Chapter 71: S-Class Pollutant! The Truth Behind It All!

The air in Y-Zone was alive.

When the heavy alloy gate shut behind her with a metallic clack, Lin Yu felt as though some nameless, colossal creature had swallowed her whole.

The warmth, the humidity, and that thick scorched stench — it was like being stuffed into the stomach of a living organism.

Every breath made her want to retch.

(What is this hellhole…?)
Even the air felt sticky, making breathing difficult.

Lin Yu instinctively lifted a hand to cover her mouth and nose, trying to inhale as little as possible.

“Do you see it, Lulu?”

Beside her, Lu Ze’s voice brimmed with the devotion of a religious fanatic. He pointed ahead.

“This is the true heart of the Prometheus Project—of all of D-Sector, really.
The World Tree Biomass Reactor.”

Suppressing her nausea, Lin Yu followed his gesture.

At the center of Y-Zone, a circular abyss over a hundred meters wide yawned open, bottomless.

Peering downward was like staring into a black pit designed to devour sanity.

And rising from that darkness stood a gigantic “tree.”

It was woven from countless thick, semi-transparent cables, stretching upward toward the dome.

Inside those translucent “branches” and “trunk,” faint azure lights flowed like blood, accompanied by bubbling, gurgling sounds — granting this cold machine an unsettling imitation of life.

Lin Yu’s throat tightened. She took half a step back, palms damp with sweat.

(What the hell… disgusting!)

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Lu Ze’s voice was tinged with intoxicated awe. A crazed glint flickered in his eyes.

“It takes failed biological waste and converts it into the purest energy… hehehe.
A perfect cycle, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean by… failed waste?”

Lin Yu pitched her voice higher, softer — sweet and naïve, like a curious little girl.

(Act dumb. Stall for intel. Figure out how badly this guy’s been contaminated.)

“Why, the things beneath our feet, of course.”

Lu Ze tapped the alloy grating under them, voice dropping low with the excitement of revealing a forbidden secret.

“Directly beneath the World Tree is what we call the Genesis Dissolution Pit.”

“That is where all our failures end up. Every imperfect creation is thrown into that pool. High-concentration bio-enzymes dissolve them entirely, turning them into pure nutrients… to feed our World Tree again.”

He paused. His eyes gleamed with sick fervor, his body trembling lightly.

“And do you know? We only discovered it by accident — at the moment of death, those failures release a certain… useful energy.”

“Later the data freaks at Skyvault Group told us it seems to be the same thing your Dawn Company is always preaching about…”

He leaned close.

“‘Psionic energy,’ yes?”

Lin Yu’s pulse leapt.

Cold sweat dripped down her temples. Even her breathing became careful, silent.

“…Do you know why I’m explaining all this to you so patiently?”

Lost in her spiraling thoughts, she almost missed the question.

“Eh?”

Lin Yu took an imperceptible step back. Her back was already damp; her undershirt clung coldly to her skin.

Her throat tightened as she forced a smile.

“W-wasn’t it because Dr. Reed told you to? And… because you’re so kind to me…”

She glanced left and right, wearing a nervous little smile — while her eyes frantically mapped escape routes.

She had planned to take him down here.
But now—
Now she felt like the prey. Every hair on her body screamed danger.

And this place… it wasn’t somewhere ordinary people got contaminated. Something about it… could hide the Mirror Man’s remains—

Her voice trailed off, trembling.

Her fingers were already curled around her psionic pistol in her pocket.

“You’re looking for a pollutant, right?”

Lu Ze suddenly smiled.

Too wide.
Far, far too wide. His teeth gleamed an unnatural white under the lights.

“…Isn’t it right here?”

The air froze.

Lin Yu raised her gun instantly. The muzzle shook, slick with her own sweat, but she kept it trained on him.

“Why?”

Her voice was low — sharp, defensive.
That single word held many questions:

Why were you contaminated by the Mirror Man?
Why bring me here?
Why expose yourself?

“Because watching you struggle is… delightful, little lamb.”

Lu Ze’s voice warped.

It wasn’t a man’s voice anymore.

It layered — overlapping tones of men, women, children, the elderly — all speaking at once, blending seamlessly into one eerie harmony.

“Why cling to the fragile prison of human flesh and emotion…
When you could open your arms and embrace true greatness and freedom?”

His arms spread wide, welcoming.

And his smile… twisted into something no human face should make.

The real Lu Ze was already long gone.

“Zzzrrrk—”

With his whisper, the air itself began to awaken.

Lin Yu felt it immediately — a dense, ominous psionic pressure glowing faintly purple, surging from all directions like a rising tide.
The whole Y-Zone shifted into a suffocating domain of power.

Lights flickered.
Air vibrated.
Cracks formed across the walls, leaking purple fluid that resembled blood plasma.

Buzz—buzz—buzz—!!

Her wrist Contract Bracelet, which had turned to garbled code earlier, suddenly snapped back to life.

But the cute pink UI was instantly overridden by flashing emergency warnings.

The psionic concentration meter climbed at a terrifying speed—
Until it hit a tiny, red, flashing ∞.

【WARNING! EXTREME PSIONIC REACTION DETECTED!
DANGER LEVEL: EXCEEDED LIMITS.
EXECUTOR MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY—】

“Zzzrrrk—!”

Even the warning was forcibly cut off.

The screen went pitch black.

Electronics were dead. Crushed by some overwhelming force.

Lin Yu’s heart clenched painfully.
Her instincts screamed danger.
Her entire body snapped into high alert.

She gripped her firearm tighter — finger tightening on the trigger.

“Hehehe…”

Lu Ze — or rather the thing wearing his skin — chuckled.
The sound was like a god mocking an ant. Arrogant. Playful. Cruel.

It grew louder.
More twisted.
More frantic.

Until it exploded into crazed, ecstatic laughter—

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—!”

His veins bulged, glowing blue-purple, writhing like serpents under his skin.

Then—

He jerked his head up.

Purple blood tears spilled from his eyes, hissing and corroding the floor where they fell.

His jaw unhinged grotesquely—
Stretching up toward his ears, revealing jagged, saw-toothed fangs.

(That… that expression isn’t human—!)

Lin Yu’s skin prickled. She trembled despite herself.

“Hehehe…”

Behind him, a massive violet silhouette unfurled — made of countless warped eyes and shifting runes.

Its shape defied logic, defied nature.
Its existence felt fundamentally wrong.

“Mirror Man? Remains?”
The layered voice mocked her.

“Hehe… what a naïve child.”

“I never denied the remains exist. But you seem to have misunderstood one thing.”

“You thought you were following clues…
But did you ever consider—”

A pause.

“—that the clues were leading you here?
To a stage prepared just for you?”

“W-what…?!”

Lin Yu’s heart clenched.

(Used? No… I followed the trail here myself! I—)

She denied it over and over — but cold sweat soaked her back.

“Do you really think it was coincidence that the Mirror Man’s remains showed up at the perfect difficulty for your promotion exam?”

The shadow lowered its head.
Its eyes glowed like bottomless violet abysses.

“No, child.”

“In this world, there is no such thing as coincidence.”

“What you see as coincidence is merely a larger script…
That you cannot comprehend.”

His voice deepened — hypnotic, magnetic.

Violet light surged around him, spreading like colossal wings.

“And I have been writing your script — your fate —
for a very, very long time.”

“What—”

Lin Yu’s pupils contracted violently.

A chilling sense of exposure invaded her — like every moment of her life had been watched.

Memories blurred through her mind.
Scenes flickered—
She remembered her humiliating interview at Dawn Company.

“‘But… you must have noticed the keywords in our ad: young, vibrant, energetic… To be honest, your age and gender don’t match our long-term hiring model. We suspect this was caused by some deep-level algorithmic aberration beyond our understanding…’”

Right.
By all logic, she should never have received that job ad.

She’d assumed the company’s super-AI glitched.

But now—

Horror crawled up her spine.

Her lips trembled.

“You mean…
that job posting…”

Her voice cracked.

“…was your doing?!”

“Hehehe…
Still too naïve.
Still lacking imagination.”

“No, child.
Much earlier.”

“M-much earlier…?”

A terrifying thought hit her—

(My pathetic, miserable life…
All those failures…
Was it all because of this thing—)

The moment she formed it—

A violent nausea hit her.

“Urk—!”

She choked, dizzy.

“No… impossible… absolutely impossible—!”

She tried to deny it. Her voice rasped with rage and fear.

“Believe it or don’t.
It changes nothing.”

“When you fought those Red City thugs and your heart filled with negative emotions
—I attempted to possess you then.”

“Ah, but your police friend interrupted my perfect opening act.”

The entity sighed almost regretfully.

“But that’s fine.”

Its voice suddenly boomed through the entire sector—

“Because the real second act—
begins now.”

BOOM—!

Y-Zone erupted.

The World Tree went wild — the azure lights in its cables turned chaotic and violent.

Electric arcs crackled everywhere.
The air tasted like burning metal.

Below them, the Genesis Pit boiled furiously, spewing putrid, rotting fumes.

Something was awakening.

“Crack— crack-crack—!!”

Lu Ze’s body twisted grotesquely.

Bones snapped through skin.
His pristine white lab coat tore apart as monstrous growths burst outward.

Purple scales covered his entire mutated body — each scale writhing independently, shimmering with cold luster.

“krrrkkk…”

The mutation continued.

Wings erupted from his back with a wet, tearing sound—
Not feathered wings—

But wings covered with thousands of eyes, each one of different sizes and colors.

Every eye blinked at once.

All staring at Lin Yu.

Observing her fear from a thousand angles.

Lin Yu staggered back, raising her gun.

“Enough!”

(I don’t care what you are— I’ll blow your head off!)

BANG—!

She fired.

The psionic bullet blasted his head apart.

Flesh and bone and purple ichor splattered everywhere.

But—

The expected result didn’t come.

He didn’t fall.
He didn’t die.
He didn’t even pause.

A new head burst forth from the heap of flesh —
Birdlike, grotesque, and beautiful in its monstrosity.
Like a raven forged by demons.

“Useless…?”

Lin Yu’s eyes widened.
She pulled the trigger again and again.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three psionic rounds pierced his torso, abdomen, and wing.

The wounds closed instantly.

Time itself seemed to rewind around them.

Terror crashed over her.
Her arm went numb.

She’d faced many pollutants—
But this thing…

This was beyond anything she’d ever imagined.

(What… what IS this?!
Humans can’t fight something like this—!)

“Allow me to properly introduce myself, delicious little vessel—”

“I am the maker of chaos, the undoer of order.”

“I am the weaver of lies, the distorter of truth.”

“I am the hunter’s prey, and the prey’s hunter.”

“I am chance within certainty, and certainty within chance.”

“I am the beginning.
And the end.”

“And I have one name you carbon-based creatures use—”

His newly formed head snapped toward her.

From the cracks in his bone mask, violet light surged — pure intelligence mixed with pure malice.

“—The Ever-Shifting Demon Lord.”