MCL CH15

Chapter 15: “We meet again.”

Lin Xi took a step forward.

With his movement, the maggots that had been eager to pounce instinctively recoiled.

It felt as if the surging sea had suddenly encountered a receding tide. An unprecedented, instinctual fear overwhelmingly conquered the Contaminants’ greed for the powerful gravitational pull in his blood.

“Is this the level suppression among Contaminants? The absolute submission of the weak to the strong. In a way, it’s a decent method for maintaining order.”

“But this kind of relationship, existing only on the surface of power, is a bit too fragile. Even for a king, the moment they discover you no longer possess great power, they will tear you to shreds without hesitation.”

“I never realized it before. Despite being the king of Contaminants, this ‘throne’ is actually so precarious.”

“Hiss, what a dangerous and interesting relationship. If it fell into the hands of those researchers at the institute, it would surely be a topic of great interest to them.”

“Right, the research institute. Sooner or later, I’ll have to go discuss some deeper philosophical questions with them. But before that…”

Though he was murmuring to himself, it felt more like delirious ramblings from afar.

The excessively high Contamination value relentlessly stimulated his cranial nerves with a powerful impact. Countless desires and impulses battered his mind. Even Lin Xi himself felt that the fact he could retain any semblance of rationality was a medical mira—no, it should be called a divine miracle!

Lin Xi’s drooping head slowly lifted, revealing a left eye that had turned completely blood-red.

His narrow, vertical pupil had constricted into a thin slit. The skin on his arm was completely rendered by a black mist, like an intricately carved tattoo masterpiece. Black thorn patterns climbed up his neck, standing out against his fair skin like blooming hellfire.

The moment he raised his hand, the black mist enveloping him began to roil, and then he clenched his fist in mid-air.

By the time the Contaminants before him sensed the danger, it was already too late.

Before they could scatter and flee, a squelching sound of soft bodies bursting filled the air, and a shower of fluids splattered everywhere.

The drizzling liquid soaked the entire ground, and the sound of finely minced flesh scattering was like a torrential downpour.

Lin Xi walked over the tissue fragments, making the sound of crushed meat.

Black sparks fell from his fingertips. Upon contact, the scattered crystal core fragments were instantly devoured, and the absorbed energy transformed into a thin smoke that silently merged into his body.

[Hee hee hee, although the quality is a bit low, the quantity makes up for it. This trip wasn’t in vain. After so many years of diligent work, I finally get to eat my fill.]

The voice that had been floating in his mind now sounded as if it were right beside his ear, full of temptation: [Of course, if possible, there’s a C-class one inside…]

“Not that one. I can’t feed it to you.” Lin Xi’s calm tone was in stark contrast to the gradually maddening look in his eyes. “I need to leave that thing’s crystal core to report back to the action team. After we get out, I might even have a chance to make some excuses.”

As he spoke, he smiled faintly. “Let’s go. Time to say hello over there.”

Not far away, Lei Gang’s chest heaved violently. Due to excessive physical exhaustion, his lips had turned deathly pale.

He knew very well that he had almost reached his limit. Though he was unwilling, it was a pity; this time, he was probably really going to die here.

In that instant, he couldn’t help but think of the other two teammates in his squad. Crackling bolts of lightning exploded around him. With a surge of anger, he gathered all his strength for a final strike, only to see the maggots gathered around him suddenly begin to squirm with agitation.

What was happening?

Lei Gang abruptly looked up and saw a scene that would likely haunt his nightmares for countless nights to come.

As if stretched by an invisible force, the maggots swelled up like balloons and exploded one by one.

The splattering juices sprayed onto Lei Gang’s body, and a thick, nauseating stench assaulted him. When the figure appeared from behind them, he could clearly feel every muscle in his body instinctively tense to the extreme in the face of crisis.

Cold sweat instantly seeped out, running down his cheeks and blurring his vision. A fear more visceral than death itself washed over him.

Lei Gang saw the messy red hair and that face—so similar to his memory, yet so utterly different.

His pupils visibly constricted. “You…”

“Gang-ge.” Lin Xi greeted him very friendly, still with that gentle and harmless smile, which, because of his different-colored vertical pupils, exuded an indescribable strangeness.

In that moment, Lei Gang thought he saw the black thorns clinging to Lin Xi’s neck twitch, faintly unfurling a branch and leaf.

He couldn’t help but recall the first time he had met this man in the main hall. After a brief silence, he asked the only possibility he could think of: “Are you… a Mutated Species?”

Mutated Species, a collective term for humans who have undergone high-level pathological changes but still retain their minds.

Unlike ability users, although this group of humans also possessed powerful special abilities, their Contamination values were destined to continuously increase during the mutation process, causing them to gradually lose their human form until they completely degenerated into true Contaminants.

According to regulations, this high-mutation group needed to be registered and then handed over to the Monitoring Administration for management. However, some Mutated Species were unwilling to be imprisoned and tried various means to evade official capture. Among them, disguising themselves as ability users was their best cover.

Lei Gang’s words amused Lin Xi, who even considered it seriously. “A Mutated Species? I don’t think so.”

“Save… Wuwu… Save us! We were wrong, we beg you, save…”

The three people not far away couldn’t see the situation clearly. They could only see Lin Xi’s back from a distance. By now, most of the maggots, having been driven away, had swarmed over to them, slithering and climbing onto their bodies, gnawing at their flesh bit by bit with their mouthparts.

One person’s foot had been completely devoured, and a half-exposed white bone could be seen where it once was.

Although these people didn’t know what Lin Xi had just done, seeing Lei Gang’s narrow escape, they immediately burst into tears and cried out for help.

More and more maggots gathered, beginning to crawl onto their heads and gnaw at their skulls. However, even as the three watched in despair as their own brain matter dripped down and blurred their vision, Lin Xi never once glanced in their direction.

Gnaw, gnaw.

Only the sound of chewing and gnawing remained in the silent cave.

Fortunately, this sound was far from Lin Xi. The life-cherishing Contaminants sensibly kept their distance from him, giving him enough time to continue discussing his academic classification with Lei Gang. “I showed you before. I have a registration number. Although the one I’m currently using is fake, I am indeed a genuine ability user. As we all know, ability users are not in the category of those who undergo Contamination mutation. So, to be precise, an excessively high Contamination value not caused by mutation should not fall under the category of a Mutated Species. Can you understand what I’m saying?”

Lei Gang: “………”

To be honest, he didn’t really get it.

The atmosphere was filled with an inappropriate strangeness. The voice in his head had to speak up again.

[Don’t blame me for not reminding you, now doesn’t seem like the right time to be discussing this.]

[This person already knows your biggest secret. If you don’t want the action team to find out, you should—or are you still planning to hold out any hope for a species like humanity?]

The cries for help in the distance grew weaker and weaker, but Lin Xi seemed completely oblivious.

Gnaw, gnaw.

Until the bones were gradually consumed, and the chewing sounds also faded.

“Yes, should I continue to hold out hope?”

Lin Xi’s emotionless eyes slowly rolled. He suddenly took a step forward and walked right up to Lei Gang, squatting down with utmost politeness and looking him straight in the eye. “Although I don’t know the time flow difference between this inner world and the outside, with such a big incident happening in the rift, the action team should be arriving soon. In a bit, I need to go deal with that big guy inside, and then find a way to make some excuses to the action team that comes in. As you can see, although I’m not a Mutated Species, if word of what happened here gets out, it will be very troublesome.”

Lei Gang’s back went completely rigid. Under such a gaze, he felt as if the person before him was looking at an inanimate object.

He instinctively tried to swallow, only to find his throat was too dry.

“I don’t want to be sent to a lab. The best way, of course, is for all witnesses to disappear. But I really don’t like owing people favors.” Lin Xi’s eyes curved slightly as he smiled, and he asked in a sincere tone, “So could you please give me a suggestion, Gang-ge? What exactly should I—do now?”

The airflow from the landing helicopter sent leaves fluttering everywhere.

Fully armed members of the action team jumped down from the helicopter in a well-trained manner, immediately forming ranks and rushing straight for the rift.

Qi Xian led the way, enduring the two gazes fixed on his back. Although he was mentally prepared, the sight of the ground littered with maggot remains still inevitably made him feel nauseous. “How could there be so many…”

When he first received the notification, this rift had just been upgraded from D-class to C-class. By the time they finished assembling and officially set out, they received another message that it had been raised to B-class.

He was still shocked about what could have possibly happened to make the Contamination value in this rift jump two full classes. Looking at it now, could it be that the Contaminants in this inner world had undergone a large-scale hatching in a short period? But why?

In his urgency, Qi Xian couldn’t be bothered with the two important figures behind him and subconsciously quickened his pace.

Glancing to the side, he caught a team member’s hesitant expression. His furrowed brow never relaxed. “What else is there?”

The team member: “Captain… it’s like this. On our way here, the central control room sent another piece of intelligence, saying they detected… a Contamination intensity exceeding S-class in this rift.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me such important information…” Qi Xian suddenly realized and stumbled, almost thinking he had misheard. “Exceeding by how much?!?”

The team member: “Just as we were about to tell you, the central control room said the reading had already returned to a B-class level and it was probably an equipment malfunction, so… we didn’t say.”

Qi Xian rubbed his temples with a headache.

When your luck is bad, you even run into equipment malfunctions. What kind of mess was this!

Yan Xingzhou, walking behind, naturally overheard this conversation. He surreptitiously stroked the black box in his pocket.

It was on the way here that he happened to capture an energy fluctuation again.

And right at that moment, a Contamination intensity exceeding S-class was detected.

Equipment malfunction? It was far too much of a coincidence.

Su Qiuyin suddenly spoke: “Don’t you think there’s something wrong here?”

Yan Xingzhou pulled his thoughts back.

He wasn’t walking slowly. Although the ground was almost entirely covered, his trouser cuffs had not been soiled in the slightest.

“Yes, there are far fewer crystal cores,” Yan Xingzhou replied casually and said no more.

He had never been interested in exchanging work insights with Su Qiuyin.

A sudden cry of alarm came from the front of the team. “Where are the medics? Quick! Come over here—! There are people here!”

As teams of people quickly rushed inside, the entire scene instantly descended into chaos.

A short while later, stretchers were carried out from inside, heading straight for the rift’s entrance to be sent for rescue.

Yan Xingzhou only needed a glance to spot a familiar figure on one of the stretchers.

Having the same name, it turned out, wasn’t such a common occurrence after all.

Qi Xian was in the middle of directing everything frantically when he was suddenly pulled aside. He looked up and met Yan Xingzhou’s gaze. “President Yan, you… Don’t worry, Mr. Lin is fine. I’ll arrange it right now…”

“I’m taking Lin Ni.” Seeing Qi Xian’s dumbfounded expression, Yan Xingzhou thought for a moment and added, “He’s problematic. It’s safer to have him with me.”

Qi Xian finally snapped back to his senses and nodded hastily. “Ah, yes, yes, no problem! Handing him over to you is definitely safe! When there’s a need for follow-up work, I’ll go to the corporation to find Lin… to find you guys.”

Yan Xingzhou: “…”

The focus of this conversation was clearly off. In the end, Yan Xingzhou said nothing more and strode after the stretcher team.

With personnel being brought out from inside the rift, the hillside outside also became lively.

Finally out of the rift, Lei Gang, severely injured, shakily boarded a helicopter with the help of a group of people.

Lin Xi was about to follow but was stopped by someone beside him. “Mr. Lin Ni, right? Please board this one over here.”

All ability users had been registered before entering the rift, so Lin Xi was not surprised that the action team knew who he was.

His vertical pupils had returned to their original shape, the blood-red of his left eye had faded back to an alluring gold, and there was no trace of the black patterns on his fair skin, as if everything before had been an illusion.

Right now, Lin Xi’s deathly pale face, combined with the blood covering his body, was a shocking sight. He could barely move his feet without the support of the action team members.

This half-dead appearance wasn’t entirely an act. After all, the rapid rise and fall of his Contamination value in a short time was like a roller coaster for his blood pressure. He was currently dizzy and disoriented. Although he found it strange that he was getting a private plane, he was indeed eager to go back and get a good night’s sleep so he could have a clear head for the excuse-making session during the later debriefing.

Thus, Lin Xi very cooperatively moved to another aircraft with the support of the action team.

He had just opened the cabin door and was about to board when he looked up and found himself face-to-face with a man sitting in the front row.

Yan Xingzhou: “We meet again.”

“…”

Lin Xi’s fingers, still on the handle, twitched slightly. He almost slammed the door shut.