

As soon as she got out, the client drove away at top speed. He was not from City A and had only come on a business trip, getting stranded here because of the S-rank Polluted incident. Now he could finally go home. From the speed at which he drove away, Ye Jiang could tell he was eager to get back.

With the S-rank Polluted incident only just over, more people than usual were entering and leaving the city. Some were entering to visit relatives, while others felt City A was unsafe and were moving away with their whole families. In short, it was livelier than usual.