Chapter 9: Pollution Containment Shelter

Chapter 9: Pollution Containment Shelter

Chen Guo became the first patient to be discharged fully recovered from Q City's Shelter.

Perhaps it couldn't exactly be called a full recovery—she had contained the pollution within her body, successfully awakening her pollution talent and becoming the youngest mutant in all of Q City.

Several doctors coaxed the child out of the treatment area and performed a full physical examination on her. They ultimately determined that she had awakened a sensory-type Talent, making her extremely sensitive to pollution, but due to her age, she could only cry and feel discomfort.

This promising seedling had the doctors all smiles.

Sensory-type Talents were scarce resources both in the security forces and at the Shelter. They could detect pollutants earlier and over a wider range than machines, making them perfect support staff.

"As a pollutant, she could detect high-level pollution; as a mutant, she's a sharp sensory-type. It seems a person's evolutionary path may differ, but the abilities gained are somewhat similar."

Shen Ji held Chen Guo's file, casually analyzing it with the system.

"However, pollutants and mutants differ greatly in terms of ability. Mutants can manipulate and use pollution, but they're still human and can't harness pollution to its full potential. Pollutants are different—pollution is their very essence. Using pollution is as simple as eating or drinking for them."

"According to the novel's setting: pollutants are a higher-level evolved form than mutants, functioning at a tier above mutants when using Pollution Talent. So, in the book, S-class pollutants are extremely rare, each one a terrifying existence capable of cataclysmic destruction."

"When Chen Guo was a pollutant, her level could reach A or even A+. As a mutant, she can only start from level C and progress slowly from there."

Shen Ji turned a page; data and text reflected on his glasses, making him appear even more serious.

"Don't overthink it. Web novels are written by people. No matter how advanced, the ending will always be humanity's victory."

"Though that's true, you're really dampening the mood. At least celebrate that we successfully avoided being discovered!"

Shen Ji: ...

A system that liked to celebrate? Shen Ji grew increasingly worried about his own safety.

"Shen Ji." Someone called his name.

Shen Ji turned to look beside him. Zhang Qingli was walking over from the archives room next door, carrying a large stack of documents.

"There's a change with the patient under your care." Zhang Qingli handed the top file to Shen Ji. "This is your new patient."

With Chen Guo discharged, Shen Ji had one fewer patient. It had been announced during the morning meeting that he would be assigned a new patient, possibly even two. The Shelter was constantly changing, and nothing was certain.

Shen Ji took the file. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Zhang Qingli turned to leave. "Just don't cause me any trouble."

"Zhang Qingli, a D-level mutant. His Talent is 'Danger Sense,' causing emotional distress when facing dangerous pollution. Since the pollution leak at the Shelter, he has maintained a poor disposition up to now. His attitude signifies that danger still exists within the Shelter—a shared understanding among all Shelter staff..."

"However, Zhang Qingli only becomes agitated in the face of threat but can't identify the source of the danger. So, he doesn't realize that his emotions might not stem from the Shelter itself but from a certain staff member around him—an S-class pollutant posing as human."

"Shut up." Shen Ji cut the system off. "Too cringey. I'm not interested in this novel."

"But the original work is exactly this style. How did you even read it?"

The system retorted indignantly, "The three plans you prepared earlier are useless now anyway. Zhang Qingli wasn't suspicious of you; it's just his Talent making him extremely emotional toward everyone. You were trying to scam him back then."

"So I'm upset."

Shen Ji was nonchalant yet self-righteous. "I lost out on reputation damages compensation and internship credits."

"..."

Ignoring the system, Shen Ji began reviewing his newly assigned patient, only to realize it was the patient labeled 'Decaying Organism' he had previously examined with Doctor Wang.

"Due to lack of medical progress, some healthcare workers exposed to occupational hazards have been transferred to the general ward for various experimental approaches," Shen Ji read the notes. "This contaminated case is unique; its external severity appears worse than other contaminations, but the contamination readings are low."

Shen Ji put away the file and headed directly to Ward I.

The sanctuary acted swiftly—by the time Shen Ji arrived, the two patients had already been transferred. Even through a layer of isolation glass, he could see the horrifying marks on their bodies. Their limbs had mostly rotted away, leaving pale bones dangling beneath their clothing.

Externally, they seemed to be on the verge of death, but the contamination detection value beside them was only 19.

Such a low contamination value had already brought the patients to the point of agony and collapse.

After standing there pondering for a moment, Shen Ji frowned slightly.

"System, what methods does the sanctuary use to treat contamination? Can special drugs completely eliminate it?"

"Contamination illnesses are difficult to treat. At this stage, the sanctuary can only suppress the contamination. Even the medications used now are made from a new species that appeared after the Red Mist Incident—a highly toxic fruit. Its toxins must be specially filtered before it can be administered to patients, as it has contamination-suppressing effects."

"Unfortunately, true Healingtype mutants are extremely rare. They aren't one in ten thousand; they’re one in a million."

"Healingtype mutants are humanity's greatest treasure. Whenever one appears, it’s nothing short of a godsend."

Shen Ji watched the patients in the isolation room thoughtfully, his dark eyes mirroring their forms.

When Shen Ji fell silent, no one could guess what he was thinking, for his gaze was always sharp and cold. Whenever he focused intently on something, it inevitably made others fearful.

Just like this time, Shen Ji suddenly uttered a terrifying statement.

"I should’ve just disposed of Chen Guo earlier. This is such a pain now."

"...Tell me, do you actually have some horrifying side job?"

"No, it's just that my nosey DNA kicked in."

Though he called it meddling, those familiar with Shen Ji would argue it was more like "unafraid to stir up trouble."

Shen Ji graduated from a top-tier media university. Even before finishing his studies, he helped his classmates expose a professor for academic misconduct and paper fraud, leveraging the internet to start a huge uproar.

The professor's students had sought media help but found no support. At the time, the internet wasn't as developed as it is now. In the end, it was Shen Ji, then still a student, who assisted them. With one stir, he created a tidal wave of attention, successfully exposing and condemning the professor. The professor was eventually dismissed, and his students were reassigned to other advisors.

It was a decisive victory and became the first notable entry of Shen Ji's post-graduation resume.

Shen Ji's response to this was: he only does what he believes is right.

This has always been his life principle.

Without further small talk with the system, Shen Ji began giving medication to the new patients. This time, however, he did not include mycelium.

Due to their rotting limbs, the patients were unable to eat on their own. Even their abdominal cavities had multiple areas of decay. Their survival until now was solely due to the effects of contamination. The sanctuary's medications could slow their contamination, but their decaying bodies still caused unbearable pain, despite the heavy doses of painkillers mixed in.

While feeding them medication, Shen Ji saw the numbness in their eyes. Swallowing the medicine was so agonizing they wished for immediate death.

"It will get better," Shen Ji reassured them as he administered the drugs. "Once the contamination is gone, the body's self-healing ability will recover. The wounds will heal, and the pain will stop."

"Just hang in a little longer."

"...If only I didn’t know you were grumbling about the hassle just a minute ago."

'Complaining about trouble doesn’t mean I’ll do nothing.' Shen Ji placed them in soft, specialized devices to prevent further trauma to their decaying limbs.

'I'm a human with a perfectly normal level of empathy.'

That's true; at least up to now, Shen Ji has never done anything harmful to humans, even treating contaminated patients at the shelter.

How touching.

After finishing treating all his patients, Shen Ji walked out of the isolation room, and the device he carried with him promptly alerted him.

Yes, today the shelter had given him a communicator, the type assigned to all mutants at the shelter.

Shen Ji opened the communicator and saw it was a "petition."

"Emergency Notice: The disaster pollution level in Q City has been raised to Class C! Class C disaster pollution requires the shelter to cooperate with the guard team. Vehicles must be dispatched to follow the guard team into the contaminated area for containment and transfer of patients. This notice is being sent to all doctors at the shelter equipped with communicators and all mutant employees on duty. This task is not mandatory; volunteers, please leave your signatures."

"Follow the vehicle into the contaminated area?" Shen Ji recalled the original plot. "Didn’t the Undertaker appear shortly after Q City’s pollution level was raised to C?"

"Exactly, the Undertaker is about to appear."

Good.

Shen Ji nodded, hit "agree" on the petition that had been sent, and signed his name.

He had previously been unsure how to reasonably enter the contaminated area, but now that problem was completely solved. He was, after all, the doctor coming with the shelter’s vehicle into the area—it was perfectly normal, right? He even had a work badge!

Perfect!

On the other side, several doctors who had been waiting for the outcome were excitedly discussing Chen Guo’s cure.

As they talked, Doctor Wang suddenly laughed.

"I knew it."

Doctor Wang placed the petition he had received on the table. "He really chose to agree."

Laughing, Doctor Wang then burst into tears. He couldn’t help but put his head down on the table, crying his eyes out, his face a wet mess, which was quite a sight for a man his age. The other doctors hurried over to comfort him, each with a smile on their face, because everyone knew: these were tears of joy.

Not only had he cured a patient, but she had even awakened a Talent and become a mutant after her recovery. What an incredible ability!

At least in the eyes of those present... he was practically a god walking the earth.

In the midst of this sudden disaster, a powerful Healing-type mutant had emerged, hiding among the people, healing the sick, and working actual miracles.

You couldn't ask for a better hero story.

/

"Captain, have you heard?" Zhou Ye perched on the wall and started talking to Li Zhiyan, who was messing around on his phone by the wall. "The shelter cured a contaminated patient, and she even awakened as a sensory-type."

Li Zhiyan didn’t even look up. "Is there a Healing-type mutant?"

"Not sure. The shelter isn’t releasing any information; seems like there might be some secrets involved." Zhou Ye stroked his chin, like a kitten quietly scheming. "Wanna go steal the shelter’s records?"

"Don’t drag me into it." Li Zhiyan wasn’t about to indulge the kitten. "You can write your own damn report when you get caught."

Zhou Ye wilted; he was most afraid of being punished by the vice-captain to write a 10,000-word self-criticism.

But he still didn’t want to give up. "Don’t you think it’s strange, Captain? A contaminated patient recovering, and in just a few days at that—it's unheard of, never happened before and probably never will again. Could even those tightly hidden Healing-type mutants at the Pollution Prevention Center pull that off?"

Li Zhiyan looked up, lost in thought.

Zhou Ye immediately perked up. "Captain, are you tempted?!"

"I should go recruit a straight-laced guy." Li Zhiyan nodded, his expression deadly serious. "Our team needs a by-the-book type to be our frontman—someone extremely steady and reliable, who gives off a sense of security and makes our team look trustworthy at first glance."

Zhou Ye: "Seriously?"

Before Zhou Ye could complain, Li Zhiyan's eyes suddenly sharpened. His usual careless and unreliable demeanor was instantly replaced by a lethal sharpness.

Seeing Li Zhiyan in this state, Zhou Ye immediately jerked upright and dropped from the wall.

Before he could even ask what had happened, the comm device on his person abruptly rang. Due to the urgency of the situation, the comm device automatically connected before any manual operation.

"We need backup! I repeat, backup!"

"...East side of the city... massive contamination! Visible to the naked eye..."

"Level C!... The Gravedigger!"