Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
[Blend your Mycelia into something—medicine, food, anything. Just mix your Mycelia in.]
Shen Ji glanced around, then spotted Zhang Qingli distributing lunch boxes nearby. He walked over, picked up a stack of boxes from the cart, and nodded at Zhang Qingli's puzzled look before mimicking his actions, placing the meals in designated areas for each patient.
Zhang Qingli watched silently until Shen Ji reached the isolation room housing Lin Yujuan and Chen Guo, mother and daughter. Only then did he speak.
"Don't give them any for now."
Shen Ji paused and turned to him. "Why not?"
"Normally, the Facility doesn’t house multiple patients in the same isolation room unless separating them would cause severe issues."
"Lin Yujuan's protective instincts toward Chen Guo are so extreme that separation triggers intense stress reactions, accelerating their pollution spread. That’s why they’re kept together."
Zhang Qingli rubbed his temples while eyeing the pair inside. "Her condition is terrible. She should be in Zone II, but because of this, she’s stuck in Zone I. Now, even delivering a meal makes her think someone’s trying to harm her daughter."
“They’ll make a huge fuss for a long time, refuse to eat, and if provoked, they’ll reject all treatment. That’s why I always deliver their meals last.”
After listening to Zhang Qingli, Shen Ji fell silent for a few seconds. Just as Zhang Qingli thought he was about to give up, Shen Ji abruptly opened the meal delivery window.
Lin Yujuan in the isolation room heard the noise. Her eyes snapped open, her wooden pupils filled with wariness.
“Hey.” Zhang Qingli frowned. “Didn’t you hear me? She’ll cause a scene for ages. Deliver their meals last.”
“I don’t see a problem.”
Shen Ji didn’t even turn his head, swiftly placing the meal box inside with practiced ease.
He wore the Facility’s uniform—a bulky isolation suit that should have looked cumbersome, yet it appeared impeccably neat on him. Standing tall with an upright posture and an air of quiet confidence, he exuded an unshakable sense of conviction, even as he did something the other disapproved of.
Most people entering the Facility displayed fear, resistance, or unease. A few with peculiar temperaments might even show excitement. But Shen Ji was different.
Zhang Qingli couldn’t detect any unusual expression on him. The way he observed these contaminated patients was no different from how doctors in the old days regarded ordinary hospital patients.
As if there was nothing special about them and nothing worth paying extra attention to.
Finally, Shen Ji turned his head, meeting Zhang Qingli’s gaze with calm, dark eyes.
“Trust me,” he said. “They’ll eat this lunch quietly.”
Zhang Qingli wanted to ask, Why should I trust you? You’re just a temporary helper. What do you know about how the Facility operates? Or how difficult these two patients are to handle?
But the next moment, to his astonishment, the mother and daughter—who should have started screaming and thrashing—reached out with their arms, now stretched to two meters long, and grabbed the meal box.
They pulled it close and began devouring the specially prepared food inside.
Zhang Qingli stared in disbelief. “How is this happening? They’re eating?!”
[Of course.] The system chimed in at the perfect moment. [The dietary preferences of contaminated individuals differ drastically from normal humans. The Facility has conducted research to treat contaminated patients, but humans will never understand their tastes—just like they can’t comprehend why some Pollutants prefer slimy, preferably rotten food.]
[And contamination just so happens to make normal food rot.]
Naturally, Zhang Qingli couldn’t hear the system’s explanation.
Pressing against the isolation glass, he watched as the mother and daughter finished every last bite. He turned to Shen Ji in amazement. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.” Shen Ji raised his hands innocently. “Maybe I just have a reassuring face.”
Zhang Qingli studied Shen Ji’s handsome features, lost in thought. Without another word, he silently delivered the remaining meals and left the ward without responding to Shen Ji.
[I’ve searched the entire novel more than ten times. There’s definitely no character named Zhang Qingli.]
“There are plenty of people who don’t exist. Because of the rushed ending, the author handled the final major event sloppily—casually throwing in a disposable character to give the protagonist a clue, then haphazardly revealing the final antagonist, even though that antagonist was barely mentioned before.”
Shen Ji pointed at himself, then rapped his knuckles against the isolation room’s glass.
He half-mockingly said, "Both she and I are just tools."
"But are they going to be alright?"
[No problem. You didn't release too much mycelia, which is good. Only a small strand is needed. They will gradually consume the contamination within the patients' bodies. This process isn't too long or too short, giving the patients time to adapt. Once all the contamination is consumed, they will naturally leave and return to you.]
After listening to the system, Shen Ji didn't leave immediately. He stayed in place to keep an eye on the two individuals' contamination levels.
Lin Yujuan's contamination level had already exceeded 30, entering the second stage, while Chen Guo's contamination level remained around 20. However, according to the original setting, Chen Guo had stayed in Zone I for about a week, during which her contamination level never broke through 30. Then, one night, her contamination level skyrocketed, directly reaching Stage IV and transforming her into a Pollutant.
This kind of rapid mutation and the Pollutant's formidable abilities after transformation were referred to in the original work as the "Perfect Pollutant”.
After finishing their food, Lin Yujuan and Chen Guo curled up in the corner and fell asleep again.
Like trees that either grow or remain dormant, they hardly ever move, quietly staying in one place while just continuously expanding their roots and striving to enlarge their territory.
Beep—
The contamination monitor in the isolation room issued a contamination alert.
"Alert: Contamination level decreased by 5.”
"Repeat alert: Contamination level in this isolation room has decreased by 5."
Only after confirming the decrease did Shen Ji finally relax. He turned and left Zone I.
At this moment, Shen Ji was unaware: the isolation room was equipped with the most advanced system. Whether the contamination level rose or fell to a certain degree, an alarm would sound. This alarm was connected to the communication devices of every attending doctor in the Facility. As a temporary worker, Shen Ji didn't have a communication device and thus wasn't linked to this alarm system.
The doctors were accustomed to hearing alerts about rising contamination levels, at which point they would consider how to transfer patients from Zone I to Zone II.
But this was the first time they had heard an alert about contamination levels decreasing.
Within half an hour, five nearby contamination disease treatment doctors who could receive the message hurried to the scene.
They circled the cramped Facility room over and over to try to find the reason for the patient's decreased contamination level.
"What on earth is going on?" A middle-aged man with patchy baldness paced around in his oversized protective suit. "She was just admitted to the Facility a few days ago, with a contamination level reaching Stage II. Based on our assessment, her contamination level should have risen quickly. How could it suddenly drop to Stage I standards?"
"This is almost impossible!"
Another person in a protective suit flipped through all their medical records. "These treatment methods are very basic and couldn't possibly reduce a patient's contamination level so significantly in just a few days."
"But their contamination levels did drop by 5, and only theirs decreased."
Everyone exchanged puzzled glances.
Finally, a doctor with narrowed eyes sighed and spoke. "Then we have no choice but to look beyond the Facility's established conditions for the reason."
"Could it be something about them specifically? Maybe the contamination has some unique characteristic?"
Another person shook their head. "The Facility conducted thorough examinations before admitting them. They are victims of the Level D Pollutant, 'Barren Tree'. Their bodies and minds will gradually transform into a large tree, with roots penetrating the ground and affecting the soil and water sources. They also match this Contamination Sign."
"That leaves the final item," the squinting doctor slowly opened his eyes. "Have you heard of the 'Contamination Disease Doctor Training Program'?"
"What's that?"
"Is it a new initiative by the Anti-Contamination Control Center?"
The squinting doctor watched as the Contamination level dropped on the monitor. After a few seconds, he finally explained.
"The 'Contamination Disease Doctor Training Program' is a classified initiative. The Anti-Contamination Control Center has established a special division to train Healer-type Mutants, hoping to find a cure for Contamination Disease. For this program, these special doctors will secretly travel to designated areas for confidential training."
"These special doctors were created to cure Contamination Disease, so each of them has methods to reduce patients' symptoms."
"From what I know, given the sudden contamination incident in Q City, there was a proposal to dispatch one of these doctors here secretly."
The people in the room gasped and exchanged glances with each other.
"Does that mean the proposal was approved?!"
"There's a special doctor here undercover..."
"Keep it quiet," the squinting doctor cut off the discussion. "As long as the situation doesn't worsen, we'll pretend we don't know and observe quietly. You all understand how crucial a doctor who can lower Contamination levels is. The longer they stay here, the more lives our patients might have!"
Everyone nodded hastily. After agreeing on their story, they left the ward.
Of course, all five of them secretly began investigating who was assigned to these two patients—but that's another matter.
Meanwhile, Shen Ji, who had passed inspection and left the Facility after his shift, had already returned to the vicinity of his rundown neighborhood.
The streets were still deserted. Yesterday's rain hadn't fully dried, leaving puddles everywhere. Shen Ji had to carefully avoid them as he walked.
Members of the Guards were still patrolling, stationed on every street. They watched Shen Ji intently as he passed, wary that he might be a high-level Pollutant wandering the streets.
Unfortunately for them—Shen Ji was exactly that.
"If they knew I really am a Pollutant, they'd probably jump out of their skins.”
[That’s when the protagonist starts hunting you down.]
"Q City is huge. What are the odds of running into him..."
Shen Ji trailed off because the moment he turned the corner, he saw the white-haired delinquent.
The delinquent was dressed in Guard uniform, crouched on the ground and examining something—a couple of small blue wildflowers. He was idly poking at the flower stamens with his finger.
What a pervert! How dare he poke a flower’s reproductive organs!
Shen Ji immediately turned to leave, only to be called out.
"Stop." Li Zhiyan looked up, his pale blue eyes reflecting Shen Ji’s figure. "Are you a civilian? Why are you out on the streets?"
Shen Ji closed his eyes.
Does this guy have eyes on the back of his head? I wasn’t even within three meters of him!
[Well, he is the protagonist. Being hyper-aware is kind of his thing...]
Shen Ji turned back to meet his gaze. His posture was casual, showing no signs of nervousness—only the fatigue of a long day's work.
"Facility staff. Off duty now."
"Oh, the Facility." Li Zhiyan nodded. A few seconds later, as if reacting belatedly, he asked, "Don’t Facility staff need to stay on-site? I thought you had dormitories there."
Shen Ji: "..."
How would he know? He’d only been roped into the job this afternoon.
"I just started. Haven’t been assigned a dorm yet."
"Oh." Li Zhiyan nodded again.
Seeing no further questions, Shen Ji was about to leave. Just as he took a step, Li Zhiyan spoke again, perfectly timed.
"Do you know where I can buy mushrooms around here?"
Shen Ji: "..."
‘System, is he hinting at something?’
[I don’t know! Why is the protagonist suddenly looking for mushrooms?!]
"Mushrooms?" Shen Ji thought for a moment. "There used to be a mushroom stall here, but no one’s set up since Q City went under lockdown."
"I see." Li Zhiyan nodded a third time, as if suddenly enlightened. "Then my mushroom soup is out of the question?"
Certain that the man had nothing more to say—and knowing the rule of "three strikes"—Shen Ji decided: Even if he calls out again, I won’t turn back!
He turned and walked away.
Fortunately, Li Zhiyan seemed to understand the "three strikes" principle too and didn’t disturb him further.
Only after Shen Ji had completely left did a faint glimmer of something unreadable flicker in Li Zhiyan’s eyes.
"He dislikes me?" Li Zhiyan murmured to himself. "No, not dislike. More like... trying to avoid me. Doesn’t want to meet me, doesn’t want to talk, doesn’t even want to make eye contact."
"...A debt of affection? No, I’ve never been in a relationship. A fan? Doesn’t fit—he didn’t seem excited at all."
"Never mind. He was not as important as the mushrooms. But where can I buy some?"
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