Two people were sitting in the guest lounge room closest to the corridor. The two people stared at Lan and Shen Wang as they ascended the stairs.
A man in a tuxedo and a magic hat smiled and said, “What’s going on today? We’ve got several new VIPs.”
“It’s been a while since any new faces entered the VIP area,”
A student-like young man looked up and coldly glanced at them before saying, “A few people from the Pollution Control Center came in recently. These ones are probably here to scout things out. It’s normal for some strong ones to show up.”
“Wow.” The magician made an exaggerated facial expression, “The great Pollution Control Center! You people from the Pollution Control Center are also willing to sell out others just to survive?”
He showed an evil smile, “Isn’t that the same as us?”
Shen Wang frowned slightly as he looked at his crystal clear glass eyeballs.
“B-level pollutant?”
“Not necessarily B-level, and not even necessarily pollutants. It’s just that they’ve got an extra pair of glassy eyes,” Lan casually said while sizing up the magician, and continued, “As long as they bring a batch of victims after being released, they can stay on the second floor. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t polluted. They’re at most just distorted people with their own consciousness left behind.”
Upon hearing this, the magician and the male student looked at Lan with an ugly expression1.
From their expressions, Shen Wang knew that Lan had guessed correctly.
Shen Wang wasn’t surprised by this.
He had seen too many bad people. During the apocalypse, he had witnessed medical malpractice where people even brought dead infants to the hospital to extort money. Of course, the hospital didn’t recognize them, so the matter went to the security bureau.
The overwhelming desire to survive transformed the dead infant into a pollutant, causing a small-scale disturbance.
At the time, his attending doctor told him: People in this world possess the two strongest desires: one is not wanting to die, and the other is wanting to die too much.
Obviously, these two are the former.
“What do you mean?!”
The magician sneered. Compared to the male student next to him, he seemed more agitated and angry. It was clear that his pollution was more severe, and he was already losing control of his mental state.
He strode forward and walked in front of Lan.
“Who do you think you are? Do you really think that you members of the Pollution Control Center are superior to others? Let me tell you, everyone who went up to the second floor did something harmful. Even if you are from the Pollution Control Center, you’re no different!”
“You’re still nothing!”
“Oh?” Lan stared at him,”I never said I work for the Pollution Control Center.”
The magician looked at him contemptuously, “If not the Pollution Control Center, then what else could it be…”
His voice stopped abruptly.
“Hehe, hehe…”
Lan was never one to be kind. In fact, he could be downright terrifying. He will do anything to achieve his goals, even if it causes terrible consequences.
That was why he was ruthlessly placed on the wanted list, at the top no less.
In this terrifying environment, Lan opened his book, looking completely at ease. Yet his gloomy expression, never warm or friendly, made him seem all the more out of place.
The magician was hanging in the air, his neck being gripped by an invisible force, unable to make a sound.
The magician finally realized that this is someone he couldn’t afford to offend, but now he couldn’t even beg for mercy.
“The book says: Humans are creatures of desire. They can progress or fall due to their desires. Those who progress satisfy their desires, while those who fall are overwhelmed by them.”
“And I hate people who are dominated by their desires.”
Lan said calmly: “Should I just get rid of you… “
“Uh, uh…” The magician widened his eyes in terror, gasping for breath as he struggled to make a sound.
He is still a human. He didn’t want to die. It was precisely because he didn’t want to die that he deceived countless spectators and sent them all into the art gallery, allowing himself to survive on the second floor until now.
The male student next to him tried to escape, but he bumped into a layer of invisible wall. He sat on the ground and trembled in horror.
“What do you want to know?!” The male student shouted hurriedly: “I’ll tell you everything I know!”
“Really?” Lan turned his head to look at him, his pale eyes showing no emotion.
“What a pity, I don’t want to know anymore.”
“No, you can’t do this!” The male student clearly sensed the murderous intent in Lan, “I am a VIP of [Hundred Eyes]! We’re from the second floor! You can’t kill me!”
Lan stared at him, his pale eyes reflecting the young student’s image. His tone was calm yet chilling.
“There is nothing I don’t dare to kill.”
“It’s just two distorted people, even the Pollution Control Center won’t consider you victims.”
The male student screamed and wanted to escape through the opposite direction, but unfortunately Lan is using the space ability, he can control all space to block all escape routes.
The magician, hanging in the air, struggled weakly. He had grown pale from suffocation and was losing strength.
How could two distorted people be the opponent of a S-level mutant?
Shen Wang, who was standing next to him, took a step back and did not intend to get involved. Anyway, Lan could easily deal with the two distorted people.
Just at this moment, the communicator that Shen Wang had been wearing on his ear suddenly beeped.
“Can you hear me?” A familiar voice came from the communicator.
“I’m at your ten o’clock.2“
Shen Wang looked over there and saw a woman in black combat uniform waving at him lightly before hiding back in the corridor.
It was Lily.
“Don’t talk, as long as you can hear my voice, that’s enough.”
“First of all, I want to tell you one thing. The person next to you is not our teammate. Don’t panic or alarm him for now.”
Shen Wang glanced at Lan, wondering if Lan had foreseen this in the book before they came in.
However, Lily seemed to have misunderstood that he recognized the wrong person. She didn’t realize that he and Lan were in cahoots.
Well, it could still be salvaged.
After making sure that Shen Wang heard and understood, Lily continued, “I will cause a small commotion in a minute, you have to immediately seize the opportunity to leave and run towards me.”
“Remember, you must avoid him at all costs!”
Shen Wang turned his head and looked at Lan.
Lan noticed his gaze, and he looked back at Shen Wang, and the moment Shen Wang and Lan looked at each other, the latter seemed to think about something.
“Hmm? New development?”
Before he could open his book to confirm, the male student suddenly stopped screaming. He was so quiet that it was strange, and his glass eyes were empty.
He turned around and rushed towards Lan without any reason, like a controlled puppet.
“For Hundred Eyes!”
“Kill the invader!”
He muttered and slammed into the transparent barrier, but he didn’t stop, and bumped into it again and again.
Every time he bumped into it, a crack appeared on his face, and his glass eyes broke because of the strong impacts. Blood dripped from the corners of his eyes, but he didn’t stop, even if he started bleeding out his eyeballs.
Lan controlled the transparent barrier and looked at Shen Wang again, only to see Shen Wang make a gesture to him, then turn around and run away.
This meant that he was going to leave for a while.
Lan tilted his head, his pale eyes flickering.
After Shen Wang’s figure completely disappeared, the male student immediately fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings were pulled out, lying on the ground and unconscious.
After a few seconds of silence, Lan snapped his fingers, and the magician who was hanging in the air fell beside the male student.
He continued to flip through the wordless book in his hand as if nothing had happened.
“What a great girl.” He said as he read: “She used empathy to control the parasitic pollutant that belongs to [Hundred Eyes], making them attack me, creating a gap to take my brother away.”
“Sure enough, every member of [Polaris] is a target that needs to be focused on.”
“Although it’s dangerous, my brother does not need to worry about his safety when he hides in such a team.”
“A good choice indeed, worthy of being my brother.”
/
Shen Wang ran into a corridor, the corridor was winding, and it took him a while to meet Lily.
Lily looked a bit disheveled. There was dust on her cheeks, sweat marks on her forehead, and even dried blood on her black combat uniform.
She must have gone through a lot to get here.
“Great, you’re the first survivor I’ve met.” Lily breathed a sigh of relief, “Are you injured?”
“I’m fine.” Shen Wang shook his head, “What about you? You look much worse than me.”
“It’s just some dust, it’s okay.”
Lily wiped her face with her sleeve, “Who was that guy just now? Why did you act with him?”
“We met on the first floor. He said he was a surviving mutant from the Pollution Control Center and he knew my name.” Shen Wang lied without changing his face, “Before you told me, I didn’t know he wasn’t our teammate because his pollution level was only 40.”
“Not a pollutant?” Lily thought for a moment, “A non-staff mutant outside the high wall?”
“No, that’s not the point.”
Lily asked Shen Wang seriously, “Do you know where the captain is? I have something important to tell the captain.”
Shen Wang thought: You just asked me a question to which I really don’t know the answer.
He only knew that Lan had locked Zhou Xiangzhe up, but he didn’t know where he was.
“I don’t know.” Shen Wang told the truth, “We were together with the first two paintings, but separated in the third one. I haven’t seen him since I entered.”
“Really?” Lily pressed her temple helplessly, “This is troublesome.”
“What’s going on?”
“We are likely going to face off against [Hundred Eyes].” Lily said, “I found the Academy of Sciences researcher who accidentally broke into the gallery on the second floor, but unfortunately he didn’t have the data.”
Shen Wang raised his eyebrows slightly, “Not in his hands?”
…doesn’t it mean that Lan made a wasted trip?
“It’s not accurate to say that he doesn’t have it, but the USD with the complete data wasn’t in his hands.”
Lily’s tone became colder.
“In order to survive, the researcher gave the USD to Hundred Eyes and told her that this has very important information. As long as the information was in Hundred Eyes’ hands, there would be a steady stream of people entering the gallery for the USD.”
“All the staff members who died entering the gallery this time were caused by him.”
“So he was on the second floor of the gallery.”
This was somewhat unexpected. The researcher in the laboratory actually gave the information to the pollutant?
Is it true or not?
Shen Wang didn’t believe it, so he was silent for a while before speaking, “He should be the person in charge of the laboratory, right?”
“Yes.” Lily nodded, “The headquarters and laboratories of the Academy of Sciences are hidden. Hiding is to prevent retaliation from defectors. This also makes us not aware of where the Academy of Sciences’ laboratories are. But this time the Academy of Sciences told us that the Gallery is the most important place to search, which can only mean that the person who ran here must be the person in charge of this laboratory.”
Shen Wang sighed, his tone was not very friendly, “…Will the Academy of Sciences hand over such important experiment data to someone else so casually?”
Lily turned to look at Shen Wang.
“What do you mean?”
“Mingguang once said that there are two groups of lunatics in this world, one in S District and one in the Academy of Sciences. The lunatics in the Academy of Sciences can do anything for research, even dying. Will such people really hand over such important data to [Hundred Eyes]?”
“Is he deceiving you because he doesn’t trust you?”
Lily was silent for a while, she frowned, “Doesn’t trust me, a member of [Polaris]?”
“Because Zhou Xiangzhe and the Academy of Sciences have a bad relationship, he may not distrust you, but he is unwilling to hand over the information to you.”
Shen Wang said sarcastically , “It’s just that he didn’t expect that you would just throw him there after you discovered that he didn’t have any information.”
“He thought you would take him out of this gallery no matter what he says.”
Lily punched the wall, “He wanted [Polaris] to save him, but didn’t want [Polaris] to get the information, this bastard!”
Shen Wang stood up, “Let’s go find him again.”
Lily nodded, “Okay, anyway, the captain is not here now, we have to try to find more clues before the captain shows up.”
After determining the direction, Lily immediately took Shen Wang to the location of the researcher.
There is mutual trust within Polaris, even if Shen Wang is just a newcomer, Shen Wang’s conclusion does make sense.
They walked through the corridor to the reception room in the south, where a man was sitting in the reception room worriedly. There was a gap on his cheek, and eyes were half-opened in the gap, but his eyes were still in his eye sockets, and the distortion on his body was not serious.
Moderate distortion, he will be sent to the Containment Center for treatment when he gets out.
A hint of surprise flashed across the man’s face when he saw Lily coming back, but he immediately concealed it. Unfortunately, both Lily and Shen Wang noticed it.
“It seems that I guessed right.” Shen Wang whispered.
“Yeah.” Lily’s eyes were sharp, “It’s not without reason that the captain hates the Academy of Sciences.”
They walked into the reception room. When the man found that there was another person next to Lily, his eyes immediately became defensive. When he saw the combat uniform of the dispatch team and the [Polaris] logo on his chest, his defensive eyes quietly dispersed.
He coughed twice quickly.
“You’re back.” He glanced at Lily, “Do you understand what I said?”
“I am a senior researcher at the Academy of Sciences. My knowledge is much more useful than that of ordinary people.”
“As long as I can save my life, what does a few people dying mean? This is a price that can be paid!”
Lily’s forehead was bulging with blue veins, and she looked like she wanted to punch this man twice. Shen Wang also understood why even a gentle woman like Lily would abandon him directly after confirming that he had no information on him.
This man probably disgusted Lily to her guts.
“Hello, I am Shen Wang from [Polaris].” Shen Wang smiled and stood in front of Lily, “My teammates and I just met, and she told me what happened.”
“Excuse me, you gave the laboratory data to [Hundred Eyes], right?”
The researcher’s eyes were not right, but he still nodded firmly, “Yes! I did it to protect myself.”
“And it’s certain that you would come to get the data. I lied to [Hundred Eyes], which is not a crime.”
Shen Wang’s appearance is really not intimidating. He looks very harmless, with a pair of beautiful and warm peach blossom eyes, a natural smiling lip and a third of peace. It seems that he is the most peace-loving person in the world. As if when encountering things, he can only sit in the corner and cry aggrievedly.
“Oh, so that’s it.”
Sure enough, Shen Wang nodded seriously and seemed to believe what he said.
The researcher was secretly delighted, thinking that the mutants in the Pollution Control Center were indeed guys with rusty brains. Even [Polaris] was the same. They wouldn’t give up on victims, especially victims like him who contributed to humanity.
As long as he could bring the experimental data back safely, his status in the Academy of Sciences would be elevated!
“Click.”
Before the researcher finished enjoying it, the crisp sound of the safety bolt was interrupted by his fantasy.
The researcher subconsciously raised his head, but his smile froze on his face in an instant, because Shen Wang had already pointed the gun with the safety bolt pulled against his head.
Shen Wang smiled and said in a calm and harmless tone: “Since there is no data, please die.”
“What?!” The researcher opened his eyes wide in horror, and even Lily was stunned for a moment.
“Go to hell.” Shen Wang said, “The task given to us by the Pollution Control Center is to get the laboratory data. If you have the data in your hand, we will be responsible for rescuing you, but unfortunately you don’t have the data in your hand.”
“In order not to hinder us from recovering the data, please go to hell.”
The researcher quickly climbed down and hid under the table, “You can’t do this! I am a senior researcher of the Academy of Sciences!”
Shen Wang sat calmly on the table where he was hiding. He even knocked on the table with the gun in his hand as if playing, “Really? You are actually a senior researcher of the Academy of Sciences?”
“In this case, you are a senior and should have privileges.”
“Yes! I have privileges!”
“Wrong.” Shen Wang smiled and fired a shot at the table. After the gunshot, the researcher screamed in fear.
“What are you doing?! What are you doing!!”
Shen Wang knocked on the table again, “You are not the only one who has privileges. We [Polaris] also have them. Do you think that if I kill you here, your Academy of Sciences will go against [Polaris] for you? Let me remind you that our captain is an S-level mutant and he is quite protective of our shortcomings.”
Lily:…?
Protective of our shortcomings? Who? Zhou Xiangzhe? Did she hear correctly?
Shen Wang saw Lily’s doubtful look, but he ignored it and continued his threat.
“Besides, this is a Class A pollutant domain. If you die here, do you think others will think you died of pollution or were killed?”
The researcher was trembling all over, “No, no, you can’t do this.”
“Why not? Anyway, you don’t like us, and we don’t like you either.” Shen Wang asked Lily, “Lily, now there are only two of us, do you agree that I kill him?”
Lily thought seriously for a few seconds, and then nodded in agreement, “I agree.”
“See, we have reached a consensus, 2:1.”
“No, no, no!” The researcher hurriedly said, “The USD is still with me! I didn’t give it to Hundred Eyes! Don’t kill me!”
He crawled out from under the table, and then took out a small card from under several layers of clothes, “Look, this is the usd with data of the experimental results, it’s still with me.”
“Only I know the password, so you can’t kill me!”
Shen Wang and Lily looked at each other, Shen Wang smiled, and Lily also shook her head slightly, with a little smile on her lips.
It was actually tricked out like this.
After taking the memory card from the researcher, the researcher immediately hid under the table, as if he was afraid that they would kill him after getting the card, so he could only keep repeating, “Only I know the password, you can’t kill me.”
Lily silently asked Shen Wang, “Who taught you this trick?”
Shen Wang remembered Lily’s expression of doubting life just now, and he smiled with bad intention that could be seen at a glance.
He also silently answered: “Zhou Xiangzhe.”
Lily’s smile cracked.
Who? Zhou Xiangzhe? Would he threat someone like this? !
Before Lily could digest it, a residual image passed by her side, and Lily felt her hand was empty. When she looked again, the memory card in her hand had disappeared.
Lan, with blue hair and pale pupils, stood at the door and looked at the data card in his hand. Lan and Shen Wang had a momentary eye contact. When they looked at each other, Shen Wang made a gesture with his finger to him, meaning “take it away quickly”, and Lan couldn’t help but smile.
What a cute brother.
Leading him and helping him get the data, people can’t help but want to pamper him more.
But he can’t expose Shen Wang’s relationship with him, because his brother’s teammates are here.
So Lan maintained his smile and raised the memory card, “Thank you so much for helping me find this information.”
Lily quickly took a defensive posture, she frowned and stared at Lan, “Who are you?”
Lan put away her smile, “A person who has a grudge against the Academy of Sciences.”
Before Lily understood what he meant, the researcher stuck his head out and opened his eyes wide in horror, “Lan?!”
“S-level defector?!” Lily was more nervous than before, “It turned out to be him!”
Lan put away the memory card, he turned around and said, “Well, goodbye.”
“Don’t let him go!” The researcher hurriedly climbed out, he didn’t even have the fear of being killed by Shen Wang, “Lan’s goal is to destroy the laboratory and experimental data! I brought the information card out, if he takes it away, he will destroy the data immediately!”
“Catch up! Get the information back!”
But no one present moved.
The researcher yelled, “Why don’t you move!”
“You have a problem with your brain, don’t take us with you.” Shen Wang glanced at him with disdain, “He is an S-level mutant. Lily and I are not his opponents. Chasing him is just sending food.”
Lily also closed her eyes and sighed, “Shen Wang is right. I am A-level, but I am just an auxiliary mutant. I don’t have much combat strength.”
“No! Even if I die, I must get the memory card back!” The researcher shouted, “You don’t know how important this experimental data is!”
“I don’t know how important this data is, I only know that human life is the most important thing.” Lily said seriously: “We [Polaris] are not allowed to do anything to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good. This is a rule of [Polaris]!”
Shen Wang turned his head and looked at Lily.
Shen Wang didn’t believe the rules came from Zhou Xiangzhe’s mouth. After all, Zhou Xiangzhe’s attitude towards him was not ordinary, but he believed what Lily said.
A team that does not allow themselves to sacrifice for others… Mingguang set the rules, right? It was set for Zhou Xiangzhe, right?
After all, no matter how you think about it, Zhou Xiangzhe’s operation of devouring the [Deer God] probably left a psychological shadow on Mingguang.
/
On the other side, Lan destroyed the memory card in his hand while walking out, and the small card melted in his palm bit by bit.
He threw the thing to the ground only after he was sure it was completely destroyed and could not be restored.
The miserable thing that fell to the ground but it wasn’t over. The flames ignited from it would never go out before it was burned to ashes. Lan would never underestimate the Academy of Sciences, nor would he neglect their experimental results.
Now that his mission is completed, the next issue is Shen Wang’s food.
Hmm… What is the weakness of this [Hundred Eyes]?
Click, click.
Lan stopped, he stood there and raised his head slightly, his pale eyes looking at a certain place in the void.
But the footsteps did not stop.
“You are worthy of being the strongest mutant in Central City.” Lan said, “It was easy for you to break through the barrier.”
Zhou Xiangzhe walked over step by step, and the black liquid with a texture like chocolate slid down his wrist before finally dripping on his fingertips. A strong pollution force expanded all over the place.
When the pollution level increases to a certain level, people will become mentally unstable. Strong pollution can also change a person’s temperament.
Now, Zhou Xiangzhe still looked the same, with long silver hair tied into a ponytail and golden eyes still beautiful, but this exquisiteness was stained with coldness and a sense of weirdness because of the strong pollution.
He was no longer gentle, but more like a piece of ice.
Lan felt the pollution and opened his eyes slightly.
“Such severe pollution, you want to die?”
“It’s not so easy to die.” Zhou Xiangzhe finally spoke, “You should worry about yourself.”
It’s really troublesome.
Lan moved his wrist, and the next moment he looked at Zhou Xiangzhe, his bright golden eyes were cold.
“Are you unhappy because I took Shen Wang away?” Lan curled his lips, he was also unhappy.
“I won’t give him to you.”
This annoying man who snatched his brother from him.
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