Chapter 7

Shen Shu snapped awake instantly, followed by a splitting headache. He instinctively tried to push the Sentinel away, but the young man, though slender and delicate, was as immovable as a wall. Perhaps annoyed by his resistance, the Sentinel pinned both of Shen Shu's wrists behind his back with one hand and gripped his neck with the other, deepening the kiss.

Shen Shu's tongue twitched slightly, but the Sentinel frowned and aggressively tangled his tongue with Shen Shu's, pinning him down and preventing him from struggling. The rough texture of the Sentinel's tongue scraped against his own, again and again. Shen Shu could even feel the fine, soft papillae on the Sentinel's tongue scraping against his own.

Like a cat... just licking the wrong spot.

Saliva pooled uncontrollably in his mouth, and the delicate Adam's apple in his throat bobbed slightly, accompanied by a faint swallowing sound.

Shen Shu stared blankly at the Sentinel, who met his gaze. Soon, a flicker of anger appeared in the young man's emerald eyes. He glared at Shen Shu, who was bewildered—What's he mad about?

The Sentinel finally lost his temper, lifting his face and snapping, "Can you just close your eyes?!"

"Why?" Shen Shu asked.

"You—!"

The throbbing in Shen Shu's head had subsided considerably. As a professional doctor, he understood exactly what had happened. He nodded solemnly and said, "Thank you for saving me."

The boy had clearly been about to curse Shen Shu, but the words caught in his throat. He let out a huff, released Shen Shu's hand, and took a large step back to emphasize his disdain. "Good. You know."

"What are you doing here, a Guide? Don't you know..." The boy trailed off. The appearance of a Mutant in the city was a major crisis. Sentinels usually handled such threats discreetly, covering them up with explanations like "gas explosions" or "pursuit of escaped criminals." The public remained unaware of the true nature of the threat.

After all, anyone who knew a man-eating, killing creature with no defense against it was roaming their city would panic. The resulting chaos—stampedes, looting, and infrastructure shutdowns—would cause far more damage than the Mutant itself.

Shen Shu was here because he didn't know a Mutant had infiltrated the area. Although he was a Guide, he wasn't part of the military system. Any normal person seeing a lost child would have at least called the police and waited for them to handle it, and helping the child find their mother was the right thing to do. He had done nothing wrong.

The fault lay with them.

It was their failure to contain the Mutant that had put Shen Shu, an ordinary citizen, in such danger.

Jiang Muye pressed his lips together. "It was our mistake. We apologize sincerely."

"Then I'll take my leave now, so I don't disturb your work... Is there anything else you need help with?"

"No," Jiang Muye said. "I'll escort you to a safe place... Forgive the intrusion."

Jiang Muye reached out and put his arm around Shen Shu's waist. Shen Shu only saw a blur before finding himself at the entrance to the subway station. Two Sentinels were already guarding the entrance and nodded in greeting as Jiang Muye emerged. He politely released Shen Shu, who bid him farewell and rode away on his electric scooter.

Shen Shu didn't ask any questions, nor did he say anything. All he wanted now was to get home quickly, gather all his essential supplies, and equip himself with comprehensive defensive gear. He might have to stay in the hospital for a long time.

Because their city was likely falling within the radiation range of a Contaminated Zone.

Contaminated Zones appeared randomly, and no one knew when or where the next one would emerge. Only by destroying the Source of Contamination within a Zone could the Zone itself be eliminated, but until then, mutants would pour out of it endlessly.

To put it simply, a Contaminated Zone was like a freely accessible monster dungeon with a boss and countless minions. The minions would enter the Great World through the dungeon, while people could freely enter the dungeon themselves. The Zone would only disappear after its boss was killed.

In fact, the situation had become clear. Shen Shu had harbored suspicions since the previous morning.

Two days ago, the S-rank Sentinel Jiang Muye's emergency channeling in their city could still be dismissed as a coincidence. Perhaps the nearest area he was injured in was City A, or perhaps City A had the best medical facilities in the region, prompting him to choose it for his emergency channeling. But when a B-rank Sentinel appeared on the street, severely wounded by mutants, the nature of the situation completely changed.

Severely injured and unconscious on the street, he had traveled across the city on his own, his Contamination Value hovering at the brink of mutation. Did he really come all the way to City A just because our medical resources are better?

Later, when Xie Guichi, also an S-rank Sentinel, appeared, Shen Shu confirmed that a Contaminated Zone must have spawned near City A. And not just any zone—two S-rank Sentinels were needed. There were fewer than ten S-rank Sentinels in the entire country, yet Contaminated Zones far outnumbered them. Officially, there were thirteen S-class Contaminated Zones spread across the nation.

Today, a Mutant had escaped from a Contaminated Zone and entered City A.

The next step should be for one or two S-rank Sentinels to lead a swift sweep of the Contaminated Zone, while others guard the entrance to prevent Mutants from escaping into City A and causing a massacre. If the initial sweep fails, more S-rank Sentinels will be mobilized for subsequent attempts. Only when the Sentinels at the entrance can no longer block over 98% of the Mutants will City A initiate evacuation procedures.

City A, with a permanent population exceeding ten million, presented a daunting challenge. Even if evacuation became necessary, managing such a massive undertaking would be a monumental task. How would people evacuate? Which routes would be safe? Where would they go? Where would they live? Who would provide essential supplies? Every aspect was a complex problem that would take time to resolve.

Therefore, the best solution was for the Sentinels to eradicate the Contaminated Zone in one fell swoop.

Regardless, the Special Department of their hospital would undoubtedly be swamped. Shen Shu even had the mental space to wonder about his late appointment partner. Hasn't submitted their application yet, right? Better hold off for now.

The Special Department received substantial government subsidies, paying its doctors more than triple the salary of regular physicians. Of course, this came with the expectation of special actions during crises. Their department might even relocate to the entrance of the Contaminated Zone to provide combat support. The danger wasn't too bad, given the presence of so many Sentinels. But Mutants were notoriously unpredictable—they could appear without warning. A single lapse in security could allow a Mutant to surge through a drain or faucet, killing without a sound.

The subway station was already close to Shen Shu's home, and thankfully, there were no signs of Mutants or damage from the explosion. Old folks were still sunbathing and chatting in the community square, which eased his mind. He went upstairs, packed a suitcase with four sets of clothes, toiletries, charging cables, and the Guide Element Collector, then stuffed it into his rarely used Spicy Fish Head car.

His home was too close to the hospital, and hospital staff had to pay 30 yuan a day for parking. Why pay that when he could get there and back on his electric scooter for just 2 yuan? He only drove the car in extreme weather.

When Shen Shu arrived at the hospital, Little O, who was on duty, still looked dazed. His hair was a mess when Shen Shu woke him up upon entering the office. "Brother Shen, what are you doing here?"

Shen Shu's luggage was in the car, and he had no intention of telling Little O. He could keep a secret, but Little O might not be able to. If word got out, whether it was true or not, they'd be in legal trouble. He'd handle it himself. "There was an explosion at the market, wasn't there? I came to see if there was anything I could do to help."

"Oh," Little O replied, settling back down to continue his nap. Brother Shen is a top student; I'm just a nobody. Better to keep quiet and not get in the way.

Shen Shu sat at his workstation and poured himself a cup of hot tea. After slowly finishing it, he felt somewhat better. After a moment's thought, he rose and went to an empty isolation chamber. He attached a monitoring device to his wrist. A minute later, the device displayed his current basic information: B-rank Guide, Contamination Value 21.4%. The Guiding Substance line showed a bright red '↑↑↑', indicating that his emotions were fluctuating wildly, causing his Guiding Substance to output abnormally.

Before today, his Contamination Value had consistently hovered around 3%, well below the 5% limit for ordinary citizens. The fact that Jiang Muye had further elevated his Contamination Value suggested that it had instantly surged past 30% at the subway station.

Still, this was a one-time exposure, making it relatively easy to cleanse. It was fundamentally different from contamination acquired through prolonged contact with a Source of Contamination.

No major issues. With this level of contamination, his own Guiding Substance should clear it completely within a week at most.

Shen Shu removed the detector and was about to return to his desk to lie down when his phone buzzed with a text message from the Medical Department. He glanced down and saw the notification: all personnel in the Special Department were to be on Level 2 standby, meaning all leave was canceled, and everyone was to return to work as usual. Furthermore, at least two of the three Guide Doctors in the department must remain on hospital duty at all times.

The next moment, the Director burst through the department door and immediately spotted Shen Shu. He visibly relaxed. "Thank goodness you're here, Xiao Shen! Come quickly, follow me to the office. I'll approve your request so you can get the medicine from the pharmacy right away!"

"Alright, Director. Don't worry," Shen Shu replied. He followed the Director to the office, where the nurses' station was already buzzing with activity. The Head Nurse was assigning nurses to the isolation chambers, while others were calling colleagues on leave to return immediately. The nurses needed to thoroughly clean all wards and switch all sealing chambers to standby mode as quickly as possible.

Once inside the office, the Director asked Shen Shu, "Do you have a good idea of what we need? Is anything missing?"

"I've compiled a statistics table. I'll send it to you now," Shen Shu said.

As he spoke, Shen Shu returned to his desk opposite the Director's, submitting the statistical report. Leaving no trace of his passage, he quickly summarized, "SG3212, 3013, and Growth Hormone: twenty boxes minimum. SG3246: ten boxes. Also requesting two boxes each of SG12 and SG14, five boxes of SG21, and one box of SG07."

Each box contained ten vials of medication. A Level 2 alert indicated that all wards might soon be full, requiring the replenishment of all basic medications in the Sealed Treatment Pods. SG12 and SG14, being two-digit numbered drugs, were considered rare. While the pharmacy had them in stock, each ward only had two reserve vials. Growth Hormone was a given—an essential drug for Sentinels after physical injury.

Without a word, the Director wrote out the requisition, stamped it with the official seal, and told Shen Shu to pick up the medication from the pharmacy. Shen Shu grabbed his usual small cart for picking up packages and headed out. The pharmacy was already in a frenzy. After verifying his identity, they quickly assembled the Special Department's medications in just one minute. They urged him to leave quickly and not disturb them, as other departments were lining up outside to collect their orders.

After returning, Shen Shu stored all the medications. While the others were relatively safe, the Two-Digit Series and Growth Hormone had to be personally handled by a Guide, as these drugs could cause irreversible harm to ordinary people.

For example, Growth Hormone, though essential in the Special Department, was a black-tech product developed from cancer cells and contaminants. Even brief air exposure in a semi-enclosed room could cause random polyps to grow on a person's body, with a greater than 50% chance of malignancy. If a bottle were accidentally dropped and shattered, massive exposure could lead to uncontrolled tissue growth, exceeding physiological limits and resulting in gigantism before ultimately exploding.

Only Sentinels below Grade B were allowed to use diluted versions of this substance; only those at Grade B or higher could withstand the undiluted form.

By the time he finished, it was already five in the afternoon. As Shen Shu sat down to rest, the door to the department suddenly burst open with hurried footsteps. The lead caregiver shouted, "Three Sentinels, quickly!"

All the doctors sprang to their feet and rushed out.