[Obviously, the one who mutated in this family was the child. But the parents didn’t want to send him to the shelter. So they tied him up in a room and kept him there, waiting for the vaccine. At first, the deformed child could still listen to his parents, but later he became nothing more than a monster that wanted to eat people. Finally, one day, the monster broke free from the ropes.]

How pitiful are the hearts of parents everywhere.

[By the way... do you want to look up at the ceiling? It seems like he’s crawling over through the hallway.]

A drop of foul, bloody saliva dripped at Adam Carter’s feet.

So the strong fishy smell in the room wasn’t because the mutated person had been locked up for a long time. The pollutant was right beside him.

Adam Carter looked up. A little boy, like a gecko, was clinging to the ceiling. His hand was almost as big as his head, and the sticky webbing gripped the ceiling firmly. Probably because he’d eaten too much, his belly was swollen, like a woman nine months pregnant.

A bizarre smile appeared on the pollutant’s face. It opened its mouth wide, revealing two rows of sharp teeth. Its long tongue shot out like it was hunting, and the fleshy lumps on the tongue stood up as well, like rows of sharp barbs.

Having dissected a frogman once gave Adam Carter confidence, and also some understanding of this type of pollutant.

Frogmen, though fast and strong, have only a few ways to attack: either pouncing or licking. They can spit out corrosive stomach acid, but not in large amounts.

Suppressing the urge to gag, with his current physical condition, it wasn’t hard to deal with.

Adam Carter thought for only a moment. Instead of dodging, he reached out and grabbed the tongue.

Ignoring the barbs all over it, the tongue felt slick and slimy, like a piece of tender pork liver.

A look of obvious surprise appeared on the pollutant’s face. But since its eyes were already wide open, it didn’t look much different.

With a forceful tug, Adam Carter yanked it down from the ceiling.

The pollutant crashed to the ground with a loud bang. Very disturbing to the neighbors.

Seeking benefit and avoiding harm is an animal instinct.

It tried to run, but Adam Carter’s strength was astonishing, leaving it unable to move.

The pollutant shrank into the corner, letting out a desperate screech, and watched in terror as Adam Carter approached, one hand gripping its tongue, the other holding a scalpel, smiling broadly.

“Although I’m not a pediatrician,” Adam Carter said, “the situation is urgent, so please forgive me. At least I have a proper medical license.”

The knife sliced open the frogman’s belly. It struggled in its death throes, then finally collapsed, motionless.

Adam Carter cut out some half-digested human limbs and heads from its stomach.

[Pollutants that have completed their mutation like this one can no longer regress and become human again. As for how to deal with the pollution, I probably don’t need to say more—you’ll see soon enough...]

A bulge appeared in the veins on Adam Carter’s arm—that was the revived kingfish fry.

Patches of fish scales appeared on his once-smooth arm, like armor covering the skin.

Then, the scales lifted. Thin white filaments poked out from between the scales, connecting to the frogman on the ground. Then, they began to feed.

Like drawing blood, the white tendrils slowly turned red. Adam Carter reached out to touch them, shivering from the pain.

It wasn’t his hand that hurt, but the filaments themselves. It was like someone was touching his brain nerves with their bare hands.

No wonder the kingfish didn’t come out earlier. If the frogman hadn’t been completely dead and struggled even a little, it would have been enough to make Adam Carter wish for death from the pain.

It was probably a symbiotic relationship. While the kingfish was feeding, Adam Carter felt as if he was eating, his stomach warm and comfortable. He squinted, a slightly abnormal flush appearing on his pale face, like he was drunk.

The system fell eerily silent: [I thought a normal person would at least have a mental breakdown after seeing this.]

It was ready to act as a psychological counselor, but Adam Carter unexpectedly didn’t need it.

Adam Carter replied expressionlessly, “In your eyes, are humans really that fragile? Although according to your theory, we’re still an under-evolved species, in the millions of years from ape to man, humans have never given up on saving themselves.”

The feeding lasted for half a minute.

[Spiritual power threshold +10. Congratulations, you’ve been strengthened.]

The system let out a cold laugh and muttered: [That traitor’s prediction was right. If the kingfish’s host is a pollutant, devouring all the pollutants in K City could indeed surpass that limit... Too bad it ran into me.]

Its voice was so low, and with the sound of ocean tides constantly in Adam Carter’s ears, he didn’t quite catch it.

The white, lustrous tendrils withdrew back into Adam Carter’s body, as if they had never appeared.

*

Maybe because the neighborhood had already been cleared once, Adam Carter didn’t encounter a second pollutant until he left.

The blockade at the entrance was still there, but the guards were nowhere to be seen. Only the bloodstained security booth vaguely hinted at what had happened here.

Logically, the whole city should be without power, but the direction of Qujiang Park was brightly lit, almost blinding.

[That’s the Pollution Disease Prevention Center recovering pollutants. If you’re interested, you could go take a look.]