Chapter 67: Lingering Fear

The door swung open revealing pitch darkness. Not a sliver of light.

Only through the opened curtains did faint light seep in from outside casting an eerie quiet glow.

An inexplicable sense of dread permeated the entire room. Every inch seemed steeped in a chilling aura that could make one’s skin crawl. It wasn’t a physical cold but the kind of bone-deep fear that could make your hair stand on end even drenched in sweat during the peak of summer a terror so intense it would force you to curl up on the floor clutching your head enduring extreme torment too afraid to even whimper.

Lu Xin slowly walked through the room. It was a two-bedroom apartment with a living room. The ceiling felt a bit low. The TV sofa and dining table were all neatly arranged. The space wasn’t small making the room feel somewhat empty and cold.

“This apartment building still has power. You can turn on the lights!”

Han Bing’s voice came softly through the channel reminding Lu Xin.

Lu Xin nodded. He started to reach for the light switch but then pulled his hand back.

“Let me look around first.”

He replied softly to Han Bing and began to slowly move through the room his Sister trailing beside him.

The living room was empty nothing there.

The first bedroom Lu Xin pushed open was filled with clutter but likewise held nothing strange.

So Lu Xin slowly grasped the doorknob of the second bedroom and turned it gently.

With a soft click the door pushed inward.

Instantly Lu Xin was hit by an overpowering stench of decay that seemed to explode outwards. He raised his sleeve to cover his nose and mouth. Just then his Sister beside him tugged lightly at him. Actually even without her reminder Lu Xin’s eyes having just adjusted to the dim light had already spotted a human shape sprawled on the floor. The intense smell of rot emanated from it.

It was a corpse.

But what put Lu Xin on alert wasn’t the corpse itself but the window sill.

By the window sill sat a dark figure. It hugged its knees sitting quietly gazing out at the scenery.

The moment Lu Xin saw it he was certain that the intense feeling of dread originated from this figure.

His Sister stared intently at the dark figure her body crouching slightly eyes gleaming.

Lu Xin gently waved his hand signaling his Sister not to bully it and whispered “Can you communicate?”

The dark figure remained still just hugging its knees sitting by the window without any reaction.

“Confirmed. It’s just an ordinary pollution source!”

Lu Xin sighed softly reported to Han Bing on the channel then turned back and found the light switch behind the door.

“Click.”

As the light instantly illuminated the room the dark figure by the window vanished in a flash. Even the feeling of dread within the room seemed to dissipate significantly. Lu Xin could now clearly see the room’s layout.

A rather large bed its quilt rumpled and spread out with half of it dragged onto the floor.

Following the quilt one could see the corpse slumped on the ground.

He must have been dead for four or five days; decomposition was already visible in several places.

He was frozen in a posture as if crawling off the bed his hand stretched forward forcefully. Two or three meters from his hand lay a small medicine bottle with a few bright yellow capsule-like pills spilled out from it.

It looked like he was trying to reach for the medicine bottle before he died but failed.

“We’ve found the relevant information. The tenant in Room 1004 Building C of the Mining Cave Community is a man named Wang Chu twenty-three years old. He worked at a factory on the north side of the city lived alone had no registered relatives and no criminal record.”

Han Bing’s voice sounded softly on the channel “Can you determine the cause of death?”

Lu Xin crouched down and picked up the small medicine bottle. Faintly printed on it were the words “Nitroglycerin”.

Han Bing likely saw the words on the bottle through the camera on Lu Xin and immediately analyzed “Nitroglycerin is a drug used to prevent and treat coronary heart disease angina and similar symptoms. If there are no other external injuries on the body we can determine that the deceased most likely died from a sudden heart attack unable to get the medication in time.”

“However the specific cause of death can only be confirmed after an autopsy.”

…

“What’s the procedure now?”

Lu Xin nodded asking Han Bing on the channel.

“Recommend using a Special Containment Bag to collect the body cutting off the pollution source’s connection to the outside world then let the Support Team enter.”

Lu Xin agreed and took out a neatly folded square bag from behind him. It looked only palm-sized but unfolded to reveal a rather large area. It was made of a material rarely seen on the market resembling plastic. Lu Xin had seen similar materials in his previous work recognizing it as a new type of woven fiberglass.

He followed the instructions placed the corpse in the bag sealed it paused for a moment then put the medicine bottle inside as well.

The surrounding sense of dread was already fading rapidly almost imperceptible now.

Han Bing had already notified the Support Team for him through the channel.

…

…

“So how did this pollution source form?”

Lu Xin went to the window opened it to air out the room’s stench and asked.

“The specific report should come from post-incident research…”

Han Bing said paused slightly then added “However this incident isn’t actually hard to figure out.”

“This young man named Wang Chu lived alone in this house with no relatives or friends. He had heart disease so he kept nitroglycerin at home. But one night he suddenly had a heart attack and couldn’t get the life-saving medicine in time. So he died alone in this room. It must have been the intense emotions before death that caused his mind to mutate.”

“However because he had no intention of harming others it only formed a sub-D-rank pollution source instead of turning into a Mental Monster. And since he’s already dead the pollution source’s ability to spread is also slow and unconscious.”

“This type of pollution source has the most severe emotional impact or influence on people!”

“But because it doesn’t actively assimilate or attack others its danger and infection levels are relatively low. Theoretically this should be considered an E-rank pollution source a relatively pure one. Although its range of influence is large short-term exposure won’t truly cause pollution. Of course prolonged exposure would definitely lead to some terrifying changes.”

…

“Then…”

Lu Xin listened quietly asking “Why did he leave behind a pollution source that’s only fear?”

“It’s likely because he was terrified.”

Han Bing fell silent for a moment before explaining softly “It’s not just the fear of death but also the fear of living alone dying alone with no one to find him or care about him. It’s precisely this fear that turned him into such a pollution source.”

…

After a while Lu Xin nodded gently “That must be it.”

He subconsciously glanced at his Sister nearby. Seeing her happily dismantling the young man’s toys and figures displayed on the shelf in the living room while waiting for the Support Team her eyes shining with delight he suddenly felt much more at ease…

Thankfully he had family with him.