The containment zone was deathly silent.
The alarms were still sounding.
Red lights continued to flash.
The shrill alarms mixed with the hum of the machinery,
making the air feel especially oppressive.
The pollution concentration was still rising.
The numbers on the monitoring terminal kept fluctuating.
They did not stop.
Nor did they slow down.
The containment was already beginning to collapse.
That was a fact everyone knew.
The only thing no one knew
was how much longer it could hold.
Irina stood at the front.
She said nothing.
Phase Manipulation continued operating.
An icy-blue glow slowly flowed deep within her pupils.
She was observing.
Observing the figure.
Observing the pollution.
Observing the entire containment structure.
And the result was not encouraging.
The pollution was no longer merely attached to the man.
It had fused with him.
Decades of erosion.
Decades of maintenance.
Had caused the containment, the pollution, and the ability user himself
to become a single entity.
To eliminate the pollution,
they would have to kill him.
To save him,
they would first have to separate the pollution from his body piece by piece.
There was no other way.
The enormous figure slowly moved.
Heavy footsteps landed on the ground.
The entire facility trembled.
The gray-white crystals covering his body continued to multiply.
Every time he moved,
new pollution fell from the surface of his body.
It hit the ground.
Spread.
Multiplied.
Corroding everything around it.
As if he had already become the pollution itself.
In the rear area,
technicians were moving containers.
The sound of metal colliding rang out continuously.
One containment container after another was placed in neat rows.
Their heavy shells reflected a dark silver sheen.
These were the highest-grade containment containers of the Northveil Directorate.
They were made from high-density tungsten-iridium alloy.
Multiple low-temperature isolation layers were installed inside.
They had originally been designed to transport hazardous minerals.
Now,
they had become the only means of containing the pollution.
The captain looked at Irina.
"Preparation complete."
Irina nodded.
Her eyes never left the figure ahead.
"Begin."
The next moment,
the enormous figure suddenly stopped.
New cracks appeared across his body.
One.
Two.
Three.
More and more cracks spread across the surface.
Then,
gray-white pollution burst from the cracks.
Like a breached floodgate,
it instantly spread in every direction.
The alarms suddenly grew louder.
The technician's face went pale.
"Pollution surge!"
"Regional concentration has exceeded the warning threshold!"
"It's spreading!"
Irina took one step forward.
She raised her right hand.
Phase Manipulation activated.
The air emitted a low vibration.
The structure of the spreading pollution began to change.
Its rate of multiplication decreased.
Its trajectory was forcibly redirected.
The pollution that had originally spread like a raging flood
gradually contracted.
Condensed.
Compressed.
Fixed.
Eventually, it formed a gray-white crystal
and fell to the ground.
The technician immediately rushed forward.
Using specialized clamps,
he placed it inside a container.
Locked it.
Assigned a number.
Recorded the data.
The entire process was completed in one seamless motion.
Without the slightest pause.
The numbers on the monitoring terminal changed.
The pollution concentration decreased.
Only by a tiny amount.
But everyone saw it.
It worked.
For the first time in decades,
the pollution had actually been separated.
Yet before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief,
the second wave of pollution arrived.
The enormous figure trembled again.
More cracks appeared.
Gray-white matter continued pouring out from within his body.
As if there were an endless amount of pollution inside him.
Continuously released.
Continuously spreading.
Continuously corroding.
Irina continued compressing.
Continued fixing.
Continued containing.
One container.
Two containers.
Three containers.
Five containers.
Ten containers.
Time passed little by little.
Her body temperature began to drop.
Cold sweat covered her forehead.
Severe pain shot through her nerves.
The edges of her vision gradually blurred.
But she did not stop.
Because she had discovered something.
The total amount of pollution was decreasing.
Slowly,
but it was definitely decreasing.
At the same time,
the man's movements were beginning to change.
At first,
he had been completely like a beast out of control.
Nothing but instinct.
Nothing but pollution.
Nothing but destruction.
But as more and more pollution was removed,
his movements began to slow.
He began to pause.
Brief moments of stillness began to appear.
As if something was awakening.
After another burst of pollution,
the enormous figure suddenly stopped.
He no longer moved.
Nor did he release any more pollution.
He simply stood there in silence.
Everyone froze.
No one knew what had happened.
But Irina saw it.
Those eyes.
Those eyes that had long been covered by pollution
were slowly moving.
Slowly refocusing.
As if decades of sleep had finally begun to crack.
The enormous figure slowly raised his head.
He looked toward Irina.
Then toward the surrounding facility.
A trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
He did not look like a monster.
He looked more like someone who had just awakened.
His lips trembled slightly.
As if he wanted to say something.
But no sound came out.
The next second,
the pollution went berserk again.
A massive amount of gray-white crystal erupted from inside his body.
The entire containment zone shook violently.
The enormous figure let out a painful roar.
Both hands clutched his head tightly.
As if he were fighting against something inside himself.
Irina did not retreat.
She continued compressing the pollution.
Continued containing it.
One container.
Then another.
And another.
Behind the containment zone,
the area was already packed with countless metal containers.
Each one held pollution that had been separated from his body.
Time continued to pass.
The pollution concentration began to fall.
The containment stability rate finally stopped declining.
It slowly began to rise.
Forty-five percent.
Forty-six percent.
Forty-seven percent.
The speed was extremely slow.
But the direction had changed.
The technician stared at the screen.
He could not even believe his eyes.
For decades,
this was the first time they had seen the containment stability rate rise.
Just then,
the enormous figure stopped again.
His body no longer trembled.
Nor did he release any more pollution.
The air became quiet.
Everyone looked toward him.
After a long silence,
a hoarse voice slowly emerged.
"Retreat…"
The voice was broken and uneven,
as if he had not used human speech for many years.
"Leave…"
The pollution began to surge.
His voice was cut off again.
The enormous figure trembled violently.
As if he would lose control again at any moment.
But this time,
everyone heard it.
It was a human voice.
Not a monster.
Not the pollution.
But the voice of the man
who had guarded the containment for decades.
Irina stood where she was.
She quietly looked at him.
She said nothing.
Because she knew.
That man was desperately fighting to reclaim his consciousness.
And there was only one thing she needed to do.
Continue separating the pollution.
Continue containing the pollution.
Until the very last trace of pollution left his body.
Then,
let the man who had been forgotten for decades
wake up as a human being once again.