Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
The weather was lovely today.
Sunlight streamed through the window, bathing Shen Ji in its glow.
Plump mushrooms of all sizes rolled around him, each one equally blanketed by the light, making them shimmer brilliantly.
Such a beautiful morning should have been spent sleeping in, not being rudely awakened.
[Shen Ji, Shen Ji!]
The system called out.
[Wake up, wake up! Why are you so hard to rouse once you're asleep?]
[Open your eyes already.]
Groggily, Shen Ji opened his eyes and slowly sat up.
A few chubby mushrooms tumbled to the floor with a soft plop, but they didn’t seem to mind. After flattening into pancake-like shapes, they dissolved into strands of mycelium, then crawled back up the bedpost to curl up and continue snoozing.
Rubbing his temples with slight discomfort, Shen Ji fished out his ringing phone and answered.
"Hello?"
Li Zhiyan, who had been about to ask why it took so long to pick up, swallowed his words.
That drowsy voice, paired with Shen Ji’s naturally cool tone, was unexpectedly alluring—enough to make one want to appear before him right then and see the sleep-addled man for themselves.
"Hello? Why aren’t you saying anything?" Shen Ji frowned. "Who is this?"
"It's me," Li Zhiyan finally replied.
The sound disrupted Shen Ji’s sleepy haze. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the screen again. "Li Zhiyan?"
"What’s so important that you’re calling this early?"
Perhaps it was the grogginess, or maybe a hint of morning grumpiness, but Shen Ji lacked his usual gentleness. He didn’t politely address him as "Mr. Li" either—instead, he used his full name and his tone far from pleasant. Yet, this very tone made Li Zhiyan raise an eyebrow in satisfaction.
He loved it when Shen Ji dropped the pretense—this unfiltered attitude was far more lively than his usual sarcasm.
He adored it.
“Why aren’t you at the facility?”
“The facility?” Shen Ji glanced at the time and belatedly realized he was indeed past his usual work hours.
Then it hit him—wait, Wen Jingyu had given him the day off.
“I’m on leave, of course I’m not at the facility.” Shen Ji was puzzled. “Why are you at the facility, Mr. Li?”
“I’m here to fill out an application.”
“What application?”
“The one requesting Dr. Shen Ji to accompany the team to F City.”
Shen Ji’s drowsiness vanished instantly. He was taken aback. “I’m going to F City too?”
“Chu Ye filed the request. I’m just here to sign the form on his behalf.”
[I looked into it.]
[A C-class Sensory-type Mutant in F City has been contaminated. They’ve exhausted all means to deal with it. After Chu Ye contacted them, they asked him to recommend the doctor who treated him. After weighing the situation, Chu Ye decided that the C-class Mutant was worth saving, so he submitted an application to the facility.]
[Wen Jingyu already approved it. You’ll probably get the notice soon.]
‘Another one of Gardener’s contaminated seeds?’
[Probably not. Based on yesterday’s route analysis, F City has no records of victims being sent to the plantation in the last three years. So this likely isn’t Gardener’s doing.]
Shen Ji yawned. ‘Too much trouble. Don’t wanna go.’
[I’d advise going anyway. Even if it’s not Gardener’s contamination, you’ve been wanting to confront Gardener at its plantation. This gives you a legitimate reason to head there. Plus, in the original storyline, F City experiences a major contamination incident. I suggest you absorb that contamination.]
‘To boost our strength?’
[Exactly. Whether it’s dealing with Gardener or preparing for the future, we need to get stronger.]
“Mr. Li, I’m just an ordinary medical staff. Why would I be assigned to this?” This was what confused Shen Ji the most. “Is it because I’m in charge of Mr. Chu Ye’s treatment? But I only handle his medication—basic care is handled by other doctors.”
Li Zhiyan seemed infected by Shen Ji’s tone and yawned as well.
“If they’re assigning you, it’s because they believe you can handle it. Don’t sell yourself short. Everyone recognizes your abilities.”
“Anyway, I’ll be waiting for you this afternoon.”
Shen Ji was baffled. “You’re not leaving until then?”
“Are you that eager to see me go?”
“Are you switching jobs to the facility, Mr. Li?” Shen Ji turned the tables, his tone gentle and full of anticipation. “If so, I’d be more than happy to welcome you. You’d make an excellent contamination treatment doctor.”
Li Zhiyan: “...”
After a few seconds of silence, he clicked his tongue.
“You’re right.”
Shen Ji: “...?”
“Once the Gardener situation is resolved, I’ll come to the facility part-time and be your colleague for a few days.”
“If you’re trying to poach me, I should get acclimated early. It’ll help us understand each other better. I’m sure we’ll make a great team.”
Shen Ji: “...”
He hung up and tossed his phone onto the pillow.
Like hell I’d team up with Li Zhiyan.
Shen Ji grabbed the dozing little mushroom beside him and squeezed it a few times to vent his frustration. The soft, squishy texture felt like cotton.
He replayed the conversation with Li Zhiyan in his head and finally noticed something odd.
Shen Ji frowned slightly. “They don’t actually think I’m a Healing-type Mutant, do they?”
[Huh? A Level S Pollutant turned into a Healing-type Mutant??]
But thinking about it now, it does seem plausible.
Li Zhiyan referred Chu Ye to Q City's Containment Facility for treatment, where the doctors showed him exceptional care and regard, and showering him with bonuses until his hands were full. Most importantly: every single person under Shen Ji's care was genuinely cured, and those not fully healed saw their contamination levels drop significantly.
Shen Ji: "..."
System: "..."
[So you've already established your persona behind our backs?]
[A hidden, self-sacrificing high-level Healing-type Mutant who never takes credit—just acts without words? Holy shit, this is practically divine intervention!]
Shen Ji: "..."
Now wide awake, Shen Ji got up to change clothes as the little mushrooms also roused from bed.
They clung to his wardrobe while whimpering: Let's go eat all of Li Zhiyan's butterflies right now!
How dare they wake Master up so early!
Shen Ji: "..."
[Ah, poor little mushrooms. Just trying to stand up for their master, yet getting scorned. Good intentions, bad execution!]
"Are you sure they're not just greedy? Are Li Zhiyan's butterflies really that delicious? Can't they stop obsessing over them?"
The mushrooms scrambled to crowd around Shen Ji.
Mmm, the butterflies are delicious!
They taste like ice cream!
Mint ice cream! Super tasty!
Patting their little mushroom heads, Shen Ji pulled out a coat from the wardrobe. Yawning, he draped it over himself as he decided to head to the Containment Facility immediately.
He pushed the door open and stepped out.
In his haste, his coat remained slightly wrinkled and unbuttoned—a stark contrast to his usual composed and meticulous demeanor. The carefree look, paired with his naturally aloof features, made him even more striking.
His departure coincided with the shift change among medical staff, leaving quite a few people outside.
They greeted Shen Ji as they saw him.
"Morning, Xiao Ji."
"Morning, Dr. Ji. Looking sharp today."
Shen Ji responded politely, "Morning to you too."
"And, my surname isn't Ji."
"Ah, we're so used to calling you Xiao Ji, we forgot Dr. Ji isn't actually your name."
"..."
[Tell me, did you let everyone call you Xiao Ji just to stay incognito for your eventual fake death? Now they don't even remember your surname is Shen, not Ji.]
System, if you recall, I never asked them to call me Xiao Ji—they just started doing it on their own and forgot my actual name.
Meanwhile, Li Zhiyan wasn’t bothered by Shen Ji hanging up on him.
Their conversations had always been a 1:1 win-loss ratio, with Li Zhiyan occasionally edging ahead.
As Chu Ye put it: "He’s shameless enough, but Dr. Shen still has some dignity left."
This visit wasn’t just to help Chu Ye with his application—mostly, Li Zhiyan was searching for traces of escaped fungal filaments in the facility.
Coming here inevitably meant checking on the Undertaker’s corpse, which had been under study for days. Though there was no chance of it reanimating, as the person in charge, Li Zhiyan still needed to verify its condition occasionally.
Entering the special research lab, he saw several staff in hazmat suits dissecting the Undertaker’s body with their discussions audible.
Li Zhiyan signed the inspection log.
Only after signing did he glance around.
"The contamination levels here..." Li Zhiyan mused thoughtfully, "It's a lab studying contaminants, yet they've managed to keep the contamination so remarkably low."
With a snap of his fingers, Li Zhiyan conjured a small blue butterfly that fluttered around the entire laboratory before finally alighting on his fingertip.
Tilting his head slightly, he murmured, "Not here."
He turned to leave without disturbing the researchers at work.
Just as he exited, a doctor who had finished an autopsy spoke up. "Speaking of which, where's that doll that was kept here before? It seems to have disappeared."
"Didn't you know? The research succeeded. The doctors at headquarters helped improve the special medicine. That thing's contamination levels were too high—it was signed off this morning to be sent to the Contaminant Disposal Center. Should be on the transport by now."
"I see. Something with such high contamination should indeed be sent for processing immediately."
Li Zhiyan then headed to the patient ward—the place where his butterfly had been consumed the previous night.
The isolation room was empty as its former occupant already discharged
En route, he consciously checked the contamination levels throughout the facility's various areas. Surprisingly, nearly every corner maintained contamination at remarkably low levels—lower than even normal environments.
And this was unusual, as facilities typically became miniature contamination zones from the contamination released by patients.
This was precisely why the facilities required numerous mutated individuals for auxiliary medical work.
If Director Wen didn't possess some special method to control contamination levels, then something must be consuming the contamination.
Those contamination-eating mushrooms—what exactly were they? Contamin7? Or someone's innate ability?
Detecting no contamination from them, Li Zhiyan leaned toward the latter possibility.
A contamination-based ability manifesting as mushrooms? How delicious. They could even self-sustain—what enviable talent.
"If it is an innate ability, whose could it be?"
Initially suspecting Shen Ji's ability—though both the facility and Li Zhiyan had assumed his was healing-oriented—Shen Ji had never revealed his actual ability. He'd even previously stated he didn't know what his ability was. If it had mutated, that wouldn't be unusual.
Moreover, during the nightmare incident, only Li Zhiyan and Shen Ji could move normally.
But currently, Shen Ji was on leave and not at the facility, while those mushrooms had consumed his butterfly just last night.
As everyone knows: contamination-based abilities cannot separate from their human hosts. Only special mutants like Li Zhiyan can materialize and separate contamination from their bodies.
"If it were Shen Ji, I would’ve asked him for a few to cultivate myself."
Li Zhiyan muttered to himself, "What a shame. If it were Shen Ji, he would’ve generously given me some."
……
Shen Ji arrived at the facility, where the on-duty staff stopped him—clearly enforcing Wen Jingyu’s strict ban on work-related activities.
He called Wen Jingyu, and only after confirming Shen Ji’s entry did the staff smile and let him in.
"Ah, Dr. Shen! You’re finally better. You have no idea how much the other doctors here missed you while you were sick."
Shen Ji swiped his card to enter. "Thank you all for your concern. I’m fine now."
"Dr. Shen, make sure to rest properly. Don’t overwork yourself again."
"Of course, of course."
Instead of heading to the patient ward, Shen Ji went straight to Wen Jingyu’s office. The director had already been informed of his arrival and was waiting for him.
When Shen Ji knocked and entered, Wen Jingyu gestured for him to sit across from him with a smile.
Though Wen Jingyu wished Shen Ji could stay in Q City permanently—ensuring they had an extra safeguard against extreme contamination incidents—he also knew that beyond Q City, there were countless other cities, each with their own contaminated patients.
He couldn’t selfishly trap Shen Ji in Q City’s facility. So, he agreed.
In this era, all facility doctors were part of a collective. They could stay in one place forever—or go anywhere they were needed.
"Xiao Ji, this support mission isn’t too demanding. The director of F City is a friend of mine, and I’ve already spoken to her. Just go and assist—no need to worry about anything else."
Shen Ji nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Wen."
"No need for thanks. Just remember to protect yourself, alright?"
"If Li Zhiyan asks for your help, pretend you didn’t hear him. He’s an S-class Mutant—what could he possibly need our dear Dr. Shen’s help for?"
Shen Ji nodded earnestly, his tone warm yet teasing. "Aside from my duties, I won’t meddle in any unnecessary matters."
Wen Jingyu burst into laughter while patting Shen Ji’s shoulder in delight.
Of course, he knew Shen Ji was only saying that. If Shen Ji were truly the type to avoid getting involved, he wouldn’t have come to Q City in the first place and treated countless contaminated patients. He wouldn’t have agreed to help Li Zhiyan during the Peach Blossom Calamity incident, even if it meant suffering the consequences.
Shen Ji knew exactly what he was doing—and the price he might pay.
It was this very selflessness that Wen Jingyu admired, even moved him.
"I won’t say anything more. Do you want to see Mr. Li? For some reason, he came to the facility today and has been wandering around the patient ward ever since. He even checked yesterday’s surveillance footage in the monitoring room. When I asked what he was doing, he wouldn’t say."
"Maybe he’s waiting for you—and got bored in the meantime."
"Really?" Shen Ji frowned. "He’s been here all this time with nothing else to do?"
"Nothing at all." Wen Jingyu was equally puzzled. "I suppose S-class Mutants just have… unique personalities."
Although Li Zhiyan's personality is indeed unique, he doesn't seem like someone who'd casually stroll around the Containment Facility. Given his "would rather sit than stand, would rather lie down than sit" attitude, would he really go wandering around during his off-hours?
[Ah!]
The system suddenly spoke up, [I've got it!]
The system finally noticed something amiss, [Oh no! Shen Ji! I know why Li Zhiyan keeps hanging around the Containment Facility!]
[Yesterday those mushrooms didn't eat all the butterflies—one escaped and followed them to the facility! It got eaten here in the end! Li Zhiyan is here looking for the mushrooms!]
Shen Ji: "..."
He turned to look at the crevices in the facility walls.
As if aware they'd messed up, not a single mushroom dared poke its head out.
Rather than scolding the little mushrooms, Shen Ji quickly left the office building and headed for the patient wards to fix the situation.
[He's in Zone I right now, and he's holding something...]
[Could it be a special detector?]
[Shen Ji, are we about to be discovered? Is the plot truly irreversible? According to the original timeline, Chen Guo gets killed right about now, and the contamination gets exposed too!]
"Don't panic," Shen Ji said. "Li Zhiyan only found the mycelium. He hasn't discovered I'm its host yet.”
"There's still a chance."
Though he said this, Shen Ji wasn't confident about the situation.
If Li Zhiyan realized the mycelium's territory was the Containment Facility, he'd deduce its host must be someone here. Currently, the most likely candidate was Shen Ji—whose abilities remained undefined—and Shen Ji had many tells, like the facility's significantly improved cure rate for contamination diseases since his arrival.
Shen Ji worried that if he got exposed, would there still be time to pretend to be a Healing-type Mutant? After all, the little mushrooms could consume contamination—that was essentially a healer's ability.
As he wrestled with these thoughts, the elevator doors opened to reveal Li Zhiyan standing there.
Blinking at Shen Ji, Li Zhiyan said, "You're here."
Shen Ji quickly steadied himself. "Mr. Li, what brings you here?"
"Do you have a moment?" Li Zhiyan ignored the question and changed topics. "Could I make a request?"
Shen Ji looked at him curiously. "What is it?"
"Could I temporarily borrow the flowers I gave you?"
Shen Ji: "...?"
"My garden was destroyed, and I don't have any usable flowers left, so I wanted to borrow yours," Li Zhiyan explained. "I promise to take good care of them!"
[...]
'System, do you understand what Li Zhiyan's talking about?'
[No idea. This protagonist isn't normal—he's mentally unsound. It's perfectly normal for us not to follow his train of thought.]
Confusion replaced worry as Shen Ji accompanied Li Zhiyan back to the dormitory to retrieve the potted flowers from the balcony.
Shen Ji had cared for them well—the pale blue petals stretched out gracefully like a swan's neck against the sky, strikingly beautiful.
They returned to Zone I together.
Shen Ji watched as Li Zhiyan placed the flowerpot on the corridor floor.
But that wasn't all. Li Zhiyan then tapped a petal with his finger, and several butterflies materialized out of thin air and fluttering around the flowers.
After finishing all this, Li Zhiyan pulled Shen Ji over to squat by the waiting room door then quietly observed the flower pot.
Shen Ji finally spoke up, "Mr. Li."
"What exactly are we doing?"
"Mushroom fishing."
[...Mushroom fishing?]
Noticing Shen Ji's confusion, Li Zhiyan elaborated further.
"I caught some strange fungal threads in the nightmare before. They were quite beautiful, but later they ruined my garden and seemed to have escaped into the Containment Facility."
"I made a list of things they've eaten: seeds of the Peach Blossom Calamity, my flowers, and my butterflies."
"Since we can't replicate the Peach Blossom Calamity seeds, we'll have to use flowers and butterflies instead."
Li Zhiyan said excitedly, "It's been a while since I last went fishing, but this feels more like catching sparrows."
Shen Ji: ...
'System, were we worrying for nothing?'
[While buying time is good, I can't help feeling particularly resentful for some reason.]
The system lamented: [How could a protagonist like Li Zhiyan discover Hui in the original story and end up ruining the plot?]
'You shouldn't blame Li Zhiyan for that. Blame the author who wrote the bad ending.'
[Reporter, don't be biased—we should dislike them both equally!]
They squatted by the waiting room door for a long time.
During this, Zhang Qingli came by to deliver medicine to patients and saw Shen Ji. He pointed at Li Zhiyan in confusion, asking what they were doing.
Li Zhiyan replied they were catching sparrows.
Zhang Qingli looked around strangely, confirming this was indeed the Containment Facility and not a forest before nodding at them.
He just reminded them not to scare passersby and left.
[Truly worthy of being called Bodhisattva Zhang! He didn't even question it, just told you not to scare people!]
Finally, Li Zhiyan grew tired of squatting. He turned his head and yawned.
Seizing the opportunity, the fungal threads—visible to Shen Ji—swiftly descended from the ceiling. Their tendrils shot out, and in the blink of an eye, a small butterfly disappeared.
Shen Ji: ...
Risking it all for a meal!
After yawning, Li Zhiyan looked at the flower pot before him.
"Did I lose a butterfly just now?"
"Did you see anything?"
Shen Ji shook his head without changing expression. "Saw nothing."
"How strange. Did I see a ghost?" Li Zhiyan stood up and walked to the flower pot before counting the butterflies again.
Shen Ji followed him over and said solemnly, "Maybe it really was a ghost."
"Are ghosts scarier than Pollutants?"
"Not really."
Li Zhiyan stretched out his arm, and the butterflies landed on it in unison before vanishing into thin air.
Shen Ji watched Li Zhiyan intently and asked after a few seconds,
"Mr. Li."
"You don't seem very concerned." Shen Ji was referring to his casual placement of the flower pot in the hallway. "If this really is something from the nightmare, shouldn't we take it more seriously?"
"Should we?" Li Zhiyan thought about it puzzledly. "But I didn't sense any threat from it."
There was dislike, avoidance, and a desperate urge to escape capture—but no hostility whatsoever.
Contaminants were aggregates of obsession and malice, harboring pure hostility and hunger toward nearly everyone. Yet Li Zhiyan felt none of that from these little mushrooms.
Li Zhiyan followed them from the nightmare realm to his own garden, then pursued them all the way to the Containment Facility. Aside from losing a few butterflies and having his entire garden destroyed in a fit of rage, these little mushrooms hadn’t caused any real harm—not even a trace of contamination. Hidden within the facility, they even managed to consume much of the contamination in the air.
Harmless and timid.
Their only flaw was being impossible to catch.
Li Zhiyan wasn’t the type to discriminate—if he were, he wouldn’t have cultivated an entire garden of contaminated flowers. In his worldview, there was no concept of "contamination must be eradicated."
"Innocent until proven guilty," Li Zhiyan generously shared with Shen Ji. "Don’t you want to see those crystal-clear little mushrooms?"
"They’re really beautiful."
[Indeed, the protagonist in the original work had a history of sparing contaminated beings.] The system’s voice carried a hint of hesitation. [He doesn’t hold grudges against evil, nor is he particularly dutiful—he simply acts on his whims.]
[In the normal storyline, Hui would’ve remained hidden and never be discovered by the world. He wouldn’t have entered human society, and if Li Zhiyan had crossed paths with him somewhere, they might’ve even exchanged a few peaceful words without conflict.]
But that was impossible now.
By the time Shen Ji transmigrated into this world, Hui had already infiltrated human society, triggering a contamination leak at the facility and causing widespread contamination in Q City.
He studied Li Zhiyan’s face—the man was still fiddling with the flowers in his arms, trying to find a way to lure out the little mushrooms without damaging the plants.
Shen Ji thought: Getting familiar with the protagonist really isn’t a good thing. I can’t even bring myself to hurt him now.
He averted his gaze as a trace of resignation flickering in his eyes behind black-framed glasses.
What a shame. They were destined to be enemies.
Translator:
Hahaha mischievous little mushrooms
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Advanced chapters are now available up to chapter 105 (End of Main Text) on my Ko-fi page!
If you appreciate what I do, please consider supporting me on kofi. Thank you!
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•