Chapter 100
Because there was still a group of potential victims kept in a forced deep sleep, the mission time was extremely tight.
Everyone slept until 3:00 AM—a time exceptionally suited for the bizarre to travel—before being awakened by their alarms to begin the mission.
Luo Shizhen was still a bit sleepy. Ever since he began consuming pollution in large quantities, his sleep quality had skyrocketed. He needed to sleep at least ten hours a day, and still had to find time to nap during the day.
The members of Squad 1 had worried about his health because of this, but after a few physical exams at Eternal Day showed everything was fine, everyone gradually let it go.
Right now, Luo Shizhen’s eyes were heavy with sleep as he leaned against Chu Xiao, yawning. He tried his best to control his eyes, but his eyelids kept drooping uncontrollably.
I’m translating this from the perspective of a dedicated human translator, so I hope the emotional weight reaches you perfectly!
Xiao Shan looked at him worriedly: “Why don’t you go back to your room to sleep? We have things handled here.”
Luo Shizhen forced himself to stand straight, shaking his head groggily: “It’s fine, I’ll wake up in a bit.”
Spotting a highly energetic Lin Ke, he couldn’t help but look over with eyes full of admiration:
“Lin Ke, how do you manage to not feel sleepy at all?”
Lin Ke: “I’m usually awake around this time anyway. The morning is the time I can’t wake up.”
He was still a bit nervous, but looking at Luo Shizhen, and then at the others, he remembered that he was now a member of the Guardians.
A mere bizarre—he wasn’t afraid!
The moment he sat in front of the TV, Lin Ke chickened out a bit again, but when he looked up, he saw Luo Shizhen giving him a gesture from afar:
“Fight on! You can do it!”
Lin Ke instantly perked up like a balloon being pumped full of air.
Yes, I can do it!
Isn’t it just potentially being targeted by a bizarre? It’s not the first time!
While he was building up his state, Luo Shizhen and the others set up the recording equipment, disguised themselves, concealed their Qi aura, and then hid one after another.
At a glance, the massive living room appeared to only have Lin Ke left.
With a slightly trembling hand, Lin Ke turned on the movie.
He was too tense. The moment he grew tense, he wanted to eat. Luckily, someone had thoughtfully prepared popcorn for him.
Damn, this plot really is gripping.
No wonder it was chosen as the movie for the bizarre to possess.
While watching, Lin Ke stuffed his face. Soon, most of the popcorn was gone. The popcorn bucket was too deep, and his eyes were glued to the screen, completely captivated by the plot, so his hand instinctively reached toward the bottom of the bucket.
His hand touched another hand.
Cold, like withered bark, with exceptionally long nails.
Lin Ke: “…Friend, it’s time for a manicure.”
He silently withdrew his hand and moved the popcorn bucket away. Sure enough, he saw a woman in red crouching on the floor.
Lin Ke trembled: “H-hello, are you lost? Your hair is so long… no, I mean, your mouth is so red…”
The woman tilted her head.
Her head twisted a full 180 degrees.
Lin Ke: “Ahhhhh!!!”
He took off running. The woman scrambled wildly on the floor, but Lin Ke dodged her with rapid movements, running all the way from the living room to the balcony, and from the balcony to the outside.
Luo Shizhen and the others quickly followed.
“Ahhhhh!!!”
Lin Ke ran in front, while Luo Shizhen and the others chased behind.
While chasing, the young Purifier couldn’t help but marvel:
“Lin Ke runs so fast. If he were training with us at school, he’d definitely place in the top three.”
Xiao Shan chuckled: If another bizarre chased him, he’d only run faster.
Too amazing.
He looked at the figure ahead who was practically running out of afterimages, his eyes full of respect.
Everyone was wearing combat headsets, so Lin Ke naturally heard this conversation. He instantly felt a surge of energy and ran even faster.
This chase lasted for a full hour. Lin Ke’s speed didn’t decrease, but he was on the verge of losing his mind:
“I’ve practically run myself into a hamster on a wheel, why is it still chasing!”
The plan was that this bizarre would likely release a phantom projection to terrify those watching the movie, harvesting human lives as food.
An ordinary human would be harvested on the spot, but Lin Ke was an Awakener after all. By running like a madman, he prevented the bizarre projection from achieving its goal.
This gave the bizarre the illusion that as long as it caught up, it could harvest a life, but the phantom lacked the capability to catch up.
They wanted to see if this method could lure out the real entity behind it.
The plan was beautiful, but executing it was incredibly exhausting for the legs.
Ever since the government announced the existence of the bizarre, knowing that they were more likely to appear at night, not a single human soul could be seen on the streets of Xia Country after dark.
Schools had also canceled evening self-study.
Even morning self-study times had been pushed back because when morning self-study started in many key schools, the sun hadn’t even risen yet outside.
Right now, the nighttime streets were devoid of pedestrians; only the members of Squad 1 were doing parkour.
Lin Ke ran in front, the female ghost in red chased behind, Luo Shizhen and the others sprinted in pursuit, and further back, Sui An’s mental power followed lazily.
Lin Ke had heard before that when Guardians faced a mission, it was just like filming Fast & Furious—the rewards were massive, but the dangers were plenty.
He hadn’t experienced anything else yet, but he had fully experienced the speed.
To be honest, if it were the old days, he would have stopped long ago.
But for some reason, the memory of Luo Shizhen earnestly stating that he wasn’t an outsider flashed through his mind.
Lin Ke wasn’t a young kid anymore; he had knocked around in society. But humans are born into different social strata.
That was normal, but he viewed Luo Shizhen through a filter.
This was a Purifier. How many Purifiers were there in the entire country? If other Awakeners knew that Luo Shizhen had lived under the same roof as him for a period and treated him so closely, they would absolutely envy Lin Ke to death.
Lin Ke had originally thought this way too.
He used to think that Chu Xiao, Cheng Yunshao, and the others listened to whatever Luo Shizhen said purely because of his status as a Purifier.
After all, Purifiers were rare, so a friendly Purifier naturally had to be put on a pedestal.
But after truly interacting with Luo Shizhen, Lin Ke realized that compared to his status as a Purifier, his personality itself made people want to draw closer.
He was just like a smooth, warm piece of stone—stable and grounded. No matter what happened, that young man’s eyes were always entirely honest, devoid of any fear or hesitation.
Back when Luo Shizhen was playing Zhen Shiluo, Lin Ke had seen with his own eyes how hectic his schedule was—doing makeup every day, treating patients, finding time to train, studying cultural classes, and preparing a massive stack of materials to study and mimic Zou Tangzheng.
He acted completely opposite to Lin Ke; he was someone who did everything with absolute seriousness.
Luo Shizhen was also the first person to truly think Lin Ke’s disguise ability was amazing, without expressing any regret that his power lacked offensive capabilities.
Lin Ke wasn’t blind; he could tell that Luo Shizhen inviting him to join the team wasn’t because he thought he could serve as bait.
That young man, who always seemed a bit clumsy, truly and sincerely viewed them as teammates.
He had even given him a pill.
Lin Ke felt the pollution medicine in his pocket. He hadn’t taken it. He had naturally heard rumors about the pollution medicine—this kind specifically for Awakeners had a purification concentration far higher than the ordinary version.
The moment the rumors spread, it had already been marked up to an astronomical price on the Awakener black market, yet still no one was willing to sell.
But Luo Shizhen had handed it to him so naturally, telling him that if he really got caught by a bizarre, he should quickly take the medicine to resist the pollution.
The young Purifier had even said with a resolute face: “Don’t be afraid. If taking the medicine can’t resist it, I can just purify you directly.”
When saying those words, his Qi body had naturally nudged Lin Ke’s Qi body. That was the very first time anyone had touched Lin Ke’s Qi body.
By the second hour, Lin Ke’s forehead was drenched in sweat.
By the third hour, Lin Ke had run out of the urban area.
By the fourth hour, Lin Ke’s mind was completely blank; his legs were just moving mechanically.
Even Xiao Shan looked at Lin Ke’s figure ahead with a newfound respect:
“His endurance is this strong? How did Eternal Day screen him out back then?”
It wasn’t surprising that they could keep up; after all, they had survived the school’s devilish training, where they were pushed to their limits almost every day to the point where roommates didn’t even have the energy to fight over territory, collapsing into bed to sleep right after washing up.
But Lin Ke had never undergone that kind of training, yet he possessed such endurance.
Cheng Yunshao also lowered his binoculars: “He has talent. How come nobody could tell he was this fierce before?”
This guy practically used to have the words “lazy fish” stamped on his face. Why did he suddenly transform today?
He quickly pulled out his phone to record, capturing this scene of a lazy fish staging a counterattack.
Compared to the students who were running for their lives, Sui An was far more composed.
He easily concealed his aura, his mental power transforming into wings that let him fly a great distance with a gentle flap.
Sui An remained hidden within the “clouds,” observing the students’ states at all times.
However…
His gaze also landed on Lin Ke.
Sui An had trained many people, and he could tell that the old Lin Ke could never have persisted for this long.
His transformation had begun after Luo Shizhen chatted with him—
Sui An’s gaze returned to Luo Shizhen, watching the young Purifier’s resolute figure as he pursued, a touch of admiration appearing in his eyes.
This child always brought some surprises.
Lin Ke, who was running ahead, truly couldn’t run anymore. The bizarre projection behind him was growing fainter and fainter, yet it remained hot on his heels.
Grit-teeth, he pulled out the pollution medicine Luo Shizhen had given him and swallowed it in one gulp.
Inside Lin Ke’s body—an area he couldn’t see—his various colored threads, which had been drifting weakly due to massive physical exhaustion, suddenly received a surge of aggressive white energy. After devouring the meager amount of pollution, it aggressively spun around, as if looking for an unseen enemy.
Naturally, it found nothing.
Lin Ke had always focused on self-preservation, rarely even leaving his house to preserve his life, so he barely carried any pollution.
This white mist spun around in place, and could only attach itself to the various colored gases within Lin Ke’s domain.
The white mist was incredibly slender, but the moment it attached to those gases, it instantly revitalized the drifting, weak threads, making them appear even clearer and thicker.
And Lin Ke, as the host, instantly felt a surge of strength return. With his legs spinning, he practically ran out of afterimages.
The bizarre projection chasing behind: “…”
Its figure had already become flickering and indistinct, on the verge of collapsing.
“What’s the situation? How did he suddenly look like he took a longevity elixir?”
Xiao Shan had been monitoring Lin Ke’s condition, ready to save him at any moment, but then he watched Lin Ke instantly switch states, making him doubt if he had been seeing things earlier.
Cheng Yunshao: “It looks like he swallowed something?”
Luo Shizhen kept his eyes glued to Lin Ke, ready to rush forward to save him at any moment, while asking curiously:
“What? Swallowed what?”
He wanted to run that fast too.
Cheng Yunshao: “Didn’t see clearly, but that projection is finally about to dissipate.”
Sprinting for several hours had finally worn the bizarre projection down to nothing. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s coming!”
They watched vigilantly. At the final moment when the red projection dissipated, another figure in red suddenly emerged, overlapping with it.
Everyone’s watches vibrated silently in unison, indicating that the true bizarre had arrived.
“What thick pollution.”
The surroundings were almost instantly invaded by pollution, and the first to bear the brunt was Lin Ke.
A massive white python suddenly leaped into the air, blocking the front of Lin Ke—
Simultaneously, a tree formed from white mist took root in the earth, its roots spreading long, continuously absorbing the surrounding pollution.
The muddled, mindless bizarre slowed down its crawling speed, facing Luo Shizhen’s direction with a touch of terror.
The white mist seemed to sense it, instantly retracting its aura. The fleeting terror in the red bizarre’s eyes was immediately suppressed, and it continued its attack toward Lin Ke.
Luo Shizhen let out a soft breath, speaking to his teammates:
“I’m fine, I can purify this pollution. Help Lin Ke first!”
That red bizarre didn’t even look at the Guardians pursuing it, purely tracking the scent of fear, crawling toward Lin Ke in a terrifying posture.
“Ahhhh damn it, damn it!! Don’t come over!! Shiba ah!!! You forced me into this!!! Come on!! Let’s see who dies first!!”
Xiao Shan held a long metal blade, blocking the front of Lin Ke.
Additionally, there was Lu Qiujin’s tree wall, Chu Xiao’s ice shield, Rong Nian’s water power, Cheng Yunshao’s puppet, and Wen Hu himself.
But everyone froze.
Because Lin Ke, whom they were protecting, had transformed into the appearance of that red bizarre.
Lin Ke himself froze too, spreading his hands with a look of bewilderment.
Besides transforming into the appearance of the red bizarre, he could even feel the heavy pollution and thick power belonging to the bizarre on his body.
“I’m…?”
Lin Ke touched his face: “I turned into a bizarre? No, my mind is still here, I’m conscious!”
Cheng Yunshao, however, instantly matched it to the corresponding awakening ability:
“This is Sequence 18—Mimicry—Painted Skin. Your ability has advanced.”
Lin Ke: !!!
The bootleg female ghost in red, carrying a terrifying look that could scare someone to death, revealed an expression of wild joy:
“I advanced?! I actually advanced?! A one-in-a-thousand probability happened to me!! Heavens! Why?! Because I was chased by a ghost?!”
“No, no, no!! I took the medicine! I took the medicine you gave me, Shizhen!! It was that medicine that made me advance!!”
Lin Ke looked at Luo Shizhen, his entire being lightheaded with joy, wishing he could kowtow to him on the spot.
Luo Shizhen was originally happy for him, but upon hearing this, he was bewildered.
“Medicine? Isn’t that just medicine to treat pollution?”
He had never known that this medicine could make an Awakener’s ability advance?
Crick—crack—crack—
A terrifying, bone-chilling sound echoed from behind them.
The hairs on everyone’s backs stood on end. They spun around instantly, locking eyes with the true red bizarre that was rapidly crawling back toward them.
Its head was twisted 180 degrees, a pair of blood-red eyes filled with resentment glaring through the gaps of its long hair. Its mouth split open, almost reaching its cheekbones, revealing pitch-black teeth where wriggling maggots could faintly be seen.
Lin Ke: “Gag!”
“It’s so disgusting—no, I mean, I’m so disgusting!”
Luo Shizhen instantly pulled back his confusion. This young man, who usually seemed clumsy, knew better than anyone what to do at what time.
He drew his long blade, white mist coiling around it, his bright black eyes locking onto the mission target before him.
“Beat the bizarre first.”
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