Chapter 18: Midnight Song

Chapter 18 Midnight Song

The tomato hotpot bubbled and gurgled, white steam condensing into a circle of mist on the ceiling. Heat wafted through the air, filling the entire room with the scent of tomatoes.

Such a warm scene sent a chill down his spine.

Because boiling in the delicious tomato hotpot were colorful mushrooms that looked clearly poisonous.

Li Zhiyan held chopsticks in one hand while checking his phone with the other, maintaining this posture for three minutes.

Carefully picking at the poisonous mushrooms in the pot, Zhou Ye gritted his teeth while considering the possibility of overturning the pot onto Li Zhiyan without getting killed in retaliation.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Absolutely not considering overturning the pot!" Zhou Ye blurted out in panic—accidentally revealing the truth.

Li Zhiyan: …

Zhou Ye: …

Zhou Ye chuckled awkwardly, put down his chopsticks, and curled up on the stool pretending to be a large, well-behaved cat.

Ignoring Zhou Ye's petty thoughts, Li Zhiyan set down his phone and said in an unusually serious tone, "I've got my eye on a new member."

"Ah? Who?" Zhou Ye looked around, "Why haven't I seen them?"

"He looks very serious and reliable, perfectly suited to take him out to make us look good," Li Zhiyan said very earnestly. "I'm certain he's exactly the kind of impressive presence I want."

Zhou Ye fell silent, squeezing his eyes shut. He hadn't expected Li Zhiyan's constant chatter about recruiting a serious person to be real?!

He actually thought that everyone in their team wasn't serious, including himself!

What crime had he committed in his past life to end up with such a captain in this one!

"I welcome it," Zhou Ye said, his lip twitching. "Should we hold a welcome ceremony?"

"No, it's too early," Li Zhiyan picked up his phone again. "Although I've got my eye on him, he doesn't seem to feel the same way about me and seems to quite dislike me. I have a feeling he'll 100% reject my invitation, so I'm playing the long game, trying to win him over with our team's chill everyday vibe."

Zhou Ye struggled to control his twitching mouth but failed.

Most of the time, he found it difficult to understand his captain's actions, and now was no exception. He didn't know whether it was funnier that the member Li Zhiyan had taken a liking to didn't reciprocate, or that Li Zhiyan was trying to win over this member with their "team's relaxed daily life." Since when did our team have that?!

"S-so, Captain, how do you plan to win him over with the relaxed daily life?"

"I sent him a photo of the hotpot," Li Zhiyan nodded. "But his reply was just an emoji."

Zhou Ye leaned over to look and saw that the contact labeled "Prestige NO.1" had sent three smiley face emojis.

"Smile / Smile / Smile"

Isn't this a complete reverse strategy?!

/

He had no idea that Li Zhiyan approached him because she admired his upright demeanor. After all, Shen Ji was at least a former journalist, not as polished as a host, but journalism also has certain requirements for poise and bearing.

Naturally, he looked more pleasant to the eye than most ordinary people.

"I'm full." Zhang Qingli leaned back in his chair, "I'm stuffed."

Shen Ji glanced down at the food left in his bowl, having eaten quite a bit due to the lack of satiety.

"It's not that you ate a little, it's just not enough. Contaminants are a group that never feel full, so they will eat endlessly. Of course, if we consider human portions, you did eat quite a bit. I suggest you stop after finishing what's left."

So, Shen Ji slowly finished the remaining food in his bowl, then put down his chopsticks, pretending to be stuffed as well.

Normally, a gathering would involve drinking, but they were all staff members of the containment facility who needed to maintain mental and emotional stability, so they avoided alcohol, which could impair their judgment.

At that moment, the door to the private room opened, and someone walked in—it was the restaurant owner.

He smiled and asked, "How is everything? Is the food good?"

"Great, Old Song! Your skills haven't diminished at all! The taste is still as good as ever!" Doctor Cheng chuckled, patting him on the shoulder.

"Song Yuanzhang, former doctor of Containment Zone III, lost one of his eyes during an occupational exposure. The containment facility wanted to place him in a safe location, but he refused the assignment and opened a restaurant here. The facility compensated him with a large sum of money, and the staff often come to patronize his establishment."

Shen Ji looked at the owner, who exuded a faint, peculiar aura. This strange sensation wasn't something detected by the nose, but rather a feeling.

It seemed as if the entire person was immersed in this odd aura.

Shen Ji frowned slightly and covered his nose, but this was a sensation; covering his nose naturally couldn’t block out the smell.

"Detected pollution level at 13%. The pollutant has a special sensitivity to pollution, and your body is gradually adapting to it."

'So, smelling something others can't is considered adapting?'

"Yes."

Shen Ji: …

On the other side, Old Song was pulled next to Doctor Cheng. He first congratulated Doctor Cheng on his safe return before speaking about the purpose of his visit.

"Actually, I came here for a reason."

Doctor Cheng was puzzled, "For a reason? Related to pollution? Such matters should be handled by the guard team, right?"

"I know I shouldn’t come to you, but if this continues, I’m afraid I’ll have serious mental issues."

Old Song sighed helplessly.

Hearing this, Doctor Cheng’s eyes narrowed sharply. As a doctor, he understood very well what Old Song meant, especially since Old Song himself used to be an old doctor. For him to say such a thing indicated that he believed he might be reinfected with pollution.

"What happened?!"

"The incident occurred a week ago, just when City Q announced martial law," Old Song recounted slowly. "It all happened so suddenly, and I didn’t have enough food prepared. Although I grew some myself, it wasn’t nearly enough. The guard team contacted me and offered to deliver supplies, so I was tallying up what I needed in the evening. That’s when I suddenly heard singing."

At this point, Old Song couldn’t help but shiver, his brows furrowed tightly, and his eyes filled with uncontrollable fear.

Hearing someone sing late at night is unsettling enough, especially when it’s a mournful female voice.

The woman's voice sounded as if it was struggling, humming intermittently, occasionally accompanied by muffled coughs. Old Song followed the sound and eventually found a sewer. He crouched beside it and heard the sound coming from inside. Immediately, he shone his flashlight into the sewer but saw nothing.

Afterward, Old Song called the Pollution Prevention Center’s hotline. The security team came to investigate and even gave Old Song a full check-up.

In the end, they confirmed that both the person and the area had normal pollution levels.

Old Song initially thought he had misheard, but the next evening, the singing started again.

“I contacted the security team again, and they conducted a thorough search, but still found nothing. They even stayed with me until midnight,” Old Song sighed, “But after they left, the singing resumed, right from the sewer.”

“The song is all I can think about. Yesterday, I sat dazed at the entrance of my shop, and when I suddenly came to, I realized I was singing along with that song.”

Old Song’s hands were trembling. As a former doctor, his mental fortitude was undoubtedly stronger than most, yet now he felt buried in fear. Apart from the remnants of his rationality, his mental state was no different from that of the patients in the containment facility.

“No such contamination has been found in the original work or known records.”

“But given the original’s cliffhanger and the divergent plot developments, the appearance of a different contamination is... No, this contamination should have appeared in the original.”

‘Then why didn’t you find it?’

“Because Chen Guo mutated into an A-level contaminant. Yes, it must be because of this!”

“Chen Guo, as an A-level contaminant, destroyed most of the containment facility and the surrounding areas, likely consuming other hidden contaminants as well. This includes Zhang Qingli, whose name was never mentioned in the original, because they all died, becoming just a string of death numbers in the story.”

Shen Ji was momentarily stunned. He instinctively turned to glance at Zhang Qingli.

Before Zhang Qingli noticed, Shen Ji averted his gaze. He lowered his head, recalling the death toll he had seen in the original.

“15,291, including the contaminated patients in containment. Most of the people you see before you are part of that number.”

Sometimes a string of numbers fails to elicit any reaction; only when you recognize some of the people behind these numbers can you truly understand how cold they are and how vividly alive the people behind them are.

"Chen Guo is now fully recovered. She is no longer an A-level pollutant, so those chain reactions have disappeared. The pollutants that were not supposed to appear in the original story have managed to survive until now," the system continued its analysis. "I suggest you intervene to prevent the protagonist from being drawn in."

'This is such a hassle...'

"Just think of it as finding some snacks for the small mushrooms. Look at how ravenous they are!"

Shen Ji glanced to the side and saw several small mushrooms standing upright on the back of his chair, constantly leaning towards the table, giving off the impression that they were trying their hardest to grow onto the table and eat everything.

They were completely hunger personified.

'If I'm not mistaken, they just devoured the funeral director...'

"Don't use such suggestive words. The small mushrooms are so innocent. They do nothing but eat. Otherwise, why would they be called pig mushrooms!"

"I'll stay and observe," at this moment, Zhang Qingli raised his hand and said, "My Talent has upgraded, but I'm not sure to what extent. It's a good opportunity to test it out here."

Doctor Cheng's eyes lit up. "Upgraded? To C-level?!"

"Yes, I checked the Talent threshold. It says I've broken through to C-level, but it's still unstable."

"Great, great!" Doctor Cheng laughed heartily, then he held Old Song's hand, "Old Song, I'll leave Xiao Zhang here. He's a role model for the younger generation. You must take good care of him for me!"

"Of course, of course!" Old Song also knew how important a C-level mutant was, so he nodded quickly.

It was then that Shen Ji said, "I'll stay with him. It's simply not safe for one person. I can't put my mind at ease."

Zhang Qingli looked at Shen Ji somewhat surprised, and upon seeing Shen Ji's sincere gaze, he turned back, moved.

"... Don't spread your false charm everywhere. Look, this young man is moved by you again."

'Isn't this the best reason? What other reason could I give to stay? Besides, a gentleman judges actions, not intentions. See if I don't stay with him.'

"Fine, what a gentleman!"