Chapter 37

But hardly anyone was around just then, and the intersection was deserted.

Ye Jiang stood by the roadside, waiting to see if she could pick up another escort job back to the city. Most importantly, she wanted to hitch a ride.

A figure slowly entered her field of vision, wearing an extravagant princess gown with an enormous skirt covered in glittering diamond chips, looking very much like a noble princess on her way to a royal ball. Her outfit was lavish, but that lavishness belonged to the past. Now her dress was in tatters, its hem worn like a rag and its fabric covered in dark red blood. Perhaps because the dress was too heavy, she swayed as she walked. She walked along the open road, the air scorching under the blazing sun, her figure looking somewhat unreal in the shifting air. But Ye Jiang still clearly saw that her skull was shattered, her features were crudely stuck together, and her tongue had not been tucked in properly, dangling far outside her mouth.

If this woman was a princess, then she must have just finished attending a ball, discovered an army at the gates, and leaped from the city wall to die for her country.

Judging by her appearance, the "princess" seemed to be Polluted.

Ye Jiang had intended to ask the lady whether she needed an escort, but once she got a clear look at her, she turned and left.

This "princess of a fallen kingdom" did not look as though she could afford to pay.

A tongue shot toward Ye Jiang with a gust of wind the instant she turned. Ye Jiang tilted her head slightly, and the tongue missed, paused, then retracted.

Having been attacked, Ye Jiang slowly turned back and stared at the "princess" who had attacked her.

The features on the "princess's" face were so badly misaligned that discerning an expression was truly difficult, yet Ye Jiang saw confusion there. The "princess" seemed a little vacant.

Ye Jiang stared at her for quite a while, but she did not move at all, as though she had frozen.

There was a living presence within this "princess."

Ye Jiang smelled it. She withdrew her gaze, thought for a moment, then let the matter go and left.

This time, no further attack came.

Ye Jiang failed to get a job back to the city and had to walk all the way back on her own two legs.

The "princess" also staggered into the city. Not long after entering, it encountered an independent ability user. The human and the Polluted fought, and the independent ability user won. Before he could celebrate, he saw the corpse he had slain twitch. Thinking the Polluted was not quite dead, he was about to step forward and finish it off when he saw black smoke resembling corruption rise from its body. Startled, he hurriedly jumped away.

When the black smoke dispersed, several cracks appeared across the Polluted's body. With a faint crack, it suddenly split from head to toe. Its ugly head split open like a mask, and its lavish, filthy princess gown also split apart before disappearing, leaving an ordinary human woman lying lifeless on the ground.

The ability user's eyes widened in horror.

The fatal wound he had inflicted on the Polluted was still gushing blood. Such a wound on a Polluted's corpse would not have stirred any feelings, but on the corpse of a fellow human, it turned a hero into a killer.

The ability user went deathly pale, covered his mouth, and vomited.

"Bleurgh."

The Ability Control Bureau rushed over after receiving the call and saw the human woman upon arrival. After learning what had happened, everyone who had come wore a grave expression. They took the body back to the bureau for an autopsy.

When the Polluted first appeared three hundred years ago, people had discovered that the moment someone became Polluted, they were not only already brain-dead, but their genes also underwent changes that distinguished them from humans. After a thorough autopsy of the body brought back to the bureau, the final conclusion was that this corpse was not a Polluted that looked human.

She was an ordinary human.

The result made everyone's expression change.

What... what on earth was going on?

City S.

A man sat atop a ruined high-rise, the wind stirring the hem of his clothes as he leafed through the notes in his hand: [I am the last princess of my nation. I love my country and my people. The villain who stormed the capital wants to take me as his wife. After killing my subjects, he wants to kill my dignity too. I am the princess of this kingdom. Though my nation has fallen, I must not abandon propriety or suffer humiliation.]

"A dull story."

The man tore up the notes.

City A.

With the S-rank Polluted incident over, the citizens gradually returned to their normal lives. Ordinary people were busy working and making a good life for themselves. No one noticed that the Ability Control Bureau was conducting a covert operation, capturing "anomalies."

"Anomalies" had invaded City A. They shared several characteristics: they looked like the Polluted, possessed special abilities, yet carried no corruption. Another point was that their outfits were often extremely exaggerated, such as dressing like Little Red Riding Hood from a fairy tale or wearing full armor, as though they had walked out of a theater.

Because of the "princess" incident a few days earlier, the Ability Control Bureau believed that beneath these outfits were merely ordinary civilians, so rather than disposing of these anomalies, they captured them and kept them under close guard.

This continued for over half a month. After half a month, the "anomalies" stopped appearing.

While the Ability Control Bureau was busy dealing with this strange affair, Ye Jiang was busy making money. Being an ability user was extremely convenient, and she had earned quite a bit over the past half month.

Another payment came in. Watching her little nest egg grow, Ye Jiang felt delighted, but her good mood vanished after she checked housing prices in City A.

Her face darkened.

She wanted to get a bigger home for herself and Yu Qingyi.

But she was poor.

Invisible Man had spent over a month looking for work and suffered one failure after another. By now, he had started to give up, going out every day and bringing back no work, only gossip.

"My friend, do you know what the hottest topic out there is lately? City S!"

Invisible Man's constitution was exceptionally suited to eavesdropping, and it had overheard plenty.

Ye Jiang had not been interested in Invisible Man's gossip, but when she heard City S mentioned, she listened a little longer. She remembered Yu Qingyi seemed to have mentioned that the two of them had once lived in City S.

Invisible Man said, "Didn't we just have that S-rank Polluted incident? Some people connected it to City S, which also suffered an S-rank Polluted incident. That was three years ago, but City S is still designated a restricted zone. Isn't that a waste? Stormbringer whipped up wind and rain there back then, spreading corruption everywhere and attracting lots of the Polluted on a pilgrimage. But there are no living people there, so plenty of the Polluted should have dispersed. It's been three years. The corruption should have dropped below safe levels too."

"So?" Ye Jiang asked.

Seeing that she was listening, Invisible Man grew enthusiastic. "So the people who escaped City S are getting eager to go home. They want to return. People are getting restless."

Ye Jiang was from City S, but she had lost her memory and felt little attachment to it, so she was fine either way. Whether she went back did not matter.

Invisible Man said quietly, "I heard some people have already sneaked into City S. Some are former residents who couldn't resist going back to look at their hometown, and others are going to make a quick profit."

"Everyone's saying City S will reopen soon. You know, the residents evacuated in a rush back then and had to leave plenty of valuables behind. Some can still be used. How tempting is that? Wouldn't you want to get in and make a quick profit before it opens? Once it opens, that chance will be gone."

Human civilization had suffered devastating damage on the Day of Catastrophe. Although rebuilding had continued for three hundred years, development had its priorities, neglecting information technology and directing a large share of limited resources toward medi-

-cal research, for a simple reason: fighting the Polluted caused heavy casualties.

Medicine was important and in enormous demand. Official supplies were always far from sufficient, so medicine also had a strong market on the black market.

Most of what those people with illicit intentions went to scavenge in City S was medicine.

Invisible Man said, "The authorities have noticed people sneaking into City S and are tightening control, but City S is so huge. How could they seal it off completely so easily? They can't stop everyone."

At this point, Ye Jiang lost interest. This had little to do with her.

She interrupted Invisible Man and asked it, "You go out every day. Have you noticed anywhere with cheap housing?"

This concerned her more.

Invisible Man answered reflexively, "City S."

Ye Jiang: "?"

Invisible Man said, "If that place opens up, housing prices will definitely be low to attract people to move there."

Ye Jiang sat up straight, looking unusually serious.

She encouraged Invisible Man to say more.

Invisible Man offered his opinion. "It's such a huge city. Plenty of its original residents died, and the survivors have been living elsewhere for years. Not all of them will want to go back. Would they just leave it empty? They'll definitely introduce some policies to benefit residents, and housing prices are the easiest thing to arrange."

Ye Jiang's eyes shone. A faint light appeared in those deep eyes that were usually so dark no light penetrated them.

She asked, "You said there aren't many of the Polluted left in City S?"

Invisible Man said, "There probably aren't many left, and the ones that remain probably aren't strong. The place has been empty for so long."

Looking satisfied, Ye Jiang took out her phone and opened Part-Time Cat. Invisible Man did not understand what she meant to do and asked her what she was doing. Ye Jiang said, "Looking for a job going to City S."

Invisible Man froze briefly. "You want to go to City S?"

Ye Jiang nodded.

"I'm going to look at my big house in advance," she said seriously.

She had found a way to live in a big house. She would scout ahead of time and find the best one.

Finding a job to earn some money along the way would be even better.

Invisible Man: "..."

Only a minority of people were secretly heading to City S, after all, and even fewer needed the help of outside ability users. Ye Jiang kept watching for half a month before finally landing a suitable job.

Job description: Find a person. Accompany the client to City S to search for someone. The job ends upon finding the target, or after ten days if the target cannot be found. Due to the long journey, an ability rank of E or above is required.

Posted by: Ji.

Reward: 200,000.

What a generous employer. Ye Jiang, who had only recently advanced to E-rank, tapped accept without hesitation.

Job successfully accepted.

Chapter 37

Salvation

Not a god, but a monster.

Ye Jiang only left after discussing it with her friend Yu Qingyi. Perhaps because she had become an ability user, Yu Qingyi worried about her a little less and no longer treated her like a fragile piece of glass as she once had. Ultimately, her friend was simply worried about her, not trying to control her.