Chapter 1-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

TN: I saw there is already a dropped translation exist, but looks like the author changed the content quite much so I decided to start from the beginning.

Chapter 1 A New Job

Zhu Ning was awakened by a series of knocks on her door.

"Open up! Stop pretending, I know you're in there!"

Her first instinct was to reach for the knife under her pillow, only then did she realize she was no longer in the zombie world.

Ten days ago, Zhu Ning was still fighting zombies in the apocalypse. She had just infiltrated the mission location when she heard the countdown of a bomb behind her, the voice mechanical and cold.

Five, four, three, two, one…

BOOM—

The moment the bomb detonated, flames erupted and a billowing heatwave rushed toward her. Zhu Ning had no time to find cover; she only felt a sense of weightlessness.

When she woke up again, she was lying in an abandoned garbage room, surrounded by discarded machinery. A dilapidated robot lay before her, its hollow eyes staring straight at her. Not far away, mechanical arms and heads were piled into a mountain. It was an acid rain day; the sky was a grayish-yellow, casting the entire world in a gloomy and dilapidated pallor. Zhu Ning felt as if she had transmigrated into a grim mechanical graveyard, becoming one with the corpses. For a fleeting moment, she thought she was one of them.

But a sharp pain tore through her abdomen. A piece of rusted iron was embedded deep in her flesh, and her lower abdomen was drenched in blood. The pain was a stark reminder that she was still alive.

Driven by the will to survive, Zhu Ning summoned all her strength to stand up and leave the garbage room. She crawled to the nearest automated medical vending machine and spent her entire fortune on a vial of MegaHeal.

With a single injection, the wound on her abdomen miraculously began to stanch, healing at a rate visible to the naked eye. After the bleeding stopped, she followed the residual memories of the body's original owner back to her residence.

The original owner hadn't left many memories, just vague, basic information. This was the Wasteland. Eighty percent of the land had been contaminated. Humanity had established Survivor Bases, enclosed by towering walls. Overhead was the Iron Dome, which could be sealed when necessary, trapping humans inside like ants under a pot.

Outside the Survivor Bases, beasts roamed rampant and contamination levels were off the charts. The land had devolved into a wasteland completely unsuitable for human survival. Thus, humanity could only live within the high walls to fend off the attacks from the beasts outside.

At least the steel walls provided a barrier, so she didn't have to face the dangers directly.

The world Zhu Ning came from had been overrun by zombies. She had scraped by day to day, never knowing if she would see the sunrise. But here in the Wasteland, although beasts roamed outside the walls, technology had flourished within. There were things like MegaHeal, GeneBoost, and NutriStim.

And... a System.

When Zhu Ning first woke up, she found a Purification System bound to her mind. In her past life, she had nothing and was known as a walking jinx. When she first got the System, she thought her fate had turned around, and she stared at the Interface several times over.

Name: Zhu Ning

Age: 19

Education: Bachelor's in Mechanics

Status: Fifth-Class Citizen

Talent: Unknown

Mutation Path: Unknown

Degree of Mutation: Unknown

Physical Strength: Unenhanced

Sanity: 100 (Average person: 20)

Every subsequent section was grayed out, waiting to be activated. Aside from her high Sanity, there was nothing remarkable about her. In other words, it was a starter Interface, as fresh as it could be, without so much as a newbie gift package.

The System promptly issued the Main Quest: Purify the contaminated lands and rebuild humanity's home.

Huh? Why not just send her to her death?

As the saying goes, you shouldn't promise the moon. When faced with an impossible task, all you want to do is give up. Zhu Ning had no will to survive; she even felt this world was fake, that the whole System was bullshit.

Let it all burn. I'm done with it.

For ten days, Zhu Ning did nothing but lie flat, dedicating herself to being a slacker. She barely left her room, surviving solely on NutriStim. Unfortunately, reality didn't seem to permit her to slack off.

"Zhu Ning, open the door!" The person waiting outside was growing impatient. "If you don't open up, I'm prying it open!"

Lifelessly, Zhu Ning got up and opened the door. Outside stood a short old woman, only one-hundred and twenty centimeters tall. She had dwarfism, her face was covered in wrinkles, and the hand gripping her cane was as withered as a dead branch. This was the building manager, Auntie Wei.

Auntie Wei struck the ground hard with her cane. "Rent."

Rent? This shithole required rent?

"How much?" Zhu Ning asked.

Auntie Wei gave her a strange look. "Twenty-four thousand for twelve months' rent."

"How much?" Zhu Ning suspected she had misheard. Her entire net worth was a mere seven hundred NewCred.

"Twenty-four thousand," Auntie Wei repeated.

Zhu Ning sucked in a sharp breath. This damned Wasteland! Did they really expect a one-month deposit plus twelve months' rent upfront?

"If you're not renting, then move out. There are plenty of others who will," Auntie Wei said, tapping the floor with her cane, her gloomy eyes fixed on Zhu Ning.

Only then did Zhu Ning realize her behavior was odd. The original owner had lived here for five years; how could she suddenly forget her own rent? But the information left by the original owner was pitifully scarce. Zhu Ning had no idea what she had gone through or how she had died, so she could only bite the bullet and play the part.

"I'll rent," Zhu Ning said. "Give me a couple more days."

"The end of the month is the latest," Auntie Wei said, then asked, "Are you having one of your episodes again?"

Again? An episode?

From those few words, Zhu Ning sensed that the original owner was mentally ill, and it seemed to be common knowledge, no secret at all. At least, her forgetting the rent seemed perfectly normal to the old woman.

Zhu Ning decided to just play the part of a lunatic. "Yes, I've had a headache recently."

As expected, Auntie Wei believed her and didn't ask any more questions. Or perhaps, she simply couldn't be bothered.

Zhu Ning said, "I'll definitely have the rent for you by the end of the month. Please don't show the apartment to anyone else for now."

There was so much Zhu Ning didn't know about the original owner. If she got kicked out now, she wouldn't even have a place to stay.

Auntie Wei gave her a meaningful look. "Don't turn my property into a murder scene."

Zhu Ning frowned. The day she had stumbled home covered in blood, she had accidentally bumped into Auntie Wei. In the old woman's eyes, she must have looked like she had either attempted suicide or just killed someone and hadn't cleaned up the evidence.

Before leaving, Auntie Wei added, "And take care of the bills by your door."

Bills? Zhu Ning poked her head out. The door was plastered with a layer of small ads, and on top of them were all sorts of payment notices: utilities, property management fees, administrative fees, taxes.

Zhu Ning tore off the thick stack of notices and did a quick calculation. She owed various administrative departments about eight thousand NewCred. Eight thousand in bills, twenty-four thousand in rent, plus future expenses.

Starting out in debt. She felt like dying and starting over again.

She returned to her room with the bills. After lazing around for so long, she had long since stopped thinking about her Main Quest. Avoidance was shameful but effective, and the System hadn't given her any new prompts for days.

Zhu Ning sat down in front of her computer. In her original era, the massive screen would have been considered high-tech, but in this age, it was nothing more than an antique.

It was too old-fashioned. Not many people outside of District 103 still used this model. But because it was old-fashioned, Zhu Ning had no trouble operating it.

She opened a job recruitment website.

Given Zhu Ning's extensive past "work experience," there had to be plenty of short-term, high-paying jobs. At worst, she could just go back to her old profession. In the zombie world, Zhu Ning had been a mercenary, frequently teaming up with others to hunt zombies.

The job website was filled with a dazzling array of occupations, some of which Zhu Ning couldn't even comprehend. Scrolling down, she saw tens of thousands of open positions. There are a lot of jobs in this world, Zhu Ning thought optimistically.

Someone was recruiting mercenaries. Zhu Ning's eyes lit up, and she was tempted to recommend herself on the spot.

Me, I'm a professional. Pick me.

Low-maintenance, efficient, satisfaction guaranteed. But when she clicked on the posting, a pop-up appeared immediately. Mandatory requirement: Third-Class Citizen or above.

! She was barred by her citizen rank.

In the Wasteland, all citizens underwent a mass gene screening at birth and were categorized based on the results. Unfortunately, Zhu Ning's gene screening was a failure. She was classified as a "Defective," meaning she was born with inherent flaws and designated a Fifth-Class Citizen.

She then noticed a filter button in the top-right corner. The website could automatically screen for suitable positions. She entered her personal information, citizen rank, and academic credentials, then clicked the filter to match jobs.

Whoosh—

After the page refreshed, the hundreds of pages of jobs vanished, leaving only a single page.

Zhu Ning: "..."

On that single page, ten of the jobs listed a preference for male applicants. This bullshit world even had discrimination. That left her with only six options, all of which were for caregivers, maintenance workers, nannies, and the like.

Zhu Ning looked through them one by one. Wait, this one's not bad. Five thousand NewCred for three hours, and there's a commission?

It was for... a cleaner?

Zhu Ning read the description carefully. The information was incredibly simple. Garbage Collector. The job was to sweep up garbage. As long as you worked for three hours, you'd get five thousand NewCred, with commission paid out according to the specific situation.

The website automatically calculated the average salary, which came out to... twenty-five thousand? What kind of garbage sweeping paid twenty-five thousand? Collecting corpses?

An average salary of twenty-five thousand, with no restrictions on age, gender, education, or citizen rank? Doesn't this look like a scam for idiots?

Federal law stipulated that recruitment information must be truthful; falsifying job postings meant jail time. Even if it was collecting corpses, it was worth a shot. Zhu Ning clicked the "Apply" button.

Fwoosh—

The webpage exploded with colorful fireworks. Congratulations on your successful application.

Fwoosh—

You have been hired by our company.

Zhu Ning: "..."

Hired on the spot? No interview? A one hundred percent acceptance rate, as if they were afraid people would change their minds? But it was too late for her to have regrets now, because a new email had already arrived in her inbox. She had received an offer letter.

...

The start time was 6:30 PM. The company's name was the District 103 Sanitation Center.

Zhu Ning paused when she saw the company name. It wasn't some fly-by-night operation. She followed the navigation to the company's address. Nearby was a gigantic incinerator, a hundreds-of-meters-tall City Defender Robot that had been repurposed after being decommissioned. Thick smoke billowed from its eyes.

The Sanitation Center's main building, on the other hand, was several hundred stories high, its body piercing straight into the sky, with clouds wrapped around its midpoint. The entire structure was clad in a glass curtain wall, exuding an intense sense of pressure.

The company building and the incinerator faced each other, one modern technology, the other retro-mechanical, like two giants in a standoff. Standing below, Zhu Ning was nothing but an ant being looked down upon.

Zhu Ning entered the Sanitation Center's main doors. There was no security check inside. A human-sized robot guided her. The robot was just a metal skeleton dressed in a black suit, like a dapper skeleton, but its movements possessed a certain mechanical grace.

The entire building had three hundred and sixty floors. The guide robot pressed the button for the 49th floor for her.

Ding—

The elevator doors slid open to either side. Zhu Ning froze at the sight before her. It was... utter chaos.

The hall was in an uproar. Every desk was buried under mountains of documents. The employee closest to Zhu Ning was throwing a tantrum. "Don't give me that nonsense, just tell me if it can be done or not!"

Two others were arguing, their faces red and necks bulging. "What do you mean it's my fault? The approval documents didn't come down, and you're blaming me? Can you be reasonable?"

"Which son of a bitch initiated the A-Level Program and is making me take the fall for it!"

It looked less like a sanitation center and more like a stock exchange. Zhu Ning was completely lost after entering. A woman in a professional suit noticed her. She had her hair in a bun, her features delicate, and she looked like an assistant. She hurried over apologetically. "I'm so sorry, it's a bit crowded."

"It's fine."

"You're Zhu Ning, right?" she asked, glancing down at the panel in her hand. Her voice was gentle. "I'm the center's assistant, Fang Ying."

Her surname is Fang? What a beautiful name.

"Don't be scared. The first day isn't too difficult. You'll be able to complete it just by following the instructions."

As she led Zhu Ning along, Fang Ying spoke rapidly, "The probationary period is just one day. If you pass, you'll become a full-time employee tomorrow."

Zhu Ning sensed that this company was in desperate need of employees, just like the speed of their offer letter. This was all happening way too fast.

Fang Ying led her into a conference room. "Let me explain the salary structure. The base pay is five thousand NewCred, as long as you work for three hours. For every additional hour, the pay increases by one thousand NewCred. Commission is calculated per piece, with different rates for different levels. You can basically expect to make over ten thousand."

Zhu Ning's head was spinning from the string of numbers. Rich. This place is seriously rich.

However, in Zhu Ning's experience, when the salary was explained before the job description, it meant the work was definitely tricky.

Zhu Ning asked, "Excuse me, what exactly is the job?"

Fang Ying was extremely efficient. After her machine-gun-like speech, she suddenly stopped. Her smile vanished, replaced by an extremely serious gaze fixed on Zhu Ning. It made Zhu Ning a little nervous.

Is it that difficult? What am I going to be dealing with?

Fang Ying lowered her voice and asked with a grave expression, "Miss Zhu, are you afraid of beasts?"

Huh? Is that all?

Zhu Ning opened her mouth. "...Not particularly."

To be honest, I've seen plenty.

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