After the Global Evolution, I Stand at the Top of the Food Chain - Chapter 38

This chapter is translated by Kris Xian, translation checked by Kensi, and edited by Cia.

[Host’s mental state is detected to be unstable, please take tranquilizers and miracle drugs promptly.]

Many people’s tranquilizers were made in the shape of cigarettes, but Lu Yan didn’t like to smoke. Therefore, his tranquilizers were made into candies, mint-flavored.

On the detector, Lu Yan’s mutation degree had risen to 14.7, it slowly dropped after he ate a candy.

Lu Yan glanced at the man on the ground and asked, “He won’t move as a corpse, will he?”

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The System’s tone was full of disgust, [No. If you fight in close combat, an Enlightened with a spiritual system is exceedingly weak. They only have a lot of tricks, which is very annoying. Also, you know, many Enlighteneds aren’t in a good mental state, so this makes them even more annoying.]

Next up was the delightful checking of spoils segment.

Lu Yan found that Chen Anzhi had brought a lot of things, most were scented cosmetics and skincare products.

Fupvlx, [Mbspl yal nsdhldkldv kvlxp kd ykekdt burdspkp, usw nyd yzps wpl kv. Jwv R esd’v vbkdj usw’al pwrrsple vs olya xyjlwr, vbswtb.]

[Uydezlp byhl burdsvkn wplp. Fktdkqknydvzu lqqlnvkhl sd bwxydp. Fblzq zkql sq 3 ulyap.]

Wasx vbl Fupvlx’p xswvb, vbl cwadkdt yasxyvblayru kvlxp vbyv Ubld Gdgbk wple vs xyjl bkx qyzz ypzllr olal wdkqsaxzu nyzzle nydezlp.

[Vsnjlv oyvnb, y burdsvkn kvlx. Valpple wdeladlyvb kv kp bwxyd pjkd, yde byde-rykdvle sd kv yal vbl Bzvkxyvl Jzkpp vlynbkdtp. Rv’p wple yp y vsjld vs ldvla vbl “Ikdtesx sq Qse.”]

Nw Zyd rakle vbl pwaqynl srld, yde pwal ldswtb, y vbkd rklnl sq bwxyd pjkd okvb y zlyvbla ryrla vurl qllz oyp ralpple kdpkel. Rv oyp rklanle kdvs vbl nsavlm okvb eyaj skz rykdv, qsaxkdt y pvaydtl pvya ryvvlad. Fvyakdt yv kv qsa y zsdt vkxl oswze xyjl sdl ekggu, zkjl psxl jkde sq lhkz yavkqynv.

Gqvla vyjkdt kdhldvsau sq vbl prskzp, Nw Zyd qkdkpble elpvasukdt vbl nsarpl yzsdt vbl oyu.

Tl nswze yzalyeu blya vbl pswde sq Vszzwvydvp qzyrrkdt vblka okdtp qasx vbl pju yde lpvkxyvle vbyv kv oswzed’v cl zsdt clqsal vbl nbwdjp sq xlyv oswze cl poyzzsole kdvs vblka pvsxynbp.

Xd vbl xyr, vbl sdzu ale zktbv prsv oldv swv, zlyhkdt 23 czwl zktbv prsvp.

This represented 23 more students who have suffered from spiritual pollution.

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Lu Yan walked towards the light spot closest to him.

The assistant instructor had once praised Lu Yan, saying that he must be the best hunter.

However, Lu Yan never thought that there would come a day when he would need to hunt “people.”

Most importantly, Lu Yan had to consider the consequences of the information gap.

He would probably be treated as a murderer. Although Lu Yan didn’t really care much about this, he didn’t want to be court-martialed either.

The first light spot Lu Yan encountered was an old acquaintance.

Director Hu was in charge of night watch tonight. He sat by the bonfire that had already been extinguished. Due to his fatigue, his head kept slowly drooping down. Nevertheless, every time he was about to fall asleep, he would pinch the flesh of his thighs.

Lu Yan remembered that Director Hu was a famous surgeon in K City, always walking around the hospital with complacency. When he encountered patients who could not pay their hospital fees, he would always try to find ways to reduce the medical fees.

He had been practicing medicine for 30 years and had received more pennants than Lu Yan had ever received since he was a child.

Probably because of his soft nature, Director Hu unknowingly became hypnotized as early as the first day and became a Bliss religion believer in his dreams.

Lu Yan’s hand was already on his bow and arrow, but he still couldn’t shoot it for a long time.

He asked the System, “This kind of spiritual pollution, is it really irreversible? Can’t the Kingfish help?”

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System, [The Kingfish can reduce the mutation degree, but it can’t completely destroy the mark on their soul].

“He looks no different from an ordinary person.”

[You are always merciful in ways I don’t understand, Host.] The System’s voice seemed full of interest, [Even if you don’t kill him, after some time passes, perhaps just a few hours later, that being will descend upon the vessels. Of course, vessels also have feelings, they will feel the pain of their souls being blown up. Even if their body is unharmed, they will feel as if they are being killed with a thousand cuts,1 dying in endless fear and pain.]

[Compared to that kind of death, I’m afraid it’s probably better to die now.]

A flowering vine dangled from the treetops above Director Hu’s head.

It was a Pollutant, quietly approaching its prey.

Lu Yan’s sharp arrow on the bowstring that had been resting for a long time finally would be of use. The arrowhead plunged deep into the vine. The blood-sucking vine seemed to be in pain and actually made a shrill scream.

This sound awakened Director Hu and his two teammates, who were in their sleeping bags.

The teammates hurriedly pulled open the sleeping bags’ zippers in a panic. Director Hu looked at the Pollutant near him and patted his chest, his heart full of lingering fears.

Lu Yan jumped down from a tree, like a large nimble cat, landing without a sound.

“Ah, Xiao Lu!” Director Hu got up, and his face was filled with gratitude. “This arrow looks like you shot it. That accuracy is really great. You don’t need to tell me, I’ll write a letter to ask the Chairman of the Board to give you the position of director at the Emergency Department of K City First People’s Hospital!”

Lu Yan, “Thanks, I already am.”

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Before coming to Yanjing, the Hospital had consciously promoted his position.

Director Hu was momentarily speechless, “Why are you here?”

Lu Yan, “I came here to discuss something with you.”

“What’s the matter? As long as you’re not trying to marry my daughter, we can discuss it.”

Lu Yan tried to express the seriousness of the matter as concisely and quickly as possible, “Director, have you ever come into contact with an organization called the Ultimate Bliss religion? You may have been spiritually contaminated.

“The S-level Pollutant in the Kingdom of God wants to descend here through its believers. If you have participated in a dream of the Ultimate Bliss religion before, you’ll have its mark.

“Tang Xun’an participated in this drill, which made some high-level Pollutants decide to kill him. This includes the ‘Holy God’ who specializes in spiritual pollution.

“Its consciousness will be projected to its believers at the same time. The believers who had become vessels will outright die, because they wouldn’t be able to withstand such powerful spiritual force and pollution value. What I’m doing right now is destroying its vessels before the Pollutant descends. This would help avoid greater losses in the future.

“If the Holy God comes, the whole P City may be razed to the ground.”

Lu Yan omitted some of the associated consequences, like if Tang Xun’an failed, the world’s downfall would follow right after.

Director Hu’s teammates were puzzled and asked, “And how did you know that?”

Lu Yan,”I have an additional ability called ‘Cross-Species Communication.’ I heard these when the insects and plants were talking about it.”

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As he spoke, a man-eating flower vine dangled from the tree. Its thick rhizomes had dense sharp fangs inside, opening up, it tried to bite onto Lu Yan.

Lu Yan grabbed the flower vine with his free hand, and then twisted it into a ball of twine and threw it aside.

“There’s also a traitor from the Kingdom of God in my team. I also interrogated him a bit.”

“…”

For some reason, it sounded a bit unreliable.

Director Hu had developed an unnatural expression on his face halfway through Lu Yan’s explanation. When he finished listening, he was silent for even longer, “So, ah… How are you going to destroy those vessels?”

“Naturally, I have to let the vessel die.” When Lu Yan said this, he stared straight at Director Hu’s eyes.

A teammate, keenly aware that the atmosphere was a bit off, touched his weapon uncomfortably.

Another teammate tapped on his electronic watch and angrily said, “How come the off-field rescue failed? Where’s the signal?!”

What they didn’t know was, when the outside found that there were too few calls for help, the supervisory team quickly sent people into the polluted area to find out the cause.

However, the mushrooms that littered the ground had woken up.

“What he said should be true.” Director Hu suddenly said, “For the past two months, I indeed have had similar dreams. I dreamed of light and hope… and there were also people chanting ‘bliss and eternal life’ in my ears, they say ‘that is where the happiness of the soul resides.’”

“Every time I wake up, I feel fear in the midst of contentment. Because all this is so similar to the rumors of the Kingdom of God… but I don’t dare think deeply about it.”

Director Hu rambled endlessly without getting to the point, probably because his mind was confused, there were no necessary connections between his words.

He clutched his head and shivered, looking pitiful.

“Dr. Hu,” his teammates stepped forward and couldn’t help asking, “There must be another way, right?”

They looked at Lu Yan for help.

However, Lu Yan just shook his head in silence.

“I don’t want to die, ah, Dr. Lu.” Out of fear, Director Hu’s old face had already twisted in tears, “I, my son’s household registration and my grandson’s school district… are not yet settled. I…”

Lu Yan held up the bow in his hand, “Pardon me, I’m sorry.”

“Enough!” His teammates stood in front of Director Hu, “It’s all just based on your side of the story. Just with these few sentences, you’ll kill him?!”

“SpecOps Division Staff Affidavit, page 2, line 3,” Lu Yan said, “On the first day of training, everyone should’ve memorized it.”

—In order to stop danger at its root, I am ready to sacrifice my life at any time.

At that time, Lu Yan even complained to the System that the oath was completely anti-human. Nevertheless, there were still quite a few people who really practiced it as faith.

Director Hu’s teammate was stunned, and his hand holding the weapon lowered powerlessly.

This was actually a scene that Lu Yan had long expected.

[I would like to call it, the price of stupidity.]

“I understand what might happen,” Lu Yan replied calmly, “but I’ll do it anyway, it’ll make me feel like I’m still human.”

Lu Yan looked at Director Hu, “If I can leave alive, I will definitely settle the household registration and the school district housing. Now, you can choose to do it yourself or let me.”

Director Hu’s team had a low threshold of spiritual strength, all three of them combined would still not be enough to stand up to Lu Yan.

Director Hu cried for a long time before finally calming down.

He said, “Then I’d better do it myself, so I’m at least mentally prepared.”

When he finished, he pulled out his own scalpel from the pocket of his protective clothing. Director Hu had practiced medicine for many years and performed no less than a thousand surgeries, but this was the first time he held a knife with his hands trembling this hard.

After Director Hu died, a wisp of red light emerged from his body and converged into a palm-sized humanoid.

The halo on the small figure turned from red to white.

The small white figure looked bright and gentle, yet it had a special pattern on its body. It was exactly the same as the one on the human skin paper Lu Yan had gotten.

The little man bounced all the way forward. Finally, it disappeared like a puddle of water into the ground without leaving a trace.

[Red is the color of polluted souls. When believers die, their souls are divided in two by the Holy God, weighing the good and evil during their lifetime.]

[The Holy God will swallow the sinful souls for his own sustenance, such as Chen Anzhi, who directly died without a trace. He will also lead kind souls to the Kingdom of God, like Director Hu.]

[In a sense, the Holy God is indeed in a place called the “Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.”]

“Why would it do that?”

[I guess he really likes the feeling of being a “god.”]

Lu Yan used the white fabric on Director Hu’s body, tied it into a flower, and placed it on the corpse.

The strange little white humanoid with strange patterns on its body was seen by everyone present.

This made no one doubt the truth of the matter anymore, but the atmosphere seemed to be more depressing and silent. The teammates let out low sobs at the remains of Director Hu.

“The traitor told me,” said Lu Yan. “There are 23 people who have been tainted by the scourge. I’ll kill the vessels one by one in the cradle before that presence descends. In addition, I hope you can spread this news out as much as possible.”

Lu Yan peeled a mint candy and held it in his mouth, “Whether others believe it or not, I don’t want to suddenly be brought into the police station.”

Deep in the botanical garden.

An immense and unparalleled banyan tree was deeply rooted in the center.

Its huge and incomparable vines spread out into the distance for who knows how many miles. The canopy of the tree covered the sky and could be seen from as far as ten miles away.

The banyan tree seemed to be alive, its trunks slowly rising and falling with each breath.

But looking closely, its branches were full of terrified human faces.

These people were frozen at the last moment of their lives and confined here to become nourishment for the tree.

Here, death and life were constantly intertwined.

At the very top of the trunk, a huge human face loomed, with a drooping appearance, looking compassionate and merciful.

The ground, in turn, was covered with blue mushrooms, glowing with magnificent fluorescent color.

A bird of prey passed by and a green vine snapped out, sending the bird into the giant’s ravenous maw.

The entrance to the botanical garden had long been filled with vines. Impenetrable.

At this point, however, the plants grew rapidly, drawing nutrients from its mother, and then withering away.

Everywhere the Yellow Dust passed, not an inch of grass could grow.

07 followed Tang Xun’an and said, “Actually, it doesn’t have to be this troublesome, I can just burn it.”

“Keep it.” Tang Xun’an’s reply was somewhat too rudimentary.

The silence here was unsettling.

The giant face on the banyan tree opened its eyes and said, “He’s here.”

Consequently, the wind blew in the botanical garden for no apparent reason, and these wild-growing branches snickered, mouthing the same words with an increasingly shrill accent, “Come, come, come!”

Eat him.

Or, destroy him.