051 Pollution and Moral Restraint (Fourth Update)

Xie Zhi chewed on the cold white rice, while scooping up a spoonful of old hen soup from the bowl. His eating speed was fast and his eating movements were undignified, but Xie Zhi was completely unaware, simply eating the food on the cart before him like he was in a trance. He squatted on the ground and tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes.
"I can eat! I can eat!"
……
The conversation began two minutes ago when Xie Zhi asked Zhang Hongmian if there was any Baopuzi soul powder in this spiritual realm. The answer was naturally negative.
But then, Zhang Hongmian raised another question to Xie Zhi.
"When the negative cavalier enters the mental illusion, who are they playing?"
Playing the role of a savior, to save the victims who died in the illusion?
Xie Zhixia answered unconsciously.
But Zhang Hongmian shook her head and said, I'm not asking about a fictional concept, I'm asking what kind of specific person the Fuqing masters play in the mental illusion?
Xie Zhi was startled and then suddenly a burst of joy surged up.
"I'm playing as you!"
"You mean, the me in the soul realm doesn't need soul powder to eat?"
Upon hearing that he could eat, Zhi Xie did not know where he found the strength in his body as he immediately got up from the ground and rushed towards the food cart where the medicine was placed, using his hands and feet together.
果然！能吃！
一点想要呕吐的意思都没有！
谢治这才想起来，之前在小推车附近的呕吐感其实是因为击杀了绷带怪人，绷带怪人伤口里喷射出黑水溅到了自己的脸上才导致的。
However, now those black waters have already turned into black gas, absorbed into the central air conditioning system, and even the foul smell has become very faint. Therefore, Xie Zhi, who is inside Zhang Hongmian's body, is no longer affected by that nauseating odor.
Xie Zhifeng cleaned out all the food on the dining car like a gust of wind, and while eating, two tears streamed down his cheeks.
Putting aside the poisonous aspect, as well as the fact that the food was a bit cold and had a subtle but detectable smell of decay, this was truly the most luxurious meal Xie Zhifeng had eaten since he traveled through time!
The sour and spicy soup is chewy and refreshing, the old mother chicken soup is fragrant and mellow, the Pagoda meat melts in your mouth, and the squirrel mandarin fish is crispy and tender. Even the cold bowl of white rice is distinct in every grain and soft and sweet in every bite.
This retired cadre's food is just so delicious. I want to be a retired cadre when I grow old.
"Do you want to hear what you're talking about?"
From the mental link, Zhang Hongmian's ridicule came through. While Xie Zhi was squatting beside the dining car to eat, she was also standing beside the dining car, bending down to eat and replenish her energy.
Zhang Hongmian's eating speed is not slow, but compared to Xie Zhi, it is still much slower.
Xie Zhi finished two dishes and a soup, and then drank the remaining half bowl of sour and spicy noodles into his stomach. Zhang Hongmian only finished half of the squirrel fish she remembered.
After finishing all the food, Xiezhi silently whispered "crazy scissors" in his heart and transformed into his blue flame mode again.
Before even three seconds had passed, he felt that a large part of the food he had just eaten had already been digested and converted into energy, so Xiezhi turned off his transformation mode once again.
There came a faint chewing and swallowing sound through the mental link.
"Huh, you haven't finished yet?"
"Oh, thank you. It took you less than a minute from starting to eat to completing your transformation. You're really talented to not have choked to death."
"Did I only eat for a minute? I thought I was eating slowly."
Xie Zhi blinked his eyes.
"Maybe if there was a competitive eating contest in this world, I might be able to easily win the championship," he said.
"That kind of wasteful competition was completely abolished after the Great Moon Disaster. Every year, the grain production is barely enough to feed the population of the super cities. Which organization dares to hold such a special event, I can only say that its organizers can't expect to see tomorrow's sun."
"What, will the organizers be held accountable and then be taken out and executed?"
"Not necessarily, but I think he will encounter a hunger pollution field transformed from people who can’t eat enough that night. You know, sometimes, the dead-end of life itself does not make people despair, but when those who are thousands and ten thousands times wealthier than themselves trample on things that they regard as treasures, it must be despairing for those who live a destitute life."
"So, the normalization of emotional pollution in the social circle actually serves as a restrain on the powerful elites."
"Well, sort of. At least now, before the rich and powerful act recklessly, they would consider whether they would be caught up in an unshakable emotional pollution mess. After all, the law can reason with them, but emotional pollution cannot."
“So, can we say that the despair caused by pollution also has a positive effect on the polluted area?”
“Compared to the harm caused by the polluted area itself, it's just a drop in the bucket.”
……
Zhang Hongmian finished her meal. She doesn't eat slowly. Four dishes and a bowl of rice, she only ate for five minutes.
"Shall we go to the hallway next?"
"No, let's wait a bit first."
Zhang Hongmian, who was connected with the mind, stopped the restless footsteps of Xie Zhi, and then Xie Zhi heard the sound of rustling from the other end.
"What are you doing?"
"I am taking out all the towels in the communal towel basket."
Xie Zhili understood Zhang Hongmian's meaning, and he also had his own style of learning.
"Should we soak all these towels?"
"Yes, put them all in the hot spring pool to soak for a while, and then take them away."
"This is really well-prepared."
Xie Zhi picked up a pile of towels and threw them into a nearby pool. When he pulled them out of the water again, the towels had gained two or three kilograms in weight.
Zhang Hongmian said that when running from the corridor to the other side, he would pass through a public dining hall with many service personnel. In this hot spring nursing home, all service personnel have basically become dry bandage monsters. If they sense Xie Zhi and Zhang Hongmian, they will relentlessly pursue them.
“燥体绷带怪人的追击规则是什么？”
谢治突然想起来问道，
“我是说，一般被感染的情绪病患者不是都有他们各自的行为逻辑？比如月亮头病毒和满足面具会增大人心中的渴望，锁链病毒会让感染者丧失移动欲望甚至生存欲望，沦为只会站在原地凭本能追击的‘植物人’……”
“You've only traveled for three days, but you seem quite knowledgeable.”
Zhang Hongmian's response had a hint of surprise,
“It is indeed true that those infected with the virus will act according to their own behavior logic. Based on preliminary observations, the behavior logic of the Irritated Bandage Monster may be that of a 'Manic Hospital Nurse'."
"Crazy hospital caretaker?" Xie Zhi was a little confused.
"Hmm, when my team members were still around, these bandage freaks would always try to capture us whenever they encountered us. Once, Ah Wang couldn't run away and was directly grabbed by seven or eight bandage freaks, and he was sucked dry into a mummy during the process of being captured."
"But surprisingly, even though Awang had turned into a corpse, those bandaged humanoid creatures didn't let go of him. Seven Leaves and I hung back far behind them and finally saw the group of creatures grabbing the limbs of the already-corpse Awang and sending him to the collective dormitory in the regular area. The elderly who didn't have any special contributions were all placed in the regular area of the nursing home, and the location was two floors down from here. "
Thank Zhou only realized upon hearing this sentence that the hot spring nursing home is a multi-story building.
Zhang Hongmian said that the hot spring nursing home has a total of nine floors, and they are currently on the fourth floor of the nursing home.
"So why was Awang sent to the communal dormitory?"
"Perhaps it was due to his sense of responsibility as a nursing assistant. In the eyes of the dry bandage freak, we are all their wards. From their perspective, they may have been trying to persuade the elderly to return to their dormitories, but a group of them refused to obey orders and ran around everywhere."
"That's really... good intentions gone wrong."
Xie Zhi and Zhang Hongmian chatted for a while. During this time, Xie Zhi went to the pool to soak several piles of towels, and finally, a small mountain of towels was formed at Xie Zhi's feet. He embraced them with both hands, and the weight was already over 20 kilograms.
Xie Zhi put the pots, bowls, and pans from the dining car aside, and then piled up the 20-kilogram wet towels on a small cart.
"Is this enough?"
Xie Zhi asked through their mental connection.
"Enough, enough."
Zhang Hongmian made a positive reply. At the other end of the mental link, there were the sounds of Zhang Hongmian exerting force to lift the towel stack, and the squeaking of the wheels of the small cart being pulled.
"After we go out later, save our energy first. If we encounter bandaged weirdoes, and if it's a lone one, use a wet towel to wrap around their face for a quick battle. If it's a group, throw all the towels to block their way and create an escape route for ourselves..."
Xie Zhidian nodded.
The voice of Zhang Hongmei on the other side of the soul link gradually became intermittent, and soon disappeared completely, but there were no new enemies around Xie Zhidian.
Xie Zhidian knew that it meant that Zhang Hongmei had taken the first step and left the hot spring room, and began to break through the corridor.
"Huh."
Xie Zhitu exhaled a breath.
He collected his thoughts, then pushed the trolley and also walked through the heavy door curtain of the hot spring room.
The challenge was about to begin.
Before Xie Zhitu pushed the cart and walked out of the door curtain, he had imagined what kind of world was behind that door curtain.
But when he finally stepped out of the hot spring room and took in his surroundings, everything he saw made his hair stand on end in an instant.
"What kind of bizarre world is this...?"
The scene before his eyes made Xie Zhi unable to help murmuring to himself.