After the Global Evolution, I Stand at the Top of the Food Chain - Chapter 7

This chapter is edited by Pierce.

Being preoccupied with the Kingfish egg’s integration, Lu Yan hadn’t been exposed to outside news for a while.

As soon as he left the house, he noticed something strange.

On the metal security door, there were surprisingly several deep palm marks as if someone had forcefully smashed it.

Lu Yan observed it. It  didn’t look like human hands, it looked similar to a frog’s webbed hands.

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A strong bloody smell lingered on his nose.

The corridor was completely dark because of the rotational blackout.

Lu Yan touched his phone interface.

[Xdl osae sq nywvksd.] vbl Fupvlx pweeldzu pyke, [Gzvbswtb usw esd’v pll ydu Vszzwvydvp aktbv dso, vblu yal rbsvsvasrkn. R esd’v alnsxxlde wpkdt ydu zktbv pswanl kq usw esd’v oydv vs cl pwaaswdele. Zsw yzalyeu byhl yd ldbydnle dktbv hkpksd. Lso, zlyad vs ynnlrv uswa ekqqlaldnlp qasx saekdyau bwxyd clkdtp.]

Nktbv oyp hlau zkxkvle yv dktbv. Mbl vblsau clbkde dktbv hkpksd oyp vbyv vbl alvkdy alqzlnvp kdqayale zktbv yde yxrzkqklp hkpksd,1 ps yp vs pll vbl osaze nzlyazu.

Nw Zyd’p lulp olal dso pkxkzya vs qlzkdlp, alqzlnvkdt y cwapv sq ale zktbv.

Tsolhla, kd bkp hkpksd, lhlauvbkdt yaswde bkx oyp talld.

Mbl essa vs vbl dlktbcsa’p bswpl oyp okel srld, yde vbl kdpkel sq vbl kasd essa oyp nshlale okvb bsaakczl pnayvnblp obknb rashle vbyv psxlsdl bye clld pvawttzkdt clqsal vblka elyvb.

Mblal oyp psxl hkpnswp zkiwke sd vbl qzssa sq vbl nsaakesa. Nw Zyd zktbvzu polrv kv okvb bkp qssv. Rv oyp eakle czsse vbyv qlzv zkjl puawr obld pvlrrle sd.

Mblpl czssepvykdp pbsole schkswp pktdp sq clkdt eayttle, byzvle qsa y xsxldv kd qasdv sq bkp essa, yde yqvla alyzkgkdt kv oswzed’v srld, blyele qsa vbl byzzoyu. Mbl vaynlp sq czsse yzps ekpyrrlyale yaswde vbl nsadla sq vbl nsaakesa.

Jlnywpl sq bkp rasqlppksd, Nw Zyd’p alvwad qasx osaj ekqqlale qasx bkp dlktbcsap. Llhlavblzlpp, bl alxlxclale y qyxkzu sq qswa zkhkdt dlmv essa— nsdpkpvkdt sq y nswrzl, y nbkze, yde yd lzelazu.

He looked at the pool of blood, remained silent for a moment, clenched the knife in his hand, and entered the house.

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Excuse me. 

The smell of blood in the room was much thicker than outside. Looking at the amount of blood, there was definitely more than one victim.

Lu Yan walked two steps into the living room following the bloodstains and inadvertently stepped on a half-severed hand.

He looked down for a moment and observed that the hand would have belonged to an adult female, and there were obvious bite marks on the wound.

Other than that, no visible human remains were seen. It appeared that the Pollutant ate the people whole without even spitting out their bones.

The living room was the crime scene, but the starting point of the blood trail was the kid’s room, deep in the hallway.

The room was warmly decorated. The corners of the room were filled with Lego toys. It was evident that the child was well-loved in this house.

Although the Pollutant had already left, the room still reeked of a damp fish, a chair toppled over the ground, and there were a few broken twine ropes on the floor.

[Apparently, the child in this family has mutated. Nonetheless, his parents didn’t want to send him to the shelter. So he was tied up in the room while waiting for a vaccine. In the beginning, the polluted child could still obey his parents, but later, it just became a monster who wanted to eat humans. Finally, one day the monster broke free of the ropes.]

Parents’ love was universal and selfless.

[Also… Would you like to look up overhead? He seems to have crawled up from the hallway.]

A drop of fishy saliva dripped down at Lu Yan’s feet.

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It turned out the room smelled heavily of fish, not because of the monster being locked up for a long time, but because the Pollutant was just right above him.

Lu Yan looked up and saw a little boy hung on the wall like a gecko. Its hands were about the same size as its head, and its sticky, webbed hands firmly grasp the ceiling. Probably because it was too full, its belly bulged like a nine-month pregnant woman.

A strange smile spread across the infected’s face as it opened its mouth wide, revealing two rows of sharp teeth. Its long tongue flicked out as if hunting and the huge papillae2 on its tongue stood up like sharp barbs.

Having dissected an Anura3 once had given Lu Yan the confidence and some insight into this type of Pollutant.

Even though an Anura moved fast and had great strength, it could only perform single attacks, either by lunging or whipping. It could also spew corrosive gastric acid, but not much of it.

Overcoming the feeling of nausea and wanting to vomit wasn’t too hard to deal with in his current physical condition.

Lu Yan only thought for a moment. He did not hide, instead, reached out and grabbed the tongue.

Ignoring the barbs on it, the tongue felt slippery to the touch like a piece of fat and tender liver.

A look of obvious surprise appeared on the Pollutant’s face. It was just that its eyes were already wide enough that it was completely indistinguishable.

Lu Yan’s hand forcefully yanked it from the ceiling to the ground.

The Pollutant fell to the ground with a loud bang. Very disturbing.

Drawing advantages and avoiding harm were some of the animal’s intrinsic traits.

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It wanted to run, but Lu Yan was incredibly strong that it couldn’t move.

The Pollutant cowered at the foot of the wall and let out a struggling hiss. It was very frightened, as it watched Lu Yan coming with a smile, holding his tongue in one hand and a scalpel in the other.

“Although I’m not a pediatrician,”4 Lu Yan said, “but it’s an urgent situation. Please forgive me. At least I’ve  obtained the Standard Physician Qualification Certificate.”

The knife cut open the Anura’s abdomen. It struggled to death and eventually fell to the ground, motionless.

Lu Yan cut out some undigested human bodies and heads from its stomach.

[These kinds of completely distorted Pollutants no longer have the chance to become humans once again. As for how to solve the pollution, I probably don’t need to tell you much, you’ll see it soon enough…]

A blood vessel bulged on Lu Yan’s arm. It was the recovered young Kingfish.

Fish scales appeared on his otherwise smooth arm, like armor, covering the surface of his skin.

Afterward, these scales stood up. Thin, white filaments protruded from the gaps of the scales and connected to the Anura on the ground, and then began to feed.

It was like drawing blood, the white whisker lines were slowly dyed red. Lu Yan reached out his hand and touched the threads. He shivered in pain.

It’s not his hand that was hurt, but these threads. The pain was comparable to a cranial nerve being touched with bare hands.

No wonder the Kingfish did not come out just now. If the Anura was not dead struggled a little, it would be enough for Lu Yan to die in pain.

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It was about a symbiotic relationship. As the Kingfish ate, he also felt like he was feasting. His stomach felt warm and comfortable. He squinted his eyes, and his fair face was flushed with unusual redness like a hangover.

The System was eerily silent, [I think normal people should at least have a mental breakdown when watching this scene.]

It was already prepared to be a spiritual advisor, but Lu Yan unexpectedly didn’t give it any face.5

Lu Yan replied with an expressionless face, “In your eyes, human beings are too fragile. Although according to your theory, we are low-level creatures that have not yet fully evolved. Nonetheless, in the millions of years since great apes evolved to humans, mankind has never given up on saving themselves.”

The meal lasted for half a minute.

[Spiritual power threshold: +10. Congratulations, you have been strengthened.]

The System let out a cold laugh and whispered, [That rat had good foresight.6 If the Kingfish host is a Pollutant and devoured all the Pollutants in K City, it could indeed exceed that threshold… It was such a pity that it met me though.]

Its voice was so small, not to mention the occasional sound of the tidal waves in Lu Yan’s ears, that he didn’t fully hear it.

The white glistening tentacles retreated back into Lu Yan’s body as if they had never existed.

Perhaps it was because the community had been cleaned once before, Lu Yan never encountered a second Pollutant until he left the neighborhood.

The blockade at the entrance to the subdivision was still in place. However, the guards were nowhere to be seen. There was only the blood-stained security booth vaguely hinting at what had happened here.

The power was supposedly out all over the city, but in the direction of Qu River Park, it was so brightly lit that it hurt the eyes.

[That’s the PDC doing a Pollutant purge.  If you are interested, you can go and have a look.]

Lu Yan withdrew his gaze in disinterest.

The night was excessively quiet in K City.

Only when passing certain small paths could Lu Yan hear a few heavy gasps, mixed with chewing sounds.

Every now and then, Lu Yan would seek the sound and walk into the alley.

He didn’t come to dismantle them, he came to join them.

Lu Yan touched his stomach. He had always faithfully followed the principle of eating only 80% full every day. It’s been a long time since he felt like vomiting from eating too much.

This evening, his spiritual power threshold had increased by 70 in total. In addition, the integrated Kingfish contributed 100 at once. He was now an Enlightened with a spiritual power threshold of 170.

This number was not high. At least judging by the Research Institute’s standards, it was only within the lowest Level 1 Enlightened.

However, K City was completely Lu Yan’s home ground, and the suppression of his blood superiority almost made him invincible here. Besides, the strength of an Enlightened was not determined solely by the spiritual power threshold.

“I’m full. It’s time to go home and come back tomorrow.”

He really wanted to meet patients contaminated by the pollution disease who hadn’t completely mutated yet. According to the System’s theory, they could still probably be treated. Nonetheless, this kind of thing obviously couldn’t be forced. It was impossible for him to go door to door and ask with a loudspeaker.

Lu Yan was walking on the street when a desolate east wind7 blew, and his phone slightly vibrated in his pocket.

It turned out to be the AirDrop function of his iPhone.

A message from a stranger popped up,8 [Brother, why are you out there? Several security guards in our neighborhood were infected, but no one came to collect their corpses. Are you f**king looking for death?]

He was a warm-hearted and considerate brother.

The phone continued to vibrate, [You’re blocking some light. Those Pollutants are very sensitive to light! Don’t you watch the news?! Why the hell did you get out on the street?]

[F**k!!! They are coming!!! Run!!!]

As soon as the message popped up, the 13th floor of the building behind Lu Yan lit up.  A petite girl stood by the window, tapped the window nervously, made a jolting noise, and then ran away like a puff of smoke.

A moment later, Lu Yan received a new message on his mobile phone, [This building belongs to my family. I’ll go hide in the other rooms. I can only help you here.]

The System said, [Although I have no good feelings for human beings— weak, selfish, and pathetic— but I have to admit that there are always some human behaviors that I find puzzling. This moment made me think, you are very cute.]

There was a tremor at the end of the street.

A fish-headed man close to three meters tall jumped and came his way. It still had a human-like large body but had a huge fish head, which, looking at the appearance of this species, appeared like a catfish. Its fish lips opened and closed, and its four barbels9 moved even without wind.

[Wow, congratulations. You have encountered the first small BOSS in this experience instance. An Osta10 with a pollution value of 400. This Osta had a big appetite when it was still alive and was particularly a great glutton after its mutation. He ate 60 in three days and became so fat. Not only he eats people, but also his own kind. He’s more aggressive than ordinary Ostae.]

[However, the good news is that although the eggs that it spews are a bit disgusting, they won’t pollute you. In addition, it didn’t grow such a big head for no reason. You, humans, have a saying, “Bottoms up if you think our friendship is deep, otherwise, just take a sip,” and this Osta is quite attached to you…11 Its weakness is its gills. In short, be careful.]

The Osta’s IQ was not high. It originally came to Lu Yan. After seeing the light on the top of the building, it was quickly attracted, and walked towards the residential unit building with heavy footsteps.

All Lu Yan had encountered along the way were Anurae. He had never dissected such a big Osta yet.

Moreover, he thought to himself that the probability of his own survival was still much higher when it came to facing Pollutants.

Therefore, he turned on the front flashlight of his phone.

The Osta suddenly turned his head. It seemed to sense his provocation and rushed towards Lu Yan at an incredible speed.

Tonight’s feeding significantly improved Lu Yan’s physical fitness. Almost instantly, he reacted by quickly retreating and dodging the Osta’s attack.

It’s just that this Osta was a bit too big.

Lu Yan’s arm was scratched by the Osta’s barbels which looked soft and boneless but were surprisingly sharper than swords and spears.

His shirt was torn and blood oozed out.

The Osta suddenly froze and stopped moving.

System, [We’re done for. Your blood, your blood— I should have thought of it long ago!!! F**k!]

In the past, the System had always been eccentric and gloomy. This was the first time Lu Yan heard its tone being so flustered.

[Stop fighting. Now, come on, quick. Run to the PDC. Run if you don’t want to be surrounded!!!]

Qu River Park.

Qu River District deserved to be the birthplace of K city’s pollution disease. Although the population was not particularly high in number, the danger and pollution values were far higher than in other areas.

One after another, strange-looking Pollutants came here like moths to a flame.

The water of Qu River was almost red with blood.

A fine layer of sweat appeared on Lin Sinan’s forehead. In order to deal with the Pollutants here, a total of 16 Enlighteneds stayed in the park this time— it was quite a few more than at other times

Nonetheless, he still felt powerless as some of the Pollutants here even evolved with a bit of intelligence.

However, at two o’clock in the middle of the night, these Pollutants suddenly stood still, completely motionless.

Although he didn’t know why Lin Sinan obviously wouldn’t let go of this great opportunity.

Only after cleaning for two minutes, the Pollutants before them seemed to wake up from a dream and turn their heads in the same direction.

Unexpectedly, their faces appeared… with varying degrees of zealotry and excitement.

It’s like a hyena that has been hungry for many days, instantly smelling carrion.

No one knew who made the first frog cry.

In the next second, not even a single Pollutant paid attention to the brightly lit Qu River Park. They rushed like a tide in the same direction!

“What’s going on?” asked the shocked examiner beside him.

Lin Sinan was stunned for a moment. His expression suddenly turned ugly when a possibility occurred to him.

“I’ve only heard of this situation once…”

“In the first Research Institute, Experiment No. 0 awakened a rare healing ability. It was said to be the number one among the “Enlightened” rankings. On that day, the Research Institute was also surrounded by Pollutants.

“In order to protect No. 0, the Institute had to lock No. 0 into the life capsule.”

Despite the examiner being an Enlightened, he only possessed a support system. Therefore, his spiritual power threshold was not high. Furthermore, he had always been a resident in K City. It was the first time he has heard of such a thing, and his expression was bewildered, “There’s a healing ability? How come I’ve never heard of it?”

That’s not nonsense. There were currently only three in the world.

One was locked in a life capsule and afraid to be released, and the other was raised like an ancestor in the Headquarters. The remaining one was abroad.

Lin Sinan put away his gun, opened his headset, and his eyes were bloodshot as he roared, “Bai Qiushi, don’t just watch the show from the wall! Someone in K City is suspected to have awakened a healing ability. If you don’t f**king come here on time, you better be calling the morgue to collect his corpse!”