Pollution throughout the territory

Dongzhou.

Near the harbor, there is an inconspicuous town.

Most of the residents here make a living by fishing, and their lives are considered peaceful and stable. Seagulls are flying overhead, and several children are running barefoot on the beach under the blue sky.

Another relatively secluded coast is lined with reefs. The water here becomes turbulent, and the sea water hits the rocks, causing waves.

Dr. Liao sat on one of the rocks, staring blankly into the distance, as if waiting for something.

Today, he did not wear the white coat that seemed to grow on his body before, but changed into a more casual short-sleeved shirt, and even wore a pair of flip-flops on his feet.

The surrounding light was slightly distorted, and another figure quietly appeared in front of him.

The other party blocked the sun. In the shadow, Dr. Liao raised his stiff head and looked at the unfamiliar face. He was slightly surprised, then smiled self-deprecatingly and said:

"I didn't expect that you would come in person."

Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, glanced at him with a cold gaze, sighed suddenly, then sat next to him, opened the thermos cup he carried with him and took a sip.

"Did you tell Xinni Grant about Xia Ren?"

"Um."

Dr. Liao admitted frankly.

Zhou Yuan paused for a moment: "And about the antidote this time... you should know the consequences of betraying Immortal."

Dr. Liao looked at the sky and closed his eyes: "Let me kill myself and leave a whole body at least."

In the end, he didn't let Zhou Yuan take action because he was afraid of leaving traces and letting colleagues in the foundation notice the clues.

After all, I want to retain a decent identity.

Zhou Yuan opened the thermos cup he carried with him, took a sip, shook his head and said helplessly: "It would be nice if life were simpler."

The sound of stones falling into the turbulent current reached my ears, and was immediately covered up by the waves.

A black crow landed on his shoulder.

"You also deliberately let out the news about that town. Why didn't you tell him that developing an antidote was part of your plan?"

"...No wonder they don't like you."

After being teased inexplicably, the crow didn't want to pay attention to him anymore and flew away with fluttering wings.

Zhou Yuan sat alone on the rock for a long time before slowly standing up and disappearing from the place.

…

…

At the beginning of the New Era 1107, a series of unknown events occurred.

Only a few people can know the truth of the matter.

After a long time, when people look back on this period of time and the name that first entered their field of vision, they can barely guess the full story of the incident from the clues.

The only useful ingredient in the special medicine produced by Dr. Liao is actually the yellow fungus. However, this yellow fungus has been improved by his ability, and some of its properties are different from the original version.

The most obvious difference is that the yellow fungus contained in the specific medicine is self-limiting and has a short life cycle. It is basically impossible to reproduce unless it is in a specific laboratory environment.

After being infected with a self-limiting yellow fungus, the patient will have symptoms of lethargy. Three to five days after the yellow fungus parasitizes, the larvae of atypical entomophobia will basically die, and the yellow fungus needs to kill the host. The parasitism time is about 15 days.

The yellow fungus contained in the special medicine can only last two days from parasitization, proliferation, and decline of the flora. Therefore, as long as it is not taken continuously, it will not threaten human life.

Even before the first Anjing capsule has been produced, overwhelming publicity has already begun, including billboards, bus advertisements, video blogger recommendations, website advertisements, news advertisements, toilet cubicle stickers...etc., etc., etc. Anjing Capsules appeared everywhere where advertisements could be made.

Almost overnight, this previously unheard name was deeply engraved in everyone’s minds.

But at first, not many people had the desire to buy it, because according to the publicity, Anjing Capsule is just a common drug that can relieve insomnia and anxiety. There are already many similar drugs on the market, and the manufacturer of Anjing Capsule is not a well-known pharmaceutical manufacturer. , and no one has taken his medicines, so there is actually no competitive advantage.

However, people don't know that their choice is no longer in their hands.

Before the advent of specific drugs, the Superman Association's way of preventing the spread of the epidemic in the hardest-hit areas was to secretly take neurological drugs to everyone in the area. These drugs can keep people a certain degree of excitement, leading to insomnia.

And now, in order to get everyone to take special medicines, the Superman Association, the Foundation, and the Supreme Alliance Government have joined forces to spread neurological drugs that can cause insomnia throughout the Blue Star, whether in towns or remote suburbs. Toddlers or old men make sure no one escapes.

Although insomnia as a whole in human society will have serious consequences, these consequences are nothing compared to the elimination of the plague.

A few days later, people who were depressed and anxious due to insomnia began to look for solutions. Their eyes naturally began to shift to the nearest and most praised sedative drug - Anjing Capsule.

Subsequently, the official news media also began to bring goods. Under the overwhelming publicity, Anjing capsules were in short supply.

In some economically backward areas, the government purchases them and distributes them free of charge as welfare.

This wave of insomnia quietly disappeared again before it had time to have a profound impact on society.

In the future, when the epidemic of atypical entomophobia is completely controlled, Anjing Capsules will be included in the prescription drugs to prevent people from abusing them and causing serious consequences.

As for why we don’t spread specific medicines like neurological drugs, this is because self-limiting yellow fungi cannot cope with the complex external environment. If they are put into tap water or other food, the fungi will lose their activity, so in the form of medicines Keeping it in capsules is the safest way.

However, the disappearance of the plague is not without cost. All humans who have been parasitized by the yellow fungus will inevitably suffer from slight neurological distortion.

This kind of distortion will not have any impact on humans at present, but from now on, its traces will accompany humans until their demise.

The sales of Anjing Capsules had just reached their peak, and when the atypical entomophobia plague was about to be completely eradicated, Xia Ren received a call from Niu Changshou and learned about Dr. Liao's suicide.

He was stunned for a long time and couldn't say anything.

Dr. Liao did not leave any suicide note. In the last moments of his life, he returned to his hometown, met with his family, and chose to commit suicide by jumping into the sea.

After the foundation recovered the body that was swollen and whitened by seawater, there were still many people who could not accept the result, including those colleagues who were involved in the research of specific drugs.

Xia Ren went to Dr. Liao's funeral.

The funeral of this Foundation S-class investigator was no different from that of ordinary people. Dr. Liao's family only knew that he was a leading figure in the field of medical research and had never been married. They did not know that he had other identities.

In order not to have any impact on his family, people from the Foundation and the Superman Association refrained from going too much and only sent a few representatives to attend the funeral.

To Xia Ren's surprise, Tang Tangtang, who had been recuperating, also came. When he was sitting at the same table with them, he heard them mention that something was wrong with Dr. Liao's condition since it was announced that the special medicine had been successfully developed.

But the people who were caught up in the carnival at that time were not alert because of this. They just thought that Dr. Liao might be too tired and did not get a good rest.

But I didn't expect that it would eventually lead to this result.

Tang Tangtang said with great self-reproach that if Dr. Liao had not given him the [100% safe umbrella], he would not have been infected by the fungus.

Xia Ren recalled the last time he saw Dr. Liao in the quarantine area.

He was like a cold stone in the middle of the noisy crowd. Perhaps there was an ominous omen at that time.

Dr. Liao's symptoms seemed like a loss of emotion, and also seemed like the despair caused by seeing the cold and lonely truth of the universe.

In short, it should be related to the yellow fungus he studied.

There is always an invisible thread on the yellow fungus. This thread spans the endless space and the world, and is connected to the ruler of the old days, the transcendent thing, Weibur.

Perhaps Dr. Liao, like himself, also realized the insignificance and humbleness of human beings, but when he walked out, he unfortunately fell halfway.

Damn pollution can always give you a painful blow when you think you can defeat it, and then make a sarcastic laugh.

It's a pity that the hero who slayed the dragon finally died before the crowd cheered, and was unable to enjoy the glory that belonged to him.

…

…

New Era 1107, January 5th.

"Speaking of which, why is it still Sima Gangdan!"

Xia Ren was sitting in the first class cabin of the plane heading to Beizhou, looking at the magazine handed by the stewardess, and felt very unhappy.

"Hahahahaha!"

The wishing mirror on the side did not hide his gloating expression.

Ever since she saw Xia Ren's name on her boarding pass, she hadn't stopped laughing.

Lu Yi quickly seized control of her body, covered her mouth with both hands, and looked at the boss with innocent eyes, indicating that she didn't mean it.

Qin Yun was also laughing at the side. Only Lily looked at this and that, wondering why everyone was laughing.

Qin Yun is now the major shareholder of Changsheng Pharmaceutical. With the global sales of Anjing capsules, her current net worth has exceeded one trillion, and she is truly a super rich woman.

Xia Ren closed the magazine depressedly, but unexpectedly found a string of phone numbers written on the back of the magazine.

He raised his head and met the stewardess's flirtatious look.

Shaking his head helplessly, Xia Ren closed his eyes to rest and prepare for the next reading of the grimoire.

Atypical insect phobia has been confirmed to be under effective control. Under Niu Changshou's recommendation, Xia Ren had received an invitation from the Disaster Research Institute within the Superman Association two days ago.

Now, in addition to being the Foundation's A-level legendary investigator, he also has the identity of a disaster consultant for the Superman Association.

Of course, if you have to count, he actually has the identity of a pretty boy from a rich wife's family.

In fact, these days, Qin Yun has received membership invitations from many banks, as well as invitations from a large number of organizations such as medical associations, pharmaceutical associations, health products associations, wealthy clubs, billion-dollar elite chambers of commerce, official news media, etc. Everyone wanted to see the background of this suddenly rising woman, but because they didn't know Qin Yun's specific address, they could only send it to Changsheng Pharmaceutical, which made Qin Yun very busy these days.

Although their identities cannot be exposed to the public, the things they usually deal with are basically related to pollution. Normally, having a relationship with the Foundation and the Superman Association is enough.

Moreover, the capabilities of these two organizations are much greater than those of other banks and capitals, but doing things through the foundation requires an extra process after all, and the foundation is not completely trustworthy. There are even some relatively secretive information. The foundation There is no way to investigate.

For example, once it reaches a certain height, the foundation's information advantage is not as good as that of some private wealthy clubs.

In other cases, for example, if they want to enjoy the high-end services of certain hotels or some VIP access, if they arrange it through the foundation, it will obviously be overkill, but if they become members of certain banks or clubs, they don’t have to go to such trouble. .

It would definitely be beneficial for Qin Yun to have more apparent strength in society. Besides, there must be a place for Changsheng Pharmaceutical to save so many profit dividends.

She looked at the invitations piled on the table and checked them one by one. She would reply with a few sentences if they were valuable, and just skip the ones that were of little value. Of course, the content of the replies was basically of interest, but it was inconvenient now, anyway. Impossible to show off.

By the way, she also accepted membership invitations from several banks, opened accounts, and applied for several world cards, unlimited cards, black cards, etc., for daily use.

The first-class cabin that several people are traveling in now was arranged by Qin Yun, and compared with other first-class passengers, they can enjoy more services, which cannot be bought with money.

The plane landed in Luoxue City, a snow capital on the border of Beizhou.

As its name suggests, it snows in this city for nearly 300 of the 365 days a year. The city's buildings are covered with ice and snow all year round. Just clearing the snow on the roads accounts for 10% of the city's annual fiscal revenue. Six percent.

Such a place is obviously not suitable for production. Luoxue City mainly relies on tourism income. The local population only accounts for one-third of the total population. Most of them live by collecting rents and opening shops, which is quite comfortable.

Xia Ren and the others were shocked by the snowy scenery of the city as soon as they got off the plane.

The falling snowflakes are like cotton wool, dancing lightly in the sky. Everything you look at seems to be made of falling snow. There is a gap between the dark clouds in the distance, and the golden skylight scatters, forming a dazzling light pillar, pure white. Feathers fluttering in the beam of light, it's like an angel descending.

Before they had time to admire it, someone from the Superman Association came over to greet them.

Everyone got on a snowmobile and quickly drove away from Luoxue City, heading further north.

Although Snow City is the edge of Beizhou Continent, it is still far away from the Wuji Icefield, separated by several towering mountains and a vast snowfield.

Strictly speaking, this snowfield also falls under the jurisdiction of Snow City, but due to the harsh climate, it is not suitable for human habitation, so it is an uninhabited land. There are only occasional scattered villages at the foot of the mountains, but with the development of the times, those The almost isolated villages gradually disappeared, and people moved to places more suitable for survival.

The headquarters of the World Superman Association is built in one of the mountains.

"You really know how to choose a place."

Xia Ren looked at the unchanging white snow scene outside the window and thought boredly.

As two super organizations with official backgrounds, the Foundation is located in the Moka Desert, the hottest place in Blue Star, and the Superman Association is located in the ice and snow not far from the Wuji Icefield. They are places that ordinary people are not allowed to set foot on, but this is not the case. It is understandable, after all, once pollution is exposed, the entire human society may collapse in a short period of time.

After driving on the deserted snow for nearly an hour, there were no traces of human activity around. The off-road vehicle turned into a pine forest and entered a secret underground tunnel.

Driving in the tunnel was much faster and safer. After another three hours, they drove out of the tunnel and entered a huge valley.

This place is also covered with thick snow. Looking into the distance, you can see the side close to the sun. The white snow on the ridge melts, exposing the black rocks below. The howling cold wind blows through the valley, and the melted snow water reappears in mid-air. The huge ice waterfall formed by condensation is extremely spectacular.

Under the cliff behind the waterfall, a vague outline of a building appeared. When Xia Ren wanted to observe it attentively, his eyes were dazzled by the light reflected from the ice of the waterfall, and he could not see clearly.

"Here we are."

The driver of the car said that he did not turn off the car, but got out directly.

Xia Ren and others also got off the car. As soon as they stood on the side of the road, the snowmobile next to them suddenly made a few clicks. The door, hood, bumper and other parts were all separated and then reassembled. In less than three seconds, the original The vehicle becomes a robot about three meters high.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, the robot took a few steps forward, then bent down and inserted its mechanical arm into the ground. With a heart-wrenching sound of metal friction, it actually lifted a huge lid and opened the cellar-like door below. entrance.

"Wow! What a big piece of iron!" Lily exclaimed.

Qin Yun wanted to take out her mobile phone and take two photos.

Da Yuan Jing seemed to think they were making a fuss and remained silent.

"As expected of the Superman Association, even ordinary transportation tools are superior to others."

Xia Ren couldn't help but marvel.

He saw several muzzle-like tubes under the robot's arms, which meant that this big guy could not only drive as a car, but also fight when necessary.

But it's a pity that this big guy can't do it. Xia Ren didn't see what looked like a cockpit on the transformed robot. It's a pity, riding a Gundam is the ultimate romance for men.

Turning his head, he found that the driver was already standing at the entrance, making an inviting gesture towards them.

Xia Ren stretched his head and took a look. It was dark below, somewhat like the entrance to an underground parking lot. There were no stairs, but there were light strips emitting light on the walls on both sides, adding a sense of technology.

Without much hesitation, he stepped in.

Before going in, Lily secretly bent down to grab a handful of snow and stuffed it into her mouth to taste it. She found that these white, soft things were not delicious, and she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Just two steps into the passage, Xia Ren suddenly realized that something was wrong. His keen intuition told him that he was moving quickly, but his ears could not hear a sound of wind, and his body did not notice anything strange.

He looked back and found that he had been far away from the entrance at some point. There was darkness behind him, and the originally flowing light on the light strip on the wall next to him had stopped.

No, those streams of light didn’t stop.

Xia Ren realized that several of him were following those lights at the same speed.

But, what is going on?

He looked at his feet and saw that the ground paved with some unknown soft material had not changed at all.

Before Xia Ren could figure out the reason, he found that the light on the left and right light strips began to flow rapidly again, and a huge metal door appeared in front of several people.

In just a few seconds, they didn't know how far they moved. The technology of the Superman Association was indeed terrifying.

With the sound of the air pressure valve deflating, the metal door slowly opened to both sides, and Niu Changshou stood at the door and greeted him with a smile on his face.

"Hey, long time no see, dear friend."

Xia Ren turned to look behind him and said, "The elevator in your association is quite special."

Only then did Qin Yun notice something unusual and said in surprise: "Where was the entrance just now?"

In her mind, she just walked a few steps.

Niu Changshou smiled: "I don't know the principle of what the R\u0026D department made. Anyway, it is very fast. A person standing on it can reach a speed of 100 kilometers in three seconds without feeling anything."

Xia Ren smacked his mouth. The few people had been at the entrance for about five seconds. Calculated based on three seconds per 100 kilometers, they had already crossed a distance of 200 kilometers.

They were still in the valley just now, but now they are probably in the middle of the mountain.

"This is actually not bad. The R\u0026D department has more magical things than this, but most of them are more dangerous and of little use."

Niu Changshou said while leading the way: "But there was a big accident last night, and now the entire area is blocked. Otherwise, I can take you in to visit and see what Cyberpunk 1107 is."

His statement was rather strange. Qin Yun asked: "Do accidents often happen in the R\u0026D department?"

Niu Changshou laughed twice and said: "Basically, there is a major accident every week and a small accident every day. Small problems that are not accidents happen every hour."

Xia Ren also became curious: "To what extent is it considered a minor problem?"

Niu Changshou thought for a while: "Probably it was an explosion and fire, the experimental subject suddenly went crazy and fled the laboratory, the toilet suddenly blocked, poisonous gas leaked, etc."

"Are these minor problems..."

Xia Ren was speechless.

"Wait a minute, did something strange get into the toilet just now?"

"Of course this is a problem!"

When talking about this, Niu Changshou seemed to be very sensitive and said excitedly: "Do you know what it feels like to have all the toilets in the entire headquarters blocked and unable to be unclogged? No matter where you go, you can smell the smell of urine and feces. ?”

"Well……"

Xia Ren didn't understand why his reaction was so big.

Niu Changshou then sighed and said: "I don't know which unlucky thing in the R\u0026D department invented an interconnected toilet. It is said that it can be connected to other toilets and synchronize the status of all connected toilets. As long as the interconnected toilet is in the unblocked state, Even if other toilets connected to it are blocked, they will be unclogged immediately. He also said that as long as the research on interconnected toilets is successful, there will be no need to go to the door to repair the toilet if it is blocked in the future, which is very convenient."

"But the interconnected toilet was just a semi-finished product, and there was no way to accurately control the connection objects, so all the toilets in the headquarters were connected to the Internet, and that day, I didn't know which toilet among them was blocked..."

“Have you ever seen the spectacle of a large group of people with walkie-talkies dispersed in thousands of toilets, waiting for passwords and unblocking the toilets at the same time?”

"perhaps……"

Before Xia Ren finished speaking, Niu Changshou continued:

"It wasn't over yet. When we were clearing it, one of the toilets exploded."

"..." Xia Ren.

"..." Qin Yun.

"..." Lu Yi.

"Huh?" Lily.

The picture is so vivid that you can almost smell it.

Niu Changshou sighed, as if he didn't want to think about it:

"That day, there was no toilet available for thousands of people at the headquarters, and the snow in the valley outside melted overnight."

"this……"

Xia Ren couldn't think of how to answer the question.

You can't ask the other person why the snow melted, right?

Lily didn't care about this topic, and the little guy looked around as he walked.

It's a pity that the place is too clean, there is no dust at all, and there are metal structures everywhere, and there is no place to eat.

Passing through the spacious passage, led by Niu Changshou, several people came to a semicircular bright hall.

In the center of the hall is a giant square column, supporting the dome. There are screens on all four sides of the square column, which display a series of symbols with unknown meanings. Only one screen is black.

Around the lobby, there are rows of spring-like arc-shaped open elevators, close to the wall. There are many electronic doors on the wall, and there are signs written on each door.

They got on the elevator and stopped in front of one of the electronic doors.

Xia Ren saw the sign on the door that said [Library].

Niu Changshou took out a black card from his pocket, handed it to Xia Ren, and said: "This is the identity certificate of your disaster consultant. Originally, the identity certificates of our association members were directly implanted in the body, but in view of your special characteristics , and you are in name, so just get a card."

Xia Ren took the card and saw that one side simply said the words Disaster Advisor, and the other side was engraved with the logo of the Superman Association, which is half a human brain and half a blue star.

In other areas of the black card, gorgeous golden lines are outlined.

Xia Ren found that he couldn't remember the shape of those lines no matter what. Even if he just blinked, he would feel novel when he looked at them again.

Niu Changshou explained: "If you carry this card with you, you can go in, and you basically have permission to check the information inside."

Xia Ren took a step forward, and the electronic door opened with a beep, but behind the door was a smooth gray wall.

"It's okay, you can go in." Niu Changshou patted him on the shoulder.

Xia Ren nodded, raised his legs and stepped forward.

His body seemed to blend into the interior of the gray wall, as if he were soaking in a swamp pool, but encountered very little resistance.

Behind the door is a spacious and bright world that seems to have no end.

There is no top visible from above, and soft light falls from a very far away place, illuminating it very evenly.

The ground beneath his feet was as clean as a mirror, but it couldn't reflect a clear picture.

This is not like a normal library at all, but an incomplete world with rows of bookshelves filled with books.

What's even more strange is that Xia Ren feels that he has been here before.

A girl wearing a green dress with a pair of butterfly wings on her back and pointed ears flew over and asked in a clear voice: "What do you want to see?"

Xia Ren looked at the palm-sized girl in front of him and became even more confused.