These seaweeds grew out from the belly of the algae-man. Although they were green, they looked like segments of intestines. On the thick leaves, there were eyeballs used for observing and polluting.

In short, it was extremely disgusting. When staff carried out circuit maintenance, none of them dared to look up.

The most terrifying thing was, according to images sent back by drones, this pollutant hadn’t even realized it had been contaminated, and was still repeatedly writing the last line of code from its life...

Because of it, headquarters simply didn’t dare to cut off the power to the tech park. Every few days, they had to do some network maintenance, just in case this guy noticed there was no internet and a mass of seaweed started running all over the city.

Its pollution value had already reached a staggering 1200.

Headquarters decided to wait until the city’s pollutants were under control before letting Ryan White carry out the removal.

Pollution disease generally follows a certain evolutionary principle, but often it can’t be explained by normal science.

In the earpiece, the liaison’s voice came through: “Captain Harris. According to the instruments, your mutation level has reached 52. We recommend you return to the prevention center immediately for rest and treatment.”

“No need,” David Harris replied, skillfully changing magazines. “We’re almost at the last area. Let’s finish early.”

Currently, there were a total of sixty-two Awakened stationed in K City. Among them, twelve were newly awakened combat-type rookies.

In previous years, these rookies would have trained at headquarters for at least three years before starting work. But now, in these special times, there was a severe shortage of Awakened, so they could only use a mentorship system.

Among them, Ryan White was at the city’s edge, responsible for isolating pollution with his abilities. David Harris and three others were at the central plaza, responsible for eliminating most of the pollutants. Seven Awakened guarded the containment facility.

The remaining fifty people were split into twenty-five small teams, cleaning up the hidden pollutants.

Thanks to detectors sent by the research institute, and since the pollutants hadn’t mutated for long, with pollution values topping out at 200, there was basically no danger—it was just hard labor.

Now, throughout all of K City, only Qujiang District remained uncleared. This was also the origin of this pollution disease.

……

……

Qujiang District, Galaxy Community.

Adam Carter was dressed in black, carrying a bow and a blade, and stealthily opened the door.

“It seems my night vision has gotten stronger too.” He gently closed the door behind him, muttering to himself, “Today I’m going to fight... oh no, treat ten.”

Chapter 7, 007

007/Seventh Stream

Because he had fused with the kingfish egg, Adam Carter hadn’t had contact with the outside world for a while.

As soon as he stepped out, he sensed something was off.

On the iron security door, there were several deep handprints, as if someone had slammed the door with great force.

Adam Carter glanced at them. They didn’t look like human hands, more like an enlarged frog’s.

A strong, lingering smell of blood filled his nose.

Because of the power outage, the hallway was pitch black.

Adam Carter’s hand found the surface of his phone.

[There’s something I want to remind you,] the system suddenly said, [Although there are no pollutants in your line of sight for now, these mutants are phototactic. If you don’t want to be surrounded, I don’t recommend using any light sources. You already have night vision, so learn to accept the ways you’re different from humans.]

At night, light was scarce. The principle of night vision was that the liquid crystal membrane on the surface of the eye blue-shifted and reflected infrared light, turning it into visible light, allowing him to see the world clearly.

Adam Carter’s eyes were now like those of a feline, reflecting a flash of red light.

But in his vision, everything around him had turned green.

The neighbor’s door was wide open, the inside of the iron door covered in terrifying scratch marks—a sign that someone had struggled desperately before dying.

There was some sticky liquid on the corridor floor. Adam Carter gently scraped it with his foot—it was dried blood, sticky like syrup.

The bloodstains had clearly been dragged along, pausing briefly at his own door, and after finding it wouldn’t open, heading down the hallway. The blood trail disappeared around the corner.

Because of his job, Adam Carter’s return times never matched his neighbors’, but he remembered that next door lived a family of four: a couple, a child, and an elderly person.

He looked at the bloodstain, was silent for a moment, gripped the knife in his hand, and entered the apartment.

Sorry to intrude.

The smell of blood inside was much stronger than outside. Judging by the amount of blood, there was definitely more than one victim.

Adam Carter followed the blood trail into the living room, and accidentally stepped on half a severed hand.

He looked down and examined it for a moment. The hand should have belonged to an adult woman, with clear bite marks at the wound.

Other than that, there were no obvious human remains. It seemed the pollutant didn’t leave any bones behind.

The living room was the crime scene, but the blood trail started deep in the hallway, in the children’s room.

This room was decorated very warmly, with Lego toys piled in the corner, showing the child was well loved at home.

Although the pollutant had already left, the room was still filled with a damp, fishy smell. The chair was knocked over, and there were a few broken pieces of rope on the floor.