Chapter 43: Sister

Song Nanxing waited at the entrance of the residential complex for the people from the containment center to arrive.

About twenty minutes later, the technical team from the containment center showed up. Leading them was Li Hao, whom Song Nanxing had met once before under Cheng Jianning’s building.

Li Hao was tall and lean, with a slightly dark complexion. When he smiled, two rows of gleaming white teeth showed, leaving a strong impression.

Seeing Song Nanxing, he took the initiative to greet him warmly, flashing his white teeth: “I’m Li Hao from the technical team. We’ve met before, remember? Captain Chu got the message and sent me to assist you. You can just call me Mouse.”

“I’m Song Nanxing,”

Song Nanxing gave a brief self-introduction, then noticed Li Hao looking around curiously. He asked with some confusion, “Where did you say the big banyan tree is?”

Song Nanxing was taken aback and looked to their right at the lush banyan tree: “You don’t see it?”

Li Hao turned his head blankly, his gaze scanning the direction of the banyan tree before returning to Song Nanxing: “Should I be seeing it?”

Song Nanxing said, “Looks like this kind of banyan tree has the ability to alter perception. At least, it can make people unconsciously ignore it.”

“It’s right there.” Song Nanxing pointed at the car parked under the tree.

Li Hao followed his finger and finally saw a thick banyan tree that would require two people to hug around it. Perhaps because he had already been warned that this banyan tree might be linked to the eleven missing people, Li Hao’s eyes lingered on the branches stretching out in all directions, and he couldn’t help but feel they looked like twisted corpses reaching out with claw-like hands.

“I see it now.”

Li Hao’s smile faded, his lips tightening as he pulled out a notebook and opened a named document to take notes: “Habit 2: Alters perception, not observable by ordinary humans. No active aggression detected so far.”

After quickly recording this, he turned to the other two people: “Put on protective suits and collect samples for testing. Hurry up and come back.”

They stayed outside the canopy’s coverage area. Seeing Li Hao’s first recorded note, Song Nanxing asked, “Has it been confirmed infectious?”

Li Hao nodded: “After receiving your report, we immediately sealed off the gymnasium and re-tested everyone inside for contamination. Aside from the brother and sister who have mutated, everyone else showed only mild contamination.”

“We then gathered all staff who had recently entered or exited the gym for testing. We found two or three staff members exhibiting symptoms of lignification on their skin—on their arms or necks, turning as rough as bark. It’s still in the early stages and not as pronounced as the brother and sister. We preliminarily judge this lignification symptom to be infectious, tentatively named ‘Arbor Dermatitis.’”

Song Nanxing asked, “How are the two siblings now?”

Li Hao said, “They’re currently locked in isolation rooms at the containment center. Their bodies have become half-lignified, and their movements are slow. But after separating them, their emotions have become extremely volatile and aggressive. They keep smashing the glass walls of the isolation room, trying to escape.”

He switched the screen to show a video to Song Nanxing.

In the footage, the siblings were desperately ramming their heads against the glass of the isolation room. The specially tempered glass echoed with dull thuds, and broken restraint straps littered the floor. Ordinary restraints were clearly no longer able to contain the frenzied siblings.

Their exposed skin had fully lignified, with human facial features embedded in bark-like faces—an eerie and grotesque sight. Yet they appeared completely unaware, still struggling to open their mouths and mumbling indistinctly: “Sister, I want sister.”

“So hungry, so uncomfortable.”

“Sister, give me sister.”

Li Hao paused the video, the siblings’ vacant, horrifying faces frozen on the screen: “Thankfully, you discovered these banyan trees. Otherwise, if they got into crowded places, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

Song Nanxing was not as optimistic as him. Although the outskirts had lower population density, Jiang Tengyuan and Longhu Yayuan were two relatively new residential complexes with better facilities, housing many more residents than Xingfu Garden.

And these two banyan trees grew right along the greenways that residents must pass through.

Lost in thought, Song Nanxing glanced again at the big banyan tree and was suddenly alarmed to see two sampling staff near it. He shouted urgently, “What are you doing? Don’t take off your protective suits!”

The two sampling staff, still dazed, had already begun to touch their protective suit zippers. Suddenly, Li Hao’s sharp voice hit them like cold water, clearing their confused minds in an instant.

They exchanged glances, clutched the sample boxes tightly, and turned to run.

Li Hao pulled out a weapon to cover them: “What happened?”

“Don’t know.” Both were gasping for breath, too afraid to remove their protective suits, voices filled with lingering dread. “While sampling, I suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of closeness, like wanting to get even closer to the banyan tree…”

Song Nanxing exchanged a grim look with Li Hao. Their faces darkened as if speaking in unison: “They can lure you in.”

It might be some undetectable scent, a secret psychic connection, or perhaps the banyan tree itself exudes contamination. The more one looks at it, the more one unknowingly gets drawn in…

There were many possibilities, but none were promising.

If these trees had active luring abilities, would this banyan tree just keep growing bigger?

What would it eventually become?

Li Hao didn’t dare think too deeply about the question and immediately reported the situation back to the containment center. His fingers trembled while messaging Chu Yan.

Song Nanxing heard him mutter softly to himself, “Why is it that every strange thing we encounter gets harder and harder to deal with? It’s fine, it’s fine, Li Hao, stay calm, damn it!”

Song Nanxing patted his shoulder: “I’ll talk to Captain Chu. You should consider sealing off this area first to prevent ordinary people from being affected.”

“Right, right.” Li Hao handed him the phone, already dialing, and moved to the trunk to fetch instruments.

“Don’t just stand there, measure the pollution index nearby and conduct a risk assessment!”

Song Nanxing took the phone, just as it connected.

Chu Yan’s steady voice came through: “What’s the situation?”

Song Nanxing reported the recent findings and his own guesses. After a few seconds of silence, Chu Yan said, “We can’t leave them there. I’m sending Cheng Jianning over to assist. Discuss with Li Hao to see if you can just cut down the tree and bring it back to the containment center. I’m dispatching extra personnel with equipment to search the city for banyan trees.”

After hanging up, Song Nanxing asked Li Hao, “What’s the plan?”

Li Hao’s expression was even more grave than before. Attempting a joke to lighten the heavy mood, he said, “One good news and one bad news. Which do you want first?”

“Bad news.”

“The bad news is that air pollution levels inside the banyan tree canopy are rising continuously. The risk assessment pollution grade has already exceeded B.”

Noticing that Song Nanxing might not be familiar with the risk levels, he explained: “Whenever there’s a potential group contamination event, we do a risk assessment based on the pollution index per cubic meter of air and the speed at which the pollution spreads. The highest grade is S; supposedly, there are S+ and even S++ levels, but after working at the containment center for years, I’ve never seen those, so I won’t go into detail. Below S are A, B, and C grades. Until this year, according to data shared among the Nine Cities, group pollution incidents have mostly been C-level, with B-level being rare. Most ordinary contamination cases, if detected and controlled early, won’t spread widely.”

“Take Cheng Jianning’s last uncontrolled case, for example. The risk assessment had already surpassed A level, with the spread approaching S level. But because Cheng Jianning, the source, was calmed down, the pollution spread was contained, preventing disaster. But this banyan tree… just this one alone has already reached B-level risk.”

Li Hao swallowed nervously and looked at Song Nanxing: “If those missing people have all turned into banyan trees like this, then how many B-level pollution risks are there in the city right now?”

Moreover, these banyan trees lure people in, infecting those who approach with Arbor Dermatitis, which is contagious.

Eventually, will these infected people all become banyan trees themselves?

Taking a deep breath, Li Hao muttered quietly to reassure himself: “Don’t panic, don’t be scared. You’ve weathered bigger storms before. It’s no big deal. If the sky falls, there’ll still be tall guys to hold it up…”

Song Nanxing listened to his whispered chant and asked, “And the good news?”

“The good news is that the contamination is confined within the canopy and hasn’t spread outward yet. As long as we remove this tree quickly, we don’t have to worry about pollution spreading.”

Li Hao finally grasped a lifeline amid the chaos: “Yeah, cut down the tree and it’ll be fine.” He turned to the two team members and shouted, “Bring the chainsaw!”

They quickly wheeled over a chainsaw.

This chainsaw looked very different from a household one—a squat cylindrical body with several saw blades of different sizes and thicknesses.

Li Hao adjusted the chainsaw, selected the sharpest blade, and turned the power to maximum before putting on his protective suit, muttering encouragement to himself: “Damn it, I’m going all in!”

Seeing him nervously shaking his leg, Song Nanxing took the protective suit from his hands and put it on himself: “I’ll do it. Show me how to use this.”

Li Hao said, “This kind of heavy-duty work is usually done by us. There’s a slight contamination risk, but when it’s a life-or-death situation, that’s when your execution team gets called in.”

Song Nanxing glanced at him calmly: “Before you came, I was already pacing back and forth under that tree.”

If contamination was going to happen, he’d have been infected already. If not, going himself would minimize damage.

“All right, brother, it’s on you then.” Li Hao zipped his mouth shut and stopped arguing, teaching him how to use the chainsaw.

Song Nanxing nodded and steadily pushed the chainsaw toward the big banyan tree.