Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
Finding the Gardener’s plantation wouldn’t be easy.
If they could locate it, they would’ve stormed the place long ago—no need for all this strategizing.
Once they did, Li Zhiyan would lead the assault, with Chu Ye as support and Zhou Ye’s team providing backup. They’d catch the Gardener completely off guard.
But the problem was: they couldn't find the Gardener's plantation.
"The only thing we know for sure is that Bus 7739 might take people to the plantation," Chu Ye said. "But our records show that most victims of Bus 7739 are dumped in small contaminated areas. Very few actually end up at the plantation."
"And we've never managed to catch this Pollutant."
Li Zhiyan sat in his chair, thinking for a moment. "Stake out the bus stop?"
"How long would that take? Bus 7739 appears completely randomly with no discernible pattern."
Li Zhiyan yawned. "What a hassle."
"Don't complain!" Chu Ye stood up and slammed the table. "That's why I begged Director Wen to lend us Guoguo."
With that, Chu Ye pulled a large handful of candies from his pocket and rushed over to Shen Ji before stuffing them into Chen Guo's hands.
"Guoguo, can you help your big brother find the strange monster? Big brother will give you all his candies!"
Chen Guo hugged the pile of candies while snuggling happily in Shen Ji's arms. She rubbed her face against Shen Ji's clothes and answered in a sweet, childish voice, "Okay~"
"Guoguo will help!"
Watching Chu Ye's hopeless behavior, Li Zhiyan sighed.
This guy was clearly the type to spoil his partner with everything after falling in love—a complete romantic fool.
His gaze then shifted to Shen Ji.
Shen Ji gently patted Chen Guo's back. "Guoguo, your mom told me you're losing baby teeth right now. Too many candies will make your teeth hurt."
"Can you give me the rest? You can have them after your new teeth come in."
Chen Guo's happy expression instantly turned sad. Reluctantly, she handed the candies to Shen Ji.
Watching this scene, a strange thought popped into Li Zhiyan's mind: This person would make a great father.
Or mother, for that matter.
Then he found himself baffled by this random thought.
Tilting his head, he picked up his cup and took a sip of ginseng-infused water.
Tasteless. Was this ginseng even real?
"Anyway, remember to come to the Control Center tomorrow. We need to discuss this in detail!"
Chu Ye pointed at Li Zhiyan and shouted, "If you can't get up, have your team wake you, or I'll pour cold water on your bed!"
Li Zhiyan remained unfazed. "No worries. You won't even get past my front door."
"I'll block you right after this."
Shen Ji: "..."
[These two really are cut from the same cloth.]
After seeing Shen Ji and Chu Ye off, Li Zhiyan carried his ginseng-infused water to another room. Midway, he turned around.
He saw his garden in complete disarray.
"Huh?" Li Zhiyan was surprised. "What happened to my garden? Wait, when did... Oh."
Suddenly, he remembered. "Right, there was a break-in. I should report it to the police."
He took another sip of ginseng water.
"...Wait, am I the police?"
"Never mind. Let me check where the little mushroom went first."
……….
By the time Shen Ji returned to the facility with Chen Guo and handed her back to her mother, it was already late.
He had dinner at the cafeteria and reported to Wen Jingyu. He originally wanted to visit Zone I but was stopped by Wen Jingyu.
The last time he "passed out," it gave everyone a scare, especially Wen Jingyu. He was terrified that Shen Ji might actually sacrifice himself for others, perhaps not even realizing his own worth—just how rare a Healing-type Mutant capable of treating high-level contamination diseases truly was.
He knew Shen Ji would only say: "Everyone is equal. Protecting even one more person is a win."
But Wen Jingyu couldn’t see it that way.
As the Director of this apocalypse facility, an institution dedicated to saving more lives, he had to curb Shen Ji’s self-sacrificial tendencies.
Only by staying alive and healthy could Shen Ji save more people.
So Wen Jingyu forced Shen Ji to take a leave of absence, even issuing a strict order:
Until Chen Guo finished assisting the security team, Shen Ji was forbidden from returning to work at the facility.
The moment Shen Ji stepped into his dorm, a pile of mushrooms rained down from the ceiling, all of them scrambling into his arms and wailing loudly.
Shen Ji recognized them—they were the same mushrooms that had escaped from Li Zhiyan’s side.
"Back already?"
[They worked so hard! They fought guerrilla battles all the way back, taking down every butterfly one by one and eating them all. Only after making sure no butterflies were following did they dare return. They deserve to cry in your arms all night.]
Shen Ji patted their caps. "Next time, don’t get lured away just for a snack."
[...Well, it’s because you’ve been so interested in butterflies lately that they started getting curious too. That’s why they got tricked.]
Shen Ji: "..."
How did this become his fault?
And even if he was interested in butterflies, it was purely for specimen-making purposes! The mushrooms just wanted to eat them!
Completely different!
But in the end, Shen Ji just sighed and changed the subject—definitely not because he felt guilty.
"So the real problem now is that we can’t locate Bus No. 7739. Without that, my excavator is useless."
[You were seriously planning to chase a bus with an excavator?!]
"Of course. How else are we supposed to dig up the Plantation? Make Chu Ye do it by hand?"
[Huh, now that you mention it… that might not be impossible?]
Shen Ji blinked in surprise. "What did you say?"
[I said it might not be impossible! Chu Ye’s been searching for his missing teammates, right? At this point, they’re probably all buried in the botanical garden’s soil. He’s definitely going to dig the whole place up looking for their remains. We could just let him buy his own excavator!]
Shen Ji: "..."
Wow, System, you AI really have no heart! How can you say something like that?!
After bickering with the System a bit more, Shen Ji opened his phone and logged into the forum to search for any clues about Bus No. 7739.
Logically speaking, all contamination records of Bus No. 7739 should appear on this forum.
Shen Ji searched the keywords and, sure enough, numerous posts popped up. Each post contained the disappearance locations and times of the victims. Some of these victims were also recorded in the security team's files—though the security team's records merely noted their bodies or remains being found in contamination zones.
Shen Ji meticulously noted down the locations and times from the posts before compiling them for comparison.
After finishing the comparison, he let out a sigh.
"There’s no discernible pattern at all."
[Bus No. 7739 doesn’t follow any specific pattern. It seems to appear randomly in certain areas before transporting victims to contamination zones.]
[The Anti-Contamination Control Center speculates that the bus driver likely had antisocial tendencies, which, in the apocalypse, evolved into antisocial "vehicle tendencies." It derives pleasure from delivering people to contamination zones. Many victims reported hearing the cheerful honk of the bus after being abandoned.]
Shen Ji: "..."
What a carefree bus driver.
"How am I supposed to track this down? There are zero leads." Shen Ji leaned back against the headboard. "I remember in the original novel, Li Zhiyan was trapped somewhere—was it a plantation? How did Li Zhiyan find it? And how did Chu Ye locate him?"
[Sweetie, the original novel didn’t cover that.]
Shen Ji sighed. "What’s even the point of this crappy novel?"
He scrolled down absentmindedly and immediately stumbled upon another post.
"I heard this lockdown isn’t actually due to a contamination incident but was staged by the Anti-Contamination Control Center to pass an inspection. Is that true?"
OP: As per the title. My neighbor described it vividly, claiming the security team fabricated it to secure funding.
1st comment: OP, are you outside the contamination range of Peach Blossom Calamity?
2nd comment (OP): Isn’t it just confessing to someone? There’s no contamination level. How does that justify escalating the lockdown? I think my neighbor’s make sense.
3rd comment: So you’re seriously buying your neighbor’s nonsense?
4th comment: You have no idea how terrifying it was to wake up and find out I’d made eight phone calls—all recorded, with every one of them me confessing to someone! The worst part? I don’t remember any of it!
5th comment (Mod): This post contains misinformation. It will be locked in ten minutes.
6th comment (Mod): Investigation confirms: Peach Blossom Calamity has resulted in 79 deaths and 79 comatose victims, meeting the Anti-Contamination Control Center’s lockdown criteria.
Shen Ji was surprised. "This forum even has moderators?"
[The mod isn’t the contamination entity itself but functions more like a rule. The forum’s purpose is to document contamination incidents, and misinformation attracts moderator intervention.]
"And it cites evidence too?"
[Well, it’s just a rigid rule—not as flexible as me, your system! Even when deleting posts, it has to present proof. Such a low-tier AI!]
"That’s exactly what we need—a low-tier AI!"
[Huh?]
"If it operates on facts and evidence, then if we spread some misinformation, the mod will delete our post and provide counter-evidence, right? If we try this a few times, couldn’t we extract the data we need?"
The system was stunned. [You can exploit a low-tier AI like this?!]
Amused, Shen Ji clicked "Create Post," and his fingers automatically conjured up a sensationalist headline.
"Shocking! The Mysterious Contamination Incident You Don't Know About – The No. 7739 Bus Incident!"
OP: After the horrifying Peach Blossom Calamity, our S-class Mutant Li Zhiyan once again saved the world. But has this incident truly ended? What exactly is the No. 7739 bus incident?
I’ve learned from the security team that the mastermind behind the Peach Blossom Calamity was actually the No. 7739 bus. It transported humans to a terrifying contamination zone, where they were implanted with dreadful contaminated seeds before being sent back to the city. These seeds quietly sprouted, leading to the outbreak of contamination.
Finally, I’ll share a secret with you all: the No. 7739 bus will now permanently operate in City Q. Be careful not to board unfamiliar buses, or else...
[Are you really a journalist? This article isn’t even well-written. I might as well have generated it with AI.]
"What do you know?" Shen Ji scoffed at the system. "Our goal isn’t to write a heartfelt article—it’s to spread rumors and lure out the forum moderator. A title and content like this will definitely attract traffic!"
"Wouldn’t you click on a headline like this?"
[...Okay, I probably would.]
…….
Li Zhiyan sat on the bench at the bus stop, lost in thought.
A few seconds later, he concluded that he must have lost his mind to follow Chu Ye out here.
Chu Ye was crouched in front of the bus stop sign and craning his neck repeatedly, as if No. 7739 bus would immediately appear.
"Are you sure you weren’t tricked?" Li Zhiyan asked.
"Impossible! This came from a precognitive mutant at the Anti-Contamination Control Center. He said the No. 7739 bus would definitely come here next time."
Li Zhiyan thought for a moment. "That precog whose predictions are wrong nine times out of ten?"
"Maybe this is the one time he’s right?"
Li Zhiyan nodded. "Fine."
Watching Li Zhiyan yawn, Chu Ye couldn’t help but yawn too. Truthfully, he wasn’t holding out much hope either—he just figured it was better to try than not. He walked over and sat down beside Li Zhiyan.
"By the way, I got kicked out of that forum."
Li Zhiyan looked surprised. "What forum would dare kick you out?"
"That mysterious contamination forum that suddenly appeared on people's phones." Chu Ye sighed. "After I got contaminated, the forum popped up on my phone. The day I was cured, I found out I’d been booted. Guess I no longer meet the criteria now that I’m clean."
"I wanted to check for bus-related info, but it didn’t even leave me with any browsing history."
Li Zhiyan thought for a moment, then pulled out his phone and showed it to Chu Ye. "This forum?"
"You have it too?!"
"If you have it, of course I would too."
Chu Ye: "..."
Damn, he really wanted to punch him.
Li Zhiyan opened the forum, and the next moment, he and Chu Ye saw a hot post floating at the top of the homepage:
"Shocking! Contamination Incidents Are Concentrated in Outbreaks! No. 7739 Bus Will Permanently Operate in Q City!" Posted by: Mushroom King.
Li Zhiyan’s eyes lit up—now that was a great username!
Chu Ye leaned back in tactical surprise. "What kind of post is this? That title is something else."
1st comment: ...It’s you again, the familiar shock-value Mushroom King OP. You’ve posted eight threads in a row now, haven’t you? The mod deletes one, you post another. With that kind of persistence, you could do anything!
2nd comment: No. 7739 bus? Doesn’t sound like a Pollutant name I’ve heard before.
3rd Floor: OP, are you a genius? The title caught my eye immediately, and I couldn't help but click in.
4th Floor: Although the title has a certain charm, the mod keeps deleting your posts and even provided evidence. Why do you keep posting?
5th Floor: I'm getting tired of seeing this.
6th Floor: @Mod, time to do your job and delete this post.
7th Floor (Mushroom King): Because I'm not spreading rumors. The evidence the mod provided doesn't convince me. Since it doesn't convince me, of course I'll keep posting until the mod can.
8th Floor (Mod): This post contains false information. It will be locked in ten minutes.
Chu Ye was stunned. "What? Even in a contamination forum, we run into spammers?"
Li Zhiran, however, smirked.
He looked at the countless replies below stating, "The Anti-Contamination Control Center never announced this Pollutant," and gleefully changed his forum username to his real name.
Then, under his real name, he replied.
[58th Floor (Li Zhiran): Not a rumor. It just hasn’t been announced yet.]
A single stone stirred a thousand waves. After ten seconds of silence, the thread exploded with dozens of new replies.
Chu Ye was shocked once again by Li Zhiran's move.
"Wait, you're using your real name to back up a rumor? Just because the OP said you're handsome?"
"Nope." Li Zhiran replied calmly. "Mainly because his username looks delicious."
Chu Ye glanced at the OP's name—"Mushroom King"—and twitched his lips.
Delicious, huh?
Li Zhiyan, you really can’t stay away from your poisonous mushrooms.
Seizing the opportunity, Mushroom King directly challenged the mod: Even Li Zhiyan from the Anti-Contamination Control Center confirmed this will happen, so why are you still calling it a rumor?
All my previous posts must be restored!
Amid the uproar, the mod finally responded with a leisurely reply.
152nd Floor (Mod): Bus No. 7739 is a random contamination event and does not operate exclusively in Q City. Though random, it follows certain patterns. Attached is the historical route map of Bus No. 7739. According to the data, it appears in Q City only once a month, with a 70% chance of arriving at midnight with no passengers.
153rd Floor (Mod): Route analysis indicates Bus No. 7739’s next stop will be Line 7 in City F, arriving at 9 PM a week from now—not Q City.
154th Floor (Mod): This post contains false information. Deleting now.
Afraid Li Zhiyan might get banned like he had been, Chu Ye swiftly pulled out his phone and frantically snapped pictures of Li Zhiyan’s screen.
By the time he finished, the post was gone—and Mushroom King didn’t repost.
It was as if he had only made those posts to get this information.
Chu Ye’s hands trembled. "Heaven is on our side! Who knew we’d stumble upon something like this? We actually got the route map for Bus No. 7739 from this forum!"
"Not heaven—mushrooms are on your side." Li Zhiyan lazily closed his phone. "Did you really think some random stranger was just casually spreading rumors in this forum?"
"Clearly, someone we know figured out the forum’s rules and was testing them."
Chu Ye paused. "Who?"
"Who indeed?"
Li Zhiyan stood up slowly. "Figure it out yourself. I’m exhausted—going home to sleep."
Chu Ye sat there deep in thought when a cold gust of wind blew by, making him shiver so much he stood up and hopped around in circles.
"Who cares who it is! They're all our comrades anyway!"
"Freezing to death here—I'm heading back too."
Meanwhile, Shen Ji didn't need to screenshot the route map because he had the system—the moment the map was sent, the system had already saved it all.
[Who would have thought the protagonist was also on this forum? His sudden comment was a stroke of genius—an absolute critical hit!]
“Well, he is the protagonist after all. It’s normal for him to have cheats. Just a small forum, nothing special.”
The system sighed. [Being the protagonist is great—you get everything handed to you.]
[Let’s just kill this abstract guy and take his place as the protagonist!]
As soon as the words were spoken, ding dong—Shen Ji’s phone buzzed with a new message. The sender: Li Zhiyan.
Shen Ji: …
[…Seriously? Why is he haunting us like this? We only badmouthed him a little behind his back—did he actually hear us?]
“Let’s see what he said first.”
Shen Ji opened the message.
[Troublesome Protagonist: I’ve decided to renovate my garden. What kind of plants do you think would suit me?]
Shen Ji was puzzled. “Does he have nothing better to do? It’s almost winter—why renovate the garden now?”
[Ah, about that…] The system chimed in. [Actually, yesterday when your mycelium escaped, it ran wild in Li Zhiyan’s garden, uprooting everything and devouring all his contaminated flower species.]
Shen Ji froze, then turned to look at the little mushroom heads rolling around by the bed.
[Yep, not a single pot left.]
Shen Ji: …
These little things sure held a grudge. They even knew the flowers in the garden were Li Zhiyan’s weakness.
This made it tricky to reply.
After a moment of hesitation, Shen Ji cautiously responded.
[Shen Ji: How about growing some ginseng?]
[Troublesome Protagonist: Why?]
[Shen Ji: In myths, ginseng tends to gain sentience easily. Seems fitting for you.]
[Troublesome Protagonist: …]
[Troublesome Protagonist: What exactly did Chu Ye tell you that made you so convinced I need to eat sentient ginseng to boost my brainpower?]
[Shen Ji: Nothing like that. I’m just concerned about your health. Working at the Containment Facility for too long gives you occupational habits.]
[Troublesome Protagonist: You don’t have to be so roundabout.]
[Shen Ji: He said you turn into an idiot after using your ability.]
[Troublesome Protagonist: …Maybe stick to being roundabout.]
Shen Ji couldn’t help but chuckle.
He rolled over on the bed with phone in hand.
The little mushrooms, influenced by his movement, tumbled after him, leaving a trail across the sheets.
Such a fierce butterfly! But Master seems to like it!
Eep! Big butterfly! Tasty! Love!
The mushrooms were the best reflection of Shen Ji’s emotions—after all, they were fragments of contamination extracted from contaminated beings.
The system watched as the mushrooms piled up in front of Shen Ji, clinging to his shoulders and peering at the phone. Shen Ji paid them no mind as he lay on his side and his fingers flew across the screen. His pale, slender hands glowing faintly under the phone’s light—almost translucent.
Sigh… Do they really have to keep talking?
Neither of them was saying anything substantial. Every exchange was absurdly nonsensical, yet Shen Ji seemed genuinely happier because of it.
Human emotions were truly strange.
So the system joined the mushrooms on crowding around the phone to watch the two continue their pointless conversation.
[Troublesome Protagonist: I think I’ll grow some mushrooms.]
[Shen Ji: Like Gyromitra esculenta? Can those even be cultivated artificially? This doesn’t seem like their natural habitat.]
[Troublesome Protagonist: That's what I thought too. I'd almost given up, but today I saw someone called 'Mushroom King' posting on the forum. His name reignited my interest in growing mushrooms. I want to cultivate mushrooms that are both beautiful and delicious. Picking wild mushrooms is such a hassle.]
[Shen Ji: ...Mushroom King?]
[Troublesome Protagonist: The name looks really delicious.]
[Shen Ji: ...]
[Troublesome Protagonist: So who gave you that name? It's truly magnificent.]
[Shen Ji: ...]
So all this beating around the bush was just to ask about this?
The name was actually given by the system, which firmly believed that since Shen Ji was raising a bunch of little mushrooms, he must be their leader—the Mushroom King! It insisted on addressing him with this honorable title.
Thus, without Shen Ji's consent, it dubbed him 'Mushroom King.'
Shen Ji didn't particularly care about nicknames, so Mushroom King it was. Who would have thought Li Zhiyan would latch onto it?
‘Damn system, I'm applying to have you remade right now.’
System: ...
[Shen Ji: Did you recognize me and that's why you lied in the post comments?]
[Shen Ji: There was no need. I could've gotten the information with a few more attempts. That moderator is just a rigid AI.]
[Shen Ji: Still, I appreciate it. I was about to make another post but you saved me a lot of trouble.]
The system couldn't help but remark, [You really have a knack for maintaining your image from every angle. Half the time I don't even realize what's happening before you've already established your persona.]
"Quick thinking is a journalist's basic skill. I didn't spend all these years as a reporter for nothing."
Ding.
Li Zhian's reply arrived.
Both man and system hurried to read it.
[Troublesome Protagonist: Huh? Did I? I just thought 'Mushroom King' sounded really tasty.]
[Troublesome Protagonist: If you're so grateful, why not consider a part-time job at the security team? We could grow ginseng together.]
Shen Ji: ...
[....]
An inexplicable sense of wasting time—classic Li Zhiyan.
……
Meanwhile, at Q City Containment Facility.
The mycelium frolicked freely in their territory while occasionally nibbling on sugar particles in the air, as joyful as a litter of puppies.
Just then, a lone blue butterfly quietly fluttered in—the sole survivor that had lost track of the little mushroom but spotted it elsewhere
The butterfly gracefully landed on the isolation room's glass, its wings dusted with luminous scales.
Soon the mushrooms noticed the intruder in their domain. They quickly gathered and lurked in crevices to eye the unexpected visitor.
Eep, it followed us! What do we do?
Just one little butterfly!
Should we eat it? Then it'll be like nothing happened.
Eep, hungry! Eat it!
The mycelium swarmed to devour the butterfly on the glass in an instant before scattering again.
Inside the room, Li Zhiyan glanced at Shen Ji's message before circling a spot on the Q City map with a red pen.
"Last one: Containment Facility."
Leaning back, Li Zhiyan studied the map's markings—locations where his released butterflies had perished. All previous ones died in random alleyways, but the last met its end in an unexpected place.
Q City Containment Facility.
It seems I'll have to pay a visit tomorrow to observe things properly.
Translator:
Oh noh.. Lin Zhiyan is now having some clues. Anyway, the little mushrooms is sooo cute and adorable.
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