Chapter 66
The next second, Yu Zhi suddenly realized that Fu Suxi had also been polluted.
According to the rules of this polluted zone, once polluted, you could leave your work environment—so Fu Suxi should have come out too.
Then why was there no movement at all until now?
Had he run out of explosives?
Yu Zhi glanced at the Public Welfare Department. Inside, the fishfolk were still doing exactly what they had been doing before—typing at keyboards, injecting syringes—nothing had changed, and not a single one paid him any attention.
He withdrew his gaze and casually asked the barrage, “Do you know which building my brother is in?”
[User “World Cutest Girl” reminds you the other party is in Building 1.]
[User “Loves Peace” reminds you the other party is in Building 2.]
[User “National-Level Humanoid Weapon” reminds you the other party is in Building 3.]
[User “Strongest King” reminds you the other party is in Building 5.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Straw” reminds you the other party has already left the dungeon and you’re about to die.]
From Building 1 to Building 8, from City B to City S—there were even several saying Fu Suxi had already left the dungeon.
Yu Zhi knew the livestream audience’s usual behavior. He hadn’t expected them to tell the truth; he just wanted to see if he could glean anything about Fu Suxi’s current state from their words.
Seeing that no one mentioned it clearly, he gave up on the idea and lowered his gaze, thinking about where to look for the pollution source.
At first, he thought the pollution source was the company’s employees. Now it seemed it wasn’t just employees—it was more likely the experimental subjects of Meteorite Biotech.
Like Chen Tingting, they were “chosen” experimental subjects.
He picked up his work badge and reread the employee handbook.
[1. The work badge must be worn prominently on the chest. Keep it safe to avoid loss or damage.]
[2. Lending your work badge to others is prohibited. Forging work information is prohibited.]
[3. If you become ill or injured, the company will bear all treatment costs until you recover or die.]
[4. When experiencing breathing difficulties, you may relieve stress by working diligently.]
[5. When killing yourself, be sure to wear your work badge so that subsequent staff can confirm your identity.]
[6. The ocean is our homeland.]
[7. Everything is for humanity’s future.]
He treated points one through five as bullshit. Point seven was clearly a cult-like brainwashing slogan from Meteorite Biotech.
So what did point six mean?
As he was thinking, Yu Zhi suddenly felt a gaze fall on him.
It was the same gaze from inside the Public Welfare Department—now stronger and more blatant.
Cold, sticky, clinging tightly to his back. It was even more intense than the sense of being watched before, as if it were eagerly anticipating his next move.
Yu Zhi’s fingers holding the badge stiffened slightly as he quickly swept his eyes over the tiles beside him.
The tiles were clean and clearly reflected his figure.
Aside from him, there was no other creature’s shadow.
He quickly said to the system in his mind: [System! The pollution source is right here!]
System: [Please wait, detecting…]
[Detection complete. You have not yet found the pollution source.]
Yu Zhi: [The pollution source has to be inside this company—doesn’t that count as finding it?]
System: […]
After holding back, it finally said: [I can’t determine whether the dungeon objective has been completed.]
Yu Zhi understood and smoothly asked what he really wanted to know: [Then what counts as finding it?]
System: [Please explore on your own and actively complete the task.]
Yu Zhi blinked thoughtfully. Looks like it wasn’t going to say it outright.
Did the scope need to be more specific?
He looked at the floor directory sign wedged between the elevator and Building 2.
There was no detailed map, but each department and floor was clearly marked.
Public Welfare Department—7th floor.
He read line by line until his gaze finally stopped at the first floor.
Medical Health Room—1st floor.
Meteorite Biotech was responsible for employees’ medical treatment. According to the rules, once an employee got sick, they would definitely go to the Medical Health Room first.
Yu Zhi’s eyelashes trembled slightly. This place was somewhat similar to the Taijiang High School dungeon.
Taijiang High bluntly told everyone that Chen Wan and Chen Tingting were problematic.
Here, instead, it laid out a path you could walk down.
Both were guiding him toward the pollution source—but this dungeon’s task was to find the pollution source…
Was the gaze watching him the pollution source?
“Ding—”
The elevator doors slowly opened. Inside was empty. The hollow car was like a giant mouth waiting for prey, exuding a cold, damp fishy stench.
Yu Zhi didn’t enter. He just stood there, watching as the doors closed again.
He stood still for a minute. The fishfolk from the Public Welfare Department didn’t come out, and the owner of the gaze behind him didn’t react either.
The painful area on his left arm kept expanding, as if someone were carving his skin into scales with a small knife, then hooking countless tiny barbs into his flesh and pulling outward nonstop.
Yu Zhi frowned and cursed silently.
As someone already polluted, he didn’t have time to wait.
He turned and strode quickly to the window, pushed it open, leaned out, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs:
“Yu Yi!”
The loud shout shattered the silence of the entire park, echoes ringing as if piercing the clouds.
Out of the corner of his eye, Yu Zhi saw fishfolk in the departments on both sides stop what they were doing and look toward him.
He continued yelling, “Where the hell did you die—”
The next second, a massive tremor sounded outside.
“Boom—”
Yu Zhi turned his head and saw a corner of an office building not far away collapse, instantly kicking up clouds of dust.
The collapsed section was Building 6. In the L-shaped layout, it didn’t directly connect to Building 2, but some critical structural point had apparently been affected—the entire building swayed slightly.
Yu Zhi nearly fell out the window.
As soon as he steadied himself, the fishfolk in the office area by the elevator stopped what they were doing.
Then they flailed their limbs and rushed out. Even some fishfolk who had just been injected started crawling outside, leaving several disgusting, sticky trails on the floor.
Under normal circumstances, as long as the rules of the polluted zone were followed, polluted entities wouldn’t initiate attacks. Clearly, the current situation wasn’t following the rules.
Normal employees wouldn’t shout toward the outside of the company—much less blow it up.
Yu Zhi took a deep breath and bolted.
He dodged around the elevator, sprinted toward the stairwell ahead, dashed inside, slammed the door shut behind him, and took the steps two at a time down the stairs.
The motion-sensor lights lit up one after another, illuminating the entire stairwell.
Panting, Yu Zhi ran downward and stole a glance back.
One stairwell door after another was smashed open by fishfolk. Countless fishfolk tumbled and crawled down the stairs, chasing him relentlessly.
That cold, spying gaze followed him like a shadow, descending the stairs with him.
[System! The pollution source is in this stairwell!]
[Please wait, detecting…]
[Detection complete. You have not yet found the pollution source.]
Yu Zhi frowned deeply and quickly asked in his mind: [Is this task about finding the pollution source, or about seeing it with my own eyes?]
Knowing the system wouldn’t tell him easily, he deliberately added: [Answer properly, and I’ll consider forgiving you for taking your anger out on me earlier.]
The system fell silent for a moment, then gave a vague hint: [Please follow the task objectives and act proactively to complete the mission.]
Yu Zhi gasped for breath, repeating the system’s words in his mind.
An inescapable work environment.
Meteorite Biotech’s pollution experiments.
Find the pollution source to complete the dungeon…
All clues pointed to one conclusion: the pollution source in this dungeon had no autonomy—it couldn’t move freely.
Thinking this, Yu Zhi’s face darkened further.
The thing staring at him in the stairwell shouldn’t be the pollution source.
He listened to his own ragged breathing, his heart pounding violently in his chest.
If it wasn’t the pollution source, then there was only one other possibility.
It was someone from Meteorite Biotech.
Just like at Taijiang High, just like Nie Yue back then—never appearing, yet clearly knowing what he did and what he said.
Because they were always watching in the shadows.
As he was thinking, he heard the system ask suspiciously: [What you said just now—was that true? You weren’t lying to me, were you?]
Yu Zhi burst out of the stairwell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a lock hanging on the stairwell door. He immediately doubled back, shut the door, and locked it.
Only then did he relax slightly and reply to the system: [No need to lie to you.]
[I’ve already thought it through. I won’t forgive you.]
System: [???]
“Bang—”
The stairwell door was slammed by fishfolk from the other side.
Yu Zhi ignored the system and kept running. After a short distance, he suddenly noticed there was no more movement from the stairwell—the fishfolk hadn’t chased after him.
His steps slowed. He quickly scanned his surroundings and saw a conspicuous silver sign hanging on the wall:
[Medical Health Room]
“Boom—”
Another small collapse echoed from deep inside the Medical Health Room.
Fu Suxi was in there too.
Yu Zhi hesitated for a second, then went in anyway.
The Medical Health Room was much larger than the Public Welfare Department. Consultation rooms, pharmacy, infusion rooms—everything was there. Rather than a clinic, it felt more like a small hospital.
“Creak—”
The consultation room door suddenly opened.
Yu Zhi looked up. A fishman stood there.
It didn’t look like the polluted entities from the Public Welfare Department. Those were like fish turned into humanoid pollutants; this one was like a human turned into a fish-shaped pollutant.
Its exposed skin was covered in layers of fish scales. Its face looked inflated, bulging outward—the forehead, nose bridge, and philtrum all protruded, forming a C-shaped arc. The eye distance was extremely wide, with the eyes positioned far to either side.
Yu Zhi glanced at its chest—no work badge. But there was a small nameplate on the white coat with the name Zhang Feng.
After a brief consideration of pros and cons, Yu Zhi stepped forward and said, “Doctor, I’m sick.”
The scales on Zhang Feng’s face suddenly writhed. Slowly, his mouth opened, and the scales split apart, revealing countless flesh-pink hollow holes between them. All the holes emitted a weary voice at the same time:
“Come in.”
Yu Zhi felt his left hand hurt even more. After being polluted, he felt even more disgusting than the fishfolk.
Would the skin beneath his scales also turn into holes?
No—rather than holes, they were more like mouths.
Zhang Feng’s face looked like a speaker covered in perforations, layered upon layered, the entire face producing sound.
“Come in.”
Perhaps seeing that Yu Zhi hadn’t entered, Zhang Feng repeated it.
Yu Zhi steeled himself and walked in, quickly sweeping his gaze across the consultation room. The layout was almost identical to a hospital’s.
The air inside was damp. The floor looked like it had been mopped several times with an unwrung mop—one step left a clear footprint.
Seeing this, Yu Zhi immediately closed the consultation room door.
The door shut, but it didn’t block that spying gaze. The sticky stare still clung to him.
Yu Zhi glanced at the half-length mirror on the wall.
Fine droplets of water slid down the mirror, barely showing that only he was reflected inside.
“Where do you feel unwell?” Zhang Feng suddenly asked.
Yu Zhi didn’t dare look at his face and replied vaguely, “Everywhere.”
Zhang Feng asked again, “Specifically where?”
The gray-green scales on his face kept rubbing together, making faint scraping sounds that raised goosebumps.
Just hearing it felt like mental pollution.
With his lashes half-lowered, Yu Zhi listed a few body parts perfunctorily, while focusing all his attention on the gaze behind him.
On the damp floor were two distinct sets of footprints.
One was his.
One was Zhang Feng’s.
The thing watching him wasn’t invisible—it seemed to be hiding somewhere.
It kept watching him, wasn’t blocked by the door—so where could it be hiding?
Suddenly, an answer surfaced in his mind.
Behind him.
It had always been hiding behind him.
A chill shot through Yu Zhi, goosebumps erupting all over his body as cold spread from his feet upward.
No wonder it never went away.
No wonder its gaze could stay fixed on him.
Yu Zhi’s fingertips trembled slightly as he struggled to maintain a calm expression.
Calm. Don’t panic. Stay steady.
If the enemy doesn’t move, I won’t move.
They don’t know they’ve been exposed yet—he had the advantage.
Yu Zhi subtly rolled his shoulders. His body felt completely normal.
The one staring at him had to be an ability user.
If it wasn’t on his body, then it had to be…
He slowly narrowed his eyes, took out his phone from [My Items], and said to Zhang Feng, “Doctor Zhang, wait a moment. I’ll check my previous medical records.”
Yu Zhi tapped the screen and turned on the flashlight.
The weak beam flickered for a second. The shadows of the desk and chairs were faint and blurry—yet the shadow at his feet was thick like ink, so dark it was unsettling.
The ability user was hiding in his shadow.
Yu Zhi immediately turned off the flashlight, his brain racing.
This ability user hadn’t attacked him or communicated with him.
At Taijiang High, it was the same—Nie Yue never appeared while he was searching for the pollution source, only showing up after he cleared it to ask for Chen Tingting’s body.
It was like they were waiting for him to complete the dungeon task.
Yu Zhi thoughtfully put away his phone and said to Zhang Feng, “Doctor Zhang, I remember now.”
“I’m sick with poverty. Just prescribe me some universal coins.”
“…”
Zhang Feng’s scale-covered head tilted slightly, as if sizing him up. After a moment, he slowly said, “You’re not sick with poverty.”
Yu Zhi raised his brows. “What do you mean I’m not poor?”
Zhang Feng fell silent.
[User “National-Level Humanoid Weapon” thinks you’re making things difficult for the polluted entity.]
[User “Marine Biologist” sympathizes with the polluted entity and condemns your cruelty.]
[User “Rich Young Master Domineering” pities your poverty sickness and tips you 0.1 universal coins.]
“You can’t even see that?”
Before Zhang Feng could speak, Yu Zhi grabbed a chair and smashed it hard over his head, cursing, “You quack doctor!”
The next second, he put on a look of mock surprise and said, “What? You want me to smash this polluted thing to death?”
“Well, for money’s sake, I’ll reluctantly agree.”
[User “Pure Love Warrior” is confused by your statement.]
[User “Rich Young Master Domineering” reminds you no user asked you to smash the polluted entity to death.]
[User “Strongest King” thinks you’re suffering severe mental pollution and hallucinations.]
[User “momo” wonders if you’ve discovered some kind of existence.]
Yu Zhi ignored the barrage. With the determination of “if someone asks, I’ll definitely do it,” he grabbed Zhang Feng by the leg and lifted him up bodily.
He raised him high and smashed him down onto the pitch-black shadow at his feet.
“Bang, bang, bang—”
Once. Twice. Three times…
Scales fell all over the floor from Zhang Feng’s head, revealing a face full of densely packed flesh-pink holes. The holes pressed tightly against the shadow, opening and closing as they writhed.
Red-and-white fluid gushed from the holes, gradually covering the shadow beneath him.
Yu Zhi saw with his own eyes that his shadow stiffened and froze for an instant, failing to keep up with his movements.
He tugged at the corner of his mouth in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and asked softly,
“Is that enough?”
“If not, I’ve got more. Guaranteed disgusting.”
