Chapter 75
After the first instance mission was completed, the number of viewers in the livestream began climbing rapidly. The barrage refreshed at high speed:
[User “Marine Biologist” is amazed by the existence of the pollution source and tips you 50 universal coins.]
[User “I Have a Tutor” appreciates your layout design in the company and tips you 50 universal coins.]
[User “Cyber Bodhisattva” hopes you’ll quickly collect the pollution source and complete the hidden mission, tipping 50 universal coins.]
[User “Strongest King” urges you to open the invitation.]
[User “Rich Young Master Domineering Cool” looks forward to your choice and tips 0.1 universal coins.]
[User “I Love Eating Fish” loudly praises the pollution source before you and tips 20 universal coins.]
This time, the rapidly increasing coin balance failed to draw Yu Zhi’s attention away.
He reached out carefully and removed the invitation from Jiang Shengnan’s body.
The section of scales pinning the invitation suddenly spread open, as if finally able to breathe, rapidly opening and closing.
Yu Zhi lifted his eyelids and looked straight at Jiang Shengnan’s face.
Only her brows, eyes, and forehead retained human skin. Her eyes were tightly shut, her brows faintly furrowed, as if uncomfortable.
Yu Zhi forced himself to steady his breathing. “Jiang Shengnan.”
No response.
He hesitated for a second and tried, “5820?”
Still nothing.
He continued, “Meteorite Biotech went bankrupt.”
No reaction. The dense scales across her body kept opening and closing, moving endlessly.
Seeing this, Yu Zhi tugged at the corner of his lips. “It’s the end of the world. No more work.”
No change at all—not even her eyelashes moved.
She was like a vegetative patient. A plant-like pollution source. Not completely dead, yet not truly alive.
Her only sign of life was breathing. That was why the instance mission only required finding the pollution source—not eliminating it.
Yu Zhi’s expression remained blank as he crumpled the invitation slightly in his hand.
He stuffed it into his pocket casually, suppressing his discomfort, and lowered his head to examine the glass wall carefully.
Jiang Shengnan had clearly been embedded here for a long time. The gray-green scales from her body had spread onto the glass, layering over one another, breathing just like the scales on the rest of her.
Every opening revealed the flesh-pink little mouths beneath. Countless tiny mouths, contracting and expanding, seawater seeping out in a faint trickle.
Her body was almost fused with the glass wall.
Yu Zhi even saw that her back, submerged in seawater, was covered with clusters of barnacles.
Nearby fish were thoroughly familiar with her body. A slender silver fish darted into one of the small mouths beneath an opening scale.
Soon—Plop.
The silver fish dropped at Yu Zhi’s feet.
He looked down and noticed many fish swimming in the water, weaving between the corpses of pollutants at his feet, gnawing at their remains, growing pollutant scales.
These fish would gradually become pollutants. Become fish-men.
If the pollution source did not die, pollutants would continue endlessly.
The barrage realized this too and began urging him to eliminate the source.
[User “Electronic Wooden Fish” urges you to eliminate the pollution source and complete the hidden mission.]
[User “Velvet Latte” hopes you’ll clear the pollutants and join the two younger brothers’ entanglement.]
[User “Love Peace” questions why you aren’t eliminating the source immediately.]
Yu Zhi half-lowered his eyes and ignored them.
Of course he knew the best solution was to eliminate the pollution source—kill Jiang Shengnan.
Whatever he did, half-dead Jiang Shengnan wouldn’t resist.
Emotionally, though, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.
If Jiang Shengnan wanted to die, he would grant her that wish.
But she wanted to live.
Even while sick, she had kept working. She cooperated with treatment. She repeatedly asked that man surnamed Chen in the video whether she needed to take her medicine.
She wanted to be cured. She wanted to live.
She had done nothing wrong, yet she was forced into becoming a pollution source, discarded here by Meteorite Biotech as a bargaining chip for an invitation…
And now she was supposed to die lightly, quietly, at the bottom of the sea?
Yu Zhi pressed his lips together and gently touched her brow.
The next second, a familiar black prompt appeared:
[Collect trash?]
Yu Zhi: [No.]
He slowly exhaled.
So Jiang Shengnan’s half-dead state could be stored in [My Trash].
He could take her away.
But a new problem arose.
An unconscious Jiang Shengnan could continuously create pollutants. She was, barely, a “living” pollution source.
If he stored her inside his ability, would he be contaminated?
Would people around him be contaminated? Would there be other consequences?
“Boom—!”
A massive crash erupted from above. Dust rained from the ceiling. Water rippled through the operating room. Fish scattered in panic.
Yu Zhi steadied himself. The scales on his left arm itched and burned more intensely. His breathing grew heavier.
If contamination continued, he might truly suffocate.
Cursing internally, he quickly opened the hidden mission panel.
[Hidden Mission: Trash in the Bin, Civilization in Health (2/5)]
[Objective: No time limit. No restriction on trash type. Collect five pieces of trash! Please complete actively.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
[Failure Penalty: Unknown.]
He read it carefully. It didn’t specify whether the pollution source had to be alive or dead.
He shouted, “System!”
“Your noble Hidden Mission Terminator has a question!”
System: “…..”
The first half wasn’t necessary.
Before it could speak, Yu Zhi said bluntly, “Your hidden mission tells me to collect pollution sources. Pollution sources are dangerous.”
“I won’t get contaminated to death halfway through, right?”
It was rare to hear a serious question from him. The system replied, “This hidden mission is a chance encounter event, randomly triggered. The system cannot unilaterally control it.”
Yu Zhi: “…I know you don’t know. Go ask.”
Though it couldn’t control the mission, the system knew it was special. After a brief hesitation:
“Please wait… submitting feedback…”
Moments later, a translucent panel appeared:
[After trash is placed in the bin, it will be isolated from the outside world. Please complete the hidden mission with confidence! Actively safeguard Earth’s civilization and health!]
Yu Zhi still wasn’t reassured. “You’re sure? Really no problem?”
“What about a pollution source that isn’t fully dead?”
System: “Please wait… submitting feedback…”
The text flickered. The first sentence enlarged twice, as if emphasizing:
[After trash is placed in the bin, it will be isolated from the outside world.]
In other words, regardless of life or death, it would no longer affect the outside—like garbage in a trash can.
Yu Zhi didn’t even bother wondering if the system was implying he was the trash can.
“Fine,” he said. “If something happens to me, I’ll report you.”
System: “???”
“What does that have to do with me?! This hidden mission is your chance encounter event! Just like hidden rewards—random!”
Yu Zhi smiled sweetly. “Then watch over me carefully.”
System: “……”
A translucent prompt appeared:
[Closing livestream…]
In the lower-right corner, “Live” instantly switched to “Offline.”
The system had shut off his stream.
Its cold voice echoed in the air:
“You forgot. ‘Trash in the Bin’ is random. Some hidden missions aren’t.”
“Are you sure you’ll live long enough for users to report successfully?”
The threat was obvious.
Yu Zhi didn’t even blink. “If I live, great. If I die, you’ll have it worse.”
System: “……”
After threatening, he switched to temptation.
“System. Watching me is for your own good.”
System: “?”
“You can report others too, right? If this hidden mission threatens my life and contradicts what you were told…”
“You’d have an opportunity.”
Silence.
“If one system makes a mistake, another makes merit…”
He wasn’t sure whether viewers understood system hierarchies—but systems certainly did.
The system hesitated.
“What do I get for helping you?”
Yu Zhi almost said, You’re helping yourself, but time was short.
“In China, we say a life-saving favor cannot be repaid.”
The system snorted. “No contract this time?”
Meaning—it agreed.
Yu Zhi relaxed. “I trust you. You’ll watch me.”
Another snort.
“So we’ll draft the contract after we get out.”
System: “???”
You call that trust?
Yu Zhi stopped wasting time. He glanced at the endless sea behind Jiang Shengnan and then toward the distant stairwell.
Only one last key problem remained.
After storing Jiang Shengnan—would he have time to escape?
If a hole appeared at the bottom floor, would the building collapse?
Before he could decide—
“BOOM—!”
Another earth-shaking crash. The building trembled again. The glass wall groaned under seawater pressure.
A massive fissure tore through the corridor ceiling, ripping down several floors—cleaving straight to S18.
Fu Suxi had done it.
Yu Zhi’s brows twitched.
An escape route.
Fu Suxi, you finally did something decent.
He stopped hesitating and touched Jiang Shengnan’s brow.
[Collect trash?]
[Yes.]
At the same time:
“Normal Kick: Step on rebar!”
He flashed up several floors to the edge of the fissure—just in time to see the black-robed man sent flying by Fu Suxi’s blade.
Though he’d avoided a fatal strike, he was blasted backward, rolling to Yu Zhi’s feet.
Yu Zhi couldn’t resist.
He kicked him hard.
The blow caught him completely off guard. With a bang, the black-robed man slammed into the wall.
His robe was in tatters. His body was covered in cuts. The black mask on his face was cracked.
Clutching his chest, he grinned miserably through coughing.
“Beating is affection, scolding is love. Brother, do you like the gift I prepared for you?”
“That’s why you suddenly forced a kiss?”
Yu Zhi: “……”
Was this what they meant by slapping someone and getting your finger licked in return?
![The Max-Level Boss Just Wants to Be a Slacker [Apocalypse]](https://i3.wp.com/panda-translations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20250902175028_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "The Max-Level Boss Just Wants to Be a Slacker [Apocalypse]")
