Chapter 12: East City of Q City

Chapter 12: Q City East District

This area was taken over by higher-level security teams, and their rescue team needed to evacuate to another zone.

Shen Ji found a seat and sat down, letting out a long sigh.

Finally over.

"We absorbed the Raven's pollution, but the Raven alone isn't enough to fully utilize the ability. After all, this is a two-in-one pollutant—we still need to find the Undertaker."

Shen Ji looked at his wrist. After becoming the Filth, he had examined his entire body. Aside from growing mushrooms in high-pollution zones—though he had overcome that and no longer sprouted them randomly—he noticed his veins weren't blue but silver-white.

Those silver-white veins flowed with transparent blood, like mushroom sap. Thinking about it, it actually smelled quite sweet.

"...Sweet-smelling? Are you even human?"

Ignoring the system's snark, Shen Ji continued observing his wrist. After devouring the Raven, he felt a sharp pain there, and only now dared to take a discreet look. Sure enough, he found a tiny mushroom on his wrist, its cap a deep black on top—clearly inedible.

Such a wonderfully anime-esque little shroom.

"Pollution Talents in the pollution realm can devour each other, but not all pollutants will absorb others' abilities. It's like game skills: continuously devouring other Pollution Talents is like having several Level 1 skills, but by leveling up, you can upgrade your own skill to Level 5 or even Level 10."

"So low-level pollutants like to devour each other's Pollution Talents, while high-level pollutants upgrade their unique Pollution Talent."

"The Filth is an exception. His Pollution Talent is devouring—he can directly digest other pollutants' skills and inherit their skill levels. It's basically a glitch."

"Ugh!"

A violent retching sound erupted in the vehicle. Shen Ji turned to look behind him and saw a familiar figure leaning against the seat, dry-heaving incessantly.

Zhang Qingli.

"Ah—" the system sighed. "Poor Zhang Qingli. Because of his Talent, the higher the pollution level, the more severe his reaction. Now it's progressed from extreme anxiety to physical symptoms—trembling and vomiting from emotional distress. Since it's not an illness, he can't relieve it with medication."

"I remember he didn't react this badly around me?"

"That was just a joke before. He's only a D-class mutant—with your concealment ability, he couldn't detect you, and his Talent wouldn't react."

Shen Ji pondered. "So the current environmental pollution level is strong enough to make him vomit?"

"Correct."

As soon as the system finished speaking, the vehicle slammed on its brakes. With a bang, everyone not wearing seatbelts was thrown forward, including Zhang Qingli, who had been dry-heaving moments before.

"Holy shit, driver, what are you doing?!"

"That hurt like hell!"

"What's going on? Weren't you guys supposed to be the steadiest drivers?"

The driver didn't respond. Pale-faced, he stared fearfully out the window. Several seconds later, someone grabbed him by the collar, and only then did he turn around. Seeing the driver's expression, the person who grabbed him let go. That look of terror... something must have happened.

"Driver, you...?"

Zhang Qingli, who had climbed up from the floor, was still vomiting. The vehicle fell dead silent, except for the sound of his retching.

The driver trembled as he pointed outside. "I—I just saw a pitch-black person standing there. The person was two meters tall, shadow-like, blocking the road. I hit the brakes instinctively, and then it was gone. Is—is it the Undertaker?"

No one dared to confirm, but everyone's faces turned extremely grim.

These people were just medical staff sent by the shelter to assist with rescue operations. They were on their way to evacuate.

And they ran into the Undertaker?!

"Everyone, calm down! We're on the front lines now, and we understand better than anyone that this kind of thing can happen. Everyone here signed the petition willingly." Finally, an older doctor with some standing in the shelter stood up and spoke. "We're medical personnel, but most of us are mutants. The probability of us being polluted is very low!"

"Wrong. Most people here are mutants below C-level," the system countered. "High-level pollutants can still pollute low-level mutants."

Shen Ji got up from his seat and went over to help Zhang Qingli, who was still struggling to get up due to his vomiting.

Zhang Qingli grabbed Shen Ji's sleeve, but a flicker of fear flashed in his eyes. He was looking behind Shen Ji.

"B-behind!"

Everyone turned to look at the rear window simultaneously. The next moment, everyone gasped.

A massive black shadow was smeared tightly against the rear window, its gaping black eyes fixed intently on everyone inside the vehicle. Slowly, it opened its mouth, its crimson tongue sticking to the glass—an exaggeratedly terrifying effect.

*Note: This is not the Undertaker's main body but a pollution avatar. Even if you use hyphae to grab it, it's useless.*

The hyphae regretfully retreated.

Shen Ji thought for a moment, then reached out and covered Zhang Qingli's mouth to prevent him from vomiting again.

"Quiet," Shen Ji said calmly. "Pollution is linked to emotions. Everyone here is steady-nerved. Don't be afraid."

As that doctor had said: the shelter's personnel were battle-hardened. Everyone who signed knew what they might face. They had already seen all kinds of pollution patients in the wards, so seeing the pollutant itself now wouldn't terrify them too much.

After pressing against the rear window for a while with no apparent gains, the black shadow slowly peeled its face off the glass and vanished several seconds later.

Everyone in the vehicle waited a full ten minutes, making sure the thing didn't return, before someone finally heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

"I'm... fine now." Zhang Qingli pushed Shen Ji's hand away. After the Undertaker left, his vomiting subsided.

But the driver spoke up, trembling. "The vehicle won't start! No matter what I do, it won't start!"

"Actually, I can't reach the Pollution Prevention Center or the shelter either," another doctor, responsible for liaising with the security teams, added. "The security team's channel was cut off just now. I've been trying for a long time but still can't reconnect."

The doctor who had spoken first stood up and looked out the window.

"Are we... trapped?"

"By the Undertaker..."

/

The vehicle couldn't start for some inexplicable reason, communications were completely cut off, and all of them were trapped in an unmapped area of the East District.

Sitting around eating through their reserves was out of the question, but with night falling, going out at such a time was practically suicide. So everyone in the vehicle decided to split into several teams for shifts at different times, waiting until the next day to search for a way out or bring back some edible food to sustain them until the Pollution Prevention Center noticed their disappearance and found them.

Shen Ji was unfortunately assigned to the third shift: 1 a.m.

On the same shift were Zhang Qingli, who had stopped vomiting, and an unfamiliar doctor, Liu Chuanyang.

Sleeping while sitting was pure torture. Since pollutants didn't need sleep anyway, Shen Ji didn't force himself to rest like the others to keep their wits and stayed awake until the late-night shift change.

Truth be told, few could actually sleep that night; most just closed their eyes and feigned sleep. The sudden situation had everyone on edge.

"It's so cold." Liu Chuanyang, huddled in his coat and guarding the vehicle door, spoke softly. His voice was slightly stammered, teeth chattering from the cold.

"Autumn just began not long ago. Why's it so cold already?"

Zhang Qingli turned his head and muttered under his breath. Shen Ji didn't quite catch what he said, only to see Zhang Qingli take off his own coat and throw it at him.

Liu Chuanyang gave Zhang Qingli a grateful look, hurriedly draping the coat over himself and letting out a long, contented sigh.

Was it really that cold? Shen Ji mused.

Of course, he wasn’t afraid of the cold—after all, he was a mutant, not bothered by the cold at all. But seeing how easily Zhang Qingli had taken off his coat, he guessed Zhang Qingli wasn’t cold either.

"After being contaminated, humans have different reactions to contamination. Like illnesses, these reactions first affect human perception—temperature, the five senses, mental state. If someone shows extreme abnormalities in perception, that’s a red flag."

Shen Ji glanced at Zhang Qingli beside him and noticed Zhang Qingli scratching his head and frowning, but his gaze was fixed on Liu Chuanyang.

Contaminated patients never realize their own abnormal conditions. Liu Chuanyang was no different.

Even with an extra coat, he was still shivering. Seeming to think changing the subject would help, he spoke up.

"Why did you sign up? Look, this place is dangerous, and we’ve wound up in such a terrifying situation."

Liu Chuanyang rubbed his hands as he asked them, "I signed up because my mother is a doctor stationed in East City. I was worried about her, so I registered afterward."

"Luckily, we found each other—just got stuck here together."

Zhang Qingli sneezed, his frown deepening.

"I wanted to dissect a mutant. I propose it every year, but it gets rejected every time." After sneezing, Zhang Qingli spoke up, "This time, I planned to negotiate directly with the guard team on the battlefield."

"Have to say, I’m starting to like him more and more. Now that’s what a good doctor for humanity looks like."

As their attention shifted to Shen Ji, he adjusted his glasses and put on a serious face as he answered.

"I wanted to get some experience."

"Experience in such a dangerous place?"

"Even though I’ve awakened as a mutant, I haven't shown any special abilities yet. The inspector said it might be because I haven’t encountered an event stimulating enough." Shen Ji gave a slight, somewhat sad smile. "I really want to know if my special ability is of any use."

"Perfect reason."

Liu Chuanyang couldn’t take it anymore. He said he was going to find a blanket and got up from his spot by the door, leaving only Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli behind.

Zhang Qingli, who'd stayed behind, slowly put his hand over his mouth and nose. A few seconds later, he finally spoke.

"Liu Chuanyang’s mother isn’t here."

Shen Ji pretended to be puzzled. "What did you say?"

"His mother was stationed in East City, but she was recalled to the containment center to help before the contamination outbreak. It’s very likely his mother wanted to come back this time, and he stopped her, signing up in her place instead."

"His memory is disordered."

By now, Zhang Qingli was pretty sure that Liu Chuanyang had been contaminated, but he didn’t know what to do. In this situation...

Before Zhang Qingli could decide what to do, a blood-curdling scream suddenly came from Liu Chuanyang at the back of the vehicle, snapping everyone inside awake.

"What’s wrong?"

"What the hell?! What happened?! Who’s screaming?!"

Liu Chuanyang kept screaming, throwing all the coats off his body and trampling the blanket underfoot. He wasn't paying attention to anything else, just searching frantically around the vehicle, terrified.

He grabbed his hair and screamed, "Where is my mother?!"

"How did she disappear?! She was just here! Mom! Where's my mom?!"

"My mother is missing! Was she taken away by the Gravediggers!"

Zhang Qingli coughed violently, and the coworkers present also remembered Liu Chuanyang's mother.

"Liu Chuanyang! Your mother didn’t come! She’s still at headquarters!"

"No, she was just here! She came!" Liu Chuanyang pointed at an empty space in front of him, "She disappeared right in front of me! My mother is missing!"

"Are you all contaminated?! How can you all say a living person doesn't exist!"

As soon as the word "contamination" was uttered, everyone present's faces fell. They all caught on—after all, who knew the signs of contamination better than the people in this room?

The one contaminated was: Liu Chuanyang.

While Liu Chuanyang was distracted by his frenzy, Shen Ji stood up and walked behind him. He delivered a swift chop to the back of Liu Chuanyang’s neck; his body shuddered and then went limp, collapsing.

Shen Ji caught him as he fell.

'So damn noisy.'

"Nice aim, Host."

After laying Liu Chuanyang on the ground, Shen Ji noticed the vehicle was dead silent. He looked up to find everyone staring at him with a mix of admiration and astonishment.

Shen Ji slightly lowered his head. The light hit his glasses, glinting with a mysterious white light.

"This should stop him from spiraling further. Letting this go on would cause his pollution level to spiral out of control," Shen Ji said. "For now, get him a pollution inhibitor shot."

"Right, right! We have pollution inhibitors here. Hurry up and give him the shot!"

"That was so sharp! So decisive! So badass!"

"Which district are you from? Can we swap info after this is over?"

Shen Ji: ...

Gotta say, the people from containment are something else—even now, they’re still hung up on swapping digits later.