Shen Wang climbed out of the orphanage through the window. He took one last look back at the orphanage, which shone brightly in the darkness like a full moon.
The butterflies didn’t continue to linger around the orphanage. After Shen Wang left, they tried to follow him.
The lights flickered, and the broken window repaired itself, sealing all the butterflies inside the orphanage.
The director had blocked them.
Shen Wang clicked his tongue and turned to walk in the direction the director had pointed.
As he walked, he pressed the communicator on his ear. “Hey, can you hear me? I’ve encountered the pollutant from Area 1. I need specific information.”
The earpiece was dead silent. No sound came through. Shen Wang couldn’t help but complain again.
“Completely useless at a time like this. What’s the point of the Academy of Sciences?!”
Shen Wang wasn’t responsible for Area 1. The information he had received mostly pertained to the S-level pollution source and Area 3, with only a little bit about Area 1.
The Pollution Control Center believed that the pollutant in Area 1 was at least A-level.
Countless people had died silently in their sleep, and workers had also discovered wandering dead people in the polluted area. However, the bodies of the deceased were still lying in the morgue, so those wandering figures couldn’t be the dead themselves.
Then what were they?
A worker had tried to approach one of these phantom figures, but as soon as they got close, the figure dissipated and reappeared elsewhere, as if it were just a purposeless image.
If it weren’t for the fact that this worker had mysteriously fallen asleep and died that very night…
The Pollution Control Center immediately went on high alert and ordered that no one should come into contact with these things.
The reason Qiang Li’an had been assigned to this area was also because of this. Qiang Li’an’s ability was called [Mischievous Child], which sounded strange and indeed was.
Despite his burly build, Qiang Li’an had loved sewing since childhood and had excellent sewing skills. The dolls he made himself were incredibly cute and delicate. When he awakened his ability, he unexpectedly discovered that his dolls could come to life and move according to his will, acting like his avatars.
This allowed him to avoid direct contact with pollution, as he could control the dolls instead.
This also made his fighting style vastly different from others. He would throw out his handmade dolls and shout, “Mischievous Child!”
And then the dolls would stand up.
Shen Wang sighed, deciding not to dwell on it any longer. For now, he could only try to figure things out on his own.
The path ahead was pitch black, with nothing visible. Only the distant lighthouse emitted light. Shen Wang wasn’t sure if the direction the director had pointed was toward the lighthouse or somewhere else, but in this pitch-black night, with only the lighthouse shining in the distance, anyone would inadvertently veer toward it while walking.
“Nothing else to do,” Shen Wang said. “Let’s just walk and see.”
He took a step forward, but as soon as he did, a small, icy hand grabbed his.
Shen Wang paused, looking down to see who had taken his hand.
Little Twenty-One looked up at him innocently, his big eyes filled with curiosity. He said, “Big brother, follow me.”
“What?”
“The director asked me to guide you,” Little Twenty-One said, pulling him forward. As the child ran, the path behind him began to light up, finally revealing a clear road.
The little boy pulled Shen Wang along, running until he was out of breath. Then he stopped and pointed ahead.
“I can only take you this far. Remember to keep going forward. Someone else will be waiting for you up ahead.”
After saying this, Little Twenty-One looked at Shen Wang curiously. “The director said you’re Little Fifteen. Little Fifteen, will you bring me an umbrella next time you come? I want an umbrella too.”
Shen Wang reached out and ruffled his hair. “If I can come back, I will.”
“Great!” The child cheered before disappearing into the darkness.
Shen Wang continued forward. After just a few steps, he saw a new figure in the darkness—the female teacher who had watched him for a long time at the orphanage gate.
The teacher smiled at Shen Wang. “Come, this way.”
“Teacher.”
“It’s so nice to hear Little Fifteen call me teacher again,” the teacher said, wiping her eyes.
She was smiling the whole time, clearly happy to guide Shen Wang further. Shen Wang didn’t say anything more, simply following her.
Despite being pollutants, despite being monsters transformed by pollution after death, they now gave Shen Wang the strongest sense of security.
“Is it okay for you to come out?”
“It’s fine. The director is holding the fort behind us, so we can come out for a walk occasionally,” the teacher said with a smile. “Don’t worry. We’re one with the director. Even if those butterflies are A-level pollutants, they can’t easily erode us.”
“But child, I can only take you this far. Keep going forward. Someone else will be waiting for you.”
Shen Wang nodded, thanked the teacher, and continued on his way.
Waiting for him ahead was a little girl. Shen Wang had almost forgotten who she was, but she gave him a bright smile.
One by one, they guided Shen Wang forward, then disappeared into the darkness.
The children knew nothing, and when they met him, they would curiously ask if he was really Little Fifteen. Why had Little Fifteen suddenly grown so tall? The teachers, who understood the situation better than the children, would share as much information as they could before leaving.
In this S-level pollution source, apart from the director and Little One, there were two other pollutants.
They were on either side of the orphanage, using it as a barrier and never encroaching on each other’s territory.
The orphanage in the middle still stood strong due to the director’s persistence. The two pollutants disdained fighting over such a small area, as they were more interested in the human world outside the pollution source.
Thus, they coexisted peacefully, and the people in the orphanage only vaguely knew that they might be a butterfly and a fish.
The last child to guide Shen Wang was Little Twenty-Nine, a small girl who asked for a hug as soon as she saw him.
Shen Wang picked her up, and she happily whispered in his ear that she had spoken to Little Seven. She had found a stranger’s phone, and when it rang again, she answered it.
It was Little Seven on the other end, so she greeted him.
But Little Seven didn’t respond to her words, which made her very angry.
Shen Wang listened to her chatter the whole way. Finally, Little Twenty-Nine pointed ahead and said, “It’s there.”
“Little Seven is in that place.”
She struggled out of Shen Wang’s arms and waved at him. “Goodbye, Little Fifteen!”
“You have to find Little Seven!”
With that, she skipped back into the darkness.
Shen Wang looked at the endless darkness behind him, a hint of a smile in his eyes.
“Goodbye,” Shen Wang said. “We’ll definitely meet again.”
The darkness in front of him dissipated, revealing a door. The doorknob was carved in the shape of butterfly wings, looking both luxurious and beautiful.
Zhou Xiangzhe hadn’t been able to enter the orphanage because everyone there instinctively remembered that they had pushed Little Seven out of the terrifying orphanage and didn’t want him to return. When Zhou Xiangzhe left, he might have been sad, but because of this, he didn’t know that ‘Little One’ in the orphanage had turned into a pollutant, nor did he know that his umbrella no longer existed.
And now, it was the people of the orphanage who had led Shen Wang to Little Seven.
Shen Wang pushed the door open. With a creak, the door swung open, and Shen Wang immediately saw Zhou Xiangzhe’s back.
“Zhou…”
Shen Wang’s voice trailed off. He frowned because he realized that the person in front of him didn’t seem to be Zhou Xiangzhe himself.
Instead, it seemed more like an illusion?
Zhou Xiangzhe, dressed in black combat gear, was observing his surroundings. Shen Wang followed his gaze and saw what could only be described as artistic carvings. Countless butterflies were stacked together to form an extravagant and gorgeous chandelier, with real butterflies resting on it.
The winding staircase’s handrail was also covered in carvings of butterflies, each one in a different pose, as if ready to bloom.
“Headquarters, headquarters,” the illusionary Zhou Xiangzhe was trying to communicate, but it seemed there was an issue with the connection.
“Discovered the lair of an A-level pollutant, existing in the form of a butterfly.
Preliminary judgment suggests a connection to the pollution in Area 1. Temporarily named [Illusory Butterfly].”
Zhou Xiangzhe repeated this several times, but when no one responded, he gave up and turned to climb the stairs.
Shen Wang followed behind him, watching from the steps below as Zhou Xiangzhe’s silver hair swayed with his movements. A few butterflies quietly landed on his hair, making the otherwise simple hairstyle look more… elaborate.
Of course, it wasn’t the kind of elaboration Zhou Xiangzhe would like.
He was picky about clothing styles and liked to modify pollution suppressors into inconspicuous accessories, but he disliked overly intricate things. These butterfly decorations were definitely something he would hate.
He didn’t notice the butterflies on his hair and continued climbing the stairs.
The entire lair was almost empty except for the butterflies. Zhou Xiangzhe even began to doubt whether this was really the pollutant’s lair.
But just then, he heard a crack. He drew his gun and walked toward the source of the sound, aiming the muzzle forward.
What he saw next was utterly disgusting.
A towering tree stood in the center of the second floor, its branches lush and leaves vibrant green. But on each leaf lay a caterpillar, voraciously devouring the foliage. With every bite, the tree let out a human-like wail.
The wailing was incessant, but the caterpillars only ate more eagerly.
Zhou Xiangzhe frowned and took a step back. Shen Wang knew exactly how he felt.
After all, Little Seven had always hated bugs. He had a bit of a cleanliness obsession and couldn’t stand small creatures with more than four legs—or no legs at all.
Butterflies were at least aesthetically pleasing, but caterpillars were a challenge to his tolerance.
“What is this tree?” Despite his disgust, Zhou Xiangzhe maintained the sharp instincts of an excellent operative.
“What are these bugs eating?”
“It’s like they’re devouring human souls,” Shen Wang answered from behind Zhou Xiangzhe, though he knew this was just an illusion. “I don’t sense any pollution from this tree, but these caterpillars are all parasitic pollutants.”
Zhou Xiangzhe observed the tree for a long time. Finally, he took a few photos of it and continued upstairs.
The towering tree extended to the third floor, where its treetop could still be seen, but there were no caterpillars here.
Zhou Xiangzhe let out a small sigh of relief, a gesture that made Shen Wang chuckle.
The Guardian of Central City—but with the fear of bugs.
Just as Zhou Xiangzhe was about to leave, a sharp scream came from the tree. He immediately returned to his previous position, observing the top of the tree.
A bubble slowly emerged from the tree, containing a curled-up man. He let out a piercing scream, like a baby trying to be born but forcibly kept in the womb. His eyes were closed, and his body was melting and splitting apart, dissolving into a pool of blood right before Zhou Xiangzhe’s eyes.
The tree quickly swallowed the bubble, and more leaves sprouted from its branches.
“Mutant” Shen Wang said. “That was a mutant who was swallowed by pollution.”
Zhou Xiangzhe seemed to hear something. He turned and aimed his gun at Shen Wang, his golden eyes empty. He coldly stared ahead and pulled the trigger.
Shen Wang tilted his head to avoid the bullet, his expression darkening.
“You dare shoot at me?”
“Everyone in the orphanage sent me here to find him because they all know Little Seven would only welcome me. They don’t believe Little Seven would dare shoot at me.”
“What are you? Using his face, yet trying to hurt me?”
The ‘Zhou Xiangzhe’ sneered at Shen Wang. It fired again, laughing maniacally as it did so. Deformed butterfly wings sprouted from its back, making it look like a deranged lunatic.
The bullets were blocked by the thorns. Shen Wang stepped forward, grabbing the gun in ‘Zhou Xiangzhe’s’ hand and slamming his knee into its arm.
It screamed and let go, the gun falling to the ground with a crisp sound. Shen Wang stepped on the gun, crushing it under his foot. The gun turned into a dead butterfly, mangled beyond recognition.
‘Zhou Xiangzhe’ clutched its arm, its eyes filled with malice as it looked at Shen Wang.
“He won’t wake up” ‘Zhou Xiangzhe’ said.
“You’re too late.”
“He’ll soon be lost in the dream, trapped here forever.”
Shen Wang opened his right hand, and thorns sprouted from his sleeve, standing in stark opposition to the ‘Zhou Xiangzhe’ in front of him.
Shen Wang coldly stared at it. “That’s not for you to decide.”
“I know what you fear, and I know what you worry about, because I am that kind of pollution,” ‘Zhou Xiangzhe’ said, staring at Shen Wang. “What a pity, I can’t drag you into the dream. So I can’t deal with you that way. You’re too strange.”
“But it’s fine. You’ll despair eventually.”
Shen Wang thought: Human temperament is truly a mysterious thing.
Despite having the same appearance, Zhou Xiangzhe himself was aloof and noble, with a touch of gentleness when facing Shen Wang. He was a beauty no one could forget.
But the thing in front of him, even without making any strange movements, still felt twisted and ugly, exuding an unpleasant gloom.
“Get lost,” Shen Wang said, the thorns on his body aimed at the treetop. “Be careful, or I’ll burn this tree.”
‘Zhou Xiangzhe’ sneered, glancing at the tree and then at Shen Wang.
It didn’t continue to stay. Instead, it dissolved into countless butterflies.
The butterflies landed in different places, watching Shen Wang from above like countless surveillance cameras.
Shen Wang had no time to deal with these overwhelming butterflies. He quickly turned and headed upstairs.
Above the third floor was the rooftop. Shen Wang finally saw Zhou Xiangzhe here.
He was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall. He was quietly asleep, his expression unchanged, as if he had simply dozed off.
“Zhou Xiangzhe?” Shen Wang grabbed his hand.
His hand was still warm, meaning he hadn’t been asleep for long and hadn’t encountered too much trouble in the dream.
An A-level pollutant trying to trap an S-level mutant in a dream was still a stretch, but it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Because when people dream, they can’t tell they’re dreaming.
“Wake up,” Shen Wang tried to call Zhou Xiangzhe.
Unfortunately, this kind of call couldn’t wake him. Other methods were needed.
…
At the headquarters of the second team of [Polaris], everyone was in a meeting about the missing Zhou Xiangzhe and Shen Wang in the S-level pollution source.
Their communication with the two had been cut off for a long time, and there were still no clues about their whereabouts.
Zhou Qing, dressed in his monk robes, sat at the head of the table, chanting Buddhist mantras while listening to the updates from the team.
“We sent people to investigate the river Shen Wang mentioned, but when we got there, not only was there no river, we couldn’t even reach the middle of the neighborhood before mutations started occurring,” the person in charge of exploring Area 3, who had taken over Shen Wang’s task, said, looking like he was about to lose all his hair from stress.
“Sending more people is pointless.”
“But there’s good news. The pollution source has stopped expanding. Maybe Captain Zhou did something inside.”
“But what exactly did he do? We have no idea.”
“I think what Mr. Shen said is true. The Academy of Sciences eats up so much funding every year, and this is all they can come up with? What a waste!”
Zhou Qing coughed. “Amitabha, everyone, don’t panic. This humble monk has some clues.”
“Huh?” Qiang Li’an looked at Zhou Qing in surprise. “Big shot, you actually have clues?! I thought you were in charge of Area 2? And your main focus is on victim prevention.”
“Exactly, which is why I was able to notice something unusual.”
Zhou Qing claimed his ability was [Scissors], but in reality, his ability was the powerful [Severing Emotional Ties].
Humans have seven emotions and six desires. When these emotions are amplified, they can kill. This is the essence of mental pollution—amplifying extreme emotions until people naturally seek death, becoming victims of widespread pollution. Zhou Qing’s ability could sever these amplified emotions.
He could make the fearful no longer fear, the sad no longer grieve, thereby curbing the spread of mental pollution.
This was why he had become an S-level mutant.
But for those whose emotional ties were severed, they would be unable to feel those emotions normally for several years. This was actually a very frightening thing, and Zhou Qing was reluctant to use it unless absolutely necessary, especially not on mutants.
Given the massive regional pollution occurring here, Zhou Qing had been urgently called in to sever the grief of all victims in Area 2, preventing them from committing suicide.
“Every day, this humble monk treats many victims. Because the pollution is still spreading, the number of victims continues to increase.”
“But yesterday, the number of victims stopped increasing. I waited a full day and night and only received a dozen new victims, all of whom were previously undiscovered. In other words, the pollution has disappeared.”
Qiang Li’an looked at him in shock. “You mean the pollutant’s true form has been eliminated?”
“Yes,” Zhou Qing nodded. “Based on Mr. Shen’s last message, he encountered the doll from Area 2 after entering the S-level pollution source. So I boldly conclude that Mr. Shen eliminated this pollutant.”
“Holy crap, is he that strong?! Single-handedly took out a B-level pollutant?!” Qiang Li’an was stunned. “Is he really just an ordinary B-level mutant?!”
“No, it’s not just that. Mr. Shen’s ability is [Pollution Immunity], meaning he can’t be polluted. As a result, most pollutants’ most potent abilities are useless against him. That’s why Mr. Shen can deal with pollutants more easily than we can.”
Qiang Li’an understood. He nodded seriously. “That means his survival rate is high. With the captain, they’ll definitely make it out!”
The atmosphere in the room relaxed as everyone was convinced.
“I also have new findings,” Qiang Li’an raised his hand.
“The pollution in Area 1 is still spreading, even beyond Area 1, moving deeper.”
“And in Area 1, there’s actually a phantom of the doll—a black doll wandering around.”
This doll, like all the dead, wandered the streets. If you got close, it would immediately dissipate and reappear further away. Unlike the dancing doll in Area 2, this one seemed more like the doll’s true form.
This left Qiang Li’an very troubled because they were completely in the dark about what this thing was.
“But fortunately, among the victims, we found a mutant who awakened after being polluted in the contaminated area.”
“Through him, we learned what people in their dreams are experiencing.”
The mutant was still terrified when he woke up, his pollution level reaching 60% at one point, nearly making him the first case of someone entering S District immediately after awakening.
After being calmed by the Pollution Control Center, he finally stabilized, his pollution level dropping to 40%. He was able to calmly describe everything he saw in the dream.
He said that in the dream, he saw a big tree with leaves, and he became one of those leaves. But that wasn’t the worst part. The real horror came next.
Because on the leaf was a caterpillar, gnawing at the leaf.
Every bite was excruciating, as if his flesh were being ripped out. But he couldn’t scream or wake up. He could only watch as the caterpillar took another bite, the pain relentlessly eroding his mind.
He was in so much pain, screaming and shouting, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw some caterpillars finish eating an entire leaf and immediately form a cocoon, from which a beautiful butterfly emerged.
The butterfly flew out the window.
And he remembered that before he fell asleep, he had seen such a butterfly.
He was in so much pain and fear, but he remembered he was dreaming. So he kept trying to wake up, and somehow, he actually did. When he woke up, he saw the staff of the Pollution Control Center.
“A big tree? Turning into leaves on the tree, being eaten by caterpillars, the caterpillars turning into butterflies, and the butterflies appearing before the victims, causing them to dream.”
“In the dream, there’s a big tree, and the dreamer becomes a leaf…”
Zhou Qing frowned. “What a vicious pollution cycle.”
“There’s no point in cleaning up pollutants in the pollution source because the pollution source will keep generating them. But this pollutant absolutely cannot be allowed to continue existing,” Qiang Li’an said seriously. “We must eliminate this pollutant’s true form, or this vicious cycle will only get worse.”
After saying this, Qiang Li’an choked up. “But we can’t contact the captain!”
Zhou Qing sighed. “Then pray that Mr. Shen and Captain Zhou can meet. At least Mr. Shen knows more about Area 1.”
“Ugh…” Qiang Li’an covered his face. “I just set up a flag1. I shouldn’t pray anymore. What if it becomes another flag?”
“If that happens, not only will the captain come after me, but even Little Shen2 will beat me up.”
Zhou Qing said nonchalantly, “Would you rather get beaten up or eliminate this pollutant?”
“I choose the latter!” Qiang Li’an didn’t hesitate.
Zhou Qing nodded in satisfaction. He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. “Then come pray with me. Tell me all your wishes, and I’ll relay them to Buddha. Since we’re colleagues, I’ll only charge you half the usual price.”
Qiang Li’an: “…”
This greedy, fake monk!
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