Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
"Stop watching the show." Zhang Qingli turned to Shen Ji, who stood not far behind him. "Come help!"
The woman followed Zhang Qingli’s gaze and spotted Shen Ji. After a moment of hesitation, her face flushed red as she turned the fruit in his direction.
"If... if Doctor Shen wants my love, that’s fine too."
Shen Ji froze mid-step, no longer willing to move forward.
Zhang Qingli couldn’t care less about the patient’s sudden shift in affection. He swiftly stood up and struck her from behind—it was the stun gun he kept in his pocket, laced with a paralyzing agent. With just one hit, the woman let out a shriek and collapsed unconscious.
He reached out to catch her limp body as she fell.
Only then did Shen Ji step forward to help him support her. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah. Her contamination levels haven’t fluctuated much, and she doesn’t have the aggression typical of the contaminated."
Zhang Qingli lifted her and carried her back to her isolation room.
Shen Ji helped reset the contamination detector and administered a sedative to the patient. Once everything was settled, Zhang Qingli finally stepped out of the isolation room.
He pressed the button beside the door, and after a few beeps, the alarm ceased, and the sealed passageway reopened.
"That scared the hell out of me." Zhang Qingli closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cold glass of the isolation room.
Only after everything was handled did he realize his arms and legs were trembling.
"So, what happened?" Shen Ji asked.
Zhang Qingli then recounted his ordeal.
He had come to check on the contamination anomaly, only to find the contaminated patient standing outside the isolation room—he had no idea how she got out. Then, she declared her love for him and insisted he eat the red fruit she had grown due to contamination.
The sheer absurdity of the situation nearly short-circuited Zhang Qingli’s brain.
"Truly a peach blossom misfortune," Shen Ji mused.
Only after his remark did he notice something was missing. He glanced around, and after a few seconds, it clicked.
"Where’s Li Zhiyan?"
"Mr. Li?" Zhang Qingli looked up. "He didn’t come. You were the only one who suddenly rushed out just now."
Shen Ji: …
[Li Zhiyan left the Containment Facility after receiving a call on B3.]
[It seemed like an emergency had come up, so he didn’t have time to inform you. However, he did send you a message—but your phone wasn’t on you.]
"Let’s go out first." Shen Ji patted Zhang Qingli’s shoulder. "Everyone must be worried after such a sudden situation. We should explain things to them."
"Yeah." Zhang Qingli nodded. "Thanks again for saving me."
Shen Ji shrugged. "Just my luck—I happened to be at the entrance when the alarm went off."
While touched, Zhang Qingli still felt puzzled.
"But why are you the only one who came?"
A contaminated patient escaping wasn’t a minor incident. At the very least, the Containment Facility should have gone into full lockdown and notified nearby personnel. Yet only Shen Ji, who was closest to the ward, had arrived. Even after the alarm was lifted, no one else showed up.
It was indeed strange.
The two exchanged a glance before leaving the ward together to find someone in charge at the office.
But before they could reach the office, they heard a commotion—coming from the break room where the headquarters staff were staying.
The door was wide open, with several people gathered outside, watching.
Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli approached.
"What’s going on?" Zhang Qingli asked a colleague nearby.
"We’re not sure either," the colleague replied. "We were about to head to the medical ward when the alarm sounded, but since it stopped, we didn’t go down. Then we heard something crashing in here. When we opened the door, it was already like this."
Shen Ji peeked inside.
Several senior doctors were running around a table, their faces flushed and sweating profusely in the chilly autumn air despite their age.
Wen Jingyu and Wang Anle arrived late, looking somewhat disheveled themselves. They rushed in and pulled the two sides apart—or rather, restrained one of the doctors.
The doctor was held in place while the others leaned against the wall, panting heavily. Only then did Shen Ji hear what the man was shouting.
"Old Qi!"
He bellowed, "Old Qi! Accept me! We’d make the perfect team!"
"I mean it from the bottom of my heart!"
Qi Yuanhai frantically backed away, the terror in his eyes practically tangible.
"No, no, no! I have a wife and kids! I can’t accept you!"
Shen Ji & Zhang Qingli: …
Honestly, it was terrifying.
Being chased around by a sixty-year-old man confessing his love—especially when they were both men and colleagues who had worked together for years, breaking multiple taboos at once. Forget Qi Yuanhai, a conservative family man—any normal person would freeze up on the spot.
After watching the spectacle, Shen Ji turned to Zhang Qingli.
"Pretty similar to what you just went through."
"You mean a peach blossom misfortune?"
Zhang Qingli glanced at the balding doctor—whose wig had fallen off in his struggle to lunge forward—then thought back to the contaminated patient in Zone I who had tried to force-feed him tainted fruit.
"...Yeah, this one feels more like a peach blossom misfortune."
The security guards rushed in and restrained the still-frantic doctor. Wang Anle quickly administered a contamination suppressant, but it had minimal effect. In the end, they had to use a sedative to calm him down.
Qi Yuanhai only dared to emerge from the back after the man was taken away.
"Director Wen!" Qi Yuanhai nearly shed a tear. "What on earth is going on?!"
"It's not just your area—several parts of the Containment Facility have had similar incidents," Wen Jingyu replied while wiping sweat from his brow with a frown. "Don’t take it personally, Dr. Qi. I don’t think he genuinely wanted to confess his feelings to you. Something must have influenced him."
Qi Yuanhai choked on his anger. "I don’t care whether he actually meant to confess or not!"
‘Whether it was a real confession or not, could they still work together peacefully after this?’
The system, ever the instigator, chimed in, [Maybe this will open the door to a whole new world?]
Shen Ji glanced at Qi Yuanhai’s exasperated expression, then thought about the balding doctor who had just been dragged out…
‘Nope. That’s a bit too eye-searing.’
‘But is this contamination?’
He looked at his shoulder, where a small white mushroom peeked out and curiously swayed as it followed his gaze into the room.
Strangely, the mushroom didn’t show its usual voracious appetite for contamination—just mild curiosity.
Not contamination?
Zhang Qingli gave him a look. "Does your shoulder hurt? Why do you keep looking at it?"
Shen Ji: "..."
This was one of the things Shen Ji liked about Zhang Qingli. No matter how bizarre the situation, he could rationalize and accept it without Shen Ji having to make up excuses.
"Yeah," Shen Ji smoothly agreed. "I’ve been working overtime too much lately. My neck and shoulders are stiff—just stretching a bit."
Just then, Wen Jingyu’s communicator buzzed.
He narrowed his eyes at the caller ID before answering on speakerphone.
"Hello, this is Wen Jingyu."
"Director Wen, this is Jiang Ying, temporarily overseeing Q City’s Anti-Contamination Control Center." The woman’s voice was gentle and soothing, like a balm to frayed nerves.
"Residents have reported that a massive tree has appeared overnight in Q City. It’s currently blooming, and the pollen seems to affect some people’s mental state. However, the contamination level is mild—not severe enough to qualify as a contamination disease. That’s the good news but the bad news is…"
"The tree’s influence extends to the Containment Facility."
"So, we advise all personnel to avoid going outside. It’s best to seal off the entire facility until the situation is resolved."
Wen Jingyu and Qi Yuanhai exchanged glances. Wen Jingyu swallowed hard.
"What are the contamination characteristics of this incident?"
"We’re heading there now," Jiang Ying replied while typing rapidly as she analyzed the data. "But so far, the observed effect is that affected individuals will confess their feelings to others. We don’t yet know if the targets are random or if there’s a specific pattern."
Wen Jingyu exhaled in relief and patted Qi Yuanhai’s shoulder reassuringly.
"Great news—he didn’t actually mean to confess to you."
Qi Yuanhai: "..."
For the last time, he didn’t care about that!
In the end, Zhang Qingli stayed behind to debrief on the earlier incident, while Shen Ji headed to the locker room.
His phone was there.
Li Zhian had left abruptly, and now Q City was experiencing strange phenomena. It wasn’t hard to guess—Li Zhiyan must have gone to deal with it.
Perhaps there were clues in the message he just sent.
However...
[Li Zhiyan: Take care of the flowers for me for a couple of days. I’ll come pick them up later. Bonus points if you include a stack of nice photos.]
Shen Ji calmly adjusted his glasses, the lenses reflecting an eerie white light.
"Let’s just pour boiling water on them. I heard it helps flowers bloom again. Let’s test if that’s true."
[...]
No, no, no! Those were fresh-cut flowers, but these are live ones with roots!
…….
Li Zhiyan stepped out of the car.
Outside, many people in hazmat suits were already analyzing the scene.
A strong floral scent filled his nostrils. He raised a hand to block it—covering his nose did lessen the smell. It was definitely the fragrance of real flowers, not the stench of contamination.
"Captain, you're here." Jiang Ying was busy analyzing nearby as the data streams flickering rapidly across her computer screen. She barely had time to greet him.
"That’s right. The contamination signature is strange, and it doesn’t meet the criteria for a contamination outbreak. It’s probably just a localized effect."
Jiang Ying was still coordinating with various agencies.
The tree had affected numerous organizations in the vicinity, including Containment Facilities.
Li Zhiyan looked up, trying to see the top of the tree, but failed. It was so tall it completely obscured an 18-story building.
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Ying finally had a moment to spare. "Captain, the composition analysis is in. It’s just an ordinary peach blossom tree."
"Peach blossoms?" Li Zhiyan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It’s almost winter. Who plants a peach blossom tree now? Isn’t it afraid of freezing to death?"
"If only it could freeze to death." Jiang Ying pointed at the aircraft overhead. "This tree is enormous—so tall that samples had to be taken by plane. It’s confirmed to be ordinary peach blossoms, but even if you cut off a branch, it regenerates instantly. There’s no way to remove it."
"Its pollen spreads with the wind and causes problems wherever it lands."
Li Zhiyan nodded. "What kind of problems?"
"People start confessing their love to someone."
Li Zhiyan gave her a puzzled look.
Jiang Ying nodded solemnly. "Exactly. They confess their love."
Li Zhiyan sighed. "So it’s a peach blossom tree in its rebellious teenage phase."
Just then, commotion broke out among the inspection team. Li Zhiyan and Jiang Ying turned to look.
One of the hazmat-suited workers suddenly tore off his mask, dropped his equipment, and sprinted over to someone before dramatically dropping to one knee in a passionate marriage proposal.
The surrounding crowd stared in stunned silence for three seconds before swiftly restraining the proposer and escorting him away.
Li Zhiyan glanced at Jiang Ying. "Like that?"
Jiang Ying nodded grimly again.
"Any contamination readings?"
"Extremely low that it was almost undetectable." Jiang Ying was equally baffled. "It clearly exhibits traits of mental contamination, but the affected show no physical mutations. The contamination levels don’t even meet the threshold, and their behavior is solely limited to confessing love or proposing."
"Other than that, there’s zero danger."
Li Zhiyan pondered for a moment. "After this contamination passes, maybe marriage and birth rates will see a boost."
Jiang Ying: "..."
"Boss, have you considered that among these confessors, it’s not just men and women—half are same-sex pairs?"
Suddenly, someone came running over while holding a peach blossom branch freshly snapped from the tree.
Clad in a hazmat suit, their gender was indistinguishable, but they raised the peach blossom branch toward Jiang Ying and declared, "Captain Jiang, I like you!"
"Please be with me!"
Jiang Ying regarded them seriously, her voice gentle yet firm. "I'm sorry, but I only like 2D men. You don’t meet my criteria."
"O-Oh, is that so?"
"Unless you can transform into a 2D hunk and appear on my computer screen, don’t bother me."
The heartbroken admirer was dragged away.
Ignoring the commotion, Jiang Ying turned her computer screen toward Li Zhiyan. "I'm analyzing the pollen from this peach blossom tree. It might contain dopamine that stimulates the human brain and triggering impulsive confessions toward people they care about. But due to hormonal imbalance, it confuses affection with love."
"We might be able to intervene with basic medical treatment."
Li Zhiyan nodded casually. "I’ll leave it to you. I need to make a call."
"To Mr. Shen?" Jiang Ying asked curiously. "Come to think of it, I’ve never met him. Zhou Ye said you’re quite taken with him and even tried to poach him, but he refused to follow you."
"Where is Zhou Ye?" Li Zhiyan sidestepped the question, his tone light. "Skipping work? Fine him 200."
Jiang Ying: "..."
Zhou Ye, currently on a business trip in the neighboring W City: "..."
The poor big cat was fined out of nowhere.
Li Zhiyan dialed Shen Ji’s number. After realizing that Shen Ji would only give perfunctory replies to his texts, he had finally learned to call instead.
In his dictionary, the phrase "shameless" didn’t exist.
This time, Shen Ji didn’t leave him waiting and picked up quickly.
"Hello." Shen Ji’s voice was cool and composed.
Li Zhian could hear strange noises in the background—chaotic chatter and the scraping of tables being moved.
"What’s that sound?"
"Nothing much." Shen Ji replied between bites of rice and with his eyes fixed on the unfolding spectacle before him.
"I’m in the cafeteria. A colleague just knelt down and proposed to the cafeteria lady after getting his meal. She’s 58, and her son—a doctor at our Containment Facility—is also here. So now, the doctor and his mother’s suitor are brawling. They’ve already knocked over three tables."
Li Zhiyan couldn’t help but marvel. "How thrilling."
"Zhang Qingli tried to break it up and got a black eye for his efforts."
Seated across from Shen Ji, Zhang Qingli kicked him lightly under the table with his expression sour.
Li Zhiyan could tell Shen Ji was in a decent mood, so he asked, "Did you take the flowers I sent?"
"Oh, the flowers." Shen Ji replied calmly. "I threw them down a well."
Zhang Qingli, mid-bite across from him: "..."
"Your Containment Facility has a well?" Li Zhian sounded puzzled. "Does well water help flowers grow better?"
"No. I just felt they needed purification." Shen Ji said. "So, Mr. Li, are you handling this peculiar contamination incident?"
Li Zhiyan didn’t press further about the flowers. "It resembles contamination, but it’s not quite the same. There’s no contamination reading."
"Jiang Ying is analyzing it. I’ll update you when we have results."
"How generous of you. Mr. Li, you truly are Q City’s greatest benefactor!"
Listening to Shen Ji's flattering words, Li Zhiyan could almost picture his expressionless face while delivering compliments.
This man's words never matched his thoughts—even with a cold demeanor, he could effortlessly say pleasant things, creating such an amusing contrast.
Unfortunately, it seemed no one else had noticed this quirk.
The agony of an unexplainable fondness.
After hanging up, Shen Ji resumed his meal, but after just two bites, he couldn't continue under Zhang Qingli's piercing stare.
Zhang Qingli had stopped eating entirely and was eyeing him with a strange look.
Shen Ji: "What are you looking at?"
"You said you weren’t close to him, right?" Zhang Qingli asked suspiciously. "Then why did he call you specifically?"
"You have Li Zhiyan’s private number? Why would someone you barely know give you their personal contact number?"
Shen Ji: "..."
How was he supposed to know? Li Zhiyan had inexplicably exchanged contact details with him and started harassing him daily.
If he could, he would’ve blocked Li Zhiyan long ago. But as the protagonist, Li Zhiyan always managed to appear at the forefront of every incident.
The original plot hadn’t yet reached the point where Shen Ji would be exposed and engage in a final showdown with the protagonist, so he and his system still needed to gather more intel for analysis.
Yes, they planned to extract information from the protagonist himself. After all, Li Zhiyan had no idea Shen Ji was a Pollutant.
Meanwhile, after hanging up, Li Zhiyan yawned.
He hadn’t eaten breakfast, lunch, or even dinner the night before. Now he was both hungry and sleepy.
Staring at the enormous peach blossom tree, he mused, "Are these flowers edible?"
"Better not!" Jiang Ying replied. "Mainly because they vanish once plucked. Boss, eating them would be like swallowing air—no sense of fullness."
Li Zhiyan turned away. "I’ll go grab lunch."
Unfortunately, due to Q City’s lockdown, no restaurants were open. In the end, he missed lunch entirely and had to wait until returning to the Anti-Contamination Control Center in the afternoon to eat at the canteen. The bland food reminded him with the first bite why he’d skipped breakfast in the first place.
He was already missing the mushroom hotpot from the East District.
Jiang Ying was still discussing with the doctors about developing a drug to control the current anomaly. Li Zhiyan left everything to her and leaned back in his office chair for a quick nap.
Unexpectedly, he fell asleep almost instantly—and even dreamed.
In the dream stood a massive peach blossom tree and beneath it was a figure waiting. Without hesitation, Li Zhiyan walked toward it.
In just a few steps, he reached the tree—unsurprising, given dreams weren’t bound by gravity.
Finally, he could see the person beneath the blossoms clearly.
Luminous white mushrooms spread around the tree’s roots. Hearing his approach, the figure turned to look.
"Shen Ji?"
Shen Ji smiled at him before tilting backward onto the mushrooms.
His black-framed glasses slipped down to his chest from an awkward angle, fully revealing his cool, dark eyes. His white shirt hung loosely, and despite his usually aloof appearance, he now looked effortlessly carefree.
Li Zhiyan had always known Shen Ji was strikingly handsome—even the containment suit and ordinary glasses couldn’t hide it.
But he’d never imagined seeing him like this in a dream.
It was a temptation woven between abstinence and indulgence. Shen Ji reached out to him, as if asking to be pulled up.
The unbuttoned cuffs of his white shirt slid down his arm, revealing slender wrists. Following the fabric downward, the disheveled hem rested against his abdomen, with a glimpse of pale skin peeking at the waist.
He was hinting at something. Though he didn’t speak, Li Zhiyan was already certain.
Li Zhiyan: "…"
His eyes snapped open.
The office was already pitch-dark.
Blue butterflies fluttered into view before him, illuminating the clock hanging on the wall.
It was already four in the morning.
"Strange dream." Li Zhiyan snapped his fingers, and the butterflies vanished into the air. He stood up and flicked on the office lights, flooding the room with brightness.
Dreams were the brain’s reaction under certain conditions. Most people forgot everything the moment they woke, but Li Zhiyan defied that norm—he remembered every detail vividly. He even recalled the blue flowers twining around the white mushrooms at the end, making Shen Ji look even more striking.
So dreamlike it could’ve been a movie scene.
This wasn’t normal.
"But damn, he was beautiful." Li Zhiyan mused. "Can someone really be that good-looking? Are we sure he’s not a Pollutant in disguise?"
Just then, his communicator blared to life. The shrill ringtone echoing loudly in the empty office.
It was Jiang Ying calling.
Li Zhiyan answered. "What’s wrong?"
As an S-class Mutant, Li Zhiyan was notoriously capricious. Despite being team captain, his unreliability was legendary—anyone who dared wake him for work in the middle of the night had been chewed out before.
So under normal circumstances, no one would dare call him at 4 AM, let alone with an emergency alert this loud.
"Captain! Someone’s dead!"
"What?" Li Zhiyan yanked his guard team uniform jacket over his shoulders and talked as he strode out the door. "Explain properly."
"It’s one of the people who suddenly confessed earlier today. Since there were no signs of contamination, they were all suspended from duty and sent back to rest. Just now, a staff member woke up to use the bathroom and smelled blood. He followed the scent to his roommate’s bed, but when he pulled back the covers—"
"He found him dead, drenched in blood."
Li Zhiyan’s brow arched slightly. "Contamination levels?"
"No residual contamination on the body, but his portable detector picked up a one-second contamination spike overnight."
"Contact the others involved first. See if there are more victims."
"I’m already on it."
Hanging up, Li Zhiyan stepped out of the Anti-Contamination Control Center.
He glanced up at the starless, moonless sky—an oppressive void of darkness.
"No stars or moon. Will it rain tomorrow?"
Li Zhiyan pondered. "If it does, will it wash away the pollen?"
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