Chapter 3

Chapter 003

Lu Yan dialed Li Rui’s number.

No answer. Eventually, the other phone ran out of battery and shut off automatically.

The messages he’d sent on WeChat also went unanswered.

Though they worked at the same hospital, he and Dr. Li weren’t close enough to have exchanged home addresses.

Not long after Lin Sinan left, the compensation for the last surgery arrived. A direct bank transfer, post-tax, a sum comfortably into six figures.

In all his years at the hospital, Lu Yan had never received a bonus that generous.

With work temporarily on hold, he didn’t go in.

Usually, after coming into a windfall, people rewarded themselves with shopping.

He thought for a moment, then went downstairs and cleared out the water and instant noodles from the convenience store.

Inside, the old man at the counter was swaying his head to a radio broadcast.

"This morning at 10 AM, city police discovered a fugitive at Qujiang Park. The suspect attempted to take a hostage and was neutralized on site."

Lu Yan remembered the last thing Li Rui had said on the phone.

He’d been in a hurry to open the door and had hung up before hearing it all.

The other man had mentioned a place starting with "Qu."

It must have been Qujiang Park.

Lu Yan looked down, searching for related news. Unfortunately, no media outlet had any details on the suspect. Probably an official press release—every article read the same.

In the end, he only found one blurry aerial photo. A figure in a black jacket lay on the ground.

Lu Yan had seen Li Rui wear that jacket. He’d said his girlfriend gifted him the Canada Goose, and he’d proudly shown it off in the department for days.

A knot of unease tightened in Lu Yan’s gut.

He drove to a nearby megamall and went on a frantic buying spree.

The mall staff, clearly unprepared for a customer treating the supermarket like a wholesale warehouse, arranged a truck to deliver his purchases.

Food, medicine, bottled water, portable gas stoves…

Enough supplies to fill two guest rooms.

Good thing he lived alone, or there’d have been nowhere to put it all.

"Hey man, what’s with all this? This’ll last you years," the delivery guy helping him unload asked, baffled.

Lu Yan wasn’t one for explanations. "Reselling," he said.

The delivery guy stared. "…"

Unfathomable.

*

That evening, Lu Yan turned on the TV as usual, letting the evening news play in the background while he prepared dinner.

"The pollution source in H City has been contained. The emergency state is being lifted, and traffic will resume…"

Mid-sentence, the anchorwoman’s expression changed. "We now interrupt with breaking news."

"An unidentified Pollution Disease has appeared in our city. All activities are suspended. Citizens are ordered to shelter in place. Do not go outside. K City is now under temporary external lockdown!"

Along with Lu Yan, K City’s several million residents received the same message.

A wave of panic swept through the city, a dark cloud descending.

In the residential complex group chat, notification chimes erupted in a continuous stream.

"What’s going on? Pollution Disease?"

"No warning at all? This is too sudden!"

"I have a business trip tomorrow!"

For most people, Pollution Disease was just some foreign plague.

At first, there’d been some fear. Nobody wanted to turn into a monster. But over the last two or three years, with daily reports, people had gradually realized the disease wasn’t untreatable. The fear had actually lessened.

They just never imagined the pollution would one day land on their doorstep.

In the complex chat, the property manager chimed in: "Residents, please remain calm. We have received the notice. While you cannot go out, property management services will continue. If you have essential items you need purchased, provide a list to me. We will get through this together!"

In Lu Yan’s work chat, his fellow doctors were also buzzing about the outbreak.

"Pollution Disease isn't in the traditional medical system. Will we be conscripted?"

"Ugh, I have a patient scheduled for tumor removal. Now they can't leave home or go to the hospital. What do we do?"

"Why are even doctors ordered to stay home?!"

Though Pollution Disease was often reported, and some doctors were curious about it…

Professionally, they only knew a little more than the average person.

At the very least, the management of Pollution Disease had moved beyond the scope of medicine.

To most, this world-altering pollution was still just another troublesome infectious disease, like the flu or AIDS. Even the Research Institute had thought so at first.

Everyone had been optimistically convinced humanity would conquer Pollution Disease like it had smallpox.

Only Lu Yan stared at the messages on his screen, face grim. He remembered the fish eggs he’d seen during yesterday’s surgery.

Lin Sinan had said there was no risk of secondary infection, yet Li Rui had begun to… change.

That morning, he’d called Director Hu. The director told him he was already on a plane back to his hometown.

The director showed no symptoms of contamination.

During the surgery, only Li Rui had come into contact with the ruptured fish eggs.

*

This lockdown was exceptionally severe.

The next morning, Lu Yan stood by the window, looking out as usual. His bedroom window faced the complex’s main gate with a clear view.

A military armored vehicle parked at the entrance, and several armed soldiers disembarked.

Who knew how many troops had been mobilized from various garrisons to K City to handle this emergency.

Not only was the complex gate sealed shut, but the doors to each building unit were also locked. They only opened briefly each day for food deliveries.

Many residents were restless and fearful, but there was nothing they could do.

On the second night of the lockdown, Lu Yan was asleep when a sudden gunshot echoed in the distance.

The electric scooters parked in the complex began wailing their alarms.

Lu Yan got up, carefully pulled the curtain aside a crack, and peered out.

A moment later, he saw a familiar square metal container being carried out of the complex.

It was the same model of containment capsule used for the patient delivered to the hospital.

That morning, the incident was inevitably brought up in the residents' chat.

The property manager immediately stepped in to explain: "I asked. Last night, a thief tried to break into a home. The guard soldier fired a warning shot in the heat of the moment. It's fine. The thief has been taken to the police station."

Lu Yan glanced at the message and put his phone down.

He decided to wash an apple for breakfast, to settle his nerves.

Just as his hand touched the faucet, the system finally piped up.

[I'd advise against using tap water today.]

[You know, those disgusting parasitic fish eggs are transparent before they find a host.]

Lu Yan pulled his hand back. Eating an apple unwashed seemed perfectly acceptable.

He watched the news, ate his apple, and listened to the system’s detailed explanation.

[Stage One of the aberration: the eggs burrow into your stomach, hatch, and undergo massive asexual reproduction there. This stage can last two weeks.]

[Stage Two: the eggs travel through the bloodstream, settling in areas with more fat to absorb nutrients, gradually becoming visible under the skin.]

[Stage Three: the eggs cover every part of your body. Then you become a low-level pollutant! Usually hatches into a fish-man.] The system’s voice held a strange delight.

[Such is the life cycle of the despised parasitic fish egg.]

Lu Yan opened his phone and posted a message in every group chat and forum he could, urging people to stock up on bottled water.

Then he looked up the number for the K City Pollution Disease Control Center.

He felt he should at least try to warn someone.

[If I were you, I wouldn’t call that number,] the system suddenly interjected.

[Host, an Awakened might not necessarily be sent to the Research Institute, but you definitely would. Because you’re Lu Cheng’s son, and you possess a gift like me. Missing out on Lu Cheng is something the Institute regrets to this day. And their research into pollution goes deeper than you think. I advise you not to bother.]

[Of course, you don’t have to believe me. I’m just a system. But compared to… let’s just say I’d rather stay by your side. You’re quite good-looking, after all.] The system trailed off.

In the past, no matter how much the system rambled, Lu Yan never responded.

This time, he broke his silence. "What happens if you’re sent to the Research Institute?"

The system let out a weird chuckle. [Death might be the best outcome. But as a precious experimental subject, you wouldn’t be allowed to die easily.]

Lu Yan had no desire to die, and even less to be dissected alive. He temporarily abandoned the idea of calling the Control Center.

Anxiety made him wipe the floor with a cloth, over and over.

Even though his home was already spotless, not a speck of dust under the bed.

As it turned out, the relevant authorities reacted with remarkable speed.

That afternoon, Lu Yan saw the rich kid next door throw open his window and yell from his balcony, "Shit! Why’s the water off?!"

The property management chat exploded.

The water cutoff was completely unexpected, with no prior notice. More importantly, the entire city of K, along with several neighboring cities, had their tap water shut off simultaneously.

Water was cheap, something you took for granted when you had it. But without it, it was a matter of life and death.

Property management, clearly also caught off guard, scrambled to reassure residents in the chat.

Since the lockdown began, Lu Yan’s TV had remained on.

The local news anchor spoke from her home studio, a concession to the lockdown. "This afternoon, due to improper operation by a water treatment plant worker, a large quantity of cyanide was introduced into the clear water reservoir. Cyanide is a highly toxic chemical. To ensure public safety, the municipal water supply has been temporarily suspended. City Hall will arrange for the military to distribute purified water at regular intervals. We ask for the public's patience and understanding."

The ordinary citizens remained in the dark.

Lu Yan considered it. It was simple logic, really. People knew about the Pollution Disease, but they had no true concept of its horror.

And the will to survive was a primal instinct.

If the truth were known, this fragile peace would shatter instantly. Countless people would use any means to flee K City. And if just one of them carried the parasitic fish eggs, the catastrophe would spread across the entire world.

A runaway train is barreling down the tracks. On one side, a single person is tied down. On the other, a crowd. Which do you choose?

The system let out a low, humorless chuckle.

[Your reasoning is correct, but incomplete. Perhaps you should understand a concept called Pollution Value… or, shall we say, sanity points?]

[The greater the fear, the easier it is to be polluted. If the media started broadcasting the truth of this world, believe me, the entire planet would fall within a month.]

[Of course, that outcome isn't far off now, anyway.]

"You sound like you're looking forward to the world ending."

Like some cartoonish supervillain.

[Evidence suggests evolution often occurs in sudden, discontinuous leaps. New species can form rapidly in a short period, then remain relatively stable for a very long time.]

I am merely impatient… to witness your ascension to godhood.