Chapter 95: Prophecy Book Event

Chapter 95: The Prophecy Book Incident

Exiting the elevator, Shen Ji saw that it was already time for dinner.

So he immediately turned and headed toward the cafeteria.

Li Zhiyan asked curiously, "Where are you going?"

"The cafeteria." Shen Ji showed him the time. "It's dinner time. Normal humans need rest and three meals a day—or two meals, anyway they need to eat something to pass for human."

"Really?" Li Zhiyan remarked. "In some ways, you really are much more human than I am."

Li Zhiyan still resisted the idea of eating, but he felt it would be a waste to go back to the dorm alone and wait for Shen Ji. So he carried the flowerpot and followed Shen Ji to the cafeteria. It was the height of the dinner rush, and the place was crowded. Most of the medical staff had dark circles under their eyes and were listlessly eating their meals.

Until they saw Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan walk in.

Whether it was their status as S-Class Mutants or their striking appearances, all eyes were on them—especially Shen Ji. Over this period, they had watched all the contaminated patients in the entire shelter recover rapidly. In all their years working at the shelter, they had never seen any contaminated patient heal so quickly.

It was well-known that the cure rate for contaminated patients was low. Even after the Q City Shelter developed and improved a special drug, they had only managed to raise the cure rate by thirty percent!

And the Q City Shelter was where Shen Ji had previously been stationed.

They looked at Shen Ji as if he were a god.

So when that so-called Pollution Forum appeared and Shen Ji’s name wasn’t on the list, they had gathered together and complained angrily.

What kind of pollution list is this? They can't recognize quality!

They have no idea how great Doctor Xiao Ji is!

And now, Shen Ji was actually coming to the cafeteria to eat with Li Zhiyan.

Some whispered among themselves, while others started chatting with friends on their phones—all topics centered around those two.

"I heard Li Zhiyan has been telling everyone that Doctor Xiao Ji confessed to him, they’re officially together now, and they’re even going to get married someday!"

"Two S-Class Mutants—a match made in heaven."

"Match what?! Li Zhiyan’s from the security team! So rugged and crude! Our Doctor Xiao Ji doesn’t even know how to fight—what if he gets hurt?!"

"Isn’t the most important thing that they’re both men?"

"Yeah, why two men? If it were a man and a woman, their child would be absolutely adorable. Two S-Class Mutants would definitely have a little S-Class baby."

"...Have a child? You need to get your head checked."

Unaware of what the people around them were discussing, Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan were both accustomed to being the center of attention. They were used to the noisy cafeteria.

While Shen Ji went to get food, Li Zhiyan placed the flowerpot on the dining table. The flowers were blooming beautifully, looking elegant and beautiful even on a cafeteria table. Li Zhiyan nodded in satisfaction, then pulled out his phone from his pocket.

He opened the previous group chat, checked that he hadn't been kicked out again, and sent a message.

"Li Zhiyan: @Pollution Prevention Center, it’s best to compile a list of those who can access the forum."

"Pollution Prevention Center: Why?"

"Pollution Prevention Center: We’ve already tasked the Academy of Sciences to investigate this forum, to see if we can find more clues about the two contaminants."

"Li Zhiyan: Shen Ji said so."

"Pollution Prevention Center: Understood. I’ll arrange for someone to compile the list right away."

"Li Zhiyan: ...?"

"Li Zhiyan: Why won't you listen to me, but the second Shen Ji says something, you jump to it?"

"Gao Yuan: Why do we need to compile the list?"

"Li Zhiyan: But it’s fine—we sink or swim together. Shen Ji and I are one. Your trust in Shen Ji is trust in me! See, the partner I chose is outstanding!"

"Li Qingan: @Shen Ji, Doctor Shen, come quick and keep him in check—his head is getting too big."

"Gao Yuan: So why are we compiling the list?"

"Cheng Feng: What else could it be? Obviously because Xiao Ji is trustworthy, and you’re not reliable at all. I object to this marriage!"

"Huang Jining: Doctor Xiao Ji, you should still come to our shelter headquarters. @Shen Ji, at least you won’t be pestered by someone so shameless."

As the tension in the group grew increasingly heated, Gao Yuan hugged his tentacles and shrunk into a corner, tapping the screen with a tentacle in confusion.

"Is anyone going to answer me?"

"Why exactly are we compiling the list? Just because Doctor Shen says so, we have to do it?"

Meanwhile, Shen Ji came over with his tray. He set it down on the table, and Li Zhiyan looked up, surprised to see only one portion.

"Nothing for me?" Li Zhiyan asked curiously.

"I thought you couldn't eat?" Shen Ji took an extra bowl, scooped a small portion of each dish from his tray into it, and pushed the bowl toward Li Zhiyan.

"This is your dinner."

Li Zhiyan couldn’t consume human food; to him, it was like eating packing peanuts. But Shen Ji had observed that Li Zhiyan could actually stomach certain foods, even if it was just a little. So this time, Shen Ji had chosen all dishes that Li Zhiyan could somewhat swallow.

"You pay such close attention to detail," the system remarked. "You even figured out what foods he can eat?"

'Don’t underestimate a reporter’s observational skills,' Shen Ji replied.

He also fetched water for Li Zhiyan. The paper cup contained dried flowers, carrying a faint pollution aura.

Li Zhiyan looked at the dried flowers in the paper cup, lifted it, and took a sip. There was no astringent taste—only a light, sweet flavor.

Sometimes he found Shen Ji terrifying.

How could one person be so thoughtful, so casually win him over with just a meal and a cup of tea to make his heart fall even deeper? He even felt an urge to immediately drag Shen Ji back to the Pollution Prevention Center and force the higher-ups to print their marriage certificate tonight.

He liked it so much. He wanted to be together.

Wait, they were already together!

Li Zhiyan was extremely satisfied. Humming happily, he picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. Though it still didn’t taste great, it was palatable enough to swallow.

Today, he was the little butterfly who could eat properly!

Watching Li Zhiyan eat, Shen Ji finally relaxed and started his own dinner. He ate just as quickly as before, polishing off his food in no time. After eating, he set the tray aside, waiting for Li Zhiyan to finish eating so they could return their trays together.

While waiting for Li Zhiyan to finish eating, Shen Ji casually picked up a copy of the "Manual of Pollution Disease Types" from the cafeteria and flipped through it.

Different types of pollutants emerged in different cities, which led to different categories of pollution-related illnesses. So the handbooks on pollution disease types varied from one Pollution Containment Shelter to another.

Shen Ji flipped through the pages; the earlier sections covered fairly common pollutants, nothing particularly noteworthy.

It wasn't until he reached the middle that one type of pollution disease caught Shen Ji's attention.

"Class C Pollutant 'Proliferation.' The contaminated individual was a man who wanted to continue his lineage. He had congenital infertility but desired his own child. After contamination, his abdomen began to swell. At first, it was mistaken for a normal illness, until he felt something moving inside his belly."

"Upon examination, a small life form was found in his abdomen. The life form developed, grew, and contaminated him from within. He became increasingly paranoid, suspecting everyone who approached him of wanting to harm his child. His body grew emaciated from sustaining the life form."

"Pollution doctors and the security team apprehended him. When they cut open his abdomen, they found a fully formed humanoid pollutant."

The manual also included photos of the extracted pollutant, along with various data and methods for diagnosing the pollution disease.

Shen Ji frowned.

"Pollutants really can do anything."

After saying this, Shen Ji paused slightly. For some reason, the phrase felt familiar.

He thought carefully, and a scene flashed into his mind.

He was sitting on a sofa, Li Zhiyan sat across from him, and the background looked like his dorm room at the shelter.

He asked curiously, "Can two men get pregnant?"

Li Zhiyan replied in shock, "Why would two men get pregnant?"

The system, never one to miss a chance to stir trouble, said, "You're both pollutants! Pollutants can do anything!"

"It's out of order! The sequence is messed up!"

The system screeched in panic, "I was the one who joked first! You believed it and then told the protagonist!"

"I never meant that you two could get pregnant just because you're pollutants!"

Shen Ji: …

"You two can't have children!"

Driven by a thirst for knowledge, Shen Ji retorted, "But can't pollutants do anything?"

"Huh?" Li Zhiyan looked up. "Do anything?"

Seeing that Li Zhiyan had eaten most of the food in the bowl, Shen Ji fished a piece of candy from his pocket and handed it to him like coaxing a child. Li Zhiyan looked at the candy in his hand, completely baffled as to why Shen Ji would carry candy with him.

After watching Li Zhiyan pocket the candy, Shen Ji showed him the manual.

Looking at the pollution case, Li Zhiyan immediately understood.

"Even though pollutants can do anything, this is a bit too bizarre." Li Zhiyan refused. "I don't want to give birth to a little pollutant."

"Honestly, we might as well just have a butterfly or grow a mushroom to raise."

Shen Ji glanced down at the small mushrooms clinging to the table legs.

The small mushrooms were never full and now eyed everyone's plates greedily. A few had even sneaked into the kitchen, stealing braised pork while the cafeteria auntie wasn't looking.

Shen Ji spoke seriously, his dark eyes filled with determination. "Compared to butterflies or mushrooms, I want to have a tiger."

"A tiger?" Li Zhiyan hesitated for a long moment.

"But... no matter how much insects and fungi evolve, they can't turn into mammals, right?"

"Hiss, you're right." Shen Ji frowned. "Then what should we do? I still want a little tiger to play with."

Li Zhiyan also thought it over seriously. "Should we try cross-species surgery?"

"Can't your Talent turn a butterfly into a tiger?"

"If I could do that, I'd have turned them into pandas long ago."

"What a pity."

"...Pity for what?!"

"Wait, are you two being serious or just joking?"

The system felt like it was about to crash.

AI can't compare to humans because AI has underlying logic, but humans don't. So the system couldn't understand why these two were having an in-depth discussion about "what to have."

Seriously? Were they really seriously discussing something utterly impossible?

Shen Ji clicked his tongue. 'You really don’t get life.'

'Life is only fun when you talk nonsense.'

"All I know is that talking nonsense lands you in a mental hospital."

Shen Ji: …

This idiot AI system was hopeless. It needed to be sent back for a reboot.

/

It was already evening when they left the shelter and returned to the dorm. The sky was dark, but the streetlights were lit.

Pushing open the dorm door, Li Zhiyan rushed to the balcony, cradling his precious flowers. Shen Ji didn’t interfere with Li Zhiyan’s hobbies and simply settled habitually onto the sofa.

Step one after getting home from work: lie on the bed or lie on the sofa.

You have to lie on one of them!

After admiring the flowers for a while, Li Zhiyan pulled out his phone to take a picture. The result was utterly ordinary, so he turned to Shen Ji, hoping he could take a couple of better photos.

That’s when he noticed Shen Ji sitting on the sofa, staring at the flowers on the table.

They were the flowers he’d given Shen Ji earlier, meant as food. But Shen Ji hadn't eaten them; instead, he’d placed them in a cup of water to keep them alive.

Li Zhiyan walked over. "What’s wrong?"

"Still hungry." Shen Ji frowned slightly.

A sense of hunger rose from his stomach, making him desperately want to eat. In fact, this was the first time Shen Ji had felt this hungry since becoming a pollutant.

Before, it was always the small mushrooms that were hungry. He ate more food only because he never felt full.

Not feeling full wasn’t the same as hunger.

"Really hungry?" The system sounded puzzled. "You’ve never had this happen before. If it’s that bad, try eating something."

"I’ll run a check on your body."

Shen Ji acknowledged the system and continued staring at the flower on the table.

This flower looked kind of delicious.

Just then, Li Zhiyan returned. He wrapped his arms around Shen Ji from behind the couch, with a little butterfly perched on his finger.

“Do you want to eat it?”

Shen Ji glanced sideways at Li Zhiyan, neither saying yes nor no, but the small mushrooms had already crept along Shen Ji’s shoulders and coiled around Li Zhiyan’s wrist, hooking the little butterfly away the moment it fluttered its wings.

Li Zhiyan didn’t let go. “I have plenty more.”

“I don’t want to eat butterflies.” Shen Ji reached out and pulled the flower from the water glass. “I’ll eat this instead.”

With that, he placed the ice crystal flower into his mouth.

The flower looked like an ice crystal snowflake and tasted like one too. Aside from a faint pollution aura, it was like eating a piece of ice, instantly cooling the temperature in Shen Ji’s mouth. Yet, the inherent pollution aura made his mouth water, and he couldn’t help but chew.

Unlike filth, Shen Ji had a deep-seated sense of propriety ingrained in him. Even while eating a flower, he chewed slowly and deliberately. As he ate, the color of the petals was visible, and he ate with such refined manners that he appeared extremely well-mannered.

The flower was blue, a special variety with small thorns. When Shen Ji bit into it, it made a crisp sound. Li Zhiyan gazed down at him but could only see his Adam’s apple bobbing.

His pleasant pollution aura emanating from him gradually spread. Li Zhiyan closed his eyes, breathing it in, losing control of his desires.

So intoxicating.

Shen Ji swallowed the petals.

Seeming to notice Li Zhiyan’s silence, Shen Ji looked up at him. “Do you want some?”

Li Zhiyan stared into Shen Ji’s eyes, his pale blue eyes filled with depth. “You’re willing to share with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Shen Ji patted the spot beside him on the sofa. “It’s not like you eat human food anyway.”

So Li Zhiyan let go and returned to the sofa. He watched as Shen Ji split the remaining flower in half, casually placing one half in his mouth and offering the other to him.

Li Zhiyan accepted the flower but didn’t eat it. Instead, he placed the damaged flower back into the cup. Just as Shen Ji was about to question him, Li Zhiyan leaned down and bit into the half Shen Ji held in his mouth.

Shen Ji instinctively leaned back, falling back onto the sofa, while Li Zhiyan leaned over him, bracing himself above.

After biting into the blue ice crystal flower, Li Zhiyan fiercely kissed his lips.

The freezing frost-like sensation in his mouth melted under the warmth of another person, and the blue petals were stolen away.

Shen Ji coughed, then complained helplessly, “You ate my flower.”

“I’ll leave the rest for you,” Li Zhiyan said.

He kissed him again, leaving no room for resistance. Shen Ji turned his head, and his black-framed glasses, still on, fell to the floor with a crisp clatter.

The system returned from its check-up and nearly short-circuited at the sight.

In the end, it silently shut down.

See no evil, hear no evil—the system didn’t want to watch this kind of thing!

Shen Ji’s world was rational. He lived by many rules and was burdened by many concerns.

As a journalist, as a solitary person with no one to rely on, as someone who needed to establish himself in the world, Shen Ji had to be outstanding and exceptionally brave to become a success.

He had reported on too many incidents, witnessed too many fluctuations of human emotion, and seen through the disguises of capital and human nature.

He had never imagined that one day he could entrust himself to another person.

And genuinely believe: This is love, not control.

Shen Ji was tall, though slightly shorter than Li Zhiyan, he was still taller than most men. Well-defined muscles covered his abdomen, and because he was a pollutant, his skin glowed like translucent, glowing colored glaze under the light.

The two pale pink nubs, rubbed vigorously, had turned a vivid red, looking as beautiful as gemstones.

“Li Wuyan!” Shen Ji gritted his teeth. “Don’t touch there!”

“Is it sensitive?”

Li Zhiyan kissed his temple, his voice full of seductive coaxing. “But it’s so pretty. I adore it. Is it really not allowed?”

“I really want to kick you off…”

“Don’t.” Li Zhiyan kissed the side of his ear. “I want to love you, and I want you to love me too.”

Love is a noun and a verb.

Li Zhiyan’s white hair draped over Shen Ji’s skin, sticking to it with sweat, and felt a little prickly.

But Shen Ji could no longer care about any of that. He couldn’t suppress a muffled groan, his fingers digging forcefully into the sofa cushion. Overwhelmed by uncontrollable emotions, the pollution within him erupted and overflowed, leaking out and turning the entire room into a paradise for mushrooms. Shen Ji’s hair also began to grow longer and longer.

Amidst the motion, black and white strands of hair intertwined, as if they had always been one.

In the end, unable to restrain himself any longer, Shen Ji kicked Li Zhiyan away. Li Zhiyan hissed, his frustration fueling his aggression.

“It’s too cramped here.”

Li Zhiyan got up and lifted Shen Ji, moving them from the sofa to the bed.

Shen Ji tried to pull away, but Li Zhiyan grabbed his ankle.

The small mushrooms that had been coiled around his ankle hadn’t left yet, so Li Zhiyan saw the mushroom ring on his ankle.

In that moment, Li Zhiyan felt like he might have broken, otherwise why would he find this scene unbelievably lewd? It didn’t fit his character at all.

In the end, he restrained himself. Li Zhiyan released Shen Ji’s ankle and instead grasped his wrist.

He reverently kissed Shen Ji’s wrist. Shen Ji looked up at him, breathing lightly, offering no resistance.

So Li Zhiyan continued kissing from his wrist to his fingertips. On Shen Ji’s ring finger still bore his name, the black characters clear and unmistakable.

His name belonged to him.

“Shen Ji,” Li Zhiyan said. “I love hearing you call my name. Say it a couple more times.”

Shen Ji gave him a helpless look. “You’re really annoying.”

“I’m not.” Li Zhiyan insisted. “Say it a couple more times.”

Shen Ji couldn’t resist and eventually called his name.

“Li Zhiyan.”

“…Li Wuyan, slow down!”

/

In the early hours, Shen Ji sat on the sofa in a bathrobe.

He had just finished showering, his hair still damp, with several clear hickeys visible on his collarbone beneath the robe, red imprints stark against his pale, luminous skin.

Leaning back against the chair, he sighed, "I'm so hungry."

He should have been looking for something to eat, but instead of food, he ended up being flipped over and over multiple times, leaving him even hungrier.

He really wanted to eat.

Li Zhiyan had been kicked out in the middle of the night—without bringing back food as an apology, he wouldn't be allowed back in.

The small mushrooms gathered around Shen Ji, whining and crying.

Because Shen Ji was hungry, they too felt the hunger, each one so famished they wanted to gnaw on the walls. But gnawing on walls wouldn't provide them with pollution to eat—the only place to get pollution was the containment center. However, if patients at the facility consumed pollution on a large scale, it would inevitably harm their bodies, and Shen Ji would never allow that.

Just then, the system suddenly spoke up.

"System online! Are you done?"

Shen Ji leaned back on the sofa, "What time is it now? I remember you said you were going to examine me?"

"The examination was done a while ago, but what shouldn't be seen shouldn't be seen, so I made a quick exit."

"Anyway, I ran a full check on you and found that the pollution on you is slowly leaking and spreading."

Shen Ji raised an eyebrow slightly, "Even if I'm releasing pollution, it shouldn't make me suddenly this hungry, right?"

"Because there's another type of pollution on you."

The system drew out the truth, "Aside from the Devouring, I detected a second pollution aura on you. This pollution aura was likely suppressed by the small mushrooms before, but recently it started competing with them for pollution. It's growing stronger, and the small mushrooms, lacking pollution, are beginning to starve."

"What pollution aura?"

"It seems to be from the same source as the Pollution Forum."

Shen Ji closed his eyes, "...I knew it."

Sure enough, Filth was contaminated by the Prophecy Book Incident—the Prophecy Book from back then is now the Pollution Forum.

And the original story he had read was indeed the "prophecy content" from the Prophecy Book Incident.

Shen Ji picked up his phone from nearby, turned on the screen, and opened the Pollution Forum, trying to find a way to deal with this thing.

But he noticed that the pollutant list on the Pollution Forum had changed—it was updating in real time.

"NO.2 Filth, S-class pollutant, Location: X City."

"NO.4 Li Zhiyan, S-class ***, Location: X City."

They were just one step away from having their true identities exposed.

The system hurriedly said, "If the Pollution Forum really is the Prophecy Book, it's likely getting information through you. Try to find the leftover pollution within your body and let the small mushrooms handle it."

"Will it work?"

"It will!" the system assured.

Shen Ji sighed, stood up, and walked to the balcony to look out the window.

Outside, it was pitch-dark, with only the flowers Li Zhiyan had placed there in full bloom.

Shen Ji looked at the pot of flowers, his dark eyes mirroring the flowers, as though seeing someone.

"I won't let them find you."

"As the protagonist, living properly among everyone should be your proper ending."