Memory Abyss

Chapter 16

The Qianzhen Residential Area was overrun with thorns — even the Jumping Woman's home and the rooftop. They took over every contaminant's turf, arrogantly seizing the entire contamination source.

So the Jumping Woman finally stopped jumping... She chose instead to battle the thorns that stole her territory.

And got completely wrecked.

After all, she's only a Grade D contaminant, and these thorns are parasitic offspring of a Grade A contaminant — the bloodthorn.

Zhou Xiangzhe did want to clear them out, but these things acted like they knew he was bad news — the moment they saw him, they'd turn tail and bolt faster than rabbits.

In the end, they had to go back to the security booth where Jiang Mengchi had been earlier; at least there were two chairs inside.

Sitting in the chair, Shen Wang yawned.

‘Tired?’ Zhou Xiangzhe, next to him, heard the yawn. ‘Go sleep for a bit. I'll keep watch.’

Shen Wang looked at Zhou Xiangzhe in the dim room. That shock of white hair stood out in the night, and unlike his own drowsy state, Zhou Xiangzhe showed not a trace of fatigue — he was as radiant as when they first arrived.

What the heck kind of energy monster is this?

‘Aren't you tired?’ Shen Wang asked. ‘Come to think of it, haven't you gone all day without food? Didn't bring any when we entered either?’

‘Not tired.’ Zhou Xiangzhe shook his head lightly. ‘Not hungry either.’

Shen Wang didn't have any food on him either. He'd had attacks countless times since childhood, each one bringing extreme hunger and thirst, but food never helped, so he'd gradually developed a bit of an aversion to eating. Besides, in the Doomsday Era there wasn't much good to eat anyway. The Anti-Contamination Center did issue compact rations to each member.

And those things tasted even worse.

‘You don't like the compact rations from the Anti-Contamination Center either?’ Shen Wang struck up conversation. ‘I tried it once right after I signed up, and it felt like chewing hardened vomit.’

‘I'll eat them when there's no choice.’ Zhou Xiangzhe thought for a moment. ‘But the biscuits — I almost never touch those.’

The biscuits were the only thing in the rations that qualified as a snack — even crispy, crumbling with every bite. But Zhou Xiangzhe had a touch of obsessive cleanliness and couldn't stand things that shed crumbs.

'That habit of yours reminds me of a friend of mine,' Shen Wang said casually. 'But that was many years ago, back when I was still The Child. The High Wall had just been built, and someone from above came to the orphanage with a box of biscuits as a comfort gift. My friend absolutely couldn't stand anything that left crumbs, so he gave all his biscuits to me.'

‘If we're on a mission and you have to eat them, you can give me the biscuits you don't like. I'll eat them for you.’

Zhou Xiangzhe's mouth curved up just a bit, a tiny arc, barely visible in the dim night. He quickly smoothed it back, pretending nothing had happened.

Thud. Outside, the woman jumped again — only this time, she was forcibly yanked off the rooftop.

Blood-colored thorns greedily pierced her body, drinking her blood, devouring her madly. She was helpless, could only let out pitiful screams.

It was a scene of one contaminant preying on another, though to Zhou Xiangzhe it looked more like dogs biting dogs.

‘The bloodthorn is feeding on contaminants.’ Zhou Xiangzhe said it half to himself, half to Shen Wang. ‘But in all past records, the bloodthorn never had this behavior. It always used mental contamination to lure humans, letting a couple go to parasitize, then spreading contamination through them.’

Shen Wang also watched the thorns flailing around in the dark, brimming with arrogance. ‘The main body can't be found. Have they lost control without their master?’

‘Impossible.’ Zhou Xiangzhe denied it. ‘As parasitic contaminants, they act entirely on the main body's consciousness. There's no deviation.’

Act entirely on the main body's consciousness?

Shen Wang thought, with a strange feeling: Could it be that arrogantly swarming the entire Qianzhen Residential Area and gorging themselves... was his idea?

He had complained, after Zhou Xiangzhe showed up, that there weren't enough low-grade contaminants to eat, that it hadn't pushed back his attack at all. Was that really all it took?

‘Shen Wang?’ Zhou Xiangzhe looked at him, a little grimacing. ‘What's wrong?’

‘Nothing. Just thinking — so many parasitic contaminants, and yet we still can't see the main body.’ Shen Wang paused for a second, then marveled in an odd tone: ‘It's truly terrifying!’

Zhou Xiangzhe completely agreed. ‘An enemy hiding in the shadows is indeed terrifying.’

‘But no need to worry too much. The Anti-Contamination Center will never allow a Grade A contaminant to hide Inside the High Wall. It'll be dealt with soon.’

Shen Wang: ...

Thanks a lot, really.

Zhou Xiangzhe watched the thorns activity outside through the window, fidgeting with the Ring on his finger. In the moonlight, Shen Wang looked at his hand and was surprised to see a matching silver bracelet on his wrist, loosely hidden under the cuff of his combat suit.

That must be a Contamination Suppressor too, but...

So Shen Wang asked outright: ‘Are all Contamination Suppressors like this?’

‘No. This is a custom model I had made.’ Zhou Xiangzhe denied it without hesitation. ‘Suppressors aren't designed with aesthetics in mind — as long as they can be worn, that's enough. Most of the time they're made as cuffs or Chains.’

A normal person wouldn't care about how pretty a Contamination Suppressor looks — only Zhou Xiangzhe would not only think about it but actually have it custom made.

So the cold, ruthless man Zhou Xiangzhe is secretly a fashion-conscious boy. What kind of absurd nightmare is this?

But spending time together like this, Shen Wang unexpectedly discovered that beneath the surface — the cold face, the chilly voice, the unsmiling demeanor — Zhou Xiangzhe actually had a good personality. He hardly ever used a scolding tone; he answered everything Shen Wang asked carefully, even a simple question about Contamination Suppressor styles.

So different from how he was in the news.

‘If you like it, I can give you one.’ Zhou Xiangzhe said.

Shen Wang shook his head. ‘What would I need that for?’

Whether as a human or a contaminant, Shen Wang never needed a suppressor. Over three years of wandering, he had confirmed that he couldn't be contaminated — it was always him eating contaminants and stealing their Contamination Talent.

This constitution was bizarre, highly abnormal. If the Science Academy ever found out, they'd probably cut him into slices for study.

Every time he thought about it, Shen Wang was incredibly grateful this hadn't been discovered while he was being treated for his Genetic Disease at the hospital, which was why he'd been able to stay there safely all this time.

‘Ah...’

Shen Wang suddenly thought of something.

If all these thorns were acting on his thoughts now, then... that is... could it be possible... to eat the space that's isolating the Qianzhen Residential Area?

That space was the effect of a talent, so it should be... edible too, right?

Just as the thought finished, Shen Wang heard a strange sound. Zhou Xiangzhe suddenly stood up, positioned himself in front of Shen Wang, and looked out the door with a grave expression.

‘Something's changed!’ Zhou Xiangzhe said. ‘Stay quiet!’

Shen Wang didn't speak, but he saw the spreading parasitic thorns all moving outward together. As they crawled, they shook the little flowers on their branch tips, like a bunch of lively kids hopping around and showing off.

‘Orders received!’

‘Master told us to gnaw on the bad air!’

‘Go go go! Master says gnaw gnaw!’

‘What kind of behavior pattern is this?’ Zhou Xiangzhe looked at the thorns suspiciously. They'd even abandoned the half-eaten contaminant, charging full-speed outward.

Shen Wang was silent for a long moment. ‘Maybe the main body gave them new orders.’

‘Probably.’ Zhou Xiangzhe watched seriously as the thorns rushed to the entrance and probed the spatial barrier around.

‘But... am I overlooking something?’

Zhou Xiangzhe murmured under his breath, ‘Why is the bloodthorn inside an isolated Grade C contamination source? Wasn't it still in Central City a few days ago?’

‘How did it get in?’

Shen Wang glanced at Zhou Xiangzhe. ‘Maybe it was tricked in by a car radio broadcast, who knows.’

Zhou Xiangzhe was even more puzzled. ‘Contaminants can drive too?’

Shen Wang: ...

What a remarkably interesting point of focus.

/

Ming Guang stood at the entrance of the Qianzhen Residential Area, completely swamped with worry.

After learning Xu Yue was a contaminant, he hadn't acted rashly — not just because he was wary of a Grade A contaminant, but because this Isolation Barrier was Xu Yue's doing. He'd let Zhou Xiangzhe in, and only he could let Zhou Xiangzhe out. Ming Guang had thought that if Xu Yue kept hiding his identity in Sector S, he'd at least not refuse the Anti-Contamination Center's requests for now.

But he never expected Xu Yue to die, so casually and mysteriously, his room even engulfed in fire.

Then wouldn't Zhou Xiangzhe be stuck?! How were they supposed to break a Grade A Variant's spatial isolation?

‘We have to find a way to deal with this spatial barrier!’ Ming Guang said, frowning.

‘Zhou Xiangzhe has to come out safely.’

Everyone present knew the stakes. No one wanted to lose Zhou Xiangzhe, and they were even more worried he'd be contaminated. A Grade S Contaminant was no joke.

They were calculating cautiously when the staff member monitoring the data suddenly widened his eyes.

‘Report! Contamination Level rising! Very fast!’

‘It's rising too fast!’

Ming Guang hurried over to check the data, and indeed the Contamination Level was skyrocketing at a visible rate.

‘60%, 70%, 90%, 102%!’

Once the Contamination Level hit 100%, another metric started to alarm. The instruments showed a large-scale contaminant entity rampaging inside the Qianzhen Residential Area.

‘What... is this?’

Ming Guang stepped away from the instruments and stared wide-eyed at the gate of the Qianzhen Residential Area. Just then, he heard a sound like ripping silk, followed by the noise of shattered glass being thrown on the ground and ground underfoot — crisp yet with a slow, grating edge.

After that sound ended, countless blood-colored thorns burst out of the Qianzhen Residential Area, flailing wildly, bright petals instantly floating into the air.

‘Grade A Contaminant bloodthorn!’

‘Alert!’ Ming Guang shouted. ‘Everyone to battle stations!’

But to everyone's surprise, just as they readied their guns for a life-or-death fight, the erupting thorns shrank back — like some lookout critter that peeks its head out, sees people, and gets scared right back inside.

Ming Guang: ...

Damn, what an image.

Just then, two people appeared at the community entrance.

‘Two human signals detected!’

‘Medical team on standby!’

Ming Guang's eyes widened slightly. He watched the two familiar figures walk out, and finally let out a long breath of relief.

‘Zhou Xiangzhe! You finally decided to come out!’

Zhou Xiangzhe walked over and patted his shoulder. ‘Don't get so mad. People who get angry easily age faster.’

‘How can I not get angry with a captain like you!’ Ming Guang was about to explode. ‘What if you couldn't get out! Do you know Xu Yue is a contaminant!’

‘He's a contaminant?’ Zhou Xiangzhe thought for a moment. ‘His aura was indeed strange.’

‘You noticed?!’ Ming Guang raged helplessly. ‘And you still dared come in!’

Listening to them argue, Shen Wang turned to look inside the Qianzhen Residential Area.

Staff were dealing with the isolated contamination source, but without a spatial-type Mutant, they could only set up a regular isolation layer. Through that barrier, Shen Wang saw the thorns coiling inside — after tearing through the space, they'd gone back to contentedly gnawing on contaminants.

‘Mission complete!’

‘Master wants us to stay here and gnaw gnaw gnaw!’

‘Stay stay! Gnaw more, gnaw more!’

Shen Wang's lips curled up slightly.

The Grade A Contaminant bloodthorn stayed in an isolated Grade C contamination source. That way, it wouldn't be hunted down by all of Central City anymore, right?

...Probably.

Zhou Xiangzhe and Ming Guang were also looking at the thorns. After a moment, Ming Guang asked, ‘How did you get out? What's with these thorns?’

‘The Grade A Contaminant bloodthorn has taken over this contamination source.’ Zhou Xiangzhe answered. ‘Send someone to scout the bloodthorn's previous nest.’

‘Maybe something happened at its original location. I suspect it's moving, searching for a new nest. Otherwise, the bloodthorn's abnormal behavior is hard to explain.’

Ming Guang understood instantly. He nodded seriously. ‘I'll send someone right away.’

Shen Wang, who'd been listening to the whole exchange from the side: ...

Wait, what? Is it possible it didn't do anything at all? It's staying inside the contamination source, and you're making it even more of a conspiracy theory!