Chapter 104: Time Forest

Chapter 104: Time Jungle

"Boss, do you think Doctor Shen has run away?" Zhou Ye asked.

Li Zhiyan glanced at Zhou Ye but didn't speak, though his eyes clearly said: Buzz off.

"But Doctor Shen hasn't returned for three days," Zhou Ye continued. "I think he was probably scared off by your eagerness to get married."

Li Zhiyan was displeased. "What eagerness to get married? Besides, marriage is the necessary path for two people in love. I'm just following the correct route!"

Zhou Ye: ...

Still, no one talks about marriage before even dating.

Indeed, it had been three days since anyone last saw Shen Ji. After that, Shen Ji had vanished completely.

Not only was he unreachable, but all calls to his phone went straight to "user out of service area." The Pollution Prevention Center was worried, yet they found that Li Zhiyan showed no concern at all—he wasn't anxious and hadn't taken any action.

So people began to speculate: had the two of them broken up?

One moment inseparable, the next moment like bitter enemies—such dramas were common among young couples in love.

To this, Li Zhiyan responded: Slander! Rumors! I'll sue every one of you!

The Pollution Prevention Center: ...

Weren't you the one spreading rumors about Shen Ji leading you on and then abandoning you?

Huh? This time, could it be true? Is Li Zhiyan too proud to admit the truth?

Li Zhiyan tried to explain several times, but no one believed him. No one thought he would remain indifferent to Shen Ji's sudden disappearance.

So Li Zhiyan gave up and started telling everyone that Shen Ji had led him on and abandoned him again, that Shen Ji was a heartless villain who must marry him to compensate for his emotional damage!

It always came back to marriage in the end.

Zhou Ye sighed. "There's been no progress on that Prophecy Book Event either. Boss, you said before that Doctor Shen went to find a solution. Do you think he can find one?"

Li Zhiyan calmly scrolled through his phone. "When those hyphae disappear, it means he found it and is coming back."

"Really?"

Zhou Ye was skeptical.

Leading experts from the Academy of Sciences had been called in to deal with the hyphae trapping people, but no matter what method they tried, they couldn't get the hyphae to release their captives. They even brought out Moth Flowers, whose flames were powerful enough to burn away pollution, but against the hyphae, they were like serving up side dishes.

The hyphae ate everything.

The staff at the Academy of Sciences: ...

They were at their wits' end, unable to comprehend that such a thing existed in this world.

It was hyphae but not hyphae—as if dense pollution had been forcibly compressed into the form of hyphae, yet it behaved like real hyphae, fearing cold and disliking sunlight, though this seemed more like a psychological dislike. Even exposed to blazing sun or bitter cold, it refused to release its prey.

Over these three days, they could only try to keep the trapped people alive by feeding them nutrient solutions. Surprisingly, the hyphae very cooperatively allowed them to drink the nutrient solutions.

What? You're giving them nutrient solutions because you don't like how it tastes?

That's creepy!

"Speaking of which, Doctor Shen's Talent has never been disclosed, though everyone assumes he's a healing-type mutant," Zhou Ye muttered to himself. "Last time, I sensed a very powerful aura from Doctor Shen. He must be an extremely powerful mutant."

"Could those hyphae be Doctor Shen's Talent?"

Li Zhiyan didn't even look up. "That would be cute."

"A big mushroom taking little mushrooms on a field trip, wanting to bring a basket to pick them all."

Zhou Ye: ...

You better actually mean picking mushrooms.

Just then, a loud sound came from the hallway. Zhou Ye pricked up his ears, and he immediately jumped to his feet and ran toward where the sound came from.

Li Zhiyan followed at a leisurely pace.

Soon, they reached the destination.

In the hallway, the person wrapped tightly in hyphae lay on the ground as the hyphae started to withdraw. The monitoring machines set up by the Academy of Sciences were knocked over by the hyphae, which then, perhaps seeming apologetic, helped stand the machines back up before disappearing entirely.

The master said! We need to be on camera! We need photos! We need to become beautiful, healthy mushrooms!

Thank you for taking pictures of the small mushrooms!

Everyone present: ...

No idea what it's doing, but it's terrifying!

Li Zhiyan's phone rang. He answered without looking.

"Hello?"

"Captain, all the abnormal hyphae around the world are disappearing!" Jiang Ying reported in amazement. "Director Huang from the shelter just performed preliminary checks on the patients and confirmed they're completely fine. All residual pollution in their bodies has been taken away!"

Li Zhiyan thought: Of course.

Shen Ji naturally consumes pollution. By having the hyphae immobilize these contaminated patients, the small mushrooms, finding no other food, turned to devour the pollution within the patients.

A roundabout treatment method.

"Any movement on the Pollution Forum?"

"None. All the phones of the people involved were destroyed, but Captain, isn't your phone still working?"

Jiang Ying asked: "Maybe you could check?"

Li Zhiyan tsked. Without hanging up, he searched for the Pollution Forum icon. Ever since Shen Ji took action, the forum icon had been like a disabled feature—no matter how many times he tapped it, nothing happened, as if it were a discontinued game.

He searched for a while but couldn't find the forum icon.

Since he rarely used it, he thought he might have misremembered its location. But after searching through his phone again and again, he still couldn't find it.

"...It disappeared?"

"What's gone? Boss?"

"So, Shen Ji succeeded?" Li Zhiyan murmured to himself, his heart beginning to stir with excitement, his voice trembling slightly. "Is Shen Ji coming back?"

Jiang Ying, on the other end of the line, was utterly confused and didn't understand a word.

The only thing clear was: Li Zhiyan said Shen Ji was coming back.

With a buzz, a new call request came through on Li Zhiyan's phone. His eyes lit up at the familiar name, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud. Sliding to answer, he realized he was already on a call and couldn't take another.

So, Li Zhiyan mercilessly hung up on Jiang Ying.

The moment he put the phone to his ear, it felt as if the whole world had gone silent.

The sounds of people checking on patients behind him faded away, and even the distant howling winter wind seemed to cease.

All Li Zhiyan could hear was that familiar breathing. Just from that, he could picture Shen Ji's smiling eyes in his mind, feel the warmth of his breath, and recall the red marks he'd left on Shen Ji's collarbone from sucking on it.

Cough, better not think about that last part right now.

"I have to confess something to you," Li Zhiyan spoke first.

Shen Ji, who had expected a warm welcome, was taken aback: ...?

"Confess what?"

"To avoid raising suspicion, I told them that I'd been abandoned again."

Li Zhiyan's voice was whiny and pitiful. "Being dumped twice left me with no mood to work or eat. To avoid being reminded of you, I didn't even go out. I holed up at home plotting how to find the person who abandoned me and drag them to the marriage registry."

Shen Ji: ...

He was sure now: Li Zhiyan's sense of romance was unpredictable.

Bafflingly unromantic when it should be romantic, stubbornly romantic in daily life.

That was Li Zhiyan for you!

/

The Pollution Forum vanished completely, and even the black hyphae that had entangled contaminated patients for three days and nights never appeared again.

The Pollution Prevention Center was baffled but could only record the incident in their files.

An S-Class pollution disaster warning, yet the pollution vanished without a trace within three days—more magical than a fairy tale.

As for Shen Ji, who also disappeared for three days, no one investigated deeply, and no one believed the rumors once spread by the Pollution Forum.

On one hand, Shen Ji and Li Zhiyan were tightly linked; on the other, most people trusted Shen Ji.

Nonsense like "Li Zhiyan is an S-Class unique pollutant" or "Shen Ji is an S-Class pollutant defilement" was clearly meant to sow discord within their ranks. Humans weren't dense enough to fall for that!

Shen Ji was a priceless asset who had saved countless lives!

If not for Shen Ji, Gao Yuan would still be unconscious, and Wu Chi would have died in the Puppet City.

Who on earth wanted to cast doubt on what Shen Ji is?!

Even if he wasn't human, he had to be considered human now!

Later, Shen Ji got back to work. He remained the only S-Class Healing-Type Mutant, doing routine care duties at the Pollution Containment Shelter and occasionally providing support at branches in various cities. The list of shelters requesting assistance was long, waiting for Shen Ji's rotation.

To this, Shen Ji remarked: I feel like a med student on rotation through various hospital departments.

Even so, everyone knew Shen Ji was most likely the next head of the Containment Shelter.

Though Shen Ji never admitted it and even seemed to refuse the idea, and Dr. Huang never made any definitive statements, it was universally assumed.

Mainly because, who else could do the job?

An S-Class Healing-Type Mutant with an astonishing cure rate for contaminated patients.

Even the head of the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center, Mr. Cheng, bickered daily with Dr. Huang, vowing to snatch Shen Ji back.

On another note, winter was the high season for pollution. Cold temperatures easily triggered human anxiety, and long nights with short days favored the spread of pollution. Once the Pollution Forum incident was confirmed to have ended inexplicably, the Pollution Prevention Center began managing small-scale pollution events in various regions.

Among the S-Class Mutants, from Li Zhiyan to the recently discharged Wu Chi, everyone had tasks—except Gao Yuan, who was still undergoing treatment for a last round of evaluations.

After more than two months of a hectic schedule, things finally wrapped up just before the Lunar New Year, and Li Zhiyan brought his team home.

"I want to find a place to get my hair done," Zhou Ye said, slumped over the table. "My pin-straight hair has turned into a frizzy mop."

"It's fine, curly-haired kitties are cuter than straight-haired ones," Qin Changye casually comforted the little cat.

Zhou Ye immediately jumped up and started hitting him.

Jiang Ying calmly looked up the operating hours of nearby shops. "It's almost Lunar New Year; all the shops are closed for the holiday. You'll have to wait until after the holiday."

Zhou Ye grumpily slumped back into his chair.

"So, boss, why are you still here?" Qin Changye, after taking a beating, showed no intention of holding back. "Why aren't you going home?"

During the previous business trip, Li Zhiyan sighed daily, complaining about why he had to work. He felt he should resign and let Shen Ji be the breadwinner, staying home waiting for Shen Ji to finish work. To this end, he called the Pollution Prevention Center every day after his long, cozy phone chats with Shen Ji to file complaints.

He kept this up for six straight weeks.

Driven to frustration, Zhou Ye couldn't resist teasing: "Captain, do you want to be Dr. Shen's house spouse?"

He ended up chased up a tree by Li Zhiyan, clinging to the top, bristling with fear and too scared to come down.

Hearing this, Li Zhiyan shot a gloomy look at Qin Changye.

"He's working overtime."

"Why is the Pollution Containment Shelter overworking its staff like this? It doesn't make sense. Even our work is done."

"So Shen Ji is still working overtime?!"

Jiang Ying looked up from her computer. "Boss, did you forget? Our guard team is the first line of defense in pollution handling."

The general pollution handling process was: first, the guard team neutralized pollutants and rescued victims; then, the Containment Shelter provided treatment for contaminated patients; finally, the Pollution Harmless Treatment Center handled the sanitization of untreatable patients and pollutant remains.

Their guard team's work ended, so the Containment Shelter immediately started overtime.

It fit the process perfectly.

But clearly, Li Zhiyan wasn't listening.

He was too lost in his disappointment of rushing home only to find Shen Ji wasn't there.

"Dr. Shen has to be the breadwinner for you, Captain," Jiang Ying said, her tone casual but oozing credibility. "So he has to work overtime to earn more, so you two can resign together someday and still have money to spend."

"You're right!"

Qin Changye and Zhou Ye exchanged a look: …

Not to mention she's the deputy captain. She's amazing!

Li Zhiyan felt a bit better and started shifting his attention away from the text thread with Shen Ji on his phone, looking around at the decorations.

With the Spring Festival approaching, the Pollution Prevention Center had also put up some decorations and prepared some firecrackers.

Rumor has it the Pollution Prevention Center is scared that legendary monsters might revive due to pollution, like the mythical Nian beast, so they prepared firecrackers in advance.

Zhou Ye pouted, "I hate firecrackers."

"A scaredy-cat like you should go hide."

"Stop calling me a cat!"

But Li Zhiyan was eyeing the string lights hanging on the wall. They looked new, probably just put up.

Li Zhiyan thought: These are perfect!

Perfect for hanging on his photo wall, and maybe even on his silk banner.

He was always a man of action, so once the idea came to him, he started doing it!

So everyone watched as Li Zhiyan suddenly stood up, that eccentric white-haired guy walked straight to the wall, and with an admiring eye but using brute force, began tearing down the string lights.

"There's electricity, boss! Turn off the power first!"

"Boss, there are new ones in the warehouse, no need to tear these down!"

"...Just electrocute him already."

/

"So you brought them home?"

"Yeah, don't they look good?"

Shen Ji looked seriously at Li Zhiyan, then turned to the wall.

Several strings of lights hung on the wall. Since the room lights were on, the string lights weren’t very noticeable. The small mushrooms curiously watched the little bulbs, then chomped down on them, hanging themselves up.

They still remembered last time when Shen Ji had them hold the bulbs—the small mushrooms looked so pretty all lit up!

Swaying small mushrooms shimmered with colorful lights.

Owner, owner!

The small mushrooms shouted: We’re glowing!

Shen Ji: …

You couldn't fully appreciate it with the main lights on, but Shen Ji was sure that once the room lights were turned off, the room would instantly turn into a KTV dance hall. With the help of the small mushrooms, the lights would flash all over the ceiling.

Even though Li Zhiyan’s house was a standalone building, Shen Ji felt embarrassed.

Shen Ji sighed and patted his forehead, "You like colorful string lights? Which generation’s aesthetic is that?"

After being patted, Li Zhiyan blankly covered the spot Shen Ji had touched, then mumbled weakly, "The same as yours."

"I’m not that tacky."

"You really are much more fashionable than me." Li Zhiyan leaned on Shen Ji’s shoulder. "As a journalist, you have to wear formal attire, right? I’ve never seen you in a suit."

Shen Ji chuckled, "The shelter’s uniform is also formal attire."

"It’s different. That’s a work uniform, not formal attire." Li Zhiyan lifted his head. "A suit, shirt, tie—you can't move around easily in it. That’s the kind of formal attire I mean."

Shen Ji thought subtly: Not convenient for large movements, huh. He said "suit" but specifically added "not convenient for large movements," which made Shen Ji's thoughts wander. Or perhaps he wasn't overthinking—maybe that was exactly the implication.

So Shen Ji said casually, "Only hosts need to wear formal attire every day."

"But you must have times when you need to be on camera too!"

"So?"

Li Zhiyan quickly got up and brought out a white suit from the room. He placed it in front of Shen Ji, his eyes sparkling.

Shen Ji casually looked over the suit and found it very complete, from the shirt and vest to the tie, and even shirt garters.

He couldn’t help but laugh, "You went on a business trip just for this?"

"Of course not." Li Zhiyan retorted, "This was just a side errand. The area I was working in happened to have a tailoring district, so I somehow ended up at a custom shop and somehow custom-ordered this suit. Thinking I shouldn’t waste the money, I brought it back."

Shen Ji tried on the suit jacket and found it fit perfectly.

Li Zhiyan reached out and took his hand, then began buttoning it for him while Shen Ji watched.

"After getting my hands on you last time, I remembered your size." Li Zhiyan said, "Your waist is really slender."

Shen Ji raised an eyebrow, "You have a talent for this?"

"Yeah, didn’t expect that, did you?"

After buttoning the jacket, Li Zhiyan began tying Shen Ji’s tie. The ginger-colored tie made Shen Ji appear even gentler.

White was a very clean, pure color that made people seem flawless. But at the same time, Shen Ji's demeanor was somewhat cold, so that whiteness made him seem even sharper and more strikingly beautiful.

Shen Ji leaned back on the sofa, calmly watching Li Zhiyan handle his clothes, completely unbothered.

Only a subtle hint of amusement flickered deep in his black eyes.

Once he was done, Li Zhiyan stood in front of the sofa, looking him over carefully.

Finally, he sighed, "Shen Ji, you look so fierce!"

Shen Ji smiled at him, "Where exactly is fierce?"

"The aura, it’s fierce." Li Zhiyan knelt on one knee on the sofa, leaning in close to Shen Ji until they were pressed together. His breathy voice sounded by Shen Ji’s ear.

"So handsome and so fierce, it’s making me hard."

Shen Ji kicked him, but Li Zhiyan grabbed his ankle and pressed it down.

Shen Ji fell back onto the sofa, their breaths mingling. They were two young men who were already in a relationship and had been intimate.

Anyone with half a brain could tell what Li Zhiyan was thinking.

Shen Ji chuckled, pushing himself up on his elbows. With his ankle still gripped and pinned down, he slowly crept closer to Li Zhiyan. Li Zhiyan’s breathing slowed; he even held his breath, watching, wide-eyed, as Shen Ji closed the distance between them.

He stopped less than a centimeter from Li Zhiyan’s lips.

Instead of a comforting or encouraging kiss, Li Zhiyan only felt Shen Ji deliberately blew a puff of air against his face.

The warm breath brushed over his face and neck, and the breath Li Zhiyan was holding rushed out.

Then he watched as Shen Ji laid back, his dark eyes filled with amusement, as if he were playing a joke.

Clearly, Shen Ji was the one with the mischievous streak!

Frustrated, Li Zhiyan leaned down and fiercely kissed Shen Ji, chasing his tongue.

After the kiss, even his tongue root felt sore from the suction.

"So fierce, Li Wuyan," Shen Ji teased, repeating Li Zhiyan’s own words back to him.

Li Zhiyan felt like a complete novice, utterly outmatched by this seasoned veteran Shen Ji.

They were both inexperienced, so how did Shen Ji know so much more than him?!

He was being toyed with, left hanging, and felt like he was losing all self-control!

So, Li Zhiyan went straight for Shen Ji’s waist. "Such a nice suit should be worn as a full set. Now let’s change your pants."

Shen Ji pushed him back with his other knee. "Do you really think I’ll manage to put on another pair of pants?"

"That depends on my self-control."

"But you know my self-control has never been great."

Li Zhiyan spoke slowly, word by word, "It’s been too long since I saw you. I’ve missed you so much, so I’m going to properly 'miss' you."

And so, the brand-new custom white suit was tossed to the floor by the sofa, bearing signs of rough handling, the fabric almost accusing someone of brutality.

Shen Ji didn’t say: Journalists don’t fuss over attire. Even on important occasions, male journalists wouldn’t wear white suits.

White suits are more for the wedding altar, meant to match a bride’s beautiful white gown.

But so what?

It was just that someone wanted to see him in it, harboring a little mischievous, cheeky idea—so flirtatious it made him blush.

On the wall, the small mushroom playing with the light bulb watched its owner and the big butterfly on the sofa with curiosity.

What is the owner doing?

Is he making more small mushrooms?

But there are already so many small mushrooms. Where will the new ones live?

Maybe he’ll take us to conquer the world! The whole world will be filled with small mushrooms!

Conquer the world! Conquer the big butterfly!

Go, owner!