Returning to District 53

After Jiang⁠‍⁠‌‌‍⁠⁠⁠⁠​⁠‍​‌‍⁠⁠⁠‌​‍​‍ Xiao, the second Protector selected by Qin Zhilu was “Ryan”.

The remaining 48 names in the queue quickly turned gray.

The discussion area was then unlocked.

– It’s quite spectacular, all the top 50 in the Ladder enlisted.

– Law actually took that pure human on the mission?

– And he picked Jiang Xiao again, seems like Law doesn’t value that little toy too much.

– He won’t be coming back, even if he’s not cannon fodder, Jiang Xiao won’t let him off.

– The initial lineup of this team is quite puzzling. Grape is reasonable, but isn’t Billy more than one thousand in the Ladder?

– I always thought he was just a second-rate doctor & information dealer.

– Billy is one of the earliest Protectors, but his talent and abilities are very poor, and he just gets by.

– Isn’t he a doctor? As long as he’s a healing type, he shouldn’t be doing so poorly.

– He’s purely an intelligence type, with the ability to manipulate wave frequencies. He’s called a doctor because before his mutation, he ran a community clinic…

An Su clicked on Grape’s data. He was a Protector supervised by a high-level official and didn’t participate in the Ladder.

With a gene entropy of 18,000, Grape isn’t leading the Ladder, but as an initial value, it is absolutely a rare talent.

Grape’s homepage was adorned with profile labels: high-level group favorite, dream assistant, number one spire’s nanny, cute cooking in progress…

An Yu followed Qin Zhilu onto the plane. Sitting in the driver’s seat was a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old, with deep purple pupils and a soft hair that also exuded a faint purple luster, wrapped in a long and big black shirt.

He smiled at An Yu, “Hey, I’m Zhu Tao, codename Grape. Welcome to the team.”

An Yu wasn’t quite used to such natural kindness and cautiously replied, “Thank you, hello.”

Billy, standing nearby, exclaimed, “Ah! I haven’t been on a mission for half a year, and lately, I’ve been feeling great and just when I thought I’d have a big breakthrough, this mission came by itself!”

An Yu didn’t understand what he was excited about and quietly asked, “The forum says I’m kept by Law to play with; play with what?”

“Uh,” Billy laughed awkwardly, “Ah, who knows who spread that rumor. The Spire loves gossip, just ignore it.”

Gossip, huh.

Ling Qiu was also a gossip enthusiast, and An Yu had been forced to hear many love-hate stories in District 53 from him.

Suddenly, a push notification popped up on his terminal.

– New post rising in popularity! [Canary’s First Life-and-Death Battle] invites you to place bets!

“Canary” had become a nickname for An Yu, and the entire Spire was involved, with almost everyone betting on his “certain death,” with an average bet of 20,000 battle points.

Only a few people placed 1 point bets on his “survival,” saying things like “betting against the trend, gain a villa by the sea.”

– Latest bet! Protector ‘Grape’ bets on ‘survival’: 820,000 points!

Billy exclaimed, “You junior high-level guys love burning money for fun, don’t you?”

An Yu looked up in confusion, and Zhu Tao was winking at him, “On behalf of the children, I’ll throw in some pocket change to support you.”

“Children…”

Zhu Tao smiled, “The high-level officers like to call us supervision subjects ‘children,’ but other Protectors call us ‘junior high-level officers.'”

– Latest bet! Protector ‘Anonymous’ bets on ‘survival’: 1 million points!

“Oh my, which rich guy is this? Who doesn’t even flinch at losing 1 million points?” Billy muttered, then noticed An Yu looking at him and smiled awkwardly, “I’ll support you a bit too, but I’m poor, so it’s just a gesture.”

– Latest bet! Protector ‘Billy’ bets on ‘survival’: 1 point!

The light at the hatch suddenly dimmed, and a clear voice said, “Law, Jiang Xiao reporting. It’s an honor to be selected by you.”

It was a young man, very pale, with slightly upturned eyes and scarlet pupils that seemed a bit crazy.

An Yu instinctively wanted to avoid him. As soon as he moved, the gaunt man next to Jiang Xiao suddenly glanced over at him.

“Ryan reporting.” His hoarse voice matched the fake smile he gave An Yu. “An Yu, right? I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

His information popped up on the terminal.

His profile was mostly empty, except for his latest forum post: “Want to kill.”

An Yu froze for a moment before clicking on Jiang Xiao’s profile.

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Billy replied, “Boss Flame from the 198th floor wanted to take him, but he was too proud and insisted on Qin Zhilu. After being rejected, he climbed the Ladder by himself. He comes from a major family in the Main City and has only mutated for four months, but he’s a terrifying talent with a strong drive.”

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His personal signature read, “I will stand by your side.” His profile showed that he had viewed the Canary gossip post over sixty times in the past half-hour and had just purchased a dagger named [Ruthless Hunting] from a second-hand weapon shop before boarding.

On the betting leaderboard, Jiang Xiao was at the top of the “certain death” side with a bet of 100 million points, contributing nearly half of the opposition’s bets alone.

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An Yu looked down to see a blood mark on his right wrist.

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He uneasily shifted his legs.

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Jiang Xiao looked at Qin Zhilu, “If I remember correctly, when you rejected me, you said I was too ordinary.”

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Qin Zhilu glanced at An Yu’s hand, “What’s in your pocket?”

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Qin Zhilu seemed thoughtful, “You’re very sensitive to pain.”

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Jiang Xiao let out a cold laugh.

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He wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes, wrapped the coat tightly around him, and his expression returned back to its usual indifference.

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Jiang Xiao seemed to be talking to him, so he thought he should respond.

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Jiang Xiao coldly replied, “It means not pretending to be weak, not flattering and fawning.”

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An Yu immediately said, “I wish you success.”

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An Yu looked confused, “No, my blessing is sincere, I…”

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This was destined to be a social dilemma that even someone as clever as Ling Qiu couldn’t solve.

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“We have reached the airspace above District 53. The communication signal is failing,” Qin Zhilu said.

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An Yu softly corrected, “Almost never, sir.”

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Qin Zhilu nodded, “I’m aware of that. People in the early stages of mutation aren’t actually contagious.”

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He still remembered that day clearly. He had just woken up after three days of sleep and went to find Ling Qiu to ask for some compressed biscuits. As soon as he opened the door, he heard gunshots.

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The glass of the cabin reflected An Yu’s light golden pupils, and he remembered the second lieutenant’s dying accusation. He asked softly, “Commander, do you know Rabbit An?”

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An Yu thought, perhaps Rabbit An was another aberrant who escaped from District 54. The little girl said humans had never caught it, so naturally, they wouldn’t have developed a similar mutation wavelength. If he really was in a hidden distortion phase and even catalyst tests wouldn’t trigger it, then most likely he was of the same kind as Rabbit An.

After all, Ling Qiu had said that even a single glance from an aberrant could cause him to mutate.

Qin Zhilu frowned at the terminal, “The data shows you’re already eighteen.”

An Yu’s thoughts stalled for a moment, “Yes… I turned eighteen on the day of the aberrant’s attack.”

Qin Zhilu pondered, “The Brain says you lack a sense of security. Does watching childish things make you feel safe?”

“What?” An Yu didn’t understand.

“Law!” Zhu Tao called from the front: “We’ve lost all signals!”

Qin Zhilu stood up, “Prepare for a blind landing. Billy, you’re coming with us to get the energy core. The rest of you land in the inner city and secretly search for the super-aberrant.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yes, sir.”

The plane slowly descended into the miasma, and District 53 finally came into view.

“Retrieving the energy core is the bottom line of our mission. Above that, save as many civilians as possible,” Qin Zhilu looked out at the lifeless city outside the window. “I hope there’s still people here worth saving.”

An Yu had only been away for three days, but District 53 had completely changed.

The once crowded and noisy Bait City was now deserted, with fallen power lines and all lights off.

The air had an indescribable smell—a mix of blood, mold, and the stench from sewage.

It was like a ghost town.

“Sir, what is an energy core?” An Yu asked.

Qin Zhilu stepped on the puddles and replied, “It’s an encapsulated surplus energy. One energy core can sustain the Main City’s dome for three years. If the world continues to distort and the energy supply is cut off, it would give humanity an additional three years. Of course, that’s assuming the dome system is still operational by then.”

An Yu suddenly remembered the soldiers on the shuttle bus—District 53 had never been noticed by the Main City before, but recently, some officers had appeared. There were many speculations, but no one could have guessed that the High Peak would hide humanity’s backup energy source in this lowly Bait City.

It started to rain lightly, and the drops made a sticky sound as they hit the ground.

Qin Zhilu raised his hand to catch the rain, and with his gloved hand, he pinched a tiny gel-like substance from his palm.

Billy muttered beside him, “This rain doesn’t seem right.”

A drop of cold rain hit An Yu’s collarbone, and he felt a sudden dizziness.

This sensation was familiar, but he couldn’t recall when he had felt it before.

Billy quietly asked Qin Zhilu, “Aren’t you worried about him getting infected?”

“No.” Qin Zhilu replied without even looking up.

Billy immediately gave An Yu a sympathetic look.

Ling Qiu seemed to have had the same look when he looked at toys abandoned by children before.

An Yu wiped the remaining rain from his collarbone, “Is there something in the rain?”

“You’ve already been stung by it,” Billy sighed. “Protectors usually won’t get re-infected by low-level aberrants, but you’re just a weak human. If you come into contact with an aberrant, you’ll definitely get infected.”

An Yu was a little confused, “What stung me?”

Billy gestured with his chin towards the distance, “It’s probably that thing’s larvae.”

At the other end of the long alley, there was a faint flicker, like a light bulb that had just gone out.

With the glow of that dying light, An Yu noticed a figure lying in the puddle, its limbs sprawling on the ground, repeatedly stretching and contracting. After a moment, its boneless upper body slowly lifted from the ground, followed by its thighs.

The wind carried the smell of blood and rain through the long alley.

That guy’s feet dragged limply along the puddles and when he turned around the corner, the back of its head slowly lit up, glowing for a few seconds before dimming again, like a breathing light.

When it lit up, its entire skull became transparent, revealing a wrinkled brain inside, twitching and emitting clusters of pink smoke.

Billy whispered, “The rain is full of jellyfish with the ability to fuse genes. After stinging a person, they acquire human genes and rapidly transform into humanoid jellyfish hybrids. They’re likely capable of switching forms at will.”

He used his terminal to scan the jellyfish larvae in the rain. “The gene entropy is only around 300? Damn it, such a low-level aberrant should have a long consciousness formation period. It shouldn’t be targeting humans this quickly.”

An Yu looked around at the dead high-rise buildings around him. District 53 was one of the Bait Cities with the highest proportion of poor people. Except for the necessary sleep time, no one would want to stay in their cramped homes.

If jellyfish rain had been falling for the past three days, the situation was dire.

Suddenly, a clump of transparent jellyfish fell from the telephone pole.

This jellyfish was already the size of a fist, with flexible tentacles that simultaneously clung to An Yu and Billy’s arms, piercing their skin before they could shake it off.

A stronger dizziness hit An Yu, and just as his consciousness blurred, he suddenly heard a faint “pop”—the jellyfish disappeared before their eyes, leaving only a sticky fluid flowing down his arms.

“Holy crap! It exploded?!” Billy’s eyes widened, “Did I see that right? Am I finally going to awaken my attack attribute? Am I going to transition from a mediocre intelligence type to an output type?!”

He took a deep breath and turned to Qin Zhilu. He was so excited that he was about to cry.

Qin Zhilu’s gaze, however, passed over Billy and landed on An Yu.

Billy picked up two more jellyfish larvae from the rain and opened and closed his mouth as if producing some sound frequency inaudible to human ears.

But the two small jellyfish merely stung him briefly and then swam away through his fingers in the blink of an eye.

Billy muttered in confusion, “Is this ability still unstable? Do I need to practice more?”

Seeing that Qin Zhilu still ignored him, he stubbornly looked at An Yu again.

An Yu hesitated for a moment under Billy’s excited gaze. “Hmm… you’re right.”

He lowered his arm, letting his sleeve cover the jellyfish larvae that had just fallen on him and instantly turned into liquid.

In a low voice, he said, “It must be. I wish you success.”