Chapter 41
The footsteps behind Yu Zhi surged like a tidal wave.
He glanced back to see that all 40-plus students in the class had transformed into Lip-face monsters, drooling as they charged toward him.
Clenching his jaw, Yu Zhi realized that even if he tore through one “layer of skin,” more layers—like Zhao Si or Wang Wu—would still remain.
The contamination source wasn’t something he could resolve for now.
[Kick the podium!]
As the Lip-face monsters lunged at him, Yu Zhi flashed to the center podium of the classroom.
The Lip-face monsters fell onto the contamination source but quickly turned back, resuming their pursuit of Yu Zhi.
Yu Zhi’s gaze shifted past the swarming pollutants to the corner where Chen Tingting was.
Her body was starting to change, swelling like an inflating balloon. It grew rapidly, taking on the shape of the middle-aged man’s face. Her belly protruded, and her clothes stretched taut, ready to tear at any moment.
Yu Zhi looked at the countless pollutants and then at his slightly dulled and broken dagger. Taking a deep breath, he called out to the contamination source:
“Tingting, do you remember me?”
The contamination source, now fully resembling a middle-aged man, turned its gaze to him, its pupils unfocused, remaining silent.
Yu Zhi gripped his dagger tightly. It didn’t recognize him.
When it was wearing Chen Wan’s “skin,” it had recognized him, likely because Chen Wan had taught him.
Someone connected to Chen Tingting…
After a moment’s thought, Yu Zhi shouted: “Tingting, I’m your dad! Don’t you recognize your father?”
At the mention of “dad,” the contamination source’s face twisted into a grotesque snarl, roaring:
“What kind of nonsense dad?! Chen Tingting only has one mother! She only needs to respect her mother!”
“Why does she resemble that useless man, who couldn’t even study properly…”
Influenced by the contamination source, the other Lip-face monsters grew agitated and began running faster, their frenzy intensifying.
Yu Zhi quickly teleported away and changed tactics:
“Tingting, I’m your sister.”
“I just had surgery a few days ago.”
“Don’t you recognize your sister?”
The contamination source hesitated, reacting to the mention of “sister.”
Even the scrolling comments in the livestream briefly paused before surging forward even more furiously:
[User “National Tactical Humanoid Weapon” marvels at your shamelessness.]
[User “momo” finds your method of handling the contamination source highly entertaining.]
[User “Rich Young Master Supreme” hopes you quickly resolve the contamination source and has tipped you 0.1 coins.]
Seeing that the contamination source was no longer surrounded by Lip-face monsters, Yu Zhi flashed directly in front of it.
Before he could raise his hand, the contamination source lunged. Its large, fat hand slammed toward his face, and a grotesque human face suddenly emerged from the palm, baring its teeth and biting down.
Rip—
The face tore off a piece of Yu Zhi’s sleeve.
The human face gripping his sleeve seemed exhilarated, as if tasting a rare delicacy. Its expression grew manic as it opened its mouth wide and swallowed the fabric.
Yu Zhi’s face turned pale. What the hell is this thing?!
Instinctively, he teleported far away. From a safe distance, he saw that the contamination source’s exposed skin was starting to bulge.
Human features began emerging—eyes, noses, mouths—one after another, protruding from the smooth surface.
Countless faces, all different, stared at him with their mouths open and teeth bared. Their eyes rolled simultaneously, fixing their ravenous gaze on him.
No longer unfocused, the eyes brimmed with greedy hunger.
Yu Zhi’s hair stood on end. This is disgusting and terrifying! Why are all these faces popping out?!
If—if these faces belonged to those who had consumed Chen Tingting, then killing one layer of skin would only reveal another beneath.
Yu Zhi glanced at the contamination source’s arm, which was covered in densely packed faces. His vision dimmed for a moment.
There’s no way to kill them all… It’s impossible!
After its transformation, the contamination source no longer stood still. It surged forward, its massive, mountain-like body shockingly agile and swift.
In the blink of an eye, it closed the gap, and all the mouths on its body lunged toward Yu Zhi.
Caught off guard, Yu Zhi could only dodge repeatedly, all while frantically asking the system in his mind: [System! How do I purify the contamination source?]
The system replied: [Please figure it out yourself. Complete the task proactively!]
Yu Zhi gritted his teeth: [I’ll give you a 1.5% fee!]
The system: [Adapt your methods to the situation. Take a targeted approach. Please figure it out yourself.]
What kind of empty platitudes are these?! Yu Zhi cursed internally: [Fine! I’ll give you 2%!]
The system remained quiet for a moment before slowly responding: [Analysis indicates a high probability of your death.]
[There’s also a significant chance I won’t receive my 2% fee.]
After some thought, it added: [And I might get exploited for free.]
Yu Zhi: “…” Damn it, screw you!
In less than a minute, the contamination source’s body was entirely covered in human faces.
A myriad of faces, each distinct yet disturbingly similar in their expressions, covered the contamination source.
Yu Zhi stared at it with unwavering focus, his mind racing to devise a strategy.
No way to purify it. That leaves only elimination.
But his weapon could at best peel off one layer of skin, only for another to appear beneath it. Before he could finish off the contamination source, its countless mouths would have already torn him apart.
What else?
What could solve this in one decisive blow?
Yu Zhi’s gaze swept back to the contamination source. Its mouths opened and closed rhythmically, almost like they were breathing, ravenously craving him.
Eat…
Eat the contamination source?
Even setting aside what eating it might do to him, there was no way he’d survive long enough to try—it would devour him first.
Sweat poured down his face, soaking his black hair and plastering it against his cheeks. The wound on his arm throbbed with pain, raw from being rubbed by his sleeve and stung by his sweat.
Out of options, Yu Zhi was left to dodge both the contamination source and the pollutants in a desperate bid to stay alive.
Although he managed to evade their attacks for now, the searing pain in his stomach grew sharper, and his mind dulled further. He even began to feel that the pollutants didn’t look so disgusting anymore.
The constant mental contamination was taking its toll.
The livestream viewers reveled in his struggle, their excitement palpable:
[User “I Love Earth” eagerly awaits your grisly demise.]
[User “Strongest King” is thrilled to see how you’ll die.]
[User “Gaze of Darkness” reminds you they bet on option 2 and encourages you to last another 20 minutes.]
[User “Rebirth of an Interdimensional Romance” anticipates your counterattack.]
Yu Zhi leapt onto a desk, wiping the sweat from his drenched palms.
He tucked his dagger back into [My Items] and exhaled deeply. Gradually, his mind cleared.
There has to be a way to solve this.
The contamination source couldn’t be invincible.
The system had said there were many ways to neutralize or purify a contamination source.
The consumed would take on the appearance of their devourers…
If it can’t be killed from the outside… what about the inside?
Yu Zhi blinked the sweat from his lashes and fixed his gaze on the contamination source’s mouths.
No choice. I’ll try it.
If it doesn’t work, I’ll just die.
[Kick its shoulder.]
The next second, Yu Zhi’s feet landed on the contamination source’s shoulder.
He bent down, grabbed a handful of its short hair, and yanked back hard.
As the contamination source’s head jerked upward, he thrust his right hand into its mouth.
Yu Zhi’s fingers dug into the soft inner wall of the mouth. The texture was pliable, unlike the tough exterior.
Sensing food in its mouth, the contamination source didn’t resist—it bit down ferociously.
Sharp teeth pierced through Yu Zhi’s skin, sending a spray of sweet-smelling blood into the air.
Hiss—
Yu Zhi inhaled sharply, his face twisting in pain.
It felt like the teeth had sunk deep into his bones.
As the contamination source swallowed his blood, Yu Zhi shoved his hand deeper down its throat. At the same time, he retrieved his dagger from [My Items] and drove it into the soft tissue of its esophagus.
The blade pierced through the tender throat. With a heavy twist of his wrist, Yu Zhi pushed harder.
A faint squelch sounded as the blade tore from the inside out, slicing through the contamination source’s neck.
Fresh blood spurted everywhere, drenching Yu Zhi from head to toe.
The next moment, a wave of hot, meat-scented air descended upon him from above.
Yu Zhi’s instincts screamed at him, and he teleported away just in time.
Snap—
A Lip-face monster lunged where he had been, biting only air.
Yu Zhi reappeared atop a desk a short distance away, wiping the blood from his eyelids.
Looking past the Lip Men, he focused on the contamination source as it slowly toppled.
The middle-aged man’s face cracked, countless fissures forming across its surface.
With a brittle crack, the face shattered and fell away in pieces.
Beneath it, yet another face appeared, already lined with spiderweb-like cracks.
The third face…
The fourth face…
One by one, layers of faces emerged and shattered, like a grotesque peeling of masks.
The expressions on the countless human faces covering the contamination source shifted from ferocious to panicked, as if they had realized something.
Yu Zhi exhaled faintly, a flicker of relief in his chest.
Bet paid off.
Crack—
Crack—
The sound of breaking continued to echo.
Yu Zhi gripped his dagger tightly, kicking an advancing Lip-face monster to the ground. In a swift motion, he severed its neck.
He moved like a blur among the remaining Lip-face monsters, his blade slashing through one neck after another.
It felt like an eternity had passed before the room fell silent. Every Lip-face monsters lay lifeless on the ground.
Yu Zhi stood amid the carnage, his face as pale as a ghost, sweat pouring off him like rain.
He looked down at his body: his right arm was missing chunks of flesh where teeth had sunk in, skin and muscle peeled back to reveal white bone beneath. His shoes were shredded, and his feet were bloody—likely bitten during his earlier struggle atop the contamination source.
Before seeing the injuries, the pain had been manageable. Now, with the gory visuals, the agony surged, every nerve in his body screaming in protest.
Yu Zhi discarded his mangled dagger and limped toward the contamination source lying a short distance away.
The system had yet to announce the mission’s completion.
The contamination source wasn’t dead.
In the blood-soaked scene lay a frail figure, blood pouring from a nearly severed neck. The body’s connection to its head was a fragile strip of skin. The numerous human faces covering the contamination source were eerily still, their eyes shut as if lifeless.
Yu Zhi’s exhaustion, pain, and hunger hit him all at once, overwhelming his senses. Ignoring the filthy ground, he plopped down and called out weakly, “Chen Tingting.”
The body twitched slightly at the sound of her name. Slowly, it turned its head, revealing a blood-smeared, blurred face.
Yu Zhi retrieved his backpack from [My Items], his eyes fixed on her face.
It wasn’t the youthful image from her photos—her face was flat and featureless, save for a pair of lips. She looked identical to the faceless students from earlier.
“I wasn’t a model student in senior year,” Yu Zhi began, his voice low and rough. “I didn’t suddenly decide to study hard after slacking off in junior high. I spent my first two years of high school catching up to everyone else because I’d fallen so far behind. My grades were terrible.”
“I didn’t give up meals or sleep to study—I just didn’t have the money to eat or the ability to sleep well at night.”
“Still, those teachers weren’t wrong about one thing: I probably was the smartest student they ever taught.”
Yu Zhi rummaged through his bag, removing a tranquilizer gun and placing it back into [My Items].
“Sorry for reading your diary,” he said, his voice softening.
“Here’s my apology gift.”
He unwrapped two candies, placing one in her mouth and popping the other into his own.
“Sweet, isn’t it?”
For a moment, a faint strawberry scent replaced the metallic tang of blood in the air.
Chen Tingting’s lips trembled. With her severed neck, she couldn’t speak, but she mouthed the words: [It’s sweet.]
[Mission Complete: Save the Children.]
[Reward: 3,000 Universal Coins, 1 Random Reward Box.]
The air, once heavy with the cloying scent of meat, cleared, leaving only the sharp stench of blood.
The system chimed in cheerily, “Congratulations! You’ve delivered the final blow to the contamination source and become the first Earth resident in this mission to defeat over a hundred pollutants!”
“Please wait while your honorary title is awarded.”
Yu Zhi recoiled immediately. “No!” he blurted out. “I don’t need any honorary titles!”
The system ignored him. A notification popped up on the interface:
[Title Earned: Lip-Loving Warlord.]
The panel auto-navigated to JJ Literary City, displaying his title collection:
[My Titles]
[Total: 4]
[Title: Lip-Loving Warlord.]
[Effect: 99% of pollutants with lips will flock to you irresistibly.]
[Description: On a moonless night, innocent men and women were tragically slain. Why were diary entries repeatedly stolen from a girls’ high school? Why did a young girl disappear without a trace? Why did a fifty-year-old woman die gruesomely on campus? Shrouded in mystery, the true victim emerges… All originating from a 22-year-old man who stormed his alma mater, leaving chaos in his wake. On JJ, the stories never age.]
Yu Zhi stared blankly at the description, his face devoid of emotion. After encountering similar absurdities so many times, he found it almost laughable.
Another notification popped up:
[Hidden Task Unlocked!]
[Hidden Task: Garbage in the Bin, Health for the Win.]
[Objective: No time limit, no restrictions on garbage type—collect five pieces of trash! Completion highly encouraged.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
[Penalty for Failure: Unknown.]
Seeing the word “garbage,” Yu Zhi frowned, recalling the category in his collection list—[My Garbage].
Was “garbage” referring to the contamination sources in the missions?
Was the system asking him to dive back into another mission to risk his life?!
Yu Zhi’s face darkened as he spat out two words: “I refuse.”
As soon as he spoke, the words on the panel changed.
[Hidden Task: Garbage in the Bin (1/5)]
Yu Zhi: “???“
Hey! He hadn’t even agreed to this damn task yet!
What kind of shady, forced transaction was this?!
