Chapter 29: Treatment Plan

Chapter 29: Treatment Plan

On the second day of Chu Ye's discharge from the hospital, people from the shelter headquarters showed up.

Shen Ji stood not far away, sipping coffee as he watched several people in protective suits walk in. Their badges showed they were senior doctors from the shelter headquarters.

"Why are people from the headquarters here now?"

Zhang Qingli, standing beside him, replied, "Because the Undertaker's body has been delivered."

"The issue of dissecting polluted corpses has always been debated among various shelters. It's just that our Q City has been more in favor of dissection. This time, Li Zhiyan vouched for it, so the shelter headquarters finally gave the green light."

"And don't forget about the special medicine."

The special medicine for pollution that the shelter headquarters couldn't develop was successfully created by the Q City branch. The doctors from the headquarters had been itching to come. The headquarters had been delaying due to concerns, and these doctors had pushed for ages to finally get approval. They took the first flight straight to Q City, not even bothered by the city's still-active martial law.

Doctors Wen Jingyu and Wang Anle came out to meet them, trying not to interrupt the work of other medical staff.

"Not really our business," Zhang Qingli concluded. "However, Mr. Li's coming by this afternoon."

Shen Ji held his coffee, looking confused. "Why is he coming again? Does the head of security have nothing to do?"

Hearing this, Zhang Qingli looked subtly complex.

This kind of blatant questioning, even carrying a hint of disdain—it was the first time he had heard someone talk about Li Zhiyan like that.

Of course, it wasn’t that everyone in the world liked Li Zhiyan. Most people were indifferent toward him. But Li Zhiyan was, after all, the actual person in charge of the Q City Pollution Prevention Center. He was responsible for the entire city and was pretty much the shelter's boss.

"I thought you were quite familiar with him."

"Familiar?" Shen Ji took another sip of coffee, a bit slow to catch on. "Are you referring to the kind of familiarity where not many dare to speak to Li Zhiyan, but I do?"

Zhang Qingli: …

Well, it seems they aren’t familiar after all.

"As mentioned earlier, Li Zhiyan is the guarantor for the Undertaker's body. As the guarantor, he needs to frequently come to the shelter to ensure the body's safety."

"What? Could the polluted corpse reanimate?"

"Possibly. There have been precedents," Zhang Qingli nodded seriously. "The last time a polluted corpse came back to life was in D City. During the dissection, the polluted creature woke up from the pain. It turned out it wasn’t dead but in a dormant state."

"Afterward, D City reflected: Next time, before dissecting, we must confirm the polluted creature is truly dead."

Shen Ji: …

Such a bizarre and messed-up piece of trivia.

After finishing the last sip of coffee and returning the cup to the break room, Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli went back to Zone I to continue their work for the day.

Although, thanks to Shen Ji's intervention, the cure rate for polluted patients had slightly improved, and some medical staff who got exposed on the job had been discharged, it still wasn’t enough to fully lighten the load. At most, overtime had become less frequent, but staff still had to keep early hours and late nights.

Among the group from the headquarters, a middle-aged doctor wearing glasses turned around curiously, only catching their backs of Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli.

"Dr. Qi, what are you looking at?"

Dr. Qi turned back. "Nothing. I just felt like something passed by a moment ago."

Dr. Qi, whose full name is Qi Yuanhai, is a pollution disease doctor at the shelter headquarters. He is also a C-class psychic mutant. Both the security team and the Pollution Prevention Center have tried to recruit him multiple times, but he has always declined, choosing to stay at the shelter to conduct research dedicated to studying pollution diseases.

He was the one who pushed for the headquarters to come to the Q City branch for inspection and discussion this time as well.

"Your shelter is really clean," Qi Yuanhai remarked with admiration.

Wen Jingyu responded helplessly, "You must be joking. The shelter has been so busy lately that, aside from basic disinfection and pollution isolation, we simply haven’t had the extra energy for cleaning."

Qi Yuanhai shook his head. "The cleanliness I’m referring to isn’t about hygiene—it’s about pollution."

"The pollution levels inside your shelter are far lower than those at other branches."

Especially under such widespread pollution and with the shelter operating over capacity, Qi Yuanhai had visited more than one branch. During the most critical periods, some shelters could even be considered minor, low-level pollution zones.

Qi Yuanhai humbly sought advice, "Director Wen, how did you manage to keep the pollution level inside the shelter so low?"

Wen Jingyu: "..."

Hmm, it seemed he had never really considered this matter?

Inside the crevices, the hyphae, as if they knew something, quietly burrowed a little deeper.

Wahhh, if we're discovered, the master will fire us!

Not getting an answer from Wen Jingyu, Qi Yuanhai didn’t press further. Their main purpose for coming was still the specialized treatment drug.

When they arrived at the laboratory building where the special drug was being researched and stepped inside, Qi Yuanhai’s eyes widened in surprise.

He could sense a dense pollution aura, but strangely, it was confined to a specific area without any signs of spreading.

"To be honest, this research success violates the Pollution Prevention Center’s regulations. We kept a contaminated object illegally," Wen Jingyu said, gesturing toward the isolation cabinet containing the doll. "We’re all colleagues here, all working for the patients, so I won’t hide anything from you."

"Once we confirm the special drug has no severe side effects, we’ll send this item to the Pollution Decontamination Center for disposal."

Qi Yuanhai was shocked. "So you actually dared to handle a pollutant's remnants?! Such highly polluted material?"

"We didn't dare *not* to," Wen Jingyu sighed. "Dr. Qi, you’re a doctor too, and you work at a shelter. Don’t you understand how it feels to see colleagues get isolated due to occupational exposure?"

"We did it to save our colleagues."

Qi Yuanhai sighed. "Fortunately, it turned out well."

He clapped his hands. "Alright, everyone, let’s get together and start the workshop! Feel free to throw out your ideas. Perhaps we can help Director Wen and push this special drug even further!"

Everyone present chimed in with "coming" and gathered, beginning discussions centered on the special drug and the contaminated object.

The morning passed in medical research. Wen Jingyu had prepared a lounge for the headquarters staff, and even after the session ended, they continued their discussions there.

"That’s already the best possible state. If we increase the drug’s potency any further, it could cause irreversible harm to the patients," one doctor stated. "I don’t think we should proceed further."

"What if the affected individual is a mutant? Their tolerance is higher—couldn’t they handle a stronger dosage?"

"That would require actual testing to know for sure."

As the discussion continued, they turned their attention to Qi Yuanhai, who had been lost in thought.

"Dr. Qi, what do you think?"

Only then did Qi Yuanhai look up. He glanced at the fellow doctors around him, remained silent for a few seconds, and finally spoke.

"I have a hypothesis, but I’m not sure if I should bring it up."

"Why shouldn't it be said? We're all discussing methods and dosages here. As Dr. Qi said, what's good for the patients and curing the contamination illness is what truly matters."

"Go ahead and speak, Dr. Qi."

Qi Yuanhai glanced toward the door to ensure no one was entering before lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper. "I suspect there's a healing-type mutant in this branch."

"And their Talent level isn't low either."

Dead silence fell over the room.

They stared wide-eyed at Qi Yuanhai, momentarily stunned to react.

After about five seconds, one doctor finally spoke in disbelief. "Dr. Qi, are you joking?"

"This is no joking matter."

"It's just a speculation," Qi Yuanhai said helplessly, spreading his hands. "Some things are just too strange to explain, which is why I wasn't sure if I should mention it."

As a psychic mutant and an experienced doctor, his words carried significant weight.

"It's already strange that the contamination levels inside the facility are lower than outside. The contaminated specimen they're researching has reached Class C contamination, yet not a single researcher has been contaminated. The contamination is tightly confined to one area without spreading. Beyond that, I've discovered that aside from the 'Decaying Organism,' the recovery rate at Q City Shelter has increased by 10%."

"In other words: while the general recovery rate for contamination illness is only 8%, they've managed to raise it to 18%."

"We're all doctors here. Tell me, who could achieve that?"

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

"But that doesn't necessarily mean there's a healing-type mutant."

"Of course not, but I just received some news." Qi Yuanhai lowered his voice further. "Chu Ye has recovered. Before his recovery, an insider said he came looking for Li Zhiyan, then disappeared for several days without any news. Until yesterday, when he was spotted in Li Zhiyan's car as they left the shelter."

"I suspect Chu Ye received treatment here."

At that, everyone fell completely silent.

Chu Ye—who didn't know him?

A high-ranking official at the Pollution Prevention Center, a friend of Li Zhiyan's. After unfortunately contracting contamination illness, he sought treatment everywhere without success. He even visited our headquarters shelter because we genuinely have a healing-type mutant there.

But after examination, he was given a terminal prognosis—his contamination was deemed incurable.

To think he actually recovered? And right here?!

"So what?"

A familiar voice sounded from behind them. Several doctors deep in thought jumped, almost jumping out of their skin.

"C-Captain Li?!"

Li Zhiyan stood holding a potted plant, having appeared at the doorway unnoticed. His ice-blue eyes reflected their figures. He paid no mind to their expressions, simply walking in with the plant and casually placing it in the center of the table.

"What were you just saying? That Q City Shelter has a healing-type mutant?"

Qi Yuanhai coughed awkwardly. "Just speculation, nothing more."

"So it's just speculation." Li Zhiyan casually perched on the table, fingers gently tracing the plant's leaves. "Do you think the flower looks nice?"

There were no blooms in that pot—just a small, tightly closed bud hiding beneath the leaves, looking thin, small, and rather pathetic-looking.

Li Zhiyan didn't seem to want them to evaluate his flower, either.

"Although the municipal containment branch facilities are nominally under your headquarters, in reality, the headquarters has no jurisdiction. Instead, each city has its own separate jurisdiction," Li Zhiyan's tone was flat, as if he were just making casual conversation with the doctors.

As he spoke, Li Zhiyan suddenly had a realization. "So, that means the actual authority over the containment centers rests with me."

Qi Yuanhai looked at Li Zhiyan hesitantly. "Mr. Li, if there really is a Healingtype Mutant, protecting them is—"

"Precious things deserve protection, but we should also consider if they even want to be protected," Li Zhiyan picked up the flowerpot. "Look at this beautiful flower—pretty and rare, but it's actually a Contaminated Species, and a very vicious one."

"Mr. Li?"

"Don't make me say it explicitly. I'm not the type to formally announce certain things."

Li Zhiyan met his gaze. "Whether it's speculation or you genuinely believe it, your headquarters is here to collaborate on research for a special pollution antidote. Don't focus on anything else beyond that."

"Understood?"

Qi Yuanhai and the others understood.

Whether their speculation was correct or not, Li Zhiyan had no intention of letting anyone go, nor would he let headquarters try to poach anyone.

They could only sigh regretfully to themselves.

In this world, there really was no one who dared to compete with Li Zhiyan for people.

/

After recording the contamination levels and conditions of all the patients, Shen Ji stretched lazily. Once he finished, he glanced at the time: 11:23 AM.

Perfect lunchtime.

Since becoming a contaminated being, Shen Ji had noticed his appetite had grown significantly stronger. Occasionally, he'd catch himself in the cafeteria having already eaten two full meal servings.

The Small Mushrooms would perch on his shoulders, eyeing his lunch enviously, even though they'd already consumed plenty of contamination before coming.

The system explained it was because he was influenced by the nature of contaminated beings, but a strong appetite wasn't necessarily a bad thing—it meant the Small Mushrooms were healthy!

"What's for lunch today?" Shen Ji mused as he walked, pulling out his phone. "Ugh, not chicken breast—that stuff is gross."

Ding! The elevator doors opened. Shen Ji was puzzled—he hadn't even pressed the button yet.

Slowly looking up, he found himself locking eyes with someone once again.

Shen Ji adjusted his glasses, exasperated. "Mr. Li, we meet again. What a coincidence—you're in Zone I too."

"Not a coincidence. I came looking for you."

Just like yesterday, Li Zhiyan was holding a flowerpot. Shen Ji could tell from the leaves that it was the same species as the one from yesterday, but unlike that plant's vibrant vitality, this one looked frail—small and delicate, with its bud drooping as if about to wilt.

Shen Ji stepped into the elevator. "Bringing flowers again?"

"Not this time," Li Zhiyan reached out and pressed the elevator button before continuing, "I brought it to help restore its confidence."

Shen Ji: "..."

Wait, what had he just heard? Restore a flower's confidence?

"What do you mean?"

"This flower is a minimally contaminated variety—though technically a contaminated being. It doesn't have much contaminating power, but it does have some emotions," Li Zhiyan lifted it for Shen Ji to see. "Because they're so beautiful, when a group of them are together, they have beauty contests. But as you can see, this one isn't exactly blessed with great natural conditions."

Shen Ji was puzzled, "So it's depressed?"

"No, it's so mad it lost the beauty pageant to other flowers that it's about to die."

Sometimes, Shen Ji found Li Zhiyan to be quite humorous. Unlike Shen Ji's dry wit, Li Zhiyan had a sense of humor that seemed to come from deep within him.

To put it simply: it was so absurd that you couldn't help but laugh.

Shen Ji, amused despite his exasperation, asked, "So how do we restore its confidence?"

"Take its picture," Li Zhiyan said, holding the flower with a sigh. "You're the best photographer I know. Take a beautiful picture of it, and I'll develop the photo and burn it for the flower's sake."

Shen Ji felt compelled to remind him, "Burning paper is for mourning the dead."

"Hmm?" Li Zhiyan looked at him. "Is that so?"

"You didn't know?"

"That's an old-era tradition," Li Zhiyan mused, still holding the flower. "They had their own funeral culture—burning paper money for the deceased so they wouldn’t be broke in the afterlife."

"You don’t seem old enough to have experienced that funeral culture."

"Funeral practices mostly died out after the apocalypse."

The system interjected to explain, "Because during the apocalypse, an overwhelming number of people died. Even now, the leading cause of death is still pollution disease. All remains of those who die from pollution disease must be sent to the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center. There are no ashes there, and certainly no one burns paper."

In some respects, Shen Ji still felt a gap between himself and the people here.

"I heard it from a patient’s family member," Shen Ji added, trying to explain himself. "He was very old. When he came to sign the Disposal Notice, he said he was going home to burn paper for his son."

The "Disposal Notice" is issued when pollution reaches Stage IV limits and becomes uncontrollable. To prevent the patient from transforming into a pollutant, they are sent directly to the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center.

The patient’s family members sign the notice.

Although Li Zhiyan was eccentric, he wasn’t rude. Hearing this, he naturally refrained from saying anything to make the atmosphere more awkward.

In the silence, *ding dong*—the elevator door opened.

Zhang Qingli, who was about to step inside, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He gave a strange look to Shen Ji, then to Li Zhiyan beside him.

"Didn’t you say you didn't know each other well?" Zhang Qingli asked.

Shen Ji: ...

"We ran into each other by chance."

"Not by chance," Li Zhiyan said, persistent. "I came specifically to get lessons from him."

Zhang Qingli was surprised. "Learn what?"

"Photography skills."

Zhang Qingli looked at the two of them for a moment. He didn't tease them or act surprised—just a mild confusion mixed with respect.

"Oh, then don’t let it get in the way of work. Goodbye."

As Zhang Qingli stepped into the elevator, Shen Ji asked before the doors closed, "Why are you heading to the patient ward at this hour?"

"The patient's Pollution Level is a bit odd; the system sent me a warning," Zhang Qingli replied. "It rapidly increased by 20 from a very low number, then dropped back down the next second. It's strange, so I'm going to see what's up."

The elevator doors closed, taking Zhang Qingli down to the patient ward area. Li Zhiyan held up the flowerpot behind him.

"So, can you teach me how to take pictures?"

"...So he was actually looking for you to learn photography?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Li, I'm swamped," Shen Ji said calmly, politely refusing. "Why don't you try asking the intel team? They work with cameras and are more professional than I am."

Li Zhiyan shook his head. "No, her photos look like they're from a crime drama—every shot looks like a murder scene."

...So you’ve already tried asking her!

...And you even know about crime dramas!

"He even knows about crime dramas," the system remarked with the same sentiment.

"Not all entertainment disappeared after the apocalypse. Music and TV shows still exist, though they’ve turned into things like 'Picking Up a Healing-Type Mutant,' 'The Strongest Talent in the Security Team,' 'Our Love in the Contaminated Zone'..."

Shen Ji: ...

What kind of random crap is this?

"Anyway, no crime dramas have been produced during this period because human murder cases are far less common than Contaminant incidents."

Then where did Li Zhiyan get the idea of crime dramas from?

So Shen Ji turned to Li Zhiyan. "Mr. Li."

Li Zhiyan met his gaze. "What is it?"

Playing dumb, Shen Ji asked, "What is a crime drama?"

"It’s a show about discovering Contaminants," Li Zhiyan answered seriously. "For example, Contaminants disguising themselves as humans and hiding in the security team, Contaminants pinning it on the security team after eating people, or the security team being wrongly suspected of actually being Contaminants."

Shen Ji: ...

Such bizarrely specific plots—what do they have to do with crime investigation?

But as someone who appears to be in his twenties, Shen Ji should have been born after the apocalypse and shouldn’t know what crime dramas are. So, he could only bottle up his comments.

Sighing inwardly, Shen Ji turned to head to the cafeteria for lunch.

Just as he took a step, the comm device in his pocket suddenly sounded an alarm.

"Warning!" It wasn’t just his comm device—the entire containment facility’s warning lights lit up.

"Warning! Contaminated patient in Cell I-B5-35 has escaped the isolation room!"

"All emergency protocols are now in effect! Elevators locked down, firewalls engaged! All staff, please respond immediately!"

"Warning! Warning!"

Shen Ji froze for a moment, then immediately turned and ran toward the elevator bay. Li Zhiyan placed the flowerpot he was holding on the nearby windowsill and followed.

The containment facility was large, very large. To better control contaminated patients and prevent them from affecting the surrounding environment, the patient wards were set up underground. Zone I had the most patients and the largest capacity, spanning a full five floors.

I-B5 was located on the fifth floor.

Watching Shen Ji vault down the stairs, Li Zhiyan let out a low, appreciative whistle behind him.

In a light tone, he remarked, "Doc Shen, you've got some moves."

Every time Li Zhiyan thought he had Shen Ji all figured out, he'd find another side of him that was just as intriguing.

What a waste that skills like that aren't in the Guard Team.

Just then, the phone in Li Zhiyan’s pocket rang. He stopped, fished it out, and glanced at the caller ID.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“…Any fallout from it?”

“Understood, I'm on my way.”

Li Zhiyan ended the call, pulled up his messages, and sent a text to Shen Ji before turning and leaving the stairwell.

Meanwhile, Shen Ji had made it down to the fifth floor in no time flat, using his ID card to unlock the sealed fire door. The whole floor was flashing with red warning lights.

After only a few steps, Shen Ji spotted the contaminated patient who had broken out.

Though "escaped" wasn’t quite accurate, as she wasn’t actually trying to flee.

Lush green branches and leaves were growing out of her back, her hair disheveled, her eyes looked hazy and red under the warning lights. Instead of panicking or paying the alarms any mind, she was slowly making her way toward the person in front of her.

Zhang Qingli was sitting on the floor, scrambling backward bit by bit, trying to avoid her.

“Doctor, I really like you,” she confessed to Zhang Qingli.

“You're the only one who ever really took care of me. Unlike my family, you’re so concerned about me, so caring—I’ve truly fallen in love with you.”

Zhang Qingli shook his head. “I’m just the doctor responsible for your treatment. Hospital regulations prohibit emotional involvement with patients.”

“I know, I know that! So I won’t make things difficult for you!” She reached behind her, plucked a palm-sized red fruit from the branches growing out of her back, and held it out to Zhang Qingli with adoration in her eyes.

“This is a fruit I grew—the best one, my love for you. Will you eat it?”

“Take it! Eat it!”

Seizing the moment, Zhang Qingli quickly stood and jammed an inhibitor into her neck, injecting the full dose.

She blinked in confusion, then flung the syringe from her neck.

“Doctor, what are you doing? Why won’t you accept my fruit?”

Zhang Qingli slammed his fist against the floor in despair.

Who would ever eat a fruit produced by a contaminated patient after mutation?!