Chapter 86: Silent Frost Domain Continued

Chapter 86: The Silent Frozen Domain (Continued)

Li Qingan received the message from the shelter.

Standing atop the high wall, she gazed at X City, which was like a ghost town, with no trace of human habitation. Then she turned to look at Zhou Ye, who was crouching beside her.

"Kitty," she said, "your captain is missing."

Zhou Ye was dejected and didn't even glance at her. "Oh."

That damn Li Zhiyan, that he suddenly took on such a mission was one thing, but then he just left me here all alone while he went off to have a romantic date.

Leaving a cat shivering alone in the night cold—is that something a human would do?

It's so cold. I don't have fur, I'm afraid of the cold.

Seeing his attitude, Li Qingan wanted to laugh, but after a moment's thought, she managed to restrain her low laugh threshold. "Aren't you worried?"

"He's an S-Class Mutant. Why would an A-Class like me need to worry about him?" Zhou Ye scratched his head in confusion. "Besides, didn't the captain go to find Doctor Shen? With two S-Classes, it's the pollutants who should be worried."

Li Qingan finally couldn't hold back anymore. She slapped her knee and burst out laughing, delighted.

"Kitty, you're just too funny!"

Zhou Ye: "..."

Huh? What's so funny about that?

Of course, he was long used to Li Qingan's low laugh threshold. Back when Li Zhiyan brought him along for a collaboration, Li Qingan's laughter could be heard throughout the entire scene.

Because Li Zhiyan was eccentric and Li Qingan had a low laugh threshold, no matter what Li Zhiyan did, she would laugh.

It nearly made Li Zhiyan retreat into himself, and he became convinced it must be Li Qingan's way of getting revenge!

Only after she finished laughing did Zhou Ye speak up. "Speaking of which, did the captain succeed?"

Li Qingan controlled her breathing. "Succeed at what?"

"Trying to poach Doctor Shen and bring him over to our team."

Li Qingan tsk'd teasingly a couple of times, then pulled out her phone, opened a certain photo, and showed it to Zhou Ye.

Zhou Ye's eyes widened.

In the photo were Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan, gazing at each other in an ambiguous pose. From an observer's perspective, one could see the barely concealed intensity in both their eyes. This intensity made the entire image electric with tension, as if they were about to start fighting the next second, and then kiss.

Anyone seeing this photo would exclaim, "These two really know how to play."

No way?!

"When was this?" Zhou Ye asked in shock. "They got together without telling us?!"

"Last night."

Li Qingan was once again amused by Zhou Ye's phrase "without telling us" and laughed uncontrollably.

"Li-jie! My dear sister! Can you send me that photo?"

Zhou Ye shouted, "I need to share it with the rest of the team. As Li Zhiyan's team members, we have the need to know!"

So Li Qingan sent the photo to Zhou Ye. Watching Zhou Ye start reporting Li Zhiyan's relationship status to the rest of their team, she thought for a moment and seemed to recall that when she left, Li Zhiyan had asked her to send him a copy of the photo. So Li Qingan sent the photo to Li Zhiyan's account.

Naturally, the message failed to send—after all, Li Zhiyan was missing now.

"Think of it as a gift," Li Qingan said with a grin. "Whenever you come back, you'll get the photo right away."

"What a perfect surprise."

Meanwhile, Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan, out of contact, were standing in a familiar place.

Puppet City.

"It's Puppet City from ten years ago!" the system chimed in to correct. "This layout and building quality are clearly from ten years ago, not the current Puppet City."

"Why did we end up in Puppet City from ten years ago?" Shen Ji asked.

Li Zhiyan turned to look at Shen Ji. Shen Ji's eyes weren't on him, as if he were talking to himself.

But Li Zhiyan felt like he was talking to something, though he couldn't hear it.

"The diary isn't strong. All its abilities are related to memories. In fact, its weakness stems from not having experiences that match its abilities—until it was killed by defilement. The experience of being killed gave it profound and sorrowful memories, so it will relive this over and over again."

"Just like the small mushroom's insatiable appetite, this is instinct, and it will also make it stronger."

Shen Ji nodded. The next moment, as if suddenly realizing something, he looked at Li Zhiyan beside him, only to find Li Zhiyan had been staring at him the whole time.

Those pale blue eyes were filled with curiosity.

Noticing Shen Ji had caught him, Li Zhiyan smiled and asked, "Were you talking to me just now?"

It was like being mentally polluted—talking to himself while staring into empty air. But Shen Ji wasn't an ordinary person susceptible to mental pollution; he was even an S-class pollutant.

So, who was he talking to?

"No," Shen Ji shrugged. "I was just talking to myself while analyzing."

Whether he believed it or not, Li Zhiyan nodded and didn't press further.

But Li Zhiyan knew: Shen Ji was a reporter.

The profession of a reporter was different from others. Their job is about reporting the truth and keeping secrets. As somewhat public figures, they'd better not develop a habit of blurting out everything they think. Shen Ji was a good employee, so he shouldn't have the bad habit of talking to himself.

It seemed his small mushroom had other secrets.

Keeping a small mushroom was truly difficult. You'd constantly discover new secrets about it, then enter a new round of guessing game.

Thinking of this, Li Zhiyan couldn't help but sigh. "I'm amazing!"

Shen Ji looked at him, puzzled by his outburst. "What?"

"Plants can't talk, but when they lack water or sunlight, they show different symptoms. Then you have to figure it out step by step to determine the cause," Li Zhiyan explained his approach to growing plants to Shen Ji.

Shen Ji nodded. "So?"

"So I'm a very patient person," Li Zhiyan said proudly, with his hands on his hips. "I can wait for all the flowers to bloom!"

Though he didn't quite understand what Li Zhiyan meant, Shen Ji sensed the vitality radiating from the depths of this person's heart.

Living with this person would probably be very interesting. He had boundless energy, wouldn't let fate defeat him, and could always come up with all sorts of unexpected adventures.

He was a completely different type of person compared to someone like Shen Ji, an office drone trapped in the rat race.

Shen Ji smiled and pulled Li Zhiyan by the wrist, leading him toward Puppet City.

"Alright, let's go."

"When we get back, I'll help you plant flowers."

Li Zhiyan's eyes lit up. "Really?"

He began happily sharing his planting plans with Shen Ji.

"I plan to plant peach blossoms. My garden isn't big enough, so I submitted an application to the Pollution Prevention Center for an acre of land to plant peach trees. I've even put in an order for peach saplings. When the time comes, I'll dig the holes, you water them, and together we'll warn the peach trees—if they don't take root properly, we'll chop them up for firewood."

Shen Ji was speechless.

He could already imagine the expressions on the faces of the higher-ups at the Pollution Prevention Center when they received the application.

Stepping into Puppet City, unlike the last time when he was lost in memories, this time Shen Ji did not see an empty, deserted city but a bustling town where countless people were going about their lives peacefully.

The streets were filled with people going about their business, shops were open, and store owners were hollering to attract customers.

Looking at the scene, Li Zhiyan remarked curiously, "Playing house?"

"It really is like playing house."

Shen Ji glanced at him. "The last time I saw them was at the containment center."

Li Zhiyan took a headcount. "The count doesn't match. There are clearly more people here than the number of contaminated patients at the containment center."

"It must be a byproduct of pollution."

Shen Ji recalled what Wu Chi had said back then.

Wu Chi had mentioned that his most painful and sorrowful memories were repeatedly dragged out, and when he couldn't hold on any longer, he would escape to another ending—one where his wife and child hadn't died but were alive and well, and he could live happily with them forever.

Everyone experienced the same thing.

Speak of the devil, while observing, Shen Ji caught sight of Wu Chi around the corner.

Wu Chi was sitting on the steps, looking fondly at a child beside him who was playing with a toy car.

Shen Ji walked over.

Li Zhiyan didn’t know Wu Chi, but since Shen Ji was approaching him, there must be a reason. He simply followed.

As he reached Shen Ji, he addressed him, "Wu Chi?"

Wu Chi looked up, and the moment his eyes met Shen Ji's, they lit up. "Captain Li?!"

"Captain Li, what brings you here?"

Li Zhiyan looked at him strangely, then glanced at Shen Ji.

Wu Chi then turned to Li Zhiyan. "Captain Li, who is this? Your new team member?"

Before Shen Ji could explain, Li Zhiyan jumped in before him.

"Hello, Captain Wu. I'm Shen Ji, an S-Class Healing-Type Mutant. I'm currently working with Captain Li and preparing to join the Special Operations Team soon! I'll be Captain Li's new team member in no time, living and working alongside him!"

He spoke in a rapid-fire manner and with such mental agility that even though he had no idea what was happening or why Wu Chi was calling Shen Ji by his name, he seized the moment to spin a tale.

Before Shen Ji could even stop him, he had already finished fabricating the story using Shen Ji's identity.

Shen Ji: ...

He turned and nudged Li Zhiyan with his foot.

Wu Chi blinked, feeling a sudden, inexplicable pain in his eyes. Was he getting a stye?

After kicking him, Shen Ji turned back. "Captain Wu, why are you here? This is Puppet City."

"Why wouldn't I be in Puppet City?" Wu Chi scratched his head in confusion, as if he didn’t understand Shen Ji's meaning. "I was assigned to a position here by the Pollution Prevention Center. The living conditions are really good here. My wife and child were brought over too, and everyone is very happy."

As he spoke, Wu Chi smiled and picked up the child playing with the toy car on the steps.

"This is my son. His name is Wu Le, and he goes by Lele. Lele, say hello to Uncle."

The little boy looked up. His expression was cold, his eyes like stalactites, fixed intently on Shen Ji, his entire body radiating a strong pollution aura.

But Wu Chi noticed nothing, just smiled and let the child continue playing.

"My wife is cooking at home. I’m watching the kid here for a while before heading back for dinner. Captain Li, would you like to come to my place for a visit?"

"Mr. Shen can come too," he said to Li Zhiyan.

Li Zhiyan and Shen Ji exchanged a glance.

"Someone important?" Li Zhiyan asked him.

"An A-Class Mutant. He maintained his self-awareness in X City until I arrived," Shen Ji replied. "He was also the first person the diary's influence controlled when it reached the containment center."

Li Zhiyan understood. "That’s not surprising."

Higher-level mutants are more resistant even when contaminated. In containment centers, mutants are often easier to treat than ordinary people. Unless an A-Class Mutant is unlucky enough to encounter an S-Class pollutant, they are rarely contaminated.

Even if mentally polluted, A-Class Mutants can often spot irregularities in the details. It’s very difficult to fully contaminate them.

Wu Chi looked at them curiously. "What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing," Shen Ji said, squatting down. "Do you know where the diary is?"

"Diary? You mean the diary that was locked up by the child?"

Only then did Shen Ji remember that the S-Class pollutant had just been named. Before that, Wu Chi had already been contaminated and didn’t know the pollutant’s name.

So Shen Ji thought for a moment. "Something that causes you great discomfort. It should be here."

"Can you sense it?"

"How could that be? There’s nothing uncomfortable here," Wu Chi shook his head. "Puppet City is a wonderful place. Look how happy everyone is!"

Seeing him pick up the child from the ground and immerse himself in happiness, Shen Ji nodded. He didn’t press further, simply said goodbye and left with Li Zhiyan to continue forward.

Wu Chi held his son and watched them leave, a hint of bewilderment in his eyes.

As though trying to convince himself, he repeated his earlier words.

"Puppet City is a wonderful place, everyone should live in Puppet City."

The son in his arms beamed, "Dad! I love Puppet City!"

The child shouted in a bright, sunny voice, "As long as I'm in Puppet City, I won't die! Dad! I don't have to die!"

"Dad, we're going to stay in Puppet City forever!"

Wu Chi's hand trembled. He looked down at his child in horror, only to see a white, stalactite-like stone. As he shrieked and tried to throw the stalactite away, a crimson thread-like tendril pierced fiercely into his neck.

He stopped trembling and no longer felt afraid. Instead, he patted the stalactite's shoulder soothingly.

"My precious, we will stay in Puppet City forever."

"Let's go home and have dinner with Mom, okay?"

In Puppet City, the S-class pollutant does not allow anyone to remain awake.

/

"This should be deep within the memories of the S-class pollutant 'Diary.' To find it, we must stimulate its memories."

The system began analyzing, "It will repeat its own death from ten years ago. I think we just need to wait until the memory point when it was killed, and then we can find its core."

Shen Ji thought for a moment, 'But wasn't it Hui that killed it?'

"Yeah."

'So that means I can see Hui?'

"Not just you, Li Zhiyan can see it too."

Shen Ji instinctively looked at Li Zhiyan, only to find him yawning. Noticing Shen Ji's glance out of the corner of his eye, Li Zhiyan smiled at him, but before the smile could fully form, he yawned again.

"What's wrong with you?"

"A bit sleepy."

Shen Ji looked around and spotted a bench by the roadside. He pulled Li Zhiyan over to sit on it.

The moment he sat down, Li Zhiyan instinctively closed his eyes, then snapped them open as if suddenly startled. He clearly realized something was off, but the drowsiness made it hard for him to think clearly.

"Shen Ji." Li Zhiyan was somewhat glad he hadn't come alone. He said, "I'm a bit sleepy."

His voice grew softer, as if he were already asleep.

Shen Ji reached out to let him lean against himself, so he wouldn't fall to the ground. By then, Li Zhiyan's breathing had completely slowed.

"System?" Shen Ji asked while holding Li Zhiyan, "What's going on?"

"Huh? I don't know either."

"Hold on, let me run a diagnostic."

"Why is he suddenly so sleepy? Did he eat too much pollution like you and is digesting it? That doesn't make sense though. If there's pollution, the small mushrooms should have eaten the most, so why would Li Zhiyan be the first to get drowsy?"

The small mushrooms were twined around the bench they were sitting on, covering it tightly. They curiously poked out from the gaps in the backrest, watching Li Zhiyan leaning on Shen Ji.

Huh? What's wrong with the Big Butterfly?

Is the Big Butterfly sleepy? He seems to have fallen asleep.

Boo hoo, the Big Butterfly is asleep, we have no little butterflies to eat!

Is the Big Butterfly already dead? Maybe we should eat him!

Shen Ji: ...

While stopping the small mushrooms from trying to take a bite out of Li Zhiyan, the system finally finished its diagnostic.

"Ah, I got it!"

The system exclaimed, "This is deep within the memories of the S-class pollutant 'Diary,' meaning it's ten years ago. This Puppet City is under its control and influence, and everyone inside will be reverted to their state from ten years ago."

"Ten years ago, Li Zhiyan wasn't Li Zhiyan yet; he was still Li Wuyan sleeping in his cocoon!"

Shen Ji was puzzled, "Isn't Li Zhiyan's Talent the natural counter to mental pollution? The Mimic Butterfly possesses even stronger mental pollution than pollutants."

"Because they're both S-class, even though he won't be polluted, he can still be affected. It's like how you're affected by the Gardener's Crystal Tree's vision. Moreover, 'Diary' doesn't control illusions or dreams; it directly suppresses memories, bypassing everything to throw a person's memory into confusion."

"I think the reason you're unaffected is likely because you don't have memories of Hui from ten years ago."

"Otherwise, you'd be experiencing temporal disorientation like Li Zhiyan."

Shen Ji turned to look at Li Zhiyan.

Seemingly uncomfortable leaning against Shen Ji, Li Zhiyan slowly slid downward. So Shen Ji held him, shifted over a bit, and let Li Zhiyan lie down completely with his head on Shen Ji's lap.

"...?"

Finally comfortable, Li Zhiyan closed his eyes. His breathing was steady, his white long hair spread over his shoulders, with a strand hanging down between Shen Ji's legs, carrying a hint of sleepy intimacy.

So suggestive it could make anyone blush just from breathing.

"But I can't just stay here watching over him forever."

As if unaware of all this, Shen Ji complained quietly, but his eyes were fixed on Li Zhiyan, his hand gently stroking Li Zhiyan's white long hair.

The system looked at the sleeping soundly Li Zhiyan, then at Shen Ji providing a lap pillow.

It indignantly opened the system log and began writing.

"Today's Diary: The shameless protagonist collapses into the antagonist's arms. The antagonist has no sense of caution and lets the protagonist touch him freely. The two have no distinction between friend and foe, how shameless!"

"Today's System Summary: Send them both to hell together!"

Shen Ji didn't know the system was writing a diary, and even if he did, he wouldn't pry.

What decent person keeps a diary? If someone's writing a diary, better not to provoke them.

That thing is the best supporting prop in horror movies.

Shen Ji finally let go of Li Zhiyan's hair. He reached out to gather the small mushrooms, which swarmed over and twined around Shen Ji's fingers, pushing up little mushroom heads at his fingertips.

Master, master!

They called out.

Shen Ji gazed at them, "Can you find the large cold storage?"

The small mushrooms exchanged glances, then turned their gaze to the bustling crowd on the street.

Cannot find the Siberian Big Cold Storage, but it seems we can nibble away at the pollution here.

Though the pollution is a bit scarce.

Yeah, so little pollution, aww, doesn’t look very tasty.

Shen Ji didn’t give the small mushrooms a hard time. He turned his attention to the crowd on the street.

"...So, we can only wait until the timeline in the memory reaches the point where the S-class pollutant is killed?"

Just then, the small mushrooms suddenly scrambled onto the bench. They climbed from the bench up to the eaves, countless little mushrooms craning toward a certain direction.

Shen Ji could sense their faint awareness and detect the confusion in their childlike minds.

Who?

Seems familiar.

Is it master’s brother?

But it doesn’t smell like master. What is it?

The people on the street abruptly froze, turning back into puppets, their eyes vacant and movements stiff. They craned their necks to look in the same direction, their eyes turning into stone. Even though they were expressionless stones, Shen Ji could still see anger and fear in their stone eyes.

Anger and resentment are a ceaseless mental corruption, while the fear of death is an instinct creatures can never fully overcome.

That person walked step by step from afar.

With long black hair and a fierce gaze, every step he took made a puppet retreat in fear.

As he drew closer, Shen Ji finally got a clear look at his face.

It was a face identical to his own—cold and sharp. But while Shen Ji always maintained a composed and steady demeanor, this being carried a deranged madness more terrifying than a pollutant. Just one glance at him felt like being contaminated by his chilling presence, turned into the same dark and lonely existence.

He seemed to be muttering something, his voice too soft to make out clearly, only making him seem even more bizarre.

But good-looking people do have privileges. Even acting eccentric, he was incredibly handsome.

Crimson lips and pale eyes, paired with that long black hair. Small mushrooms coiled around his neck from his collar, revealing a section of crystal-clear shoulder.

It was a stunning, eye-searing beauty—utterly inhuman.

"...Is that Defilement?!" the system exclaimed.

"Is this Defilement from the memory of 'Diary's' death? Damn, the pollution readings from him are only at A-class. He really killed an S-class pollutant and devoured it as an A-class pollutant!"

"No way!"

Shen Ji: ...

"I would never walk outside like that," Shen Ji mumbled under his breath, closing his eyes. "Long hair is too eye-catching. The eyes could be explained as costume contacts for cosplay, but at least dress properly! So disheveled—it’s totally unprofessional!"

"If a coworker spotted me like that, it’d be tabloid fodder."

"The headline would scream: 'Man in Bizarre Outfit Late at Night—Is It Work Pressure or the Plight of East Asian Upbringing?!'"

"..."

Shen Ji, way to be professional at the wrong time!

"Ahem," the system coughed. "So, isn’t this state of his totally canon?"

"Cold, obsessive, insane, sinister!"

"This is the Ultimate Antagonist from the original work!"