Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
Shen Ji had no idea his words would come true—the Anti-Contamination Control Center was about to come knocking.
Fresh out of the shower, he stood in front of the mirror and studied the strange scales on his forehead.
"What is this?" Shen Ji asked the system.
[Contamination Sign.]
"What?" Shen Ji pressed on the pink scales. "First of all, I’m a Pollutant. Second, I’m currently disguised. Third, is this thing growing? It seems denser and more widespread."
[Even among Pollutants, Hui’s contamination is exceptionally unique. Its external manifestation is: Fungus. It appears as small pinkish-white umbrella-shaped mushrooms that can grow anywhere on the host’s body—even down there.]
[Don’t let its harmless appearance fool you. It’s extremely vicious. It can devour both humans and other Pollutants. Everything that becomes nourishment fuels its growth.]
[In other words: The mushrooms sprouting on you are because you’re in a high-contamination zone. The mushrooms on your body are crawling out to feed.]
How fascinating.
Shen Ji thought: A villain growing mushrooms in a high-contamination zone.
This ability would be perfect for cosplaying a jaded office worker.
[So, care to guess why your surroundings have turned into a high-contamination zone?]
Shen Ji turned toward the door.
Amid the steady patter of rain, he could faintly hear a strange noise—the sound of something sharp scraping against metal that grew increasingly distinct in the dead silence of the hallway.
He had heard this sound not long ago. When he returned home earlier, the landlord had been crouched at the stairwell corner while incessantly scratching the metal railing with his nails.
Approaching the door, Shen Ji peered through the peephole. The scraping grew louder, and the motion-sensor light remained on, yet there wasn’t a single person in sight.
[Look down.]
Shen Ji leaned a little closer to the peephole, and the next moment he saw a black tail sticking out, along with feet that were twisting and crawling. As if noticing Shen Ji's gaze, the thing suddenly pressed itself against the door, finally revealing its face.
Its face had mutated into a triangular shape, with a sharply protruding nose, a face covered in stiff black fur, and long whiskers on its chin standing upright like steel needles. Its blood-red eyes stared fixedly through the peephole and bore a mouthful of sharp teeth.
Yet even so, Shen Ji could still vaguely recognize the landlord's original features.
Chitter chitter
The humanoid rat made a sound.
It extended its claws and began scratching at Shen Ji's door.
Chitter chitter
Shen Ji's phone rang.
He instinctively stepped back before looking down at the screen, where the caller ID read: Object D.
He answered the call.
"Xiao Ji, what are you doing?" The landlord's aged voice came through the phone. "Why won't you open the door?"
"I brought you some food. Open up."
[Level D Pollutants possess some mobility but lack intelligence. The only thing the pollution left them with is an endless hunger.]
[This Pollutant seems to harbor a particular bias against its tenant, possibly due to bad experiences with previous renters. It has decided to devour its tenant before moving on to others.]
[You are its third tenant—and perhaps its last.]
Shen Ji thought of the blackish-red stains under the landlord's fingernails. He wasn't eager to find out what they were now.
"Thanks, but I'm not hungry."
"How could you not be hungry?" The landlord's voice was full of concern. "I know you're hungry. Open the door. Let's eat together. I haven't eaten all day either."
This was the first time Shen Ji had ever been worried about by a monster asking if he'd eaten. During his usual work, interviewees would just point at his nose and yell, "Don't you have anything better to do?!"
Now that he thought about it, it was almost touching.
Deeply moved, Shen Ji responded sincerely, "No. Get lost."
[...]
System: [The sentiment is correct, but the phrasing is way too crude. As a journalist, can't you be a little more tactful?!]
The other side clearly hadn't expected Shen Ji to be so blunt. After a moment of silence, it began clawing frantically at the door.
"I kindly rented this place to you, and you tell me to get lost?!"
"You ungrateful wretch! I should have just let you die!"
"This is my house! Who are you to keep me out?!"
Mid-rant, the rat suddenly let out a chittering laugh.
"I prepared for this. I knew you wouldn't let me in, so I kept a spare key for myself."
"I'm coming."
The large black rat stood on its hind legs and pressed against the door with its slender tail dangling down the staircase. Its blood-red eyes held a human-like sneer as its sharp claws clutched a key, turning it in the lock while emitting eerie chittering sounds—like something straight out of a horror movie.
Click!
The sound of the key turning in the lock.
Shen Ji immediately pressed against the door, bracing himself to keep the rat out. With mild disgust, he asked the system, "If a rat bites me, do I need a rabies shot?"
[What are you thinking? You're more toxic than it is. If it bites you, it's the one who'll need the rabies shot!]
"Isn't there a way where neither of us needs a rabies shot?"
[You're the ultimate villain, the most terrifying Pollutant Hui. You could wipe out this measly Level D Pollutant with just a flick of your finger. Try commanding your little mushrooms.]
"Little mushrooms?"
Shen Ji paused slightly.
He looked down to see dense mycelia swaying around his wrist.
Only then did he realize these tiny protrusions had grown so large without him noticing. On instinct, he directed them, and the mycelia obediently elongated before threading into the keyhole beside his wrist like soldiers receiving orders.
It was an utterly surreal sensation.
He shared senses and vision with these mycelia. As some strands squeezed into the keyhole, others slipped through the door crack. The moment they emerged on the other side, the mycelia surged forward as if spotting prey and plunging into the squealing rat's body.
"Scree?!”
The rat's eyes bulged wide as it let out a piercing shriek while thrashing violently. But the mycelia had no intention of releasing their quarry. More tendrils burrowed in, infiltrating every blood vessel and greedily devouring the pollution within.
"I'm truly horrifying," Shen Ji remarked as he tugged lightly at the mycelia on his wrist. The rat outside screamed again in agony.
"My first visceral realization that I'm a little monster."
[You're a big monster,] the system emphasized again. [But in this world, being a monster isn't so bad.]
Shen Ji felt a faint warmth flowing through the mycelia into his body. After a few seconds, he finally spoke, "Since the landlord turned into a Pollutant, does that mean this house belongs to me now?"
Suddenly invigorated—though to outsiders it might have just looked like the faintest upward twitch of his lips that resembled a cold smirk—he declared, "Now I have my own place."
[...]
After a long silence, the system responded, [Your ambitions are painfully modest.]
"You AIs wouldn't understand," Shen Ji grumbled. "This is called dark humor! You need a sense of humor in oppressive environments!"
[Your humor surpasses 8% of humans. Title acquired: Master of Awkward Silence. Give it up—you fundamentally lack comedic talent.]
………
Zhou Ye and Li Zhiyan followed their route into the aging residential complex.
Perhaps due to insufficient cloud cover, the earlier downpour had dwindled to a drizzling ambiguity—not heavy enough to warrant umbrellas, yet persistent enough to leave you damp if unprotected.
"This rain has the pettiest timing," Li Zhiyan yawned at the ink-black sky. "It never rains during off-hours, but the moment we start working, it never stops."
"Does the Control Center have it out for me? They had to schedule artificial rainfall precisely during my shift?"
Under cover of darkness, Zhou Ye rolled his eyes where his captain couldn't see.
He'd long grown accustomed to his superior's irreverent demeanor. Honestly, nothing about the man resembled a proper Special Task Force Captain.
Slacking off constantly, treating workdays like torture, even daring to slam tables and mock the Control Center executives as "bald old geezers" during heated moments. The recent Containment Breach Incident had him sarcastically roasting half the department.
But talent spoke louder than attitude. Not just an S-class mutant, but the most stable S-class at that. No amount of slacking hindered his mission success rate, forcing higher-ups to grudgingly tolerate him—even groveling for his assistance after enduring his insults.
So enviable. So infuriating.
"We're here."
The sign for Building 8 saved him as Zhou Ye quickly pointed at it and said to Li Zhiyan, "Captain, let's hurry inside!"
The two stepped into the stairwell together, but the moment they crossed the threshold, their alarms blared wildly.
"Warning! Warning! Entering a high-pollution zone! Pollution level at 78%!"
Zhou Ye and Li Zhiyan exchanged glances.
Without needing orders, Zhou Ye bounded up the stairs three at a time, reaching the fifth floor in mere seconds. However, the scene before him wasn't what he'd expected.
Instead of the reported single male resident transforming into a Pollutant and going on a rampage, there was a large black rat convulsing violently against the apartment door.
Zhou Ye rarely saw Pollutants in such a state.
Its claws and teeth were embedded in the iron door, with deep scratch marks visible on the torn metal sheet.
It seemed stuck as it was unable to move and only struggling helplessly—even rolling its eyes and emitting faint squeaks. Its long tail twitched weakly against the floor, leaving cracks with each feeble thud.
It felt... as if it were the one being attacked.
Zhou Ye turned on his detector again and confirmed that the source of the contamination before immediately drawing the gun at his waist.
Unlike humans, Pollutants possessed far greater vitality and resistance. Some couldn’t be fully killed even by piercing their hearts or heads, requiring more specialized methods. Fortunately, Zhou Ye had already confirmed earlier that this type of giant rat could be eliminated with a headshot.
Bang!
The bullet shot out, piercing the rat’s skull with precision. Black blood splattered onto the iron door while sizzling as it instantly corroded a dark hole into the metal. The rat convulsed once before going still.
Yet Zhou Ye frowned as he rubbed his damp temple with the gun still in hand.
“This weak?”
Half an hour ago, he’d cleared out another of the same type in the neighboring district.
Rats were creatures that carried disease, and this one was no different—laden with toxins. Even a graze from its fur could induce poisoning and necessitate its elimination from a safe distance. At the same time, its black fur had mutated into something unnaturally tough, making it difficult for bullets to penetrate.
But this rat had been pierced so easily… and just died?
The giant rat’s corpse dangled limply from the door while swaying slightly. From inside, Zhou Ye could hear the sound of something being dragged. Right—someone lived here.
Setting aside his confusion over the Pollutant’s weakness, Zhou Ye stepped forward, yanked the rat’s body off the door, and kicked it down the stairs.
“Security team. Open up for inspection.”
He knocked while being careful to avoid the corroded hole left by the rat’s blood.
After about ten seconds, the door creaked open, revealing a face peering through the gap.
Male, estimated between 20 and 30 years old, with black hair and dark eyes, and wearing black-framed glasses. His demeanor was somewhat cold.
The young man looked wary, likely startled by what had just happened, his clothes slightly disheveled. A loose white shirt hung off his frame, while his black trousers remained impeccably straight and well-fitted—a stark contrast that somehow added a touch of vitality to his presence.
Zhou Ye raised an eyebrow.
Huh, not bad-looking.
“Security inspection.” He pulled out his ID from his soaked jacket pocket—plastic and waterproof, so it was still readable.
Shen Ji didn’t take it. Instead, he asked, “Where’s the landlord?”
“Landlord?” Zhou Ye glanced around the room. “Is there someone else here?”
“No.” Shen Ji pointed at his ruined iron door. “That rat was the landlord.”
No panic, recognizing the Pollutant’s original identity, and not easily deceived by it.
Zhou Ye raised an eyebrow again.
Huh, promising.
"The Pollutant has already been cleaned up. Its corpse requires special handling. Rest assured, the Anti-Contamination Control Center takes responsibility for all residents."
Seeing Shen Ji didn't take it, Zhou Ye casually stuffed his credentials back into his damp pocket. "Now I need to test your contamination level. Please cooperate with my work."
Seeming finally convinced it was safe, Shen Ji opened the door, and Zhou Ye followed him inside.
Truthfully, during their earlier conversation, Zhou Ye had already determined Shen Ji wasn't problematic. Such fluent responses weren't simple for Polluted individuals—unless they were highly advanced Pollutants.
But procedures had to be followed. Contamination checks were mandatory.
After testing Shen Ji's Contamination level in the room and conducting environmental scans then recording the data on his device, Zhou Ye turned to leave. Just as he was about to exit, he paused.
"Are those mushrooms?" Zhou Ye pointed at the cluster of small fungi on the room's sole table. "What kind? Where'd you buy them?"
Shen Ji pretended to think carefully as he adopted a recollective expression.
Several seconds later, he answered: "The vegetable market left at the Supermarket. There's a produce stall there with very fresh ingredients."
Zhou Ye nodded before picking up one mushroom and placing it in an evidence bag from his pocket. He shook it at Shen Ji.
"Need this for archival purposes. Don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all."
Thus, Zhou Ye departed with the little mushroom. Only when the footsteps completely faded did Shen Ji exhale softly.
[You actually knew where the vegetable market was? Even which one sells mushrooms?] The system was astonished. [When did you gather this intel?]
"You think being a reporter is easy? Investigating local customs and subject backgrounds before writing, verifying routes and locations—these are basic journalist skills."
"I wasn't just wandering around outside these past days for nothing."
Shen Ji gathered the scattered mushrooms on the table. "But what should we do with these?"
When the Anti-Contamination Control Center personnel arrived, Shen Ji had been genuinely caught off guard. He'd only managed to hastily sever the Mycelia embedded in the rat and pluck the mature mushrooms growing on himself then tossing them onto the table to pose as groceries.
Yes, his groceries.
"That person took one—will that cause issues?”
[South Mushroom North Transfer! Contaminate the entire Anti-Contamination Control Center!]
Shen Ji: “...”
[Just joking. It's fine. Once detached from you, they're ordinary mushrooms—non-polluted unless you reactivate them.]
Shen Ji nodded while staring at the mushrooms. After a moment, he asked earnestly: "Can we make mushroom soup?"
"I quite like mushroom soup."
[...]
Sometimes the system questioned whether Shen Ji was truly human.
Mushroom soup? What kind of person would do that?