The entirety of District 99

Wendt’s mother‌‍​‌‍‌‍⁠​‌⁠‍⁠​​‌⁠​‍⁠​‌​⁠ was in her seventies, but she was still energetic and was busy preparing meat pies at home.

“He must have gone out hunting again,” the old woman said, shaking her head as she vigorously kneaded dough. “The snowstorm has been so heavy lately; I heard other teams haven’t caught much. I expect he’s being stubborn and won’t come back until he gets something… That boy… running out even with a fever. He was talking nonsense in his sleep… No matter how strong a body is, you can’t treat it like that…”

“Talking nonsense?” Jiang Xiao asked immediately. “What kind of nonsense?”

“He was so delirious he didn’t know where he was. He suddenly jumped up, muttering about something being ‘covered in snow,’ then grabbed his hunting axe and charged out. I couldn’t stop him, and he wouldn’t listen to a word I said.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Yes.” The old woman sighed, then smiled kindly, scolding him in a low self-mutter. “He was hot-blooded in his twenties, always running out to hunt on a whim at night, but he hasn’t done that for ten years. I thought he’d grown up, but that fever seemed to have turned him back into his younger self.”

Jiang Xiao was silent for a moment. “During those days he had the flu, did he sleep well?”

“He slept for a long time, but I don’t think he rested well. He was listless during the day.” The old woman thought back. “He was just obsessed with hunting, saying he dreamed of the Hunting God and that his next strike would bring a bountiful harvest. Ever since his wife died, his head has been filled with nothing but hunting, hunting… I wish some girl would come along and save my foolish son…”

The four of them left Wendt’s home. Qin Zhilu sent a node report to the Black Tower before speaking. “It’s clearly mental control. The Super-aberrant can infiltrate dreams, recruiting people as followers in their sleep and driving them to act on its behalf.”

Jiang Xiao frowned. “That’s troublesome. The Super-aberrant can blend into the population completely without a trace. However, based on experience, this type of Super-aberrant usually isn’t very aggressive. Perhaps it’s different from the one in District 95?”

“I hope so. I just hope it doesn’t have mental control on top of the power the creature in District 95 had.” Qin Zhilu began to scrutinize the parchment drawing again. After a moment, he turned to An Yu. “Does the edge of the sheep’s blood look strange to you? If you look long enough, it seems to fluctuate, as if it could extend infinitely.”

An Yu understood his meaning. He lowered his eyes, silent for a moment before whispering, “Commander, I’ve actually seen this before while I was in the Advent State.”

He pointed to the outline of the figure drawn with coarse grit. “Objectively, this silhouette isn’t large, but it creates an impression of immense size, doesn’t it? It looks a lot like a giant golden human figure I saw once while I was in a daze.”

Qin Zhilu knit his brows. “A golden human figure…”

An Yu nodded slightly. “You sent me to the Brain once to look at the legacy records of the Yugg Snowfield. There were three photos. In the third one, a piercing red light appeared on the horizon of the snowfield, and on the other side of that light lay a massive human silhouette shrouded in a golden aura. Doesn’t it look like this drawing?”

Qin Zhilu’s expression grew even more solemn. “That photo could never have been leaked. Unless the artist has supernatural perception like Poet or Codex, they must have personally witnessed the Mysterious Advent back then.”

“Yes. There’s also another possibility: a soldier who was in close contact with Zhan Xue and the others.”

As An Yu spoke, he suddenly turned to look at Kaos in the corner.

Qin Zhilu raised an eyebrow. “The missing Colonel Disf.”

Kaos was handing over work to Norbert. His brow twitched nervously, looking both relieved and guilty. As An Yu walked over, he heard him whispering to Norbert, “I’m sorry, Colonel. If my father were here, he would be much more useful than me.”

An Yu followed up. “Did your father mention any strange dreams before he went missing?”

Kaos shook his head. “I never heard of any. But he always slept very well; he even said he almost never dreamed.”

“What about you?” Qin Zhilu scrutinized him. “Has your father appeared frequently in your dreams lately? Has he asked you to keep trusting him, to follow in his footsteps and remain loyal to the military?”

Kaos froze. Despite the freezing weather, a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. He looked aghast. “God… what are you suspecting? My father is missing too; he’s a victim. How could he possibly be a Super-aberrant?”

Jiang Xiao gave Norbert a look, and Norbert immediately placed a hand on Kaos’s shoulder. “The Commander is just concerned about your well-being. Don’t overthink it. Rejoin your unit as soon as the handover is finished. From now on, you’re in charge of communications with the Black Tower. Don’t wander around outside.”

“Alright…” Kaos bit his lip. He walked a few steps away, then turned back. “My father is upright and hardworking. He has served the interests of humanity for thirty years. No matter what, please do not doubt his loyalty.”

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Disf had not witnessed the Mysterious Advent himself back then, but he was the transport lead for the high-risk exposed individuals. He had direct contact with Tang Ru and Zhan Xue. Nearly thirty years later, he was the only person in all of District 99 who could have possibly drawn that picture.

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“The two people who attacked the three of you were both on the contact list from before his disappearance. Unfortunately, he contacted far too many people during those few days. Investigating them one by one will take forever,” Norbert sighed as he led the way. “Setting aside the civilians, there are over two hundred in the garrison, and he certainly made contact with every single one of them.”

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Norbert frowned, recollecting for a moment. “I’m the exact opposite of Colonel Disf. As long as I sleep, I dream. A few days ago, I dreamed of my early days in the military. A high-ranking general personally offered me an olive branch, but I refused. His rank was so high it made me feel uneasy—how could such a huge piece of luck just fall into my lap? Luckily, I turned it down.” He exhaled a breath of lingering fear, then turned solemn, muttering, “I just don’t know how many soldiers were as lucky as I was.”

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An Yu had been watching the crowds passing back and forth on the street.

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Norbert’s smile stiffened. “What do you mean?”

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Talking as they went, the group arrived at the Resource Collection Plant. Though called a “plant,” it was actually a vast open-air park enclosed by iron fences. Now, the frost on those fences was several centimeters thick, looking more like a wall made of ice bricks.

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“What?” Norbert froze, following An Yu’s gaze to the back of his own hand. In just a few seconds, the frost he had just rubbed off had already reappeared.

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“You seem to have discovered something…” Norbert murmured. “It truly didn’t used to be like this. We all thought it was just because it’s been so cold lately… The temperature is dropping lower and lower. This week’s average is nearly ten degrees Celsius lower than last week’s. You…” He turned to An Yu, but his voice cut off abruptly. He scanned An Yu up and down several times, dazed. “But you seem to be…”

“This snowstorm seem to be a conscious entity; it’s actively avoiding Corner.” Qin Zhilu glanced at An Yu. He raised his hand and waited quietly until a few snowflakes drifted into his palm, quickly condensing into a layer of frost thin as a cicada’s wing on his leather glove. He clenched his fist, crushing the frost, and said in a low voice: “The rain in District 53 contained jellyfish genes. The wind in District 95 carried aberrant pollen. Now, the snowstorm in District 99—” He suddenly looked up, his dark eyes freezing. “It must be them. They are delivering mental pollution to everyone, every minute and every second, without discrimination.”

Norbert was too shocked to speak, leading them into the plant area with heavy steps. As they moved deeper among the workers, Jiang Xiao stepped warily to An Yu’s outer side, observing every person they passed. But An Yu was only looking at Jiang Xiao—those crimson eyes had grown deeper since entering District 99, and at some point, a hint of madness had seeped into them.

“Jiang Xiao,” An Yu suddenly said. “Report your mental stability.”

Jiang Xiao immediately checked his terminal and took a deep breath. “67. It seems it’s been dropping steadily. The terminal shows the outdoor temperature is nearly -45ºC. I hope my mental stability holds until we reach a safe temperature.”

Before they set out, the Brain Lab had measured Jiang Xiao’s extreme temperature limit at -58 ºC. Once he reached that threshold, his mental stability and survival values would enter a locked state, making him nearly invincible.

Jiang Xiao looked at An Yu. “My mental stability is fine for now, but I’m worried about you. The Super-aberrant seems to be targeting you specifically. Not only does the frost avoid you, but both of those possessed people came straight for you…”

“It’s more than just targeting; that thing knows Corner very well. Extremely well.” Qin Zhilu looked at the crowd in the factory with dark, cold eyes. His tone was icy. “First: The spirit never yields. Second: The genes must not be touched. Any aberrant that tries to forcibly control his mind or seize his genes meets only death. Therefore—Third: To kill Corner, an unexpected, primitive method of attack is the only way…”

Before his voice finished, the factory suddenly went silent.

All the collection vehicles stopped working. The workers straightened their backs one by one and turned toward them.

The deafening sounds of hacking and shouting ceased. The world was suppressed by a dizzying, suffocating silence. The snow dancing in the wind suddenly grew denser—it could no longer be called snow; unscientifically, it spontaneously condensed into frost in mid-air.

In the next second, the workers suddenly began to howl wildly. Their eyes looked as if the life had been sucked out of them. Thousands of figures surged forward fiercely, instantly scattering the four of them. An Yu was shoved and, in a heartbeat, was completely surrounded.

Qin Zhilu and Jiang Xiao were nowhere to be seen. There were only those hulking, rugged strangers, viciously staring at him while holding sharp knives and hoes.

In this moment, he finally understood where that slum-like feeling came from.

The eyes.

From the moment they stepped into District 99, on the streets, in the tavern, in the plant, everyone looked vibrant, yet their eyes would occasionally lose focus. When they made eye contact with others, they would tacitly exchange a malicious look, exactly like those filthy creatures in the slums.

But these slips were always fleeting, leaving An Yu soaked in a sense of wrongness that he couldn’t quite pin down until now.

By the time he realized it, it was too late.

The roar of the killing momemtum almost tore through the sky as those people swung their blades at him.

Drones over District 99 transmitted the images in real-time back to the Black Tower thousands of kilometers away. At this moment, the Black Tower was deathly silent; the officers’ faces were ash-white.

From the high-altitude perspective, An Yu was almost invisible. He had become a tiny dot, instantly being swallowed by the black tide of people and the overlapping flashes of blades.

What reached An Yu even before the blades was a bullet.

It came from Norbert.

The moment the bullet broke the wind, An Yu caught Norbert’s muttered words amidst the earth-shaking roars.

“Kill the God in a primitive way.”

Following him, thousands upon thousands of people chanted simultaneously, as if in a trance: “Kill the God in a primitive way.”

Those voices merged into a hum, heavily enveloping the entirety of District 99.