Eternal Starry River

Chapter 42

The butterfly-formed figure kept hammering the glass. With every blow the world shuddered.

Zhou Xiangzhe wasn't scared, anyway. No matter what, he was a Grade S Mutant — even if this was a dream. And... he was starting to wonder whether this was really a dream at all.

Up ahead, the person he'd dismissed as an illusion was pulling him out of the shattered containment room. His hand was warm, that honest warmth seeping through, and Zhou Xiangzhe couldn't help but squeeze it a little tighter.

An illusion with body heat?

The butterflies scattered and then reassembled into a new shape. This figure was bigger, meaner, and it slammed into the glass again — crack. A sound like splintering glass reached their ears.

Shen Wang clicked his tongue. This guy really can't take a taunt, he thought. 'You think you can chase me into the painting?' I pretty much dared it to — and look, it's actually forcing its way inside.

'So clingy.'

Zhou Xiangzhe made a point of not letting go of Shen Wang's hand. They just stood there in the rubble, hand in hand, watching the butterfly thing slam against the glass.

'Why is it getting blocked?'

Shen Wang looked at him. 'Hm?'

'Isn't this the dreamscape it created? It's the master of the dream. Logically, it should be able to go anywhere inside it.'

Zhou Xiangzhe's expression was thoughtful. 'But there's a barrier here, blocking it.'

How was he supposed to explain that? This wasn't some dream barrier — it was the glass pane of a painting.

Thinking up an excuse was too much work, so Shen Wang just said, 'No idea.'

Zhou Xiangzhe glanced at him. His golden eyes were unreadable, and he smoothly changed the subject.

'The Grade A Contaminant [Phantom Butterfly] — its original form was probably a patient in a vegetative state at a hospice near the orphanage. Name was An Heng. The hospice was built around the same time as the orphanage, and he was transferred there not long after it opened.'

Shen Wang gave him an odd look. 'How do you know all that?'

'Certain… technical methods.'

'Technical methods?' A lightbulb went off for Shen Wang. 'By technical methods, you mean: before coming in here, you went through the ID records of every victim, memorised them all, and matched each one to the right person?'

Zhou Xiangzhe looked right back at him. 'Yeah.'

Well, alright then. People with perfect recall really can do whatever they want.

Shen Wang shrugged, motioning for him to go on.

'An Heng was a survivor from the Doomsday Era. He never experienced a Contamination incident, but when he was settling into Central City he was attacked by an Aberrant — struck on the back of the head. The hospital saved his life, but he ended up in a vegetative state.'

'After he became a vegetable, his family couldn't cover the medical bills, so they abandoned him at the hospital. Since his condition wasn't contamination-related, the hospital couldn't apply for funding, and beds were tight. Eventually they transferred him to the hospice I just mentioned.'

A hospice — as the name implies, a place where people who are about to die get sent.

It served the old-world function of letting the dying feel as much warmth as possible in their final days, and further preventing post-mortem contamination.

But An Heng never died. He lay in that bed for two, maybe three years. The hospice's rudimentary equipment could detect that his mind was active, even though he couldn't wake — not quite dreaming, but with the meagre subsidies far from enough to give him any real medical support.

Then the Contamination Burst hit, and the orphanage and that nameless hospice were both swallowed whole.

'How can you be sure it's him?'

'Because he was the only vegetative patient in that hospital.'

A contaminant's infection pathway is often tied to its human-life experiences. The Anti-Contamination Center calls it 'psyche dictates aberration direction'. So [Phantom Butterfly] had to be connected to sleep and dreams — and among all the victims, the only one that fit was the long-unconscious vegetative patient.

Shen Wang nodded. 'So its real body was at that hospice?'

'I went to check. It wasn't there.' Zhou Xiangzhe shook his head. 'That's why I think its real body is inside the dream.'

Those earlier words really had been an excuse. Zhou Xiangzhe hadn't thought it through much — he'd just figured he could find the contaminant's true form inside the dream, so he walked in.

That was Zhou Xiangzhe's flaw. He'd always struggled to care about himself. Too many things he'd just gotten used to doing, used to accepting — the way everyone said, 'Zhou Xiangzhe is an S-class mutant, nothing bad will happen to him.' He'd started believing it too: he's an S-class mutant, how bad could it really get?

'Has no one ever told you how reckless you are?'

Shen Wang tugged him further out, asking as they walked.

'Ming Guang yells at me all the time.' Zhou Xiangzhe casually aired some of Polaris's internal 'conflicts'.

'Besides Xiao Shiwu, he's the only one who thinks I do things wrong.'

Yeah, Shen Wang thought, that vice-captain Ming Guang is practically Polaris's den mother by now.

Got to curse out the captain every time he crosses the line, and manage three whole squads on top of it. After all these years and he still hasn't gone bald — must've inherited some truly superior hair-growth genes. People in the old days would've been dying of envy.

He even instituted the only hard rule in the entire squad just to keep Zhou Xiangzhe in check: [Ensure your own safety at all times during missions.]

And even that didn't put a dent in Zhou Xiangzhe's 'self-sacrificing' virtue.

Who knows how many times Ming Guang's been furious enough to faint.

Right then, a violent noise came from the distance — the sound of glass splintering and giving way. Shen Wang and Zhou Xiangzhe both looked back on instinct.

After watching for a few seconds, Shen Wang said, 'Let's go.'

'We're just leaving it?'

'Yeah.' Shen Wang was totally unruffled. 'Let it break. Like you said, this is just a dream anyway.'

Zhou Xiangzhe threw one last glance over his shoulder at the blocked-off butterflies, then turned and followed Shen Wang.

Meanwhile, crack — the butterflies finally shattered that layer of glass. The human shape they'd formed split into a manic grin, its twisted face horrifying. They surged forward, rushing at Shen Wang and Zhou Xiangzhe — and then slammed, clean and definitive, into a second layer of glass.

The impact scattered the butterflies completely. They flopped to the ground in a chaotic mess, and when they pulled themselves back into human form, their features were sliding around in pure fury.

A flash of purple flickered in Shen Wang's eyes. He shot the butterflies a sly grin.

Who says a picture frame can only have one layer of glass? People making those liquid shaker charms use three!

They finally made it out of the containment center, leaving those glass-bashing butterflies behind, and Shen Wang let out a breath — only to realize he didn't recognize the surroundings at all.

That made sense. This was a painting based on Zhou Xiangzhe, after all. Everything it showed was the places and scenes most important in his memory. Apart from that childhood in the orphanage, Zhou Xiangzhe's upbringing and Shen Wang's couldn't have been more different.

One grew up long-term in a hospital, the other inside the Anti-Contamination Center.

Shen Wang had seen all the human drama a hospital could hold — the way people move on, the way they vanish like tea going cold. It had shaped him into someone who smiled easily but kept his emotions shallow. He knew too well how feelings could wound, and he didn't give them away lightly.

Zhou Xiangzhe, though? He'd walked every inch of this country's soil, always facing the tragedies contamination wrought. Step by step he'd grown, and step by step he'd sealed off his own heart, growing quieter, colder, more merciless. It wasn't who he wanted to be — the world had forced him into it.

Even now, Zhou Xiangzhe was Central City's strongest guardian, while Shen Wang was… well, a semi-contaminant playing at a spy game.

So Shen Wang had never lived through the things Zhou Xiangzhe had. He couldn't truly reach into his past.

'What is this place?'

'The psychological counselling room.' Zhou Xiangzhe's voice came suddenly.

Zhou Xiangzhe really did know this place well. He turned a corner and led Shen Wang through a door.

Whitewashed walls, but full of green plants. A big bookcase crammed with medical texts. A desk, neatly stacked with documents — looked like patient files, but arranged differently from what Shen Wang remembered. Overall: it felt like a hospital and yet not like one.

Shen Wang looked at him. 'Psychological counselling?'

'More like the mandatory checkpoint for mutants showing psychological abnormalities after Doomsday, rather than old-world counselling.' Zhou Xiangzhe took in the room. 'This was the counselling office I used to visit all the time.'

'You had to go to psychological counselling?'

“Mutants with a contamination level over fifty all have to come,” Zhou Xiangzhe answered. “But ever since I devoured Deer God, I haven't been back. Whenever something goes wrong, I head straight to the Sector S Isolation Barrier.”

Shen Wang knew of the place.

In a sense, mutants were also contaminated individuals — they just hadn't turned into contaminants, and they didn't spread contamination. But the contamination still affected their minds. Once a contamination level surpassed 50, psychological abnormalities would manifest. So the Anti-Contamination Center set up counselling rooms specifically for mutants between levels 50 and 70.

Mutants in that stage had to check in once a month. Not just to help them manage their emotions, but to closely track the direction of their psychological aberration.

It was also meant to build up data for treatment in Sector S.

He was just surprised that someone of Zhou Xiangzhe's level had to show up at the counselling room too.

Shen Wang walked over to the innermost desk, picked up the top patient file, and flipped it open. His eyes widened — the file had Zhou Xiangzhe's name on it. It was Zhou Xiangzhe's own record.

Zhou Xiangzhe noticed his expression and came over, seeing his own data.

'This is from three years ago,' Zhou Xiangzhe said. 'It's changed a lot since then.'

'Three years ago?' Shen Wang turned another page and saw the contents.

[Checkup #1: Zhou Xiangzhe, S-class Mutant. Contamination Level: 58%. No psychological abnormalities.]

The next two pages were identical to the first — same contamination level, same lack of abnormalities.

Now that he thought about it, Zhou Xiangzhe really was the only mutant Shen Wang had ever seen who didn't develop psychological abnormalities at high contamination levels.

Normally, most mutants start showing issues once they pass 50%. Some even lose it the second they hit 50. That kind of irreversible psychological damage couldn't be avoided, not even by S-class mutants. But somehow, Zhou Xiangzhe had never once shown the slightest sign of it.

Whether it was 58% three years ago or his current baseline of 80%, Zhou Xiangzhe stayed rational and clear-headed, as always.

He really was unique.

Shen Wang kept flipping. This time he turned the pages fast, only pausing when the assessments looked different.

He kept going until the tenth entry, and finally saw something new.

[Checkup #10: Zhou Xiangzhe, S-class Mutant. Contamination Level: 58%. No psychological abnormalities.]

[Zhou Xiangzhe's data is extremely unusual. Recommend detailed examination in Sector S. Whether this is a hidden-type psychological anomaly or a genuine lack of abnormality, both would carry high research value.]

[Request for individual study.]

'Did you go?' Shen Wang asked him.

Zhou Xiangzhe looked at the comment. After a few seconds, he said, 'Turn to the next page.'

'The next page?'

Shen Wang flipped it, and saw the new, different data.

[Checkup #11: Zhou Xiangzhe, S-class Mutant. Contamination Level: 65%. No psychological abnormalities.]

[Contamination level has risen sharply. Subject no longer suitable for study. Application withdrawn.]

'Why'd your contamination level spike all of a sudden?'

'Because…' Zhou Xiangzhe went quiet for a moment, then said, 'I'd just found word of you at last.'

Shen Wang looked at him, astonished.

Zhou Xiangzhe had been looking for Xiao Shiwu for a very long time. But in the chaotic population flow of the Doomsday Era, it was nearly impossible to pin down one person's trail. On top of that, Xiao Shiwu kept getting shuttled between hospitals for his illness, which made him even harder to track. And then, at this point, Zhou Xiangzhe finally found Xiao Shiwu's last known location: a hospital destroyed in a contaminant attack.

For Zhou Xiangzhe, that was a devastating blow.

He'd spent so many years searching for Xiao Shiwu. That longing had crept into his very bones, a poison with no antidote.

He'd finally found the place, only to discover the person he was looking for had already gone missing in the contaminant attack — officially registered as deceased. Zhou Xiangzhe couldn't accept that. His emotions bottomed out so badly his contamination level skyrocketed, surging to 65% in just a few days.

Even though he still showed no psychological abnormalities, the counselling room no longer dared to send Zhou Xiangzhe to Sector S for examination.

The bonds between people really are something mysterious.

When Shen Wang left, he hadn't known that Zhou Xiangzhe was Xiao Qi, and he hadn't known Zhou Xiangzhe was looking for him. His condition was too unique, his treatment too strange — if he'd stayed in Central City, the Anti-Contamination Center would've found him sooner or later. Then it would've been the Science Academy for him, same as Lan. Shen Wang saw his future clearly and knew what choice was better for him.

So he left Central City and went Outside the High Wall, hunting contaminants while probing the secrets of his own body.

His reunion with Zhou Xiangzhe had been pure coincidence.

If it hadn't been for his episode luring the Grade B Contaminant [Plum Rain] toward Central City, and then running into Zhou Xiangzhe right in the containment center — with the kind of missions Polaris takes on, they probably never would've met again.

But they did meet. That meant their fate wasn't over yet.

Shen Wang flipped another page of the file. A sharp smell of ink made him frown — the next sheet was covered in ink stains, and the stains were spreading visibly, eating through the whole file in an instant. Shen Wang pulled his hand back a little too slowly, and his fingers got stained too.

He frowned. 'What the—'

'Anything can happen in a dream.' Zhou Xiangzhe, on the other hand, was completely calm. He even took Shen Wang's hand, pulled a wet wipe from his own pocket, and started cleaning the ink off his fingers.

Shen Wang watched, bemused, as the germaphobic Zhou Xiangzhe carefully wiped away every trace of ink. The wipe was warm — probably picked up his body heat from being in his pocket. After he was done, it left a faint dampness, still a little wet-looking, and Zhou Xiangzhe still wasn't satisfied. He pulled out a fresh wipe, ready to go again.

'Can I ask you something?'

Shen Wang didn't pull his hand back. He just let Zhou Xiangzhe keep wiping, a faint edge of inquiry in his eyes.

'With a thing about dirt like that, can you even date someone?'

'When you're in love — kissing, going to bed with the person — how do you see that?'

Zhou Xiangzhe's hand froze. He probably never expected a question like that.

Sure, he had a bit of a neat-freak streak, but it wasn't that extreme.

'Depends who it is.' After thinking it over seriously, Zhou Xiangzhe answered. 'If it's you, I wouldn't mind.'

Now it was Shen Wang's turn to choke.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'You've bitten me before.' Zhou Xiangzhe's tone was very casual. 'Human blood is dirtier than any normal bodily fluid exchange, and I didn't mind you biting me.'

Shen Wang: …?

He couldn't help but laugh. 'Your standard for a lover is whether you'd let them bite you?'

'It's my standard for you.' Zhou Xiangzhe sighed. 'You're the only one with this weird habit of biting people out of nowhere.'

That came out intensely loaded.

Shen Wang raised an eyebrow. He was wondering what headspace Zhou Xiangzhe was in right now — was he still treating him like an illusion, so he just let slip everything he'd normally keep back?

But honestly, Shen Wang knew Zhou Xiangzhe was sharp. He had flawless recall, a clear mind, and he picked up on a lot of details. The reason he never chased them down wasn't because he didn't notice — it was because he chose not to. That was the kind of person who could stand steady as Central City's strongest.

So… was that loaded remark meant for him to hear or not?

Shen Wang pulled his hand back. He looked Zhou Xiangzhe in the eye and said one line.

'How come I don't just go around biting random people, then?'

'No one else would put up with it without reporting you to Sector S.' Zhou Xiangzhe sighed again. 'Don't do it anymore. You could really get reported.'

The psychological issues among mutants were getting worse and worse. Central City had already seen several cases of high-contamination mutants going berserk and attacking ordinary citizens. Some even fled the city to avoid Sector S — not daring to run too far, just hiding out by The Outer Wall — and caused plenty of trouble.

So the Anti-Contamination Center had no choice but to tighten management on high-contamination-level mutants.

Shen Wang's casual biting? A guaranteed report if anyone ever witnessed it, and he'd be marched through Sector S, the containment center, the psychological control center — the whole circuit.

'Didn't I already tell you? If I feel like biting someone, I'll let you know ahead of time.' Shen Wang was as unconcerned as ever.

With a bit of a wicked edge, he added, 'Thank you, Captain.'

Zhou Xiangzhe: …

He sighed, chose not to pursue that topic, and turned to toss the used wet wipe in the bin.

The bin was right next to the window. After pitching the wipe, Zhou Xiangzhe pulled the curtain aside. He looked out at the scene, and then his gaze locked onto one spot.

Shen Wang walked over. 'What are you looking at?'

Zhou Xiangzhe's brow furrowed. A flicker of emotion crossed his golden eyes. He seemed to mull it over for a second, then vaulted out the window.

Shen Wang stood there, watching him land below and sprint toward whatever he'd seen.

'Where are you going?'

Shen Wang looked up at the spot Zhou Xiangzhe had been staring at. His eyes widened. He saw a familiar building — not the orphanage, and not the hospice where Phantom Butterfly's real body might be, but a place carved into his very bones.

The hospital that had been destroyed in the Grade C Contaminant attack!

Shen Wang immediately vaulted out the window and ran after Zhou Xiangzhe.

The hospital was extremely close — just a few hundred meters away. Shen Wang charged through the main entrance. This was a painting built from Zhou Xiangzhe, and Zhou Xiangzhe wasn't a contaminant, so there shouldn't be anything else here. The whole hospital was empty.

'Zhou Xiangzhe!' Shen Wang shouted his name.

No answer. Just a faint pulse of contamination from somewhere up ahead.

Shen Wang was highly sensitive to contaminants. He could clearly sense that someone's contamination level was climbing in that direction.

He turned and headed toward it. The closer he got, the clearer the faint shrieks became.

Finally, after exiting the corridor, Shen Wang found Zhou Xiangzhe.

Zhou Xiangzhe was gripping a contaminant by the throat with one hand, his fingers covered in black, viscous liquid. The thing he was choking let out horrible, piercing screams. Its whole body was corroding. And it wasn't just the contaminant — the entire building was trembling and losing color, unable to bear the intensity of the contamination.

'Zhou Xiangzhe!' Shen Wang rushed over and grabbed Zhou Xiangzhe's hand. The contamination suppressor was gone from his finger.

'What are you doing?'

Zhou Xiangzhe looked at Shen Wang and blinked. 'I'm fine.'

'Where's the contamination suppressor?'

'…In my pocket.'

Shen Wang fished the suppressor out of his pocket and hastily slid it back onto Zhou Xiangzhe's finger. The corrosion around them finally stopped. Only the contaminant Zhou Xiangzhe had been strangling was left so corroded that its form was barely visible.

Zhou Xiangzhe was still perfectly calm. He spun the ring on his finger, adjusting it to sit where it looked and felt right.

Shen Wang nearly laughed from sheer frustration. 'You do know this is a dream, right?'

'I know.' Zhou Xiangzhe finished adjusting the ring and looked up to meet Shen Wang's eyes. 'But I can't help it. Even in a dream, there are some things I just want to do.'

'When I found out Xiao Shiwu had gone missing, I lost count of how many times I asked myself: why was I too late? If I'd been here then, could I have stopped that contaminant?'

Zhou Xiangzhe looked down at what was now barely a human-shaped contaminant. 'I can only make it happen in a dream.'

It hit Shen Wang in that moment: he meant a lot more to Zhou Xiangzhe than he'd ever imagined.

The orphanage in his dream — he hadn't gone inside. The director had told him to leave, so he'd turned and walked away. The people gossiping at the containment center — he hadn't cared; they were just talk. But the contaminant in this hospital — that one he had to kill at least once, even if it meant using a gift he wasn't supposed to use, even if he knew this was a dream.

'The vice-captain told me to keep an eye on you.' In the end, Shen Wang could only say, 'You use your gift again and land yourself back in Sector S, the vice-captain's going to make me write a self-criticism report.'

'He wouldn't dare.' Zhou Xiangzhe shook his head. 'As long as I'm here, no one's going to make you write a word.'

'You're so careless about yourself again.'

'I'll try to change.'

Zhou Xiangzhe took hold of Shen Wang's hand. His movements were very, very light — like he was afraid of startling something awake. His normally cool voice carried a trace of hesitation.

He'd never been this nervous before. He'd never wanted an answer more than he did right now.

'The contamination didn't affect you. So you're not a dream, and you're not an illusion, are you?'

'Shen Wang… is it really you?'