The Abyss of Memory

Chapter 12

Jiang Mengchi still remembered the place where things went wrong. Or rather, that place had always been vividly etched in his mind.

But some impulse kept stopping him from going back, until Shen Wang showed up and brought it up, and he finally ignored that internal agitation and agreed.

It was the Backyard of Building No. 2. Unlike the overgrown weeds in the front yard, the backyard was noticeably tidier, but not in a tended, neat way—more like...

‘Not a blade of grass grows.’ Shen Wang narrowed his eyes and delivered the verdict.

It was a dead stillness utterly devoid of life, as if even time had come to a halt—walking in gave you a visceral, physical discomfort.

Shen Wang thought: this place feels more like a contamination source than that woman who jumped off the building earlier.

In his three years Outside the High Wall, Shen Wang had traveled through many places, including contamination sources; he’d even been deep inside them.

The way Shen Wang saw it, contamination sources were a lot like worms—they’d suddenly appear on the ground, chew a hole in it, then latch on like parasites, devouring the nutrients around them, entrenching themselves and turning everyone who entered into monsters carrying contamination viruses.

They were more like immobile contamination mother bodies.

‘This is the place.’ Jiang Mengchi said. ‘When I woke up, I found myself lying here. I felt terribly unwell; some instinct screamed at me to get out fast. After I left, I started dealing with the affected parts of my body, and then I discovered I was undergoing Aberration.’

Shen Wang crouched down. He studied the small patch of ground around them, then pointed in a direction.

‘There.’ Shen Wang said. ‘Looks like something’s been disturbed.’

Jiang Mengchi stared at that spot for a long moment before finally speaking. ‘Yeah, looks like it.’

‘So should we do a little digging?’ Shen Wang’s interest ticked up a notch.

Jiang Mengchi didn’t answer.

‘Worried we’ll dig up a Contaminant?’ Shen Wang glanced at Jiang Mengchi. ‘Or worried we’ll dig up your teammates’ bodies?’

Jiang Mengchi: ...

Honestly, he wasn’t surprised anymore. They’d only just met, but he’d already pegged Shen Wang as someone who said exactly what he thought, no filter, no fucks given. He didn’t seem to care for surface-level politeness or hiding his personality, so the things he blurted out were often painfully blunt.

...The North Star’s recruitment criteria really were something else.

Still, Jiang Mengchi genuinely was afraid of unearthing his teammates’ corpses. He felt such a strong aversion to this place that even he could sense something was off.

‘Then you can wait off to the side for me.’ Shen Wang didn’t mind. He started looking for tools. ‘Once I finish digging, I’ll come find you.’

‘It’s fine.’ Jiang Mengchi drew a deep breath. ‘Sooner or later I have to go through this.’

He grabbed a tool first, then, his expression stiff, walked over to the spot with the disturbed traces. Shen Wang crouched beside him and started digging too, chattering as he went: ‘You think someone else might’ve dug here before? There were fifty victims sent into this place, after all.’

Jiang Mengchi shook his head. ‘From what I’ve observed, no victim ever made it here.’

Denied. Shen Wang shrugged, kept digging. Soon he hit something—his tool struck with a familiar metallic clink.

‘Looks like it’s not a body.’

Jiang Mengchi exhaled. Together, they dug the metal object out.

It was a Metal Box, showing no oxidation or corrosion, just dirt on the surface. The design was actually an Anti-Contamination Center gear case. Jiang Mengchi opened it; inside, no gear, no weapon—just a single Bloodstained Tattered Notebook.

‘Isn’t this my notebook?’ Jiang Mengchi was startled. ‘What’s it doing here?’

‘You buried it?’

Jiang Mengchi was about to deny it. He turned to look at Shen Wang, but the moment their eyes met, his words died in his throat. Shen Wang, crouched right next to him, was watching him calmly, black eyes reflecting his figure. Though it was phrased as a question, there wasn’t a trace of doubt in that gaze.

He’d already decided this was something Jiang Mengchi buried himself.

Jiang Mengchi felt an inexplicable pressure from that look, to the point he couldn’t hold it.

So he averted his eyes, shifting his gaze away from Shen Wang’s, and finally answered, “I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

To ease the awkwardness, Jiang Mengchi instinctively flipped the notebook open. It was stained with dark red blood; the pages stuck together when he opened it, as if blood had splattered onto them and he’d sealed the notebook in the box without cleaning it, leaving the dried blood to glue the pages shut.

Jiang Mengchi peeled two stuck pages apart and saw words written in black pen.

[Apocalypse Year 27, September 18. It’s been nearly three months since we got trapped in here. The passage of time is blurring. I haven’t given up hope, but everyone else is barely holding on. Ever since Tang Quan got contaminated and jumped off the rooftop a week ago, the team’s morale has been spiraling.]

Jiang Mengchi snapped the notebook shut.

'Not going to keep reading?' Shen Wang asked him. 'Weren’t you going to confirm your teammates’ safety?'

'I just realized this might be a result I can’t bear.' Jiang Mengchi stared at the notebook’s cover.

After several deep mental preparations, Jiang Mengchi reopened the notebook and read on.

[Apocalypse Year 28, January 13. I’m not sure if the date’s right; time is completely tangled now. Three of the seven can’t handle the contamination anymore—either Aberration or suicide by jumping. We still can’t find a way out. Everyone’s given up on themselves.]

[Apocalypse Year 29, month x, day x. It’s hard to understand how an ordinary Grade C Contaminant could have this much power. I think there’s something else going on. I’ve decided to re-investigate this place. Wang Shui is coming with me—he’s the only survivor left in our unit.]

[Apocalypse Year 29, month x, day x. We’ve found a large number of low-level Contaminants, mostly Grade E and G. Severe Aberration with total loss of form. Just what is this place? Why are there so many low-level Contaminants?]

[I finally understand... It was never just some ordinary Contaminant. This is a contamination source! A Grade C contamination source!]

[Wang Shui is dead, too. Everyone is dead. I’m the only one left. So this is why we could never get out.]

“Careful.”

Just as Jiang Mengchi was absorbed in the contents, Shen Wang yanked him aside with one hand while the other caught something mid-air in a strangling grip.

Jiang Mengchi looked up and saw Shen Wang’s hand clamped around someone’s neck.

No—you couldn’t really call it a person anymore.

It was an Aberrant, highly distorted. Its entire body had turned into black deadwood limbs. A small tree had burst from its eye socket, and you could see roots wriggling inside its skull. It opened its mouth but no sound came out, because Shen Wang had its throat in his grip.

Crack—the crisp sound of snapping bone.

Shen Wang hurled the Aberrant away. It writhed on the ground, its neck broken, but that didn’t stop its movement—just that when it stood up, its head dangled below its shoulders.

A sight that could reduce any ordinary person to terrified tears didn’t mean much to Shen Wang.

He drew the weapon the Anti-Contamination Center had issued him earlier from his waist, aimed at the writhing Aberrant. One shot into its skull, severing the wriggling roots; another to the chest, shattering its heart. This time it went still for good.

“Low-level Contaminant,” Shen Wang said. “Doesn’t even reach Grade E. Could be cleared out en masse with hot weapons.”

Jiang Mengchi stared at the dead Aberrant and frowned. “I think I’ve seen this Aberrant before... No, what I saw wasn’t an Aberrant. It was a person.”

“It’s one of the victims who got contaminated earlier and jumped to his death!”

“Makes sense.” Shen Wang wasn’t surprised. “This is a contamination source, after all. A contamination source contamifies every life form within its range. Everyone who dies here becomes an Aberrant or a Contaminant.”

Jiang Mengchi spun his head toward Shen Wang in shock, a buzzing in his brain—suddenly, he realized something.

His fingers trembling, he turned the pages of the notebook beneath his hand. Jiang Mengchi had never been this panicked in his life.

[They turned into Contaminants. They don’t know me anymore. As low-level Contaminants, all they have is the instinct to spread.]

[But they probably didn’t want to become Contaminants. They used to be Guard Corps members who protected ordinary people and exterminated Contaminants.]

[I killed them. At the cost of my own contamination.]

That’s right—this was a contamination source. The woman who killed herself became a Grade C Contaminant; after they died, they too would become Contaminants because of the contamination source.

Watching his teammates get contaminated and die one by one had already been torment enough for Jiang Mengchi. But then they became Contaminants, and he had to kill them all over again. That kind of experience was enough to break him, so his body began to Aberrate, contamination spreading rapidly inside him.

To slow the contamination, Jiang Mengchi’s mind self-defensively deleted those memories.

But even so, the contamination was irreversible—and it even created a bigger hidden danger.

In the end, he became the only Grade C Contaminant in Qianzhen Residential Area. His talent mutated into a Contamination Talent, and without his awareness, it spread contamination through the Isolation Barrier, pulling people in one by one.

Those people—all those people—died because of him!

Jiang Mengchi breathed raggedly; a sharp pain shot through his neck. That raised black patch broke through his skin and pushed out—a tiny branch. The branch grew along with his collapsing mental state.

His bodily Aberration was accelerating; even his hands began turning hard and brittle, as if they’d snap at a touch.

Watching this scene unfold, Shen Wang wasn’t the slightest bit worried. He even picked up the notebook Jiang Mengchi had dropped, casually settling onto a nearby stone.

“Are you going to turn into a Contaminant?” Shen Wang looked at him. “If that happens, I’ll have to kill you. I don’t want to kill you, so you’d better pull yourself together.”

Jiang Mengchi jerked his head up. As his memories recovered, his eyes had started turning pale, like a corpse’s.

The part of him that hadn’t yet lost all reason said: Right. There’s still someone here.

“Kill me!”

As if he hadn’t heard a thing, Shen Wang kept talking to himself, holding the notebook. “If you turn into a Contaminant, you’ll be Grade C. Then I’d have to kill you. Maybe I’ll end up just like you—tormented because I killed a comrade, got myself contaminated. I’m stronger than you, though. If I become a Contaminant, I’ll be Grade B. And I’m pretty smart, too.”

“I’d cause chaos, lay waste everywhere.”

“Okay, I’m messing with you. This little thing isn’t enough to break my spirit, let alone contaminate me, so when the time comes I’ll still be able to kill you just fine.”

Jiang Mengchi: ...

At the tail end of his life, he’d run into a goddamn lunatic with a screw loose. What on earth did the North Star see in him?

But thank god he really had run into this madman.

That way, he wouldn’t become a Contaminant roaming this place—he’d truly die. And for that, he was genuinely grateful to Shen Wang.

Just as Jiang Mengchi was about to nod, a hum vibrated through the air. The wind suddenly stirred, and a clean, fresh scent—so unlike rot—reached their noses.

Both the human and the Contaminant turned their heads together. In that instant, they each felt something different. The isolated space seemed to come alive, as if agitated. Black, oppressive clouds appeared in the sky.

“Was that just...?”

“The Isolation Barrier opened for a moment. Someone came in. Probably the Anti-Contamination Center sent people.” Shen Wang stood up slowly. “You want to find somewhere to hide? I’m going to check out other places.”

Jiang Mengchi stayed crouched on the ground, his pale, hollow eyes fixed on Shen Wang.

“Why? We’ve been here so long and the Anti-Contamination Center never sent anyone. Why would they come today...”

“Because I’m here, obviously.” Shen Wang said. “Don’t forget, I’m still a North Star member. The captain and vice-captain were both with me when I came in. No matter what, the Anti-Contamination Center has to save face for North Star and Zhou Xiangzhe. Plus, the contamination here has already spread—that means this Isolation Barrier is compromised.”

“Why couldn’t they have come sooner...” Jiang Mengchi murmured, over and over.

‘If they’d come just a little earlier, they wouldn’t have died, and I wouldn’t have to die. Why couldn’t they have come sooner...’

The voice rang abruptly inside Shen Wang’s head. He frowned.

Grade C Contaminants possess Contamination Talent, but their rationality isn’t particularly strong—in other words, their talent is mostly used for expansion and is hard to control. That’s exactly why Jiang Mengchi, completely unaware, had pulled over fifty people in to rescue him.

It wasn’t Jiang Mengchi’s personal wish; it was just the expansion instinct—the base nature of a Contaminant.

“According to the Anti-Contamination handbook, the Contaminant causing the contamination should be eliminated first.”

Shen Wang watched Jiang Mengchi murmur. “But this is a Grade C contamination source. Eliminating the Contaminant won’t root out the contamination. So I’ll check the Contamination Source Core first; you can wait for the staff coming in later.”

“Well then, good luck.”