The first subway train was at 6 a.m., before the crowded morning rush hour.
The subway carriages were nearly empty, with seven or eight passengers scattered around, each sitting in their own corner. Xiao Jinyu found a secluded spot and sat down, opening his phone and directly clicking on the Grow Some Brains APP.
[System error, please try again later…]
—The situation with 004 hasn’t been resolved yet.
After some thought, Xiao Jinyu sent a message to Zhao Hen, inquiring about the current status of 004 in a concerned tone. However, a long time passed without receiving a response.
Zhao Hen must be busy.
Wang Tao was seriously injured and unable to take charge, so the responsibility fell on the shoulders of this Level Four user.
In fact, Xiao Jinyu was not only worried about whether the extermination team could handle the tantrum of 004, but as he looked at the darkened phone screen, he seemed to see a stream of extremely cheesy barrage of comments scrolling rapidly.
“Dad, love you!”
…
[If needed, I can go to the research institute to help.]
Xiao Jinyu sent another message. Unfortunately, Zhao Hen still didn’t reply to this message.
“Ding dong! We have arrived at Changjie Station. Passengers getting off the train, please do so in an orderly manner.”
The clear and loud subway announcement sounded, and Xiao Jinyu put away his phone and exited the subway station.
…He hoped 004 and the extermination team were both okay.
The bright sunlight shone upon the earth. The winter morning sun was not glaring or scorching, but it brought a gentle and soothing warmth to the ground.
Meanwhile.
Hundreds of kilometers away in Haidu, Pollution Zone 63.
Under the same warm morning sun, the gentle sunlight fell upon the devastated wasteland.
This place used to be an old commercial district, and before the A-type radiation, it often had tourists stopping by. The wide streets were lined with a variety of shops. However, today, a thick layer of dust piled up like a blanket, and rusted abandoned vehicles could be seen everywhere on the road. There were also shattered glass shards and food remnants that had long gone moldy.
The pollution zone was always quiet.
Ordinary people believed that the pollution zone was a high-radiation residual area and never ventured inside. The government had also erected electrified fences around it. Only users receiving missions would enter.
Suddenly,
“Clank!”
A grating and unpleasant sound of rolling wheels came from the end of the street.
It was a tall, muscular man, almost two meters tall. The morning sun cast his shadow from the horizon, onto the ground, resembling a sharp sword. At the top of the sword was a shiny bald head.
The bald man was dragging a 28-inch suitcase and strolling through the pollution zone.
The suitcase was quite heavy, so it pressed against the ground, effortlessly crushing various dried branches and leaves.
As he walked, he picked up his phone and made a call.
“Beep-beep—”
“Good morning.” The phone was quickly answered, and the man’s low, chuckling voice emanated from the speaker.
The bald man paused in his tracks.
The bald man remained expressionless, his massive hand gripping the tiny phone. He tilted the corner of his mouth, revealing a malicious and sly smile.
He called out the other person’s name, “Boss Jin.”
Glancing back at the suitcase he was dragging, the bald man smiled maliciously, “I’ve got some merchandise.”
“Oh?”
“A Level Five user.”
“Ranking.”
“A54.”
On the other end of the phone, the man corrected, “It’s A55 now.”
The bald man made a surprised sound, his grimacing face froze for a moment. He muttered, “He even dropped in the rankings,” then continued, “So it’s A55 now. Interested?”
“No.”
“…”
“His logic chain doesn’t have much effect, and his offensive capabilities aren’t very strong. I can’t think of any support abilities either. So, why do you want to kill him?”
The bald man’s mood was not particularly pleasant as he replied harshly, “He’s in the way.”
That’s certainly a good reason.
“Our last deal went smoothly, so I’ll give you a free piece of information as a gesture of friendship.”
“Hmm?”
The man laughed, “The Spear of Judgment, A01, has returned to Haidu City.”
“…”
“So, remember to deal with it promptly.”
“@#$@#$!@#!@！！！”
He hung up the phone, and the bald man’s face turned dark. He looked at the suitcase, and his thick eyebrows furrowed intensely. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that shallow flesh-colored wounds were healing rapidly behind his ears and between his eyebrows. There were also scattered injuries on his body, with dried bloodstains on the bulging muscles of his arms.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Lf xlmxfv atf relamjrf obgmfoeiis.
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Ktf yjiv wjc ibkfgfv tlr tfjv klatbea fzqgfrrlbc, jcv j mbiv uifjw bo wegvfgber lcafca oijrtfv atgbeut tlr lms fsfr.
***
Ktf olgra atlcu ab vb joafg gfaegclcu tbwf kjr ab gfra.
Xiao Jinyu had received the mission on November 27th and had gone to Kangxin Middle School. It was now the 29th. He had been working tirelessly at Kangxin Middle School for two full days and nights. Finally, he had some time to rest.
After a nap to recharge his energy, the first thing Xiao Jinyu did upon waking up was to open his phone and click on the Grow Some Brains APP.
[System error, please try again later…]
Xiao Jinyu’s expression darkened slightly.
It had been ten hours already.
Winter days grew dark early, and even though it was only 5 p.m. now, the sky outside had already turned dusky.
The situation with 004 remains unresolved, and there was still no response from Zhao Hen. After some contemplation, Xiao Jinyu decided that if there was no reply from Zhao Hen in another two hours, he would directly make a phone call.
Setting aside the identity of a pollutant, 004 was actually quite likable.
At least for now, Xiao Jinyu didn’t want to witness a deadly conflict between 004 and humans.
If he had to make a choice between 004 and humans, Xiao Jinyu wouldn’t hesitate; he would choose humans.
But if there was a third option, he hoped for peaceful coexistence between 004 and humans.
No one had ever said that pollutants can’t peacefully coexist with humans. It had always been the polluters who were marked for elimination, not the pollutants themselves.
Putting aside 004’s situation for now and deciding to worry about it in two hours, Xiao Jinyu washed his face to clear his groggy mind. After waking up from a hazy nap, he walked directly through the living room to the door of his mother’s bedroom and stopped.
Since his mother’s passing, this room had remained locked, and no one had entered it.
Xiao Jinyu stood in front of the door, and after a few seconds, he reached out and turned the doorknob.
“Click—”
The young man entered the room calmly.
His mother’s bedroom was very simple, like most modest households. There was only a wooden wardrobe, a large bed, and a TV cabinet. However, there was no television on the cabinet; instead, it held various odds and ends.
They only had one television, and his mother chose to place it in the living room.
When he was a child, he often watched TV with his mother.
Xiao Jinyu’s gaze lingered on the empty and cold bed, and he stared at the slightly sunken area in the center of the mattress. After a while, he averted his gaze and walked over to the TV cabinet. With a snap, he opened the cabinet and started searching.
Remote control, medication, some household items…
When Xiao Jinyu opened the third drawer, he suddenly stopped.
As expected, it’s here!
He takes out a thick photo album.
After the A-type radiation, there were several years of social disorder, and the world’s technology regressed to the level of the previous century due to the impact of the disaster. For example, power stations couldn’t supply electricity on a large scale as they did before the radiation, and the sharp decline in the population led to a significant number of vacant job positions. It wasn’t until 2030 that the surviving people began to return to the standard of living they had in the early 21st century.
So, before that time, mobile phones weren’t commonly used, and his mother left behind some paper photos.
Xiao Jinyu flipped through the album.
There were many photos in the album, mostly solo shots of his mother. She had long hair back then, tied up in a high ponytail, with a bright smile on her face. Her thumb and index finger were intertwined, making a special gesture that Xiao Jinyu didn’t recognize, directed at the camera.
When Xiao Jinyu was around four years old, his own image started to appear in his mother’s photos.
Sometimes she was holding him, playing with him in the neighborhood’s pool, and other times she secretly captured him playing alone, building sandcastles.
Xiao Jinyu quickly flipped through all the photos.
Closing the album, he closed his eyes and quickly recalled the content of all thirty pictures in his mind. The next moment, he abruptly opened his eyes and flipped the album to the 11th page.
He found it!
In the photo, the woman was wearing a white dress, standing in front of several steps, smiling gently with a serene composure. She doesn’t appear as lively as she did when she was younger; her eyes are deep, and her demeanor is graceful and tranquil. And right next to that white dress, a small cluster of ivy leaves quietly hides in the corner of the picture.
“When my mom worked at the orphanage, the ivy was already there. So that’s why I have memories of ivy because I’ve seen it too.”
Xiao Jinyu immediately thought about asking if the ivy remembered him, but he abandoned that idea right away.
First, it wasn’t necessary.
Official records have confirmed that he was adopted by his mother from the Kande Orphanage. His memories also verified this answer without a doubt.
Secondly… was he planning to ask the ivy if it remembered his biological parents as well?
A pollutant who has quietly observed all things for years might have indeed seen his biological parents who left him in the orphanage twenty-one years ago. Of course, it’s also possible that he was dropped off by a passerby, and the ivy didn’t see who abandoned him.
But all of this didn’t matter. He didn’t want to search for his biological parents.
“…And maybe the ivy doesn’t remember me at all, or it just can’t be bothered with me.”
Xiao Jinyu carefully placed the photo album back in the drawer.
Standing up, he suddenly felt a bit lost. He looked around, and the quiet room was devoid of any sound. It was only when he was alone that he realized this old house was surprisingly spacious.
Xiao Jinyu remained silent for a while, about to step into the kitchen to make something to eat when his phone rang with a “ding ding.” He brightened up and immediately opened it.
Looking at the name on the screen, Xiao Jinyu blinked slightly.
[Su Jiuzhou: The mission reward has been transferred.]
A moment later.
[Xiao Jinyu: Alright, thank you. Grow Some Brains APP was crashing, so I thought I’d wait for it to be fixed before settling the mission.]
[Because I have your contact now.]
Xiao Jinyu: “…”
Oh, so it’s possible to bypass 004 and make a private transfer.
Xiao Jinyu didn’t think too much about it. This was his reward for working hard for two days and two nights, and Su Jiuzhou’s early payment was only natural.
However…
[?]
[You sent over twenty thousand? I remember the mission reward was ten thousand in cash.]
The young man stared at the transfer record on the screen in shock.
[You exceeded expectations for the task and did exceptionally well.]
[Apart from that…]
[Thank you.]
Xiao Jinyu fell silent for a moment.
[You’re welcome.]
Xiao Jinyu suddenly had the urge to ask about updates with the Court of Judgment, but Su Jiuzhou didn’t bring it up himself first. After pondering for a while, Xiao Jinyu decided not to broach the subject. He wasn’t familiar with this Level 6 user, and in terms of his relationship with 004, they were still adversaries.
[By the way, you can start thinking about how to reach Level 4 now.]
Xiao Jinyu was puzzled.
[Isn’t it because I haven’t reached Level 4 yet?]
Su Jiuzhou: […]
[The transition from Level 3 to Level 4 is the first major hurdle users must overcome. After that, it’s from Level 5 to Level 6.]
Xiao Jinyu’s gaze narrowed slightly as he understood the deeper meaning behind Su Jiuzhou’s brief words.
In fact, Xiao Jinyu had questioned this matter as soon as he saw the user rankings on the Grow Some Brains APP.
In China, there were over 20,000 Level 1 users, more than 6,000 Level 2 users, and over 1,000 Level 3 users. Although there was a significant difference among these levels, it was understandable given the declining numbers. After all, many Level 1 users hadn’t even started their thought processes before succumbing to logic collapses.
However, there were over 1,000 Level 3 users, but the number of Level 4 users had dropped drastically to only a few dozen.
This sharp reduction seemed overblown.
It was as if reaching Level 4 from Level 3 required a tremendous test.
What was even more bizarre was the gap between Level 4 and Level 5 users.
Among the A-rank rankings, there were a total of 107 users. Excluding the 5 Level 6 users that 004 had secretly informed Xiao Jinyu about and the 4 powerful Level 3 users, the remaining 98 people were all Level 4 and Level 5 users.
And among them, it was all Level 5 users until A57, “Cardiac Pacing”!
In other words, there were a total of 46 Level 4 users and 52 Level 5 users in all of China.
This ratio was extremely dramatic.
The ratio between Level 3 and Level 4 users was 30:1, but the ratio between Level 4 and Level 5 users was nearly 1:1. It wasn’t that there were fewer Level 5 users than Level 4 users; in fact, there were more Level 5 users than Level 4 users!
This essentially meant that once you reached Level 4, you had over a 100% chance of reaching Level 5.
But after that, the number of Level 6 users plummeted suddenly.
Xiao Jinyu’s interest was piqued. Since Su Jiuzhou had mentioned it, he could take this opportunity to ask directly. Just like when he was at Kangxin Middle School, this man casually shared information about the logic chain’s loss of control, as if he didn’t consider these secrets that ordinary users could never know.
However, just as Xiao Jinyu was about to type his question, a message suddenly appeared on his phone.
[Something came up for me to deal with; let’s talk more next time.]
[Xiao Jinyu, remember to keep thinking.]
Xiao Jinyu: “…”
[Okay, goodbye.]
The phone screen went dark, and Xiao Jinyu sighed deeply.
As an “external personnel” who hadn’t officially joined the authorities, obtaining information was naturally much more difficult for ordinary users like them. This was also the advantage of joining the Extermination Team: when you risked your life to recover pollutants and eliminate polluters, the country would naturally provide more resources to help you level up and understand the world of the logic chain.
At this point, his mother’s case had been completely resolved. The unusual circumstances surrounding his mother’s logic chain in the Pope’s Crown should have nothing to do with the ivy. The logic chain of the ivy couldn’t cause his mother’s neck to sever inexplicably.
At this moment, Xiao Jinyu completely accepted the answer provided by the Logic Research Institute earlier.
Besides his mother, there was another victim in Zhongdu City who was trapped in the logic chain of the Pope’s Crown. He had also not joined the Head Removal Parade but had died on the same day that his mother’s neck had broken.
According to the research, the logic chain of the Pope’s Crown was not the same as Huo Lanxu’s, and she was not proficient in its use, which had resulted in abnormal conditions in the logic chain.
The two scenarios, one where victims died on the spot and the other where victims’ necks were broken but still retained some vital characteristics, perfectly matched:
One was when the logic chain had fully opened, leading directly from cause to effect.
The other was when the logic chain had progressed halfway, causing a situation where it was suspended and unable to proceed.
…
His mother was no longer here.
The soft, warm light enveloped the small house, which, despite being old, was clean and tidy.
The tall and slender young man stood quietly in the doorway of the kitchen, silently gazing at the old television set on the wall.
“Let’s get a new TV.”
Xiao Jinyu slowly curved his lips, smiling as he spoke.
Now, he had money and time, and he could do things he had never thought of before.
Like buying a new television set that his mother had always wanted to replace.
Xiao Jinyu had a simple meal and checked the time on his phone.
He tapped on the Grow Some Brains APP.
[System error, please try again later…]
Without hesitation, Xiao Jinyu found Zhao Hen’s contact and was about to make a call when a message popped up.
[Zhao Hen: It’s fine now! Don’t worry, the Grow Some Brains APP will be back to normal soon.]
Xiao Jinyu was surprised.
[Xiao Jinyu: 004 has stopped rioting?]
[Zhao Hen: Yes.]
[Xiao Jinyu: Did Captain Wang intervene?]
After a long delay, Zhao Hen still didn’t respond. Just when Xiao Jinyu thought 004 had malfunctioned again, suddenly, a flurry of barrage messages flooded the screen.
【┗|｀O′|┛Rahh~~】
【Dad!!!】
【I’m back!!!】
Xiao Jinyu was taken aback. This time, there was no one around him. He immediately asked, “What did the Extermination Team do? Were you… bullied by those bad humans?”
【No, Dad, I’m the invincible 004, do you think those smelly humans can bully me?】
【(=·ω·=)】
Xiao Jinyu: “…”
Wait, you don’t seem angry at all; instead, you look quite happy…
【I’m awesome!】
【I even helped Dad find a son!】
“???”
【His name is Vivy, he’s my big bro!】
【From now on, we’re both Dad’s good sons, hehe!]
Xiao Jinyu: “??!!!”
Meanwhile, at the Logic Research Institute, dozens of kilometers away…
In a dimly lit underground warehouse…
Inside a glass cage, a rusty little robot excitedly raised its slender arm, lifted its tablet, and “watched” as the plant, which had pierced through the topsoil and two layers of the warehouse, landed on the root system of the climbing ivy on the minus thirty-sixth floor.
The high-pitched voice of the little robot sounded very obsequious: “Big Bro! From now on, you’re my big bro, you can’t bully me anymore, okay?”
“(○｀3′○)”
“Big Bro, you’re so strong! I’m 004, the best in China, and you should be the best in the world.”
“Vewy nyice!”
“The two of us, one is the best in China, and the other is the best in the world.”
…
The chattering little robot went on for a while. The head of the ivy was on the thirty-fifth floor, with only its roots penetrating the thirty-sixth floor. Naturally, it couldn’t see anything, and the little robot, who kept calling “Big Bro,” squinted mischievously, staring at the well-developed roots of the ivy.
“Vivy, you’re so amazing! How can I become as amazing as you? (￣▽￣)”
Ivy: “…”
“Isn’t it supposed to be ‘Big Bro’?”
A deep, hoarse male voice sounded for the first time.
The little robot was startled, and the entire machine turned around.
“Big Bro~~~”
“Big Bro, 004 also wants to be as amazing as you. When I become as amazing as you in the future, I’ll take you with me to find Dad!”
Ivy: “…”
Haah!
The author has something to say:
004: Haha, foolish pollutant, do you think just calling me Big Bro means you’re my big bro now? I’m Invincible 004, flexible and adaptable! Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, don’t underestimate 004’s power!
Little Goldfish: …………What should I do about becoming a dad so suddenly, I need urgent help!
Ninth Sister: Becoming a dad before even winning over a wife, what should I do, I’m waiting anxiously!
002: ………………………………..Haah!
Dang. Went from depressing to funny.
Suddenly there’s two sons! H ow cute! (^o^)
Thank you for the chapter! <3
Thanks for the update
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
how did it end up like that 😂😂
Oh no! Did Piggy Shampoo get kidnapped by the bald guy!!!!?
See, there IS an organization.
Am I the only one worried piggy shampoo???