After Bystander A Bound to JJ Literature City – CH126

Chapter 126

The moment he figured it out, all the clues connected into a single line.

The main storyline mission was the system’s forbidden zone. Back when he questioned it a couple of times, he’d immediately been assigned a punishment task.

No wonder Fu Suxi had clearly known his so-called prophecy ability was nonsense, yet still used it to test his attitude toward the main storyline mission.
No wonder Meteorite Biotechnology had obviously been manufacturing pollution sources and creating instances, yet their report had been judged successful.

Everything Meteorite Biotechnology had done was a hidden thread carefully arranged by the system—
a hidden thread of coexistence with pollution.

Yu Zhi turned off the faucet, brushed his wet bangs back, and expressionlessly opened the system panel, pulling up the instance data for the five continents.

[Global Pollution Source Elimination Rate]:
[Asia: 163]
[Europe: 89]
[Africa: 84]
[Americas: 67]
[Oceania: 22]

[Global Pollution Source Purification Rate]:
[Asia: 0]
[Europe: 0]
[Africa: 0]
[Americas: 0]
[Oceania: 0]

Asia, Europe, and the Americas had each gained one more eliminated instance.
Global purification remained at zero.

If pollution sources couldn’t be purified and could never be fully eliminated, then only one path remained—coexistence with pollution.

Releasing the five-continent data was paving the way for that option.

The one-month time limit for Main Storyline Mission Four was preparation time—
to let every surviving person understand that elimination had no end.

After that, the hidden thread of coexistence with pollutants would be revealed and brought into everyone’s sight.

Yu Zhi slowly exhaled. The air in the bathroom felt so stifling it was almost suffocating, as if invisible pressure filled every inch of space, making it hard to breathe.

He frowned, grabbed a towel, wiped himself perfunctorily a couple of times, wrapped it loosely around his lower body, and strode out of the oppressive bathroom.

He dropped onto the sofa, zoned out for half a minute, then couldn’t resist digging out half a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the corner of his backpack.

Click.

A flame flickered. Smoke slowly rose into the air.

Yu Zhi took a deep drag, tilted his head back slightly, and exhaled a slow stream of white mist. The calm brought by nicotine eased his tightly wound nerves just a little.

He swore under his breath, reluctantly accepting the fact he didn’t want to face.

—The next main storyline mission would make them choose how to defend the Earth: eliminate the pollution sources, or coexist.

Fu Suxi’s authoritarian power could force everyone to choose elimination.

As for intensifying the conflict between the Special Operations Bureau and ordinary people…

Countless thoughts flashed through Yu Zhi’s mind. He took another hard drag, his pale, damp chest rising and falling slightly.

The smoke sank into his lungs, lingered for a moment, and when it drifted out between his lips, it came with a loud curse—

“Fuck you, Fu Suxi!”
“Fuck your bullshit system!”
“Fuck your damn missions…”

H0516, who had been secretly observing all along: “…?”

After waiting a while and seeing Yu Zhi only smoking without cursing, it couldn’t help asking, “Why are you suddenly swearing at me?”

H0516 was confused. How did taking a shower turn into this much anger?

Yu Zhi lowered his lashes, staring at the flickering fire between his fingers. “You don’t know?”

H0516 grew even more confused. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t watch you shower.”
Besides, the first one you cursed was Fu Suxi, and he’s not even here.

Yu Zhi bit the cigarette, lazily curling his lips. “If you didn’t do anything and still got cursed, don’t you understand why?”

Without waiting for H0516 to speak, he said firmly, “You deserve it.”

H0516: “…”
“I think you might be seriously ill.”

Yu Zhi sneered. “Call the cops.”

H0516: “…………”

…………

Core Laboratory, a Certain Research Institute

“Ding-dong—”

A sudden notification sound cut through the tapping of keyboards in the lab, breaking the calm.

All the researchers froze and looked toward the man standing before the main screen.

He wore a wrinkled white lab coat, flip-flops on his feet, hair in disarray, eyes bloodshot. Completely immersed in data, he hadn’t noticed the system prompt.

The researcher nearest to him couldn’t help calling out, “Professor Chu.”

Chu Wu snapped back to attention and looked over irritably. “What is—”

Before he could finish the word “it,” a mechanical childlike voice sounded in the air:

“Good evening. After careful verification, we have discovered that the previous report judgment regarding you was incorrect.
Therefore, we have decided to retract the prior handling decision, including the mission and its related rewards.”

As the voice fell, all the data on the main screen vanished.

Chu Wu’s face changed. “Is the backup data still there?”

A researcher rapidly typed on the keyboard. Staring at the blank screen, his vision darkened. He stammered, “N-no…”

Others hurried to check all stored backup files. As the tapping of keyboards echoed, everyone’s expressions grew heavier.

“All pollution source data has been wiped.”
“The pollutants’ data too.”
“Even the printed paper copies are gone…”

All data related to the instance Looking Up at the Bright Moon had disappeared.

Not only did that mean their week of effort had turned to nothing—it also meant all that time had been wasted.

They had spent enormous manpower, material resources, and funds creating a pollution instance within the safe zone. Now the mission was complete, and the reward data had been confiscated?

Chu Wu: “???”

[User “Able in Both Pen and Sword” praises your gains not outweighing the losses.]
[User “Beware of Fire” commends your twice the effort, half the result.]
[User “Gaze from the Pitch Black” applauds your futile labor.]

Glancing at the barrage, Chu Wu kicked the table hard in fury, eyes nearly spitting fire.

He gritted his teeth and shouted, “System, what the hell is going on?!
The instance is over and you’re telling me the report was misjudged?”

The mechanical voice replied calmly, “After being reminded by a public-spirited Earth resident, we discovered the previous report was indeed misjudged.”

Chu Wu roared, “Which bastard reminded you?!”

The next second, the system replied, “A certain public-spirited Earth resident surnamed Yu.”

Chu Wu froze slightly. He had just been cursing someone, but he hadn’t expected the system to reveal the other party’s surname.

“Yu?” He rubbed his face hard and turned to his assistant. “Why does that surname sound familiar?”

The assistant hurriedly said, “The newcomer Professor Lu wants to invite is surnamed Yu. And Professor Lu said that last time when we were reported, we didn’t respond proactively—it was because of him.”

Veins throbbed at Chu Wu’s temples. Each syllable seemed squeezed out from deep in his throat.

“So this Yu first reported us, forcing us to act on the safe zone ahead of schedule.
And now he’s had the system retract the rewards for our completed mission?”

“Who the hell is this guy?!”

The assistant stammered, “N-not sure. His file is with Professor Lu.”

Chu Wu closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed down slightly. The most important thing now was the data.

He quickly addressed the system, “Your misjudgment forced us to complete the mission. Shouldn’t you compensate us with that data?”

The system replied indifferently, “Our detection shows your proficiency in creating pollution sources has improved. Therefore, no other form of compensation is required.”

Chu Wu: “……”

His lips twitched violently. He turned and strode out of the core lab, each slap of his flip-flops against the floor echoing with anger down the corridor.

He kicked open the lounge door, eyes red as he cursed, “Lu Hanzhou! What the hell have you been stirring up this time?! Why is the system suddenly saying the report was misjudged? Why were all the data confiscated?”

“We had just analyzed something critical! Do you know that that A-rank ability user’s data is several times more stable than before?!”

“He retained a trace of consciousness and kept warning those entering the instance. And he’s no longer confined to a human body—we were just analyzing the link between that and his ability—”

Chu Wu ranted for quite a while without receiving any response from Lu Hanzhou. Looking closely, he saw only a pale-faced woman on the bed. Lu Hanzhou was nowhere in the room.

Chu Wu frowned. “Why is it you? Where’s Lu Hanzhou?”

Hong Tao said faintly, “I don’t know. I just woke up.
Professor Chu, was the data wiped because of Yu Zhi?”

“The system said someone surnamed Yu. If it’s not Yu Zhi, then it’s Yu Yi,” Chu Wu paused and asked, “You said ‘also’? What did he do?”

Hong Tao said in anguish, “He stole all my universal coins—forty-six thousand two hundred sixty-eight of them!
That lunatic Yu Zhi didn’t even spare eight coins!”

Chu Wu ground his teeth. “He didn’t spare our backup data either.”

Hong Tao: “It must have been Yu Zhi. Yu Yi is probably a fake brother with him.”

“Professor Chu, I overheard—Yu Yi doesn’t even know Yu Zhi’s real name.”

…………

S City Special Operations Bureau

[Upon verification, the issue you previously reported has been handled. Meteorite Biotechnology’s mission and rewards have been retracted.]

A translucent panel suddenly popped up with a notification.

Yu Zhi immediately checked his universal coins and blind boxes. The blind boxes were still there; his coins hadn’t decreased.

Pandora hadn’t retracted their instance rewards.

He exhaled the last plume of smoke, crushed the cigarette out, and said, “Pay up, Xiao Liu.”

H0516 played dead for a while, but under Yu Zhi’s threat, reluctantly transferred the money.

After losing five thousand universal coins, it finally snapped awake to its mistake.

It had been dazzled by the extra bargaining chips Yu Zhi added to the contract!

How could someone as scheming as Yu Zhi increase the stakes for no reason? How could he possibly give it more benefits?

It had all been premeditated—malicious from the start!

“Y-you already knew Pandora would retract Meteorite’s mission and rewards!”

“So you deliberately used the contract to trick me into betting with you!”

Yu Zhi raised a brow. “Didn’t I already tell you? It would handle things according to objective facts. You just didn’t believe me.”

“What you said weren’t objective facts at all,” H0516 paused, then realized something. “You must have hidden something from me.”

Yu Zhi lifted his eyelids lazily. “I did keep one reason from you. It’s fine.”

H0516: “???”
“How is that fine?!”

It mattered a lot! Five thousand universal coins mattered a lot!

Yu Zhi said matter-of-factly, “It’s fine because it has nothing to do with me.”

H0516: “……”

Absolute psycho!

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