Chapter 109
In Yu Zhi’s previous instance, at the meteorite biotech company, he and Fu Suxi had been separated the moment they entered. So when they entered the temporary shelter this time, he had subconsciously assumed they had been separated from He Hanhai and the others as well.
Only now, as more and more things felt wrong, did he realize the problem.
Xiao Ming and Dr. Qi weren’t familiar with contamination instances. It was hard for them to notice the anomaly.
Dr. Qi even wondered if he had misheard. “They didn’t enter the instance?”
Yu Zhi hummed. “Not sure. I’ll ask.”
Dr. Qi froze. “Ask who?”
Yu Zhi said matter-of-factly, “Ask the system.”
Dr. Qi hesitated. “Will the system answer?”
Yu Zhi blinked. “We were perfectly safe outside. We didn’t have to enter the instance at all. The reason we actively came in was to respond enthusiastically to the system’s call for proactive action.”
Dr. Qi fell silent. I-Is that so?
Yu Zhi continued without changing expression, “On one hand, we’re actively clearing and purifying the contamination source to complete the mission. On the other, we’re providing an excellent viewing experience for all users in the livestream. How could the system not answer?”
“For the sake of defending Earth and for all the livestream users, it will definitely clarify things for us. Right, system?”
System: “……”
[User “Electronic Wooden Fish” appreciates your nonsense and taps a wooden fish for the system.]
[User “World’s #1 Cutie” praises your absurd rambling and tips 20 universal coins.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Straw” viciously curses you to be completely contaminated and die miserably.]
[User “Arrogant Rich Young Master” thinks you make sense and tips 0.1 universal coins.]
By now, Dr. Qi could hear the flattery-with-a-blade edge in Yu Zhi’s tone.
He knew that Yu Zhi and Shang Yu had just been punished by the system with a hidden task a few days ago. Yet here Yu Zhi was, inside a contamination zone, daring to provoke the system again!
Dr. Qi looked at Yu Zhi in a daze, thinking: No wonder he’s the kind of man who can both carry on an incestuous brotherly romance with Director Yu and refuse to keep distance from his ex-boyfriend.
All those things Xiao Ming had been muttering in the observation room these past few days—“ready to die, worst case I’ll just die”—seemed to have come straight from Brother Yu’s teachings.
A moment later, the system’s numb mechanical childlike voice echoed in the air:
“Please wait… detecting…”
The results came quickly.
“Detection complete. The current core contamination zone has been locked by the contamination source. Entry and exit are prohibited until the source is cleared or purified!”
“Please take active action! Complete the mission!”
There were no other sounds in the temporary shelter. Every word the system spoke was crystal clear—especially the phrase “entry and exit are prohibited.”
The core zone being locked meant the contamination zone was under the source’s control.
Prohibited entry and exit meant He Hanhai and the others truly hadn’t entered the instance.
“No wonder,” Lu Liming said in sudden realization. “Thinking about it now, when we entered the instance, they disappeared way too strangely. Turns out we were the ones who disappeared…”
Yu Zhi frowned. Compared to the others not entering, he found it stranger that the three of them had entered.
Why them?
He looked at Xiao Ming, then at Dr. Qi. He thought about their abilities—and his own. The more he thought, the more uneasy he felt.
It couldn’t be that the weak ones get in and the strong ones don’t, right?
But Fu Suxi was here too.
Could it be because Fu Suxi was too strong? So they needed to bring in a few weaker ones to balance things out?
Yu Zhi lifted his gaze and stared into the void. “System, I—”
Before he could finish, the system interrupted:
“Contamination source behavior. Please do not attribute it to the system.”
Yu Zhi: “……”
“I’m not here to cause trouble. I just want to ask—if the contamination source allows it, others can still enter, right?”
The system didn’t answer immediately. It carefully parsed the intent behind the question, making sure Yu Zhi wasn’t digging another trap for it. Only then did it reply:
“Yes.”
Lu Liming muttered, “Looks like Team Leader He and the others just had bad luck—they couldn’t even get in.”
Then he turned to Dr. Qi and clicked his tongue. “Master Qi, your luck’s better than I thought.”
Dr. Qi’s tense mood eased slightly. Ignoring the comment about luck, he said, “Since Team Leader He didn’t get in, Old Shang will definitely send more people.”
Yu Zhi glanced at him. Seeing that his complexion had improved a bit, he didn’t voice his real concern.
—Would other ability users truly be able to enter?
If someone else entered later, that meant the contamination source was selecting entrants for some purpose.
If no one else could enter, then the source’s target was the three of them.
That would require time to verify.
Yu Zhi cut off his thoughts. “Search the leisure zone first.”
The leisure zone wasn’t large, but without streetlights and under dim moonlight—plus the blood everywhere—everything looked blurred, as if melted together in red.
The three split up smoothly. Yu Zhi took the exercise equipment area. Lu Liming and Dr. Qi searched around the old banyan tree and the surrounding spots.
After a few steps, Yu Zhi caught a flash of red in the air from the corner of his eye. He immediately turned his back to the red moon.
His flashlight beam wobbled and illuminated a lump of dark red on the ground.
About ten centimeters tall, the size of two hands. Covered entirely in blood. Impossible to identify at first glance.
Yu Zhi didn’t dare touch it with his hands or feet. He bent down and prodded it with his gun barrel.
Soft. Not alive.
He hooked the bottom with the barrel and flipped it over.
It was a doll.
Its back was matted with blood, fur clumped and stuck with gravel and bits of flesh. From the back alone, it was unrecognizable.
Yu Zhi stared at the front and recognized it.
It belonged to the little girl he had comforted.
She had been here.
Which meant the truck of people who passed inspection had come here—and then the meteorite biotech company had made their move.
Yu Zhi frowned. Their target hadn’t just been the temporary shelter. It had included the newly screened civilians and the Bureau’s ability users.
To “create” a contamination source in just a few minutes—strong enough to kill even residents five buildings away without leaving bones behind—could the escorting ability users have survived?
If they had all died, then who left the message downstairs in Unit One?
Suddenly, Yu Zhi felt something lightly push against his gun barrel.
He jolted, nearly jumping on the spot.
He looked down sharply.
At some point, the doll’s eyes had turned into two living eyeballs.
Black pupils stared up at him from below, still growing outward. Transparent mucus smeared across the muzzle, carrying a nauseating fishy stench.
Yu Zhi’s fingers trembled in disgust. He pulled the trigger.
A muffled gunshot.
The doll’s two eyeballs exploded.
He had just straightened up when two new eyeballs pushed out from the doll’s empty eye sockets, staring at him without emotion.
“Fuck.”
His heart rate spiked under the stare.
Blow up two eyes—new ones grow.
Worse, they grew too fast.
He’d barely looked for half a minute, and they’d already formed.
Now it was a doll. What would be next?
A chill ran down his spine. He didn’t dare think further. Wiping the sweat from his palms, he flipped the doll face-down with the barrel, pressing its eyes into the ground, then quickly moved on.
Behind him, the doll trembled faintly. From the two bullet holes in the back of its head, two eyeballs popped out with a soft plop. Their pupils rolled to the extreme edge, squeezing out tear-like mucus, silently watching Yu Zhi.
The exercise equipment area was small. Yu Zhi made a swift round. Finding nothing, he headed toward Lu Liming and Dr. Qi.
Lu Liming was under the banyan tree, picking something up from the ground.
“I found two guns.”
“Are these… Bureau-issued standard weapons?”
Hearing that, Dr. Qi hurried over, examined them closely, and grew more serious. “Yes. Issued to ability users.”
He removed a magazine and counted. “All bullets are intact.”
Lu Liming handed him the other. “What about this one?”
Dr. Qi checked it. His face darkened. “Same.”
“They didn’t fire a single shot?”
A cold wind swept past. The sweat that had just formed instantly turned icy. All three shivered and instinctively looked around.
The pollutants at the doors and balconies were still standing there, staring.
The only difference from before—more eyeballs had sprouted from their bodies. Dense clusters protruded from flesh, all staring at them in unison.
Disgusting. Terrifying.
Worried about sudden attacks, worried about the contamination source and the biotech company—Yu Zhi’s nerves were stretched to the breaking point. A faint headache throbbed at his temples.
Calm. Stay calm.
He closed his eyes briefly and sorted his thoughts.
The pollutants wouldn’t physically attack for now.
Finding clues about the source was the priority.
This was the core area. All five ability users had been here.
“There were five in that squad, right?” Yu Zhi asked.
“I don’t remember,” Lu Liming said.
“Yes, five,” Dr. Qi confirmed.
“Let’s see how many guns we can find.”
They searched again.
Five minutes later, they recovered two more rifles trampled into the soil—and fragments of another rifle.
Five rifles total.
Four intact. None of the magazines had been used.
Dr. Qi held the four magazines, voice hoarse. “Not a single bullet fired. Did they all die here?”
Lu Liming swallowed. “Could they have reloaded?”
“If they had reloaded, they would’ve taken the guns,” Dr. Qi replied.
Lu Liming stammered, “If Team Leader He’s group isn’t here, and this squad is dead too… then who left that ‘be careful of eyes’ message?”
As the words fell, a leaf drifted down from the banyan tree.
In the dim light, the swaying shadow was unsettling. Dr. Qi, on edge, thought it was a pollutant and instinctively fired at it.
When he realized it was just a leaf, he exhaled.
But before his heart could settle—
Under his gaze and imagination, an eyeball suddenly grew from the leaf.
The leaf was small. So was the eye—fingernail-sized. A tiny black pupil stared straight at him.
Dr. Qi sucked in a sharp breath, slammed the leaf to the ground with his gun barrel, and fired several times before calming slightly.
He wiped his sweat, loaded a fresh magazine, and handed half the spare magazines to Lu Liming.
“Could it have been Director Yu who left the message?” he said, scratching an itch on the back of his hand.
He glanced down.
There was a small black mole there.
Dark. Tiny.
Just like the pupil that had grown on the leaf.
His stomach churned at the thought. He quickly looked away and asked Yu Zhi, “We’re only certain Director Yu is in this zone. Do you think that message looked like something he’d leave?”
Yu Zhi opened his mouth—
A rustling sound broke the silence.
“Sha… shasha…”
He turned toward the sound.
His face changed instantly.
The pollutants—who had been standing motionless—were moving.
Those at doorways ran toward them. Those on balconies vaulted over the railings, heavy thuds echoing as they hit the ground. Then they dragged their mangled bodies toward the leisure zone.
All the while, more eyeballs sprouted from their bodies.
“Holy shit! Why are they suddenly moving?!” Lu Liming’s voice shot up in pitch.
“Run!” Yu Zhi shouted, already sprinting.
He scanned quickly and dashed toward a side path without pollutants.
“We must’ve just violated a contamination rule!”
Lu Liming caught up. “What did we do?! Firing earlier didn’t count!”
Then he remembered the magazines Dr. Qi had given him.
He yanked them out and threw them away. “Master Qi! Maybe we’re not allowed to take things from the contamination zone!”
“Throw the magazines away—!”
Dr. Qi had already loaded one. He frantically ejected it and tossed the rest from his pocket. “Thrown!”
He looked back.
The pollutants were still chasing.
A half-bodied pollutant suddenly dropped from above, nearly smashing into him.
Dr. Qi turned pale, sweat pouring down. He holstered his gun and ran with everything he had, overtaking Yu Zhi and Lu Liming.
“Not because of the magazines!” he shouted.
“We didn’t do anything else!” Lu Liming cried.
Yu Zhi opened his mouth to speak—
Then he noticed Dr. Qi’s hands swinging as he ran.
His pupils shrank.
“Dr. Qi! What’s on your hand?!”
“I don’t have any—”
Dr. Qi looked down.
His voice cut off.
A wave of cold shot through his skull. It felt like his blood had frozen.
On the back of his right hand—
An eyeball had grown.
The black pupil stared at him unblinkingly.
He had been contaminated.
