Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
Shen Ji fell silent for a long while before finally responding with a flat, "Oh."
Li Zhiyan was deeply disappointed. "I thought you’d ask me why I dreamed about you."
Shen Ji: …
This man truly has no shame.
"Then, if I asked, would you tell me?"
Li Zhiyan shook his head shamelessly. "No, because I don’t know why either."
[Shen Ji, let’s just kill this absurd guy and take over as the protagonists ourselves!]
‘Calm down, system! Don’t you remember your own analysis that our chances of winning against him are only fifty-fifty? What if we both die and end up becoming a tragic ship for future fans?!’
"Mr. Li, you do love joking." Shen Ji refilled Li Zhiyan’s teacup. "Anyway, we’re just putting on an act, right? You pretend to be influenced and confess to me, and I pretend to be oblivious and accept it—all to test the rules of this contamination."
Li Zhiyan looked pleased. "Exactly. You’re sharp. Both your acting and your abilities meet my standards perfectly."
"I genuinely hope you’ll join my team."
"Let’s skip that for now." Shen Ji pushed the teacup toward him. "So, this really is a Peach Blossom Calamity?"
Li Zhiyan sighed regretfully. "Most likely. There’s a giant peach blossom tree involved, along with confessions and dreams—it fits. If it weren’t for the contamination, it’d make a great tourist attraction."
"The blossoms are quite beautiful. In late autumn, when everything else is bare, a whole grove of peach blossoms stands out brilliantly."
Shen Ji couldn’t help but sigh as well.
A Pollutant that Li Zhiyan found "brilliant"—was he planning to keep the peach tree alive after purging it?
"Still, I suspect this contamination might be related to Nightmares." Li Zhiyan picked up his teacup. "Do you know about a Pollutant, called Nightmare?"
Of course Shen Ji knew—he had read the original novel, after all.
In the story, there existed a particularly insidious type of Pollutant called Nightmare.
Their contamination was subtle, creeping into people’s dreams at night and tainting them from within. Most victims of Nightmare contamination suffered relentless nightmares and were plagued by intense fear until they became too terrified to sleep or face the light.
This torment lasted over a week, and since humans couldn’t survive without sleep for that long, the contaminated individual often went mad from exhaustion before ultimately taking their own lives—with no trace of contamination left at the scene.
Nightmares could only be caught the moment they invaded a person’s dreams.
"But there’s no record of Nightmares being tied to peach blossom trees." Li Zhiyan mused. "It’d be great if we had a suitable Sensory-type Mutant with us."
Shen Ji leaned back in his chair. "We’ll figure something out."
"The Guard was established to fight contamination. You’re the frontline in this apocalypse—the hope of humanity. You can’t afford to give up."
Admiration flickered in Li Zhiyan’s eyes. "Impressive. You can even say things like that with a straight face."
Shen Ji: …
He was actually considering the system's proposal to "kill this guy and become the protagonist himself."
Li Zhiyan finally took a sip of the tea.
The moment the liquid entered his mouth, he nearly choked coughing—only his strong self-control and impeccable manners allowed him to forcibly swallow it.
He quickly set the teacup back down.
Bitter, astringent, and rancid... what kind of flavor was this?
"Hmm? Does it taste off?" Shen Ji feigned confusion. "My apologies, this is just my temporary residence. I didn't prepare proper refreshments for guests. This tea was all I could find."
Li Zhiyan frowned. "You might as well have served me water steeped with petals from your windowsill flowers."
"Do you prefer floral tea?"
"Compared to this cup, I'd definitely choose floral tea." Li Zhiyan coughed twice before managing to reply.
This was nothing like poisonous mushrooms.
Poisonous mushrooms might be toxic, but at least they're delicious! If something tastes good and won't kill you, then eat away.
This tea might not be poisonous, but it was downright awful.
Disgustingly awful! Petal water would be better!
So Shen Ji stood up, walked to the windowsill, plucked a single petal from a flower, and returned to drop it into Li Zhiyan's teacup. The pale blue petal swirled atop the tea before slowly sinking to the bottom.
Adjusting his glasses, Shen Ji said earnestly, "Here's your floral tea. As you can see, it contains both flowers and tea."
Li Zhiyan: "......"
As an abstract individual, this was the first time in his life he'd ever felt speechless because of another person.
After several seconds of silence, Li Zhiyan nodded. "You're absolutely right."
Shen Ji: "......"
He actually admitted it.
[...I can no longer tell which of you two has less shame.]
After explaining the situation, Li Zhiyan put on his transparent raincoat again, cradled the scrawny little potted plant, and left.
Standing in the rain, Li Zhiyan exhaled deeply before finally pulling out his silenced phone from his pocket—it had been vibrating endlessly without his notice.
"Hello?" Li Zhiyan answered nonchalantly.
"Captain! Where the hell did you go?! You disappeared the moment I looked away!" Jiang Ying was practically shouting. "Could you at least tell me before running off next time?"
"I did tell you," Li Zhiyan sighed. "I said I was going to negotiate with the person from my dream. You just didn't hear me."
"If I didn't hear you, you should repeat yourself instead of just leaving!"
"What a hassle." Li Zhiyan adjusted his grip on the flowerpot as he walked. "But Jiang Ying, you know what? He's really special."
"How special?"
"He served me expired tea, dropped a petal in it, and called it floral tea."
"Though the tea was expired, it did contain both flowers and tea—technically making it floral tea."
Jiang Ying: "......"
She spent several seconds confirming she'd actually called Li Zhiyan, then several more convincing herself that her captain had genuinely been tricked into drinking expired tea.
Finally, she asked hesitantly, "Boss... you're not actually charmed by this, are you? Are you a masochist?"
"No, I just think he's... remarkably free."
To Jiang Ying's surprise, Li Zhiyan's voice carried an uncharacteristic lightness—not the usual abstract nonsense, but genuine amusement. There was even a hint of laughter in his tone, completely unlike his normal self.
Li Zhiyan loved free spirits and unconventional people, which was why all the team members he recruited had strong personalities, forming this utterly unreliable special task force squad.
But even among those eccentric teammates, none could compare to the impression Shen Ji left on him.
He was like a free bird, or a traveler just passing through for fun.
His expression was humble, yet his gaze sharp.
He could deliberately drink expired tea leaves without a care and was completely unfazed that Li Zhiyan was technically his superior—the only S-class Mutant in all of Q City.
Li Zhiyan loved free spirits.
And among all the people he had met, Shen Ji was the freest of them all.
Not to mention, he was good-looking.
Jiang Ying chuckled. "So that's why you didn't force Dr. Shen to join us."
The Special Task Force Sixth Team was the most unique unit in the Anti-Contamination Control Center.
Li Zhiyan had special privileges—he could handpick his teammates regardless of organizational rules. Both Jiang Ying and Zhou Ye had been selected this way. Jiang Ying had once been the head of the Contaminant Disposal Center, while Zhou Ye was just a minor member of the Far-Wilderness Exploration Team.
Yet Li Zhiyan hadn’t forced Shen Ji to join them, no matter how badly he was itching to recruit him.
"I won’t give up," Li Zhiyan yawned.
Then something suddenly occurred to him. "Ah—"
"What now, boss?
"I forgot to ask Shen Ji to take a photo for me. His photography skills are a hundred times better than yours. The ones you take look like crime scene evidence."
Jiang Ying: "…"
Sorry for not being able to take decent photos!
……..
After the incident with the confessing patient’s death, Wen Jingyu took it extremely seriously.
He ordered all medical staff to review patient surveillance footage, identify any other patients who had confessed, and even compile a list of those who had been dreaming—recording who they dreamed about.
It was through this survey that they discovered a significant portion had dreamed of their lovers or secret crushes.
Unlike the isolated patients who couldn’t contact the outside world, medical staff actually had a chance of their confessions being reciprocated.
The Anti-Contamination Control Center announced that the death toll from successful confessions tonight had reached 35. Not everyone who confessed had died, but the number was terrifying enough. No one knew if more would follow, or when they themselves might suddenly lose their minds and confess to someone.
In the end, they could only remind themselves: If anyone confesses to you, you must reject them.
After finishing work and returning to his dorm, Shen Ji sat down on the sofa and yawned.
But instead of going straight to sleep, he opened his phone and checked the forum.
Sure enough, the platform was flooded with posts about the Peach Blossom Tree contamination incident.
[The Anti-Contamination Control Center has officially named this contamination event "Peach Blossom Calamity."]
Main post: "Peach Blossom Calamity"—an unidentified Pollutant, undetermined level, no detectable contamination traces and with an extremely wide range of influence. Those affected will randomly confess to others. However, according to the security team, the confession targets are likely the people they dreamed about. It’s best to contact those individuals in advance and, if confessed to, absolutely refuse.
1st comment: Peach Blossom Calamity? What kind of name is that? Who came up with it?
2nd comment: Your beloved Captain Li.
3rd comment: Oh, then never mind. It’s a brilliant name.
4th comment: Li Zhiyan always has these weird little obsessions. So, has anyone been confessed to yet?
5th floor: The Peach Blossom Calamity is a contamination incident, not some test of your charm.
6th floor: Don’t trivialize a disaster! Thirty-five people died in just one night!
7th Floor: Confessing your love only to die right after—why does this Pollutant have such a grudge against true love?
8th Floor: I think the source might be traceable through those heartbroken couples. The sheer hatred here is definitely not innocent.
9th Floor: Three people confessed to me, but I didn’t accept any of them. If I had, they might have died. If it’s true love, you can’t say yes, even if the other person pitifully claims they can’t live without you.
10th Floor: The way you’re flaunting is so obvious, dude. What, if it weren’t for this Pollutant, were you planning to accept all three at once? What kind of person does that?!
[...So it’s really named Peach Blossom Calamity? Did Li Zhiyan suggest it?]
"Honestly, I’m more concerned about something else," Shen Ji set down his phone. "This means the life and death of the confessor is entirely in the hands of the person being confessed to, right?"
"If the person being confessed to dislikes them or simply holds a grudge, all they have to do is accept the confession and claim ignorance, and the person they hate will die in the contamination incident."
[Theoretically, yes. But the security team isn’t just for show—they’d charge them with "premeditated murder" and throw them in prison.]
Shen Ji was surprised. "This era still has prisons?"
[The Contaminant Disposal Center is chronically understaffed since handling Pollutant corpses is pretty dangerous. So now, anyone guilty of premeditated murder gets tossed in to deal with the bodies—no guarantees on survival.]
[This method has actually helped curb crime in the city to some extent.]
Shen Ji sighed. "This policy could spawn two completely different news pieces—covering the Contaminant Disposal Center, Criminals, all the hot topics. I guarantee it'll go viral."
"Too bad journalism doesn’t exist anymore."
[...]
Little reporter, your professionalism really doesn’t need to shine here.
……..
Meanwhile, inside the Containment Facility, delicate white fungal filaments crept along inch by inch while occasionally darting forward playfully before retreating when noticed.
The Containment Facility was Shen Ji’s usual haunt, and the filaments had long since claimed it as their territory and was patrolling every day.
This nest was big and smelled nice, with endless snacks everywhere. The only problem was that their owner wouldn’t let them eat freely, so they had to sneak bites at night while he slept.
Especially that doll—they’d already nibbled it into tatters, nearly destabilizing its C-class contamination rating.
Now, they lingered outside the special treatment lab while drooling as they waited for the people inside to leave so they could sneak in for another bite.
They couldn’t nibble when people were around—their owner wouldn’t allow it, and they’d be punished. Waaah.
Just then, they noticed someone crouched in the restroom nearby and talking on the phone.
"Mu Mu, yeah, I’m good. How about you?"
"Why am I calling all of a sudden? Just... I’m on duty alone and really missed you. Missed you so much I had to call."
"...Mu Mu."
"I love you so much."
The filaments curiously drifted around the person.
Though the fungal threads had a faint consciousness of their own due to their contamination nature, Shen Ji’s thoughts still dominated them. Under his influence, they instinctively paid attention to "confession incidents."
Upon detecting someone professing love over the phone, they even abandoned their plans to snack on the doll in the lab, focusing instead on observing this person’s movements.
Soon, the man burst into laughter and happily kissing his phone with pink bubbles practically floating around him.
After this affectionate display, he finished his shift.
He returned to his dorm as if completely unaware of any influence, even greeting a colleague coming to take over his shift along the way.
The mycelium hesitated as it glanced at the doll in the lab before tearfully chasing after him.
…….
By the time he got home, it was already late.
Exhausted, he tossed his coat onto the couch and collapsed onto the bed, snoring thunderously the next second.
It was at that very moment the mycelium detected a sudden explosion of contamination.
Moving faster than the eye could follow, they burrowed into his body and captured the contamination in less than a second.
Meanwhile, Shen Ji had just finished showering.
Drying his hair, he was still discussing their next steps with the system.
The time of the original novel’s contamination outbreak was drawing closer. Though Shen Ji currently had no conditions for exposure, and Chen Guo was no longer a Level A Pollutant, they're still worried about potential future issues. Only after safely passing this plot point could they truly relax.
“So, was this peach blossom calamity not in the original novel either?”
[Not necessarily.]
“What do you mean?”
[Pollutants are ranked by class. The ‘Decaying Organism’ was unlucky—it was wiped out by the Level A Pollutant Chen Guo while attempting a secondary contamination of the Containment Facility. After that, it was Li Zhiyan’s battle with the Level A Pollutant. At times like these, any pollutant with half a brain would stay hidden.]
[Because showing your face means instant annihilation.]
“In other words, just the fact that Chen Guo didn’t become a Level A pollutant is enough to trigger a chain of butterfly effects.”
[That’s reality for you.]
Just then, a plump mushroom cap suddenly dropped from the ceiling and landed right on Shen Ji’s head.
It rolled to the floor, spun in a circle, then swiftly dissolved into mycelium that coiled around his waist.
Fresh out of the shower, Shen Ji was dressed lightly, with little covering his waist, making him an easy target for the mycelium’s sneak attack.
His bare waist, entwined with ribbon-like mycelium and combined with the fact that he wasn’t wearing his black-framed glasses post-shower—
A mix of rationality and restraint, exposure and concealment—all of it coalesced into an overwhelming sensuality radiating from him.
Shen Ji grabbed the mushroom. “What are you doing?”
The mycelium coiled around his fingers, and Shen Ji felt them exert a slight force. Before he could react, he suddenly found himself tilting backward.
Instinctively bracing himself, he only realized afterward that he had been transported elsewhere.
The sky was a hazy black and streaked with ominous purple clouds. Ahead stood a massive peach blossom tree in full bloom with its flowers dazzlingly vibrant. The overpowering fragrance assaulted Shen Ji’s nose—but covering it did nothing to lessen the scent.
Because it wasn’t something he was smelling.
Shen Ji lifted his hand. The mycelium was still struggling, pulling him in a certain direction.
“System?” Shen Ji called out.
No response came, as if the system had never existed.
After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Ji followed the mycelium’s pull. Circling the peach blossom tree, he soon spotted a smaller one nearby.
Unlike the large peach blossom tree, the smaller one had long since withered, its decaying stench lingering in the air.
Countless severed heads hung from its branches with their eyes closed in expressions of agony. The grotesque faces made Shen Ji's heart skip a beat.
He circled the small peach tree and finally spotted a familiar face among the heads—the patient from Zhang Qingli's isolation room who had been found dead that morning.
The woman's wooden face was twisted in pain as she was impaled on the tree's branch. Rotten peach blossom petals clung to her skin, staining it crimson.
"Where is this?" Shen Ji asked the mycelium wrapped around his wrist.
"...A dream?"
Shen Ji frowned slightly. "What did you say?"
"You caught 'the tail of the nightmare' and dragged me into this dream along with you?"
Unexpectedly, before Li Zhiyan could even find a way in, his mycelium had already pulled Shen Ji into this nightmare.
But speaking of nightmares, now that he was inside, Shen Ji began to doubt whether this was truly the work of a Nightmare Pollutant.
According to previous records, Nightmares were a special type of Pollutant that forced the infected into endless horrific dreams, filling them with terror until they became too afraid to sleep and ultimately driving them to suicide from fear and insomnia.
Yet this scene, this nightmare... seemed to have a dreamer.
Shen Ji stepped forward.
Beneath the peach tree stood a sign with something written on it.
Upon closer inspection, he realized the sign bore two words scrawled in blood-red ink: "Scum."
A large X had been carved over the characters with such force that it nearly split the wooden board.
"Scum Tree," Shen Ji murmured while gazing up at the grotesque heads. "...What a peculiar name."
When no sarcastic remark came from the system after several seconds, Shen Ji blinked, then nodded as if finally realizing something.
"Oh, right. AI can't dream. That actually makes sense."
Just then, he heard someone calling his name.
The voice seemed to drift in and out—sometimes near, sometimes distant. Shen Ji turned toward the sound, only to suddenly open his eyes.
He found himself lying on the sofa with the unlit ceiling oddly bright. His phone was ringing incessantly, and the system was shouting in his ear.
[Shen Ji!]
[You're finally awake! Did you pass out?! How did you just fall asleep like that?!]
[I thought you'd suddenly died!]
Shen Ji: "..."
Maybe it's time to deactivate this system.
Sitting up, Shen Ji fished his phone from his pocket. As he raised it to his ear, he realized he had accidentally pressed it against a cluster of mushrooms.
Sighing, he switched to speakerphone and headed to the bathroom to check the mirror.
Staring back at him was his reflection—with a small patch of mushrooms sprouting from his temple. They swayed slightly as he moved, stubbornly refusing to detach.
"Shen Ji?" Li Zhiyan's voice came through the phone for the third time. "Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Sorry, I just woke up. I thought I'd already answered," Shen Ji replied in a groggy voice. "Mr. Li, why are you calling me so early in the morning?”
Li Zhiyan fell silent for two seconds.
He glanced at the glaring sun outside, then at his watch—its hands pointing firmly to 10:30 AM.
Early in the morning?
"It seems you're truly sleep-deprived," Li Zhiyan remarked. "Perhaps you should take a vacation. Continuing like this, what if you suddenly drop dead one day?"
"If I drop dead, I'll turn into a pollutant. Then I'll have to ask Mr. Li to go easy on me."
"Let's not have that happen. I wouldn't be able to bring myself to act against you."
Shen Ji: "..."
He couldn't help but complain to the system, '...Wow, this protagonist sure knows how to sweet-talk with pretty words.'
[Shen Ji, listen to me! We mustn't be fooled by the protagonist's sugar-coated bullets. His words and actions never match!]
'I'm not stupid.’
Shen Ji sighed and asked, "Mr. Li, what's the reason for calling so early in the morning?"
Li Zhiyan didn't bother correcting Shen Ji's definition of "early morning."
He walked over to the peach blossom tree—the massive tree remained unchanged in appearance, yet unlike yesterday, faint outlines of several heads had begun to appear on its branches. Hanging like projections, they couldn't be scanned or touched.
After Jiang Ying's analysis, they were identified as the deceased.
"Nine more people died last night," Li Zhiyan said. "Dragging this out serves no purpose. Let's go take a look in the dream."
"I'm preparing to confess my feelings to you. Do you appreciate ceremonial gestures? What kind of occasion would you prefer?"
"Do you prefer flowers or honey? Money or a popular movie set? Or how about I just put you on the payroll without any actual work?"
Shen Ji: "..."
Is he still sneaking in his own agenda??
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