Chapter 2: The Tainted Ones

The man known as the team leader stared unblinkingly at Mu Yu, whose eyes were tightly shut but whose face was as expressive as an opera house mask.

“If I don’t answer, I’ll definitely be killed, won’t I? I absolutely will!” Mu Yu ranted silently in his heart, reluctantly opening his eyes.

Who could have guessed that pretending to sleep would let him overhear so many strange things—infected? A new virus? And what was a team leader anyway, a new title for police officers?

Damn it, why does it feel like I’ve crossed into another world just by taking a nap? Everything is completely different from what I remember.

If this were in the past, Mu Yu would have already started imagining all sorts of wild scenarios; after all, what boy hasn’t fantasized about being special? That on the dark side of the world, there exists a reality wholly different from the dull and tedious everyday life, where he could rise above the masses and look down upon the world’s affairs.

But now, standing at the threshold, he felt a vague sense of fear.

The fear of the unknown.

“I’m just an ordinary college student; why am I caught up in something like this?” Mu Yu sighed inwardly.

Of course, his face remained so expressive that anyone could instantly read his thoughts.

“Let me introduce myself. I am Mo Yan, the leader of the Fengzhou City Investigation Team. Here is my identification.” He presented his credentials as he spoke.

“We’ll ask you a few questions here. I hope you’ll cooperate. As for some of your doubts, I’ll answer them later,” Mo Yan added, smiling politely, his demeanor as warm as spring sunlight—making it impossible to feel any resentment.

“An equal exchange. That’s reasonable, isn’t it?”

Mu Yu looked at this man, who was only a few years older than himself, yet he couldn’t find any words of refusal. All he could do was force a sheepish smile and nod in agreement.

His eyes, however, couldn’t help drifting toward the adjacent hospital bed. The man who’d been shouting loudly just moments before now lay as motionless as a corpse.

From Mu Yu’s angle, he couldn’t see the man's whole face—just half, which was a ghastly, ashen blue.

Noticing Mu Yu’s gaze, Mo Yan smoothly pulled the curtain between the beds, his own expression unchanged.

“Ahem, he’s just resting for a while. Don’t worry, we’re a legitimate organization and would never endanger the lives of citizens,” Mo Yan explained, opening his credentials for Mu Yu to see.

Only then did Mu Yu realize that his limbs were firmly bound to the bed by some kind of gel-like restraints.

He was surprised at his own slow reaction, craning his neck awkwardly to glance at the dark green certificate Mo Yan displayed.

Whatever else could be said, the document exuded an air of ironclad authority, with no unnecessary embellishment. The gold-embossed government seal looked utterly official.

But in reality...

He couldn’t recognize it anyway. Even if it was fake, how would he know?

With a bitter smile, Mu Yu nodded to show he understood.

In this situation, whether it was real or not didn’t matter; staying alive was the priority.

“All right, then. Your name?” Mo Yan smiled, clearly pleased that Mu Yu hadn’t pressed further.

“Mu Yu. ‘Mu’ as in the general Mu Guiying, and ‘Yu’ as in Great Yu who tamed the floods.”

Hadn’t he already called out my name? Why ask again?

Though slightly puzzled, Mu Yu answered honestly, without the slightest inclination to argue—after all, he was a law-abiding citizen.

“Your age?”

“Twenty-one.”

Mo Yan’s brows furrowed slightly but quickly smoothed back into a businesslike expression, betraying nothing.

“Your occupation?”

Mo Yan leaned forward, fingers interlaced before him, his posture growing even more formal, as if the real interrogation was only now beginning.

Though Mu Yu wondered why the atmosphere had grown so heavy, he still answered with straightforward honesty.

“Second-year student at Fengzhou University of Science and Technology.”

Mo Yan was silent for a moment. His gaze became stern, his whole demeanor shifting in an instant from friendly neighbor to steely enforcer.

The sudden change left Mu Yu at a loss. He turned his face slightly away, avoiding those sharp eyes.

“Are you sure? You should know, everything you say is being recorded. If you fabricate anything, you’ll be criminally liable.”

Mo Yan shook a phone-like device in his hand, its red indicator light blinking, proving he wasn’t bluffing.

“I’m sure. If you don’t believe me, you can check the school records.”

Mu Yu wanted to scratch his head in confusion, but his bound limbs wouldn’t allow it. He could only throw Mo Yan a bewildered look, unsure what he’d said wrong.

“...Do you know someone named Mu Qing?” Mo Yan asked after a pause, his tone hesitant.

“According to the records, a woman named Mu Qing called emergency services and had you sent to the hospital.”

“Of course, she’s my cousin. She’s attending high school in Fengzhou. My aunt asked me to look after her for a while, so she’s been staying with me. Did something happen to her?” Mu Yu’s face grew wary at the mention of his cousin, but then his expression turned perplexed.

“Wait a minute... I live in the dorms at university, don’t I?”

Mu Yu’s family was not well-off, but they did own a small apartment in Fengzhou. His father worked away from home, and his mother had stayed in their hometown to care for his grandparents after he started college, so the apartment was left empty.

But he couldn’t cook, clean, or do laundry, so living in the dorms was more convenient. How could Mu Qing be staying with him?

And... what did Mu Qing even look like?

Confusion piled upon confusion. Since he’d started pretending to sleep, everything he’d heard and experienced had been beyond his comprehension, leaving no time to think.

In fact, it felt as though memories from different times had become jumbled together in his mind, leaving him dazed and muddled.

It was as if some memories were missing altogether.

For instance...

Why am I in the hospital?

Mo Yan watched Mu Yu, who appeared completely lost, his expression growing grave. Though he didn’t know exactly what Mu Yu had realized, it was clear from his fragmented answers that his memory was quite disordered.

Whether this was caused by the coma or by some kind of contamination, it was invaluable information for the current incident.

Normally, such interrogations would be handled by team members. As the leader of Fengzhou’s investigation team, Mo Yan wouldn’t usually spend this much time in a single hospital room.

Only Mi Zixi, the inexperienced rookie still in training, and someone as clueless as Mu Yu would find nothing strange about his presence.

Since last night, however, large-scale incidents of unconsciousness had already drawn the attention of the nation’s highest authorities. This wasn’t a simple matter of “losing control,” as Mi Zixi had described.

Across the Asian continent—in fact, across the entire hemisphere—any region shrouded in night had seen mass comas.

As hours passed, some of the unconscious had already begun to display the traits of the contaminated.

If this situation wasn’t brought under control, and such an unprecedented number of contaminated individuals appeared, society would suffer a shock like never before.

To prevent this, Mo Yan didn’t need to guess what measures the authorities would take in the name of public safety.

And out of all those who had fallen unconscious, Mu Yu was the only one to wake up. He was likely the most important breakthrough in the entire case.

In fact, from the moment a stable consciousness was detected by the instruments, the machinery of the entire state had spun into motion.

Experts from related fields were rushed onto the fastest flights to Fengzhou, escorted by armed personnel from every region.

Mo Yan happened to be the local team leader, which was the only reason he was able to contact Mu Yu first.

While he appeared to be conducting a solitary interview, every word exchanged between him and Mu Yu was transmitted in real time to the experts via the room’s monitoring equipment and the devices they wore.

In a vast conference room, hundreds of analysts were working to build a behavioral profile of Mu Yu, hoping to glean even the tiniest clue from his words.

“Team Leader Mo, our analysis indicates his memory is in an extremely complex state of confusion,” came a voice through his earpiece—aged, yet clear and forceful.

“It’s neither simple amnesia nor a typical mental disorder—it’s as if memories from different periods have been seamlessly spliced together. Unless prompted, the subject can’t even detect the logical inconsistencies.”

The voice continued, “I’d like you to help him calm his emotions. In this state, it’s nearly impossible for us to have an effective conversation with him. If that fails, we’ll have to resort to pharmaceutical intervention. After all, our time... is running out.”

Mo Yan’s heart tightened; he knew exactly which drugs were being referred to. The Investigation Team was, after all, a law enforcement agency with a darker side. The blood-soaked, ruthless methods that lurked in the shadows were things an ordinary citizen like Mu Yu could never imagine.

But the instability and irreversible side effects of those drugs meant they were only used as a last resort.

For it to be suggested so easily when there was only one awakened subject showed just how dire the situation outside had become.

After all, no matter how valuable, information has a shelf life—once it’s outdated, it’s worthless.

The drug’s effect would last just half an hour, but required three hours to activate. If the situation was about to collapse, there might be less than seven hours left.

Mo Yan fell silent for a moment, then gave a subtle nod at the monitoring device to indicate his understanding.

He cleared his throat, preparing to interrupt Mu Yu’s spiral of self-doubt, when he suddenly saw Mu Yu staring at him in terror.

Mu Yu’s face twisted with fear, as if he had seen a ghost.

“Get out of the way!”