Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
The abrupt contamination incident lasted half a day, but the Containment Facility’s rescue efforts were timely.
Apart from Shen Ji, who remained completely unaffected, Zhang Qingli had fallen unconscious due to excessive contamination but hadn’t been contaminated. In fact, the incident had further stabilized his innate abilities, and was now firmly at C-class.
"We lost three medical staff in this incident," said the squint-eyed doctor during the meeting with the others. "All three succumbed to mental contamination and jumped to their deaths. The other patients showed varying degrees of contamination, but none were in life-threatening danger."
"Only three casualties—that’s nothing short of a miracle."
Cheng Gu frowned slightly, recalling how Shen Ji had once looked after Liu Chuanyang back in the East District. Now, Liu Chuanyang’s contamination levels were steadily decreasing, likely to fully recover within a month.
For a contamination zone of a quasi-C-level Pollutant to have not a single patient devolve into a monster was nearly miraculous.
"Could Xiao Ji have helped inside?" Cheng Gu ventured hesitantly. "Most of the stranded medical staff were Mutant, but even the most contaminated patients had their levels firmly capped at Stage III without progression. That’s impossible under normal circumstances."
"If Xiao Ji suppressed it for them..."
Wang Anle nodded. "The contamination struck fiercely. Xiao Ji couldn’t have handled it alone, so he likely provided temporary suppression. That would explain why the patients’ contamination levels didn’t drop but remained fixed at a certain threshold without worsening."
This was the only plausible explanation.
Once again, that man had silently done so much—never speaking up, yet accomplishing everything.
The contamination leak was a misfortune for Q City, but Shen Ji’s arrival was its greatest stroke of luck.
The squint-eyed doctor sighed. "We old folks can’t keep relying on the younger generation. We need to step up too."
The other doctors nodded in agreement.
Since Shen Ji’s arrival, they felt as if their long-withered confidence had been revitalized.
Once the East District operation concluded, the remains of the Undertaker would be delivered.
They hoped to uncover something from this contaminated corpse—ideally, a breakthrough to dismantle the Undertaker’s contamination once and for all.
The thought of this future made them beam with anticipation.
"Oh, has Xiao Zhang woken up yet?" Cheng Gu asked about Zhang Qingli. "He was completely out cold earlier. His innate ability always affects him like this—we need to find a way to help him control it."
"He woke up this morning. I even went to check on him," another doctor replied.
"But the Security Team…”
The Containment Facility and the Security Team operated at the same level—the former treating contaminated patients, the latter handling Pollutants—with the Anti-Contamination Control Center overseeing both as their superior and issuing directives.
The sudden contamination incident naturally required the Security Team’s cleanup.
They scoured the dormitory building inside and out multiple times, searching for the vanished Pollutant. They even combed through the sewer Li Zhiyan mentioned more than once, but aside from widespread trace contamination, not a single trace of the Pollutant itself could be found.
The security team had no choice but to turn to Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli, who hadn't shown any signs of contamination.
Zhang Qingli had just woken up in the hospital and was still in a daze, making his words hard to decipher. The only thing clear was that he had tried but failed to save a colleague who had jumped from a building after being mentally contaminated. After that, he and Shen Ji had worked together until he collapsed from contamination.
So the security team pinned all their hopes on Shen Ji.
"From yesterday until now, the security team has come looking for Xiao Ji five times. He just got out of there, and now he has to work while dealing with them. I saw him still working overtime late at night."
"I even told him to rest, but he said he needed to watch over Zhang Qingli's patients."
"The contamination levels of the patients he's been monitoring have dropped a bit. He's been busy nonstop."
"He's exhausted."
The squint-eyed doctor opened his eyes and nodded. "I understand. I'll talk to the security team now."
"Five times is enough. Xiao Ji is also a victim of contamination—we can't let him collapse from exhaustion."
With that, the squint-eyed doctor made a call.
"Hello, yes. This is Wen Jingyu, Director of Q City's Containment Facility. I apologize for calling at this hour."
"It's nothing serious. I just wanted to ask—has the security team's efficiency really dropped this low? Does it take five inquiries to record a single case?"
"No, no, I'm just concerned about our junior here. He was questioned during the day and still had to work overtime at night. He's pushing himself too hard because he doesn't want to let his patients down. I'm just worried this kid will run himself into the ground. Since your side has already finished recording, could you please stop bothering him?"
"Of course, simple inquiries are fine. Just no repeated questioning."
"Thank you for understanding. Haha, no, no, I really just feel for the young man. Our containment facility isn't exactly a pleasant place—everyone who comes here deserves to be looked after, don't you think?"
After hanging up, the squint-eyed doctor nodded to the group. "Alright, the security team won't disturb him anymore."
The other doctors nodded and continued discussing treatment plans with smiles.
Unaware that Wen Jingyu had already intervened to shield him from further questioning, Shen Ji was still working overtime at the containment center.
Though "overtime" wasn't entirely accurate—this was Shen Ji "voluntarily" working.
Because Li Zhiyan had suddenly appeared, depriving the mycelium of more contamination to feed on. The fungal strands had even tapped into the Undertaker's contamination ability in their eagerness, only for it to go to waste.
Now they were sulking. The mushrooms hanging on the windowsill drooped their caps listlessly.
To placate the little mushrooms, Shen Ji had no choice but to work extra hours to let them secretly nibble on "snacks". To avoid suspicion, he even took over Zhang Qingli's patients, handling the large number of contamination cases under his care.
The good news was that the little mushrooms were finally appeased. The bad news was that Shen Ji had stayed up until 3 a.m.
"I'm exhausted," Shen Ji sighed. "Even when I was a reporter, I never stayed up this late."
[You're a Pollutant. Pollutants don't need sleep—how are you tired?]
"I'm mentally exhausted. There is no sorrow greater than a dead heart, no grief deeper than silence." Shen Ji said it with absolute conviction.
"It's all the protagonist's fault. If he hadn't suddenly appeared, I wouldn't have had to work overtime like this."
Shen Ji stretched his shoulders, preparing to leave the facility and go home to sleep. Just as he reached the elevator, a ding sounded, and the doors opened to reveal Zhang Qingli stepping out.
Zhang Qingli had only recently regained consciousness. Concerned about his patients, he'd secretly slipped out of the hospital room in the middle of the night, leaving the night shift nurse silently screaming in frustration.
"Zhang Qingli?" Shen Ji called out to the man who was walking straight ahead without noticing him. "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"
Zhang Qingli stopped before rubbing his eyes. After a few seconds, he responded slowly, "Shen Ji? What are you doing here?"
"I just finished work," Shen Ji replied. "I'm temporarily taking care of your patients. The records and basic treatments are all done."
Zhang Qingli froze for a moment before speaking again after a pause, "So you're still at the facility this late because you're handling my patients?"
His voice grew quieter, whether from guilt or admiration was unclear.
"Just helping out. Aren't you still unwell?" Shen Ji said seriously. "The facility is already short-staffed enough as it is. Everyone's carrying heavy burdens—I just handled what was nearby. They're all doing fine; no one's condition has worsened."
[This is exactly what I admire about you. No matter what your motives are, you can always make things sound perfectly justified and move everyone.]
"Thank you... really, thank you." Zhang Qingli was still feeling dizzy.
He had snuck out in the first place, but hearing that his patients were stable finally put his mind at ease.
Which only made his dizziness worse.
He leaned against the wall of Zone I. Noticing something was wrong, Shen Ji stepped forward to support him. It was at that moment that Zhang Qingli's sealed memories faintly resurfaced.
Back in the contaminated zone, Shen Ji had...
Zhang Qingli looked at Shen Ji. After a few seconds, he spoke up, "Hey, Shen Ji..."
"Hmm?" Shen Ji turned to him questioningly.
Zhang Qingli wanted to ask about the expanse of white he'd seen while unconscious. He wanted to ask if it had anything to do with Shen Ji.
Based on the state of his colleagues who hadn't been saved, everyone in that entire dormitory should have been in mortal danger. Yet when he woke up, he discovered that apart from the three who had jumped to their deaths, not a single person had mutated into Pollutants.
Did Shen Ji do something inside?
But in the end, Zhang Qingli didn’t speak up—he just shook his head.
“It’s fine. I’ll go check on the patients and then head back to the hospital.”
Prying into others’ private matters wasn’t Zhang Qingli’s style. Besides, he judged that it wasn’t anything threatening to the facility, and Shen Ji wasn’t a bad person. So what was the point of digging deeper?
“Want me to come with you?”
“No need. You should go back and rest—it’s already this late.” Zhang Qingli steadied himself before standing up to head toward Zone I.
Watching his stubborn determination despite his injuries, Shen Ji clicked his tongue silently in his mind.
“There’s something I want to ask you,” Shen Ji finally spoke up. “Do you know where the facility’s department for researching Pollutants is?”
Zhang Qingli froze mid-step. He turned back, bewildered, and stared at Shen Ji. “What did you say? The department for researching Pollutants?”
“I think I might’ve picked up a remnant of that Pollutant.”
Shen Ji’s voice was quiet, almost guilty. “I thought it might be useful to the facility, so I kept it hidden when the security team questioned me.”
“It… shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Dead silence filled the air for several seconds.
Zhang Qingli stared at Shen Ji, his mind seemingly blank from shock.
A few seconds later, he bolted outside and even nearly tripped from dizziness—but he didn’t care. He rushed straight into Zone I’s security room, snatched the guard’s phone, and dialed.
“Hello?” The person who answered was the squinty-eyed doctor—the facility’s director, Wen Jingyu. “Did something happen in Zone I?”
“Shen Ji—Shen Ji, he—”
“Xiao Zhang?” The doctor recognized his voice. “What’s wrong? Calm down. Why are you at the shelter? What happened to Xiao Ji?!”
“Shen Ji has a remnant of the Pollutant!” Zhang Qingli gasped out the words. “A remnant of the Pollutant that caused occupational exposure!”
This time, the silence was on the other end of the line. After a brief pause, frantic sounds of doors slamming and running footsteps erupted.
[Now your image is solidified.] The system teased.
Shen Ji remained as calm as ever.
‘I knew it. The moment I produce something that can treat contamination exposure, Zhang Qingli will stop obsessively checking on his patients. If he finds out their contamination levels have collectively dropped, it’ll be a mess. Better to take it slow—lower the levels every other day. That’ll seem more natural.’
[…So that was your reason all along?!]
……..
The doctors huddled together and observed the doll placed inside the isolation chamber.
The doll was palm-sized, looking like an ordinary toy. Perhaps it had fallen in a dirty place as its limbs were covered in grime. Wen Jingyu stared at it, wide-eyed.
“Is this it?” He didn’t even dare to blink. “Xiao Ji, where did you find it?”
“I ran into Li Zhiyan in the sewers earlier,” Shen Ji said while crouching beside the doll. “I wasn’t sure if he’d already disposed of the Pollutant, but the surrounding contamination levels were still high. I checked around and found this thing—its contamination reading was unusually high.”
“451… That is high.” Cheng Gu monitored the isolation chamber’s data. “It’s likely the medium the Pollutant used to release contamination. That’s why it has such a terrifying contamination level.”
"So you're saying that studying this might actually be useful?" Zhang Qingli crouched beside Shen Ji.
"Should be more useful than dissecting contaminated corpses," said Wang Anle. His usual stern demeanor had completely reversed with Wen Jingyu—he was grinning so wide his eyes nearly disappeared.
"The whole point of dissecting Pollutants was to study their contamination patterns. The purer the contamination, the better we can tailor treatments."
As a proper Containment Facility doctor, Zhang Qingli understood now.
"This must be its contamination talent."
Wen Jingyu nodded excitedly.
As Director of Q City's Containment Facility, he'd never imagined obtaining something like this.
Technically, keeping this item violated protocol. Pollutant remains and mutated organs carried severe contamination risks—normally requiring joint applications with security teams and approval from the Anti-Contamination Control Center.
But this time, they'd deliberately bypassed procedures.
This represented the only hope for medical staff suffering occupational exposure. Rather than waiting for bureaucratic judgments from outsiders, they'd conceal it until research yielded results.
"We're taking custody of this item. If security comes knocking, have them talk to me directly—it belongs to our facility now," Wen Jingyu declared. "Xiao Ji, go rest. Xiao Zhang, return to the hospital immediately—you just got discharged, don't make people worry."
Neither Shen Ji nor Zhang Qingli objected. They left the area, leaving research to the senior doctors.
With this breakthrough, Zhang Qingli seemed revitalized—his steps no longer wavered.
Exiting the facility into the predawn darkness, Zhang Qingli took a deep breath.
"Shen Ji."
Shen Ji glanced at him. "What?"
"Ever since you arrived, things keep improving." Zhang Qingli inhaled deeply again. "We'd all hit our limits—that wave of occupational exposures caused widespread panic. With Q City's outbreak, everyone was terrified."
"But after you came, first we had patients recovering and awakening as Mutants. Cure rates improved. Now we even have leads for treating occupational exposure."
"You're like... a fortune-bringing koi."
[More like a luck-generating mushroom.]
[Probability of facility developing treatment for 'Decaying Organism' contamination: 60%. Success would raise cure rates by 30%—don't underestimate this. The current overall contamination cure rate is merely 8%. Fewer than one in ten patients recover.]
"Just coincidences," Shen Ji replied. "Things would've improved regardless. I merely arrived at the right time. You're a facility doctor—don't attribute progress to mysticism."
"But obtaining this Pollutant relic was your doing. Truly, thank you."
"You kept your promise." Zhang Qingli's gaze held complex emotions—somewhere between admiration and envy.
He remembered Shen Ji's tone and expression that day when vowing to save everyone.
"You really did save us all."
Shen Ji covered the lower half of his face with one hand. Though his bowed head hid his expression, the faint pink tingeing of his ears was clearly visible.
A person who rarely smiled and liked to keep everything meticulously organized, someone who would fasten every button to the top with precision—he actually blushed because of a few words. That stark contrast made it impossible not to keep staring at him, just to see if he’d react even more intensely.
Shen Ji coughed lightly and nudged Zhang Qingli away. "Alright, enough talking. You should hurry back to the hospital, or the nurses will come and drag you back themselves."
[...How do you manage to turn just your ears red?]
‘I’m a Pollutant—forget just my ears, I can even make my neck turn red if I want!’
The system couldn’t help but remark, [You’re really getting used to this contaminated body, huh.]
In any case, after sending Zhang Qingli back to the hospital, Shen Ji finally relaxed.
He returned to his temporary dorm—yes, because of the earlier incident with his previous dorm, the containment facility had assigned him new living quarters.
Lying back on the bed, Shen Ji checked the time.
It was already 5:30 in the morning.
A person with a normal sleep schedule would still be deep in dreams, but Shen Ji had just finished his shift.
"Good thing I’m a Pollutant and don’t need sleep," Shen Ji mused. "A normal person would probably drop dead from exhaustion."
[Don’t worry. Given how much you resent sleep deprivation, even if you did die from overwork, your lingering resentment would just turn you into a Pollutant anyway.]
Shen Ji: "..."
Had the system swallowed poison or something?
Ignoring it, Shen Ji pulled out his phone, planning to kill some time during this short break.
His next shift wasn’t until the afternoon, so there was no rush.
After scrolling through his phone for a while, he eventually clicked into that forum again.
Though post-apocalyptic society hadn’t restricted entertainment but with survival still hanging by a thread, cultural and recreational development wasn’t as thriving as one might expect—nothing compared to the world Shen Ji had come from before transmigrating.
The moment he entered the forum, a new thread pinned at the top caught his eye, already three pages deep in replies.
[Another Pollutant Spotted at the Containment Facility]
Shen Ji clicked into the post, curious. The contamination at the facility had only affected one dormitory building and trapped twenty or thirty people. Aside from Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli, all the other victims had been isolated in the containment facility. How had this news already leaked to the forum in just a day or two?
OP: I have a relative in the security team who told me privately—Q City’s Containment Facility has another Pollutant That place is done for. It’s better not to send any more contaminated patients there.
1F: The Containment Facility again? What’s going on over there? But if we don’t send patients there, where else can they go?
2F: Honestly, they might as well shut the whole place down. With that abysmal cure rate, most patients sent there are just walking corpses anyway.
3F: But without the containment facility, what if contaminated patients mutate into full-fledged Pollutants? At least inside, they can’t escape, keeping the rest of us safe.
4F: The Containment Facility doesn’t even treat anyone properly. An 8% cure rate might as well be zero!
5F: I heard the facility in H City next door has a much higher cure rate. Maybe we can pull some strings to send patients there?
6F: I interned at a Containment Facility before. Let me confirm—most contaminated patients end up in the "Contaminant Disposal Center" AKA, they get eliminated.
7F: This mess in Q City is all the Containment Facility’s fault! Let’s see how they clean it up now!
8th Floor: LMAO, make up for what? They're the noble Containment Facility.
"This forum is quite interesting," Shen Ji scrolled through the messages. "Do this many guards really ignore confidentiality protocols to leak info to friends and family?"
"It seems like every time a contamination incident happens, this place gets firsthand intel—and fast."
[No specific forum admin detected... Hmm, this is worth keeping an eye on. Feels like the setting the author mentioned in the afterword of Volume 1, Chapter 48.]
Shen Ji paused. "Why does this author keep stuffing details into the afterword that never appear in the actual story?"
[Just the author's little quirk.]
[Anyway, after contamination emerges, it’s not just humans that mutate into Pollutants—some entities manifest out of thin air. Among them is this bizarre ‘Forum’ that suddenly appeared online. It disregards all confidentiality protocols to expose the truth. Access requires special conditions, though those remain unknown.]
[It’s not a tangible Pollutant, more like an intangible ghost. So entering the forum doesn’t contaminate humans.]
[Think of it as an ‘information display platform’.]
"I discovered this forum right after transmigrating into the book. Does that mean I meet the access conditions?" Shen Ji kept scrolling through the post but exited after seeing mostly skepticism in the later replies.
"They’re really tearing into the Containment Facility, which makes sense. Leaks and declining cure rates are undeniable facts."
[No worries. My prediction is that once the specialized medicine is successfully developed, discussions like these will drop by 80%.]
Shen Ji tossed his phone aside carelessly.
The little mushroom by the bed let out a "hup!" and caught it midair, dutifully delivering it to the nightstand and plugging it in—a picture of obedience.
"That confident, huh?"
[Absolutely.] Despite the mechanical tone, the system radiated conviction.
[The plot has already changed. In the original story, the Containment Facility in Q City collapsed, but now it still stands. Not only did the doctors survive, but they also obtained researchable Pollutant remnants.]
[Honestly, Zhang Qingli wasn’t wrong. Since you showed up, things have genuinely improved for the facility.]
Even if the system and Shen Ji’s only goal was ‘not getting exposed by the protagonist,’ their actions inadvertently steered everything toward a better future.
The saved held onto hope, and the future looked bright.
No matter who you asked, there was no doubt—this was Shen Ji’s doing.
The system mused silently: Turning the final villain’s script into a savior’s tale.
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