Chapter 66: Abyss Zero

Chapter 66 Zero Abyss

The Pollution Prevention Center wasn’t entirely heartless, not sending Shen Ji alone to Zero Abyss.

They brought out their trump card S-class mutant to accompany Shen Ji in searching for the missing Li Zhiyan and staff at Zero Abyss.

This was Shen Ji’s first time meeting another S-class mutant besides Li Zhiyan.

The system remained considerate, gathering information before the person even arrived.

"Gao Yuan, S-class mutant, Pollution Talent 'Blue-ringed Octopus,' a mutant who is entirely poisonous and indiscriminate toward friend or foe, possessing a mental state comparable to a pollutant. A B-class pollutant bitten by him can die on the spot. Yes, this guy likes to bite people."

Shen Ji clicked his tongue in amazement. "Is he more poisonous, or am I more poisonous?"

"Huh? Can that even be compared?"

"Of course. I still remember you saying that if a rat bit me, the rat would get rabies." Shen Ji held a grudge. "So if he bites me, who gets poisoned? Him or me?"

"..."

"Actually, you’re probably more poisonous. After all, you’re a pollutant; he’s at least still human."

With a creak, the door opened, and a person walked in.

He was wearing a Pollution Prevention Center uniform, but it was black and red, looking quite oppressive. Not only was the clothing different, but Shen Ji could see his messy hair piled on top of his head, his black eyes foggy and unfocused. Blue rings were visible on his temples, and upon closer inspection, half a blue ring could be seen on his cloth-covered wrist.

Blue-ringed Octopus... so it was a physical description.

The person walked in with his head down, not speaking, just slowly making his way to sit in front of Shen Ji before looking up at him.

Still not saying a word.

Shen Ji: ...

What does this mean?

"Although Gao Yuan is an S-class mutant, he’s more famous for his eccentric personality and inability to interact with people, far worse than when you pretended to have social anxiety."

"Especially since he’s entirely poisonous, so no one wants to interact with him. As a result, he often immerses himself online, creating a vicious cycle."

Shen Ji considered whether to greet him. As a journalist, he did need to greet everyone in advance to maintain a calm and serious image, but greeting him now wasn’t ideal. Without understanding his personality, he couldn’t be sure what kind of words the other would like to hear.

After a full ten seconds of silence, the other person finally spoke first.

"Are you the one who played with Li Zhiyan’s feelings and then abandoned him?"

...He actually started with that.

"Don’t listen to him; he’s talking nonsense." Shen Ji denied it. "I didn’t play with his feelings and abandon him. We have no relationship. He’s got the wrong guy."

"Oh." Gao Yuan nodded, his unfocused eyes showing no change in emotion.

A few seconds later, he added, "Well done. Do it a few more times."

Shen Ji: ...

Did you not hear a word I said?

"Let’s talk about that another time." Shen Ji said, "The Pollution Prevention Center wants us to go find Li Zhiyan together. What do you think about that?"

Gao Yuan fell silent for a moment before replying, "I don’t know."

He said, "I have no sense of direction. I can’t find my way; I can’t get into Zero Abyss."

What happened to the idea that octopuses have excellent navigation skills?

"He’s not an octopus; he’s human. He just has an octopus-like Talent. Don’t impose octopus traits on him!"

‘I can devour pollutants like a mushroom.’

"Because you’re not human; you’re a pollutant. You are the mushroom!"

Shen Ji: ...

Shoot, I forgot. I’m not human now but the terrifying final villain, the S-class pollutant Filth.

"So, this time, you want me to lead the way?"

Gao Yuan neither confirmed nor denied it, just stared at Shen Ji. After a few seconds, he asked, "Can you cure my poison?"

"I heard you’re an S-class Healing-type mutant."

Compared to setting out to rescue Li Zhiyan, this S-class mutant was clearly more interested in him.

"No." In the end, Shen Ji shook his head. "I’ve never said I’m a Healing-type mutant, and I don’t know what my Talent is."

"Actually, you could be. A Healing-type mutant fits our current situation." The system sounded puzzled. "Why are you denying it?"

‘I’m just worried about problems later. If I’m only discovered to be a mushroom, there’s room to argue. But if I admit to being a Healing-type mutant now, I’ll have to explain later why I falsely claimed to be one. It’s better to vaguely deny it now.’

"I see."

Gao Yuan sighed regretfully. "Alright."

He finally stopped asking questions. The security team assembled for the search and rescue mission was ready. Gao Yuan and Shen Ji were called to the vehicle by the person in charge, and soon the vehicle set off.

It had taken Shen Ji a full day and night to travel from the pollution fissure containment facility to the Pollution Prevention Center. Zero Abyss was in a remote location, so getting there would likely take another half day.

Li Zhiyan had been missing for two full days now.

He opened his phone and clicked on his chat history with Li Zhiyan. There was a message he had sent to Li Zhiyan.

No other content, just a photo.

Pure white Moth Flowers surrounded by pale blue flames, the flames flickering as if butterflies were flapping their wings.

After confirming with Yang Xu that he would join the search and rescue, Shen Ji had brought the bouquet of cultivated Moth Flowers with him. He specifically asked for the location of Li Zhiyan’s office and placed the flowers beneath the silk banner. Looking at the conspicuous banner and the burning Moth Flowers, Shen Ji couldn’t resist taking a photo.

It was the one he had just sent.

The vehicle traveled for half a day, navigating various complex road conditions, detours, and delays—long enough for their backsides to go numb—before they finally arrived at the temporary base.

By the time they got out of the vehicle, it was already getting dark. Shen Ji saw many people busy inside the temporary base, including a familiar person overseeing operations.

Jiang Ying.

Jiang Ying heard the vehicle arrive, and she turned around. When she saw Shen Ji, she smiled. "Mr. Shen."

Like Li Zhiyan, Jiang Ying didn’t pay attention to Shen Ji’s slightly altered appearance, nor did she call him Doctor Shen, addressing him simply as Mr. Shen.

"As expected of the originally appointed head of the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center."

"Vice-Captain Jiang is here too." Shen Ji walked over. "How's the situation?"

"Not just the captain, Zhou Ye and Qin Changye are also missing. None of the missing people can be reached, and it's unclear what their current status is." Jiang Ying didn't seem particularly tense. "But there's no need to worry about them. The captain wouldn't likely get taken out by an accident like this, and Zhou Ye and Qin Changye can protect themselves."

Gao Yuan was yawning as he climbed out of another vehicle. The moment he stepped out, the people around immediately scattered, leaving a large, circular empty space around him.

He seemed quite accustomed to this, casually wandering over to Shen Ji and Jiang Ying.

His unfocused black eyes stared blankly at the two of them.

Jiang Ying held his gaze. "Mr. Gao, long time no see."

Gao Yuan thought for a moment. "Do I know you?"

Jiang Ying paused...

She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Gao Yuan. "Mr. Gao, take a look at this."

Gao Yuan took the paper, but before he could read it, the paper started to corrode in his hand. The corrosion let off a weird smell, kinda like chemicals, and within seconds, the paper was completely eaten away. The onlookers backed up further, leaving an even larger space.

"I remember now." Gao Yuan looked up. "You're that young woman on Li Zhiyan's team. Last time, you also handed me some papers."

"It's great that you remember." Jiang Ying smiled. "Your memory's gotten worse."

Gao Yuan tilted his head oddly. "Seems fine to me."

As the S-Class Mutant, their last-resort, kept by the Pollution Prevention Center, Gao Yuan's condition wasn't great to start with. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been kept on standby for so long. He was pretty much one of the first S-Class Mutants, having survived for over 30 years—nothing short of a miracle.

If they truly had no other choice, the Pollution Prevention Center would never have dared to send him out.

Jiang Ying didn't pay him any more attention and instead handed a copy of the info to Shen Ji.

They contained some text information and some diagrams. After looking at them for a while, Shen Ji asked, "Did the pollution rift at Zero Abyss expand?"

"Exactly." Jiang Ying pointed ahead. "See that up front? Those ruins are what's left of the previous high wall. Now that the wall has collapsed, the pollution has leaked beyond it."

"At the time, the captain and the others probably got hit with both an earthquake and the expansion of the pollution rift."

Shen Ji walked forward. Jiang Ying looked like she was about to call out to him but ultimately didn't.

She felt conflicted.

The thing was, regular people can't get too close to a pollution rift. Even Mutants, while they could approach to some extent, couldn't look directly at the rift—especially not this scary original rift. Yet Shen Ji not only walked right up to it but also was staring into it for ages.

What kind of Class D psychic mutant is he?

He should've lost his mind by now!

After watching for a good while, a voice spoke next to his ear.

"What are you looking for?"

Shen Ji turned to see Gao Yuan standing next to him, also squinting curiously into the rift.

"Chrysanthemums."

"What are chrysanthemums?"

Shen Ji showed Gao Yuan the photo. "This photo Li Zhiyan sent me before he went missing. He said he'd found chrysanthemums, but I can't seem to spot any around here."

"Oh, so you guys were texting late last night." Gao Yuan remarked.

Shen Ji: ...

Is that really the point?

He returned to the temporary base and told Jiang Ying about this. She was clearly surprised, as none of the survivors had mentioned anything about chrysanthemums. In fact, all survivors had been detected to have been influenced by Li Zhiyan's Talent. They likely had some sort of episode where Li Zhiyan's Talent knocked them out, and then he woke them up.

As a result, their memories were all jumbled up, and they only remembered the cracking ground and Li Zhiyan's voice telling them to run.

"Thank you, Mr. Shen. I'll dig into this." Jiang Ying thanked Shen Ji. "It's getting late, and you're probably beat after that long drive. Go get some rest."

"Tomorrow morning, I'll organize a team to explore Zero Abyss."

Gao Yuan was still squatting near the pollution rift. Shen Ji went to call him over, but as soon as he approached, Gao Yuan spoke up.

"Are you talking about chrysanthemums like these?"

Shen Ji followed his gaze and saw a little bit of yellow in the soil. He reached out to brush the dirt aside and soon found a wilted chrysanthemum.

Soon, new chrysanthemums emerged from the soil, breaking through the earth one after another, slowly blooming.

A scorching, sulfur-like smell hit Shen Ji's nose. He instinctively covered his nose, but the odor didn't lessen.

It was the smell of pollution.

The flowers slowly spread, and the scent of pollution grew increasingly intense. Gao Yuan watched Shen Ji's expression.

After a long moment, he finally spoke. "You're as sensitive as Li Zhiyan."

Shen Ji was taken aback. He looked at Gao Yuan. "What did you say?"

"When facing pollution, you and Li Zhiyan are equally sensitive—as if you can smell the pollution."

Gao Yuan tilted his head, his dark, unblinking eyes growing increasingly eerie.

Shen Ji had to admit that he'd encountered many pollutants and quite a few mentally unstable oddities, but none of them were as ghost-like as this one.

But damn it, this was a person, not a ghost.

"Vice-Captain Jiang!" Shen Ji called out to Jiang Ying, who wasn't far away. "Something's wrong over here. Have everyone fall back."

Jiang Ying gave him an OK gesture in the darkness. Instantly, everyone sprang into action. Staff quickly retreated with portable equipment, not even leaving the tents behind. In less than three minutes, the area was completely cleared.

Gao Yuan watched their efficiency with surprise, then added, "She didn't even ask why."

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

"She trusts you a lot." Gao Yuan thought for a moment. "Because Li Zhiyan trusts you?"

Before Shen Ji could respond, an earthquake struck without warning. Shen Ji instinctively crouched to steady himself but forgot he was standing at the edge of the pollution rift. The rift began to expand, and Gao Yuan pulled him back from the edge. The two retreated several steps, avoiding the spreading fissure.

However, the direction they retreated happened to be the opposite of where the team had evacuated. They watched helplessly as the road ahead was replaced by the rift—a massive chasm completely blocking their path out.

They were cut off on the other side by the pollution rift, and the bottomless fissure was still expanding.

"Head toward the high wall," Gao Yuan said.

Shen Ji managed a quick gesture to Jiang Ying, indicating they were alright for now. Only after receiving Jiang Ying’s response did he and Gao Yuan take off running in the opposite direction.

The ground continued to crack open, weeds and sprouting chrysanthemums devoured by the churning earth. It was impossible to get steady footing on the shaking ground.

They climbed onto a section of the high wall that hadn’t cracked. Normally, during an earthquake, one shouldn’t head for higher ground, but with fissures everywhere, that stretch of the high wall was the only intact spot.

They waited for about ten minutes until the earthquake finally subsided.

But the chrysanthemums continued to spread. As far as the eye could see, chrysanthemums were growing, their bright yellow blossoms blooming across the newly cracked wilderness, carrying a strange, bleak sense of desolation.

Shen Ji mused subtly, “Like ‘the whole city clad in golden armor’?”

Gao Yuan turned to look at him. “You and Li Zhiyan both enjoy studying pre-apocalypse culture?”

Shen Ji met his gaze, then nodded after a few seconds. “Yes.”

“We’re hobby buddies.”

Gao Yuan didn’t dwell on it. He looked down, and because they were so close, Shen Ji could see faint blue rings hidden beneath Gao Yuan’s eyelids in his pitch-black eyes.

Just as Shen Ji was observing him, Gao Yuan suddenly let himself drop from the high wall.

He made no attempt to save himself, falling straight to the ground with a thud. Gao Yuan's face remained blank.

But in that instant, with Gao Yuan at the center, the surrounding chrysanthemums rapidly died in a radial pattern. They didn’t just wither—they instantly turned into pools of purple, rotten sludge stuck to the ground, clearly highly toxic.

The death of the chrysanthemums spread continuously, reaching all the way to the fissures until no plants were left alive in sight.

Gao Yuan finally sat up leisurely from the ground. The blue rings in his eyes were even more visible now, almost glowing in the night under the moonlight, making him seem increasingly eerie.

So toxic! Incredibly toxic!

“Mr. Gao,” Shen Ji called out, “are you okay?”

Gao Yuan looked up at Shen Ji and shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Just then, a second wave of earthquakes hit. Gao Yuan had just stood up when the shaking made him lose his balance. A new fissure ripped open behind him, and he stumbled, falling directly into the pollution crack.

Shen Ji quickly jumped down from the high wall. “Mr. Gao?!”

The pollution crack was bottomless, with no sign of anyone below. Gao Yuan didn’t respond.

“Where is he?”

“Given the current situation, it’s highly likely that Li Zhiyan and the missing individuals all fell into the pollution crack. Otherwise, it’s impossible for everyone to lose contact.”

“Can someone survive falling in?”

“Probably.” The system sounded hesitant. “I’ve detected that this pollution crack isn’t an original one. It seems more like a new pollution crack caused by pollution overflow. The pollution level isn’t very high—at most, it’s on par with a small pollution crack. A mutant wouldn’t die in there immediately.”

Shen Ji hesitated. “So you’re saying Li Zhiyan might be trapped down there and can’t get out?”

“Maybe? The protagonist doesn’t have wings, so climbing out would be very difficult.”

After hesitating for a moment, Shen Ji picked up a stone from the ground and marked the edge of the crack. Then, he leaped into the pollution crack.

After all, he was a pollutant—he couldn’t die. At worst, he could have the small mushrooms devour everything here.

/

The inside of the pollution crack was pitch black, bottomless, with no moonlight or light penetrating it. It was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. A normal person would instantly be driven to madness by fear.

Hyphae covered the entire pollution crack, sprouting small mushroom heads that emitted a faint red glow.

“Mr. Gao?” Shen Ji tried to find Gao Yuan, who had fallen in just before him.

But he didn’t see Gao Yuan. The spreading hyphae also showed no sign of him, as if he and Shen Ji had landed in different places.

“Spatial chaos has occurred,” the system said.

Shen Ji sighed softly. “Maybe that’s for the best.”

With an S-Class Mutant around, Shen Ji didn’t dare use his abilities freely. The small mushroom also didn’t dare appear easily. He was afraid this S-Class Mutant was as sensitive as Li Zhiyan and could detect the small mushroom’s location.

He pulled out his phone to check for a signal. Well, of course there was no signal.

Putting his phone back in his pocket, Shen Ji started moving forward.

The earthquakes hadn’t stopped. With every step, Shen Ji could feel the ground shaking. During the tremors, soil and rocks would fall from the crack, as if trying to bury him alive.

It was easy to imagine the psychological pressure the staff who fell into the crack must have felt—unable to climb out, with no light, and the constant risk of being buried alive during the earthquakes. Not breaking down required top-notch mental strength.

Just then, hyphae shot out from not far away and wrapped around Shen Ji’s hand.

Shen Ji raised his hand, looking at the glowing hyphae on his wrist.

“What? Someone up ahead?”

“Unconscious?”

Shen Ji quickly moved in the direction indicated by the hyphae. After a few minutes, he indeed saw someone in a guard uniform, covered in dust, with an arm twisted unnaturally—likely broken during the fall.

He hurried over, first checking the person’s breathing, then pulling a pollution inhibitor from his pocket.

After injecting the pollution inhibitor, Shen Ji confirmed the person was completely unconscious. He tried to have the hyphae lift the person and carry them out of the crack.

“I hope you’re lucky enough to be found by Jiang Ying,” Shen Ji said. “I can’t do much more than this.”

As he retracted the hyphae, a small blue dot rolled out of the injured person’s clothes.

The light point spread in the air, eventually transforming into a little blue butterfly. The butterfly seemed to recognize Shen Ji and began fluttering in front of him.

Shen Ji was taken aback. “Li Zhiyan’s butterfly?”

“No wonder he remained unharmed and in place despite being unconscious and exposed to pollution,” the system realized. “So Li Zhiyan left a butterfly with each of them. The butterfly can protect them from pollution, as if they’ve been marked, and other pollution will avoid these marked spots.”

Shen Ji reached out, and the butterfly landed on his fingertip.

He inexplicably recalled what Li Zhiyan had said before—that the butterfly couldn’t stray too far from him. If flowers bloomed, he and the butterfly would find their way together.

…The butterfly couldn’t stray too far from him.

“Do you know where Li Zhiyan is?” Shen Ji asked the little blue butterfly. “Li Zhiyan, your owner—where is he?”

The butterfly flapped its wings. After a long moment, it took flight again, slowly moving in a certain direction.

Shen Ji quickly followed. The blue butterfly flew slowly, as if worried Shen Ji might not keep up.

Along the way, Shen Ji found several more unconscious guard members. Each time he moved one to the surface, a little butterfly would appear. The little butterflies gathered together, fluttering like a cluster of fireflies.

Li Zhiyan.

Shen Ji thought: I'm going to find you any moment now.

On the other side, slimy, squirming tentacles viciously tore apart a Pollutant. The Pollutant didn't even have time to let out a scream before half of its body was corroded. The air was thick with a pungent odor.

Not far away, Qin Changye, dragging an injured guard team member, trembled as he watched the scene. Dried blood was caked on his forehead, the wound already clotted. Though he looked disheveled, he seemed otherwise unharmed.

While tucking the guard member beside him for protection, Qin Changye frantically began calculating.

“Holy shit, save me! Why is the Poison King here?! The Pollution Prevention Center must be fucking desperate—how could they let him out?!”

“Captain, where'd you disappear to? Hurry up and save me!”

Gao Yuan chomped down on another Pollutant with his teeth, then suddenly turned and fixed his gaze on Qin Changye.

“I can hear you.”

Qin Changye froze stiff on the spot.

“Hah, hah hah...” Qin Changye forced an awkward laugh. “Uh, I was just talking nonsense earlier, just nonsense…”

Gao Yuan cracked his neck and stepped closer to Qin Changye.

“Do you know anything about that person Li Zhiyan toyed with and abandoned?”

He was still curious about the gossip. “How did they meet? Is he an S-class Healing-type mutant? He seems immune to my poison.”

Qin Changye shrank back. “I don't know, I wouldn't dare gossip about our captain.”

“Start calculating,” Gao Yuan said. “Aren’t you the best at calculations?”

“Calculate how many more times he'll mess around and abandon them.”

Qin Changye: …

Boss! Help me!