I Am Extraordinary Alone
Chapter 516 - 514: Proliferation

Chapter 516: Chapter 514: Proliferation

Time flew, and before I knew it, a month had passed.

The news that Wei Tianyang had long anticipated finally came from the slum.

Many of the poor who had eaten the free food had mutated.

It had taken too long; was it because they hadn’t eaten enough, or was there a genetic defect in humans? Either way, after such a long wait, there were finally results.

Unlike those poor people, Baphomet’s current height had reached 2 meters. Standing up, its back was almost at Wei Tianyang’s chest, and the horns on its head had become more complex. Two thick, curved horns now had three more spiraling, smaller horns growing in different directions. The tips had gradually transitioned from black to golden yellow, truly resembling a large sheep now.

At noon, Wei Tianyang changed into a suit and, along with Quigui Ge, escorted by four suited bodyguards, set out in a car to the vicinity of the slum.

Through the car window, Wei Tianyang saw that at a small breach in the entrance to the slum, Etolia’s police had sealed it off. Several white ambulances were parked at the intersection, and further out, a few county officers armed with rifles patrolled the area.

The Minister of Health had locked down the news and arrested a few thoughtless journalists. Now, all these poor were confined in their homes, waiting for the government’s next move.

The local chief of public security, having learned of Wei Tianyang’s return, was already waiting at the entrance to the slums. Quigui Ge got out of the car first to negotiate with him.

Wei Tianyang watched the chief nod and bow to Quigui Ge, then order the police to lift the blockade.

Quigui Ge walked up to the car and rolled down the window.

"Those who have mutated have been gathered and detained at the medical aid station," Quigui Ge said.

Wei Tianyang nodded and asked, "Are there people who haven’t mutated?"

"The head said we’d need to ask the doctors at the medical camp for the details," Quigui Ge replied.

Wei Tianyang unbuckled his seat belt, and Quigui Ge opened the car door, waiting for him to step out.

The two of them entered the slum, one after the other, walking down the small dirt slope, Wei Tianyang felt a sense of homecoming.

Ruan Yu followed closely beside him, maintaining silence and not speaking along the way.

The scale of this slum wasn’t small. The low and crooked shanties extended forward along an artificial cement wall. Unlike Qiyang City’s slums, which looked like a rash, this row of shanties resembled a long scar.

The slums were bordered on the left by a cement wall, cleanly separated from the streets and apartment buildings, and they lay even lower in the terrain, the shanties clinging like barnacles to the bottom of a ship. On the right, there was a large, abandoned metal house, which now the medical team had covered with some kind of plastic hood and connected to a round plastic tube to make it into isolation booths.

People were locked in their own shanties, while those who had mutated were all crammed into the metal house. A dozen armed military police stood guard on the slum’s narrow lanes. In front of the plastic tubing corridor, a few people dressed in hazmat suits were waiting respectfully.

"We’ve prepared a hazmat suit for you," a worker said.

Wei Tianyang waved his hand, "No need. Quigui Ge, wait for me outside. I’ll go in alone."

The worker opened the seal on the plastic tube corridor, and Wei Tianyang, followed by Ruan Yu, stepped in, unfastening the inner plastic door’s zipper and slipping into the main hall of the metal house.

The buzzing of incandescent lights filled the air. The metal house, as large as two basketball courts, its former use unknown, now housed many double beds. Many people sat on the edges of the beds. At a brief glance, there seemed to be more than 200.

When Wei Tianyang appeared at the door, many turned to look at him. Then, they began to argue in the local dialect, venting their discontent and accusing the organization that had distributed the free food.

This group had indeed mutated, visibly so.

They had grown third arms or third legs on their bodies.

Some arms grew from the abdomen, some on the back, and others sprouted an extra length from where the original arms were.

Those with a third leg suffered some pain, only able to wear their pants halfway. For some, the leg grew from the backside, affecting defecation, but had it not been for the completely absorbent live food supply that left no residue, these people would surely have been in agony.

Could these extra limbs really have grown out instantaneously? There must have been a process, right? Wei Tianyang had only received the information today; it couldn’t be possible that these limbs had formed overnight.

He extended his hand, and the cursing from within the metal shack quieted down immediately. The impoverished found their mouths out of control, lips tightly sealed; they couldn’t open them no matter how they tried, and their throats refused to work.

Wei Tianyang gestured "shush" and said in Etolian, "I’ll ask, you’ll answer, no nonsense."

Then, he walked over to a little boy around seven or eight years old by the bed, who was shirtless with an arm growing from his back.

Wei Tianyang lightly tapped the boy’s forehead, squatted down, and smiled, "Is the food tasty?"

The boy’s parents were terrified, they too had extra arms growing from their bodies and tried to pull their child behind them.

Wei Tianyang made them sit on the bed, immobilizing them, then turned to the little boy, waiting for his answer.

The little boy nodded, with half a piece of unfinished bread on the bed. Presumably, these poor people knew eating this food could cause issues, but hunger left them no room to be choosy.

The little boy nodded again.

"What does it feel like to have an extra arm? Can you control it?" Wei Tianyang asked with a smile.

The little boy tried to lift the arm on his back a bit and stretched it toward Wei Tianyang.

He grabbed the small hand — tender and dark.

"This arm is as big as your original ones. How long did it take to grow?" Wei Tianyang continued.

"It was itchy on my back at night, and by the morning when I woke up, it had already grown this much," said the little boy.

Wei Tianyang looked down, deep in thought. That quick?

It seemed the food supply affected different species differently. Baphomet was originally from above, only transformed into a sheep’s body, so its effects were gradual. In humans, the effect was slower, but once active, the result was immediate...

He compared Baphomet’s effects to those of the impoverished in his mind and reached a conclusion that the food enhanced the body’s characteristics.

Baphomet’s horns and body became larger, humans grew more limbs. Horns and limbs, important for both fighting and interacting with the world, are crucial parts of both sheep and humans.

"I understand now... Yes, this is how it is," Wei Tianyang murmured to himself.

Ruan Yu stood aside, feeling as if she was in another world. She never imagined she would be involved in human experimentation in a Heiside state nation with Wei Tianyang. The world had indeed gone mad, turned upside down.

"Uncle, can we be cured?" the little boy asked.

Wei Tianyang’s thoughts were interrupted, and he came back to himself, smiling, "You aren’t sick."

"Really? Mom said we all turned into freaks because of this poisoned food, and that amputation surgeries are very expensive..." said the little boy.

"They just haven’t adapted yet. This food isn’t poisoned. Not just anyone can afford to eat this kind of thing," Wei Tianyang said.

"Then... then will we turn into monsters in the future?" the little boy asked.

"No, you might become the first of a new breed of humans. If... the experiment succeeds, you will find that your strength has increased a bit, I assure you," Wei Tianyang said.

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