So he said quietly, “Can we have something else? I don’t want coffee right now.”

The short-haired woman seemed a bit surprised by Brian Carter’s calmness, but it was clear she had seen people like him many times before.

Thinking of what Brian Carter had just experienced, she smiled and said, “Alright, let’s go to a bar!”

As she spoke, she naturally opened the car door for Brian Carter.

Brian Carter sat obediently in the passenger seat. Although he hadn’t ridden in cars many times in his life, he didn’t look around or touch anything; he just sat quietly in the passenger seat, not even sneaking a glance at the woman driving.

The woman also didn’t rush to speak, simply focusing on driving.

They drove for about twenty minutes, and the car entered a sparsely populated street. The woman stopped the car, took Brian Carter, and led him through a dim underground passage to the entrance of a bar with an iron gate.

The bar hadn’t opened yet; the lighting was dim and silent.

A sleepy-eyed waiter opened the door for them, didn’t ask a single question, placed a bottle of liquor and two glasses on the table, and went back to catch up on sleep. In the large, empty bar, only Brian Carter and the woman remained.

“My name is Grace Brooks. I mean you no harm, but I admit, what happened to you today was arranged by me.”

The short-haired woman spoke frankly, placing a green-covered ID in front of Brian Carter. Brian Carter glanced at it and saw that she was from the main city of Qingcheng, the highest-level agent of the Qingcheng Inspection Office. He couldn’t help but look up at her. People from the main city were already beyond the imagination of those from the satellite cities, and someone of her status inviting him for a drink was even stranger.

Thinking of the file the director had inexplicably asked him to deliver, and the monster he encountered in the café, Brian Carter knew something was wrong. Suddenly being set up and experiencing such a terrifying event should have been infuriating, but when Brian Carter noticed a bulge at the woman’s waist—clearly a gun—he just lowered his head and said, “Why?”

“Let me give you the standard explanation first.”

Grace Brooks didn’t elaborate, bit off the cork, and poured two glasses of liquor.

“I belong to a department that handles abnormal incidents, specializing in managing pollution events within the High Wall City.”

Brian Carter blinked, clearly not quite following her words.

Grace Brooks pushed a glass toward Brian Carter and said, “You can think of us as: the authorities.”

Brian Carter understood immediately.

Grace Brooks continued, “After the Red Moon Event, the restructuring of the major main cities and satellite cities, the handling and elimination of those lunatics outside the city, the resistance from the Wild Knights and the Spiritual Cult, the construction and maintenance of the high walls—all of these are handled by our people.”

“And now, our main focus is dealing with pollution events in the main city and the five major satellite cities!”

“Abnormal events?”

Brian Carter looked up at her.

“Yes, events that defy normal understanding, like what you encountered in the café.”

Grace Brooks nodded, took out a file, and pushed it in front of Brian Carter, saying, “Take a look.”

Brian Carter saw the cover of the file, stamped with the word “Confidential.”

He slowly opened it and saw lines of typewritten text and a lot of data on the first page.

Target Number: D-class Special Pollution Source—036

Target Level: Level One

Infection Level: Low (Contact transmission/infection rate 90%/deep infection rate 70%)

Growth Potential: High

Danger Level: Low

Target Characteristics: The target is a level one psychic monster, capable of infecting any lifeform it comes into close contact with. It does not have the ability to transmit over distance. It can be eliminated by destroying the psychic monster’s host. The host remains within the range of ordinary humans and can be harmed by physical attacks. According to current observations, the source of infection does not possess advanced intelligence and only repeats everything it did before being infected, with simple communication.

Special Cleanup Methods: None

……

……

While Brian Carter was reading the file, Grace Brooks slowly lit a cigarette.

She began to speak slowly: “The Red Moon Event turned more than seventy percent of the world’s population into lunatics. Those of us who survived can only live in the main cities and satellite cities protected by high walls. But in reality, even among the survivors, not all are normal. Many have developed psychic abnormalities, which can affect the people and things around them.”

“We call this situation pollution!”

“Pollution?”

Brian Carter listened to this word, which was once familiar but now suddenly strange, and looked up.

After the Red Moon Event, with the collapse of civilization and the breakdown of order, countless chemical plants, power stations, and so on were destroyed. The leakage of waste left many traces of pollution in the world, especially outside the High Wall City. Even after thirty years, many places have not improved. Residents of the High Wall City are certainly no strangers to pollution, but the pollution this woman spoke of seemed different.

“That’s right, it is pollution.”