Chapter 65: Abyss Zero

Chapter 65: Abyss Zero

The night at Abyss Zero is pure terror. Due to frequent earthquakes, the area has almost no plants, with only a few trees at the periphery. Further in, one can see fissures and chasms torn open by seismic activity.

Weeds cling to life in the cracks of these ravines, only to be buried again by soil churned up during quakes.

If it weren’t for the need to deal with the side effects of these earthquakes, the Pollution Prevention Center would have abandoned this place long ago.

For now, all they could do was string power lines along the outer walls and install street lamps, reconnecting them whenever they snapped, just to keep the power on here.

Li Zhiyan sat on top of the high wall. The wind outside was still strong, blowing snowflakes against his face with a gritty, abrasive texture.

He didn’t pay it much mind, his attention was instead on the messages on his phone.

The signal here was poor; he had to sit up this high just to chat with Shen Ji. The Pollution Prevention Center really ought to upgrade the signal here!

That’s it, he’d write a complaint letter to the Pollution Prevention Center as soon as he got back.

He checked the time—9 p.m., still early, not yet Shen Ji’s bedtime.

He went ahead and dialed Shen Ji’s number.

Ever since Shen Ji had fallen into the primordial rift and disappeared, Li Zhiyan hadn’t called him, not even after their brief reunion at the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center.

In a way, it was awkward—finding someone presumed dead so easily.

Although Li Zhiyan was delighted by it, he didn’t want to embarrass Shen Ji too much, so he made a show of only messaging him, never calling.

But for some reason, perhaps stirred by the topic of “liking,” Li Zhiyan felt restless, uncontrollably craving to hear Shen Ji’s voice.

The moment the call connected, the other end picked up.

Neither spoke. All that could be heard was their breathing, the sound filling each other's ears.

After a few seconds of silence, Shen Ji finally spoke. “What is it?”

It was the voice Li Zhiyan knew so well.

Li Zhiyan had always loved Shen Ji’s voice. Its tone matched the impression Shen Ji gave—a little cool, a little calming, especially when he spoke slowly, carrying a sense of steadiness. But if one listened closely, there was also detachment and tranquility in its timbre.

“No, I just suddenly wanted to hear your voice.”

Li Zhiyan lay back, his white hair splayed around him, one strand dangling over the edge of the high wall, making him look even more like some strange, ethereal creature.

Shen Ji replied casually, “You like it?”

“I like it.” Li Zhiyan closed his eyes. “If it weren’t for the apocalypse, you could’ve been a voice actor.”

“Not a voice actor,” Shen Ji said softly. “A journalist.”

A journalist.

Li Zhiyan recalled the gardener at the botanical garden addressing Shen Ji as “journalist.” According to the gardener, Shen Ji had introduced himself that way.

Not a voice actor, but a journalist.

Li Zhiyan couldn’t help but laugh.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Feels like I understand you a little better now. I’m happy.”

Shen Ji sighed quietly. He really didn’t see what there was to be happy about, but then again, Li Zhiyan’s way of thinking wasn’t something ordinary people could relate to.

If he was happy, then he was happy.

It was fine. Shen Ji was okay with that.

“Would you interview me?” Li Zhiyan asked. “You know, like in those short videos, where someone suddenly appears and says, ‘Excuse me, can I interview you?’”

“Or, ‘I’m filming a show, can I come home with you?’”

Shen Ji: …

“That’s entertainment TV, not the same field.”

“But how do you know about short videos and those ‘can I come home with you’ shows?” Shen Ji sensed something off. “Those were from a long, long time ago.”

In Shen Ji’s time, these were already outdated memes.

“Because I really like the world before the apocalypse.”

Because he liked it, he went and learned about it?

Now that he mentioned it, Li Zhiyan was indeed quite familiar with many pre-apocalypse terms. When they talked, Shen Ji never had to pause over such things; Li Zhiyan always understood what he meant and responded, even when Shen Ji referenced things from the past.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons they got along so well.

Li Zhiyan was like someone from before the apocalypse.

It was in that moment Shen Ji suddenly realized why Li Zhiyan seemed so different—compared to people after the apocalypse, he was too much like an ordinary young person from before.

Abstract college students, pleasure-seeking youth, the post-00s generation just stepping into the workplace and daring to say no to everything.

If you placed Li Zhiyan among them, he’d probably just seem like a normal person.

“Shen Ji.” Li Zhiyan called his name. “I’m looking at the stars.”

As he spoke, Li Zhiyan gazed up at the stars.

“Whether it’s before the apocalypse or after, the starry sky is the same color—beautiful and free.”

Shen Ji got up from the sofa, walked to the window, and pushed it open. Instantly, cold air rushed into the warm dorm room. Shen Ji hoisted himself onto the windowsill and looked out.

The weather had been clear the last few days since the snow stopped. The sky seemed washed clean by the snow, stars glittering brilliantly above. It was truly beautiful.

Shen Ji leaned against the wall and said, “Now, I’m looking at the stars too.”

What wonderful words.

Li Zhiyan didn’t speak again, and neither did Shen Ji. Each in their completely different locations, they watched the same sky.

It felt like long-distance dating.

Li Zhiyan thought: But I can’t say that out loud, it’d ruin the mood, and Shen Ji would scold me.

Just then, a voice came from nearby.

“As much as I hate to interrupt you… interrupt you two, there’s a bit of an unexpected situation.”

Li Zhiyan turned to look and saw Qin Changye peeking over the high wall, bundled up in a thick down jacket. Li Zhiyan glanced at his phone—Shen Ji was still on the line, so he didn't hang up either. He simply sat up on the wall.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s about the divination I just did.”

Qin Changye climbed up, pulling aside his down jacket to show Li Zhiyan the hexagram.

Li Zhiyan couldn’t understand it.

So he closed his eyes. “Keep going.”

“This is a sign of great misfortune!” Qin Changye pointed at the hexagram, explaining, “Look—misfortune, great misfortune, bloodshed on steroids!”

“Who brings this great misfortune? Spirit, emotion, rage—clearly, it’s referring to wrath.”

“At the hour of night, an angry spirit will affect everyone and bring disaster.”

After speaking, Qin Changye looked at Li Zhiyan again. “What were you and Doctor Shen talking about here?”

“Stargazing.”

“Stargazing?”

Qin Changye looked up at the stars in confusion, then back at Li Zhiyan.

Finally, he sighed in disbelief. “That's terrible!”

“It’s the apocalypse, you know. Instead of living it up, the two of you are having such a pure romance?”

Li Zhiyan retorted, “We’re not dating. Just stargazing.”

“You're still not dating?!”

“If you were, that would be even wilder!”

Li Zhiyan / Shen Ji, who hadn’t hung up and could hear: …

Seeing Li Zhiyan’s displeased expression, Qin Changye shrewdly concluded that if he said any more, next year’s salary would be entirely deducted. He let out an awkward laugh, carefully climbed down from the wall, and only after descending urged Li Zhiyan to return quickly, since something might go down soon.

Li Zhiyan brought the phone back to his ear. “Remember to send me photos when the flowers bloom.”

“Got it. Go do what you need to do.”

Li Zhiyan chuckled, hung up, and climbed down from the wall.

Below the wall, the lights were sparse, and the staff were wrapping up preparations for dinner. Nothing seemed amiss.

“Zhou Ye!” Li Zhiyan called out for the big cat.

Zhou Ye emerged from the crowd, holding his bowl, and ran over to Li Zhiyan.

He still wasn’t dressed properly—his jacket was practically dragging on the ground, and underneath he wore only a simple black shirt, showing off his arms and muscles as if he felt no cold at all.

Li Zhiyan asked, “Can you sense any issues among the staff?”

“Issues?” Zhou Ye took a bite of a sticky rice cake, mumbling through a mouthful, “Nothing major, but some minor ones.”

Li Zhiyan glanced at him. “What minor issues?”

“Seems like everyone’s emotions have become a bit extreme. Even small friction makes them angry.” Zhou Ye squatted down nearby. “When dinner was being distributed earlier, someone threw a fit because the person next to them had a larger fried egg, saying they weren’t being valued. But the cook gave them another one, and they let it go.”

Qin Changye stuck his head out again. “See, my divination was accurate.”

Li Zhiyan looked at him. “So how do you think we should handle it? If it’s really as you say, and an angry spirit will affect everyone, we’ve brought quite a few people this time. It won’t be easy to manage.”

Qin Changye hesitated.

He scratched his head. “I just do the divining; I don’t handle the aftermath… I mean, I don’t solve the problems.”

As soon as he finished speaking, shouting broke out from the crowd, and at the same time, Li Zhiyan noticed a strange smell.

Like magma, with a blistering heat and pungent sulfur odor. Li Zhiyan frowned, covering his nose with his hand, but the smell persisted.

It was pollution.

The shouting spread through the crowd, and soon Li Zhiyan could see people fighting not far away. The crowd seemed compelled by something, arguing and brawling, their intense emotions mingled with the polluted sulfur smell. Zhou Ye watched the fighting in surprise, then took another bite of his rice cake.

Qin Changye hid behind Li Zhiyan, afraid of being dragged into it.

Once safely hidden, he began doing a reading right there.

“A flower without roots brings wrath, blooming at midnight, the flower…”

Qin Changye blinked, then pointed into the distance and yelled to Li Zhiyan, “Captain! Flowers!”

Li Zhiyan followed his gaze and saw yellow chrysanthemums pushing through the snow. They bloomed one after another, seeming to glow faintly in the night. The more they bloomed, the stronger the sulfur smell grew, and the more intense the arguing and fighting became.

Just as it seemed people might pull weapons, Li Zhiyan snapped his fingers. Countless blue butterflies appeared in the air, flying up to each person.

Everyone who saw the butterflies paused, their anger fading away. They yawned, put down whatever they were holding, and slowly returned to their tents to sleep.

The chrysanthemums continued to grow, soon taking root in their temporary base. Li Zhiyan crouched and touched one—it felt cold, like an ordinary flower.

At that moment, he picked up an even stronger pollution aura. He turned toward the high wall and saw someone standing atop it.

She wore a guard uniform, her eyes glowing with a fiery red light.

It was He Linqiu.

“Miss He?”

“No, she’s being controlled.” Li Zhiyan met her gaze. “Wrath?”

He Linqiu stared silently at Li Zhiyan. A few seconds later, she leaped down from the wall and took off toward the interior.

Zhou Ye immediately gave chase. Li Zhiyan started to follow, but Qin Changye shouted.

“Bad news! An earthquake is coming!”

With a rumble.

Almost without warning, the ground began to shake. The high wall cracked under the vibration, and the newly bloomed chrysanthemums were buried by churning earth. Li Zhiyan quickly roused the staff he had just calmed.

“Run!” Li Zhiyan shouted. “Everyone, get away from the quake zone!”

Cracks spread from inside the wall to beyond it, and intense pollution aura rapidly seeped out. Qin Changye slipped, nearly falling in, but Li Zhiyan grabbed him.

He stared in shock at the deep fissure.

"...Contamination fissure?"

"Is its range expanding?"

/

After hanging up the phone, Shen Ji walked over to the sprouted Moth Flower and sat on the ground, watching it grow with the hyphae.

A faint pollution aura emanated from it, carrying a very light fragrance.

"The scent." Shen Ji frowned slightly. "It feels somewhat familiar."

"What scent?" the system asked curiously. "This system doesn’t have a nose, so it can’t smell anything."

"I feel like I’ve smelled it somewhere before."

Shen Ji muttered to himself.

Though the flower was pale yellow and gave off warmth like an ember, its scent was cool and refreshing, like a gentle breeze or the snow outside—completely unlike the impression the flower itself gave.

What did it remind him of?

A few seconds later, it dawned on him. "It smells like Li Zhiyan."

"Huh?" The system was puzzled. "The flower smells like the protagonist?"

"I remember now—back at the Q City containment facility, the hyphae had eaten several of Li Zhiyan’s butterflies, which ended up leaving a faint scent on me."

Shen Ji leaned in to lightly sniff the fragrance emitted by the Moth Flower. "Yes, it’s exactly the same as this flower’s scent."

"So that’s it. But since the protagonist hails from Moth Valley, it makes sense that his contamination is from the same source as the valley’s."

"Besides, Moth Flowers are yellow, while the protagonist is blue."

That also made sense.

Shen Ji reached out to touch the Moth Flower’s leaves. The flower trembled slightly, its leaves seeming as if to entangle his fingers, but the hyphae quickly swarmed over and pushed the leaves aside.

Master! Ours!

You! Don’t touch!

So Shen Ji turned to pet the small mushrooms instead, only withdrawing his hand until they had calmed down.

Glancing at the time, it was already past 10 p.m., and things outside had quieted down. Shen Ji first closed the window, then got into bed.

Once he was lying down, he began searching for information about Moth Flowers.

"Moth Flower."

Fifteen years ago, during an expedition, a branch of the Guard Team: the Far Wilderness Exploration Team, discovered Moth Valley. While conducting a perimeter inspection, they found the Moth Flower.

It grows in the highly polluted areas at the edges of Moth Valley, often appearing in clusters. The flowers naturally emit flames capable of incinerating pollution.

Since the discovery of the Moth Flower, the Academy of Sciences and the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center have used it as a benchmark for researching methods to burn away pollution.

"Collecting Moth Flowers remains a challenge to this day."

The system added more information. "Tasks to gather Moth Flowers are usually assigned to nearby Guard Team units or the Far Wilderness Exploration Team. The Pollution Prevention Center provides rewards for bringing back a certain quantity."

"Has Li Zhiyan accepted this task before?"

"Probably. Most members of the Guard Team have undertaken such missions. Fortunately, Moth Flowers have extremely low pollution levels themselves, insufficient to contaminate normal mutants, so the difficulty of collection isn’t that high."

Shen Ji thought for a moment. "Show me Li Zhiyan’s file."

"Huh? Why?"

"I want to confirm something."

The system found it strange but complied, sending the information to Shen Ji’s phone.

Li Zhiyan’s records began three years ago, aligning perfectly with the original story’s timeline.

The first chapter of the original work depicted Li Zhiyan’s recent entry into the Guard Team. Unfamiliar with the place, he clashed with his original team during his first mission due to differing perspectives.

Three years ago, Chu Ye led a team on a Moth Flower collection mission. He and his still-intact squad entered Moth Valley but, before they could gather any flowers, discovered a person.

The individual’s unusual appearance initially made them suspect a polluted being, but upon closer interaction, they found him lucid, unafraid of people, and even seeking help upon noticing them. Chu Ye had his team run a pollution test on him, confirming his pollution level was zero, followed by a basic Talent assessment.

After confirming he was a mutant, Chu Ye abandoned the Moth Flower collection mission, and the team brought him back to the Pollution Prevention Center for further examination.

It was eventually determined that he was an S-Class Mutant.

This was the whole story of how Li Zhiyan was discovered.

"There’s no information before that?" Shen Ji pored over the short file again and again. "What was Li Zhiyan doing before he was found?"

"The area around Moth Valley has long been deserted—no one could possibly live there. Li Zhiyan’s appearance was an anomaly. After being rescued, he claimed he had amnesia, remembering only his name. To retain this rare S-Class Mutant, the Pollution Prevention Center didn’t investigate further."

"In this apocalypse, verifying identities is difficult. As long as he’s confirmed human, nothing else matters."

Shen Ji pondered for a few seconds before speaking. "System, do you think Li Zhiyan could be a polluted being?"

"The protagonist, a polluted being?!" The system was shocked. "The original work never mentioned that!"

Shen Ji dismissed it disdainfully. "The original work left out plenty."

"...True. That damn author with their crappy ending!"

"I went through the original work ten times, digging into every corner, but found no foreshadowing about Li Zhiyan being a polluted being—only ambiguous hints about his identity. Ugh, author, couldn’t you have released your outline before leaving that terrible ending?"

Shen Ji sighed and tossed his phone onto the pillow.

"Never mind. This isn’t something urgent anyway. Speculating about it here won’t help."

"We’ll sound him out next time we meet."

"Fine."

Shen Ji reached out and turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the dorm room into darkness. In the blackness, the sprouted Moth Flower still emitted a warm, yellow glow, with the small mushrooms gathered around it, murmuring as if they were warming themselves by a fire or scolding it—'Don’t get too close to Master'!

Rubbing his temples helplessly, Shen Ji thought: Spending too much time with the small mushrooms was making him imagine their tones.

This wasn’t good—it would make him childish.

He was a steadfast villain, a serious and reliable journalist, absolutely not someone to be corrupted by kids!

/

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

Urgent doorbell chimes rang out continuously, accompanied by rapid knocking.

Shen Ji abruptly opened his eyes. The dorm room was still dark. He rubbed his bleary eyes and glanced at the time—5 a.m.

It wasn’t even work hours yet. Who could be knocking?

“Xiao Ji?!” Professor Yang’s voice came from behind the door. “Xiao Ji, are you awake? Open up!”

Shen Ji tsked. He got out of bed. For Yang Xu to come knocking himself, something must have happened.

Just as he was about to open the door, Shen Ji caught sight of the bucket near the balcony. The Moth Flower inside had grown up—its whole body now as thick as the bucket, its fist-sized blossom had bloomed open, emitting a cool, faint fragrance.

Subconsciously, Shen Ji walked over.

The moment he saw the flower, Shen Ji understood why it was called Moth Flower. Its petals fluttered like wings. Unlike its juvenile form, the adult Moth Flower had milky-white petals with flames dancing across them, as if veiled in a transparent gauze. And the flames… were blue?

Shen Ji quickly opened his phone and looked up the Moth Flower info he'd searched for yesterday. All the info showed Moth Flowers with orange-red flames.

But the Moth Flower seeds Li Zhiyan gave him produced a Moth Flower with blue flames.

With that touch of blue, the Moth Flower looked less like a moth and more like… a butterfly. In fact, it was extremely similar to Li Zhiyan’s butterflies.

*Bang, bang—* Professor Yang was still knocking.

“Xiao Ji!”

Shen Ji quickly took a picture of the Moth Flower before turning to open the door.

“Professor Yang?”

Only after opening the door did Shen Ji notice Yang Xu’s clothes were wrinkled and messy—clearly put on in a hurry, probably unwashed from before.

“You finally opened the door! It's a disaster!”

Professor Yang said urgently. “Come with me!”

Shen Ji pulled his coat off the hanger by the door and followed Professor Yang. Instead of putting it on himself, he draped it over the professor.

In his haste, Yang Xu hadn’t even worn a coat. It was freezing outside—Shen Ji was afraid the old man would catch cold.

Yang Xu stiffened, then nodded to Shen Ji, looking somewhere between moved and upset.

“Xiao Ji, there's some bad news I have to tell you.”

Shen Ji nodded. “I’m listening, Professor Yang. Take your time.”

“Li Zhiyan is missing.”

Shen Ji's steps halted. He truly froze in place.

Who’s missing? Li Zhiyan?

“Last night, there was an earthquake around Abyss Zero. It shattered all the high walls around the fissure, and the pollution fissure spread outside the walls. Li Zhiyan controlled the scope of pollution to let the team members escape, but a third of them are still missing or lost contact.”

“The Pollution Prevention Center sent people to investigate. The fissure cut right through the temporary base. Only a deep pit remains there—no signs of life detected.”

Shen Ji frowned subtly. “Li Zhiyan is an S-Class Mutant. He wouldn’t die that easily.”

“That’s why we need to find him, make contact with him.” Yang Xu turned to look at Shen Ji, his eyes filled with reluctance.

He sighed softly. “So the Pollution Prevention Center wants you to go look for him.”

Shen Ji immediately understood what Yang Xu meant.

The Pollution Prevention Center had already taken notice of him. If it weren’t for Li Zhiyan holding them back, they would’ve long since subjected him to full Talent level and ability testing.

Everyone understood what a new S-Class meant for humanity.

Now that Li Zhiyan was missing, and the Pollution Prevention Center really had no other people to send, they were trying to get Shen Ji to serve as an emergency stopgap.

As for dealing with Li Zhiyan’s sarcasm later, they could always say: ‘We had to resort to this to find you.’

“So… will you go?”

‘Of course.’

Shen Ji kept walking.

He needed to ask Li Zhiyan what the purpose of giving him those seeds was.

Was Li Zhiyan trying to hint at something by giving him seeds for a Moth Flower like this?