Chapter 7: Pollution Containment Shelter

Chapter 7 Containment Shelter

By the time Shen Ji returned to the residential complex, Zhou Ye was already gone. After all, as a powerful mutant, he wouldn’t stay stationed in one area for long.

Stepping into the hallway of the old building, Shen Ji immediately noticed rows of small mushrooms clinging to the metal handrail. They nestled quietly, wrapping the railing in fluffy white clusters with little mushroom caps peeking out. Shen Ji gently pinched one with his finger—soft, damp, and squishy.

These mushrooms seemed to be treating this building as their territory, slowly expanding their presence.

“Would the protagonist really have nothing better to do than patrol this rundown complex?” Shen Ji felt a slight worry.

“In the original story, the protagonist is extremely sensitive to pollutants. Often, he can detect contamination before instruments even register it. The author refers to him as a ‘walking pollution sensor.’”

“He really does have too much free time. For a protagonist and the leader of an action team, going out to find mushrooms for soup is something I never expected.”

“It shows he has good taste,” Shen Ji retorted as he climbed the stairs. “Mushrooms are truly delicious!”

“…You’re not even a real person.”

“And most likely, no. This complex has already been cleared by the security team. At most, they’ll send patrols to maintain safety. The protagonist wouldn’t take on such tedious and boring work.”

“By the way, let’s talk about your plan to fake your death.”

Shen Ji: …

This really is turning into a novel plot.

Yanking the door open forcefully, a plump white mushroom fell through the gap onto the floor. Without even glancing at it, Shen Ji stepped into the white mushroom-filled world inside. The mushroom outside quickly dissolved into a strand of mycelium and slipped into the room through a crack, finding a spot to take root again.

The small mushrooms could sense their owner’s foul mood, so they obediently cleared a path for him. The mushrooms arranged themselves neatly, leaving a wide path leading to Shen Ji’s bed. Only the mushrooms on the bed seemed reluctant to part, clinging to the bedposts and forming an arched bridge.

Shen Ji lay down on the bed without even taking off his glasses, let out a long sigh, and pulled out his phone to scroll through.

“Hmm,” Shen Ji said dismissively. “How should I fake my death?”

“Actually, I haven’t figured it out yet. Faking your death requires a major precondition: you’ve already been exposed. Right now, you haven’t been.”

“But we still need to prepare in advance, just in case we need to fake your death when the time comes.”

Shen Ji rolled over onto his stomach and continued playing on his phone, the screen’s light reflecting off his glasses. “So?”

“Do you remember the Undertaker?”

“That collective-type pollutant?”

“The special-class pollutant, Undertaker, temporarily rated as Catastrophe Level A. ‘Undertaker’ is a collective term representing many identical pollutants, with varying levels of strength. The lowest-level Undertakers are only E-rank, while the highest observed by the Pollution Prevention Center is A-rank, so the entire Undertaker group is classified as Catastrophe Level A.”

“The Undertaker possesses a dual contamination nature, divided into the Raven and the Undertaker. During a pollution outbreak, the Raven announces the names of those targeted, marking the spread of a new wave of pollution. The Undertaker then appears near the announced individuals.”

“The A-rank Undertaker discovered by the Pollution Prevention Center has a remarkable trait: though the Raven and the Undertaker share a dual contamination origin, at A-rank, they become completely independent entities. Yet, their consciousness remains intertwined. Both must be killed simultaneously to end the contamination. If one survives, the other will regenerate.”

“We don’t need the Undertaker’s regeneration ability. What we need is its ability to create duplicates.”

Shen Ji looked up, a subtle glint in his dark eyes.

“You mean separating the identities of Shen Ji and Filth? If exposed, we can manipulate a duplicate of Filth to fake its death?”

“Exactly. It’s just that the A-rank Undertaker isn’t easy to find.”

“Pollutants can devour each other’s Pollution Talents. If you consume it, you can gain its ability.”

Indeed, Undertakers rarely appear in human cities. Most are found in wild, uncontrolled contaminated zones. Only low-level Undertakers occasionally enter urban areas.

Shen Ji thought for a moment. “What if we forcibly elevate its contamination level? Will its Pollution Talent also upgrade?”

“It should work. Filth possesses the purest form of contamination. Elevating its rank through such pure pollution would indeed enhance its Pollution Talent.”

“I’ve detected that a C-rank Undertaker will appear in Q City during this incident. You’re not thinking of…”

“Is there even a question?” Shen Ji’s voice held no hesitation, as if he were commenting on the nice weather. “Forcibly upgrade the Undertaker’s rank to enhance its Talent, then devour it and destroy the evidence. After all, this pollutant deserves to die.”

“…”

“Tell me the truth. Are you really just a journalist, or do you have a side job involving murder and arson?”

Shen Ji: …

How rude. He was simply looking for a way to protect himself. How could he be slandered like this?

The next day, Shen Ji strictly followed the manual to put on his protective suit and mask.

/

His task the previous day had been to familiarize himself with the patients and types of contamination diseases in Ward I. The containment shelter didn’t have time for him to learn slowly, so today he was assigned to interact with patients showing mild symptoms. Later, he would be responsible for monitoring the contamination levels of some patients.

Unexpectedly, among the patients assigned to him were Lin Yujuan and Chen Guo, the mother and daughter.

Given Lin Yujuan’s contamination levels, she shouldn’t have been assigned to a newcomer like him.

Carrying the documents, he headed toward the ward. Just as he stepped out of the changing room, he saw a bald old man in a white coat standing by the door, his name and position displayed on his badge.

“Wang Anle, Attending Physician of Ward II”

Seeing Shen Ji come out, the old man quickly leaned forward.

“Are you the new staff member?” the old man asked cheerfully. “Hello, hello! I’m your colleague from Ward II. We might need to collaborate on patient handovers in the future, so I thought I’d introduce myself early.”

Shen Ji looked at him strangely, completely unable to understand why he was striking up a conversation.

“Doctor Wang?” Shen Ji’s tone carried a hint of confusion. “I’m only responsible for mild-symptom patients in Ward I. I doubt we’ll need to collaborate anytime soon.”

Besides, he was just there to assist—observing patients’ conditions, administering medication, and distributing meals. He wasn’t involved in treatment at all.

In other words, he wasn’t a doctor. All patient medications were handled by dedicated physicians.

“Isn’t Lin Yujuan under your care?” Doctor Wang quickly added. “It’s fine, consider it a chance to get acquainted. I enjoy chatting with young people.”

“Well, I just wanted to say hello. You must be busy now, so I won’t keep you.”

With that, Doctor Wang cheerfully walked away.

Shen Ji watched him leave, and after a long moment, he spoke to the system.

‘What was that about?’

“The book doesn’t cover the containment shelter in much detail. Most of it focuses on the protagonist’s adventures and leveling up outside. Maybe this doctor just wants to be friends with young people.”

‘What?’ Shen Ji frowned slightly. ‘Something feels off.’

The way Doctor Wang looked at him was very strange. It wasn’t the gaze of an elder looking at a junior but more like a fervent fan excitedly staring at an idol. Even though he tried to act calm, Shen Ji’s years as a journalist had sharpened his ability to read people.

Could it be that during the time he and the system were unaware, Filth had done something incredibly good?

Harboring doubts, Shen Ji arrived at Zone I. This time, there was no one else accompanying him; Shen Ji was alone to check on his assigned patients.

Apart from Lin Yujuan and Chen Guo, the shelter had only assigned him three other patients. All three had very mild symptoms, were lucid, and were quite willing to cooperate with treatment. Shen Ji casually exchanged a few words with them, handed over the prescribed medication, and then made his way to the isolation room of Lin Yujuan and Chen Guo.

The system-detected pollution level had dropped by 5 compared to yesterday, now stable without any fluctuations.

Shen Ji nodded in satisfaction.

'Should we continue feeding them some mycelium now?' Shen Ji asked the system. 'Can we increase the dosage this time?'

"You can increase it a little, but not too much. Keep it within a range; too much could harm the patients."

Shen Ji mixed a small amount of mycelium into the medication they were about to take and then entered the isolation room with the drugs.

Even after a reduction of 5, Lin Yujuan's pollution level remained quite high. The moment Shen Ji stepped inside, she warily opened her eyes, shielding Chen Guo behind her and growled toward Shen Ji.

She would not allow anyone to approach her daughter.

"It's time to take your medicine," Shen Ji walked up to her, ignoring her elongated arms and the branch-like growths sprouting from her body, simply holding out the medication.

"Once you take the medicine, you'll recover."

Lin Yujuan, holding her daughter, slowly edged to the corner of the room. She was extremely uneasy. As a Contaminated patient, her senses had heightened significantly. Even though she was on the verge of losing her mind, she could still sense a threat from Shen Ji—an innate, overwhelming danger.

She was terrified, so much so that she almost wanted to dig a hole and hide in the ground immediately.

"Take your medicine," Shen Ji continued. "You should still be able to understand what I'm saying."

Lin Yujuan and Shen Ji locked eyes for a full five seconds. The next moment, Lin Yujuan swung her enlarged hand and snatched the medication from Shen Ji's grasp. She hurriedly shoved the drugs into her own mouth, originally intending to consume both doses herself. But under Shen Ji's cold stare, her movements faltered, and trembling, she fed one of the doses to her daughter.

Satisfied, Shen Ji left the isolation room.

"Classic you, directly intimidating a mother and her child with high-level pollution."

'It's for their own good,' Shen Ji said matter-of-factly. 'Only by taking the medicine can they recover. Even if I was a bit harsh, in the end, they're the ones who benefit.'

'I really am a kind person.'

The system responded helplessly, "So very kind indeed."

Pleased, Shen Ji wrapped up his work and left Zone I. He still had to write a brief text report. As a former journalist, this kind of task was second nature to him.

It was at this moment that the five doctors, who had been anxiously waiting, finally got what they were hoping for.

"Alert: Pollution level decreased by 8."

"Repeat alert: Pollution level in this isolation room has decreased by 8."

The five doctors couldn't help but widen their eyes.

"It dropped, it went down again! And this time, it dropped by 8 directly!"

"Oh my god! If it keeps dropping, the young patient might even recover completely. Her pollution level is now in the single digits!"

"He must have a special treatment method!"

Watching their excited colleagues, the narrow-eyed doctor couldn't help but cough to interrupt their celebration.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," the narrow-eyed doctor said. "Besides this, we can actually notice something else. For example, we assigned him five patients, but only Lin Yujuan and her daughter's pollution levels decreased. What does that indicate? It shows that he actually has limits. He might only be able to treat two patients at a time."

The doctors nodded repeatedly. "That makes sense, that makes sense. It's completely normal for such an ability to have restrictions."

"He probably chose this mother and daughter pair because of Lin Yujuan's special circumstances. We all understand that!"

"Wonderful! Maybe this time, everyone can be saved."

"Don't celebrate prematurely," the narrow-eyed doctor warned again. "Until the patients are fully recovered, we must not make any moves. Even if it truly can cure, we cannot publicize it."

"If this person... were to leave for the next area after being discovered, it would be a loss for all of us."

The four kept nodding. They were merely excited, but Doctor Wang had tears in his eyes, nearly choking up.

The other doctors sighed inwardly, pretending not to notice.

Doctor Wang was a mutant and also a doctor specializing in pollution disease treatment. His wife was likewise a doctor at the shelter but had been professionally exposed and contaminated during the 'shelter pollution leak incident' a few days ago. Her contamination progressed too rapidly and had now worsened to Stage III.

As a pollution treatment doctor, Doctor Wang was unable to treat his own wife, which nearly drove him to collapse.

He had been living like a ghost these past few days, almost succumbing to contamination alongside his wife. Never did he expect that hope would arrive now.

It turns out miracles really do happen.