Qin Zhilu held the terminal and walked through the line, one by one.
No one spoke and his footsteps were the only sound in the vast corridor.
An Yu handed out biscuits to those who passed the screening, and his heart was racing.
Yesterday, that gun was aimed at his forehead.
The line was halfway through, and no anomalies had appeared.
A woman who had just passed muttered, “With such brief contact, it should be fine. I heard that after a person mutates, it takes a while before they become infectious.”
Her words eased the tension a bit. She took two packs of biscuits from An Yu’s hand, “Thank…”
Bang!
The corridor returned to silence.
A middle-aged man was shot into the wall; it took a long time before his body slowly fell to the ground.
The look of fear was forever frozen on his greasy yellow face.
No one saw how Qin Zhilu fired; after the gunshot, the gun was already back in its holster.
The narrow-eyed man who was next in line fell to the ground, desperately scooting backward.
“You’re blatantly abusing your power! He just took the lead in scolding you, so you tested him three times!”
A dirty yellow liquid flowed from under his buttocks, and the foul stench mixed with the smell of blood. An Yu saw that he was the one who threw biscuits at Qin Zhilu.
Qin Zhilu was indifferent, “It felt off, so I measured multiple times to confirm.”
“I saw the screen; he was only 3.6!”
“That just means he is temporarily human but might still be slowly mutating. Those who just passed the screening are not necessarily safe.” Qin Zhilu bent down to pull the ID from the corpse’s hand. “Indeed, it was only 3.6, but the entropy had increased just during the intervals between measurements.”
The registered genetic entropy on the ID was 3.5; the first two measurements were 3.5, and the third showed 3.6, indicating an extremely early stage of mutation.
“Next.” Qin Zhilu walked to the narrow-eyed man and glanced down, “Your turn.”
Although he showed no emotion, the oppressive feeling made An Yu feel like he was in an ice cave.
The narrow-eyed man looked up at him in despair for a long time before shakily raising his ID.
Qin Zhilu stared at the readings on the terminal.
In those few seconds of waiting, everyone could hear the sound of the narrow-eyed man’s teeth chattering.
A few seconds later, Qin Zhilu glanced up.
“Next.”
The narrow-eyed man lunged backward, his hand pressing into the piss on the floor, completely unaware.
After completing this floor’s test, there were two more corpses in the corridor. Besides the middle-aged man, there was also the old woman waiting for her grandson to come home.
An Yu remembered the scraping sound from inside the door, realizing that Qin Zhilu had sensed something wrong back then.
Qin Zhilu squatted by the man’s corpse and rolled up his sleeve.
A normal human arm.
An Yu thought, the entropy increase had just started, so there shouldn’t be any physical signs yet.
However, he was quickly proven wrong. Qin Zhilu took off the man’s shoe—inside, the once-human foot had already developed a half-hard shell.
An Yu was stunned for a long time, “Sir, is this type of distortion common?”
Qin Zhilu took pictures of the corpse. “He was fine when he grabbed supplies, but his gait suddenly stiffened while queuing. All three measurements were taken after the stiffening began. This has never happened before. All distortions should first show a genetic entropy increase, and only when it exceeds 10, or even 100, do physical manifestations appear.”
As they walked to the staircase’s dark corner, Qin Zhilu suddenly looked back at An Yu.
“I’ve been thinking about it along the way, and it’s still necessary to correct you—being destined to sacrifice oneself and enjoying the dignity of being alive aren’t contradictory beliefs. Humanity is indeed being strangled by disasters, but if we abandon the order we’ve painstakingly built over the thousands of years, resistance itself will become meaningless.”
An Yu stood bewildered in the dim light. No one had ever said this to him.
The lives in the slums were filled with eating, drinking, pissing and defecating. Only Ling Qiu would contemplate, but his theories were just about teaching him how to survive a life without dignity.
Qin Zhilu was different. He stood high above others, and his gaze was powerful yet impartial.
“The genetic ranking system is indeed the rule of today’s world, and resource allocation may be the rule of District 53, but rules are just tools, and everyone has the right to be dissatisfied with a tool. You are too influenced by your neighbor’s thoughts. What about you? Do you really think all of this is justified?”
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.
“P…”
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When the supplies were distributed to the last household, the crack under the door was pitch black. An Yu called out, “Hello, we’re delivering welfare supplies. If anyone is there, please respond…”
The door opened.
Behind the door was a terrifying iron grid, as if it had been forcibly welded from the outside.
An Yu was surprised to see the person behind the grille, “Housing Manager?”
The Housing Manager of the low-income area was another person who controlled the key resources of the slums. It was because of his capriciousness that An Yu was forced to run to the Main City. However, he rarely appeared before, and An Yu had never seen him before this major examination.
The Housing Manager was also stunned to see An Yu, “Aren’t you that guy who escaped labor for a full ten years and kept deceiving people to stay here… you are… are… An something…”
“An Yu,” Qin Zhilu piped up.
An Yu glanced at the Commander reproachfully. Although he had no right to question others’ conversation methods, he couldn’t see the need for helping the Housing Manager recall his name.
“Yes!” The Housing Manager slapped his forehead, then looked at Qin Zhilu in confusion, sizing him up from head to toe.
Qin Zhilu said briefly, “Military Department.”
Unexpectedly, the Housing Manager suddenly knelt down.
Had Qin Zhilu not stepped back in time, he might have been grabbed by the corner of his clothes.
“Commander from the Main City! Once this disaster is over, I will resign and accept any punishment from the Main City, but please save my daughter! Please?”
Qin Zhilu frowned, “What are you talking about?”
An Yu suddenly understood, “Is it an order from the Main City to check the labor records in the low-income households?”
“No, it’s my incompetence,” the Housing Manager said, covering his face with his hand. “The proportion of welfare recipients in District 53 is too high. The Resource Manager reported to the Main City, accusing me of sheltering many people who should be working, making things difficult for me. Our daughters were good friends. Blame me, I got upset in front of my colleagues and forced the kids to cut ties. As a result, my daughter ran away the night before the incident.”
He handed over a photo from behind the iron bars with red eyes, “The one with short hair is my daughter, Xiao You. She must be with the Resource Manager! Please save her, even if she’s infected, persuade her to come back, just tell her Dad is waiting at home…”
In the photo were two little girls, about eight to nine years old. Xiao You had a strong, spirited face and was reluctantly holding a balloon. Next to her, Shanshan, who was wearing a dress, smiled sweetly, and held Xiao You’s hand in her palm as if she was afraid that she would let go of the balloon.
Qin Zhilu did not take the photo, so the Housing Manager handed it to An Yu, “If you help me bring her back, I will never care about your household again! You can stay as long as you want.”
An Yu quickly shifted his gaze from the photo, “Really?”
Qin Zhilu glanced at him.
The Housing Manager tightly grasped An Yu’s hand, “I swear!”
An Yu hesitated, “Will you still have the final say after that…?”
The Housing Manager immediately said, “Then I’ll give you my house, okay?”
An Yu’s eyes lit up, and he took a deep breath, “Alright. It’s a deal.”
Qin Zhilu glanced at him again, as if he had something to say but stopped.
An Yu carefully put the photo away.
This was an unexpected gain. Although there is one more task, securing permanent shelter—an endeavor that promised a lifetime of stability—provided him with a strong sense of security.
As they left this floor, An Yu observed Qin Zhilu’s expression, “It seemed like you had something to say earlier.”
“No,” Qin Zhilu’s face was expressionless, “I was just moved by your dedication with securing a dormitory.”
An Yu pondered this, feeling that the Commander was probably complimenting him.
“Thank you,” he said, maintaining the lowliness Ling Qiu had advised, “It’s just my basic quality as a welfare recipient.”
“…”
Passing by the utility room between the first and second floors, Qin Zhilu suddenly stopped in front of the narrow door.
“There’s someone in there.”
A girl’s low voice came from inside, “Is it an officer from the military? There are six of us students here, none of us are infected. Can you give us some food?”
Qin Zhilu asked, “Why don’t you have the lights on? Didn’t you receive the survival instructions?”
“We received them, but we don’t really trust them,” a boy said. “The power was supposed to alternate day and night starting the second day, but there was no power for a whole day and night after the first rain. We all stayed in the dark, and no one had any incidents.”
Another boy added quietly, “And the Resource Manager only taught everyone how to avoid the jellyfish, but we saw other things through the crack in the door, so we don’t really trust him.”
“What other things?”
“Like a mantis.”
An Yu and Qin Zhilu exchanged glances, and Qin Zhilu asked, “Have any other soldiers been here?”
The girl said, “Yes, there was a very gentle brother who also asked these questions. He told us never to turn on the lights. He was from District 53.”
An Yu’s breath stopped, “What was his name?”
“He didn’t say, but he mentioned he used to live in Welfare Block T, Building 5, Room… 1…”
“1415.” An Yu’s mind went blank for a moment.
“That’s it! Do you know him?” The girl suddenly sounded excited, but then she paused abruptly, “But he might already…”
She couldn’t continue, and a boy said solemnly, “He said he was going to the resource station to get food, but he never came back.”
An Yu left the remaining supplies at the door of the utility room.
It wasn’t until they left the building that he spoke in a muffled voice, “Sir, 1415 is…”
“Shh.” Qin Zhilu suddenly grabbed his shoulders.
A leather glove covered An Yu’s mouth, and the smell of leather overwhelmed his senses.
Qin Zhilu pointed to the staircase opposite.
Under the dim streetlight, a sudden reflection allowed An Yu to see two figures wrestling on the platform of the opposite building. One of them had highly mutated limbs, and its scythe-like limbs effortlessly overpowered the other, a normal human. With one swift motion, he decapitated the other and then quickly shredded his body, greedily devouring the blood-soaked flesh and bones.
After gorging itself, the creature lay down in satisfaction. Its clothes split open, revealing a hard carapace that covered its exposed body.
In just a moment, the only human feature left on its body was its head.
Once the creature left, Qin Zhilu released An Yu and thoughtfully said, “It’s starting to eat people.”
An Yu suddenly asked, “Are you sure it was eating a person?”
“Hmm?”
An Yu sniffed the bloody scent carried by the wind, lowering his gaze, “Sir, I remembered something. I think the one being eaten was also infected, but it hadn’t manifested yet.”
The familiar feeding scene reminded him of the giant mantis on the shuttle bus. It had killed everyone on the bus but only ate part of the corpses. Each bite was accompanied by a crisp crunch, not from human bones but from a mantis exoskeleton.
Mantises eat their own kind when stressed or hungry—it’s in their nature.
After An Yu explained, Qin Zhilu pulled out his terminal.
An Yu watched him type and asked, “Sir? Did you hear me?”
Qin Zhilu responded with a faint “Mn,” “I’m adding to the battle report nodes.”
“What nodes…”
An Yu suddenly froze.
Billy said that both right and wrong should be recorded. If Qin Zhilu thought his inference was wrong and reported a node, wouldn’t he be in danger again?
Seeing Qin Zhilu’s serious silence, An Yu grew increasingly desperate. “I’m very sorry if I said something wrong…”
“The node I’m adding is the first link in the logic of mantis infection. Inference by An Yu.”
A hint of a smile suddenly showed through Qin Zhilu’s dark eyes. Though it lasted only a moment, it eased the oppressive atmosphere.
“You forgot. There is still a bet with the biggest odds disparity in history on the Spire Forum.”
An Yu didn’t react immediately, “What?”
“You asked how I conquered the Spire, right?” Qin Zhilu said calmly, “Here’s the first rule—when you turn the tables, make sure they know where they lost.”
An Yu was stunned.
Qin Zhilu’s tone was as if he was certain that An Yu would turn the tables.
Moreover, An Yu had never thought about conquering the Spire; he just wanted to survive quietly. Did the Commander misunderstand something…?
Without waiting for him to explain, Qin Zhilu continued seriously, “The mantis should have three stages of mutation. The first stage is the limbs, which will self-complete upon contact with the infection source. The second stage is the torso, and the third stage is probably the head. From the second stage on, it needs to eat its own kind to evolve.”
An Yu nodded, thinking for a moment as he stared at the place where the mantis had fought. “Sir, I’m a bit scared. Could you give me a weapon?”
Qin Zhilu lifted up his trench coat.
“Not a gun!” An Yu immediately said.
He tried to hide his fear, glancing at Qin Zhilu’s thigh.
There, strapped to his leg, was a short knife that was all black and shiny.
“Do you want this?” Qin Zhilu raised an eyebrow. “It’s harder to control than a gun, very sharp and can easily hurt you.”
An Yu reached out and drew the knife from Qin Zhilu’s leg, put it on his waist with his backhand, and covered it under the windbreaker.
“Thank you, sir,” he said softly.
That night, the whole city lost power again. Only the thinnest moonlight penetrated the miasma, and the jellyfish rain began to fall again, pattering gently from the sky.
As soon as the Resource Manager saw them return, he called them to the warehouse to help pack the supplies.
An Yu stood still in the living room, “You go first, I want to find something to eat.”
The Resource Manager looked up immediately, “Are you very hungry?”
An Yu’s tone was flat, “If you run around all day, you’d be hungry too.”
“Really? I don’t think it’s that bad,” the Resource Manager said, looking at him meaningfully, “There are plenty of loaves in the cupboard; go eat.”
“Okay.”
An Yu watched them leave, then took out an entire loaf of coarse bread from the cupboard and turned to walk in the opposite direction down the hallway.
As he walked, he muttered, “Of course you don’t think it’s that bad.”
The house was shrouded in darkness and silence, with only the sounds of footsteps and the bread being eaten. He passed the small storage room and pushed open the innermost door.
The Resource Manager’s room was big, and the window crevices weren’t sealed with glue, yet there were no jellyfish or water bugs to disturb him.
An Yu opened the only wardrobe.
The wardrobe was filled with messy clothes, and in the dim light, the resource station’s uniforms could be vaguely identified, as well as…
“What are you looking for?” A voice suddenly came from behind him.
An Yu’s hand paused in the midst of rummaging through the clothes.
He didn’t turn around; instead, he shoved the remaining piece of bread into his mouth.
“So hungry?” the Resource Manager’s voice was hoarse and amused, “You don’t have any problems, right?”
An Yu slowly chewed the bread, letting the delicious wheat grains soothe the rising, unquenchable irritability in his heart.
The Resource Manager seemed to be patiently waiting for him to finish eating, and it seemed like he was just observing from behind to see if he was showing signs of mutation.
Finally, An Yu’s gaze locked onto a corner of the wardrobe.
There was a military logo on the collar of the clothes in the corner. It was a special anti-mutation suit for the military, with large patches of dried blood on it.
What normal person would dare keep clothes stained with an aberrant’s blood in their own room?
An Yu swallowed the last mouthful of bread, “Sir, you seem to be looking forward to me having problems.”
He suddenly turned around, his usually vacant golden eyes now intensely focused on the Resource Manager.
“Did you, like the person on the shuttle bus, also mistake me for one of your kind?”
[05 An Officer’s Fantasy]
The Protectors say that everyone wants to be supervised by Law.
But no one dares to imagine how terrible that experience would be.
Spire’s No.1 High-level officer, cold, decisive, never sparing a glance at those around him.
He could never be a patient guide.
He would never give praise or affirmation.
EQ? A fool’s dream.
Being under his supervision might look impressive on the outside, but it would require a strong heart behind the scenes.
Until later, when An Yu joined the Spire.
“It turns out that I was just unworthy,” those stubborn dead ducks all sighed.
Thank you for the chapter 😍 ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Thanks for the update ❤️
Ngl the Loose Pages from a Useless Book are a cool detail, it’s like a break… I wonder what the final book is like and if it actually has a meaning to be there or if its just there to provide background information…