Pollutant Disguise Plan (POLLUTANT)
Even with a jacket draped over their heads, the rain still fell where it pleased, soaking through regardless.
As a staunch opponent of rain, Li Zhiyan despised this deeply and began to slacken his pace.
He wanted to crawl into a hollow tree and wait out the storm.
Butterflies shouldn’t be trudging through the rain.
After dragging the escape-prone Li Zhiyan back for the third time, Shen Ji nearly resorted to tying him up with a rope just to keep him moving.
Fortunately, Shen Ji wasn’t that ruthless. Instead, he did the same thing that Li Zhiyan had done when pulling him out of the crystal forest—he handed him the sleeve of his jacket.
Li Zhiyan took it, baffled. “What’s this for?”
“I’ll lead you,” Shen Ji said. “You don’t have to look up. Just follow my pull. Would that make the rain a little more bearable?”
Li Zhiyan tilted his head. How could it?
Wet was wet. Bowing his head wouldn’t magically dry his clothes.
Yet in the end, Li Zhiyan still gripped the sleeve and let Shen Ji guide him forward.
The coat was completely soaked through as water kept dripping when squeezed, glistening on his fingers. Li Zhiyan stared at it for a moment before lifting his gaze to Shen Ji, who was pulling him forward. His blue eyes were intensely focused, as if trying to imprint the figure before him into his pupils.
He wasn't sure what he was thinking and just watched calmly.
For once, it was strangely quiet.
[What's the difference between this and holding hands?] The system quipped. [A protagonist and an antagonist playing follow-the-leader.]
'What else? Can't just leave him standing there alone.'
Shen Ji sighed internally, 'Abandoning someone goes against my character. I'm a compassionate facility medic—how could I not save someone in need?'
[...Shen Ji, let me give you some common sense: Butterflies don't die from rain.]
Ignoring the system, Shen Ji continued walking while orienting himself.
The little mushrooms frolicked wildly in the rain like unleashed puppies, nibbling at everything while dutifully reporting path conditions to Shen Ji.
After some time, Shen Ji halted.
Though he knew the general direction, locating Chu Ye's exact position remained impossible. Aimless searching wouldn't help.
Just then, a voice suddenly spoke in Shen Ji's ear.
"Can you hear me?"
Startled, Shen Ji glanced back at Li Zhiyan, who remained listless as he merely lifted his eyelids in acknowledgment.
The voice belonged to Lu Zizheng from the doppelgänger forest earlier.
Lu Zizheng, a A-class Mutant with the [Psychic Link] ability, could connect all team members into a multi-channel mental network for simultaneous communication—an invaluable battlefield skill and the reason Chu Ye chose him as deputy.
"I've figured it out," Lu Zizheng's voice carried newfound determination. "My survival must mean something. Giving up would betray both myself and the captain—he's never given up on us."
Solemnly, he declared: "Mr. Li, let me guide you!"
After this proclamation, silence ensued. The awkward pause stretched until Lu Zizheng tentatively asked, "Mr. Li?"
"Hmm." Li Zhiyan responded weakly. "Can you control the rain? That's our biggest problem now."
Lu Zizheng: ...?
"Oh, the rain." He explained, "It's daily irrigation—ends in twenty minutes. Just hang on, Mr. Li."
With a sigh, Li Zhiyan let Shen Ji continue leading him forward.
"So, Mr. Lu, which way?"
"Straight ahead, then left at the fork. Avoid the right path—it's covered in morning glories."
Recalling the flowers, Shen Ji asked, "What's wrong with morning glories?"
"They grow human heads," Lu Zizheng shuddered when he remembered his escape. "Their stamens emerge from their mouths. When blooming, they... weep at you."
Picturing the scene, Shen Ji wordlessly turned left.
Fortunately, Lu Zizheng's timing was accurate. Exactly twenty minutes later, the irrigation system stopped, and the rain ceased.
Li Zhiyan finally took off the jacket that had been draped over his head.
His clothes were soaked and his hair clumped together in damp strands—especially noticeable since it was stark white, making the mess even more apparent. He shook his head like a cat trying to rid itself of water, though being human, it didn’t do much good.
Watching him start tugging at his tangled hair, Shen Ji sighed and stepped in to help straighten out the unruly mop.
"Stay still," Shen Ji said as he lightly patted his shoulder.
Only then did Li Zhiyan stop fidgeting. He let Shen Ji smooth out his disheveled white hair, sounding thoroughly pleased. "Dr. Shen, you really can do anything, huh?"
"You’re making me like you more and more. Seriously, won’t you consider joining the security team? I’ll agree to any condition."
"Maybe I shouldn’t have helped you after all," Shen Ji huffed. "Should’ve just left you out in the rain to find a tree hollow to crawl into."
"Please don’t. I’d be heartbroken if Dr. Shen ignored me."
A small blue butterfly appeared in the air, fluttering briefly in the damp surroundings before seeming to disdain the moisture in the air and landing on Shen Ji’s wrist. It shook its wings a few times before crawling up into his sleeve.
Shen Ji watched the butterfly’s odd behavior with curiosity.
"Butterfly," he said. "Why’d you summon it now?"
"Just letting it get some fresh air," Li Zhiyan replied while wringing water from his hair. "But they like you more, so they always end up near you."
"You don’t like them?"
"It’s not that I dislike them."
Shen Ji thought silently: It’s just that I’m afraid they’ll suddenly get eaten by the little mushrooms around here.
Fortunately, the mushrooms were still too busy enjoying the rain, crawling around and nibbling at things as if the entire botanical garden were their playground.
Having squeezed most of the water from his hair, Li Zhiyan resigned himself to his still-damp clothes—there was no changing in a contamination zone anyway. He reached toward Shen Ji’s wrist, and the butterfly perched on his sleeve fluttered over to land on his fingertip.
"Lu Zizheng," Li Zhiyan called. "Can you project the route to Chu Ye’s location for us?"
"Huh?" Lu Zizheng snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, uh, probably?"
"But I only remember the path from before. No idea if Gardener’s moved any plants or planted new ones."
Wait, what’s the deal between Li Zhiyan and this Dr. Shen?
Why does it feel so… ambiguous?
Back when he was alive, he’d constantly heard Chu Ye complain about Li Zhiyan and calling him an utterly abstract guy with zero romantic instincts—someone destined to die alone.
But now it seemed Chu Ye was the one who’d end up alone…
A rough map projected into Li Zhiyan and Shen Ji’s minds, finally giving them a general sense of their current location.
The Gardener’s botanical garden was massive, with different sections dedicated to different plants—except for the crystal trees, which were scattered throughout.
Crystal trees were the Gardener’s defensive species, acting like security guards. And just like any security force, they needed a captain—Chu Ye was the one the Gardener had chosen for the role.
"It won’t rain again, will it?" Shen Ji asked.
"Not today. The garden only gets watered once a day. Next watering won’t be until this time tomorrow."
Li Zhiyan frowned in disgust. "Normal plants would drown if watered once a day."
"There aren't any normal plants here," Shen Ji reassured him. "They're all human-plant hybrids. Maybe watering them once a day is just right for humans."
"Humans drink water through their mouths—they can't absorb it through watering," Li Zhiyan retorted. "So the Gardener must be out of his mind."
"Yes, exactly, the Gardener is out of his mind," Shen Ji agreed calmly.
Lu Zizheng: "..."
For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was third-wheeling.
But for the sake of the captain, being a third wheel was a small price to pay.
Lu Zizheng continued to guide the two while also sharing everything he knew as thoroughly as possible.
"The botanical garden is divided into the outer and inner zones. The outer zone contains plants the Gardener doesn’t particularly care for or those cultivated for utility. The inner zone is his true domain."
"I know a little about the outer zone, but I’ve never been to the inner one."
"The captain is the central crystal tree chosen by Gardener. He’s currently in the core forest area. If we’re too late, he’ll be assimilated by the crystal forest and turned into a plant under the Gardener’s control, just like the rest of us."
[The central crystal tree?]
The system suddenly understood. [In the original novel, Chu Ye’s contamination erupted, and the contaminated seed was reclaimed by the botanical garden after sprouting. He must have retained a sliver of his consciousness. The crystal forests are scattered throughout the garden, and as the central tree, he can exert some control over them and sensing their surroundings.]
[That’s how he managed to find Li Zhiyan and send him out.]
Hearing this, Shen Ji frowned slightly.
So Chu Ye’s final smile wasn’t the author’s mercy—it was his last, desperate act.
He refused to surrender, yet he was powerless.
Even if the story ended abruptly, the novel would fill in the logic once it became reality, resulting in this tragic tale.
‘We have to save him.’ After a moment of hesitation, Shen Ji made up his mind.
He did feel a pang of sympathy. After all, he was only human—a journalist who sought the truth. Moreover, Chu Ye had once been his patient.
He had watched Chu Ye endure pain during treatment, and though he gritted his teeth through every session, he endured it as he was desperate to recover, to return to the front lines, and to find his missing teammates.
Shen Ji had already healed him once. How could he bear to see him fall back into the shackles of fate?
Well, no choice but to see this rescue through.
The system sighed softly. [I knew it.]
[Then I’ll prepare the death-escape plan in advance. Little journalist, if anything goes wrong, we’ll have to distance ourselves from the plot immediately. We can only reconnect with the protagonist after avoiding the death timeline.]
Unlike its usual joking tone, the system now spoke with icy rationality, its mechanical voice devoid of warmth.
[To prevent our story from ending in ruins again.]
Shen Ji murmured, so softly it was almost inaudible, "To prevent this world from ending in ruins."
Li Zhiyan turned to look at him.
His pale blue eyes held a trace of curiosity and confusion. Shen Ji noticed his gaze and met it squarely.
Li Zhiyan saw his eyes clearly.
Drenched by the rain earlier, Shen Ji had eventually removed his glasses, revealing those striking black eyes.
Without the barrier of lenses, Li Zhiyan felt as though he could peer straight into Shen Ji’s soul—mysterious and laced with a hidden cunning, beautiful like a black lily. After holding his gaze for a long moment, Shen Ji reached into his pocket and handed him a hair tie.
"The clerk at the store gave this to me when you were changing earlier. I just remembered it now."
Shen Ji said, "If your hair’s bothering you, tie it up."
Li Zhiyan thought: Why would this world end in ruins? When there are people like this in it.
……
Following the route Lu Zizheng provided, they soon caught sight of the crystal forest.
"Here." Li Zhiyan handed him the sleeve of his coat. "Let's use this method to get in again."
Shen Ji reluctantly took the damp coat. "We can't keep doing this. What if we get separated later?"
"That won't happen."
Li Zhiyan's tone was both serious and casual. "Dr. Shen is too important to me. I wouldn't just lose you so easily."
Shen Ji: ...
He really says things like that without hesitation.
Pretending not to have heard, Shen Ji gripped the sleeve and stepped into the crystal forest while keeping his head down to avoid being affected by the illusions.
To distract him, Li Zhiyan kept talking.
"Dr. Shen, are you really unwilling to help me design my garden?"
"Mr. Li should arrange his garden according to his own preferences, not seek my opinion."
Li Zhiyan sighed. "But I feel you share some responsibility."
"Why?"
Why? Probably the principle of the son's debt being repaid by the father.
"Because I greatly admire your aesthetic sense. I'm sure you'd pick the most beautiful flowers suited for me. How about I give you some after they bloom?"
"Medical staff at the facility don't accept bribes."
"Don't be so strict. A little bribe won't hurt. I promise not to report you."
"People who say that usually report immediately after the bribe is taken. You want me fired so you can conveniently invite me to join the security team, don't you?"
Li Zhiyan: ...
After two seconds of silence, he suddenly realized, "So that's another way to do it!"
Shen Ji: ...
So you hadn't even thought of that.
"Then I should send more gifts."
"I won't accept them."
If rain was Li Zhiyan's nemesis, the crystal forest was Shen Ji's—especially now with the mycelium left outside.
He closed his eyes, sharing the mycelium's vision while being led by Li Zhiyan. The mycelium tried pulling him toward their preferred direction, while Li Zhiyan chose steadier paths.
Back and forth they went...
After the third detour toward the mycelium, Li Zhiyan finally tossed the coat aside and grabbed his wrist directly.
"Stop going that way." Li Zhiyan frowned and his tone exasperated. "What's over there that's so important?"
Shen Ji stayed silent.
Probably a lot of contamination.
The mycelium whined loudly in his ears, complaining that he was following the "big butterfly" instead of them and wailing that their master had been stolen away and didn't love them anymore.
Sigh. Raising kids was hard.
After soothing them with promises that the entire botanical garden's contamination would be theirs later, the little gluttons cheered up at the prospect of endless food and resumed guiding Shen Ji.
Thus, Shen Ji continued swaying between directions—though this time, Li Zhiyan's firm grip kept him from straying.
After a while, Li Zhiyan suddenly stopped.
"Something's wrong."
Shen Ji looked up at him.
Li Zhiyan's blue eyes turned wary as he scrutinized their surroundings.
"This isn't right. Chu Ye isn't here."
"This isn't the central zone of the crystal forest at all."
Gripping Shen Ji's wrist tighter, Li Zhiyan swiftly turned around. "Lu Zizheng was deceived."
They knew nothing about Lu Zizheng when he was alive, but the posthumous Lu Zizheng was merely a doppelgänger dummy born in the woods—crafted from the Gardener's plants and was unknowingly transformed long ago.
What he believed to be the central grove of the Crystal Forest was merely the area the Gardener wanted him to see.
……..
In the Crystal Forest, the Gardener burst into merry laughter.
It danced around Chu Ye in circles as it delighted roots continuously pierced through his body.
"How could it be? How could I be so careless?"
"This is my most precious central sapling. Did you really think you'd find it so easily?"
"Grow well, grow into a great tree. My sapling, sprout quickly!"
Chu Ye's pupils contracted.
He parted his lips slightly, wanting to speak, but lacking the strength to utter a single word. In the end, he conserved his energy and remained silent.
Lu Zizheng's words kept echoing in his ears—that man had squandered his innate talent entirely on this before death.
He couldn't... couldn't waste Lu Zizheng's final wish too.
Branches grew from his chest and roots piercing through his body into the earth. Leaves gradually unfurled as a seed blossomed deep within Chu Ye's heart—a crimson flower vibrant as blood.
Chu Ye began surrendering.
He stopped resisting with his contamination ability and just let the seed spread through his veins. Thus, the sprouting accelerated beyond imagination.
Amidst nearly paralyzing pain, Chu Ye started sensing the foreign contamination within his body.
Find him... find them...
An alarm suddenly blared from Li Zhiyan's device.
He pulled out the life detector from his pocket—the numbers plummeted as Chu Ye's vital signs faded.
"Chu Ye..."
A gust of wind rustled the crystalline leaves. Both Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan looked up simultaneously.
The illusion had dissolved.
Every tree in the Crystal Forest now swayed its branches toward one direction—as if pointing their way.
[Chu Ye stopped resisting!]
[He's merging with the central tree! To guide you!]
"Warning! Subject's vitality dropped by 67%!"
The life detector in Li Zhiyan's hand shrieked urgently.
"Warning! Contamination level risen to 85%!"
Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan simultaneously sprinted toward the direction indicated by the branches.
Crystal trees were the most common species in the botanical garden as it was scattered almost everywhere. Nearly every tree swayed in the wind and kept pointing the way like signposts while being enveloped in a faint haze of contamination.
Chu Ye’s consciousness grew increasingly hazy.
He thought: If Lu Zizheng knew his choice, he’d definitely be furious.
But beyond being their captain, beyond being Chu Ye, he was also a high-ranking officer of the Anti-Contamination Control Center—a soldier sworn to protect people from the ravages of contamination.
He shouldn’t run.
He shouldn’t be selfish.
Behind him lay countless homes with their lights still burning. He had to do what was necessary.
If death was unavoidable, then he would at least try to leave something behind for those who came after.
Li Zhiyan—
You must eliminate the Gardener.
Transparent branches slowly encased Chu Ye’s body, and the vibrant flowers gradually turned translucent, as if coated in glass.
That was the Crystal Heart—a fruit of contamination crystallized from Chu Ye’s very life.
"What an excellent incubator," the Gardener marveled while gazing at the blooming flowers. "It sprouted so quickly. Soon, very soon, it’ll grow into a towering tree!"
"After planting so many crystal trees, this is the most perfect one yet!"
The Gardener stared at the sapling with obsession, like a human watching their pet give birth to a litter of kittens.
Just as its excitement peaked, a sudden gust of wind swept through, causing the surrounding crystal trees to rustle faintly.
The Gardener looked up.
"Wind?" It muttered in confusion. "Why is there wind in my garden?"
Before it could ponder further, a small blue butterfly fluttered into view. It stared at the butterfly, only realizing what it was when the insect exploded right before its eyes.
A surge of intense contamination forced the Gardener back three meters.
"What?!" It whipped its head around in shock. "How did they find this place?!"
Then, as if finally comprehending, it glanced at the wind in the sky before turning back to Chu Ye that was now completely shrouded in branches.
Its eyes widened. "...You used my central tree to send them a message?!"
Through the gaps in the foliage, Chu Ye weakly parted his lips. He gritted his teeth before forcing out a pained, mocking grin.
No sound escaped him, but the Gardener read his lips all the same.
Serves you right.
The Gardener had been betrayed by its own plants.
The sting of betrayal from its most beloved creation drove the Gardener to the brink of madness.
Its pupils shifted from green to blood-red as overwhelming contamination erupted from its body. The surrounding crystal trees, unable to withstand the surge, rapidly decayed. Immediately clearing a ten-meter radius in mere seconds.
Its hand shot toward Chu Ye that was still half-buried in the ground, eyes burning with hatred.
At that moment, more butterflies surged forward, shielding Chu Ye as they flapped their wings and crashed into the Gardener. The creature crushed one, only for dozens more to take its place.
Then Li Zhiyan finally arrived, stepping between Chu Ye and the Gardener, his pale blue eyes reflecting the monstrous figure before him.
"I’m late," Li Zhiyan said.
Chu Ye couldn’t speak, but the moment he saw Li Zhiyan, the tension in his chest eased, and he let out a slow, exhausted breath.
He was so tired.
He hadn’t meant for this to happen.
He just… really wanted to rest.
"Don’t sleep."
Another voice whispered in his ear.
Shen Ji gripped the branch embedded in the center of Chu Ye's heart. With a slight tug, the pain forced Chu Ye's eyes open.
His terrified gaze locked with Shen Ji's.
What—?!
Faintly, he could see strange silver patterns in Shen Ji's eyes. Small, indistinct shapes emerged from Shen Ji's damp hair—Chu Ye's numbed mind struggled to identify them.
Were those... accidentally caught twigs?
"It will hurt a little," Shen Ji said while maintaining eye contact. "But after the pain, you'll live."
His words mirrored exactly what he'd said when treating Chu Ye before.
"Don't worry. If I can't save you, I'll prepare a coffin for you. What kind would you prefer?"
Shen Ji asked gently, "How about an ice coffin?"
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