Chapter 6: The Source of Contamination

Zhu Ning and Li Nianchuan tried swapping places. Every time they did, the fishmen would follow again, surrounding them in the same posture. Beyond that, the fishmen made no other moves. Zhu Ning considered opening fire but hesitated, unsure if shooting would cause the fishmen to lose control.

Previously, there had only been one fishman in the sewer, and together, Zhu Ning and Li Nianchuan had two guns. Under their firepower, they barely managed to kill it. Now, there were twenty-five—and possibly more. If the fishmen swarmed them, Zhu Ning and Li Nianchuan would only be feeding the fish.

Li Nianchuan felt a chill crawling across his scalp, cold sweat pouring down his back as the fishmen stared him down.

He recalculated the pollution concentration and was startled by the number: “It’s at 79% now!”

Zhu Ning still didn’t quite understand how pollution concentration was calculated; she hadn’t felt anything even as the numbers rose.

Li Nianchuan seemed to realize she was lost and explained, “D-level pollution ranges from 60% to 90%.”

When they first entered, the reading was 55%, which placed them in an E-level pollution zone.

“What shall we do?” Li Nianchuan asked. “Fight our way out?”

Zhu Ning gritted her teeth. “Ignore it.”

“Ah?”

Zhu Ning recalled that when she joined the team, Fang Ying had only asked two questions:

1. Are you afraid of monsters?
2. Are you afraid of corpses?

The focus was on fear, and Zhu Ning had answered no to both.

She seemed to understand why her mental stability was still at 100%—because she genuinely wasn’t afraid. She didn’t even consider these creatures monsters.

“Ignore it. Don’t pay attention, and it can’t contaminate you.”

Spiritual pollution wasn’t about something being horrifying or disgusting to cause greater contamination. Blood and corpses only inspired fear, not a sense of being “polluted.”

Spiritual pollution was when a creature that appeared human engaged in your everyday actions in a deeply unsettling way.

For example, fishmen taking the last train, doing nothing but staring at you. When “abnormal” beings perform “normal” acts, the act itself sends a shiver down your spine.

“How do you ignore that?” Li Nianchuan was close to tears, trapped by the twenty-five stinking fishmen glaring at him. It was impossible to ignore.

He glanced at Zhu Ning, who still showed no signs of contamination. She either possessed an extraordinary gift or something else entirely.

He decided to ask for advice. “What do they look like to you?”

Zhu Ning answered flatly: “Rotten fish.”

Li Nianchuan was speechless. So, in Zhu Ning’s eyes, he was standing in a seafood wholesale market?

“Don’t look at them. Chat with me to distract yourself.”

Zhu Ning aimed to keep Li Nianchuan holding on until the rescue team arrived. If he collapsed mentally and started praying to some dark deity, Zhu Ning would be the one to suffer.

Under the stares of twenty-five fishmen, Li Nianchuan forced himself to chat with her. “What shall we talk about?”

Zhu Ning asked, “Why did you come up here?”

Li Nianchuan tried to ignore the fishmen. “To follow the employee code.”

The Cleaner’s employee code stated: Article 4, don’t get separated from teammates; Article 3, wait for rescue at the original location. Faced with conflicting rules, Li Nianchuan planned to improvise.

Zhu Ning said it was a chat, but Li Nianchuan retorted, “Then why did you come up?”

Zhu Ning replied, “Our job is to clean up garbage.”

Li Nianchuan was confused. “So?”

Zhu Ning said, “We get paid by commission.”

Li Nianchuan took a moment to process this. Zhu Ning’s logic was that cleaners collected contaminated spores and earned wages based on the amount they contained.

The area they had descended into only had so many spores, and both Li Nianchuan and Zhu Ning had been dragged into the contaminated zone. Since there was another nearby contaminated area, Zhu Ning didn’t mind collecting spores there too.

Without the demon hunters around, they could proactively generate income.

Li Nianchuan was stunned by this mindset: no job, create a job; no performance, create performance. What an unparalleled workaholic!

He sincerely said, “Boss.”

Zhu Ning replied, “I’ve only been on the job for two hours.”

Li Nianchuan corrected himself: “Sis.”

Zhu Ning was speechless.

What on earth had they been through in just two short hours?

With this perspective, Li Nianchuan suddenly felt less fearful of the fishmen. These creatures had transformed into “performance.” Twenty-five performances, totaling at least 250,000 New Coins.

Not rotten fish, but gleaming stacks of cash.

Zhu Ning asked, “Do you think we can spiritually contaminate them?”

“Ah?” Li Nianchuan hadn’t quite followed her train of thought but was eager to try. “How?”

Zhu Ning pondered. “Spiritual contamination means a seemingly normal person doing abnormal things, or an abnormal person doing normal things. It’s a bit convoluted, but the key is repetition.”

The essence of contamination was repetition. The dead fishmen repeatedly muttered “last train,” while the boarding fishmen kept staring at Zhu Ning and Li Nianchuan.

Repetition plus abnormality equaled spiritual pollution.

Both cleaners, low-level garbage collectors, were analyzing the internal logic of the contaminants for the first time.

Li Nianchuan followed the thought. “Makes sense.”

Zhu Ning asked, “Do you have anything around you that can brainwash?”

Li Nianchuan thought for a moment. “I brought a cookbook.”

A cookbook?

Zhu Ning tilted her head. Li Nianchuan explained, “You know, this job doesn’t last long. I need a backup plan.”

Cleaners had to consider retirement once they’d earned enough. Mental check-ups were lifelong. Zhu Ning might face the same fate.

This job—cleaning up garbage—was truly hard.

Zhu Ning said, “Read a passage.”

Li Nianchuan flipped through the digital cookbook, found a page, cleared his throat, and read aloud: “The recipe for braised crucian carp begins with scoring a cross on the fish’s surface. Add salt to the oil and fry slowly over low heat until both sides are golden and the skin is crispy...”

Zhu Ning was speechless.

The fishmen were silent.

Was this some sort of guide to braising fishmen?

Zhu Ning recorded the reading with her helmet’s audio function. Both helmets could broadcast externally, and she planned to get a photocopy of the cookbook, earnestly joining the “cookbook reading” team.

With two helmets and themselves, four voices filled the air. If anyone boarded now, they’d surely find it strange—two passengers wearing motorcycle gear and black helmets, like a pair of robbers.

These shameless “robbers” loudly read recipes for braised crucian carp and even looped the recording over speakers.

Disturbing the peace! Shameful!

Abnormal plus repetition equaled spiritual pollution.

Nearby passengers frowned, their expressions shifting from hostile to confused. After about ten repetitions, the fishmen’s aggressive aura diminished; their bloody, severed heads lowered, losing their prior hostility.

“Pollution concentration dropped?” Li Nianchuan was incredulous. It was now 78%, a 1% decrease.

It actually worked!

Zhu Ning nodded and suddenly stood up. “Keep reading. I’ll find the source of the pollution.”

Li Nianchuan said this was like a ghost-hunting game; the source had to be inside the train. When Zhu Ning stood, Li Nianchuan did too. But unlike them, the fishmen did not follow.

They held onto the handrails, turning their battered bodies toward Zhu Ning and Li Nianchuan but did not move forward.

Probably because the spiritual pollution had taken effect, they were useless now.

Li Nianchuan didn’t dare stop reading the braised crucian carp recipe, trailing behind Zhu Ning like a loudspeaker.

The train had only four carriages. Zhu Ning carefully searched each for clues.

There were three passengers in the fourth carriage, two in the third, and five in the second.

The first carriage, where Zhu Ning was, held the most—twenty-five fishmen plus the two of them, twenty-seven in total. Something definitely happened in this carriage.

The system said the first carriage of the last train had disappeared. What caused its disappearance? Pollution?

If contaminants could spiritually pollute, perhaps their formation was also a form of spiritual power—something like resentment?

Ding ling ling—

A phone’s ringing interrupted Zhu Ning’s thoughts in the third carriage.

She hurried over and saw a cellphone lying on a seat. She had thoroughly checked the entire train earlier and hadn’t seen any phones; this one had appeared suddenly.

Someone was calling this phone.

The phone was very old-fashioned—a touchscreen model. In the wasteland world, technology had advanced; most people had implants, linking to a secondary brain.

The secondary brain acted as ID verification, wallet, and communication tool. No one used phones anymore.

Zhu Ning said, “A passenger’s forgotten phone?”

Li Nianchuan was also surprised. “This style’s at least eighty years old.”

It was practically an antique.

Zhu Ning said, “Keep reading.”

Li Nianchuan continued reciting the recipe. The moment Zhu Ning picked up the phone, the ringing stopped abruptly, and a video started playing.

It was footage from an onboard security camera showing two people.

The video was blurry, so Zhu Ning didn’t recognize them immediately. The video showed two people running from another carriage, picking up the phone left on the seat.

“A passenger’s forgotten phone?” Zhu Ning’s voice echoed.

“At least eighty years old,” Li Nianchuan’s voice repeated.

“Keep reading.”

The video mirrored Zhu Ning’s actions exactly: picking up the phone and playing the video.

“A passenger’s forgotten phone?”

The phone within the phone played another video, and so on, looping endlessly.

It felt like they were trapped. Who knew if they were the real people or just the ones in the video?

Zhu Ning felt a chill; this was spiritual pollution again, stronger than before.

The logic of the contaminated area was to continually assault you through repetition, invading every gap to disgust and unsettle you.

If this kept playing, she’d be contaminated for sure.

“What’s wrong?” Li Nianchuan hadn’t seen the video but sensed Zhu Ning’s state faltering.

“Don’t watch.” Zhu Ning’s mental strength was higher than his; if he looked, he might collapse.

“This is strong spiritual pollution.”

Zhu Ning quickly hit the pause button, but the video couldn’t be paused. Clutching the phone, she prepared to leave.

Li Nianchuan asked, “Where are you going?”

Her hands trembled slightly as she admitted the spiritual pollution was starting to affect her. Her mental stability was declining.