[161]: Mutated Humans

"Sir, Battera wants to purchase forty capsules of the Witch's Youth Elixir, but he says he can only offer 30 billion…" the blond young man reported to Cyr while covering the phone.

Just a merchant's bargaining tactics.

"Whatever," Cyr waved his hand indifferently.

Whether it was 30 billion or 40 billion didn't really matter. He didn't have much use for money anyway. He just earned out of habit—he hated doing business at a loss. After all, he had even gotten the game console from Battera without spending a dime. Pure profit.

The height-increase pills pleased him, and the Soul-Pillow—he could try that out tonight.

"As for the food, they said it'll be delivered in three days…" Maro continued his report.

"Make sure it's airdropped only. The whole of Meteor Street is under lockdown lately." A voice suddenly cut him off.

"Who are you?" Maro stared at the man coldly.

The man had appeared out of nowhere—blond hair, blue eyes, dressed in a white robe. He was handsome and had a smile that made him seem easygoing, the very picture of a smiling tiger.

"Long time no see, Pampas. You still look as shady as ever." Cyr waved casually at him.

Pampas's expression didn't change at all. "Aren't you going to introduce your friends?" he asked, eyes glancing at the blond youth and the white tiger beast.

"Maro. Sora." Cyr pointed to them casually, then cut straight to the point, looking directly at Pampas. "Explain the situation. Why the lockdown?"

"Come outside and see for yourself." Pampas sighed and gestured for them to follow.

They walked to the church's main hall. The front doors were wide open. Quite a few people were dressed in airtight hazmat suits.

The children were all inside rooms, and on the floor of the main hall, several white sheets were spread out. Beneath those sheets…

"...Modified humans?" Cyr lifted one corner and stared at what lay beneath for a long moment before speaking.

Calling them modified humans might be generous—monsters would be more accurate.

Their skin had turned deep shades of green or blue, some even a dark purplish black. Their facial features had changed drastically.

Parts of their bodies resembled ants; others looked more like beasts.

What little remained of their human form barely made up one percent.

"Chimera Ants?" Cyr muttered thoughtfully.

In the Hunter world, when you mentioned ants, people thought of Chimera Ants.

This seemed like an important arc or something—but as for the actual storyline…

Cyr hadn't watched it. He'd only come across some clips and just knew the species existed.

What he'd seen the most were edits of that overbearing Ant King falling in love with the snot-nosed girl…

So naturally, he had even less interest in watching it.

As a villain, instead of focusing on world domination, you go fall in love? Of course you're going to lose.

He didn't even need to watch to know the Ant King would definitely lose.

"You know what these things are?" asked Syd, who was standing off to the side with his arms crossed.

"Just heard of them. Supposedly a species that eats everything…" Cyr shrugged.

But what he saw in those videos didn't quite match these transformed bodies.

These weren't humans eaten—they looked like humans directly modified by some unknown ability…

"A few days ago, some people disappeared, and when they came back, they had become like this. The Church's people subdued them and brought them back," Pampas said, gazing at the grotesque creature with what seemed like a hint of pity.

"Most of the victims were residents of District 13," Seid added.

District 13 was the outermost area. Once it fell, District 12 would be next.

"The Church and those from the upper districts have been in meetings for half a day, just to decide what to do," Pampas sighed, sounding rather annoyed.

A bunch of useless bureaucrats, grandstanding during meetings, yet none offering any actionable solutions—and not a single one willing to help.

"Right across from District 13, that creature has already started building a nest," Syd added. "I went to see it. The nest's made of spider silk."

"But it's incredibly tough—even bombs didn't work."

"No one's stormed the nest to kill the monster directly?" Cyr asked.

Meteor Street didn't reject anything, but that didn't mean they'd allow people to steal from them. And with their usual zero-tolerance for injustice done to their own, how could some monster build a nest so openly near Meteor Street, even killing its residents—yet no one retaliated?

"Faluk already tried," Pampas said, spreading his hands. "He used his ability to find a few people willing to die for Meteor Street. Turned them into walking bombs…"

The result was obvious. How else would Syd know bombs didn't work? They had already tried.

"Tch, I meant charging into the nest to fight the monster," Cyr clicked his tongue impatiently, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Doesn't help either. Doing that just increases the number of mutated creatures," Pampas replied.

"Then you're just too weak." The white-haired boy's voice was indifferent, eyes half-lidded and full of disdain.

The boy who needed Syd's training two years ago had now grown stronger than both of them.

He checked the compatibility status—Gojo's was now at 70, Sukuna's at 75.

Just 5% more, and he could unlock Sukuna's Domain.

But how to gain that last 5%… he hadn't figured out yet.

"If the numbers keep growing, the council might call in the Spiders," Pampas said, half-joking and half-serious.

Someone on the council had indeed brought up the idea of seeking help from the Phantom Troupe. While infamous in the outside world, within Meteor Street, some people treated them like personal hitmen, ready to be summoned at will.

How arrogant. And ignorant.

They'd probably carry that blind arrogance to their graves.

"You think the Spiders would just come running?" Cyr asked doubtfully.

Hah? Top-ranked A-Class fugitives? On-call mercs?

"Well… they're still residents of Meteor Street," Pampas smiled.

Born here, raised here—even if they'd been gone for years, the identity of Meteor Street was ingrained in them.

Of course they'd return.

"Sigh… Tell Battera to airdrop the supplies here," Cyr turned and instructed Maro.

As for the monster outside? Or the Phantom Troupe? None of it had anything to do with him.

Even if Meteor Street were destroyed, he'd be fine.

He'd spent some time here, sure, but he didn't owe Meteor Street anything. When Pampas asked him for money before, he gave it willingly.

He definitely wasn't some Spider doing favors for free.

Compared to monsters, food was more important.

"The monster outside calls herself a queen. She warned us to surrender and swear allegiance…" a few hazmat-suited people rushed in with the report.

Queen? Monster Queen?

Sounded like an important boss…

In some games, she might even be the final boss.

That thought crossed Cyr's mind as he glanced outside.

His icy blue eyes seemed to pierce through the endless garbage heaps and choking smog, straight toward the distant monster's nest.

°°°

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