Chapter 4

Chapter 4

D591 Contaminant [Balloon Clown] is a Pollutant that suddenly appeared inside Central City over the past three months.

Unlike ordinary Pollutants, the clown is a randomly mobile Pollutant — it shows up at irregular times in random areas, and once it appears, its only action is to hand out balloons.

‘So far there have been thirty-two victims total. The moment they see the clown, every single one of them takes the balloon from its hand without meaning to. Taking the balloon seals the deal.’

The guard, Shi Haicheng, explained this to Shen Wang in the passenger seat as he drove.

‘The people who take a balloon fall into a state of extreme terror. First come hallucinations — they think the red balloon in their hand is their own head, that the clown is right beside them the whole time. They develop a fear of red, try to cover every red thing around them, and within three to five days they break down mentally and kill themselves.’

‘When the victims kill themselves, footage from nearby cameras always seems to catch a trace of the clown.’

‘Up to now, apart from you, only one victim is still alive.’

Shen Wang leaned back against the seat, thoughtful. ‘I didn't take the balloon. Does that mean there's nothing wrong with me?’

Shi Haicheng gave Shen Wang a strange look. ‘We hope so too.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Among the thirty victims who died, one was naturally sensitive. He sensed something was off the moment he met the clown and avoided touching the balloon. But he still developed all those symptoms, and three days later he jumped off a building.’

Shen Wang nodded, then asked seriously, ‘If I don't get those symptoms, will the clown come looking for me again?’

‘And if I want to find it, what would I have to do?’

Shi Haicheng: ……

Why did he get the feeling this guy had nothing to fear?

‘Also, where are we going right now?’ Shen Wang asked another question, neatly cutting off Shi Haicheng's spiraling thoughts.

‘……Back to the Security Force. They've got the safest Contamination isolation room there. It can slow down how fast the Contamination eats at you.’

Oh. An alternative kind of holding cell.

The Security Force falls under the Pollution Control Center, but it's merged with the old-era police stations. In different places it's split into different Security Forces, each with its own squad headquarters, and every Security Force headquarters is equipped with a Contamination isolation room to handle anyone newly Contaminated — a Distorted Human whose Distortion has just set in, or someone with Mental Aberration.

These isolation rooms are now widely used in the S-Zone and the Containment Centers.

‘Our Security Force is very professional. We've got dedicated medical staff who can handle any emergency.’ Shi Haicheng offered the reassurance out of habit — he said this to every victim.

‘Oh.’ Shen Wang answered carelessly. ‘It's my first time at a Security Force. Can I look around?’

Shi Haicheng fell silent again, starting to wonder whether he ought to contact the Containment Center.

So far, all thirty-one victims had been terrified of their unknown fate. They screamed and made scenes, saw a blade of grass and thought the clown had come to hunt them down. Shen Wang's calm and indifference was extreme — you could even call it a little eerie.

All he could conclude was: ‘the victim is already showing Mental Aberration.’

‘I just got out of the Containment Center yesterday.’ Shen Wang knew at a glance what he was thinking, so he explained offhandedly. ‘Per regulations, I'm supposed to report to the Pollution Control Center in three days to take a post — choose between joining the Security Force or the Dispatch Team. But today this happened and you hauled me back in.’

Shi Haicheng immediately understood what Shen Wang meant.

‘You're a Mutant? What kind of Talent did you Awaken?’

Shen Wang recalled the label the Containment Center had pinned on his Talent. ‘B031, I think.’

‘Fear Intimidation?’ Shi Haicheng sank into fresh confusion. ‘With a Talent like that, why would the clown still target you?’

Shen Wang: ……

So he answered, ‘My Talent just Awakened. I can't fully control it yet. Maybe right when the clown saw me, it happened to lose control.’

‘That makes sense. A lot of people have unstable abilities right after Awakening. Usually it only stabilizes about half a month later, when we can measure the specific Talent Threshold.’

Shi Haicheng paused for a second, then added, ‘As for your posting, that'll probably have to wait until the clown's file is fully logged.’

Mutants are people who, after being Contaminated, don't Distort but instead Awaken a Talent — in other words, Mutants almost never get Contaminated a second time.

He crossed Shen Wang off the victim list.

‘But since you haven't taken your post yet, you're still a civilian who needs protecting. Per regulations, you need to go into the isolation room for testing, and you can only leave once your Contamination Level is confirmed acceptable.’

/

Compared to the cramped Detainment Facility, the Security Force's isolation room was decently sized — it even had a matching sofa, a table, and a bed, and the door wasn't even locked. Two guards were on duty outside. It didn't seem so bad. And Shen Wang wasn't the only one in the room: a man in ragged clothes was huddled at the edge of the bed.

Shi Haicheng had mentioned there was one surviving victim here.

‘Hello.’ Shen Wang sat down on the sofa and greeted the man. ‘My name's Shen Wang. From today on we're roommates — looking forward to it.’

But the man suddenly clapped his hands over his ears and shrank even harder to the side.

‘Don't make any sound,’ he whispered to Shen Wang.

Shen Wang glanced at him and asked, his tone idle, ‘Why?’

‘It'll hear us.’ The man kept glancing left and right, his eyes brimming with terror, as if searching for some ferocious beast. ‘It's in here, watching us the whole time, playing hide-and-seek with us. If we slip up and make a sound and it finds us, it'll come kill us!’

Shen Wang followed his gaze and looked around the room once.

It was about fifteen square meters, no cabinet, no narrow space to hide in — even the bed was built straight into the floor. There was nowhere a person could hide.

So Shen Wang asked him, ‘Who is “it”? Where is it?’

‘The clown.’ The man still spoke to Shen Wang with the utmost caution. ‘It's everywhere. It follows me all the time. Now that I'm here, it's followed me here too!’

Shen Wang nodded. ‘Then tell me when it comes out. I happen to have some business with it.’

‘What?’

‘It still owes me something. I've got to go get it back.’

The man went quiet. He watched Shen Wang in trembling fear, looking like he wanted to sink into a crack in the floor — no telling now whether he was more afraid of the clown or of Shen Wang. In the end he yanked the quilt off the bed and pulled it over his own head.

Shen Wang didn't bother with him anymore. He just pulled out his phone and started reading the latest news.

Besides the just-concluded Class B Contaminant [Meiyu], the hottest news right now was Special Operations Team [Borealis] returning from a mission. They'd wiped out the Class A Contaminant [Hibernation] and pushed the zone humanity could manage another ten kilometers east. The Polar Star team's victory had everyone talking.

This was without a doubt thrilling news. The comments were full of praise and reverence from netizens, and Zhou Xiangzhe's name was splashed across every headline.

They hailed Zhou Xiangzhe as the bane of Pollutants, the worthy Guardian of Central City. The accompanying photo showed him cold and aloof, his back to the camera, his pitch-black combat uniform still dotted with blood — which only made him look taller and more remote, long legs, narrow waist, an ascetic air you could admire from afar but never touch.

Shen Wang couldn't help thinking of the Zhou Xiangzhe he'd met yesterday — few words, cold tone, but surprisingly not that hard to get along with, and a head of white hair, beautiful as anything.

Tch. He had to admit, a personality and a face like Zhou Xiangzhe's really packed a punch.

He scrolled down through the trending topics and landed on a video.

‘Captain Zhou! Why did you name your team [Borealis]? It's a question a lot of people are curious about!’

On screen Zhou Xiangzhe was still stern, but the moment he heard the question Shen Wang noticed his eyes change. If before they'd been hollow, now it was as though something had moved in. Shen Wang thought: this name must mean something to Zhou Xiangzhe.

‘To commemorate the Orphanage I came from, I took the “star” from its name and made a new one.’

‘And in the old era, the North Star was a marker of direction — it pointed the way home. I hope [Borealis] can be a marker of direction for the future too.’

Zhou Xiangzhe's answer sounded a lot like an official statement, but his eyes told Shen Wang he wasn't lying.

No one knew where Zhou Xiangzhe came from, because his personal file was top secret. This was the first time he'd revealed it publicly, and the first time everyone learned: he was actually an orphan.

‘Star?’ Shen Wang narrowed his eyes slightly.

Shen Wang had spent time in an Orphanage when he was young too, though only a few short years.

His illness wasn't serious in early childhood. Even during episodes, his strength was small enough that an adult could pin him down. But when he was little, the Principal worried he'd hurt the other children, so every time he had an episode he'd be locked in a separate room. Back then a boy as pretty as a porcelain doll would come bring him his meals.

That boy was a year older than him. He wasn't afraid of how violent he got during episodes — he'd even carefully spoon-feed him congee, one mouthful at a time.

They'd been close once, until that thing happened.

Star River Orphanage was eroded by a Class S Contamination Source. Everyone in the entire Orphanage vanished. He escaped the disaster because he'd gone to the Hospital for treatment. They said only one other person survived besides him, but Shen Wang didn't know who — because that child quickly vanished from everyone's sight too, as though they'd never escaped at all.

Shen Wang pressed the phone screen dark and lay down on his side on the sofa.

‘What a coincidence. We both have a “star” in there.’

‘Looks like we really are fated.’

……

In barely three hours Shen Wang's identity was verified. Once they confirmed his Contamination Level was only thirty-two percent, the Security Force let him out.

While Shi Haicheng signed and stamped the paperwork per procedure, he gave Shen Wang a rundown of the Security Force and the Dispatch Team, and recommended Shen Wang join the Security Force.

The enemies the Dispatch Team faced were extremely dangerous, and the casualty rate among Mutants was sky-high. Yes, a single deployment paid a very hefty sum, but in Shi Haicheng's view, the Security Force's pay wasn't bad either — and it was a lot safer.

Right as he was stamping it, a burst of noise came from somewhere in the Security Force. Several people were running in a frantic rush.

‘What's going on?’ Shi Haicheng asked them.

‘The on-duty staff went to deliver food. They got inside and only then found the isolation room empty — the guy's gone!’

‘What?!’ Even Shi Haicheng was stunned. ‘Two people on duty couldn't keep watch over one man?!’

Shi Haicheng quickly stamped the document Shen Wang had signed, ready to go help find the escaped victim — but at that moment Shen Wang spoke up.

‘Excuse me, where's the restroom?’

‘The restroom?’ Shi Haicheng pointed him in a direction. ‘Over there. You're done with the procedure, you can go.’

With that Shi Haicheng hurried off.

Hands stuffed in his pockets, Shen Wang hummed a song under his breath — no one could tell what song it was, the tune was simple too, but it was unexpectedly lovely, as if Shen Wang's voice had been born to sing.

He hummed it very softly, yet the guards he passed all glanced at him on reflex because of that little tune.

He walked all the way into the restroom like that. Shen Wang didn't use the toilet — he just twisted the faucet open like a child and watched the water gush out.

The sound of the running water and his humming blended into a strange sort of harmony.

Then with a ding the faucet shut off automatically, and an AI woman's voice issued its first warning: ‘Conserving water is everyone's responsibility. You have exceeded the water usage limit. This is your first warning.’

Shen Wang smiled a little. He turned to look at the restroom doorway. There, at the edge of the door, the trembling man stood wrapped in the quilt, watching him.

‘You came looking for me?’

The man's eyes were rimmed red, his voice stammering. ‘In my dreams — it's all it. It's chasing me, all I can do is run……’

‘It's been chasing me this whole time. Even when I fall asleep it follows me into my dreams.’

‘You said it owes you something. Do you have a way to make it leave?’

The man's gaze was unfocused, full of a shattered kind of despair. He was one step away from breaking down and killing himself. ‘I'm begging you, help me!’

‘Of course. I'll help you.’

Shen Wang walked over, took the man's hand, the curve of his lips just right — as if he were the most trustworthy person in the world.

‘All you have to do is lure it out for me. Once it comes out, I can have a little chat with it.’

‘And then you won't have nightmares anymore.’

The man nodded, dazed. His mind wasn't clear; there was only one voice telling him over and over: trust the person in front of you.

‘Okay.’

He decided to listen to the voice inside him.