Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
Li Zhiyan waited all morning, but Shen Ji never replied.
It was as if the other man hadn’t even seen the message—the chat box remained empty.
"Maybe he just doesn’t know how to respond," Zhou Ye offered between bites of a ration bar, clearly enjoying Li Zhiyan’s frustration.
Li Zhiyan shot him a glance. "Weren’t you the one who said yesterday that even dogs wouldn’t eat ration bars?"
"Woof!" Zhou Ye barked shamelessly. "From now on, I’m a dog!"
Ignoring the theatrics, Li Zhiyan finally tapped into the chat box and sent Shen Ji a blunt message demanding an explanation for the silence.
Li Zhiyan had no shame—he did what he wanted, asked what he wanted. No one in this world had the right to dictate his words.
But strangely, after two loading circles, the message failed to send.
Zhou Ye smirked around his ration bar. "He blocked you!"
"Go chew on cat grass," Li Zhiyan retorted as he shoved him away dismissively. "There’s no block notification, and my communication ID has top-tier clearance. The only people who can block me are those at the Control Center."
"Then why did it fail?"
Li Zhiyan immediately dialed the highest authority at the containment facility.
"Hello, this is Li Zhiyan," he said, his tone neutral. "Nothing urgent—I just wanted to check on Shen Ji’s status."
"No, he simply didn’t respond to my inquiry, and now I can’t reach him at all."
"So what’s the situation?"
After listening for a while, Li Zhiyan hung up. Zhou Ye, ever the gossiper, leaned in eagerly.
"What happened?"
"It's contamination," Li Zhiyan said thoughtfully. "The dormitory area at the containment facility detected extremely high contamination levels in one building. The entire dormitory vanished, and they can't contact anyone trapped inside. He happened to be there on holiday leave and is now among the missing."
Zhou Ye choked on his ration biscuit before coughing violently. "Shouldn't we launch a rescue immediately?!"
"Boss, are you going? Should I arrange transportation?"
Before Li Zhiyan could respond, Zhou Ye was already pulling out his phone to call for a vehicle.
Watching him scramble into action, Li Zhiyan nodded after a few seconds. "He wouldn't ignore me."
Zhou Ye turned to him in confusion. "Huh?"
"He’s just out of contact, not deliberately ignoring me," Li Zhiyan repeated, then nodded in satisfaction.
Zhou Ye: "..."
"Let’s go." Li Zhiyan strode past Zhou Ye with ease, leaving him standing there in utter bewilderment.
A few seconds later, Zhou Ye crouched down and viciously took another bite of his compressed biscuit.
"What a lunatic!"
Daily Special Task Force Sixth Team Routine: Insulting the captain as a lunatic (1/1) ✔.
………
Meanwhile, the squint-eyed doctor hung up the phone.
The office held six people—the five doctors who had first assessed Shen Ji’s identity, plus Cheng Gu, who had learned later. They were holding a meeting about the disappearance of personnel in the dormitory.
"It was Mr. Li," the squint-eyed doctor said gravely. "He called to ask why Shen Ji hadn’t responded to his inquiries."
The moment these words were spoken, everyone in the room widened their eyes.
"Mr. Li came for him?!"
"But why would Mr. Li have any connection with Xiao Ji? Unless… he was aware of this special doctor’s visit."
"Not just aware. Healing-type Mutants are so rare—Mr. Li was likely acting as his protector."
"That’s why he called us the moment contact was lost."
"So it’s confirmed. He must be the mysterious doctor hiding his identity. For Mr. Li to be this anxious, his position must be quite high.”
The six exchanged glances. A few seconds later, the squint-eyed doctor opened his eyes fully.
"Then we must ensure the safety of this special doctor! Hoping for his help while ignoring the danger he’s in would be inexcusable."
"Even if it’s just for our patients, for everyone in the facility right now, we have to rescue Xiao Ji as soon as possible."
Cheng Gu nodded. "Our facility isn’t made of paper. We were established as part of the same system as the Anti-Contamination Control Center.”
"Let’s show Mr. Li our sincerity. We can protect him."
…….
Shen Ji had no idea that Li Zhiyan’s sudden inquiry had further cemented his mysterious identity in the eyes of the facility’s doctors. Right now, he was searching for the source of the contamination.
The fungal filaments had spread throughout the entire building, but nearly all the highly contaminated areas were either the music players emitting the eerie song or his contaminated colleagues.
The song echoed relentlessly through the dormitory. In such a heavily contaminated environment, even a Mutant wouldn’t last long.
Zhang Qingli’s worsening physical reactions were proof of that.
His face was pale and his steps unsteady. Even leaning against the wall, he could barely move. Though he wasn’t contaminated, he looked far more haggard than those who were.
[Zhang Qingli’s talent only serves as a warning—it can’t be used like a Sensory-type Mutant’s. What a shame,] the system lamented. [If we had a Sensory-type, we wouldn’t have to keep searching blindly for the contamination source.]
[Locating contamination is a Sensory-type’s specialty.]
‘He’s an alarm, not a radar.’
‘Speaking of which, he’s a C-class Mutant now. Has his talent changed after the upgrade?’
[It seems there are some. The D-class talent 'Danger Perception’ can detect contamination within a certain range and trigger intense emotional agitation; the C-class talent 'Danger Perception' allows one to enter a 'contaminated state' upon sensing contamination without actually being contaminated, providing rapid early warnings and status updates.]
‘So that's why he was the first to hear the singing and search for its source.’
Shen Ji suddenly understood as he glanced at Zhang Qingli with a glint of white light reflected off his glasses.
‘If he weren't human, I'd consider testing his contamination talent to see if he could evolve further. Who knows—he might eventually develop contamination sensing abilities.’
[...Don't casually say such terrifying things. Humans would just rapidly mutate from your contamination and turn into Pollutants.]
"That's why I said if.”
Just as Shen Ji was idly chatting with the system, Zhang Qingli suddenly braced himself against the wall with one hand and let out an uncontrollable groan of pain.
"I suddenly feel terrible—my heart hurts," Zhang Qingli said while clutching his chest as he crouched against the corner, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"It hurts."
Shen Ji crouched beside him. "Do you need suppressants?"
"No, it doesn't feel like contamination." Zhang Qingli looked ahead. "...I just feel like something's about to happen."
Danger Perception...?
Shen Ji followed his gaze to a wall that was already yellowed with age near the steps.
Half a minute later, the singing that had been rising and falling abruptly stopped.
Just like that—suddenly and completely.
Shen Ji stood up.
The sudden silence made the surroundings feel eerily quiet, as if even a pin drop could be heard.
‘It stopped?’
[No, it didn't.]
Zhang Qingli began coughing violently, his breathing labored and veins bulging on his forehead from the intense discomfort.
[It just began.]
Piercing screams erupted from all directions!
With a loud bang, the sound of doors being smashed open came from nearby. Shen Ji watched as a disheveled figure burst out of a room—a colleague he didn’t recognize, with his arms speckled with rotting patches, yet he paid no mind and was only running wildly.
He rushed past Shen Ji while screaming.
"Where’s the singing? Why did it stop?! Let me hear it—keep singing!"
"Why won’t it continue?! Mom, did you abandon me?!"
He sobbed. "Mom, don’t leave me behind!"
The mycelium projected scenes from various areas into Shen Ji’s mind—not just contaminated individuals frantically searching for the song, but also those huddled in corners, muttering to themselves or humming the tune. The moment the singing ceased, they lost all rationality, as their minds were utterly consumed by the psychic contamination.
[The earlier part was just an appetizer. Now the contamination is fully erupting. This scene...]
This scene...
Shen Ji had once interviewed at a psychiatric hospital.
Real mental wards weren’t like those in novels or films—there weren’t hysterical patients everywhere. In fact, most weren’t constantly in a state of breakdown. They lived relatively stable lives inside.
They ate and took their medication on schedule, slept at fixed times, and followed nurses for daytime activities. The severe cases underwent specialized treatments in more strictly monitored wards.
If not for knowing it was a psychiatric hospital, one might mistake it for just an ordinary medical facility.
But the current scene resembled the stereotypical image of an insane facility far more than any psychiatric hospital Shen Ji had ever seen.
[We can't let the contamination continue. These people will self-destruct under the mental contamination—none will survive.]
‘I agree.’
‘Then, let’s try an extreme method.’
[...Shen Ji? What are you planning?]
Fungal tendrils erupted everywhere, sprouting like tiny, clawing kittens from the darkness—emerging silently from the ceilings, beneath the floorboards, and even through the cracks in the walls. They swarmed forward and binding everyone present in an instant.
Zhang Qingli’s vision blurred from the overwhelming contamination, his sight filled with flickering stars as he struggled to make out his surroundings.
Through the haze, he thought he saw endless white—shifting, flowing strands that gradually covered the walls and stair railings, then dragging his previously screaming colleagues into some unknown place.
Then, the voices vanished.
The figures disappeared.
Instinctively, Zhang Qingli reached out—and in that moment, he caught sight of Shen Jii.
Shen Ji stood untouched amidst the white as the tendrils refused to cling to him. He showed no fear toward the encroaching mass, and Zhang Qingli even thought he saw him gently touching those pale, wispy things.
...What were they?
But... it was safe, right?
The sheer intensity of the contamination overwhelmed Zhang Qingli, and the moment he closed his eyes, he collapsed into unconsciousness.
[While this is an effective method—using the fungal tendrils to forcibly sever the contamination by encasing the infected—such a massive surge might be too much for them to handle.]
"If they can't endure it, then they die." Shen Ji adjusted his glasses with one hand, his tone laced with cold detachment. "Either way, they were doomed without intervention. At least now they have a slim chance."
As he finished speaking, Shen Ji turned and noticed Zhang Qingli slumped against the wall, unconscious.
"He passed out?"
[Of course he did. As a 'Danger Perception’ Mutant, he’s more sensitive to contamination than others. He probably blacked out the moment you released it.]
Shen Ji hesitated briefly before clasping his hands together and murmuring a quiet, "Sorry."
One had to admit—Shen Ji had a striking appearance. With his eyes closed, his usually composed demeanor softened, and coupled with his immaculate attire and plain black-framed glasses, he looked disarmingly sincere.
After his half-hearted apology, Shen Ji turned and headed downstairs, his true nature resurfacing instantly.
"Good. Saves me the trouble of him interfering."
Just then, a small, pale-red mushroom suddenly dropped from the ceiling onto Shen Ji’s shoulder.
Shen Ji plucked it off and examined it. "Red?"
The tiny mushroom quickly dissolved into tendrils before coiling around Shen Ji’s wrist like a faint crimson serpent, looping pitifully around his fingers again and again.
For some reason, Shen Ji understood exactly what it meant.
"Got bullied?" He poked its cap with his other hand. "Ran off chasing contamination, got greedy, trespassed into another entity’s territory, and got chased back?"
"Wait... another entity’s territory?"
[Seems like one of your little trash-collecting mushrooms wandered off.]
Even the system had picked up Shen Ji’s habit, now calling them 'trash-collecting mushrooms.'
Shen Ji: "..."
He finally remembered those greedy mycelium strands that had crawled into the sewer system from Song Yuanchang's restaurant and gone missing.
Had they actually returned now after chasing their way into the contaminated zone?
……
Following the tattling mycelium downstairs, Shen Ji arrived at the first-floor sewer entrance and fell silent as he stared at it.
A pale red mushroom hopped inside, then popped its head back out to sway questioningly, as if wondering why its owner wasn't following.
Shen Ji: "..."
[Stop being picky. If you want to find the contamination source, you'll have to go down there.]
After hesitating in place for over ten seconds, Shen Ji suddenly raised his hand.
"Teacher, what about our Undertaker's contamination ability..."
[No! That's your last-resort escape plan! Not for dealing with cleanliness issues now!]
Shen Ji sighed regretfully. He lifted the sewer cover and finally accepted the fact that he had to crawl into the sewer.
Of course, Shen Ji didn’t actually have mysophobia—he was just a bit particular about cleanliness. It was a professional habit. As a journalist who frequently appeared on camera, he needed to maintain good hygiene, present a polished appearance, and, above all, possess strong empathy and excellent communication skills.
Being a journalist wasn’t easy, so crawling into a sewer was nothing!
Climbing down the ladder, Shen Ji eventually stepped onto the sewer floor. Although Q City had recently undergone artificial rainfall, the downpour hadn’t been heavy, and the sewer wasn’t flooded—a small blessing.
Mushrooms stretched along the edges of the sewer. Tiny pale-red fungi glowing faintly, their light illuminating the dim passage.
Shen Ji poked one with his finger.
"Let’s go."
The little mushrooms swayed excitedly, practically cheering in a "Our master is here to help us!" manner and charging forward with bold determination.
Soon, the entire pipe was overrun with mycelium, wrapping the passage in a fuzzy, almost decorative layer. If not for the context, one might mistake it for an art installation.
[Like little brats running to an adult for help.]
"Or like a tiny puppy who lost a fight and rushed back to its owner for backup before charging back into battle..."
The sewer was far more complex than the surface roads. Q City rarely suffered from floods, but its underground pipeline system was intricate—twisting and turning more chaotically than a spider’s web, even featuring separate channels for rainwater and sewage. Without the mushrooms guiding him, Shen Ji would’ve gotten lost instantly.
As he moved forward, Shen Ji mentally mapped the route. He had an excellent sense of direction and could usually memorize a path after walking it once.
But these tunnels… lacked landmarks, making navigation difficult.
Step by step, he continued until his foot landed on a stark-white leg bone that was barely visible amidst the pale mycelium.
Since joining the Containment Facility, Shen Ji had seen countless human corpses—something he’d never encountered as a journalist. Stage IV contaminated patients underwent "harmless disposal," and Shen Ji had even been taken by Zhang Qingli to witness the process.
Those patients, mutated beyond recognition and devoid of consciousness, were sealed into capsule-like devices and loaded into fully enclosed vehicles.
Zhang Qingli had explained that they’d be sent to the "Contaminant Disposal Center"—a facility distinct from the Containment, and dedicated to handling contaminated remains.
Yes, Stage IV patients were already classified as corpses.
Shen Ji lifted his foot, staring at the bone for a moment before stepping over it and pressing onward. The further he went, the more skeletal remains he encountered.
Gradually, he came across complete skeletons. Then, further ahead, corpses not yet fully decomposed.
Given the speed at which this Pollutant caused decay, the bones outside likely belonged to victims who’d died less than ten days ago.
Soon, he spotted moving figures—rotting bodies that were still clad in doctors’ white coats, and crawling sluggishly deeper into the darkness.
Above countless decaying corpses, a small figure sat perched on a pile of bones, clutching a tattered doll with golden eyes fixed on Shen Ji.
She wore a frilly dress and little red leather shoes, and swung her legs like a child on a swing.
"Not Daddy," she murmured to herself.
"Not Mommy either." A skull rolled to Shen Ji's feet.
The little girl paused, tilting her head as she studied Shen Ji with confusion.
"Who are you?" she asked. "Big Brother, did you come to play with me?"
She looked utterly innocent—her delicate features, soft and sweet voice made her seem harmless. It was impossible to imagine she was the one responsible for exposing over a hundred containment facility staff to lethal contamination.
[Don’t pity her. Remember Chen Guo? In the original story, after becoming a Class A Pollutant, she tore apart the entire facility and slaughtered tens of thousands.]
[Once they mutate into Pollutants, they lose all human morality. They’re nothing but monsters driven by obsession.]
The little girl reached out to Shen Ji. "Big Brother, can you take me to find Mommy and Daddy? I can’t find them."
"I miss them so much. I’m so lonely. I just want someone to stay with me."
Shen Ji glanced at the countless doctors’ corpses beneath her feet. "Wasn’t that enough for you?"
"No, no!" The girl hugged her doll tightly as she stood up. "They weren’t Mommy and Daddy! They lied by saying they could replace them! Impossible!"
"They were bad people! Bad people deserve to die!"
[Provoke her anger. Push her into emotional instability.]
Shen Ji’s tone turned peculiar. "Why?"
[The more extreme the mental state, the stronger the contamination. This rule doesn’t just apply to humans—it works on Pollutants too. Either way, we’re disposing of her. Might as well let our little mushroom get a few extra bites.]
Shen Ji: "…”
He had a feeling the system had been corrupted by the little mushroom, turning into its biggest fan.
But Shen Ji shook his head regretfully. "As a journalist, I can’t swear. But if we’re going by the little mushroom’s perspective—"
[You’re not a journalist right now. You’re the ultimate villainous Pollutant, Hui. Insult her!]
"Your parents are dead.”
Shen Ji suddenly spoke to the little girl with a faint smirk curling at his lips—the smug sneer of a hidden antagonist finally revealed. The dim red glow of the little mushroom in the dark sewer reflected eerily off his glasses.
"They tasted pretty good," Shen Ji added. "Want to join them?"
[……]
Wait—aren’t you a journalist?! Why are you so good at playing a psychopath?!
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