After the Global Evolution, I Stand at the Top of the Food Chain - Chapter 24

This chapter is translated by Hoenimochi, translation checked by Rin, edited by Bluburry, and proofread by Kris Xian.

Zhou Qiming felt that Lu Yan’s request was strange.

But because Lu Yan was so good-looking, he did as he was told.

After all, superficial dog1 and lapdog2 were only one word apart.

After Zhou Qiming added this setting to the four of them. The ghastly atmosphere around them suddenly disappeared. However, on the contrary, another desire arose in their hearts.

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It was like a daughter finally got to see her mother who had been away for a long time and wanted to rush into her arms.

Sure enough, none of the Pollutants with high pollution values ​​were easy to deal with.

[Congratulations, you don’t need to be pregnant anymore.]

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After leaving Dragon Maiden Lake, they saw mist spreading everywhere, clouding everything from sight.

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Even if Lu Yan had night vision capabilities far beyond ordinary people, he still couldn’t see anything in this white mist. All he could hear was the sharp laughter running through his ears.

The Pollutants watched from above, like gods watching humans fight with all their might in desperate situations.

Within three minutes, they returned to their original places from different directions.

“Can’t get out.” Detective wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and said, “My ability ranking is not high, but it is very practical. We also have encountered ghostly walls before and used Stealth to get out. This time, the Stealth failed.”

[Detective, the spiritual power threshold is 2700. Support system. ]

[Ability: Stealth, Tracking, Clue Perception]

[Mutational Course: Amnesiac, Hyperthymesia*, Insanity]

The Dragon Maiden finally climbed onto the shore.

In the moonlight, her hair was black and long, her upper body was covered with fine fish scales, and her lower body wasn’t human legs, but instead a long snake tail.

Although the exposed snake tail was five or six meters long, the second half of her tail was still submerged in the lake, and a shadow could be seen under the moonlight.

The Dragon Maiden had dragon horns on her head, and there were four or five baby girls on her back. Compared to humans, they looked closer to monsters— their bodies were highly decomposed, and their baby teeth had turned into long and terrifying shark teeth.

The pollution level on the sensor watch finally stabilized at 7, 002.

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“You guys go first!”

Zhou Qiming pulled out his weapon, stood in front of the three of them, and said in a stern voice.

He was not a combat system Enlightened, but because of his high spiritual power threshold, he also had some combat abilities.

After he finished talking, Zhou Qiming stacked a few BUFFS for himself: [Attack power +150] [Defense value +100] [Automatically release toxins that disrupt the nervous system of aquatic organisms].

After stacking these BUFFS, there was no effect on the Dragon Maiden, but the little Dragon Maidens swam back into the water uncomfortably. Behind him, the calm-faced Dr. Lu suddenly covered his throat and retched.

[I feel sorry for you, Zhou Qiming added a BUFF for himself that “automatically releases toxins that disrupt the nervous system of aquatic organisms.” Of course, I am not saying that you are an aquatic creature, but the fish in your body is. ]

[The Kingfish was on the verge of passing out from vomiting. It sprayed out a lot of fish eggs. Bleargh, bleargh—]

Lu Yan, “…”

He felt that the System actually did not need to say it with so much detail.

Lu Yan silently moved away from Zhou Qiming, which made him feel a little better.

The situation was urgent, and Zhou Qiming did not notice this detail. He just thought that it was the first time Lu Yan had faced a strong Pollution and experienced an adverse reaction.

Little did he know that the things he was doing in his pursuit of Dr. Lu caused Dr. Lu to be the number one in sprinting backward.

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“When I fight with her later, you guys run. The further the better, if you return, find a place to hide.” Zhou Qiming’s tone was very tragic and cool.

At any rate, he ranked amongst the top 100 Enlighteneds on the forum, with a spiritual power threshold of 7, 600 at his peak.

Facing the Dragon Maiden, there was still a chance of survival, but even the three of them added up were not enough to fill the gaps between the Pollutant’s teeth.3

Detective’s eyes moistened, “Boss! You must be safe! Next week, our gacha mobile game will be launched on the official platform!!!”

Zhou Qiming said angrily, “That’s it, I know that you’re a traitor sent by the SpecOps Division. Don’t play me with your words. F**k it, creating games leads to dead ends, I haven’t wanted to do it for a long time!”

[The Dragon Maiden is not here to find you. When she went ashore, she actually came to find her ‘father’… Of course, if your hostility is too obvious, she doesn’t mind solving it on the way.]

Lu Yan instantly recalled the background of the story that the System had explained.

He even had some untimely pity in his heart.

The more advanced the Pollutant was, the more intact their consciousness was reserved.

The Dragon Maiden had already merged with the hundreds of little Dragon Maidens.

Living in resentment every day. It was the setting added by Zhou Qiming that reminded her of something.

She still had an old father at home who had been waiting for her to return. Her mother died of cancer, and her father was under pressure and was not willing to remarry.  He used to awkwardly comb her hair, make her breakfast, and raised her to be a big girl.

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Every time she talked about her father with others, they were envious of her.

The last time they met was 17 years ago. She saw him through a small window in the basement. She was only in her forties, but her hair had turned completely white and her body was haggard.

Lu Yan asked the System, “Can you communicate with her?”

The Dragon Maiden didn’t seem to be able to speak, but her white eyes were a little scary.

[The perfect evolution of Dragon Maiden. With a pollution level of 7, 200, she is already a part of Dragon Maiden Lake.]

[Mutational Abilities: Mirage, Maternal-Fetal Proliferation.]

[Mutational Course: Sea Serpentization.]

The mirage was the ghostly wall they encountered, and the maternal-fetal proliferation was the few children that Zhou Qiming killed.

[She hasn’t spoken for too long, so she can’t speak anymore. But she still understands, you can try.]

Therefore, Lu Yan stood up and walked to the lake.

At this time, the atmosphere on the scene was already tense, and it was on the verge of breaking out into something worse.

The Dragon Maiden snarled at Lu Yan, revealing her fangs that were not worse than those of the baby girls.

Zhou Qiming was anxious, “What are you doing here?”

As soon as he spoke, the indescribable smell of his body seemed to rush towards Lu Yan.

Lu Yan resisted the desire to retch and said to Dragon Maiden, “You didn’t evolve to obtain the ability to mimicry, and with this appearance, it is impossible for you to enter the human habitat and find your father. Human society has stronger protection from the Enlighteneds.”

“I can help you and bring your father here. I am also an employee of a state-owned enterprise. This is my work permit.” Lu Yan took out the ID card issued by the SpecOps Division. “Your father—”

[Zhao Cheng.]

“Zhao Cheng, I have seen him. He has been looking for you.”

In that instant, the Dragon Lady’s angry expression turned into astonishment.

“You should have heard what I said to the Dragon Prison Well.” Lu Yan tried his best to make his tone appear sincere, “You are a good person, it is not your fault.”

The Dragon Maiden turned her head, her eyes forming a deadly stare directed at Lu Yan. She didn’t say anything and seemed to be thinking about something.

The pressure of being watched by such a Pollutant was no less than that of waking up early on the day of the college entrance examination and finding that he had missed the Chinese exam.

After thinking about it, Zhou Qiming felt that his scalp was tingling. It was also difficult for Lu Yan to keep a straight face.

The Dragon Maiden opened her mouth and let out a hiss.

The dense and humid fog around slowly dissipated, revealing the way out.

However, not everyone could leave.

The Dragon Maiden’s snake tail slapped the surface of the lake, making a loud cry like a sea monster. It wasn’t terrible, but because it was too harsh, everyone present couldn’t help but cover their ears.

Blood spilled from Detective’s fingers. The others were better, only slightly dizzy.

Hundreds of little Dragon Maidens climbed onto the shore from the lake, rushing frantically towards the remaining three. They didn’t have legs, so when they landed, they looked like long worms, twisting and slithering. Although their posture was distorted, they were frighteningly fast.

Chen Shi’er was so frightened that he was about to use Iron Sand Palms. He punched the small Pollutants with low pollution value.

But his movement was stopped by Lu Yan, “Don’t resist! Trust me.”

Chen Shi’er had to suppress his fighting instinct and watched the little Dragon Maidens sitting around him in a circle.

Fortunately, these horrible and ugly Pollutants did not attack them either.

The Dragon Maiden opened her mouth, stuck out her long tongue, and made a “hissing” sound.

[The Dragon Maiden said, she’ll give you three days. For every three days, if you don’t bring her father over, she will kill a hostage.]

Lu Yan repeated the System’s words to others and said with relief, “Don’t worry, I will definitely be back within three days.”

It couldn’t be helped. Zhou Qiming’s spiritual power threshold had only returned to the level of more than 6,000 now. Obviously, he couldn’t beat the Dragon Maiden.

What’s more, the Dragon Maiden was able to make him unconsciously parasitized by a ghostly fetus before, the two were obviously not of the same magnitude.

The macho man, Chen Shi’er, shed tears and said, “Doctor, you must come back!”

Zhou Qiming was shocked, “Dr. Lu, how do you know what she’s talking about?”

Lu Yan answered without hesitation, “914th ability, cross-species communication.”

After getting 6, 200 contribution points from Zhou Qiming, he bought the “Periodic Table of Abilities Sequence.” Dr. Qiao, who compiled this sequence list, said that this sorting was the result of a comprehensive sorting of factors such as the strength of capabilities and the degree of assistance to humans.

The serial number 914 ability only had a single purpose, that it could only be used to talk to intelligent creatures. Many Enlighteneds who had awakened this ability have become excellent veterinarians in the industry.

Qiao Yu also said that every seeming junk ability was just a misplaced treasure.

At least for now, it was still very useful for Lu Yan to fool people.

Yanjing. Special Operations Division Headquarters.

In the office, the minister pulled his bow tie a little unnaturally. He had always been called “Iron Blood Yama”4 at the Headquarters, but at this time, he actually practiced smiling to the air. It looked very kind, like the Uncle Wang next door who goes out for a walk every night.

Tang Xun’an didn’t like contact with strangers, so he was the only one in the office.

A few minutes later, the liaison’s voice came from his headset, “Tang Xun’an is here.”

The office door was pushed open, and a chilling cold air came in.

Tang Xun’an pulled out his chair and sat down opposite the minister.

“Where to go this time?” He put the Yellow Dust on the table casually.

Minister Wang laughed loudly, “You have just returned from abroad a few days ago, so what are you thinking about going out for? Don’t tire yourself too much.”

Tang Xun’an didn’t pick up the conversation, just stared at him with those calm, beautiful golden eyes like he was a dummy.

Minister Wang could only bite the bullet and say, “Actually, it’s like this. We want to arrange a new teammate for you. He is a healer type Enlightened. He may be of some help to you.”

Tang Xun’an inquired seriously, “Is he being sent over to die?”

“You don’t have to blame yourself too much for what happened back then. We all agree that it is not your fault.” The minister hesitated, “If you disagree, then forget it. It was because the news of the Healer Enlightened was leaked. However, he himself did not want to come to the Headquarters. For the sake of protecting the safety of the other party, we only hope that he will follow you…”

Tang Xun’an wanted to smoke a little and also wanted to pet his dog at home.

“Give me the information,” he said.

The minister handed over the document. Tang Xun’an looked at the things the other party handed earnestly, and his expression was unreadable and calm.

The minister’s heart became tormented and nervous with each passing second until he finally heard Tang Xun’an’s confusing answer.

“Lu Yan, is it. I see.” 

The author has something to say:

*Hypermnesia is an extremely rare medical illness, which belongs to the branch of non-selective memory. Its clinical manifestation is that the brain has an automatic memory system.