Converting the first polluter

The students gathered in the spacious trial grounds plaza while their supervising teacher, Yan Pei, stood at the front reviewing yesterday's trials. After a night's rest, most of the students below had recovered, with only a few still looking somewhat worse for wear. The three assistants quietly observed them, thinking that these students probably would not make it to the end. By tomorrow at the latest, they would likely face reality and withdraw from the trials. It was regrettable, but they had to accept it.

Yan Pei loudly announced today's schedule. To stop the assistant beside him from interrupting without any regard for the rules as she had yesterday, he did not pause once throughout.

"There will be two trials today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon." Yan Pei's stern gaze swept over all the students. "I'll say it again: you need to know your own limits!"

Ye Jiang stepped into the plaza just as he delivered that famous line. Once again, she was the last to arrive.

She thought arriving at this time was perfectly fine. Her job only required her to supervise the students and, while she was at it, record how long they stayed in that pitch-black cave. Listening to the supervising teacher's famous sayings was not part of her job, and it was boring.

As she approached with lazy, dragging steps, the students listening to the supervising teacher involuntarily turned toward her. A trace of bewilderment and confusion appeared on their faces in unison, followed by scattered whispers.

"What's all that noise?!" Yan Pei clapped his hands sharply on the platform. "Silence!"

The students quieted down.

But every gaze that had been on him had wandered away, and none returned. Anger rose in his chest. What were they all looking around for?!

What was so interesting?

He followed the students' gazes. The next second, Yan Pei nearly keeled over in fury. In his line of sight, the assistant recruited through Part-Time Cat was habitually late again. Never mind being late—behind her, she had actually brought along that Polluted from Trial Room A!

Was there something wrong with this assistant?!

"What did you bring it out for?!"

Yan Pei roared, his entire face twitching uncontrollably. He had never met anyone this bizarre! What kind of assistant brought a Polluted out of the trial room to wander around?! It was not some mascot!

Why was he yelling at her?

Ye Jiang strolled brazenly along with the Polluted, her expression calm, and answered the man yelling at her as if it were only natural. "It's not feeling well."

Yan Pei was at his breaking point. "What else did you expect?"

It was being used to train the students precisely because it was injured! Otherwise, how could a C-rank Polluted possibly be in a trial room?

Yan Pei's head felt ready to burst with anger. He yelled at her, "Hurry up and put it back!"

"Oh."

Ye Jiang did not understand what Yan Pei was angry about. He must have been born loving to get angry. How inexplicable.

She took the Polluted back to the trial room at an unhurried pace. The Polluted followed obediently, offering no resistance even when returning to the trial room. It was gentler than ordinary Polluted to begin with. Although it was a C-rank Polluted, when the Jin Family captured it, they determined that it was an anomaly. It showed very little aggression toward humans and seemed to have no abilities, possessing only pollution at the level of a C-rank Polluted. It was a fairly useless C-rank Polluted. Upon discovering this, the Jin Family immediately decided it was highly suitable for testing those with potential. Its pollution was still too high, however, so they spent several days training it. They drove sharp blades into its body, stab after stab, day and night, until its pollution concentration had been reduced to a usable level.

Now the Polluted followed close behind the human, as though it had been completely tamed. On the platform, Yan Pei watched the Mushroom Man and curled his lip, disdaining such low-grade trash.

Ye Jiang arrived at yesterday's trial room. As soon as they entered, the Polluted walked into its cage on its own and even used its mycelium to block that "door" after entering. It showed more initiative than Ye Jiang did about going to work.

The students soon arrived. The dozen or so boys and girls each picked a spot and sat casually on the floor. Mycelium drifted toward them and climbed over their bodies. These favored children of heaven were familiar with the process, and after yesterday's contact, their adaptability had generally improved today. Not only did they show none of yesterday's nervousness and fear, they were even in the mood to chat.

A dozen boys and girls gathered around Ming Xia and Jin Hong, discussing yesterday afternoon's trial.

"You're both amazing. As expected of double-A aptitude! Our school didn't produce a single double-A, but yours actually had two!"

"You stayed a long time yesterday, right? Definitely much longer than us!"

"Double-A aptitude really is different. I'm so jealous!"

The students sharing the trial room were full of admiration. Jin Hong listened smugly, his chin lifting slightly. Of course he was different from them. Their lives would be different in the future, too.

"So, which of you was the last to leave yesterday?" one student asked curiously amid the stream of praise.

Jin Hong paused, and the smile on his face slowly faded.

He cast a sideways glance at Ming Xia, who had the same aptitude as him, a short distance away. She did not seem to be listening to them and simply kept staring at the Mushroom Man, a slightly strange look on her face.

What was so interesting?

It had been the same yesterday. Ming Xia had kept staring at this Mushroom Man yesterday, too.

Jin Hong frowned. He hated Ming Xia. He hated how being tested as having the same aptitude as him had instantly taken away a share of his spotlight. What he hated even more was that she seemed not to care about any of that glory, making him, who did care about such things, look a little like a clown.

He hated her.

Hated her to death.

So he had to be better than Ming Xia in every respect, or he would never be able to let it go.

Yesterday...

During yesterday afternoon's trial, he had left the trial room before Ming Xia. He had lost to her.

At that thought, he glared at the trial room's assistant teacher.

It was all this woman's fault. He clearly could have held on longer, but she had knocked him out and forcibly

taken him away. She was the one who made him lose! This woman had actually dared to lay hands on him, and he had no idea how she had taken him back to the dormitory. When he woke up, his whole body hurt, and several patches of skin had been scraped raw.

This woman was just like Ming Xia. They were both infuriating.

Ye Jiang noticed a gloomy gaze falling on her. She looked up and met a student's undisguised look of loathing.

Oh, so this was Jin Hong.

The thought passed through her mind, but she could muster no other particular feelings. She calmly looked away and went back to playing on her phone.

Jin Hong: "..."

What kind of look was that?

He did not like the look in her eyes. It was as though he was beneath mention.

What the hell? He had double-A aptitude! This was infuriating!

Ye Jiang did not care in the slightest whether some brat resented her, hated her, or wanted revenge on her. She simply settled into life on the mountain, working two shifts during the day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. At night, she still took the Mushroom Man back to her room, every single night. Everyone else thought she would only do something so outrageous once. That was because they did not know her and had completely underestimated how thoroughly she did as she pleased. She did not think she had done anything wrong. She considered taking the Mushroom Man back entirely justified. This student was not feeling well, so taking it away was perfectly legitimate in the course of her work. The Mushroom Man always returned to the trial room on its own first thing in the morning. As a result, no one actually discovered that it was staying outside at night.

A week passed uneventfully like this. That day, Ye Jiang took the students to the trial room as usual. Over the past week, varying numbers of students from Trial Rooms B, C, and D had been eliminated and left the trial grounds. Only the dozen or so students under Ye Jiang's supervision had suffered no losses, thanks to their high potential. Yet that day, as soon as these favored children of heaven entered the trial grounds, they felt a cold, sinister air rush toward them. Their adaptability had been improving, and they had been staying longer and longer in the trial room, but now they suddenly shuddered, as though they were entering the trial room and coming into contact with a Polluted for the first time. A trace of confusion appeared on their faces. Before they could think much about it, their old friend, the mycelium, drifted toward them and slowly climbed onto their bodies.

"Ah." One student gave a quiet cry on the spot. A slight discomfort appeared wherever the mycelium touched her. She forced herself to bear it. Seeing the other students settle into the process, she managed to do the same.

But before long, perhaps less than ten minutes later, the student suddenly grew dazed. Without her noticing at all, her eyes abruptly became somewhat unfocused.

A hand pressed against her forehead, cool to the touch. She jolted, and her expression suddenly cleared considerably. Looking up, she discovered that it was the assistant teacher's hand.

The student murmured, "Teacher, your hand feels so nice. It's cool..."

Ye Jiang, who had noticed something was wrong with the student and come over to check: "..."

She withdrew her hand expressionlessly.

"If you feel unwell, go back to the dormitory," she said.

"I'm not going back! I managed over an hour yesterday. This is nothing yet!" The student gave a bright smile. "I really did space out a little just now, but once you touched my forehead, I was fine. Back to full health!"

It was true. A moment ago, she had felt something was wrong, but now she felt completely fine and in excellent condition!

A girl beside her asked quietly, "Does it really feel that nice?"

The girl cautiously tugged at Ye Jiang's clothes. "Teacher, could you touch me too?"

She did not feel well either.

Ye Jiang: "..."

With a deadpan face, she touched the girl's forehead, very perfunctorily.

"Ah, it really does feel nice. It's cool," the girl said, offering her review of the experience.

At those words, hands rose one after another like mushrooms after the rain.

"Teacher, touch me too!"

"I want it too!"

"Me, me!"

Ye Jiang: "."

She seemed to have acquired some strange new work.

Still, she did not refuse. She touched them one at a time, as though touching white radishes. Even Ming Xia experienced that supposedly pleasant touch of hers. Only Jin Hong did not. He could hardly hate her enough, so how could he possibly let her touch him?

The trial room was filled with harmony, and the students grew particularly close to Ye Jiang. Perhaps affected by this atmosphere, Jin Hong felt uncomfortable no matter where he looked. In the end, he barely lasted as long as he had yesterday before leaving the trial room with his head spinning.

The next day, he continued to feel miserable. His fellow students in the trial room had fallen in love with the game of asking Ye Jiang to touch them and were having the time of their lives. He alone was excluded. That day, he left on unsteady feet before reaching his previous duration. It was not that he did not want to stay, but that he truly could not hold on.