Chapter 47

Chapter 47

There had always been a room for Zhou Xiangzhe at Team Two's headquarters. Qiang Li'an called it 'respect for Captain Zhou.'

But Zhou Xiangzhe always led his Squad in the field, and once a mission ended he went straight back to Central City — he only dropped by here now and then, never needing a place to stay. So the room had gathered dust. Zhou Xiangzhe didn't mind. He just rolled up his sleeves and gave it a quick once-over.

'Rest here for now,' Zhou Xiangzhe said. 'I hardly ever come here, so I'm not really sure what's in this room.'

'The bed's clean, though.'

Before he could say anything more, a team member came knocking. It turned out the Pollution Control Center had completely blown up after receiving the red alert — this time it wasn't the suspected Class A Contaminant Blood Thorns in Central City, but a real Class S Contaminant, an actual Pollutant of the highest order. Everyone still remembered what happened at Yutang South City three years ago.

So the higher-ups wanted to reach Zhou Xiangzhe immediately for a situation report.

Zhou Xiangzhe had no choice but to tell Shen Wang and leave the room — he didn't even have time to change his clothes.

Shen Wang watched him go, then let out a soft sigh.

'A Class S Contaminant, huh. I remember the Shinin Project said that after the Shinin Year, all the Class S Mutants and Class S Contamination Sources vanished together. All these years, only three new Class S Mutants have shown up, and the only Class S Contaminant was the Deer God Entity at Yutang South City.'

'This makes the second one.'

But this fish didn't seem inclined to confront humans head-on. While Shen Wang and Zhou Xiangzhe were inside the Pollution Source, it never once showed itself — not even a trace. Aside from the Distortion contamination, Zone 3 didn't have much else to watch out for; at most the contamination ran a little higher.

He really hadn't expected it to be a Class S Contaminant.

Shen Wang stretched lazily, then stood up to look around this little room that belonged to Zhou Xiangzhe. It was plain, no extra decorations — its owner clearly came so rarely that it had no real lived-in feel. There was a parcel off to one side, though.

He opened the parcel and found some of Zhou Xiangzhe's personal things: the essential two changes of clothes, some odds and ends of Pollution Inhibitor, plus Polar Star's Identification Plaque and his ID.

There was even an opened bag of candy.

He took out a piece, unwrapped it, and popped it in his mouth — the clean sweetness of fruit spread across his tongue. Then Shen Wang turned to look for the bathroom.

Right — he remembered he'd been rained on, so he needed a shower and a change of clothes. He hadn't brought any of his own, but no matter — Zhou Xiangzhe had packed two sets.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xiangzhe was taking the call back at headquarters.

The Pollution Control Center was even more on edge about the birth of a new Class S Contaminant than he'd imagined. Over and over they made Zhou Xiangzhe describe everything he'd seen, lay out every basis for his judgment, and confirm the odds that the thing was Class S.

Both Zhou Xiangzhe and Zhou Qing, the two Class S Mutants, put those odds at over eighty percent. But since the thing had never appeared, and showed no obvious sign of spreading its contamination beyond Zone 3, they couldn't tell what it was up to.

All they could say was that things called for more caution than before now — there was a Class S Contaminant inside a Class S Contamination Source.

The Pollution Control Center was deeply uneasy. Once they confirmed the contamination in Zone 3 had vanished, they wanted Zhou Xiangzhe, Zhou Qing, and the Talent Pollution Immunity Shen Wang to sweep Zone 3 one more time, to make sure no new leads got missed.

They finally reached a consensus. Zhou Xiangzhe wasn't in a great mood — anyone would feel rotten after wearing dirty, rain-soaked clothes for this long.

He was about to push the door open when he suddenly remembered there was someone in the room, and reflexively held back. Then he realized it didn't really matter — given the nature of their relationship — but even so, after three seconds of silence, Zhou Xiangzhe knocked softly anyway.

He thought: maybe Shen Wang was so exhausted he'd fallen asleep? It had been a Class S Contamination Source, after all.

'Shen Wang?' Zhou Xiangzhe said quietly. 'I'm back.'

No sound from inside.

Zhou Xiangzhe pushed the door open — and sure enough, Shen Wang had fallen asleep leaning against the chair.

His breathing was faint, his wet hair still seemed to be giving off a little steam, and he'd changed clothes. Zhou Xiangzhe held his breath. It took him a full minute to confirm that what Shen Wang was wearing were his clothes.

Zhou Xiangzhe and Shen Wang were about the same height, but his shoulders were broader, so his clothes hung looser on Shen Wang's frame — making those slender wrists and ankles look all the more delicate.

Asleep, Shen Wang hadn't quite done up the top button at his collar, and his collarbone showed under the white shirt.

If awake Shen Wang was a person with a strange charm, a bit of a wicked streak, like a cat in a bad mood — then asleep Shen Wang looked downright sweet. Stripped of those little malicious touches, the harmlessness of his face stood out all the more.

Zhou Xiangzhe couldn't stop himself from leaning in. He drew closer and closer to Shen Wang, those golden eyes mirroring his face.

It was a very, very light kiss, landing at the corner of Shen Wang's lips — as weightless as a falling petal.

Back when he faced the Deer God Entity, Zhou Xiangzhe had never once felt nervous. His heart had ached for what was coming, yet in the end he'd wept, his heart beating slow as something dead. Now, though, it pounded like he had three rabbits stuffed in his chest.

But just then, Zhou Xiangzhe heard a very faint laugh. He suddenly noticed that the Shen Wang he'd just stolen a kiss from had the corners of his mouth slightly turned up, and his breathing didn't sound like a sleeping person's at all. Zhou Xiangzhe felt his heart skip three full beats.

Shen Wang slowly opened his eyes, those black eyes meeting a thoroughly startled Zhou Xiangzhe.

'You—'

'Don't think I'm dirty?' Shen Wang asked him, half-joking.

Zhou Xiangzhe pressed a hand to his own heart. He didn't know what to say — his blank slate of romantic experience left him unable to put it into words. He only felt that this Shen Wang, who'd faked sleep waiting for him to come back and steal a kiss, was incredibly cute, incredibly... loved.

He reached out and pulled him into an embrace. One chair bearing the weight of two grown men — and this time he didn't hold back carefully, but kissed him openly, in plain sight.

'You're different.'

Zhou Xiangzhe murmured softly in his ear, 'Little Fifteen, only you are different.'

Even with mud all over you, in my eyes you're still utterly pure.

/

Because the Class S Contaminant business was too urgent, the Pollution Control Center didn't even give Zhou Xiangzhe and Shen Wang time to rest — they anxiously sent the two of them off to investigate first.

They could make up a few days' leave afterward!

When they regrouped, Shen Wang and Zhou Xiangzhe had each changed into a fresh set of clothes. The two of them waited beside Zone 3 under a single shared umbrella for Zhou Qing to arrive.

Zhou Qing and Qiang Li'an, who was handling the perimeter watch, looked at the two of them up ahead and clicked their tongues in amazement.

'Whoa, isn't that the captain's clothes Little Shen is wearing?'

'Already wearing each other's clothes...'

'And they're sharing one umbrella.'

'Not even hiding it from their teammates!'

The two of them shook their heads in unison.

Cursed lovebirds!

'What are you two doing?' Zhou Xiangzhe spotted them first. 'Zhou Qing, hurry up, time to move out.'

Zhou Qing walked over in his ragged monk's robe, not even bothering with an umbrella. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, this humble monk is coming. Disturbing folks' romancing brings down heaven's thunder — wasn't I just giving you two benefactors some space?'

But Shen Wang asked him, curious, 'You think we're romancing?'

'You're not?'

'Actually, I'm wearing Zhou Xiangzhe's clothes because I brought nothing with me this time and then it rained, so there was nothing for it but to wear his. Same with the umbrella — I've got no second set left to get soaked. As for calling him by his name, that's because I've got a bad temper and don't like using titles for anyone. Not even the captain.'

Shen Wang asked, 'Even after I say all that, you still think we're a couple?'

Zhou Qing: ...?

Huh? Had he guessed wrong? Were they really just an ordinary captain and team member?

And had he gotten so brain-poisoned by the Qiang ship that he'd actually believed they were a couple?

Just as Zhou Qing was starting to doubt himself, Shen Wang suddenly smiled.

'But — congratulations, you guessed right. We are a couple.'

Zhou Qing: ...Dammit, played by this guy!

Still, he now completely understood why Shen Wang said he had a bad temper. The man was one of only three Class S Mutants, and Shen Wang would joke with him whenever he felt like it, without a shred of awe.

Truly worthy of being a Mutant with Contamination Immunity.

Zhou Xiangzhe tilted the umbrella toward Shen Wang's side. 'Let's go. We'll head into Zone 3 now and confirm the situation. If it goes smoothly, we can be back in Central City tomorrow.'

'Really?' Shen Wang sounded a little doubtful. 'This is a Class S Contaminant, you know.'

'We've got Team Two and Zhou Qing here,' Zhou Xiangzhe said. 'The outer city is Zhou Qing's jurisdiction.'

Only then did Shen Wang remember that Zhou Qing, this fake monk, wasn't just a Class S Mutant — he was also the administrator of the outer city. By rights, everything in the outer city was his to manage.

'Ugh, don't get me started, you're killing me.' The moment it came up, Zhou Qing got irritable, dropping even the 'humble monk' bit. 'I swear thinking about it makes my Mental Aberration flare up again.'

'The outer city's a nightmare to manage to begin with, and there's a Class S Contamination Source in it too. It was working out fine having your Polar Star Team Two handle that source — but now of all times a Class S Contaminant has to crop up, and now I can't stay out of it. But a Class S Contaminant — how is that ever going to be easy to manage!'

Destroying the Class S Contaminant Deer God Entity was Zhou Xiangzhe's most glorious record — but it was a record he'd traded an enormous price for.

And Zhou Xiangzhe's success was a miracle that couldn't be replicated, since only his talent was [Devour].

After ranting for a while, Zhou Qing sighed. Compared to dealing with the Class S Contaminant later, right now they had to go survey Zone 3 for any leads that might exist — complaining here wasn't going to solve anything.

The three of them entered Zone 3 together.

Zhou Xiangzhe ran the Pollution Detector for readings as he walked.

'Only 4. Even against a normal environment that counts as a low Contamination Level. Way too clean.'

'Amitabha. This humble monk and Big Qiang have been here twice, and the environmental Contamination Level here surprised us every time — it never went above 8.' Zhou Qing slipped back into his old cadence. 'Benefactor Shen, you said you saw a river that doesn't exist. Where was this river?'

'Over there.' Shen Wang led them forward.

Heading the same way he had before, walking roughly the same path, Shen Wang stopped and looked ahead.

Ahead was an open clearing, the clean ground paved with asphalt. Only the half-collapsed buildings on either side told Shen Wang that a river truly had been here once — and that the river was now gone.

'Is this it?' Zhou Qing asked Shen Wang. 'This humble monk and Big Qiang walked all of Zone 3, and once we'd confirmed there was no river, we started looking for places a river might once have run. This was the only spot with obvious collapse marks, like something had washed it apart — so we figured this might be the river Benefactor Shen saw.'

'Yes, this is it.' Shen Wang nodded. 'At the time I followed the river upstream looking for its source, and that's how I ended up inside the Pollution Source.'

'A river connected to the Pollution Source — if that's the case, then maybe no Distorted Human actually vanished into thin air. Maybe they all followed the river into the Pollution Source,' Zhou Xiangzhe reasoned.

Zhou Qing nodded. 'That's possible too.'

But the river was gone now, and the Pollution Source had pulled back to its original boundaries — there was no need for them to risk their lives going inside it again.

They analyzed everything top to bottom with professional equipment and found not a single anomaly.

Just as Zhou Qing was figuring this trip would probably turn up nothing, same as the last two, Shen Wang suddenly picked something up off the ground — a sheet of paper.

It was a blue flyer.

'Don't go picking things up off the ground,' Zhou Xiangzhe said. 'It's not clean.'

'Oh, are you parenting now?' Zhou Qing cut in. 'Benefactor Shen, don't listen to him — pick up whatever you want!'

Shen Wang shot them both a speechless glance. 'No, hold on — don't you two notice there's something off about this flyer?'

'Something off how?' Zhou Qing and Zhou Xiangzhe came over and took the flyer from Shen Wang's hand.

The blue flyer was extremely crude — just a slogan and a single line with a phone number.

You Yu Logistics Company Opening Brochure

Honest prices for everyone, young and old! If you want it shipped, there's nowhere we can't deliver! 1,000 yuan per order!

For service, call: 3347519.

'What's wrong with this?' Nobody knew the outer city's chaos better than Zhou Qing. 'There's no telling how many of these little scam ads there are. Some even falsely claim they've got Mutants on the delivery crew, and in the end the people who believe it lose both their money and their goods. It's already a new breed of fraud.'

Shen Wang tapped his index finger on the two words 'You Yu.'

'So you two... had no idea the true form of the Zone 3 Contaminant is a fish?'

Zhou Xiangzhe and Zhou Qing both froze at once. 'What?'

'Inside the Pollution Source there were three high-level Pollutants in total. One was the Class B Contaminant [Dancing Doll], which I handled outside the Orphanage. Another was the Class A Contaminant [Phantom Butterfly], which Zhou Xiangzhe killed. The last one never showed itself — its codename's unconfirmed, but it's suspected to be a fish.'

'And this company is named exactly [You Yu] — fish at play. Plus this flyer hasn't got enough of a hook to it, like it was thrown together by some corporate drone whose boss dumped the work on them, fiddling around in a memo app.'

'Coincidence,' Zhou Qing said, mouth twitching. He found Shen Wang's description painfully vivid — a wave of resentment welled up out of nowhere.

He asked Zhou Xiangzhe, 'What do you think?'

Zhou Xiangzhe looked at the flyer but couldn't make a call either. He hadn't sensed any contamination on this sheet of paper, but he didn't think Shen Wang would bring it up at random.

'Let's call and ask.' In the end, Zhou Xiangzhe pointed at the phone number. 'It's the only way to make contact.'

'Works for me,' Zhou Qing agreed.

If it really was a scammer, then Zhou Qing could take down a fraud ring while he was at it — at least the phone bill wouldn't be wasted.

So Shen Wang dialed the number, and almost the instant it connected, the other end picked up.

'You Yu Logistics Company.' The voice on the other end was very low, the tone drawn out slow, and you could hear water trickling in the background — not the sound of a bathtub or a shower, more like a river flowing. Shen Wang and the other two exchanged a glance.

Zhou Xiangzhe immediately messaged Team Two, telling them to trace this number's location right away.

'You want to place an order?' the other end asked.

'Yeah, I want to place an order. But your flyer doesn't have an address on it, and there's no other way left to reach you. How am I supposed to get you the money and the goods?'

The other end went quiet for a few seconds. 'Then I'll come find you.'

'You sure? Where I am isn't a place just anybody can get into.'

'I'll come find you.' The voice on the phone was still calm.

Click — the call cut off, and at the same moment, Team Two's results came back.

'The number can't be traced,' Zhou Xiangzhe said. 'Stay alert from now on!'

Zhou Qing hadn't expected they'd actually stumble onto it like this. Calmly, he fished a set of wooden fish from the kasaya he carried, all set to chant scripture and purify the Contaminant right where it stood the moment it showed up.

The trickle of flowing water rose again — but this time not from the phone. It was real, sounding right in their ears.

Where moments ago there'd been empty ground, river water had now flooded in — with a few jade-green leaves floating in it, and even a few fish swimming about. Every fish was transparent, their bones glowing visibly inside, though the glow wasn't very obvious in daylight.

Drizzle pattered down onto the river water that had appeared from nowhere, sending out rings of ripples — it even looked a touch poetic.

Zhou Xiangzhe frowned slightly. He stepped forward, reflexively moving to shield Shen Wang, only for Shen Wang to grab his wrist and hold him back.

Zhou Xiangzhe turned and met Shen Wang's eyes. After three seconds he let out a faint sigh, stepped back, and stood beside Shen Wang again.

Zhou Qing, right there next to the two of them: ...

Dammit, lovebirds! Should I just leave?!

A man in black-framed glasses, a white shirt, and black trousers came walking across from the far side of the river. He looked sleep-deprived, radiating reckless resentment.

In an instant, the Pollution Detector in Zhou Xiangzhe's hand sounded an alarm.

It had only been eighty percent odds before, but the moment they saw this man, Zhou Xiangzhe and Zhou Qing both bumped it straight to 100%. No matter how you looked at it, this was a Class S Contaminant!

The higher a Contaminant's rank, the more human it was — and that wasn't only appearance, but the aura around it and even its capacity for thought. The [Deer God Entity] was a special Class S; it had no physical body, only a mind. You Yu was the first truly corporeal Class S they'd ever encountered.

The instant they saw it, even the air carried a sense of danger.

'Pollution Control Center?' You Yu looked at the insignia on the chests of these three.

'You dare come here — do you not know what's waiting to greet you?' Zhou Xiangzhe switched on the comms in his Earpiece to record this exchange, his golden eyes mirroring You Yu's figure.

Even with a Class S Contaminant before him, he didn't seem afraid — and Zhou Xiangzhe knew it wouldn't launch a sudden attack.

You Yu was clever. Zhou Xiangzhe was clever too.

The expansion of the Class S Contamination Source had been strange to begin with, then pulled back in within a short time, ultimately causing only a major Contamination Incident across three zones — especially Zone 3, where one cityful of people Distorted, one cityful walked into a nonexistent river, and yet another cityful mysteriously vanished.

If You Yu had only done that much, fine — but it had left behind a flyer to deliberately let them find it.

That could only mean You Yu had let itself be discovered on purpose.

'Looks like there's a clever one here.' You Yu picked up the blue flyer that had fallen to the ground. 'Did you read what's written on this?'

'I'm planning to open a company. Opening a company means you need customers. So — I'm planning to open a company among humans.'

Zhou Qing was the first to speak up, puzzled. 'You're a Contaminant, and you're doing business with humans?'

But You Yu didn't care in the slightest. It answered, 'When I was alive, I'd had enough of brainless bosses and brain-dead clients. I wanted to start my own company and run it myself — ideally the one and only of its kind in heaven or on earth, where I could curse out anyone I wanted and no one would dare talk back. Now I've got the means, so of course I'm doing it.'

The three present: ...

That's the reason?!

'Damn,' Zhou Qing cursed under his breath. 'Pretty inspirational, actually.'

'But nobody dares do business with a Contaminant.' Zhou Xiangzhe shot Zhou Qing a glance before speaking. 'Especially when you're a Class S Contaminant.'

'And then there's Zone 3,' Zhou Qing added. 'Everyone in this area Distorted because of your contamination — so where have they all vanished to now?'

Shen Wang stood there thinking for a moment, then spoke. 'Employees?'

Everyone present, You Yu included, looked at Shen Wang.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean — if you're opening a company, you'd need employees, right? Those people who vanished — they wouldn't have been turned into company employees, would they?'

You Yu tilted its head, the black-framed glasses making it look very much the intellectual. 'How could that be? I'm a fish with principles. In business, integrity is the baseline — there's no way I'd just go turning my clients into fish.'

'Of course, anyone bold enough to skip out on a bill probably shouldn't be afraid of turning into a fish.'

Zhou Qing intoned a Buddhist name, remarkably calm, not the least bit worried about the current situation.

He gazed at You Yu and said, 'We're asking you about the people of Zone 3!'

'I don't know.' You Yu just spread its hands. 'Think whatever you want — you've got no evidence anyway. Take me to court if you've got the guts.'

Hold on — wasn't it being way too human?

It could've just said outright that it had contaminated a whole city of people and turned them into frogs to staff its company, and nobody could've said a thing — a Contaminant is a Contaminant, and doing that kind of thing is standard issue for monsters. But it just wouldn't admit it, and instead went full slacker: take me to court if you've got the guts! You've got no evidence!

'Evidence?' Shen Wang perked up. 'I think I might have some.'

Everyone present froze for a beat.

'You do?'

Shen Wang pulled out his phone, opened his photo album, and brought up the pictures he'd taken earlier after spotting the river when he first entered Zone 3.

He hadn't taken many — mostly the river water and the Distorted victims. Everyone present could clearly see green, adult-sized frogs poking their heads out of the river water, staring at the photo-taking Shen Wang with lidless eyes.

'Does this count as evidence?'

You Yu looked at Shen Wang oddly. It took the black-framed plain-glass spectacles off its nose and asked, 'You're a Class S Mutant?'

'Of course not.'

'Then how were you able to walk all the way here?'

You Yu was genuinely baffled — and there was no sarcasm in the question.

'Even a Class A Mutant couldn't get to the river's edge, let alone take photos of it. This is my river. I know its degree of contamination better than anyone. Since you're not a Class S Mutant — then could it be you're a Class S Contaminant?'

'And how would a Contaminant manage to slip into the Pollution Control Center?'

'What are you talking about?' Zhou Xiangzhe's gaze went hostile. 'Shen Wang is a Mutant with Talent Pollution Immunity. He can't be contaminated.'

You Yu tilted its head, dangling its glasses in its hand. 'Oh? Is that so?'

A Mutant with Contamination Immunity? But as far as it knew, Contamination Immunity was only a Class A talent — and the gulf between Class A and Class S was vast. There was no way it could withstand Class S contamination.

A fellow Contaminant? A fellow Contaminant who could hide itself so well it had infiltrated the Pollution Control Center and could stand right alongside two other Class S Mutants?

You Yu looked at Shen Wang, trying to find on him the aura that belonged to a Contaminant.

And in the instant their eyes met, You Yu saw the corners of Shen Wang's mouth tilt up in a smile, a flash of red sweeping through his pupils — and that gaze carried a heavy sense of threat. For just a moment, You Yu felt as though it had seen someone familiar, that faint resemblance in the eyes and the features...

That Class S Mutant Lan, who'd nearly chased it down hacking away with a Fish-Killing Blade!

'But then again!' You Yu quickly backpedaled.

'The Contamination Immunity talent really is impressive. It may not be Class S, but I'd say it could pass for Class S!'

Almost provoked the connected relative of a hot-tempered client — that's a death wish!