Chapter 85: X City Containment Shelter

Chapter 85 X City Shelter

Inside the shelter, the Small Mushrooms were on high alert.

They could sense that the surrounding prey had increased, but they didn't know where these food sources were coming from.

To find the source of the snacks, they had taken complete control of the shelter, even placing Small Mushrooms on every contaminated patient to investigate. Unfortunately, they still hadn't found the big freezer itself.

The blue Small Mushroom swayed and chattered.

"This fierce Siberian Big Freezer is especially timid! It's actually hiding far away, with only its scent drifting over. The scent can turn humans into ice cubes inside the big freezer, so we all hide inside human bodies to prevent them from turning into ice cubes!"

"Wow! The big freezer!"

"Wow! So cold!"

"Ugh, little mushroom, working so hard!"

"Aww, not hardworking, mushroom is obedient, listens to its master!"

While the Small Mushrooms were chattering and discussing, the shelter's medical staff had already gathered. The shelter director was very responsible; after the contaminated patients were transferred, he oversaw everything. He hadn't slept at all and came immediately at the first sign of trouble.

The director told someone nearby to call Shen Ji immediately and get him back here, while trying to communicate with the frantic Wu Chi.

"Mr. Wu." The director tried to calm the person frantically smashing the alarm. "Mr. Wu, please calm down first!"

"What happened? Can you tell me? I'm the shelter director and also a Contamination Doctor."

"Only if you tell us can we medical staff help you!"

"No, you can't!"

Wu Chi shook his head frantically. "Where's Li Zhiyan? The S-Class Mutant?! Get them here!"

"They're on their way back, and there are two S-Class Mutants!" The director said again, "Mr. Wu, if you tell me what happened now, I can quickly brief them when they arrive. That way, we can save time. Think about it, doesn't that make sense?"

"I think you're aware that your lucid moments might not last much longer."

Wu Chi paused, hesitantly nodding.

The Contamination Doctor behind the director immediately jotted down in the medical record.

"Has basic judgment and thinking, can communicate."

"I had a dream again."

Wu Chi said, "I saw my dead wife and child again, dying over and over. My mind has gone numb, but they suddenly changed in my dream, accusing me for not saving them, for not avenging them."

"And, and... I think I saw 'It'."

"'It'?"

"Pollutant." Wu Chi's voice was very soft, his eyes vacant as if muttering to himself. "The moment I saw 'It,' I knew it was a Pollutant. It has come, it wants to take back Puppet City. All of us from Puppet City are its prey."

The director and the Contamination Doctor behind him exchanged glances, seeing anxiety in each other's eyes.

They both understood. The 'It' Wu Chi mentioned was the S-Class Pollutant from the Silent Frost Zone that had just been named "Diary." The name had only been revealed by the Pollution Prevention Center this morning.

"What do we do now?" the doctor asked the director anxiously.

The director looked at Wu Chi in the isolation room.

After speaking, Wu Chi slipped back into madness, continuing to smash the alarm, trying to let the alarm sound spread throughout the shelter. It was unclear if he was subconsciously trying to find a way to make those around him escape.

"Issue a warning now, order all medical staff to evacuate the shelter."

The director said, "Now!"

The doctor quickly nodded and was about to run out when he suddenly realized something. "What about you, Director?"

"I'll wait here for Doctor Shen to return."

The director said, "Don't worry about me. Quickly take everyone out. I need to continue understanding the situation so that when Doctor Shen returns, he can act immediately!"

"Director..."

"Hurry! Don't waste time!"

The doctor's eyes were filled with worry, but he could only turn and leave, guiding all medical staff to evacuate and minimize losses as much as possible.

The director listened to the surrounding alarm sounds, let out a soft sigh, and opened the intercom to Wu Chi again.

"Mr. Wu, can you tell me how you're feeling now as much as possible?"

"While your thinking is still clear."

Wu Chi was an A-Level Mutant. Before his wife and child died, he was also the captain of the security team and had saved countless people. The Pollution Prevention Center had great expectations for him. Even now, he held onto the idea of getting more people to safety.

He slowly raised his head to look at the director.

"Afraid."

He spoke, "Fear, anger, and, and..."

"And what else?"

"Desire."

He covered his face, gripping his hair tightly, the fear in his eyes palpable.

He didn't know what he was craving, but he was craving it, hoping for the S-Class Pollutant to arrive. Once it came, he could gain or achieve something. He might even be so fearful now precisely because he had realized this.

To desire a Pollutant—how terrifying!

The lights flickered once. Wu Chi felt a headache, so he fiercely rammed his head against the transparent wall of the isolation room. When he hit it, the alarm didn't sound. Puzzled, he raised his head, and the next moment he found that the person outside the isolation room had changed.

It was no longer the old doctor in a white uniform, but that white specter he was familiar with.

Those stalactite-like eyes stared fixedly at him. Wu Chi let out a scream, fell to the ground, and began scrambling back on all fours.

But soon, something behind him wrapped around him with its arms.

He hesitantly turned his head and saw his wife and child, cut in half at the waist, holding him from behind.

"If you had just accepted, we could have been brought back. Why do you keep fighting it?"

"Do you want us dead that badly?"

"Our child was only 5!"

"As long as you accept, we can live together in peace and security. All the terrible things will not happen, and we will go back to how we were."

"Come on, come on."

The pale apparition's arm reached through the isolation room. Its skeletal hands were covered with floating crimson filaments. It placed its bony hand over Wu Chi's face, and in the next moment, those red threads pierced into his brain like needles.

In reality, Wu Chi let out a scream. He stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, then closed his eyes, went limp, and collapsed.

The Shelter Director quickly scanned his contamination levels, but found no traces of contamination. Just as the Director was about to open the isolation room for emergency treatment, he saw Wu Chi's figure disappear from the isolation room.

His arm was visibly disintegrating. The Shelter Director stared, stunned.

Just as he was uncertain what to do, a flash of white light streaked by, instantly sinking into Wu Chi's body and disappearing along with him.

The Director watched in astonishment. After a long while, he finally spoke as if snapping out of it. "Such a familiar light..."

"Is it Mr. Shen's Healingtype Talent?"

"Can a Healingtype mutant's Talent work on its own even when they're not present?"

The Director thought it over for a while before finally muttering a sentence.

"Truly what you'd expect from an S-class Healingtype mutant."

/

By the time Shen Ji arrived, most of the medical staff at the shelter had already evacuated, leaving only a few straggling with documents.

Li Zhiyan did not come along; he still needed to handle some formalities and debrief Zhou Ye and Li Qing'an first.

With the X City shelter in trouble, X City, dubbed the Puppet City, might also have problems. Someone had to stay behind to guard it, and since the threat was an S-class pollutant, whoever stayed had to be high-level.

Seeing Shen Ji return, a doctor exclaimed, "Doctor Shen, the Director is still inside!"

"Where is he?"

"Wu Chi's isolation room!"

"Alright, I understand." Shen Ji nodded. "You all leave first."

As soon as he entered the shelter, hyphae descended from the ceiling. They began sharing information with Shen Ji, reporting which areas had stronger pollution auras.

Guided by the hyphae, Shen Ji arrived at Wu Chi's isolation room and saw the Director preparing to leave.

"Director, are you alright?"

"Doctor Shen?!" The Director quickly stood up. "You're finally back!"

"I'm fine, but Mr. Wu has disappeared." The Director hurriedly handed all the gathered data to Shen Ji. "After telling me about his condition, he suddenly fell unconscious and then vanished."

"This reminds me of the disappearance legend of Puppet City."

Puppet City: every year, pollutants from the Dead Silent Desert select a city. The chosen city is called Puppet City because everyone in it loses consciousness like puppets. Then, one day, all the residents of Puppet City disappear without a trace.

No one knows where they go; not even their bodies are found.

Now, Wu Chi's disappearance matches that legend to a T.

"I understand." Shen Ji nodded. "Leave this to me. Get out of here, now."

The Director didn't need telling twice. After thanking Shen Ji, he quickly ran out. The old man ran faster than any young person, disappearing from view in the blink of an eye.

His escape was impressive.

Watching the last person leave the shelter, the hyphae crawled from Shen Ji's legs up to his neck, finally sprouting little mushroom caps on his shoulders.

"So, what's the situation now?" Shen Ji asked the small mushroom.

The Big Freezer took the person away!

But the small mushroom followed!

The Big Freezer still wants to capture people!

Shen Ji frowned slightly.

The person disappeared—where did they go? Could this pollutant possibly open a direct pathway to the Dead Silent Frozen Domain?

"Highly likely."

The system said, "People don't just vanish without a trace. Dead or alive, there's always a body. Only pollutants born from contamination rifts lack physical forms. Compared to ghost stories, it's more likely that the Anti-Contamination Center couldn't find the bodies. If even the Anti-Contamination Center can't locate the bodies, the only place left is inside the pollution rift."

"And also: the pollution is increasing."

Shen Ji glanced up.

The pollution detectors around were alarming. The contaminated patients in the isolation rooms, who had been sitting dazed or sleeping, suddenly sat up in unison. Their expressions were vacant, their eyes devoid of light, just sitting there like puppets.

The pollution detectors overloaded and were all damaged. The alarms stopped, but the pollution aura continued to spread.

Soon, Shen Ji saw a figure taking shape inside one of the isolation rooms.

Was it even a figure?

A skeletal form took shape inside the isolation room. Its upper body was covered in something as thick as snow, revealing only eyes like stalactites. Its exposed arms were human white bones, covered with a web of crimson filaments.

The temperature in the isolation room plummeted, and the moisture flash-froze instantly.

"Diary."

It's the Siberian Big Freezer!

The hyphae buzzed in protest.

"Its power has increased."

The system monitored and analyzed. "Every S-class pollutant's ability has a defining characteristic. For example, the Gardener's ability is seed-based, Wrath's ability is parasitic control, and its ability focuses on memory."

"Profound memories not only corrupt humans but also gradually enhance its power."

"The more tragic the way it was corrupted when it died, the stronger it becomes upon resurrection when it remembers everything."

At that moment, the entity spoke. Shen Ji didn't even know where the sound was coming from.

"We meet again."

Its voice was garbled and grating, carrying a raspy, wheezing quality, like an overworked office drone who died with grievances, full of resentment.

"You're stronger than when we last met. You can actually cleanse my corruption from them."

"Not strong." Shen Ji replied. "But all it takes to handle you."

The white entity fixed its eyes like stalactites on Shen Ji, its tone full of resentment, yet those stone eyes held no emotion whatsoever, as if this body were merely an ordinary telephone, a mere tool for conveying sound.

It did not seem to care about Shen Ji's threat to dispose of it.

Shen Ji noticed this as well.

Compared to their last encounter, its fear of him had significantly diminished. The fear of being killed had faded from it, allowing it to even dare appear before Shen Ji in person, rather than by possessing someone through consciousness.

The surroundings fell into a dead silence. In this eerie quiet, "Diary" finally spoke.

It said, "Why did you forget me?"

Shen Ji: ...?

"Is it asking about Filth?" The system was also puzzled. "It's a memory-dominating pollutant. Previously, you were influenced by it, and then it discovered that it was absent from your memories? So it thought Filth had forgotten it?"

That tracked. After being contaminated, Shen Ji had only seen three scenes.

The first was him being killed by a medical troublemaker, the second was the remark Filth left in the library, and the third was Filth investigating Li Zhiyan's identity.

But there was nothing he could do about it.

Shen Ji wasn't Filth; he had none of Filth's memories, didn't know that Filth had consumed an S-class pollutant, and naturally wouldn't remember it.

So Shen Ji decided to seize the opportunity. "What are you, something important?"

"Why should I remember you, anyway?"

With those words, the transparent walls of the isolation room instantly froze over and cracked. Pollution burst forth rapidly, and all the contaminated patients in the containment facility snapped their heads in unison to stare at Shen Ji, their glazed eyes now overflowing with resentment.

"...How dare you say that?!"

The white entity clawed violently at its own face as the red blood threads began to spread slowly. The invisible red threads in the air also gradually became exposed.

Each red thread was connected to the neck of a contaminated patient, like puppet strings controlling these individuals.

Pollutants are monsters of obsession, even S-class ones.

The deeper their obsession, the higher their rank. Intense obsession and negative emotions also make them stronger.

"Diary" was no exception.

It dug into humanity's deepest and most terrifying memories, looping these memories before people's eyes. Just one cycle was enough to break half the people down, driving them to collapse and obediently stepping into the perfect world it had written. Even those with strong wills couldn't endure the relentless repetition.

It once took pleasure in this, until it was killed by another pollutant in the primal fissure.

It still remembered his pale eyes, his ruthless gaze, and the overwhelming mycelium. After rebirth, it grew stronger continuously fueled by this profound and terrifying memory, endlessly searching for ways to seek revenge.

Then it suddenly realized: the pollutant that had killed it had forgotten all about it.

He didn't even remember or care that he had once killed an S-class counterpart.

This fact enraged it even more. Contamination spread incessantly, transforming into its power like a metamorphosis.

"You will remember me!" it shouted. "I will make sure you remember me from now on!"

A blue butterfly appeared in the isolation room. "The diary" was stunned; it hadn't expected a butterfly to appear before it.

In that moment of shock, the blue butterfly suddenly dissolved into a burst of flame, which then began to ignite the surrounding ice.

"What is this?!"

"Must be a disconnect from being dead for ten years. Intel mismatch, huh."

Li Zhiyan walked over slowly, hands in his pockets, his blue eyes glowing.

"What do you think you are?"

Li Zhiyan didn't hold back, insulting without restraint. "What's your relationship with him that he should remember you? Trying to make a move on my boyfriend when I'm not around, is that it?"

"Let me tell you, he only remembers me!"

Shen Ji looked at Li Zhiyan in surprise. "Since when are you my boyfriend?"

Li Zhiyan pointed at Shen Ji. "See, we've even kissed, and he still won't acknowledge me as his boyfriend. Someone like that would acknowledge you? Don't think just because you're fair-skinned you can get away with it."

"Pretty face!"

Shen Ji: ……

"……"

The diary, utterly confused by what Li Zhiyan was saying: ……

The diary's body began to disintegrate, clearly realizing that the unfamiliar person before it was an S-Class.

An S-Class pollutant actually cooperating with an S-Class mutant—had he gone crazy over humans so much?

But this put it at a disadvantage.

As the diary disintegrated, so did all the contaminated patients around. They vanished like visual effects along with the diary, and the pollution aura in the air grew increasingly dense.

In the blink of an eye, everyone in the containment center had disappeared without a trace, leaving only Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan standing where they were.

The blue flames in the isolation room were still burning, but the sudden disappearance of the pollution caused the flames to weaken.

Li Zhiyan looked at Shen Ji. "Gone?"

"Yeah." Shen Ji peered inside. "Legend has it that the people of Puppet City would collectively disappear, turning the city into an empty city. Now we've just reached the stage where the humans vanish."

Seeing how calm Shen Ji was, Li Zhiyan knew he had a backup plan, so he didn't press further.

"How do we find it?"

"Little Mushroom followed it." Shen Ji thought for a moment. "They're on the patients, and it's still a bit hard to detect right now. But judging by the last dream..."

Even if it were in another space, the hyphae will break through the barriers and bring Shen Ji in.

Li Zhiyan stood by with Shen Ji.

Soon, a segment of blue hyphae dropped from the ceiling, quickly bouncing onto Shen Ji's shoulder. The hyphae tugged, pulling him forward.

Li Zhiyan grabbed his other hand.

"The situation isn't clear enough. I suggest you bring me with you."

Shen Ji looked at him, and the moment their eyes met, Shen Ji suddenly remembered something.

When we first arrived, didn’t Li Zhiyan say to the diary: ‘You’ve been dead for ten years’?

“…Damn, right! Does Li Zhiyan know this isn’t a newly emerged S-class pollutant?”

“He does? How does he know? Just how much does he actually know?”

Shen Ji was a journalist; his logical and critical thinking skills were excellent. He excelled at communication and guiding conversations, and his mind was more flexible than the average person’s.

Once this realization struck him, he suddenly remembered: back in the rented apartment in Q City, Li Zhiyan had once asked a very strange question and arrived at a rather unexpected answer.

He asked: What if the age gap is too big and it causes a generation gap?

In the end, he decided: Just add ten years to my own age, then there won’t be an age gap anymore.

At the time, Shen Ji thought he was just being cryptic again, so he didn’t think much of it.

But what if he was actually hinting at his perspective to Shen Ji?

I know your secret, but I don’t mind. If it really bothers you that much, I’ll just add ten years to my registered age—then we’ll be on equal footing again.

So casual, yet so profoundly touching.

“…”

“Shen Ji, you’re a goner.”

Shen Ji thought: Obviously, right?

Humans are emotional creatures. He wasn’t some emotionless sociopath, and there was nothing wrong with his mind. In fact, he was already quite fond of Li Zhiyan.

When you like someone and receive their genuine care in return, isn’t falling hard just natural?

“Of course I need you with me.” Shen Ji smiled at Li Zhiyan. “No matter where I go, I’ll bring you along.”

“Starting now, there’s no escaping me.”

Looking into Shen Ji’s smiling eyes, Li Zhiyan found himself smiling too, almost instinctively.

“Then you have to remember not to leave me behind.”

“I’m pretty cowardly—if I get left behind even accidentally, I’ll cry.”

“Cry? How about crying for me now?”

“…Right now?”

Meanwhile, the Director had been waiting outside with the security team for a long time. When midnight arrived, he finally couldn’t take it anymore. Cautiously, he led the security team into the containment facility. As soon as they entered, they saw the damaged pollution detector and surveillance cameras.

But even worse, they discovered something truly horrifying.

Everyone inside had disappeared.

The isolation room was utterly vacant. Only the fallen lock and the last recorded monitoring data confirmed that patients had indeed been held there.

Li Zhiyan and Shen Ji were also gone.

“Just like the legend of Puppet City,” the Director breathed, his eyes wide with a tone of grim, foreboding realization.

“Alert the Pollution Prevention Center immediately.”

“Doctor Shen and Captain Li have both disappeared.”