Chapter 83: Brief Respite

Chapter 83: A Momentary Respite

Li Zhiyan stared vacantly at his phone, drawing a blank on how to respond.

It had been ten minutes since he last replied to Shen Ji. After such a long silence, Shen Ji probably thought he had gone to sleep or was busy planting flowers. Throwing in the towel, Li Zhiyan tossed his phone onto the table and didn’t touch it again.

This was one of the rare moments when Li Zhiyan was stumped.

But now, the only thing he could come up with was something like, "So the little mushroom likes to bite me because you like to bite me?"

Even someone as absurd as Li Zhiyan knew that saying something like that would get him punched.

It was one thing to joke around with friends, but they were in the flirting stage of a relationship now—a time for a little romance. He needed to rein in his impulse to say absurd things.

"I have to make a move," Li Zhiyan muttered to himself. "I must step up my game. How far this goes depends on how proactive I am."

He grabbed his phone again and began happily scrolling, searching for a sufficiently romantic and suitable place to confess his feelings.

Just then, Jiang Ying walked in through the door.

"Boss, the Pollution Prevention Center wants you to reply to their message," Jiang Ying said, holding her laptop as she knocked on his door. "They’re asking about the pollution detected earlier."

Li Zhiyan glanced at her. "If I’ve blocked someone, don’t answer their calls. You’ll only add to your own workload."

Jiang Ying: ...

Damn, why couldn’t she be Li Zhiyan? The higher-ups said to block someone, and he just blocked them. The big bosses even had to coax him to get any work done.

Jiang Ying set her laptop on the table. "They’re worried the detected data could lead to serious consequences. After all, the pollution level was through the roof."

Li Zhiyan nodded, still casually playing on his phone, his attention entirely focused on the screen.

"Boss?"

"No investigation needed," Li Zhiyan said slowly. "Make up some excuse to blow off the higher-ups. This pollution incident was an accident, and nothing like it will happen again."

Jiang Ying looked at Li Zhiyan strangely but didn’t press further.

This kind of thing had happened before.

Unlike the Pollution Prevention Center’s uniform hostility toward all pollution, Li Zhiyan’s attitude was ambiguous. He didn’t pay much attention to pollution incidents that occurred but caused no harm. As long as they weren’t harmful, he saw them as nothing more than new post-apocalyptic developments, like the Moth Flower.

He even kept a garden full of pollution-affected flowers, tending to them with great enthusiasm.

It was this in-your-face attitude of his that displeased the higher-ups at the Pollution Prevention Center, but there was nothing they could do—Li Zhiyan was irreplaceable.

"Okay, got it," Jiang Ying said, starting to type. "How about blaming it on all the glitchy sensors malfunctioning?"

After typing, she suddenly remembered, "Ah, didn’t we use that excuse last time too?"

"Use it," Li Zhiyan said calmly. "If they ask for an investigation, just say the equipment suddenly started working again. It’s fine."

No one would dare confront him and yell at him to his face anyway.

Jiang Ying happily typed away the excuse, delighted at the thought of the higher-ups’ reactions when they saw it.

There was nothing quite like the thrill of sticking it to the man!

After sending the report, Jiang Ying turned back to Li Zhiyan. "Boss, what have you been looking at all this time?"

"I’m trying to figure out how to confess," Li Zhiyan said, not even blinking. "I’m looking for a romantic, mysterious place to propose. This time, it’s for real."

"Shen Ji’s behavior is so weird—he must be in a mutual crush with me. All I need to do is make the first move, and we can immediately hold hands and head straight to the marriage registry!"

Jiang Ying: ...

Wait what? You two haven’t even confessed yet?

You’re this ambiguous without having confessed? Talking about marriage every day?

What kind of weird game is this?

Jiang Ying stared at Li Zhiyan in shock, finally speaking after a few seconds. "So, Boss, you were joking all this time?"

"Not at all! If I say it out loud, it means I’m serious!"

"But wouldn’t Mr. Shen think you’re joking? And what if he thinks your confession is a joke too?"

"Would he?" Li Zhiyan wondered. "It’s not like there’s a second Peach Blossom Calamity. Who would treat a confession as a joke?"

Jiang Ying thought: Yeah, of course no one would treat a confession as a joke!

But Boss! You’re such an absurd guy that people really would think you’re joking! Especially since you’ve actively spread rumors about yourself being a ‘love-them-and-leave-them type’ before. Mr. Shen isn’t going to trust you!

"Oh right, peach blossoms!"

Li Zhiyan pulled out a packet of seeds from nearby. He opened it in front of Jiang Ying and began picking through them.

"Peach blossoms symbolize love in Chinese culture—‘her face and the peach blossoms reflect each other’s radiance.’ Wouldn’t it be super romantic if I brought a peach blossom branch to confess?"

"I’ve decided to plant peach blossoms."

Jiang Ying had to point out, "But peach blossom branches usually require waiting for the seeds to grow into a peach tree, and then waiting for the tree to bloom. That takes years. Boss, can your seeds grow into a blooming peach tree in just a few days?"

They couldn’t.

The seeds were slightly polluted, but they weren’t magic seeds capable of growing into a tree in a few days.

In the end, Li Zhiyan still planted the tree.

It didn’t matter if it couldn’t grow now. Someday, this seed would grow into a massive tree, its branches full of blossoms like a tourist attraction.

When that time came, he would still give this tree to Shen Ji.

The next day, Shen Ji left his quarters at the Q City Containment Shelter. As he went to find Li Zhiyan, he received a call from Li Qingan.

Li Qingan told Shen Ji that all the contaminated patients in X City and the staff of the Pollution Fissure Research Institute had been transferred to a shelter annex. However, the shelter had no strategy for dealing with this type of pollution. Sometimes they couldn’t even detect the pollution level, making treatment tricky. So, they still hoped Shen Ji could help.

Shen Ji agreed, saying he would return in a day or two to take care of it.

He had finally got to see Li Zhiyan, and now he had to leave so soon. He was afraid Li Zhiyan would be upset, and he was afraid he’d be bummed too.

So, he scrounged up a bit more time, at least enough for both of them to get their fix of each other.

When he arrived at the Q City Pollution Prevention Center, likely because Li Zhiyan had given a heads-up, the guards at the door let him right in upon seeing Shen Ji—didn't even make him sign in.

In the office, Li Zhiyan was reading a letter. When he saw Shen Ji arrive, he waved him over.

After Shen Ji sat down opposite him, he handed the letter to Shen Ji.

"Take a look?"

Shen Ji took the letter, puzzled. "What letter is this?"

"Complaint letters from Director Cheng." Li Zhiyan replied matter-of-factly, "Two of them! The Pollution Prevention Center just sent them to me this morning."

Shen Ji: ...

Li Zhiyan knew full well that this was the Pollution Prevention Center hinting at their dissatisfaction. Cheng Feng's complaint letters were always sent to the Pollution Prevention Center, which typically just tossed them aside somewhere without a second thought. Last night's investigation report had been far too perfunctory, and the Pollution Prevention Center was fuming. Seeing Cheng Feng's complaint letters felt like finding an outlet for their frustration.

So they rushed the letters straight to Li Zhiyan.

"Have to admit, Director Cheng has a way with words." Li Zhiyan nodded in approval. "I've decided to frame these two letters and hang them right next to my silk banner!"

"They're both my honors!"

Shen Ji thought: It's a miracle this guy hasn't been jumped and beaten up with a sack over his head.

"...Probably because no one can actually beat him, though they've definitely pictured beating him up countless times in their heads."

'If I started a livestream titled "Donate XX yuan to watch Li Zhiyan get beaten up," would I rake in cash?'

"Stop talking big. Could you actually go through with it?"

'Why couldn't I?'

"Think about it carefully. Li Zhiyan, covered in bruises from your beating, looking all pitiful and asking why you hit him, wondering if he did something wrong..."

Shen Ji: ...

Damn, this system is terrifying. What kind of image does Li Zhiyan even have in your mind?!

"A lovesick fool."

'That's horrifying?!'

Just as Shen Ji was complaining to the system, Li Zhiyan spoke up.

"They have way too many opinions about me. It's like they're your side of the family, and you're about to run off with some troublemaker like me."

Shen Ji looked up at Li Zhiyan in shock. "What did you say?"

"...Uh." Li Zhiyan blinked. "Your in-laws?"

They both fell silent. A few seconds later, Shen Ji seemed to snap out of it and said, "You're not a troublemaker."

Li Zhiyan looked at him, moved.

"You're a White Hair."

Li Zhiyan: ...?

Who was it that said he was weird? He thought Shen Ji was just as weird as he was. Why did everyone think he was the problem and not see any issues with Shen Ji?

Such a double standard!

"Whatever." Li Zhiyan slumped over the desk helplessly. "Even before the apocalypse, I was the unpopular type. Everyone thought I was unreliable—definitely not someone you should date."

"But it's fine now. No one cares whether I fall in love, get married, or have kids. Even if I'm with a man, no one will bat an eye."

As he spoke, Li Zhiyan looked at Shen Ji. "What's your family like?"

Shen Ji met Li Zhiyan's gaze and, after a few seconds, replied, "I don't have a good relationship with my family."

"Not good?"

"They divorced when I was very young and started new families. I grew up at my grandfather's house as a left-behind child. My grandfather wasn't great to me either, so I started boarding at school in middle school. Because my grades were good, the principal waived my tuition, and I just kept studying my way out."

"When my grandfather passed away during high school, I basically cut ties with them and have been on my own ever since."

Shen Ji looked at Li Zhiyan, his tone carrying a hint.

"So even if I brought a man home, my family probably wouldn't care."

He was hinting at something—he was definitely hinting at something!

Even though Li Zhiyan had hinted first, he was sure Shen Ji was hinting back at him.

Li Zhiyan knew it—they were definitely mutual.

So Li Zhiyan perked up happily, propping his chin in his hands, his eyes lighting up.

"Let's go out together tomorrow. I know a really beautiful place—even in autumn, the scenery is perfect."

Shen Ji smiled. "I'd love to, but I can't."

The light in Li Zhiyan's eyes instantly dimmed. He looked like a butterfly drenched in rain, utterly soaked.

"Why?"

"Because I have to go back to X City tomorrow. The contaminated patients there need me to handle them." Shen Ji reached out and patted the back of Li Zhiyan's hand. "Too many patients are gathered together, and the staff don't have good solutions. If I'm there, at least I can keep the pollution from spreading further."

Li Zhiyan sighed softly. "Then there's nothing to be done."

He was an adult, a frontline worker of the Pollution Prevention Center who had already spent three years in the apocalypse. He knew exactly what such a scene looked like.

He wouldn't keep Shen Ji there for his own selfish desires.

Li Zhiyan just grumbled lightly to express his slight dissatisfaction, like a big dog not wanting its owner to leave for work.

But the big dog also knew work would eventually end, and the owner would always come home.

"Alright. Someday, I'll find a chance to go see the sights with you."

/

X City Shelter.

Because the number of pollution incidents in X City was very low, the X City Shelter was built far from the city itself. It also took in contaminated patients from outside X City, which unexpectedly allowed it to avoid the Puppet City incident.

After discovering the missing people in X City, Li Qingan contacted the X City Shelter and transported all surviving contaminated patients there.

Even though pollution incidents were rare, the staff at X City Shelter weren't inexperienced rookies. They had handled other contaminated patients before, but these cases still stumped them.

Several times, the pollution level went undetected. Just as they were about to give up, the alarm would go off again, suddenly detecting massive pollution levels. This back-and-forth drove them crazy, and they could only resort to emergency injections of pollution inhibitors, treating dead horses as if they could still be saved.

But then something terrifying happened.

That night, several pollution doctors simultaneously exhibited signs of contamination.

They had nightmares in the middle of the night, reliving their most painful and difficult memories. Over and over, they saw themselves experiencing those moments, waking up on the verge of mental collapse. As pollution doctors, they knew this wasn’t normal, so they immediately went for pollution detection.

All pollution doctors tested with pollution levels exceeding 30.

Could the isolation rooms really not contain the spread of pollution at all?!

At the same time, although all contaminated patients had been evacuated from X City, high pollution levels still lingered there, as if some unwilling S-class pollutant was retracing its steps through the city again and again.

Li Qingan detected anomalies multiple times, but since no pollutants were found, he could only withdraw his team, temporarily sealing off X City from the outside.

When Shen Ji arrived at the X City shelter, he was genuinely alarmed by the high pollution levels inside.

Pollution detectors in almost every area were flashing red, showing pollution values above 50. The entire X City shelter had become a high-pollution zone.

Medical staff, unwilling to abandon the patients, could only work wearing pollution masks. Despite all precautions, some contaminated patients still developed pollution symptoms.

They had underestimated S-class pollution too much.

If S-class pollution were so easy to handle, there wouldn’t be so few S-class mutants and pollutants in the world.

After entering the shelter in uniform, Shen Ji first asked the Director to take all pollution doctors out of the shelter, leaving it to him alone. Although the Director was puzzled, considering Shen Ji was the legendary S-class Healing-type mutant, he complied.

All medical staff evacuated, watching Shen Ji through the surveillance cameras. Everyone was curious about how he would handle such a large number of patients.

On the monitor, Shen Ji walked past each isolation room one by one, gazing at the patients inside as if doing nothing at all.

They were utterly puzzled.

Healing-type mutants were far too rare; they had never seen one before and didn’t know how they treated patients. Could it really be done just by looking?

Just as they were wondering, a white light bloomed from Shen Ji’s palm.

The white light flashed and vanished, gentle like water, perfectly matching their imagined image of a Healing-type mutant. Everyone watched wide-eyed.

But… it seemed like nothing happened?

"Look at the pollution detector!" someone exclaimed, pointing to the detector in the corner of the monitor.

The pollution value on the detector was rapidly decreasing. The environmental pollution level dropped from over 50, bit by bit, and in an instant fell to 33. Once it reached 33, the number stabilized, and the glaring red turned to orange-yellow.

This was the marker for Environmental Pollution Level II.

Everyone looked at each other in shock, too stunned to speak. The only sound in the air was their heavy breathing.

Finally, the Director let out a rough sigh, his hands trembling, his eyes filled with admiration.

"As expected of an S-class Healing-type mutant."

"To reduce the environmental pollution level by 20 in an instant—no wonder even Director Huang from the shelter headquarters is trying to recruit him."

Inside the shelter, the system excitedly reported to Shen Ji.

"They bought it, they bought it!"

"I knew it! ‘A white light appears, and patients touched by the light find relief.’ That’s everyone’s stereotypical image of a Healing-type. As long as you show that, everyone will firmly believe you’re a Healing-type!"

‘This is just about wrapped up too,’ Shen Ji thought, looking at the contaminated patients in the shelter. ‘I can’t bring their souls back yet, but with the small mushrooms by their side, their pollution won’t get worse, at least.’

"It also lets us keep an eye on this place, in case the Silent Cold Realm suddenly attacks."

The small mushrooms, holding light bulbs in their mouths, looked at Shen Ji blankly.

The master told us to hold light bulbs.

It’s a bit weird, but small mushrooms are obedient. If the master says hold, we hold.

The shiny light bulbs kind of look like little butterflies.

Miss the little butterflies, waaah!

Shen Ji casually ruffled a small mushroom, then turned and walked out of the shelter. Before leaving, he informed the Director that the place had been temporarily handled but not to let contaminated patients back in yet. They had to wait until he confirmed it was completely safe before pollution doctors could return to work. The Director nodded repeatedly in assurance.

So Shen Ji went straight back to the temporary dormitory arranged for him by the X City shelter.

Yes, another temporary dorm.

Shen Ji sighed. When would he ever have a permanent place to live?

It was bad enough not having a house before the apocalypse, but even after crossing over, he’s still part of the homeless crowd.

Really, he should have used his unspent savings to buy houses all over the country!

"And then watch them get destroyed in pollution incidents?"

Shen Ji: …

This system really knows how to kill the mood.

The small mushrooms curiously explored their new territory, winding all over the room. The light bulbs they held began to flicker, turning Shen Ji’s dorm into something like a neon light show. Shen Ji quickly told them to spit out the bulbs, but the small mushrooms found it fun and shot up to the ceiling.

They kept making the bulbs flicker.

Shen Ji’s vision darkened as he imagined trying to sleep at night with a bunch of mushrooms flashing lights on the ceiling.

"Spit them out!" Shen Ji yelled at them. "You’ll get caught!"

Waaah, no spitting!

If someone comes, small mushrooms will turn off the lights!

Look, master! Pretty! Mushrooms pretty!

Just as Shen Ji was about to reach for the small mushrooms, the doorbell suddenly rang. Shen Ji glanced back, and the small mushrooms hid in the cracks of the ceiling.

"Who is it?"

The person outside didn’t speak but kept ringing the doorbell.

"Maybe it’s the Director?" the system guessed.

"Aren’t you an all-powerful system? Can’t you check the surveillance?"

"All-powerful systems don’t do that kind of thing," the system said matter-of-factly. "It ruins my style!"

Shen Ji: …

You have style?

He turned to open the door, thinking to himself: It can't possibly be Li Zhiyan, right?

But sometimes, the more you think something is impossible, the more likely it is to happen.

The moment the door opened, Shen Ji caught a glimpse of a black sleeve with the security team's insignia embroidered on the cuff. The style wasn't a women's style, so it wasn't Li Qing'an. Shen Ji paused briefly, then pushed the door open and looked up, only to see a familiar figure standing before him.

Li Zhiyan was right there at the entrance of his dorm.

"Surprise!" Li Zhiyan spread his arms wide. "I'm here."

Shen Ji blinked. "You..."

In sync with Shen Ji, the small mushrooms in the dorm darted out and curiously pressed against the door crack, secretly watching Li Zhiyan.

So Li Zhiyan saw the small mushrooms glowing.

Li Zhiyan: ...?

Huh? Glowing? Are they glowing?

Did the mushrooms evolve?! Or did Shen Ji evolve?

But isn't the highest level of pollutant S-class? Do S-class pollutants start glowing when they advance further?

That would be quite the serious light pollution.

Shen Ji stepped outside, closed the door behind him, and kept the small mushrooms inside to prevent the light from the bulbs from being caught on camera. Even if the hallway cameras couldn't directly capture his door, any light leaking out would still look strange.

"What are you doing here?"

Li Zhiyan reluctantly shifted his attention away from the glowing small mushrooms. "I took on a high-contamination cleanup operation here."

"High Pollution Level Cleanup Plan: High-pollution areas, due to excessive contamination, frequently generate low-level pollutants. If not handled promptly, these low-level pollutants can spread outward. X City currently falls into this category. But logically speaking, someone of Li Zhiyan's clearance level shouldn't be assigned such a low-level mission."

"Probably he's here to see you."

Shen Ji leaned against the door.

He was still wearing the containment facility uniform. The white suit accentuated his features, and the incandescent light cast a warm glow on his black-rimmed glasses. At this moment, he appeared distant and detached, yet his striking looks made him impossible to ignore. He was a person whose appearance and personality were equally captivating.

Shen Ji met Li Zhiyan's gaze, his own eyes holding a warmth he wasn't even aware of.

"Shen Ji." Li Zhiyan also looked at Shen Ji. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking..." Shen Ji gave Li Zhiyan a once-over.

"Maybe you should know what I want to hear?"

Journalism is a profession adept at questioning and guiding conversations. As an excellent journalist, Shen Ji was, of course, exceptionally talented in this regard.

"Some reasons aside from work..." Shen Ji paused mid-sentence, as if deliberately suggestive. "Other reasons."

Li Zhiyan's breath caught for a moment.

He understood Shen Ji's meaning completely. He felt he had been too simple—how could he ever hope to compete with Shen Ji in this aspect?

As a journalist, Shen Ji had interacted with countless people and could navigate any interaction. Li Zhiyan was even a year younger than him!

Damn it, he lost.

But Li Zhiyan felt no resentment over the loss—only a chest full of longing and sweetness.

Perhaps his stare was too obvious, because he saw Shen Ji's pupils narrow slightly, glimmering with a faint pale light, the same color as the small mushrooms.

"I came here to see you."

Li Zhiyan told Shen Ji sincerely, "Because I wanted to come see you."

"Is that what you wanted to hear?"