Chapter 47: War Trophy

In an instant, like zombies sensing the scent of living flesh, everyone on the ground leapt up and charged toward them.

Yang Yi shielded her own group and calmly prepared to withdraw.

Philip Eden shot two men closest to him, then shouted urgently: “No! No! No! Please forgive my rashness, Ms. Yang—I didn’t understand the situation. I respect your work; please continue handling these anomalous entities!”

Yang Yi frowned deeply, stunned by Philip Eden’s brutality—these were all citizens of his own country, ordinary people barely infected, harmless in actual threat, merely terrifying in appearance.

Yet this investigator from the Aka National Security Bureau, who had just been spouting freedom, democracy, and equality, had killed them without hesitation the moment he felt threatened.

Yang Yi’s expression turned icy; before they could fire and kill more, she forced the crowd back down to the ground.

Feng Liancheng could vaguely guess her thoughts; he sneered at Philip Eden: “Today we’ve truly witnessed your nation’s freedom and equality—how ‘harmoniously’ you coexist with ordinary citizens.”

Philip Eden showed no shame; instead, he spoke with righteous indignation: “These are all infected by anomalous entities. For the safety of others, decisive action was necessary. If we cannot cure their infection, we must eliminate the threat promptly.”

At this moment, Yang Yi was grateful she was born in Xia Nation—she believed Xia’s authorities would never abandon any citizen, as proven during the recent epidemic.

Yang Yi was not a person who spoke easily, especially not to someone so shameless and heartless.

This kind of official negotiation naturally fell to Director Zhou.

Yang Yi whispered in Xia language to Director Zhou: “Director Zhou, I can cure these people, but it will take extra time and effort.” She left it at that—other benefits would be negotiated by Director Zhou.

Upon hearing “extra time and effort,” Director Zhou worried: “You must act within your limits—if it’s too difficult, you don’t have to do it.”

After all, these weren’t their own citizens; if Yang Yi suffered any loss, it would be a loss for the entire nation.

“It’s fine. I can remove the infection within a few hours.”

After that, Yang Yi left the negotiations with the Aka side to others. She replicated her method, drawing out the black mist from each person’s body. When they awoke, all were utterly drained—some had gone completely white-haired.

Fortunately, their infections were shallow; though they’d lost some life force and would remain weak, living a few years less, simply surviving was already a miracle.

In her hand, Yang Yi condensed a large mass of black mist, laced with life force too entwined to separate—bound together, inseparable, one with the other.

Like a pot of porridge mixed with mud.

The hunger within her stirred restlessly; after enduring far crueler hunger, this disturbance only irritated her.

‘This thing is edible! Give it to me!’ it excitedly said. ‘I just held off the Soul-Hosting Demon for you—I’m weak now. Though this thing tastes awful and is pitifully small, barely enough to fill a tooth gap, it’s better than nothing! Give it to me now!’

‘You eat it, I eat it—same thing,’ Yang Yi sneered. ‘Dream on.’

‘Fool! Idiot! Asshole! There are hundreds of people here—you could’ve eaten them all outright, using their infection as justification! Yet you let them live! Now you won’t even give me this tainted life source—how will you survive the next hunger? You’re making me suffer too!’ It raged. ‘You’re disgustingly hypocritical!’

‘Thank you for the compliment,’ Yang Yi replied flatly.

Usually, when it flew into a rage, she felt calm—there was a quiet pleasure in mastering her own emotions.

Of course, more often, it struck at her weakest psychological defenses, breaking her down every time—after all, no one understood her better than herself.

‘Ms. Yang, this anomalous event occurred on Aka territory—this infection source must be secured and studied by our Anomalous Entity Research Department. Please return it to us!’

Ben Carter, Deputy Director of Aka’s Anomalous Entity Research Department, straightened his clothes and spoke to Yang Yi, weak yet stern.

‘Oh?’ Yang Yi hadn’t expected that after she saved this deputy director, he’d repay her with such ingratitude—yet on the other hand, she admired his dedication.

‘I suspect your department lacks the capability to handle this infection source—otherwise, how did none of you even realize you were infected?’

Yang Yi glanced at him coldly, idly playing with the black mist in her hand. ‘I even wonder if your entire department has already been fully taken over by another Soul-Hosting Demon. After all, Soul-Hosting Demons are intelligent—they merge with humans and share memories. I heard Amy’s boyfriend is dead—has this demon switched hosts? Perhaps to someone higher-ranking…’

Not only did Ben Carter’s men exchange uneasy glances—even Philip Eden pulled out his phone, alert and dialing.

Whether true or not, the seed was planted—enough to throw their internal ranks into chaos for a while.

Feng Liancheng silently gave her a thumbs-up; even Director Zhou looked at her with new respect.

Ben Carter’s face darkened: ‘That’s none of your concern. We’ll handle it ourselves. This infection source…’

Yang Yi clenched her hand—the black mist vanished.

‘What infection source? I only remember saving hundreds of your lives. And for your savior, you don’t thank me—you extort me? Is this how your country treats its benefactors?’ Yang Yi said, expressionless.

The atmosphere fell silent.

When Yang Yi didn’t speak, when she regarded them with cold eyes, people suddenly remembered: this woman was the world’s only S-Class Awakened, the ‘God Among Men’—if she wished, she could destroy a city in an instant, as proven in the Fire Demon Incident.

They’d forgotten: this young girl was no ordinary girl.

She was a human nuclear bomb.

S-Class didn’t just denote power level—it denoted threat level.

The air seemed to thicken. Though she hadn’t used her psychic force, everyone present felt an invisible pressure settle—not on their bodies, but in their hearts.

Director Zhou stepped forward to defuse the tension.

Ben Carter opened his mouth to argue again, but Philip Eden stopped him—a man who knew when to bend and when to endure, shameless and heartless—he thanked Director Zhou for Xia Nation’s support to Aka, thanked Yang Yi for saving so many lives, and declared the black mist would serve as a token of gratitude—

‘War trophy,’ Yang Yi said.

Ben Carter and Philip Eden’s faces turned a mixture of colors.