Chapter 24: Treatment Plan

Chapter 24: Treatment Plan

This sudden contamination event lasted half a day, but the shelter responded in time.

Apart from Shen Ji, who was completely unaffected, Zhang Qingli, though unconscious from excessive contamination exposure, was not contaminated. Due to this incident, his Talent has stabilized further, now firmly at Class C.

"We lost three medical staff in this incident," the squint-eyed doctor said during a meeting with other doctors. "All three took their own lives by jumping due to mental contamination. The other patients have varying contamination levels, but none are in life-threatening condition."

"Only three casualties? We got off lucky."

Cheng Gu frowned slightly, recalling how Shen Ji had looked after Liu Chuanyang back in Dongcheng. Now, Liu Chuanyang's contamination level was steadily decreasing and should make a full recovery within a month.

It was nothing short of a miracle that not a single patient had transformed into a pollutant within the contamination zone of a quasi-Class C Pollutant.

"Did Xiao Ji help out inside?" Cheng Gu hesitantly suggested. "Although most of the stranded medical staff are mutants, the patient with the highest contamination level was firmly stuck at Stage III without further increase, which is theoretically impossible."

"If Xiao Ji helped suppress it for them..."

Wang Anle nodded. "The contamination hit so hard. Xiao Ji couldn’t handle it alone, so he likely provided temporary suppression. That would explain why the patients' contamination levels, though not reduced, stabilized at a certain point without worsening."

That was the only explanation that made sense.

Once again, he’d done so much behind the scenes—never saying a word, but getting it all done.

The contamination leak was a misfortune for City Q, but Shen Ji’s arrival was a great blessing.

The squint-eyed doctor sighed, "We old folks can’t always rely on the young. We have to put in more effort ourselves."

The doctors nodded in agreement.

Since Shen Ji’s arrival, they felt their withered confidence coming back to life.

After the Dongcheng operation concluded, the Gravedigger's body would be delivered. They hoped to discover something from this pollutant’s corpse, ideally a breakthrough to neutralize the Gravedigger’s contamination once and for all.

As they envisioned this future, they couldn’t help but break into smiles.

"By the way, has Xiao Zhang woken up?" Cheng Gu asked about Zhang Qingli. "He was completely unconscious. His Talent always affects him so severely. We need to find a way to help him control it."

"Yeah, he's awake. Woke up this morning. I went to check on him," another doctor replied.

"But as for the Guard Team..."

The shelter and the Guard Team have always been on the same level, with the Guard Team dealing with pollutants and the shelter treating contaminated patients. The Pollution Prevention Center acts as their superior, responsible for coordination and command.

The Guard Team naturally handled the cleanup of this sudden contamination event. They searched the entire dormitory building inside and out multiple times, trying to locate the vanished pollutant. They even searched the sewer Li Zhiyan mentioned more than once, but aside from widespread abnormal contamination, they found no trace of the pollutant itself.

With no other leads, the Guard Team turned to question Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli, who were unharmed.

Zhang Qingli had just woken up in the hospital, still out of it. What he said was hard to make sense of, but it was clear he had tried and failed to save a colleague who jumped under mental contamination. After that, he and Shen Ji worked together until he succumbed to contamination and lost consciousness.

Thus, the Guard Team pinned all their hopes on Shen Ji.

"From yesterday until now, the Guard Team has been to see Xiao Ji five times. He just emerged from the incident, yet he has to work and deal with the Guard Team. I saw him working overtime late into the night."

"I told him to rest, but he said he needed to watch over Zhang Qingli's patients."

"I noticed the contamination levels of the patients he’s monitoring had dropped a little more. He’s been constantly busy, without a moment’s pause."

"He’s exhausted."

The slit-eyed doctor opened his eyes and nodded. "I understand. I'll communicate with the Security Team right away."

"Five times is more than enough. Xiao Ji is also a victim of pollution—we can't let him exhaust himself."

With that, the slit-eyed doctor made a phone call.

"Hello, yes. This is Wen Jingyu, Director of Q City’s Containment Center. Sorry to disturb you at this hour."

"It’s nothing major. I just wanted to ask—has the Security Team’s efficiency dropped so low that it takes five rounds of questioning to record a case?"

"No, no, it’s just that I’m worried about our junior. He was questioned during the day and worked overtime at night, pushing himself too hard because he didn’t want to let the patients down. I’m really worried this kid might work himself to collapse. Since you’ve already finished the report, could you please stop bothering him?"

"Of course, simple inquiries are fine—just not repeated, multiple interrogations."

"Thank you for understanding. Oh, no, no, I really just feel for the young ones. Our Containment Center is no picnic—everyone willing to come here deserves to be protected, don't you think?"

After hanging up, the slit-eyed doctor nodded to everyone. "Alright, the Security Team won’t bother him anymore."

The doctors nodded and continued discussing treatment plans with smiles.

Unaware that Wen Jingyu had already stepped in to handle the Security Team’s inquiries, Shen Ji was still pulling overtime at the Containment Center.

Though "overtime" wasn’t entirely accurate—Shen Ji was working "on his own."

Because Li Zhiyan had suddenly shown up and kept them from getting more pollution, the hyphae had even used the Undertaker’s Pollution Talent in their eagerness to feed, only to end up with nothing.

After returning, they became mopey. The mushrooms hanging on the windowsill drooped listlessly.

To comfort these little mushrooms, Shen Ji had no choice but to pull overtime at the Containment Center, letting them sneak some snacks. To avoid raising suspicion, he even took over all of Zhang Qingli’s patients, handling the large number of pollution patients under his care.

The good news was that the little mushrooms were finally calmed down. The bad news was that Shen Ji had stayed up until 3 a.m.

"I’m exhausted," Shen Ji sighed. "I never stayed up this late even when I was a journalist."

"You’re a Pollutant. Pollutants don’t need sleep—how are you tired?"

"I’m mentally exhausted. There’s no sorrow greater than a dead heart, no pain deeper than silence," Shen Ji declared matter-of-factly.

"It’s all the protagonist’s fault. If he hadn’t shown up suddenly, I wouldn’t have had to work overtime."

Shen Ji stretched his shoulders and prepared to leave the Containment Center to get some sleep. But just as he reached the elevator, he heard a ding—the doors opened, and Zhang Qingli stepped out.

Zhang Qingli had only recently regained consciousness. Worried about his patients, he had sneaked out of the hospital room in the middle of the night, leaving the on-duty nurse screaming silently.

"Zhang Qingli?" Shen Ji called out to the man walking straight ahead without hesitation. "Weren’t you in the hospital?"

Zhang Qingli stopped, rubbed his eyes, and after a few seconds, replied dazedly, "Shen Ji? What are you doing here?"

"I just finished work," Shen Ji said. "I’ve been temporarily handling your patients. The records and basic treatments are done."

Zhang Qingli paused, taking a few seconds to process this. "You’re still at the Containment Center this late… because you’re taking care of my patients?"

His voice grew softer, unsure whether out of guilt or admiration.

"Just lending a hand. Aren’t you still unwell?" Shen Ji said earnestly. "The Containment Center is already short-staffed. Everyone’s overworked—I just pitched in. They’re doing fine; no one’s condition has worsened."

"This is what I admire about you. No matter what your motives are, you always make things sound justified and win everyone over."

"Thank you. Really, thank you." Zhang Qingli was still a bit dizzy. He had sneaked out in the first place, but hearing that his patients were doing alright finally put his mind at ease.

His head spun even more.

He leaned against the wall in Zone I, and as if noticing his discomfort, Shen Ji stepped forward to support him. It was at that moment that a faint trace of Zhang Qingli’s sealed memories was faintly triggered.

Back then in the polluted area, Shen Ji had seemed…

Zhang Qingli looked at Shen Ji, and after a few seconds, he spoke, "Um, Shen Ji…"

"Hmm?" Shen Ji looked at him, puzzled.

Zhang Qingli wanted to ask what the expanse of white he saw while unconscious was. He wanted to ask if it had anything to do with Shen Ji.

Based on the state of his colleagues he hadn’t been able to save, everyone in that entire dormitory had been in critical danger. Yet, when he woke up, he found that aside from the three who had jumped to their deaths, no one had mutated into contaminated beings.

Had Shen Ji done something in there?

But in the end, Zhang Qingli didn’t ask. He just shook his head.

"Never mind. I’m going to check on the patients, then head back to the hospital."

Snooping into people's private business wasn’t Zhang Qingli’s style. Besides, he judged that it wasn’t something threatening to the shelter, and Shen Ji wasn’t a bad person. So what was the point in prying further?

"Shall I go with you?"

"No need. You should go back and rest. It’s so late already." Zhang Qingli took a moment to recover and got up, preparing to head into Zone I.

Watching his determined yet frail figure, Shen Ji silently tsked mentally.

"There’s something I want to ask you," Shen Ji spoke up. "Do you know where our shelter’s pollutant research department is?"

Zhang Qingli halted, turning back to look at Shen Ji in confusion. "What did you say? The department for researching pollutants?"

"I think I found some remains left behind by that pollutant."

Shen Ji spoke very quietly, even sounding a bit guilty. "I thought it might be useful to the shelter, so I kept it to myself and didn’t mention it when the security team questioned me."

"It’s probably okay, right?"

The scene fell into dead silence for a few seconds. Zhang Qingli stared fixedly at Shen Ji, as if so shocked his mind went blank.

A few seconds later, he bolted outside. Dizzy, he nearly stumbled and fell, but he couldn’t care less. He rushed into the security room in Zone I, grabbed the phone from the guard, and dialed.

"Hello?" The person answering was the narrow-eyed doctor, also known as the Shelter Director, Wen Jingyu. "Has something happened in Zone I?"

"Shen Ji, Shen Ji, he…"

"Xiao Zhang?" The doctor recognized his voice. "What’s wrong? Calm down. Why are you at the shelter? What’s happened to Xiao Ji?!"

"Shen Ji has the remains of the pollutant!" Zhang Qingli gasped, out of breath. "The remains of the pollutant that caused the occupational exposure."

This time, dead silence fell on the other end of the line. After a brief pause, there was the sound of frantic scrambling—doors opening and hurried footsteps.

"Now your reputation is set," the system teased.

Shen Ji stayed as composed as always.

‘I knew it. Once I brought out something that could treat pollution exposure, Zhang Qingli would stop obsessively insisting on checking his patients. What if he noticed their pollution levels had all dropped? We need to do it gradually, reduce them every other day—that would seem more natural.’

"...So that was your plan all along!"

/

The doctors gathered around to observe the doll placed inside the isolation layer.

The doll was palm-sized and looked like an ordinary toy, possibly having fallen in a dirty place, as its hands and feet were filthy. Wen Jingyu stared at the doll with wide eyes.

"Is this it?" He couldn't even blink. "Xiao Ji, where did you find this?"

"I ran into Li Zhiyan in the sewer system earlier," Shen Ji said, crouching down beside the doll. "I'm not entirely sure if he dealt with the pollutants, but the surrounding environmental pollution was still high. I checked more thoroughly and found that this thing had an unusually high pollution level."

"451, that's indeed very high," Cheng Gu observed the data from the isolation layer. "It's highly likely that this is a tool used by the pollutant to release contamination, which is why it carries such an alarming contamination level."

"So, studying this might actually be useful?" Zhang Qingli crouched down next to Shen Ji.

"It should be more useful than dissecting the corpses of pollutants," Wang Anle said, his demeanor a complete contrast to Wen Jingyu's. He was so pleased he was practically beaming. "The reason we dissect pollutants is to study their contamination. The purer the contamination, the easier it is to tailor treatments accordingly."

As an actual physician at the shelter, Zhang Qingli understood.

"This must be its contamination trait."

Wen Jingyu nodded repeatedly, equally excited. As the Director of City Q's shelter, he had never imagined they would get their hands on something like this.

Moreover, technically, the shelter possessing this item wasn't in line with standard procedures. The remains and mutant organs of pollutants were highly contaminating. Under normal circumstances, the shelter would need to file with the Security Division and have the Pollution Prevention Center assess and approve.

But this time, they had no intention of following the official procedures. After all, this was the only possible hope for those medical staff who had suffered occupational exposure. Rather than waiting for non-specialists' approval, it was better to handle this discreetly, conduct the research, and report the results afterward.

"We're taking charge of this item. If the guard team comes asking, tell them to talk to me directly. This thing belongs to our shelter now," he declared. "Xiao Ji, you should go back and rest. Xiao Zhang, hurry back to the hospital. You shouldn't be out before discharge! Don’t make everyone worry."

Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli didn't refuse. They left the area, leaving the research to the more experienced senior doctors.

With this good news, Zhang Qingli seemed much better than before. He no longer staggered when walking.

As they stepped out of the shelter together, Zhang Qingli took a deep breath in the early morning darkness.

"Shen Ji."

Shen Ji turned to look at him. "What is it?"

"Ever since you came to the shelter, things seem to have been getting better," Zhang Qingli took another deep breath. "Everyone had already reached their limit. The batch of medical staff with occupational exposure had caused a lot of panic, and with the pollution outbreak in City Q, everyone was really scared.

"But after you arrived, first, some patients recovered and even awakened as mutants. The recovery rate of patients in the shelter has also increased, and now we even have a direction for treating occupational contamination."

"You're like a... fortune magnet."

"More like a lucky fungus."

"According to predictions, the probability of the shelter researching a treatment for the 'Decaying Organism' pollution disease is 60%. Once a method is developed and a targeted treatment is created, the recovery rate for 'Decaying Organism' will increase by 30%. Don’t think this 30% is low—the shelter's overall recovery rate for pollution diseases across all cases is only 8%. Out of ten contaminated patients, you can't guarantee even one will recover."

"It's just a coincidence. Things would have gotten better with or without me," Shen Ji replied. "I just happened to come at this time. You're a doctor at the shelter—don’t attribute things to mysticism."

"But finding this contaminant's remains is your doing. Thank you so much."

"You delivered on your promise." Zhang Qingli's eyes were filled with mixed feelings, hard to tell whether it was gratitude or something else.

He still remembered the tone and expression Shen Ji had when he said he would save everyone that day.

"You really did save everyone."

Shen Ji raised a hand to cover the lower half of his face. Though his head was bowed, making his expression unclear, the tips of his ears were noticeably flushed pink.

A person who doesn’t like to smile and prefers to keep everything meticulously organized, someone so precise that even his buttons are fastened to the very top—he actually got shy over a few words. That contrast made it impossible not to keep watching him, waiting until he reacted even more intensely.

Shen Ji coughed and pushed Zhang Qingli along. "Alright, enough talking. Hurry back to the hospital, or the nurses will come drag you back."

"...How do you manage to get red only in your ears?"

‘I’m a pollutant—I can make not just my ears but even my neck turn red if I want!’

The system couldn’t help but remark, "You’re really getting used to this pollutant body."

After finally sending Zhang Qingli back to the hospital, Shen Ji breathed a sigh of relief.

He returned to his temporary dorm—yes, because of the issues with his previous dorm, the shelter had arranged new accommodations for him.

Lying back on the bed, Shen Ji glanced at the time: 5:30 a.m. A person with a normal sleep schedule would still be deep in dreams, but Shen Ji had just finished his shift.

"Luckily, I’m a pollutant and don’t need sleep," Shen Ji mused. "A normal person would've died from overwork by now."

"Don’t worry, with your resentment toward staying up late, even if you died from overwork, you’d probably turn into a pollutant out of sheer spite."

Shen Ji: ...

Did this system swallow poison?

Ignoring the system, Shen Ji pulled out his phone, planning to kill some time during this short break. His next shift was in the afternoon, so there was no need to rush.

After scrolling through his phone for a while, he eventually opened that forum again.

Even though entertainment wasn’t restricted after the apocalypse, in an era where even basic safety was uncertain, arts and entertainment hadn't progressed as well as one might expect—it paled in comparison to before Shen Ji’s transmigration.

As soon as he opened the forum, Shen Ji spotted a new post floating on the front page, with replies already spanning three pages.

"Another Pollutant Spotted at the Shelter"

Shen Ji clicked into the post, curious. The contamination at the shelter had only affected one dorm building, trapping twenty to thirty people. Aside from Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli, all the other victims had been quarantined in the shelter. How had this already made it to the forum in just a day or two?

OP: I have a relative in the Guard Team who secretly told me there’s another pollutant at Q City Shelter. That place is done for—better not send any contaminated patients there anymore.

1F: The shelter again? What’s going on over there? But if we don’t send contaminated patients there, what else can we do?

2F: Honestly, they should just shut the shelter down. With that pitiful cure rate, most patients sent there are just going to die anyway.

3F: But without the shelter, what if contaminated patients mutate into pollutants? At least in the shelter, they can’t break out, so the rest of us normal people are safer.

4F: The shelter doesn’t even know how to treat anyone. What’s the difference between an 8% cure rate and zero?

5F: I heard the shelter in neighboring H City has a much higher cure rate. Maybe we can pull some strings to send patients there?

6F: I interned at a shelter. I can confirm that the vast majority of contaminated patients end up in the Pollution Decontamination Center... which basically means they’re disposed of.

7F: This time, with pollutants all over Q City, it’s the shelter’s fault, right? Let’s see how they plan to make up for it!

8F: LOL, make up for what? They’re the noble shelter, after all.

"This forum is interesting," Shen Ji remarked as he scrolled through the messages. "Are there really this many Guard Team members leaking confidential information to friends and family?"

"It seems like every time a contamination incident happens, this forum gets firsthand info, and very quickly."

"Can't pinpoint who runs this forum... Hmm, this is worth keeping an eye on. It feels a bit like a setting the author mentioned in the author’s notes in Volume 1, Chapter 48."

Shen Ji's fingers paused. "Why does this author keep putting things in the Author's Notes that won't appear in the main text?"

"It's just the author's little quirk."

"In any case, after the emergence of pollution, it wasn't just humans that mutated into Contaminants; there were also anomalies that appeared out of thin air. Among them was a 'forum' that abruptly surfaced on the internet. This 'forum' disregards all confidentiality protocols to reveal the truth. Accessing the forum requires special conditions, though what those conditions are remains unknown."

"It isn't a physically existing Contaminant—more like an intangible, untouchable ghost—so entering the forum doesn't contaminate humans."

"You can think of it as a 'live info board.'"

"I discovered this forum right after I woke up in this story. Does that mean I fall within the conditions required to access it?" Shen Ji continued scrolling through the post but eventually closed it after seeing that most of the replies were skeptical.

"They’re complaining a lot about the shelter, which is understandable. After all, the shelter’s containment breaches and its plummeting recovery rates are real issues."

"Don’t worry, I predict that once the specialized antidote is successfully developed, topics like this will decrease by 80%."

Shen Ji turned off his phone and tossed it aside casually. The small mushroom by the bed let out a soft "huff" as it caught the haphazardly thrown device, carried it to the bedside table, and even plugged it in to charge—acting like a dutiful little thing.

"So confident, are you?"

"Of course." Though it was a mechanical voice, it was dripping with confidence.

"The plot has already changed. In the original work, the shelter in Q City was destroyed, but now it still stands. The shelter’s doctors not only survived but also obtained contaminated samples they can research."

"Actually, what Zhang Qingli said was right. After you appeared, the shelter really has been getting better and better."

Even though the system and Shen Ji’s goal was merely 'to avoid being discovered by the protagonist,' the changes they brought about put everything on a better path. Those who were saved now hold onto hope, and the future looks promising.

No matter who you ask, there’s no question the credit goes to Shen Ji.

The system silently marveled to itself: To rewrite the Final Villain script into a Savior script—

Reporter, you’re truly amazing!