He's just a hunter who's good at getting hurt and has a masochistic streak. What can he do?!
Just a second before he felt his heart was about to explode, a gas mask with a sheep's head suddenly appeared in front of him.
Yi Heye strained to put the mask on. In that instant, fresh air, like a sweet spring, flowed into his lungs, wiping away the snowflakes in front of him and smoothing out the knots in his veins.
"Cough...cough..."
After catching his breath, Yi Heye's head was buzzing. He sat on the ground for a while to recover, but the slight stinging pain in his respiratory tract excited him again, and his health bar instantly returned to full.
For him, pain is often more effective than medication.
After he had fully recovered, Siwei's support finally arrived—Yi Heye had a flashlight with Siwei's logo in his hand, and when he turned it on, the beam of light cleared a path through the thick fog.
A powerful flashlight with X-ray vision...
Looking at the props that were so disorganized and lacked any sense of priority, Yi Heye fell silent—thankfully, he still had SHEEP; otherwise, by the time the four-dimensional flashlight was finished, he would probably be dead.
Ultimately, although this thing can't save lives, it's still very practical.
Yi Heye held up his flashlight and swept it across the area in front of him before he could barely make out the scene in Zone B.
The town before him was significantly different from the area he knew as District B.
The iconic giant sculpture "City of Light" still stands in the center of the city center square, but the newly built commercial housing in recent years has disappeared, replaced by a rather old-fashioned high-rise residential area and an old giant factory.
Although Yi Heye had not experienced it, he could tell that this place was roughly the same as Area B was more than 20 years ago.
At this moment, the projection screen above the central square lit up, and a very contemporary voice rang out—
"Recently, the toxic smog that has persisted for half a year shows no signs of dissipating. The concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air has reached nine times the safe level, and the number of deaths from diseases such as bronchitis, tuberculosis, and coronary heart disease has also climbed to seven times the previous levels. However, reporters have learned that several chemical plants suspected of causing the pollution have not shut down and have firmly denied any connection to the pollution incident, refusing to compensate the families of the victims..."
Yi Heye frowned, vaguely recalling a report he had read about twenty years ago, in which a large-scale pollution incident occurred in Area B, causing injuries and illnesses to many people.
Just as he was frowning and continuing on his way, he suddenly heard a series of hurried, fragmented footsteps beside him.
Turning his head, he saw a child of about seven or eight years old running towards him, covering his mouth and nose with a pained expression.
Just as Yi Heye subconsciously bent down to help, the child fell to the ground in front of him with a thud.
Yi Heye scooped the child up from the ground. He took off his gas mask and was about to put it on the child's face when the child suddenly started convulsing violently.
"Cough cough...cough!!"
A mouthful of blood spurted out in front of Yi Heye, and before he could react, the child's twitching limbs gradually went still.
He died.
Yi Heye knelt in front of the corpse in shock, his movements frozen.
Perhaps because of the game, the child's body temperature cooled down very quickly. Yi Heye stared blankly at the limp little body until he was startled by its icy touch, then coughed up a sound and quickly put the breathing mask back on.
Yi Heye considered himself a person with few emotions, and at this moment he didn't feel much sadness, but his head was buzzing.
He still couldn't get used to seeing humans die in front of him.
Even though he knew the child in front of him was just a virtual character in a game, it didn't stop him from feeling very uncomfortable.
He glanced around and, finding no soil to bury the child, could only lean the child's body against the wall, straighten his clothes, and then hurriedly leave.
He pursed his lips, wanting to light an unlit cigarette. But this was in a game, and he couldn't do that.
The moment he stood up, whether it was a hallucination or real, Yi Heye seemed to hear a series of coughs all around him, one after another, as if they were competing to see who could cough up blood first, and who could cough up a hole in their lung first.
The sound reminded him once again of the blood on the corner of the child's lips, that bright red patch like a sea of fire, cremating the young body.
Amidst these coughs, Yi Heye felt as if a cat's claw was hidden in his lungs, scratching him desperately and forcing him to cough until he coughed up blood.
The terrifying associations caused Yi Heye's emotions to fluctuate violently, and he ran wildly through the streets.
He shone his X-ray flashlight and saw rows of driverless cars spewing exhaust fumes the same color as smoke. In the distance, he saw the tops of chimneys connected to dark clouds.
This is no different from the current situation in District D—unstoppable pollution, acidic rain, and perpetually choking air.
Amidst the disturbing coughing, Yi Heye ran forward with a flashlight in hand, without looking back. He could vaguely see the end of the fog not far ahead, and his eyes lit up.
One step, two steps... The moment Yi Heye burst out of the fog, he also took off his gas mask.
Just as he was about to enjoy the fresh air without any inhibitions, the scene before him made him feel nauseous—
Yi Heye remembered clearly that this used to be the largest artificial river in Area B, but it was later filled in and turned into a commercial street due to various complicated reasons.
Before us, in the artificial river that had not been filled in, flowed not clear water, but clumps of viscous liquid churning with pink foam.
This artificial river, once the only source of drinking water for the residents of District B, is now emitting a foul odor, forcing Yi Heye to put on a gas mask once again.
Water pollution seems to have occurred before. At that time, Yi Heye was still young, and his impression of the incident was limited to written descriptions.
At this moment, a crow with a huge tumor on its head was drinking the pink water, its center of gravity unsteady and its head bowed. Beside it, a cat with two heads was sleeping at the opening of a sewage pipe. Not far from the water source, a nest of pink mice each had their own appearance. They seemed to share organs, but they were randomly distributed. Some had three eyes but no mouths, and some had nostrils that covered an entire back.
The bizarre and deformed creatures here made Yi Heye feel nauseous—the sticky texture of these mutated flesh was far more disgusting than the robots that sprawled out their fangs and claws based on imagination. He turned his head away, unwilling to look at the water source again.
At that moment, the news broadcast sounded again behind us:
"Severe water pollution incidents have caused serious ecological imbalances, resulting in a large number of birth defects..."
"Recently, a large number of citizens have experienced symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, and mood swings. According to research, the concentrated outbreak of these symptoms may be related to the severe light pollution that has been present recently..."
"Noise pollution has become the leading cause of suicide among urban residents, and it is also a significant factor contributing to neurasthenia and manic symptoms..."
"Recently, a biochemical leak incident has attracted widespread attention. It is understood that the incident has affected the quality of life of nearby residents. Our reporter was unable to interview any victims who wished to appear on camera. It is understood that all affected residents have voluntarily moved out of Area B..."
The reports, one after another, made Yi Heye feel as if he were watching a revolving lantern. He was more or less affected by these news reports, as they were all true events.
Just as he was feeling bewildered, the scene before him suddenly shifted. He seemed to be swept into a white vortex, and then a straight corridor appeared before him, ending at a closed door. On either side of him were rows of hospital beds—
On the first hospital bed, a man wearing an oxygen mask looked at him and said, "I worked in a rare earth mine for two years and got pneumoconiosis. I didn't get any compensation."
On the next hospital bed, a bald girl stretched out her withered hand: "The well water at home was contaminated by the chemical plant. My parents are dead. I have leukemia and won't live much longer."
Yi Heye felt a chill run down his spine and quickly walked forward, only to be stopped by a boy with a strangely large head: "I don't know what's wrong with me. I was born looking like this, and my parents can't afford to raise me anymore..."
Yi Heye frantically pried open his hand, and then forward, there were deaf people, intellectually disabled people, deformed people... one after another, row upon row, making it hard to breathe.
Further ahead, there was a group of coughing primary school students. Some of them were crying loudly, while others had no strength left to breathe.
Yi Heye hurried past, but saw a familiar name by the hospital bed: "Pei Xiangjin".
"Cough cough..." On the hospital bed, Pei Xiangjin, still a primary school student, lay listlessly, coughing as she curled up in her mother's arms. "Mom...did another classmate die today...?"
His mother stroked his head and said, "Baby, why don't you go to sleep first? When you wake up, the fog will be gone..."
Yi Heye suddenly felt very suffocated. Before seeing Pei Xiangjin, he had always thought that the person in the hospital bed was a fake patient that Lan Yang had deliberately fabricated to influence his mentality. It wasn't until he saw Pei Xiangjin that he realized that these illnesses might actually be real.
Further on, he saw Fang Chunyang, dressed in a hospital gown, sitting in front of the psychologist, crying loudly and desperately: "I can't go on living, even breathing is painful for me now!"
He saw Fang Chunyang being tied up and taken into the ward behind him, and then he saw himself lying alone on the front bed.
Before him, Xiao Yiheye, with his black hair, was running a high fever, clutching the bed sheet beside him, breathing heavily with a pained expression, but showing little fear or cowardice.
He stared blankly ahead with his bloodshot eyes. Yi Heye followed his gaze and found that he was looking at Pei Xiangjin, who was being well taken care of by his mother.
At this moment, the nurse came over, and Xiao Yiheye looked up and took the initiative to grab the nurse's white coat: "My mother can't come, please let me go home."
"What kind of parents are these?" the nurse complained, taking Xiao Yiheye's hand and giving him an injection.
Yi Heye frowned, looking at his younger self with tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't cry out, but it was clear that he was in a lot of pain.
Yi Heye remembers this injection.
When he was five years old, he was hospitalized with pneumonia for no apparent reason. His mother was not there. That was the first time he felt that being sick and in pain was such a meaningless thing.
He glanced at the medical record—inhalation of excessive polluting dust.
So it was because of pollution.
Along the long corridor, wails, sobs, and groans rose and fell. Yi Heye glanced back and felt as if he had been thrown into the bubbling pink water and the pungent smoke, making him feel nauseous and about to vomit.
Just then, the patients in the corridor suddenly stood up and looked at Yi Heye in unison. Their uniform movements reminded Yi Heye of the robot sea in the waiting room.
He instinctively raised his gun, but then met the eyes of the people in front of him, and his fingers trembled almost imperceptibly.
"Why is this happening?" someone asked.
"Why me of all people?" another person asked.
"It hurts so much, it's so uncomfortable..."
"I can't breathe..."
"Cough cough cough..."
The questions almost made Yi Heye's throat tighten; he raised his gun, then hesitated and put it down.
Even so, it was impossible. Yi Heye looked at the patients crowding towards him, at his research with tears in his eyes, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his palms.
"Save me!! Kill me—!!!"
With a sharp scream, Yi Heye felt as if his skull was about to split in two. He saw the patients rushing towards him like madmen. Just as he made up his mind to fight back, he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening behind him.
In an instant, a white light enveloped him. Yi Heye had no time to think and looked straight up at the world behind him...
When Yi Heye opened his eyes again, his whole body was soaked in cold sweat.
After a long while, the terrible tinnitus disappeared, and my vision gradually returned to clear.
Before me lay a lush green lawn, a clear blue sky, the melodious chirping of birds, and the lingering fragrance of flowers…
A blue sheep appeared before him:
Welcome to 'Utopia'.
Author's Note:
This chapter is a bit messy, and Mei said she'd dance a BB dance called "I'm a Sheep" to cleanse everyone's eyes.
Chapter 36, No. 036
The sudden disappearance of noise, odors, and visual pollution had already made Yi Heye quite uncomfortable. At this moment, the dreamlike scene suddenly appeared, and for a moment Yi Heye even wondered if he was already dead.
...This must be heaven, Yi Heye thought in a daze.
However, even though his brain was still recovering from the sudden relaxation, his body instantly raised its hand and fired the gun the moment it saw Blue Sheep—through day after day of training, he had already developed an extremely keen conditioned reflex, a mechanical action that could be detached from all emotional feedback.
The bullet flew with incredible precision toward Blue Sheep, but the man didn't flinch. Yi Heye watched helplessly as the bullet passed right through his body, as if it had pierced through a string of shapeless, virtual numbers—