Chapter 14: East City of Q City

Chapter 14: Q City East District

Liu Chuanyang softened at an unexpected speed, his muscles no longer hard as rocks nor cold like an air conditioner or fridge. The medical staff present showed great interest in his sudden drop in pollution level, so he was kept inside the vehicle.

The cost was having the entire vehicle of medical personnel occasionally touching and feeling him.

There wasn't a hint of lust, only the desire to dissect him remained.

But compared to research, survival was now the top priority. After all, Liu Chuanyang was a bona fide mutant, and even he had been contaminated. Everyone here was in grave danger.

So early the next morning, they split into several groups to search for a way out or to establish contact with the outside world.

Shen Ji wasn’t on the first list, but he volunteered to participate. Doctor Cheng initially disagreed, but faced with Shen Ji’s resolute gaze, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

"You look quite intimidating when you’re serious."

Walking on the empty streets, Shen Ji walked in one direction with his hands in his pockets. He walked casually but turned at every corner as if he had known exactly where he wanted to go from the start.

A gust of wind blew, and Shen Ji halted. The wind lifted his coat, and his transparent lenses obscured his view.

Shen Ji said casually, "When am I not serious?"

"I am a journalist. The journalist's code is: efficiency, seriousness, and reporting events truthfully. So I’ve always been serious."

"...Seriously thinking about stewing the mushrooms on you into mushroom soup?"

"Appetites are normal. Even little mushrooms get hungry too. All pollutants are gluttonous."

Shen Ji gazed at the bleak entrance of the residential area. "So, could it be hiding here, eating?"

After devouring the pollution on Liu Chuanyang, the hyphae began searching for nearby similar pollution. The Undertaker was indeed good at hiding. Even now, Shen Ji could only confirm through the hyphae that the pollution here was stronger than in other areas.

As for whether this intense pollution meant the Undertaker itself was here or that it had just finished wreaking havoc on a residential area... that remained unclear.

The Undertaker’s pollution outbreak was sudden. Q City was already under lockdown, with everyone in home quarantine. From the observation of the Undertaker to the pollution completely sweeping through the East District, it took merely half an hour.

"Whichever it is, it’s a terrifying situation for the survivors here. A highly polluted environment accelerates contamination, especially for vulnerable children and the elderly. Fortunately, infected children and the elderly rarely mutate into advanced pollutants. Healthy adults are more likely to cause large-scale catastrophes."

"What a dark joke."

"This also aligns with natural laws. In wars, children and the elderly are the groups that survive the least."

"Human existence itself is meant to defy such natural laws."

Shen Ji spoke in a very formal, very professional tone.

He stepped into the residential area and paused just past the entrance because he heard faint crying sounds.

Seeing no one through the glass, Shen Ji pushed the security booth’s door. It didn't open, so he circled to the other side and looked in through the window. This time, he finally saw the scene inside.

A man in a security guard uniform was leaning against the door, sobbing. A phone with a glowing white screen lay at his feet.

His body was covered in a thick covering of black feathers, his face had become oval with prominent cheekbones. He held a corpse in his arms, its blood soaking through his security uniform and staining his newly grown black feathers.

"You’re dead, you’re dead," he mumbled to himself.

His eyes were filled with despair, sorrow... and a faint trace of excitement.

"Pollution from the Undertaker’s mutation causes patients to enter a state of mental pollution. Stage II patients delusionally believe they have lost their cherished loved ones and remain in perpetual grief. Victims grow black wings and feathers—this is the Undertaker’s obsession with the Raven."

"Stage III contaminated patients will realize that the person they care about is not actually dead, but this does not bring them joy—instead, it drives them to collapse."

"Unable to accept that the object of their grief is still alive, they will attempt to kill their loved ones and stain their wings red."

Shen Ji slammed the window shut, turned away from the security booth, and headed into the residential complex.

Not a sound could be heard within the complex—only the wind rustling through leaves. The ground was covered with fallen autumn leaves, left untended. The faint smell of blood came and went in the air.

"It seems it’s the latter," Shen Ji concluded. "This area has been ravaged by Undertakers, and it might also be the area the Raven means to foretell next."

Mycelium spread slowly across the ground. Instead of advancing further, Shen Ji used the fungal network to assess the situation within the complex.

Just then, a small strand of mycelium emerged from his knee, growing a small cap. It tapped against his thigh. Shen Ji looked down, and it wobbled, pointing in a specific direction.

Shen Ji blinked, staring thoughtfully at the mushroom.

"Don’t you think…" Shen Ji began, "this thing waggling on my thigh looks like an exhibitionist who just pulled down his pants?"

"...Stop thinking like that!"

Is it really okay for a reporter to be this unserious?!

Shen Ji couldn’t be bothered to argue "sense of humor" with the system. He followed the direction the small mushroom indicated and eventually retrieved a phone from a pile of fallen leaves.

The screen was blank and white, similar to the one left behind in the security booth.

The small mushroom informed him that the highest concentration of contamination in this area came from these weird little blocks.

Shen Ji shook the phone—no response. He held down the power button, trying to force a shutdown—still no response. Just as he considered smashing it against the ground, the white screen flickered, and the display switched to a video recording.

It was footage captured by someone—ragged breathing and shaky footage made that clear.

The lens was aimed at a window. Outside, it was dark, and the wind howled. A crack of thunder lit up half the balcony, revealing a black figure clinging to the windowsill, peering into the room. The figure hung upside down, its dark eyes fixed intently on the person filming.

Unable to bear it any longer, the filmer screamed. The device fell to the ground, spinning and ending up aimed right at that shadow.

The black figure swayed in the wind, gradually slipping through the glass like a shadow crawling inch by inch across the wall.

"The Undertaker contamination incident coincided with a communication contamination. Footage of the Undertaker spread online, and even without internet, it propagated through communication devices. That’s why Q City’s eastern district fell so quickly."

"Spreading through communications? Could it be in the broadcast signals?"

"No, no—please don’t use science to explain contamination. Contamination is more like a supernatural event, and contaminants are closer to ghosts with physical form."

Ignoring the system, Shen Ji mused to himself.

"This video could be enough for three episodes of *Approaching Science*... no, at least five."

"..."

Sometimes the system found Shen Ji really strange.

He was a reporter—a righteous one. He had covered countless social issues and was a real model in the industry. Initially, the system feared that bringing Shen Ji here would lead to disastrous outcomes—like him choosing self-destruction out of a sense of justice.

But now the system realized: aside from basic human principles and empathy, Shen Ji was unexpectedly rational about his surroundings.

Whether working at the shelter or treating contaminated patients, he did it because it helped achieve his goals and ensured his survival. As long as he could survive, he didn’t mind doing some good.

Too rational, yet occasionally totally absurd.

Whether it's mushroom soup or Approaching Science.

Tossing the phone back into the pile of dead leaves, Shen Ji prepared to leave the residential area. Just as he reached the security booth, he suddenly heard his own phone ringing.

He pulled out his phone and saw it was an unknown number.

The last time this unknown number called was: the shelter.

Shen Ji answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Finally got through! Xiao Ji, it's Cheng Gu!" The voice on the other end was Doctor Cheng's. "It's terrible! Everyone's phones suddenly regained signal, but only within this area. Then all our phones started playing the Undertaker's video. After watching it, everyone developed symptoms."

"We abandoned that vehicle and evacuated collectively, looking for an area with lower contamination levels. Don't go back to the original place!"

"...What?"

Noise came from the other end. Shen Ji heard Doctor Cheng's hurried breathing; he seemed to be running, and the phone was far from where he was speaking, so the voice sounded distant.

"...Hallucinations?!... Pollution inhibitors, quick!"

"Use the specialized syringes!"

With a click, the call was disconnected.

"We need to deal with the Undertaker as soon as possible," the system said. "If we delay any longer, these people will all be in trouble."

"But the main problem now is that we can't find its main body. How can we deal with it if we can't even locate it?" Shen Ji's tone was lower than before, almost like a quiet mutter to himself. "Is there any way to draw it out?"

"There's an extreme method that could cause accidental harm. Do you want to use it?"

"Huh? How extreme?"

"The Raven's pollution is contained within you. You can release this pollution and simulate the Raven being in crisis to lure the Undertaker into saving it. Of course, if you do this, the contaminated patients around you will suffer secondary pollution. Once an S-level contaminant releases its pollution, it spreads in an instant."

"The worst-case scenario is everyone in this area being wiped out."

Shen Ji didn't say anything more. He seemed to be thinking, or perhaps analyzing the pros and cons. The system didn't interrupt him.

Just then, Shen Ji turned to look beside him. The little white mushroom crouched on his shoulder, turning with him.

The security room door opened, and the person who had been curled up inside was staring intently at him through the crack.

His face was already covered in dark fur, and in his hand was a blood-stained knife—the same knife he had used to kill his closest loved ones.

"You're happier than me," he said, raising the knife. He shouted, "No!"

"You can't be happier than me. You can't have lost nothing. You can't let me be the only one without a family."

His eyes were pitch black and lifeless, like those of an emotionless puppet. "So, I'm going to kill you!"

The guard charged forward but couldn't move an inch closer than two meters to Shen Ji. Mycelium wrapped around his feet, instantly throwing him into the air and slamming him hard against the wall. He shrieked, but it wasn't over yet. The mycelium hung him upside down at the entrance of the security room.

"Contamination level 95, contamination out of control. He has already mutated into a low-grade infected."

Shen Ji stared at him, scrutinizing him up and down before finally speaking after a few seconds. "He looks a lot like the Raven."

"Because the pollution was born from the Undertaker's obsession, the resulting contaminant will resemble the Raven."

"In that case, do we now have a 'Raven'?"

His words came abruptly, with a strange, subtle tone. Shen Ji’s pupils gradually tinged with red, small mushroom spores sprouting on his forehead, while a terrifying aura of pollution radiated around him. Yet he seemed completely unaware, his gaze fixed calmly—yet frighteningly—on the security guard.

The guard trembled in fear, not daring to move a muscle.

"Let’s pour the Raven’s pollution into him," Shen Ji said, adjusting his glasses with one hand, the lenses flashing with a cold white light.

He went on slowly, "Low-level pollution is controllable, and this would create a realistic scenario where the 'Raven' is captured, controlled, and in imminent danger—only waiting for the Undertaker to come save it."

"It’s a perfect plan."

"..."

Though the plan was indeed flawless, for some reason, it sensed a villainous vibe emanating from Shen Ji.

No, no!

How could their righteous little journalist ever be a villain?!