Chapter 26: Mutation
Something was wrong. Something felt off.
Hiding beneath the bridge, Li Sheng’s eyes were bloodshot as he gasped heavily for breath.
He had applied medicinal powder to his head and roughly stitched the wound with needle and thread to stop the bleeding. Yet, the ant-like needles on his hand stubbornly refused to fade.
More than that, he could feel the corruption of the Insect Lord intensifying further. Tendons, bones, blood vessels, and skin were all transforming into insect-like forms.
Rip—
The muscles on his right thigh uncontrollably swelled, ripping through his jeans.
Li Sheng braced himself with his hands to avoid falling, but the mantis-arm bone blade on his right hand continued to grow, its tip sprouting numerous blood vessels and nerves, as if forming a new limb.
At the same time, his right eye’s vision blurred chaotically. With a trembling left hand, Li Sheng pulled out his phone and turned on the camera, clearly seeing the pupil within his right eye rapidly quivering, as if about to split.
Whether it was the grassland pavement ants or the giant mantis, their eyes were compound...
Stop!
Li Sheng raised his fist and struck his chest fiercely.
His heart suddenly skipped a beat; blood flow throughout his body momentarily halted, and the mutation on the right side of his body abruptly slowed.
Summoning every ounce of willpower, he resisted the continuous dissipation of his consciousness. After an unknown length of time, the mutation subsided into dormancy.
The mantis-arm bone blade and needle hairs slowly retracted, the thigh muscles returned to normal, and the pupil ceased trembling.
“Whew...”
Sweating coldly all over, Li Sheng exhaled deeply and lay down beneath the bridge to regain his strength.
About twenty minutes later, he stood up, pushed his bike back to the surface, rode home, washed up, returned to his bedroom, and called Mu Yulu on WeChat.
On the surface, he greeted her casually, but in truth, he was probing for information about the hospital. Indeed, from the background noises on the call, he heard sirens.
Presumably, the police or the Special Affairs Bureau had discovered the giant corpse near the flowerbed and were now sealing off the scene to clean up the evidence.
After hanging up, Li Sheng pondered deeply and gathered all his possessions: the mantis and insect pupae infused with blood amber inside him, four fragments of the Insect Lord’s divine corruption, and the black grease he had just seized, placing them into several vacuum-sealed plastic bags.
He then changed into fresh clothes, climbed over the wall, and left his bedroom to return to the surface.
His current condition was utterly abnormal, as if he had entered a new phase. He dared not be sure if he could withstand another sudden mutation.
There were still about five thousand public phone booths in Yin City. He found one and dialed the number of Chang Sunyao, the person who had handed him the business card for the “World Nuclear Settlement House.”
“Hello?”
“Hello,” Li Sheng paused, carefully choosing his words. “Building 6, Apartment 803, Chenghua Community. I am that person.”
This address was precisely where the infected by the Insect Lord had killed that couple and where Li Sheng had met Chang Sunyao.
“Oh, it’s you,” Chang Sunyao replied with interest. “I thought you wouldn’t call this number.”
“Can we meet? I’d like to entrust you with something.”
“Sure, you pick the place.”
“Starbucks on Lotus North Road.”
Li Sheng hung up and headed toward the destination. He did not rush inside but hid around the corner to observe silently.
After ten minutes, Chang Sunyao entered the store, sat by the window, and ordered a coffee. Only then did Li Sheng walk into Starbucks and sit opposite her.
Today, Chang Sunyao wore a white hoodie under a black coat paired with jeans, giving off the appearance of an urban white-collar professional.
“You’re really cautious.”
She examined Li Sheng, noticing the tips of his fingers were coated with cyanoacrylate glue and that his face belonged to a middle-aged man who had previously died as an infected test subject of the Insect Lord—only concealed behind sunglasses.
More importantly, there was a police station not far across the street from this Starbucks.
Chang Sunyao took out her phone and scanned to order two coffees, smiling softly. “Afraid I’d do you harm, so you chose to meet right outside the police station?”
“Sorry.”
Li Sheng took a deep breath, offered no explanation, and pulled a packaged blood amber from his pocket, gently placing it on the table. “How much is this worth?”
“...A fragment of the Insect Lord’s divine corruption.”
Chang Sunyao narrowed her eyes, leaned back, and waved her hand dismissively. “Give it back. There’s a risk exposing this thing to the air.”
She paused, then said seriously, “Any transaction involving divine corruption fragments within the Special Affairs Bureau’s jurisdiction is a grave crime. If you hand it over to them, you’ll likely receive a 500,000 cash reward and a commendation banner. If you sell it to other guilds or organizations, the price is negotiable.”
“I have other fragments of divine corruption as well.”
Li Sheng pocketed the blood amber and hoarsely said, “I want to use them as payment to solve the problem I’m facing.”
“What problem?”
“I’ve been infected by the Insect Lord,” Li Sheng confessed calmly. “I’ve already gone through roughly four cycles of ‘Genetic Hunger.’”
“Ahem—”
Chang Sunyao, sipping her coffee, nearly choked. She stared wide-eyed at Li Sheng and, upon confirming he was not joking, furrowed her brows. “Do you mind if I scan you with my spiritual perception?”
Spiritual perception scanning was a common detection skill among players.
Of course, using this ability recklessly on strangers was akin to provocation and could easily lead to conflict.
Li Sheng shook his head, allowing Chang Sunyao to extend her palm, hovering over the back of his hand.
A sensation of being scrutinized spread from the back of his hand to his heart. Li Sheng resisted the urge to pull his hand away, tightening his expression.
After a moment, Chang Sunyao withdrew her hand, frowning seriously. “You’re not a Summoner.”
Li Sheng nodded. He had never claimed to be one, so technically he hadn’t lied.
Without lingering on this point, Chang Sunyao continued, “When were you infected?”
“Half a month ago.” Seeing her sudden silence, he asked, “Is there a problem?”
“...You should know how the outside world views infection by the Insect Lord, right?”
“I know—incurable.” Li Sheng recalled the Special Affairs Bureau personnel shooting infected individuals and said hoarsely, “According to the gaming forums, the killing ground holds infinite possibilities. What the Special Affairs Bureau cannot solve, other forces might.”
“You’re not wrong. The question is, at what cost?”
Chang Sunyao’s expression was blank as she explained, “For the concept of ‘human,’ infection by the Insect Lord is like smashing a porcelain vessel onto the ground, then using the shattered pieces mixed with all sorts of impurities to forge and fire a container of greater strength.
“In the process, the infected gain stronger power, but the ‘Genetic Hunger’ grows increasingly severe and frequent until their genome completely collapses, turning them into monsters devoid of human reason.
“Most ordinary people mutate into monsters during the first stage of infection.
“A few can endure the third or fourth cycle of Genetic Hunger before losing their sanity.
“The rarest cases can hold on until the sixth cycle before succumbing.”
She paused, then said calmly, “The top player organizations possess perfect solutions to cure divine corruption infections, but the price is too high, so they won’t share them with anyone outside their core circles.”
Li Sheng whispered, “...I have more fragments of divine corruption.”
“Useless. They’re not comparable in value.”
Chang Sunyao decisively said, “Repairing is always harder than destroying. Imagine firing a kiln of porcelain with modern techniques—it’s easy. But to perfectly restore a shattered vessel atom by atom, matching the original strength, is an order of magnitude harder.
“Unless you have someone powerful backing you,
“Otherwise, if you turn yourself in to the Special Affairs Bureau seeking help, they’ll most likely put you under the ‘Mercy Project.’”
“Mercy Project?”
“Euthanasia.” Chang Sunyao said calmly, “Within a budget of one million, they’ll make sure you eat and drink as you please, living happily for a week or two. When the time comes, they’ll euthanize you and recycle your body.
“That’s the standard procedure for high-risk targets who surrender but are incurable in the Special Affairs Bureau.”
Li Sheng was silent for a long time before saying, “I can work for them.”
“This is already the fourth year since the Killing Ground game started. The Special Affairs Bureau doesn’t lack enforcers—or rather, they don’t lack anyone except top-tier fighters.”
Chang Sunyao asked, “Even if they recruit you, near the end of your life, you’ll involuntarily transform into a monster, instinctively causing destruction and spreading infection. You’d be a highly dangerous time bomb.”
“...”
Li Sheng fell into deep silence. Slowly lifting his head, he asked seriously, “How long can I survive as a human?”
“Optimistically, about a month.”
Chang Sunyao set down her coffee. “Of course, this is just my perspective. If you don’t believe me, I can take you to places like Prometheus Laboratory Company for free. You can ask them for advice.”