33: Chapter 33 Cleanup

That afternoon, Dunn held an emergency team meeting in the conference room.

There were only four attendees: Old Neil, Klein, Lu Li, and Rozanne, who was responsible for taking minutes.

Leonard and Daly were assigned to guard the corridor to prevent anyone from approaching the conference room.

"The analysis results for the mold samples from the Iron Cross Street drainage branch have come out." Dunn placed Old Neil's report on the table, his voice lowered. "The mold's spirituality resonance frequency matches the fluctuations from when the Underground Channel Secret Room formation was activated. This is not natural growth—it is directional positioning."

He opened the last page of the report, his fingertip tapping the spirituality fluctuation comparison chart.

"The mold is currently concentrated in the third section of the branch, covering an area of about twenty meters. Old Neil has estimated that at the current growth rate, those two unclosed letters on the outermost ring will fully grow within forty-eight hours. By then, the concentric circles will form a complete positioning circle. Once a marked person stands in the center of the circle, the resonance will trigger."

"What is at the other end of the resonance?" Klein asked.

"The scar left behind after the rift in the Underground Channel Secret Room healed. Although the rift in the sealing structure has closed, the scar remains. Once the resonance starts, the scar might be torn open again."

The conference room was silent for a few seconds.

"What is the cleaning plan?" Lu Li asked.

Old Neil pulled a hand-drawn cleaning flowchart from his briefcase and spread it on the table.

"Concentrated Holy Water can kill the mold, but it must be cleaned in a specific order from the outside in. If the order is reversed, the mold will release a final spirituality pulse before it dies, and the pulse signal will activate the positioning circle prematurely."

"What is the order?"

"Start from the third concentric circle on the outermost ring and clean circle by circle from the outside in. After cleaning each circle, wait five minutes to confirm there is no residual pulse before cleaning the next one. Leave the unclosed parts of the two letters for last—that position is the weak point of the entire concentric circle and requires double-concentration Holy Water to wash it clean in one go."

Dunn turned the cleaning flowchart around to look at it. "How many people are needed?"

"At least two. One responsible for cleaning, one responsible for monitoring pulse residue. The person cleaning needs to wear anti-contamination gloves, and the person monitoring uses a compass."

Old Neil looked at Lu Li and Klein. "The Backup Team's first independent mission. You two go, I will be on duty in the Potion Room. If any accident occurs—if the compass needle deflects by more than ten degrees, or the mold shows irregular contraction—withdraw immediately, do not force it."

"Understood." Lu Li and Klein answered almost simultaneously.

By evening, Iron Cross Street was shrouded in a thin layer of mist. Lu Li and Klein entered the sewer from the back door of the Pumping Station, carrying two sets of cleaning equipment.

Klein held a portable compass in his hand. The needle began to deflect slightly after entering the drainage branch; the magnitude was not large, but it was constantly moving.

"The mold on the outer edge of the third circle has accelerated its growth since this morning." Klein shone his flashlight at the concentric circles on the stone wall.

The mold on the outermost ring was already denser than in the morning, with hyphae curling out from the joints of the stone bricks, shimmering with a dark green eerie light under the flashlight.

"There are less than forty hours left." Lu Li took the copper bottle of Concentrated Holy Water from his waist pouch and unscrewed the cap. "Start from the outermost ring. I'll clean, you monitor. Stop for five minutes after washing each ring."

He crouched at the edge of the outermost ring and sprinkled the Holy Water evenly over the surface of the mold. The moment the Holy Water touched the hyphae, the mold emitted a very faint hissing sound, the dark green luster faded from the tips of the hyphae, turning into gray-white powder. The powder lingered on the stone wall for a few seconds, then fell down with a rustle, piling up at the bottom of the drainage ditch.

"Pulse detection." Klein held the compass close to the area that had just been cleaned. The needle stilled for a moment, then swung slightly from side to side. "Within two degrees, within the normal range. No residual pulse."

The two continued to advance deeper along the outermost ring. After cleaning each section, Klein scanned it with the compass, confirming there was no residual pulse before proceeding.

By the time the third ring was cleaned, the air in the drainage branch had clearly become drier—after the mold was removed, the pervasive, sweet, rotten, and fishy smell that had lingered in the depths of the pipe had also faded significantly.

"Rest for five minutes." Lu Li leaned against the stone wall, took off his gloves, and shook off the gray-white powder clinging to them.

Klein placed the compass on his knees and shone the flashlight at the second ring of mold.

The second ring was denser than the third. The hyphae were no longer just curling out from the joints of the stone bricks but had formed a complete fungal membrane, covering the entire surface of the stone wall. Under the light, the fungal membrane displayed an oily luster, like the skin of some living creature.

"The thickness of the fungal membrane on the second ring is twice that of the first. The cleaning difficulty will be higher."

"Then use more Holy Water. The concentration Old Neil prepared is the upper limit; sprinkling a bit more won't affect the effectiveness." Lu Li put his gloves back on and walked to the far right end of the second ring.

The hissing sound emitted by the mold on the second ring when it came into contact with the Holy Water was sharper than that of the third ring. The fungal membrane was not killed—it was stripped off the stone wall in one piece by the Holy Water. The stripped fungal membrane rolled a few times at the bottom of the drainage ditch, then rapidly dehydrated, shattered, and turned into gray-white powder.

The whole process lasted less than ten seconds, but Lu Li noticed that the moment the fungal membrane was stripped away, the surface of the old stone bricks that had been covered for too long revealed a very thin layer of dark green halo—that was the trace left by the mold's root system inside the stone bricks.

"The root system is deeper than the hyphae. Holy Water can only kill the hyphae on the surface; the root system will remain in the stone bricks." He pressed his gloved fingertip against that patch of dark green halo. The halo flickered slightly under his fingertip, then dimmed again.

"Will it grow back?"

"Not in the short term. But if not checked regularly, these root systems might be reactivated under the right conditions."

Lu Li put the empty copper bottle of Holy Water into his backpack and unscrewed the second bottle. "Old Neil will likely add this branch to the Backup Team's daily patrol scope after the cleaning is finished."

The two continued cleaning the second ring. The progress was much slower than the third ring—after each section of the fungal membrane was stripped, it required a longer time to confirm there was no residual pulse.

The needle of Klein's compass deflected to four degrees at certain positions on the second ring, twice as high as the third ring. He used a pencil to mark these positions one by one in his log.

"These positions correspond exactly to the area directly above the innermost blank region."

He shone his flashlight along the extension lines of those marked points, where three lines intersected in the center of the blank region. "The points where the root system is deepest are all above the center of the circle. The mold is transporting nutrients to the center—or rather, it is transporting spirituality to the center."

"The nutrient transport direction is inward. All the spirituality flow of the hyphae points to the center of the circle." Lu Li washed the last section of the fungal membrane of the second ring clean and screwed on the bottle cap. "The center of the circle is still empty, but the spirituality of all the hyphae is converging there. It is not waiting for something to stand inside—it is injecting spirituality into the center. When the spirituality concentration reaches a certain threshold, the center itself will become a beacon. No one needs to stand inside."

Klein shone his flashlight at that blank region in the innermost ring. The stone wall was still clean, but that cleanliness was no longer reassuring—the spirituality of the hyphae was like countless invisible thin threads extending from all directions toward the center of the circle.

"How much time do we have left?"

"Based on the rate of spirituality convergence, about one day. It's half the time of Old Neil's estimate of forty-eight hours." Lu Li stood up and took the copper bottle of double-concentration Holy Water from his backpack—that was what Old Neil had specially prepared for dealing with those two unclosed letters.

He walked toward the line of growing carvings on the edge of the outermost ring.

The two Hermes script letters had already closed by about two-thirds compared to the morning. The hyphae at the end of the strokes were still slowly extending, the speed was not fast, but visible to the naked eye. He aimed the double-concentration Holy Water at the unclosed parts of the letters and washed them clean in one go.

When the Holy Water came into contact with the hyphae, there was a very sharp hissing sound. The strokes of the letters were completely stripped from the stone wall, flowing with the Holy Water to the bottom of the drainage ditch, where they shattered into gray-white powder.

"The unclosed parts of the letters have been cleaned. Check for pulses." Klein held the compass close to the original position of the letters. The needle did not deflect. "No residual pulse."

He put away the compass. "The positioning circle is now completely cleaned. The center was still short of the final bit of spirituality convergence—it should have been interrupted."

Lu Li put the double-concentration Holy Water copper bottle back into his backpack and slid down to sit against the stone wall.

The air in the drainage branch had become completely dry, and after the mold was removed, the surface of the stone wall revealed the original gray-white limestone texture. The blank region in the center of the circle no longer had any abnormal luster; it was just ordinary stone bricks.

"Rest for five minutes, then call it a day." Klein sat down next to him and placed the compass on his knees.

"After we go back, we need to write the cleaning procedure into a report. Old Neil said that the Backup Team will be responsible for the daily patrols of this branch from now on, once every two weeks. Although the root system is dormant, it cannot be guaranteed that it won't be reactivated."

Lu Li took off his gloves, folded them, and put them into the side pocket of his backpack. The two walked back along the way they came in the gradually dissipating night mist.