Chapter 30: Peach Blossom Calamity

Chapter 30 Peach Blossom Calamity

"Quit spectating." Zhang Qingli looked toward Shen Ji standing not far behind him. "Come help!"

The woman followed Zhang Qingli's gaze and looked up to see Shen Ji. She hesitated for a moment, then blushed deeply and averted the fruit.

"If... if Doctor Shen wants my love, I'd be okay with that too."

Shen Ji stopped in his tracks, not wanting to go any further.

Zhang Qingli wasn't bothered at all that the patient had suddenly transferred her affections. He quickly stood up and zapped her from behind with the stun gun he kept in his pocket, which also had a paralyzing effect. With just one hit, the woman screamed and fainted.

He reached out to catch the woman as she slumped down.

Only then did Shen Ji come over to help him support her. "All under control?"

"It's fine. Her pollution level has remained stable, and she doesn't have the aggression typical of pollutants."

Zhang Qingli picked her up and carried her back to her isolation room.

Shen Ji helped reset the pollution detector and administered a sedative to the contaminated patient. After ensuring everything was handled, Zhang Qingli finally emerged from the isolation room.

He pressed the button next to the isolation room, and after a few beeps, the alarm stopped, and the blocked pathway reopened.

"That scared me to death." Zhang Qingli closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cold glass of the isolation room.

Only after everything was settled did Zhang Qingli realize his arms and legs were trembling.

"So what happened?" Shen Ji asked him.

Zhang Qingli then recounted his experience to Shen Ji.

He had come to check on the abnormal pollution levels, only to find this contaminated patient standing outside the isolation room. Zhang Qingli didn't even know where she had come from. Then, the contaminated patient claimed to be in love with him and insisted he eat the red fruit she had produced due to her pollution.

The shocking encounter nearly caused Zhang Qingli to short-circuit.

"Quite a peach blossom calamity," Shen Ji commented.

After his comment, he realized something seemed missing. He looked around and, after a few seconds, it dawned on him.

"Where's Li Zhiyan?"

"Mr. Li?" Zhang Qingli looked up. "He didn't come. You were the only one who rushed out just now."

Shen Ji: ...

"Li Zhiyan received a call on B3 and left the containment facility."

"It seems an emergency came up, so he didn't have time to tell you. But he sent you a message—your phone wasn't on you, though."

"Let's get out of here first." Shen Ji patted Zhang Qingli's shoulder. "Everyone must be worried after such a sudden situation. Let's go explain what happened."

"Okay." Zhang Qingli nodded. "Thanks for saving me again."

Shen Ji shrugged. "Typical—just my luck—I was right at the door when the alarm went off."

Grateful yet curious, Zhang Qingli asked, "But how come you were the only one who showed up?"

The escape of a contaminated patient is no minor incident; at the very least, the shelter should have gone into full lockdown and notified nearby staff. Yet only Shen Ji, who was close to the ward, came. Even after the alarm was lifted, no one else came.

This was indeed strange.

The two exchanged a glance, then left the ward together to find someone in the office to handle this.

Before they even reached the office, they heard a commotion coming from the break room for headquarters staff.

The door to the break room was wide open, with several people crowded outside, watching.

Shen Ji and Zhang Qingli walked over.

"What's going on?" Zhang Qingli asked a colleague nearby.

"No idea," the colleague replied. "We heard the alarm and were about to head to the ward, but when it stopped, we didn't go down. Then we heard something fall/crash in here. When we opened the door, this is what we found."

Shen Ji glanced inside.

Several senior doctors were running around a table inside, panting, faces flushed. Despite the chilly autumn weather, they were sweating profusely.

Wen Jingyu and Wang Anle showed up late, looking somewhat disheveled themselves. They rushed in and separated them.

Or rather, they restrained one of the doctors.

The doctor was held in place while the others were leaning against the wall, catching their breath. It was only then that Shen Ji heard what the doctor was shouting.

"Old Qi!" he yelled. "Old Qi! Please accept me! We would make the perfect match!"

"I'm sincere!"

Qi Yuanhai backed away frantically, pure terror in his eyes.

"No, no, no! I have a wife and children! I can't accept you!"

Shen Ji / Zhang Qingli: ...

It was indeed terrifying to think about—being chased around with a confession by a sixty-year-old man, a same-sex colleague they had worked with for years, breaking every taboo in the book. Even someone as conservative as Qi Yuanhai would've been stunned, let alone an ordinary person.

After taking in the scene, Shen Ji turned to Zhang Qingli.

"Similar to what you just went through."

"You mean the Peach Blossom Calamity?"

Zhang Qingli glanced at the balding doctor whose wig had fallen off as he struggled to lunge forward, then thought about the contaminated patient in Ward I who had tried to force-feed him tainted fruit.

"...Well, this one seems more like a Peach Blossom Calamity."

Security rushed in and restrained the doctor, who was still going wild. Wang Anle immediately gave him a pollution inhibitor, but it had little effect. In the end, they had to use a sedative to calm him down.

Only after the person was taken away did Qi Yuanhai dare to emerge from the back.

"Director Wen!" Qi Yuanhai was on the verge of tears. "What on earth is going on?!"

"It's not just here; several areas in the shelter are experiencing similar incidents," Wen Jingyu said, frowning as he wiped sweat from his brow. "Dr. Qi, don't take it personally. I don't think he genuinely wanted to confess to you or be with you. Something must have influenced him."

Qi Yuanhai snapped. "I'm not concerned about whether he really wanted to confess to me or not!"

"Whether he genuinely wanted to confess or not, can they still work together amicably as colleagues after that person comes to their senses?"

The system egged things on, loving the drama. "Could this open the door to a whole new world for them?"

Shen Ji glanced at Qi Yuanhai’s flustered and pissed off expression, then thought about the dragged-away doctor’s receding hairline and bald patch...

‘Better stop imagining—kinda gross to picture.’

‘But is this pollution?’

Shen Ji glanced at his shoulder. The small white mushroom was craning its head to peer inside with him, though it didn’t seem to have its usual gluttonous reaction to pollution. Instead, it just swayed curiously.

Not pollution?

Zhang Qingli gave him a look. "Is your shoulder hurting? Why do you keep looking at it?"

Shen Ji: ...

This was exactly what Shen Ji liked about Zhang Qingli—no matter how strange the situation, he could rationalize and accept it naturally, without Shen Ji even having to make up an excuse.

"Yeah," Shen Ji went along easily. "I’ve been working too much overtime lately. My neck and shoulders are a bit sore—just stretching a little."

Just then, Wen Jingyu’s communicator chimed. He glanced at the caller ID, squinted, his gaze turning sharp, then answered and put it on speaker.

"Hello, this is Wen Jingyu."

"Director Wen, hello. This is Jiang Ying, acting head of the Q City Pollution Prevention Center." The voice on the other end was a woman’s—soft and gentle, almost soothing.

"We've had reports from residents: a massive tree has appeared overnight in Q City. It’s currently blooming, and the pollen seems to mess with some people’s heads. The pollution level is mild and hasn’t reached the level of a full-blown contamination sickness—that’s the good news. But there’s also bad news."

"The range of this flowering tree’s influence includes the containment center."

"So we’re asking all colleagues at the center to avoid going outside as much as possible. It’s best to seal off the entire containment center until this incident is over."

Wen Jingyu and Qi Yuanhai exchanged a look. Wen Jingyu swallowed nervously.

"What are the contamination characteristics of this pollution incident?"

"We’re on our way there now," Jiang Ying replied, tapping at her keyboard while analyzing data. "But so far, the observed contamination effect is: affected individuals will blurt out love confessions to people. It’s still unclear whether the target is random or based on certain conditions."

Wen Jingyu let out a sigh of relief and patted Qi Yuanhai reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Thank god—so he wasn’t actually trying to confess to you."

Qi Yuanhai: ...

I already said I don’t care about that!

In the end, Zhang Qingli stayed behind to report on the earlier incident, while Shen Ji headed to the changing room.

His phone was in there.

Li Zhiyan had left abruptly, and now Q City had another weird thing pop up. Putting two and two together, Li Zhiyan had surely gone to handle the situation.

Maybe there were clues in the message he’d just sent.

But...

"Li Zhiyan: Keep the flowers alive for a couple days—I’ll come pick them up later. It’d be even better if you could throw in a bunch of nice photos too."

Shen Ji calmly adjusted his glasses, the lenses glinting with an eerie white light.

"Just pour boiling water on it. I heard boiling water helps flowers bloom again. Let me see if that's true."

"..."

No, no, no! That’s for cut flowers. This is a living plant with roots!

/

Li Zhiyan got out of the car. Outside, many people in protective suits were already conducting analyses. A strong floral scent filled Li Zhiyan’s nostrils. He raised a hand to cover his nose—Hm, blocking it really lessens the smell. It’s a real floral scent, not the stench of contamination.

"Captain, you’re here." Jiang Ying was busy analyzing nearby, data streams constantly flickering across her computer screen. She was only able to manage a quick greeting.

"Yes, that’s right. This contamination signature is very strange, and it truly doesn’t meet the standard for a contamination disease. It should just be a case of contamination influence."

Jiang Ying was still coordinating with several organizations. This tree had affected many groups in the surrounding area, including the containment facility, which was within its area of effect.

Li Zhiyan looked up, trying to see the top of the tree, but failed. The tree was so tall it completely obscured an 18-story building.

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Ying finally had a free moment. "Captain, the analysis on this tree is back—it’s just an ordinary peach tree."

"Peach tree?" Li Zhiyan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "It’s almost winter. To have a peach tree now—isn’t it afraid of freezing to death?"

"If only it could freeze to death." Jiang Ying pointed to a plane in the sky. "This tree is enormous and incredibly tall. A plane took samples from above and confirmed it’s just an ordinary peach blossom. But even if you cut its branches, they regenerate right away. There’s no way to remove it."

"Its pollen drifts with the wind, causing problems wherever it goes."

Li Zhiyan nodded. "What kind of problems?"

"Finding someone to confess to."

Li Zhiyan looked at her, puzzled.

Jiang Ying nodded gravely. "Exactly—finding someone to confess to."

Li Zhiyan sighed. "So it’s a peach tree in its spring fever phase."

Just then, commotion broke out among the testing personnel. Li Zhiyan and Jiang Ying turned to look.

One of the workers in a protective suit suddenly removed his face shield, threw down his equipment, and dashed over to someone, dropping to his knees and launching into an enthusiastic marriage proposal.

Everyone around froze for three seconds before quickly restraining the proposer and escorting him away.

Li Zhiyan glanced at Jiang Ying. "Like what just happened?"

Jiang Ying nodded gravely once more.

"Any contamination readings?"

"Extremely low, almost undetectable." Jiang Ying also found it strange. "Despite such clear signs of mental contamination, those affected show no physical abnormalities. The contamination levels don’t even meet the standard for contamination indicators. All their behavior is just about finding someone to confess to or court."

"Beyond that, there’s no danger at all."

Li Zhiyan thought for a moment. "Once this contamination passes, maybe marriage and birth rates will get a boost."

Jiang Ying: "..."

"Boss, have you considered that among those confessing, it’s not just men and women—about half are same-sex confessions?"

As she spoke, someone suddenly ran up, holding a peach blossom branch freshly snapped from the tree.

Whoever it was wore protective gear, so you couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, but they were holding out a peach blossom branch and proclaimed to Jiang Ying, "Captain Jiang, I like you!"

"Please be with me!"

Jiang Ying looked at them seriously, her voice extremely gentle, "Sorry, I’m only into 2D men. You don’t fit my type for a partner."

"I-Is that so?"

"If you can’t turn yourself into a 2D handsome guy and appear on my computer screen, don’t bother me."

They were dragged off, looking heartbroken.

Ignoring the person being taken away, Jiang Ying showed her computer screen to Li Zhiyan. "I’m analyzing the pollen from this peach tree. It might contain dopamine that stimulates the human brain, creating an impulse to confess to someone they care about, but hormone mix-ups blur love and caring."

"Maybe we can try basic medical intervention."

Li Zhiyan nodded casually. "You handle it. I’m going to make a call."

"To Mr. Shen?" Jiang Ying asked curiously. "Speaking of which, I’ve never met Mr. Shen. Zhou Ye said you care about him a lot and even tried to recruit him, but he absolutely refused to follow you, boss."

"Where is Zhou Ye?" Li Zhiyan didn’t answer the question and said lightly, "He took off without permission—dock him 200."

Jiang Ying: …

Zhou Ye, on a business trip in the neighboring W City: …

Fined for no reason, poor big cat.

Li Zhiyan called Shen Ji. After realizing that Shen Ji would only brush him off over text, Li Zhiyan finally learned to call instead.

In his dictionary, there was no such word as "has no shame."

This time, unlike before, the other side didn’t leave him waiting but quickly answered the phone.

"Hello." Shen Ji’s voice came through the phone, cool and detached.

Li Zhiyan could hear other strange noises on his end—a racket of voices and the sound of tables being dragged.

"What’s that noise?"

"Nothing." Shen Ji answered while eating rice, his eyes fixed on a commotion in front of him.

"I’m in the cafeteria. A colleague suddenly knelt down and proposed to the cafeteria lady after getting his meal. The cafeteria lady is 58 years old, and her son is a doctor at our containment center who also happens to be in the cafeteria. So the cafeteria lady’s son and this doctor came to blows and knocked over three tables."

Li Zhiyan couldn’t help but exclaim, "Wow, drama."

"Zhang Qingli went to break it up and got a black eye."

Zhang Qingli, sitting across from Shen Ji, gave him a light kick, looking annoyed.

Li Zhiyan could tell Shen Ji was in a pretty good mood, so he asked, "Did you pick up the flowers I sent?"

"Oh, you mean the flowers." Shen Ji replied calmly, "Tossed them down a well."

Zhang Qingli, who was eating across from him: …

"There’s a well at your containment center?" Li Zhiyan asked, puzzled. "Does well water make flowers grow better?"

"No, I just thought they needed baptizing." Shen Ji said, "So, Mr. Li, are you handling this weird contamination case?"

Li Zhiyan didn't press further about his flower. "Although it's a contamination incident, it doesn't quite feel like one. There are no pollution readings."

"Jiang Ying is analyzing it. I'll notify you once we have results."

"That's really appreciated. Mr. Li, you truly are the hero of Q City!"

Listening to Shen Ji's flattering words, Li Zhiyan could almost picture Shen Ji's expressionless face while uttering pleasantries. This person's words never matched what he truly thought; even with a cold demeanor, he could say nice things—which was kind of funny.

Unfortunately, it seemed no one else had noticed this quirk.

The pain of having a hidden soft spot no one understood.

After hanging up, Shen Ji continued eating, but after just a few bites, he couldn't eat anymore under Zhang Qingli's intense gaze.

Zhang Qingli had stopped eating entirely, just staring at him with a weird look.

Shen Ji: "What are you looking at?"

"You said you weren't close to him, right?" Zhang Qingli asked, puzzled. "Then why did he specifically call you?"

"You have Li Zhiyan's private number? Why would someone you're not close to give you their private number?"

Shen Ji: ...

How should he know? Li Zhiyan had inexplicably exchanged contact info with him and started bothering him every day.

If he could, he would have blocked Li Zhiyan long ago. But as the protagonist, Li Zhiyan always managed to show up wherever something happens. The original plot hadn't yet reached the point where Shen Ji would be exposed and face off against the protagonist, so he and his system still needed to get more intel for analysis.

Yes, they planned to get information from the protagonist. After all, Li Zhiyan still didn't know Shen Ji was a pollutant.

On the other end, Li Zhiyan yawned after hanging up.

He hadn't eaten breakfast, lunch, or even dinner the previous night. Now he was pretty hungry and also felt like sleeping.

He stared at the huge peach tree.

"Can you eat these flowers?"

"Better not!" Jiang Ying replied. "Mainly because these flowers disappear once picked. Boss, eating them would be like eating air—won't fill you up."

Hearing this, Li Zhiyan turned and left. "I'm going for lunch."

Unfortunately, due to Q City's heightened security, no restaurants were open. In the end, Li Zhiyan didn't get lunch and had to wait till the afternoon when the team returned to the Pollution Prevention Center to eat at the cafeteria. The food was bland, and after one bite, he remembered why he hadn't eaten breakfast that morning.

He was already missing the mushroom hot pot from East City.

Jiang Ying was still discussing with the doctors about working on a treatment for this anomaly. Li Zhiyan left everything in her hands and leaned back in his office chair to take a nap.

Unexpectedly, he fell asleep quickly—not just asleep, but he also started to dream.

In the dream, there was a massive peach tree, and beneath it stood a person. Without hesitation, Li Zhiyan walked toward the tree.

In just a few steps, he reached it—normal, since this was a dream, not limited by physics.

He finally got a clear look at the person standing under the peach tree.

Glowing white mushrooms spread beneath the tree, and as if hearing his approach, the person turned to look at him.

"Shen Ji?"

Shen Ji smiled at him, then leaned back and fell onto the mushrooms. His black-framed glasses slipped down to his chest due to the awkward angle of his fall, completely exposing his cool, dark eyes. His white shirt hung loosely on him; though he had a cold appearance, at this moment he seemed incredibly casual and unconstrained.

Li Zhiyan had always known Shen Ji had good looks—even wearing the protective suit and a pair of ordinary black-framed glasses couldn’t hide his good looks.

But he never expected to see him like this in a dream.

It was a mix of abstinence and indulgence, an alluring, tantalizing quality. Shen Ji reached out his hand to him, as if asking to be pulled up.

The unbuttoned cuffs of his white shirt slid down his arms, revealing his slender arms. Following the line of his clothes downward, the disheveled hem rested on his abdomen, and a strip of pale skin was visible at his waist.

He was hinting at something. Even without speaking, Li Zhiyan was sure of it.

Li Zhiyan: [...]

He abruptly opened his eyes. The office was already quite dark. Blue butterflies materialized before Li Zhiyan, illuminating the clock hanging on the wall.

It was actually already 4 a.m.

“Strange dream,” Li Zhiyan snapped his fingers, and the butterflies vanished into the air. He stood up and turned on the office lights, instantly filling the room with light.

Dreams are the brain’s reaction under certain conditions. Normally, people forget everything about their dreams the moment they wake up, but Li Zhiyan found that he broke this pattern—he remembered every detail of the dream clearly. He even remembered that, in the end, blue flowers had wound around the white mushrooms, making Shen Ji look even more beautiful.

It felt as surreal as a movie scene.

This wasn’t normal.

“But, really beautiful,” Li Zhiyan sighed. “Can a person be this attractive? Are you sure he’s not a contaminant in disguise?”

Just then, Li Zhiyan’s communicator suddenly rang. The blaring sound echoed through the empty office, making it seem unusually loud.

It was a call from Jiang Ying.

Li Zhiyan answered the communication. “What’s wrong?”

Li Zhiyan was a very willful S-level Mutant. As a captain, he was unreliable, and everyone who dared to call him for work in the middle of the night had been scolded by him.

So, under normal circumstances, no one would dare to call him at 4 a.m., especially with such a loud emergency communication.

“Captain! Someone’s dead!”

“What?” Li Zhiyan shrugged on his security team uniform jacket while talking to Jiang Ying and headed out the door. “Explain clearly.”

“It’s one of the people who suddenly made declarations of love during the day. Since there were no signs of pollution, they were all temporarily relieved from duty and sent back to rest. Just now, a staff member woke up to use the bathroom and smelled blood. He followed the scent to his roommate’s bed and pulled back the covers…”

“He found him dead in bed, covered in blood.”

Li Zhiyan raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, “What about the pollution level?”

“There are no traces of pollution on the body, but the pollution detector he carried detected a pollution spike during the night—it only lasted a second.”

“First, contact the people who had issues earlier and see if there are more victims.”

“I’m already having someone look into it.”

After hanging up, Li Zhiyan walked out of the Contamination Prevention Center. He looked up at the oppressively dark night sky—no stars, no moon, just oppressive darkness.

“No stars or moon. Will it rain tomorrow?” he muttered.

Li Zhiyan pondered, “If it rains, will it wash the pollen away?”