Chapter 15: East City of Q City

Chapter 15: Q City's East District

"Quick! The pollution inhibitor!"

Cheng Gu and other medical staff struggled to restrain the rampaging driver, attempting to inject the pollution inhibitor with a specialized needle despite the bone-chilling cold. However, the moment the needle pierced the driver's arm, Cheng Gu watched in horror as the inhibitor inside the syringe froze solid.

"Dad!"

Cheng Shouzhen pulled Cheng Gu aside just as the syringe exploded with a bang. Shards of frozen inhibitor shattered on the ground. The driver, eyes bloodshot, shakily got to his feet. Trembling from the cold with crimson veins covering his whites, he kept muttering incoherently.

"My son? Where's my son?"

"He was just here, how did he suddenly disappear?"

"Did the Gravedigger take him? Tell me, did the Gravedigger come to kill him!"

Zhang Qingli covered his mouth and nose, stifling his coughs until his face turned red, looking even more affected by pollution than the driver.

The pollution monitor in Cheng Shouzhen's pocket vibrated—a warning that only activated in highly polluted environments, indicating the surrounding pollution level was at least 60.

"How did that young guy manage to knock out Liu Chuanyang?" one of the people who had been restraining the driver asked, grimacing. "He's strong as an ox, we couldn't hold him down at all!"

"Maybe the guy has training," another replied. "What do we do now? The patient is clearly having a breakdown, and we can't administer the pollution inhibitor."

"Cough, cough... Dammit! Even if we could get the inhibitor in, it might be useless now." Zhang Qingli spoke muffledly through his hand, brows furrowed. "The pollution is progressing too fast; he's about to enter Stage III."

After a few seconds of hesitation, Cheng Gu made a decision.

"Leave him, we need to get to safety immediately!"

Everyone present agreed. Under such extreme circumstances, there was no reason to remain for the patient's sake. Preserving more medical personnel was the correct choice in dealing with this disaster.

However, they hadn't gone two steps when the driver's voice suddenly rang out behind them.

In a strange, eerie tone, he said, "Did you hide my son?"

Cheng Gu's steps froze.

"Where did you hide my son?! Give him back to me!"

Zhang Qingli gagged reflexively, pointing at the driver. "Look behind him!"

Tightly pressed against the driver's back was a massive black shadow, twice the height of a person. Its hollow eyes fixed on everyone present. The driver, following its gaze, stared vacantly in their direction, mechanically and despairingly pointing at them.

"I see it... my son is right behind you..."

Cheng Gu shouted, "Everyone, run!"

An ordinary person stood no chance against a pollutant. Although most of them were mutants, they were only low-level ones, largely in support roles with limited combat abilities. Their mission here had only equipped them with basic self-defense gear.

Everyone present had strong mental fortitude. The moment the order was given, they scattered immediately, leaving only Zhang Qingli behind, who was still gagging and coughing uncontrollably.

Intense pollution assaulted Zhang Qingli's body and mind. His entire frame trembled involuntarily. Standing still had been manageable, but moving made his legs buckle, threatening to collapse.

Between ragged breaths, Zhang Qingli saw the driver appear before him in an instant. The enormous shadow controlled the driver to raise a knife, its gleaming tip aimed directly at Zhang Qingli's eyes.

Just as the blade was about to strike, a buzzing sound filled the air. Zhang Qingli felt as if a jolt of electricity had shot through his body.

A peculiar sensation instantly soothed his mind and body, washing away all his panic. The driver before him, knife in hand, suddenly went limp and collapsed, unconscious.

As for the massive shadow behind him, it had vanished without a trace.

"Zhang Qingli!" His colleagues rushed back, frantically pulling him to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"I... I'm fine." Zhang Qingli reached up to clutch his throat, speaking after a few seconds. "I think... the coughing fit passed?"

Elsewhere, overwhelming hyphae enveloped the entire security booth. The security guard hung upside down at the entrance, clinging to life.

Shen Ji stood impeccably dressed, his transparent glasses reflecting a harsh glare, looking nothing like someone who had tortured a pollutant and hung them at the door.

"Oh? Zhang Qingli leveled up?"

"Mutants have a chance to boost their Talent level in highly polluted areas. Extreme stress is bad for ordinary people, but not for mutants. Mutants are those who developed immunity and gained special abilities after contamination. In such situations, they adapt more easily and can level up."

Shen Ji nodded absently, casually asking, "Should we send him a gift then?"

"..."

"Gift-giving isn't customary in the pollution realm."

"What would make a good gift?" Shen Ji completely ignored the system, lost in his own thoughts. "I really hate social obligations."

"I told you, gift-giving isn't a thing here. Also: the pollution level is changing."

Shen Ji lowered his head, still pondering, as the system continued its announcements.

"Ambient pollution level 63, 79, 95... 158."

"371, it's here!"

A black shadow emerged from the ground. It saw the pollutant hanging on the door, the familiar pollution aura causing an instant misjudgment. It rushed forward, attempting to save its other half.

At the same time, Shen Ji finally looked up, his dark eyes behind the lenses faintly emitting a blood-red glow.

"I've thought of the perfect gift."

Shen Ji said, "Hasn't he always wanted to dissect a pollutant? I can send him one completely stripped of its pollution."

"This one is perfect."

Overwhelming hyphae erupted. Having been forced to expel the pollution earlier had left these little things deeply dissatisfied. Under Shen Ji's command, they had obediently held back. Now that Shen Ji was finally letting them eat their fill, why wait any longer?!

The hyphae entangled the Gravedigger's body, their dense roots piercing into its form, devouring the pollution within.

The Gravedigger finally began to fear. It tried to tear away the hyphae and escape, but how would the hyphae let go of meat delivered to their mouths? They layered over the Gravedigger again and again, slowly crushing and consuming it, sucking it dry from the inside out like a jelly drink.

It was a complete rout with no room for resistance.

Not far away, the containment team, having discussed without understanding why the Gravedigger had left, prepared to set out again.

Zhang Qingli suddenly sensed a strange aura. He turned to look in a certain direction. In his vision, a building in the distance was rapidly being covered in a peculiar white substance, visible to the naked eye. The white mass seemed to squirm under the sunlight, like a living carpet.

"Beep beep beep!"

The pollution monitor erupted in sharp alarm. Zhang Qingli picked it up to look—the number displayed was utterly terrifying.

He muttered to himself, "Pollution value 1563... it's the pollution value detected before."

"If it were a genuine Class A Pollutant, it might have put up some resistance," the system remarked. "Unfortunately, this is just an ordinary Class C."

After devouring massive amounts of pollution, the hyphae began to multiply and spread, swiftly taking control of the entire residential area. Not limited to the Raven, they started feeding on the already contaminated residents.

By the time Shen Ji noticed, they had quietly finished consuming all pollutants in the neighborhood.

Only the patients, not yet fully turned into pollutants, remained huddled in corners, trembling with fear.

Shen Ji hurriedly retracted the hyphae to prevent the little things from eating the patients too.

After everything ended, he rolled up his sleeve and looked at his wrist. The small mushroom that had been half-black was now completely ink-black.

"Quite cute," Shen Ji poked the small mushroom. "Like something from an ink wash painting."

"Stop admiring it and get out of here! The protagonist is here!"

Hearing this, Shen Ji turned to look in a certain direction. Beautiful blue butterflies were fluttering in the air, their tail wings dotted with light, like spirits crafted from sunlight and ice, surreally beautiful.

Shen Ji watched these butterflies, gradually developing ill intentions.

"Can I catch a couple to keep? They’re not caterpillars that turned into butterflies—so perfect."

"Maybe you should just stick to making your mushroom soup. At least it’s ‘cooking what you know’—no life-threatening risks."

/

Waiting for the sensory-type psychic mutant had taken too long. Fires were springing up all over City Q, and the sensory-type mutant had run his legs nearly off.

After locating the Raven’s node, the overworked sensory-type rushed off to handle other fires.

Li Zhiyan led the security team inside. Using life sensors, they didn't take much effort to find the shelter’s staff. Thanks to the timely rescue, aside from two individuals showing clear signs of contamination, the others, though polluted, had not reached Pollution Stage I.

The most contaminated among them was Cheng Shouzhen, her pollution level at 9, just barely at the edge of Pollution Stage I, largely due to her extreme worry over her elderly father, Cheng Gu.

After rescuing the medical staff, they moved on to other survivors in the area and the pollutants that needed cleansing.

But to everyone's surprise, the most contaminated residential area had no pollutants. The rooms were filled with the corpses of densely packed pollutants, while contaminated patients crouched in corners, not saying a word. If not for their faint breathing, one might have mistaken the place for a graveyard.

The Raven’s body was left outside the security booth, an empty shell, just like the Raven.

Security team members began clearing the pollutant corpses and bringing out the contaminated patients. Fortunately, they had shelter staff on hand to provide immediate basic treatment.

Li Zhiyan stood at the security booth entrance, looking at the Raven’s remains. A blue butterfly alighted on his fingertip. He glanced at it briefly before returning his gaze to the corpse.

"It’s been eaten clean," Li Zhiyan murmured. "Eaten hollow, not a trace of pollution left."

"Such an appetite."

Just then, an excited shout came from the shelter.

He turned to see the group, still in relatively good condition, gathered around a young man. Even with Li Zhiyan’s sharp hearing, he could make out their words clearly.

"Xiao Ji, you’re finally back!"

"You have no idea what we went through!"

"Glad you’re safe! This time we made it through unscathed. We must have a gathering after we return!"

Li Zhiyan observed the young man in the crowd, dressed in a white lab coat and black-framed glasses. His expression was cold, his face stern, his gaze not particularly gentle. Yet, he listened attentively to those around him, occasionally interjecting a word or two, appearing quite approachable and at ease.

After watching for a moment, Li Zhiyan reached into his pocket and pulled out a white mushroom.

He held it up to the air, then aimed it vaguely in Shen Ji’s direction.

After a moment of contemplation, he nodded in satisfaction.

"A feast for the eyes."