Chapter Seven: The Rescue Team

A figure emerged from the shadows. "How did you find me?"

When he first arrived in this area, he saw a mutant about to attack a human. He was ready to intervene, but unexpectedly, the person in front of him stepped forward and engaged the mutant in combat. He had witnessed the entire process of this person killing the mutant clearly. Although the person showed no sign of awakening, they managed to use ordinary weapons to dispatch the mutant in a short time.

It was clear that this person had an intimate understanding of the mutant.

"Your gaze was fixed on this side just now. It was impossible to ignore."

Jiang Yu followed the voice and saw a man with a dark expression staring intently at the crystalline source in her hand.

She didn’t mind him looking. The matter of the crystal source inside the mutants would inevitably be discovered by humans sooner or later. Awakened individuals could absorb the energy within these crystals to enhance their strength, but in doing so, they also absorbed the dark matter within. When the darkness reached a certain critical point, the awakened would lose reason and become killing machines.

At that point, the only option was to kill them to grant them release.

The man stepped forward and introduced himself. "Hello, I am Xiao He, captain of Rescue Team One. I just witnessed you slay that mutant and was impressed by your strength. I’d like to invite you to join our rescue team. Would you be interested?"

Given the current situation, anyone with ability was highly sought after.

"Are you from the government?"

Jiang Yu hadn’t expected the rescue team to be deployed already, but since he was alone here, it seemed they were currently just clearing out mutants. They had no plans to relocate survivors yet.

"Do you really think I’m strong enough to join the rescue team?"

"Absolutely. I saw your skills just now—that's not something an ordinary person could do. We are in great need of capable partners like you."

Jiang Yu considered for a moment, then agreed.

"I want to know, if I join the rescue team, what would be expected of me?"

"Our mission at this stage is simply to move through various regions and eliminate these monsters."

Xiao He also explained their welfare benefits.

Jiang Yu didn’t care much about those; she knew that soon money would become worthless—just numbers in a bank account. Once humanity understood this, the world would plunge into even greater chaos.

They exchanged contact information, and she was told she would be contacted when there were missions.

"By the way, I saw you take something out of that creature’s body earlier. What was it?" Xiao He guessed that whatever Jiang Yu retrieved from the mutant must have some significance.

"This?" Jiang Yu held up the crystal source. "This is the crystal core from these mutants. It can enhance the power of awakened individuals."

***

"Really?" Xiao He’s eyes burned with intensity as he stared at the crystal in her hand.

"Of course. But it has side effects. It’s best not to use it unless absolutely necessary. If you must use the crystal’s energy to boost your strength, don’t overdo it." Jiang Yu explained again the dangers the crystal posed to awakened ones.

Xiao He’s fiery gaze slowly dimmed with disappointment. Such an item that could cause an awakened individual to lose their mind should only be used as a last resort.

Yet Jiang Yu was not awakened herself—how did she know so much?

In fact, even awakened individuals couldn’t possibly understand the crystal’s functions this well, since mutants had only appeared yesterday.

Xiao He wanted to ask more but knew this was probably a secret and didn’t want to probe further.

"Thank you for telling me this."

"No need to thank me."

Even if she hadn’t told him today, he would likely have learned it from others soon enough.

After all, she had reported everything about the mutant invasion to the leader.

After parting ways, Jiang Yu headed in another direction to hunt for more mutants. Once again, she cut a path through them.

Only when dusk began to fall did Jiang Yu end her day’s mission.

[ Ding! Congratulations, host, mission completed. You have earned 100 points. Total mutant kills: 38. Total points: 138. Current cumulative points: 203.]

Elsewhere, a man behind the system watched the footage being transmitted and downed the glass of red wine in his hand.

"The host I chose has not disappointed me. However..."

The man furrowed his brow, staring intently at the person on the screen.

"System, is she also Jiang Yu?" The face was exactly the same as the previous Jiang Yu. Could it be such a coincidence?

[Yes.]

"Is she the same host as before?"

[Respected player, the system selects hosts based on the genetic data you provide. The gene chain indicates this host is not the same individual as the previous one. Please do not worry.]

Hearing this reassured the man. He hoped the previous incident would not repeat itself; otherwise, he would be the one to die.

"System, keep a close watch on her. Alert me immediately if anything unusual occurs."

[Understood.]

——

After returning home, Jiang Yu entered the bathroom for a shower. Her clothes were almost entirely soiled, and she felt as if she had been marinated in mutant blood, the stench overwhelming.

After washing, she lay comfortably in bed as notifications on her phone chimed intermittently.

She picked up her phone and saw she had been added by Xiao He to two groups: one was the main rescue team group, and the other was their squad’s group.

There were over ninety-nine unread messages, mostly about the mutants.

Only at the beginning did Xiao He introduce her briefly when adding her to the groups.

Jiang Yu popped into both chats briefly, then noticed messages from the two Jiang brothers.

Jiang Yi: "Little Yu, have you returned home?"

Jiang Mu: "Sister, no matter who you are, you are my sister."

"Sis, where are you? I want to come find you."

"Sis, please be careful."

Jiang Yu replied to each of them, assuring them she was safe. She had no intention of disowning them—they were her closest blood relatives in this world. Of course, if any of them ever betrayed her, she would not let it go.

*Ding dong!*

Someone tagged her in the group. She opened the message.

"Tomorrow we need to go to the neighboring city. Do you want to come?"

The person who tagged her was Xiao He. Jiang Yu wasn’t keen on going but scanned the messages and learned that there had been strange activity in the neighboring city. They needed to investigate.

Moreover, according to other teams, the mutants there were tougher than in other cities and required backup.

So that was the reason. She would have to go see for herself.

She replied to him accordingly.