Hu City

The station staff opened the gate and let Jiang Kun walk through.

The platform was empty, with only him standing there.

He walked down the steps and entered the hollow carriage, picking a random seat by the window.

His status as an outsourced investigator allowed him to legally carry weapons.

He checked his sidearm, then calibrated the shock device and high-frequency cutting blade installed within his mechanical limbs.

Having weapons in hand gave him a slight sense of peace.

The carriage was silent, save for the rhythmic noise of the train in motion.

Suddenly, a strange rustling sound came from the gap in the seat.

Jiang Kun stopped what he was doing and tilted his head to listen.

The sound was very faint, like something squirming.

He lay down on the floor, pressing his face close to the gap.

Deep inside the crevice, a flower was stuck.

It was about the size of a fist, with petals of a deep, vivid red, though the edges were rotten and blackened, oozing a thick, dark fluid.

Even more bizarre was that the corolla was rhythmically contracting and expanding, as if it were breathing.

How could there be a flower on a high-speed train, and such a strange one at that?

Jiang Kun’s mechanical arm extended a tool clamp, carefully probing into the gap. He gripped the flower and gave it a sharp tug.

The flower was pulled out, bringing a few wisps of dust with it.

He saw the flower in its entirety. He didn't know what species it was, but at the center of the stamens was a circular mouth filled with tiny, sharp teeth!

The teeth grew in crisscrossing layers, arranged in a ring. They opened and closed slightly with the flower's breathing, revealing dark red flesh deep inside.

"A mutant plant?" Jiang Kun’s brow furrowed.

This train ran back and forth between Forging City and Hu City. It seemed the situation in Hu City was already quite severe.

If even a monstrosity like this could sneak onto the train, how far had the local environment deteriorated?

He crushed the flower with its sharp teeth and tossed it into the sealed trash bin in the corner of the carriage.

The petals hit the wall of the bin with a dull thud.

Jiang Kun sat back in his seat, leaning against the headrest as he looked out the window.

His friend had already warned him that something had happened in Hu City and that it was dangerous.

But for the sake of the mission, he had to make this trip.

The train accelerated, and the scenery outside began to blur.

Before entering the final tunnel, the sky was still the usual murky gray of Forging City.

The lights inside the carriage were bright, reflecting off Jiang Kun's expressionless face.

The tunnel was short, no more than a hundred meters.

But the moment the train emerged, Jiang Kun’s breath hitched.

Separated by only a single tunnel, the world outside was completely different.

Beside the tracks, there were no longer neat slopes and scattered shrubs, but a dense thicket of wild grass nearly half a man tall!

The grass was a brilliant fluorescent green—a green so surreal it was blinding.

The blades of grass swayed in the wind.

Further away, the low hills had vanished, replaced by an unimaginable primeval forest!

The silhouettes of towering, ancient trees stretched menacingly against the sky, with thick vines coiled around their trunks like pythons, hanging down.

Several high-voltage power towers spanning the valley had now become massive vine racks, completely smothered by layers of deep green vegetation, with large, eerie, brightly colored flowers blooming across the metal structures.

And it was currently winter!

"Has the situation really reached this level of severity?"

Jiang Kun’s brow remained tightly knit.

There was very little news about Hu City online, only a few reports about the population outflow and vague notices about environmental remediation.

The scene before him far exceeded his worst nightmares.

Puff, puff, puff.

A series of light impacts came from behind him.

Jiang Kun turned around and saw several smears of viscous, multi-colored stains on the window glass, slowly oozing downward.

At first glance, he couldn't tell what they were, so he activated the analysis mode of his mechanical prosthetic eye.

His vision zoomed, the focus adjusted, and a spectral scan was performed.

The details of the stains were presented clearly: they were the remains of several insects.

Their carapaces were shattered, their fluids splattered, and twisted limbs could be vaguely identified.

The shells were a fluorescent indigo with orange-yellow stripes, and their compound eye structures were abnormally complex. It was hard to imagine these were natural creatures of the wild.

They were likely mutant insects.

The fact that they could collide with a high-speed train window suggested their numbers were vast, and their flight paths might be abnormal.

Jiang Kun’s expression darkened.

The danger level of this mission likely needed to be re-evaluated.

But thinking of the system rewards for completing the mission, he took a deep breath and suppressed the unease in his heart.

Risk and reward went hand in hand; he should have understood that long ago.

"Arriving at the final destination, Hu City Station. Passengers, please prepare to disembark."

The broadcast sounded in a steady tone.

The train began to slow down.

In the distance, the silhouette of Hu City Station appeared.

Near the platform, man-made structures became more frequent. The wildly growing plants seemed to have been deliberately cleared, remaining only in inconspicuous corners like wall bases or fence edges.

However, that overly exuberant green still stubbornly asserted its presence.

The train glided into the station.

Jiang Kun stood by the door ahead of time.

Through the glass, he saw the platform packed with a sea of people.

Men, women, young, and old were all dragging luggage, every face written with anxiety and fear.

They pushed forward desperately, their eyes fixed on the doors that were about to open, as if the train were the only exit from hell.

The doors slid open with a hiss.

A cold wind carrying a heavy, strange scent—a mixture of rotting plants and floral fragrance—rushed inside.

At the same time, dozens of gazes snapped toward Jiang Kun.

These people were all trying to use this train to flee Hu City; they hadn't expected someone would actually be entering it.

Jiang Kun remained expressionless as he pushed through the crowd blocking the doorway and headed toward the exit.

The people instinctively opened a path for him, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Sir, please wait!"

A young staff member ran over, panting as he blocked the exit passage, his face filled with panic.

"You can't leave the station right now; it's dangerous outside. Please return to the train or stay in the station's safe zone."

Jiang Kun stopped and presented his credentials once more.

The station worker leaned in, and upon seeing the text on the ID, his brow furrowed. "An outsourced investigator?"

There was doubt in his voice, along with a trace of imperceptible disappointment.

"We haven't received an official notice from the Forging City Bureau regarding reinforcements."

"We've temporarily closed the exit mainly to stop those news reporters who have been sniffing around. They'd do anything for a headline, even risk their lives."

The station worker looked Jiang Kun up and down, then suddenly asked in a very low, pessimistic voice, "Can you tell me the truth? Is there still hope for Hu City?"

It was a heavy question.

During this time, he had stood at this exit, watching wave after wave of people flee.

The plants in the city were spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye. He saw it all, and that sense of helplessness plagued him day and night.

Jiang Kun was silent for a moment, his voice devoid of emotion. "Hard to say."

"I haven't conducted an investigation yet, so I have no right to speak. I can't give you a clear answer."

"Aren't you leaving? Given the current situation, the earlier you go, the safer you'll be."

Jiang Kun didn't care about the safety of Hu City; he was more concerned with his mission.

As for whether this city could return to its original state?

He glanced at the abnormal green in the distance and didn't hold much hope in his heart.

An abnormal mutation of this magnitude had likely already penetrated deep into the soil and water cycles, becoming part of the ecology.

Restoration would be easier said than done.

The station worker forced a smile that looked worse than crying, his eyes reddening.

"They're paying five times the salary for the staff who stay until the very end. How could I bear to leave?"

"Besides, in our line of work, the authority to move lies with the higher-ups. It's not like I can just walk away whenever I want."

"Take care. I'm going now. Goodbye." Jiang Kun didn't say anything more. He nodded and walked through the passage the man had opened, heading straight out of the station hall.

"Thank you. Please, you must be careful," the station worker said behind him, his tone solemn.

In his simple understanding, regardless of the reason or the outcome, anyone stepping into this dangerous land against the flow of the crowd deserved a word of thanks.

"No need for thanks." Jiang Kun did not look back.

Stepping out of the station doors, he stopped and quickly scanned his surroundings.

The station square and the adjacent main road areas still managed to maintain a normal urban appearance.

The roads were being swept, and the green belts had been crudely trimmed.

But as his gaze moved further out, he could see the defensive line surrounding this safe zone, consisting of armed robots and soldiers armed to the teeth.

They had constructed temporary fortifications to guard the station, as it ensured the local residents could safely leave the city.

Jiang Kun withdrew his gaze and successfully left under his identity as an investigator.

He then activated the built-in map and navigation of his mechanical prosthetic eye and entered Hu City.

On the streets of Hu City, many vehicles could be seen abandoned directly in the middle of the road, jammed together in a total traffic paralysis.

Those cars had their windows tightly shut and were empty; perhaps the owners had chosen to abandon them and walk to the station with their luggage after finding the traffic blocked.

Crowds could still be seen on the streets even now, carrying their families and bags as they walked toward the station in terror.

Jiang Kun needed to investigate the truth here, so he decided to ask some of the local residents who hadn't had time to leave yet.

...

Forging City Anomaly Management Bureau.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy.

A satellite map of the area surrounding Hu City was displayed on the projection screen, with vast abnormal regions marked in red—a shocking sight.

"At present, we are unable to provide effective support to Hu City," said the director hosting the meeting, his voice raspy.

"Our primary mission is to settle and screen the massive influx of people coming from Hu City."

"These numbers will only increase, and many of them may be carrying abnormal contaminants."

The director pulled up another set of data. "Within Forging City, especially near the Old District, we have already received over a dozen reports from citizens finding rapidly growing and abnormally shaped plants."

"Preliminary identification shows a high degree of similarity to the mutant plants appearing in Hu City. The contamination has already spread here along with the flow of people."

At the end of the conference table, Yu Duanhong sat bolt upright. This was his first time attending a major meeting.

The people in the Bureau were usually absolute eccentrics, but when it came down to the wire, they were actually quite reliable.

Yu Duanhong worked hard to digest the various pieces of information and intelligence from the meeting.

He had just received his first official field mission: to head to several key areas in the Old District to conduct on-site investigations and assist in clearing the mutant plants.

For his first time out on duty, he had to perform well; at the very least, he couldn't mess up.

...

Top-floor office of the Wang Group.

A massive curved screen was divided into multiple frames.

The images showed the street scenes of Hu City.

Yue Shi leaned back in his chair, his fingertips tapping the armrest.

He was observing the city through Jiang Kun.

"Mutant plants everywhere. Such a familiar feeling."

After staring at the screen for a while, Yue Shi suddenly noticed something was missing from the room.

Where was the Ghost?

Ever since he had changed into his new body, the Ghost's behavior had been a bit strange, especially his habit of running to the washroom.

Yue Shi stood up and walked to the washroom door.

It was closed. He knocked.

"Are you hatching an egg in there?" Yue Shi asked.

The sound of clothes rubbing together came from inside. After a moment, the door opened.

The Ghost stood at the door, fully dressed and with his hair perfectly in place.

But his demeanor seemed a bit... uneasy?

He looked fidgety and strange.

Yue Shi sized him up. "That body of yours is a mechanical creation; it has no metabolism."

"Locking yourself in the washroom all the time—is there a malfunction, or are you so infatuated with your new body that you can't help yourself?"

The Ghost rolled his eyes. "You say that as if you have a metabolism."

Yue Shi nodded. "As long as I want it, I can have every physiological activity of a human."

The Ghost asked, "For real?"

"Of course," Yue Shi replied. "The water I drink every day can turn into urine and flow away, then evaporate to join the water cycle and turn into rain or snow and fall on everyone's head. Isn't that romantic?"

The Ghost immediately made a face that was hard to describe. "With a face like yours, how can you say something so creepy? What a waste of a good gift!"

Yue Shi shrugged. "I think the fact that you spend all day hiding in the bathroom exploring your own body is even creepier."

"Come on, what exactly is going on?"

The Ghost was silent for a moment, avoiding Yue Shi's gaze and looking at the wall beside them.

"My new body hasn't had a mechanical malfunction, and I'm not narcissistic like you."

"It's just that there's an issue with the sense of touch."

"Touch?" Yue Shi raised an eyebrow.

"A certain part of this body is actually letting me perceive a sense of touch belonging to a human," the Ghost said, his tone filled with confusion and helplessness.

"But that shouldn't be possible. I'm an information lifeform now; possessing this body is just controlling a shell. I shouldn't have the 'tactile' perception of a carbon-based lifeform."

"But I really feel it! It's the exact same feeling as when I was still a human!"

"How is this possible?"

"It's just a body built by machines. Why?"

Yue Shi's gaze turned serious. "This mechanical body of yours was built with the finest materials and craftsmanship. Could it be some kind of black technology?"

The Ghost was dazed. "I'm not sure either. In short, this body makes me feel like I've come back to life—that I'm no longer just a piece of cold information, but a living person with flesh and blood!"

"Is that so?" Yue Shi reached out and gave the Ghost's arm a hard pinch.

Beneath the elastic bionic skin was hard metal.

"Does it hurt?"

The Ghost shook his head. "No feeling."

"There is only one place on this body that has regained a human sense of touch. The other parts are still mechanical."

"Where is it?" Yue Shi asked.

The Ghost suddenly became shy, stammering and hesitating.

Yue Shi’s brow furrowed slightly → he fell into deep thought → a realization dawned on him → his expression became odd. "Could it be..."

The Ghost lowered his head, his embarrassed gaze constantly drifting downward.