Chapter 74: Containment Shelter Headquarters

Chapter 74: Shelter Headquarters

Sunlight streamed through the window into the bedroom, and under the hazy glow, Shen Ji woke up groggily.

He glanced toward the window, then looked over at his blanket.

The little mushrooms were snuggled up next to him, still fast asleep, packed in so tight they were practically pushing the covers off. Shen Ji tried to turn over, only to find another pile of little mushrooms on the other side.

He was completely surrounded by little mushrooms.

Shoving aside the round mushrooms rolling around on the bed, Shen Ji got up. He opened the bedroom window, and an icy wind instantly blew in.

The wind was chilly, sapping all the warmth away the moment it hit you. The little mushrooms, feeling the cold, dug further under the blanket, curling up into tight little balls until not even their caps showed.

These little mushrooms really hate the cold!

After closing the window again, Shen Ji grabbed his phone from the bed, but no matter what button he pressed, the screen stayed black. Baffled, he gave the phone a shake.

“Dead battery?”

“I swear I charged it all the way last night?”

After plugging his phone in, Shen Ji went to pour himself a glass of water. By the time he returned, the phone had powered on. Luckily, no one had tried to call while it was off—no missed call notifications or texts from anyone.

So how did it just die like that?

Guess I need a new phone?

Shen Ji's mood suddenly lifted: “Does this mean I finally get to spend my paycheck?!”

“Not to burst your bubble, but maybe check your chat history with the protagonist first?”

“…Why is it always him?”

“What can I say? You're the one who has to be all ambiguous with the protagonist.”

Shen Ji opened his chat history with Li Zhiyan. The first thing that caught his eye was a six-hour video call record. Shen Ji felt his heart sink.

Wait, when did I video call Li Zhiyan?

For six hours?!

The call had ended three hours ago.

After thinking for a second, Shen Ji sent just a period. A reply popped up almost immediately.

“【Astronaut】You're up?”

“【Shen Ji】My phone died. *Again*.”

“【Astronaut】No big deal. I've got eighteen charging cables on standby, all different kinds, with fast charging. Look in the nightstand drawer.”

Shen Ji glanced at the messages, then pulled open the nearby drawer. Sure enough, inside were neatly organized, almost brand-new-looking charging cables.

Shen Ji: ...

Of course he's ridiculously organized about this.

In contrast, Shen Ji’s cables, on the other hand, were always a hopelessly tangled mess in his bag. Back before he got wireless earbuds, his wired headphones would always get tangled up with the cables like they were made for each other.

Guess hiking and exploring teaches you how to keep your stuff organized better than regular life does.

He found a cable that fit his phone, Shen Ji plugged it in.

Now he finally had time to get a proper look around Li Zhiyan’s place now that he was fully awake.

The flowers on the balcony looked as bright as ever, and they seemed to bloom even more the second they saw Shen Ji. Their colors were dazzling, but they gave off a faint smell of pollution. Li Zhiyan had put a pollution detector in the corner to make sure these little guys didn't suddenly mutate.

The closet didn't have many clothes in it—aside from the few sets Li Zhiyan usually wore, most were uniforms from the Pollution Prevention Center.

A huge fridge stood in the kitchen.

“But I thought Li Zhiyan didn't really eat?” the system mused. “Why have such a big fridge if he doesn’t eat?”

Shen Ji stared at the fridge and was quiet for a few seconds. “My guess is it's full of flowers.”

“What?”

“Wanna bet?”

“No way,” the system refused. “I can't follow the protagonist's logic, and I don't see how you can either. But anyway, I’m not getting involved. No betting with you.”

Shen Ji snorted and pulled open the fridge door.

The next moment, the smell of flowers immediately wafted out. It was packed with flowers—pots and all. Li Zhiyan hadn't even cut them; he'd just put the whole pots inside. The refrigerator wasn’t plugged in, and Shen Ji could totally picture Li Zhiyan holding the fridge door open to water them.

The system couldn’t hold back anymore. “It really is just flowers! Why would he *do* that? And how did you *know*?”

“Aren’t you an all-knowing system?” Shen Ji admired the flowers in the fridge. “Li Zhiyan is from before the apocalypse. Back then, ‘fridge and flowers’ was an associated phrase—a symbol of romance and surprise. People after the apocalypse probably don’t know this old reference anymore.”

“A fridge that’s never used, and Li Zhiyan loves flowers—chances are he’s recreating that old reference.”

“So you didn’t actually understand his thought process—you deduced it through analysis?”

“Yeah, who could possibly understand Li Zhiyan’s thought process? He’s so abstract.”

“…”

Sometimes the system felt it didn’t understand Shen Ji very well.

He was a reporter who liked to say odd things, had strong mental resilience, but occasionally acted foolishly like the little mushrooms, worrying about his serious image when he did.

Yet at times, the logic and wisdom he displayed would make the system exclaim, “So that’s how it is!”

Intelligence and unpredictability could coexist in one person—it was quite fascinating.

Shen Ji didn’t know what the system was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn’t care. People naturally have two sides—one for work and one for life. It was perfectly normal.

While his phone charged, Shen Ji explored every corner of Li Zhiyan’s home. There were many things like the fridge and flowers—Li Zhiyan seemed to intentionally fill his home with “pre-apocalypse surprises,” surprisingly nostalgic.

In the living room, Shen Ji also found a whiteboard with printed photos stuck to it. A few were ones Shen Ji had sent him earlier.

Under these photos, Li Zhiyan had written notes with a marker.

“Coach! I want to learn photography!”

The reference was so old it made Shen Ji cringe slightly.

He waited until his phone was fully charged before heading out to the shelter.

No one had contacted him before this, so presumably nothing had gone wrong. Gao Yuan wouldn't be recovering anytime soon.

Taking the shuttle bus to the shelter, Huang Jining rushed out as soon as he arrived at the entrance, as if he'd gotten word.

"Doctor Xiao Ji, you're finally here!" Huang Jining said with a smile.

Shen Ji apologized, "Sorry, I was so exhausted yesterday that I fell asleep as soon as I got home and just woke up. I should have come earlier."

"No, no, of course not! You should rest when you're tired!"

Huang Jining led Shen Ji toward the isolation room. "But Doctor Xiao Ji, Gao Yuan still hasn't woken up. Is something wrong?"

Before Gao Yuan fully regained consciousness, no one dared enter the isolation room to take his vitals. They could only guess based on the environmental pollution level in the area. Over the past half-day and night, they watched as the pollution level around Gao Yuan gradually dropped from 97 to 73.

73—a number that meant he wouldn’t be sent to the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center!

But Gao Yuan still hadn’t woken up. He was curled up in a corner, clutching his eight tentacles, motionless. The consciousness detector confirmed he was in a comatose state.

"Should be okay...?"

Shen Ji wasn’t sure either.

After all, he wasn’t exactly a proper pollution disease doctor. His method of treatment relied entirely on the small mushroom forcefully gnawing away at the pollution—a crude but effective approach.

When they arrived at the isolation area where Gao Yuan was, several doctors were gathered around watching. Upon seeing Shen Ji, their eyes lit up, and they greeted him, once again giving Shen Ji the feeling of being a panda on display.

Decision made: tomorrow, he’d go pet a panda!

"Isn’t that decision a bit too sudden?"

Was it? Not really.

Shen Ji walked right in the isolation room. He didn’t even bother wearing a protective suit—after all, everyone now thought he was an S-Class Healingtype mutant, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

The people outside watched as Shen Ji crouched in front of Gao Yuan. He did nothing except snap his fingers in front of Gao Yuan’s face.

*Click*—like a magician’s go-to trick, Gao Yuan opened his eyes, dazed and confused.

He blinked, stared at Shen Ji for a few seconds, then hugged his tentacles tighter.

But this wasn’t magic, and Gao Yuan wasn’t a magician’s sidekick.

Everyone: …?!

They rushed forward in their protective suits, simultaneously reassuring Shen Ji and urging him to rest while beginning a full workup on Gao Yuan.

The final tests showed his pollution level had indeed dropped to 75, and his Talent level had plummeted to S-. The risk of losing control was significantly reduced.

Everyone: Whoa!

Gao Yuan was even more bewildered.

This was the first time he had woken up from losing control to find so many pollution doctors around. Usually, only Huang Jining was there to run his tests—though, to be fair, his periods of lucidity were short.

And also, everything hurt.

His whole body ached, as if it were riddled with holes. While the pollution doctors examined him, he took the chance to inspect his own body.

Damn, he really was covered in holes! Even his tentacles were wilted, and half the suckers were missing!

Had someone worked him over or something?!

Once all the checks were done, Huang Jining patted his shoulder with a smile.

"Take a look for yourself." Huang Jining handed the readout to Gao Yuan. "No one knows your body better than you."

Gao Yuan took the report.

He glanced casually at the data, thinking, it couldn't be much better.

Then he saw that his pollution level had dropped to 75, and his Talent level had fallen to S-.

His head snapped up, and he locked eyes with Huang Jining, his expression full of shock. Huang Jining smiled and nodded, confirming the data was accurate.

"Why?" Gao Yuan asked in disbelief. "How was it controlled? I feel like someone just beat me up..."

Huang Jining burst out laughing. "Doctor Xiao Ji worked you over!"

Gao Yuan pored over the numbers, reading it over and over again.

After a long while, he finally looked up. "So, does this mean I can leave the shelter soon?"

"Not yet. You’ll need to be transferred to the medical isolation ward next door." Huang Jining said seriously. "Don’t you need to patch up all those holes you got from the beating?"

Gao Yuan: …

Damn old man, joking with him at a time like this!

But he couldn’t help smiling despite himself, even his grotesque face looking a bit brighter.

Suddenly, he remembered something. "Oh, right, can I have my wristband back?"

"I’ll get it for you in a bit. Planning to celebrate already?"

"No." Gao Yuan said. "I need to call my buddy who fishes by the sea and have him catch a couple of fresh squid."

"To get the appetite going for the great Doctor Shen!"

Wasn’t it just calamari? He’d give as much as needed!

Huang Jining: …

/

The Pollution Prevention Center made good on their promise and took Shen Ji to pet the panda.

After Huang Jining informed them that Gao Yuan’s outbreak risk had been significantly suppressed, they cleared their schedules and focused entirely on finding a panda. They finally located the poor panda they had previously caught for Li Zhiyan to pet and then released.

Caught for the second time, the panda cursed up a storm, trying to take a swipe at people with its paws, only to have its paw grabbed by the "puny" human in front of it.

Panda: …

Last time, there was also someone like this, who single-handedly caught its paw and gave it a good rubbing.

*Squeak.*

After getting his fill of panda petting, the Pollution Prevention Center arranged for a dedicated driver to take Shen Ji back. This time, they wasn't about to release the panda again.

What if another S-Class Mutant showed up demanding to pet a panda?!

Better safe than sorry—better to build a zoo and keep the panda there.

The giant panda scores a government iron rice bowl job.

Of course, Shen Ji remains highly professional. Although Gao Yuan's Pollution Sickness level has dropped to the normal range, it is still quite high at 75, which Shen Ji doesn't consider a normal value yet.

As Gao Yuan's primary doctor, Shen Ji will continue to oversee his treatment until he is certain Gao Yuan can leave the containment ward and live a normal life.

After changing into his temporary uniform at the containment ward, Shen Ji prepares to check Gao Yuan's recent data and administer two shots of pollution inhibitor. But as he approaches the isolation zone, he hears a fit of laughter.

The laughter was from a woman, and a young one at that.

Shen Ji pushes open the door to the isolation room and sees her.

She is wearing a Pollution Prevention Center uniform, but unlike Li Zhiyan's blue-black one, hers is white and blue—a light blue, reminiscent of a clear sky.

Hearing someone enter, the woman turns to look at Shen Ji. Her eyes light up the moment she sees him.

"What a handsome doctor!"

Gao Yuan, sitting inside listlessly, introduces him, "Shen Ji, Doctor Shen."

"So you're Doctor Shen!" The woman immediately grabs his hand and shakes it vigorously. "Truly, seeing is believing! Thank you for curing the squid!"

Gao Yuan protests, "Don't call me squid."

"Why not? Even Li Zhiyan calls you that."

Gao Yuan rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath, "It's all Li Zhiyan's fault. Now everyone calls me squid."

The system reliably provides Shen Ji with information about the person in front of him.

"Li Qing'an, S-Class Mutant, head of the Far Wilderness Exploration Team, Pollution Talent 'Rainbow Crow.' She is the only female among the three existing S-Class Mutants. Li Zhiyan can't fly, but she can—her back can grow wings, allowing her to launch attacks on pollutants from the air."

"Originally, the Pollution Prevention Center planned to send both her and Li Zhiyan to Zero Abyss, but when the Silent Frost Domain ran into trouble, she had to be reassigned there instead."

"Final friendly reminder: This person has an extremely low threshold for laughter. Do not, under any circumstances, try to make her laugh."

"My name is Li Qing'an. I just got transferred back today. It's our first meeting, and I hope we can help each other out in the future," Li Qing'an says with a smile.

Shen Ji meets her gaze and, after a few seconds, asks, "Are you here to see Mr. Gao?"

"No, I'm here to see a doctor," Li Qing'an replies cheerfully. "After arriving, I heard Gao Yuan had been cured, so I thought I'd drop by to see him."

Concern flashes in Shen Ji's eyes. "Are you sick? What's wrong? Do you need my help?"

"It's not too bad, just a broken wing."

Shen Ji: ...

A broken wing?

"I was flying through the air searching for pollution cracks in the Silent Frost Domain when I ran into an air wall and crashed right into it," Li Qing'an explains, pretending to cry. "It hurt so much! My wing broke, so I called the Pollution Prevention Center right away and demanded to come back for treatment."

"If they didn't let me come back for treatment, I threatened to resign. Nothing is more important than my wings!"

Is there even a single normal person among the S-Class Mutants in this book?!

But not only is she not normal, she's also full of endless questions. Shen Ji is soon buried under her barrage of inquiries.

"Doctor Shen, are you really an S-Class healing-type Mutant?"

"Is it true that you and Li Zhiyan had a fling and then you abandoned him?"

"I heard you went to pet a panda today. Li Zhiyan went to pet one before too. Would you two consider keeping a panda as a pet? If you do, can I come pet it?"

Shen Ji reaches out to open the door of the isolation room, maintaining his silent and reserved persona as he retrieves the pollution inhibitor from his toolkit.

He extends his hand to Gao Yuan, who lifelessly offers his arm.

After watching Shen Ji administer the pollution inhibitor to Gao Yuan, Li Qing'an asks, "Doctor Shen, can I hire you?"

Shen Ji tosses the syringe into the medical waste bin before asking, "Why would you hire me?"

Li Qing'an pulls a bank card out of her bag and hands it to Shen Ji.

"There's 1 million in here."

She says grandly, "All you have to do is add a whole tube of wasabi to Li Zhiyan's food!"

Shen Ji: ...

Crows are birds with a strong sense of vengeance.

If you offend them, be prepared for retaliation—whether it's a claw or bird droppings.

Shen Ji remains silent for a long while, considering how to inconspicuously add wasabi to Li Zhiyan's meals.

But wasabi has such a pungent smell; the chances of going unnoticed are quite low.

So Shen Ji regretfully shakes his head. "Li Zhiyan doesn't eat normal food. He has pica and only eats poisonous flowers and mushrooms."

"Instead of adding wasabi to his food, you might as well wait for him to eat a poisonous mushroom and die from it."

Li Qing'an bursts into laughter, even slapping her thigh in amusement. "Hahaha, Doctor Shen, you're so funny!"

Shen Ji: ...

Gao Yuan, watching from the sidelines: ...

"..."

What part of that was funny?!

After sending off Li Qing'an, who came to have her wing examined, Shen Ji finally has time to eat lunch.

It must be said—the food at headquarters is indeed better than at the branch, with even more meat.

After loading his tray with food, Shen Ji finds an empty seat to eat. Doctors passing by let out small gasps when they see him, then pretend not to notice, though in reality, they keep sneaking glances.

Shen Ji, who has always been sensitive to stares, feels like standing up and shouting, "If you're going to look, do it openly! Stop sneaking around!"

It seems the containment ward headquarters isn't such a great place either. It's not somewhere to stay long-term.

After taking a bite of his work meal and confirming that it tastes surprisingly good, Shen Ji takes a photo with his phone and sends it to Li Zhiyan.

Soon, Li Zhiyan replies with a message.

It's also a photo, but this one shows the gruesome corpse of a pollutant.

Limbs and blood are scattered everywhere, with shins and tree branches piled together.

Shen Ji let out a silent "whoa" inwardly, muttering to himself that Li Zhiyan really knew how to kill an appetite, then took another bite of his meal.

"Shen Ji: Did you offend Li Qing'an?"

"Astronaut: Did she return to the Pollution Prevention Center?"

"Shen Ji: She came back for medical treatment."

"Astronaut: Pretending to be sick again! Damn it!"

"Shen Ji: So you did offend her?"

Li Zhiyan didn't text back for a long time, so Shen Ji continued eating. By the time he finished his first dish, Li Zhiyan's response finally came.

"Astronaut: Probably asked her if 'the crow drinking water' was real. She laughed and told me she's human, not a crow, and she can just pick up a cup to drink."

"Astronaut: Does that count as offending?"

Shen Ji: ...

Li Zhiyan's ability to offend people is truly in a class of its own.

"Astronaut: But aside from that, I've been hearing some weird rumors lately."

Shen Ji finished another dish. "What weird rumors?" he asked.

"Astronaut: They're about you."

"Astronaut: The S-Class Healing-type mutant's special method of treating contaminated patients... by beating them up soundly, the contamination inside them gets intimidated by his powerful ability. S-Class Mutant Gao Yuan was beaten unconscious for two days and woke up almost completely healed."

"Astronaut: So that's why he eats so much at every meal? To maintain the stamina needed for beating people up?"

"Astronaut: Did you knock Gao Yuan out?"

Shen Ji stared at this message, reading it over three or four times.

They were all Chinese characters, he thought, so why couldn't he understand them?

Puzzled, he glanced at the work meal on his plate, then looked around. The doctors who had been secretly observing him quickly lowered their heads to eat, each of their plates piled with more than a single portion.

Wait, what?

Treating patients by beating them up?

Even when pulling all-nighters to finish assignments in college, he wouldn't have made up something this absurd!

Who? Who was it?!

Who started such a rumor!

"Actually, it's pretty close," the system continued, gleefully. "Look, when you treat patients, you don't rely on basic medicine but on the small mushroom. The small mushroom fiercely devours the contamination, and when it fights for the contamination, it's basically like beating the patient up. So, you beat the patient up, and then the patient gets better."

The system even ventured into dark humor. "With rumors like this spreading, no one would dare to cause trouble during medical treatment."

Shen Ji: ...

He never thought he'd hear his own version of a dark joke.

Shen Ji took an angry bite of his meal.

Seeing that this wasn't getting to Shen Ji anymore, the system curiously asked, "Why did you set the protagonist's nickname as Astronaut?"

'Because of Xizhilang.'

"Xizhilang?"

'Xizhilang: I want to be an Astronaut!'

'Li Zhiyan should become a comedian, so he's Xizhilang. The next evolution of Xizhilang is Astronaut.'

"..."

The system fell silent for a long time, unsure if it had been frozen from digital shock.

After what felt like an eternity, the system finally came back online. "How about you go explain that to Li Qing'an? I think she might appreciate your sense of humor."

Shen Ji: ...

Was it that lame? Not funny at all?

He thought it was pretty funny!

Damn it!

What if even Li Qing'an doesn't laugh when she hears it?