Iron Chains

Why were there contaminants in Zhu Rongtian's Mental Domain?

Luo Ruzhuo couldn't make sense of it, no matter how hard she thought.

By rights, contaminants could only form in a Pollution Domain, and a host was needed to supply energy to the source of contamination.

Following the logic of how contaminants formed, Zhu Rongtian's Mental Domain was no different from a Pollution Domain right now.

It was terrifying.

By the measure of a sentinel's contamination level, with her entire Mental Domain contaminated, Zhu Rongtian should already have been an aberration with a contamination level of 100 percent.

Yet the Zhu Rongtian Luo Ruzhuo had seen during the day had seemed no different from an ordinary person.

She was lost in thought.

Seeing that she wasn't speaking, the man crouched down to meet her eyes, a smile curling his lips. "Can't find your way home? It's all right. Would you like to come sit at my place for a while?"

A twisted mass of mosaic suddenly appeared in front of Luo Ruzhuo, and she couldn't keep thinking.

How strange.

A contaminant that acted just like a living person.

Luo Ruzhuo was a little curious and wanted to see what this contaminant's home was like.

She nodded and said, "Okay."

Luo Ruzhuo got into the transport vehicle. They traveled along the dirt road and soon turned into a narrow alley that the vehicle couldn't fit through. The man pulled over and parked, then opened the door and was about to help her down.

To be safe, she didn't dare touch the contaminant. She dodged his hand and jumped out on her own little legs.

The man wasn't angry. He merely smiled helplessly and led the way, taking Luo Ruzhuo through several winding alleys before finally stopping in front of a rusty iron gate.

The top of the gate was very old, covered in layers of grime of unknown origin and pasted with yellowing couplets.

He took out a key, opened the gate, and gestured for her to go in first.

Inside was a small courtyard and a low house with three narrow rooms, laid out around a main hall in the style most common in the countryside. A small thatched hut stood beside it.

The rooms were all dark. It was hard to tell whether they had no lights or simply couldn't bear to turn them on. A few shafts of light filtered in, revealing the sparse furniture at a glance.

The main room held only a table, two chairs, and a cabinet with one crooked leg propped up by bricks. Several bags of stripped corn cobs were piled in the corner, presumably for burning.

The opening gate had made quite a bit of noise, and an elderly woman's voice came from the main room. "Fuzhuang, you're back?"

As she spoke, an elderly woman came out leaning on a cane. She covered her mouth with one hand and coughed twice as she walked, her lungs wheezing like a bellows.

The old woman saw Luo Ruzhuo and gave a cry of surprise. "Oh! Where did this little girl come from?"

"I found her!" If not for the mass of mosaic over Wang Fuzhuang's face, he would probably have been grinning from ear to ear. His voice was full of pride. "She was all alone on the main road! So I brought her back."

After hearing him out, the old woman wore a look of mixed emotions and resignation. She sighed. "Now that she's come to our home, treat her well..."

From their voices, Luo Ruzhuo could imagine what they looked like as they spoke.

There was no helping it.

Ever since the old woman appeared, Luo Ruzhuo's gaze had been fixed on her face.

She was trying hard to see what she looked like.

But the old woman's face was also a twisted mass of mosaic shrouded in black mist.

She was a contaminant too.

She really had stumbled into a house of contaminants, Luo Ruzhuo thought absently. These two humanoid contaminants were putting on quite a convincing act, just like real life.

It even made her want to see what kind of play they were putting on.

Just as she was thinking that, Luo Ruzhuo heard the sharp clink of metal.

She turned toward the sound and saw that it had come from the little thatched hut in the courtyard. Its crude straw door was pushed open, and a shadow emerged.

It was a little girl about the same age as Luo Ruzhuo was now.

Her hair seemed to have been cut, falling unevenly over her shoulders. She wore a filthy gray smock, and her sleeves and pant legs were too short, exposing her wrists and ankles. There were marks on her wrists where something made of iron had rubbed against them, covered in dark brown scabs.

An iron ring was fastened around her ankle, attached to a long chain as thick as a thumb. Its other end was fastened to an iron nail high up on the wall of the main house.

It was just long enough for her to move around the room and courtyard, but not to reach the gate.

Luo Ruzhuo saw her face.

Its contours were familiar. Her face was covered in dirt, her lips were dry and peeling, and her eyes were large, with very dark pupils that seemed to hold no light.

Most importantly, she wasn't covered by the mosaic of contamination.

A person had appeared in a Pollution Domain full of contaminants.

A name immediately flashed through her mind.

The man stepped forward and gave the little girl a push on the back, speaking as though it were only natural. "Let me introduce you. This is your older sister. You'll be living together from now on."

The little girl said nothing. She stared at Luo Ruzhuo, her pupils reflecting Luo Ruzhuo's clean clothes and the face that remained exquisite even after she had shrunk. Her lips were pressed tightly shut, as though nailed together.

"I never said I was staying here." Luo Ruzhuo frowned.

The man turned to look at her. The mosaic on his face twisted, probably because he was frowning too.

"What are you talking about, child?" he said, displeased. "Where else can you go if you don't stay here? Let me tell you, once it gets dark, there'll be wild dogs everywhere outside, and they eat children!"

With that, he ignored her and raised his voice at the little girl. "What are you standing around for? Go cook! Can't you see we have a guest?"

The little girl didn't answer. She only glanced at Luo Ruzhuo, then turned and went into the kitchen, the chain clinking and clanking as it dragged along the ground.

Luo Ruzhuo watched her disappear behind the kitchen door, then glanced at the old woman with the cane. Two coughs came from the old woman's mosaic-covered face, and she slowly made her way back to the main room on her cane.

The man came over, perhaps thinking his voice had been a little too loud and had frightened her. He gave a couple of affected, insincere laughs. "Don't be scared. I'll help you find your family. Just stay here and make yourself at home for now, all right? Be good."

With that, he tried to pat Luo Ruzhuo's head, but she sidestepped him.

The man wasn't discouraged and cheerfully went back inside.

He didn't seem worried that she would sneak away.

Luo Ruzhuo glanced at the battered, rusty gate. It was a little high for a child, but not especially so.

In the end, she stood in the courtyard for a moment, then headed toward the kitchen.

The kitchen was just a makeshift shelter built beside the thatched hut. It was open to the wind on all sides. The stove was built of yellow clay and broken bricks, with a pitch-black iron pot set on top.

The little girl was crouched in front of the stove, feeding corn cobs into the firebox. The firelight shone on her face, making her already dry lips look even more chapped.

Luo Ruzhuo had just crouched down beside the stove when the little girl spoke softly. "Don't listen to him. Run."

As she spoke, she kept glancing out toward the main room to see what was happening. When she looked back, her gaze lingered on Luo Ruzhuo's clean clothes for a second before shifting to the flames.

"Your mom and dad must be really worried." Her voice was so quiet that only the two of them could hear it, and there was envy in her tone. "They took such good care of you."

"They should be able to come find you soon... Don't eat anything on the table later. Once it gets dark, step on my shoulders and climb over the wall. The one at the back is a little lower. Once you're out, run through the fields along the path. Don't go to the main road."

Her plan was clear and well thought out; it didn't sound like something she had come up with on the spot.

After listening, Luo Ruzhuo was silent for two seconds. She didn't agree, only asked, "Don't you recognize me?"