After Bystander A Bound to JJ Literature City – CH3

[Warning] This chapter contains graphic scenes involving blood, gore and insect, which may be disturbing to some readers. Please proceed with caution if you’re sensitive to such content.

Chapter 3 – It Smells So Good…

“If killing were not a crime, who would you kill first?”

Yu Zhi’s answer was: the first to run. Because right now, running was still an option. So when he saw Lu Liming’s despairing expression, he assumed it was because he hadn’t responded to his earlier plea for help.

He wasn’t attracted to men, and while money was tempting, he wasn’t sure about the purchasing power of this “universal currency.”

Seeing Lu Liming’s face fall further, Yu Zhi finally said, “A house in the capital, or the equivalent in universal currency.”

Lu Liming’s eyes lit up. Yu Zhi wasn’t going to kill him! He was actually going to help! He grabbed Yu Zhi’s pant leg, tears welling up. “Bro, you’re a lifesaver! A true saint!”

Yu Zhi: “…”

Fearing Yu Zhi might change his mind, Lu Liming quickly added, “Don’t worry, Brother Yu, I’m obedient! You tell me to go east, I won’t go west. You tell me to beat a dog, I won’t kill a chicken. You tell me to take a dump, I won’t fart!”

Yu Zhi, also worried that Lu Liming might back out of the deal later, helped him back into his wheelchair. After a moment’s thought, he found some scrap paper and a pen, quickly scribbled a simple contract, and had Lu Liming sign it, making two copies.

Just as he put his copy in his pocket, a prompt appeared: [Would you like to collect the item?]

Yu Zhi instinctively agreed. The paper vanished from his fingers. At the same time, the interface of the “Ability JJ Literature City” appeared before him, with a new category in his collection list.

[My Items:]
[Total: 1. (The current version allows a maximum of 5 items in this category)]

He opened it, and there was the handwritten contract.

[Item: Contract with Lu Liming.]
[Function: To a certain extent, it protects the rights and interests of both parties.]
[Description: An informal contract handwritten by an ordinary passerby. Yu Zhi, this passerby, didn’t even write any breach of contract responsibilities; what use do I have? Don’t be fooled by my appearance; I’m not even an A4 sheet! Look at what’s on my back! It’s a prescription for psychiatric medication! Anyway, I don’t have a mental illness; whether Yu Zhi does, who knows…]

Yu Zhi: “?”

You’re the one with a problem, he thought, the corner of his mouth twitching. He willed the contract back into his hand. He re-collected it, then put his phone in his pocket, silently reciting “collect.”

A prompt popped up: [Detected that this item is not a prop.]

Yu Zhi stared at the prompt, recalling Fu Suxi’s words in the system notification. After a moment, he thought, [The phone is my prop, collect it.]

His palm felt empty, and the quantity in [My Items] increased by one.

Sure enough, this system is pretty literal, he thought.

[Item: Yu Zhi’s phone.]
[Function: This device has many functions, too many to list in one sentence.]
[Description: Although my owner is unremarkable, I am different; I am the newly released Pro Max this year! Now that the world is ending, I will truly shine! I am undoubtedly the top prop in the apocalypse!!! As for the functions… Do you still need to ask? Don’t you have a clue what I can do?]

Yu Zhi suppressed the urge to throw his phone, comforting himself that JJ Literature City was at least somewhat useful. It could serve as a makeshift storage space.

Seeing Yu Zhi put away the contract, Lu Liming remained silent, assuming he was deep in thought about how to complete the main task. He didn’t dare to interrupt, waiting patiently.

“Bang—”

A dull thud came from outside the door, like something falling.

Lu Liming flinched, his wheelchair scraping against the floor.

Yu Zhi snapped back to attention. He quickly scanned the room, found a bottle of medical alcohol, and collected it into [My Items]. Then he picked up a mop from the corner, removed the mop head, and handed the stainless steel rod to Lu Liming.

“Hold this for self-defense.”

Lu Liming took it, looking at Yu Zhi’s empty hands. “Bro, what are you going to use?”

“Do you smoke?” Yu Zhi countered.

“I do,” Lu Liming replied.

“Give me your lighter.”

Lu Liming obediently handed it over.

“I’m going out to check the situation. You stay here.”

“Do I not have to do anything?” Lu Liming asked quickly.

Yu Zhi shook his head. “The system said to take ‘action.’ We have to follow its instructions.”

The idea of staying put while taking “action” confused Lu Liming. “So I just… wait here?” he asked hesitantly.

Yu Zhi glanced at his plastered leg and arm. More like they’re catching a turtle in a jar, he thought. But Lu Liming was in no condition to go with him.

“You can take verbal action here,” he said.

Lu Liming: “?!”

Verbal action? How is that not action?

Learned something new!

Time was tight, and Yu Zhi didn’t waste another second. He pushed Lu Liming and his wheelchair towards the door, reminding him, “Lock the door and don’t open it for anyone.” Then, he quickly left the consultation room.

The treatment area was deserted, and Lu Liming’s voice carried clearly from the room.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover! I can take them down with one hand tied behind my back!”

“…”

Yu Zhi walked on. The incessant beeping that had been plaguing him seemed to have vanished, replaced by a heightened awareness of other sounds. Hurried footsteps in the distance, screams from outside, the roars and howls of the city, the cacophony of car horns and crashes… all painted a picture of a world gone mad.

Just as he exited the treatment area, a scream pierced the air, followed by the shattering of glass. Yu Zhi paused, looking towards the source of the commotion.

A vase in the waiting area lay shattered on the floor, a young nurse sprawled amongst the shards. A middle-aged woman, the waiting area cleaner, was on top of her, frantically stabbing the nurse’s neck with a shard of porcelain. Blood splattered everywhere.

Covered in blood, the woman trembled. “I-I didn’t mean to! I was forced!” she cried. “You’re so smart, saying that killing completes the task! If I don’t kill you, you’ll kill me! I don’t want to die—”

Her voice caught in her throat. She looked up and saw Yu Zhi standing a few meters away, his expression unreadable. Seeing him clean and unscathed, with no sign of having completed the task, her face contorted in fear. She scrambled to her feet and ran towards the escalator.

But just as she was about to step onto it, an invisible wall materialized, blocking her path. She kicked against it, lost her balance, and fell back with a thud.

Panic surged through her. How could she possibly fight a young man? Especially one who was here for psychiatric treatment?!

[You have completed Main Task One.]

Surprise and elation flooded her. She scrambled back to the escalator, reaching out to touch the invisible barrier that had obstructed her moments before.

This time, there was nothing. The wall had disappeared.

Overjoyed, she ran down the escalator, completely oblivious to the yellow warning lines. As the escalator moved, the warning line under her foot protruded, and she stepped into thin air, tumbling over the railing.

“Bang—”

A sickening thud echoed through the lobby.

Yu Zhi took two steps forward. The woman lay sprawled on the reception desk, her limbs twisted at unnatural angles, a viscous red and white liquid oozing from her head. Her body twitched a few times before falling still.

She was dead.

Yu Zhi stared for a moment, then withdrew his gaze, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Does this count as completing Main Task One?” he murmured.

A question mark slowly appeared on the panel.

System: [ ? ]

Yu Zhi remained unfazed. “She clearly died of fright because of me.”

System: [ ? ? ]

The number of online viewers in the live broadcast room had inexplicably jumped from one to five, and the live panel finally showed some activity, with two bullet comments floating by.

[User “Pure Love Warrior” finds you very interesting.]

[User “Gaze of the Black Eye” appreciates your arrogance.]

Yu Zhi glanced at the comments and continued, “If she hadn’t seen me just now, she wouldn’t have been so scared, and she definitely wouldn’t have died.” He earnestly told the system, “I am willing to take responsibility for her death.”

System: [……]

System: [Please wait, analyzing….]

Two seconds later, an analysis result popped up before Yu Zhi: 

[After detection, Chen Ju fell due to her own instability and ultimately died from a severe brain injury caused by the fall.]
[Please take action to complete the main task.]

Yu Zhi raised an eyebrow slightly, choosing not to say anything more. The system can communicate, he realized.

He reached out to touch the air above the escalator and encountered a hard, transparent wall. The restricted area for Task One was most likely on this floor.

This floor was the psychiatric outpatient department, and Yu Zhi, having been here several times, was quite familiar with it. The area had only chairs and medical self-service machines, with no clutter or hiding spots. It was easy to see there were no other people around.

Yu Zhi walked straight to the mop leaning against the wall; the dead cockroach on the mop head was gone. He skillfully removed the stainless steel rod and walked to the trash can, opening the lid.

A comment floated by: 

[User “Rebirth in a Different Universe” is curious about what you are doing.]

Yu Zhi remembered that the live broadcasts in the novel were similar to those in the real world, where viewers could give rewards. Fu Suxi became the strongest in the apocalypse, thanks in no small part to the top donor in his live broadcast room.

While using the stainless steel rod to rummage through the trash can, he explained his actions: “I’m looking for anomalies. Since ‘mutants’ can be people, they can also be other creatures, like small flying insects or cockroaches.”

Fearing that the live audience might not know what “cockroaches” were, Yu Zhi helpfully added, “Cockroaches are what we call ‘little strong.'”

H City had been experiencing heavy rain for half a month, and the hospital inevitably had some insect problems. He had seen quite a few during his hour of waiting.

[User “Pure Love Warrior” finds you disgusting and boring.]
[User “Gaze of the Black Eye” scoffs at your plan and unhappily exits the live broadcast room.]

The number of online viewers dropped from five back to one.

Yu Zhi: “…”

So fickle, he thought.

There wasn’t much in the bin—tissues, empty milk tea cups, alcohol swabs—and he quickly rummaged through it all. No insects.

Yu Zhi found this strange. Before this whole ordeal began, he had seen several small flying insects and cockroaches. Why were there none now?

Flying insects and cockroaches like dirty and damp places. Aside from the trash can, the most likely place to find them was the restroom.

Yu Zhi put away the rod and headed towards the men’s restroom.

It was eerily quiet inside. Some stall doors were open, others closed, and the floor was marked with dark, wet stains.

Yu Zhi looked around but saw no insects.

He entered the first stall and carefully examined it. Nothing on the walls, nothing in the toilet.

“This shouldn’t be,” he muttered, turning to look at the trash can. That’s when something in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

He focused on it, and a cold sweat broke out on his back.

Stuck to the wall in a bizarre position was Dr. Chen, the doctor who had admitted him! His entire upper body was pressed against the wall, arms straight up, head flattened against it, his face distorted and deformed.

But it wasn’t just the unnatural position that chilled Yu Zhi to the bone. Dr. Chen’s expression was not the kind and familiar one he knew. Instead, a cold, unfamiliar gaze stared down at him.

Yu Zhi froze, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t dare to move.

Dr. Chen remained motionless, not even shifting his eyes.

The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.

Finally, Yu Zhi held his breath and cautiously took a small step back.

Dr. Chen didn’t react. He remained stuck to the wall, like an overfed cockroach, completely still. If Yu Zhi didn’t approach, he wouldn’t move.

Yu Zhi slowly exhaled and took a larger step back.

Suddenly, Dr. Chen’s nose twitched, as if he were sniffing the air. His face remained expressionless, but the two thick, shiny black hairs on his head swayed slightly.

“Fragrant…” Dr. Chen spoke, his voice eerily flat. “You… fragrant…”

As he spoke, his body tilted to the left, pivoting at his waist.

With this movement, the back of his head came into view.

It wasn’t hair. It was a cockroach the size of half a human head, with six black, spiny legs clinging tightly to Dr. Chen’s skull.

Damn! Yu Zhi’s blood ran cold. Goosebumps erupted all over his body, and his heart nearly leaped out of his throat.

This was infinitely more horrifying than Dr. Chen simply lying against the wall.

This was infinitely more horrifying than Dr. Chen simply lying against the wall!

The two long antennae on the cockroach’s head stood straight up. As Dr. Chen’s body adjusted, now lying horizontally against the wall, those antennae poked through his sparse hair. At first glance, it looked like Dr. Chen’s own thick black hair swaying in the air.

“You smell so good…” Dr. Chen rasped, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

A quiet comment popped up in the live broadcast room.

[User “Rebirth in a Different Universe” congratulates you on finding a contaminated being.]

Yu Zhi: “? ? ? “

Congratulations my ass!

*

Translator Note:
Hey Panda Readers~
I’m doing it again—starting to translate another ongoing novel, haha!
Does anyone else think this novel feels a bit like Omniscient Reader? O.o

Just like with my other ongoing series, the VIP section for this novel will begin at Chapter 22~ Stay tuned and leave a comment to let me know if you’d like me to keep going >.<

Happy reading~