Chapter 18-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 18 The Man-Eating Hotpot Restaurant-7
Liu Niannian looked shocked. She had thought Zhu Ning would at least make a careful, cautious plan. She never expected her to simply blow a massive hole in the basement.
Truly unprofessional.
Liu Niannian didn't have time to find a professional now, as the sound of Zhu Ning's blast had alerted the people outside. The door was kicked open, and a Pigman stood in the doorway, clutching an axe and emitting a foul stench.
"Little girls, you're not behaving," the Pigman said, lunging towards them with the axe.
Liu Niannian's scalp tingled. Her Psychic Contamination hadn't been deep before because she hadn't dealt much with Contaminants. Now, seeing one more glance made her feel sick.
Before she could run, Zhu Ning pulled an assault rifle from her backpack.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dozens of bullets shot out, embedding themselves in the Pigman's body. A pig's head that had just regrown was blown to smithereens again. The Pigman was instantly riddled with holes like a sieve.
Liu Niannian: "..."
That was just firepower suppression?
Zhu Ning's equipment was better this time, unlike the last. She remembered Li Nianchuan saying that Contamination Zones could be simply leveled, and she had long wanted to experience firepower suppression.
The Source of Contamination was certainly not the Pigman; Zhu Ning had shot him twice with no reaction.
"Get down," Zhu Ning said.
"Huh?" Liu Niannian couldn't follow Zhu Ning's thinking. "You want me to... go down from here?"
She pointed to the huge hole Zhu Ning had blasted open. She wanted her to go to the basement? Was Zhu Ning sure she was here to save her, and not to tear up the ransom note?
"If you don't go down, I can kick you down," Zhu Ning said impatiently. She had already reloaded and started a new round of sweeping fire at the pursuing Contaminants.
Spent bullet casings clattered down. Zhu Ning didn't look flustered at all.
Trust her, or not trust her? Liu Niannian hesitated. Zhu Ning didn't look completely unreliable. She decided to trust her once, as Zhu Ning was the only living person in this horrible place.
Once Liu Niannian made up her mind, she didn't hesitate. She tore a piece of white plastic sheeting and hung it over the hole, climbing down hand over foot. When her feet touched the ground, Liu Niannian didn't dare breathe.
It was too close. The hotpot restaurant owner on the bed was right beside her.
She could hear rustling sounds. The flesh on the owner's body seemed to be creeping, growing.
Even though Zhu Ning was right above her, separated only by a ceiling, Liu Niannian felt that entering the basement was like entering another world all by herself. Zhu Ning felt so distant.
The flow of time here, and even the air, felt different.
It felt... greasy here?
The floor was stickier than the hotpot restaurant's back kitchen. When Liu Niannian climbed down, she felt like she was stepping in fat, or a swamp. Her right foot slowly sank, and the greasy flesh slowly submerged her ankle.
Liu Niannian struggled to pull out her right foot, only for her left foot to sink in. It was like walking on a waterbed, and she found it hard to keep her balance. The owner's sickbed was like the only patch of dry land in the swamp, and Liu Niannian subconsciously wanted to grab the bed to steady herself.
Slap. Her hand grabbed the edge of the sickbed, finally clinging to what felt like driftwood. Then she looked up and suddenly saw an eyeball.
The owner was watching her.
The owner's flesh had just been cut, leaving a wound surface. The regenerative ability was incredibly strong; the surface of the wound was bubbling and spurting oil, like boiling water.
Liu Niannian watched the process of the owner's flesh growing with her own eyes. A person's growth in fat wasn't horizontal, but comprehensive and three-dimensional. The flesh on his cheeks swelled more and more, gradually squeezing his facial features.
Pffft—
One of the owner's eyeballs was submerged. The greasy flesh squeezed and burst the facial features, but the outline of the features remained. When a person stared at that mass of flesh, they couldn't help but imagine an eyeball looking back at them.
Greasy, cold, and emitting a disgusting stench.
Liu Niannian was inches away from the owner. It felt like that mass of greasy flesh would slowly grow and spread onto her body. She would be absorbed by the greasy flesh, becoming part of the owner, and the two would completely merge.
Psychic Contamination.
Liu Niannian instinctively closed her eyes. This was the body's protective mechanism, but keeping them fully closed would be more terrifying. It would make her imagine the current scene and magnify every danger.
Liu Niannian opened her eyes after closing them. She didn't even know where to look. Every extra glance consumed more sanity. She fixated on the tip of her boots.
Breathe, Liu Niannian, breathe and calm down.
The greasy flesh did spread, just about to creep onto the back of her hand. Goosebumps rose all over her body, but the most important thing now was to find the Source of Contamination.
As long as the Source of Contamination was killed, the Contamination Zone would naturally disintegrate.
The restaurant owner was obviously the Source of Contamination; killing him would solve everything.
Liu Niannian paused in her motion to reach for her gun. There were two monitors beside the sickbed, densely covered with small text. Her family had some medical-related projects, so she naturally understood the monitoring device.
The numbers on the monitor were lifeless. The lines that should have been fluctuating were flat. This was... a dead person?
The owner was already dead?
Wait, did a Contaminant itself count as dead or alive? Should she try to kill him? What if she guessed right? She and Zhu Ning could leave.
Liu Niannian felt her sanity rapidly dropping. She had only one thought in her mind: Kill the owner.
Kill the owner, kill the owner, kill the owner...
Suddenly, a black hand slapped her left shoulder. She jolted, feeling the hair on her body stand up. The hand holding the gun uncontrollably trembled.
"Liu Niannian?"
It was Zhu Ning. Hearing Zhu Ning's voice, she almost cried. She had never wanted to see someone this badly in her life.
It was really Zhu Ning. Zhu Ning had just jumped down from upstairs, covered in blood. She must have just fought her way out of the clash with the Contaminants. Liu Niannian was still shaken, her voice trembling. "Are those Contaminants dead?"
"Temporarily," Zhu Ning said.
If the Source of Contamination wasn't dead, the other Contaminants couldn't die either. They could still regenerate.
However, compared to last time, the Pigman's regeneration seemed difficult. Last time he was just shot in the head; now he was practically mashed pulp.
Zhu Ning could sense that Liu Niannian's mental state was worsening. The helmet displayed: [Contamination concentration up to 113%].
This high concentration proved they were right next to the Source of Contamination.
"What were you about to do just now?" Zhu Ning asked.
"Kill... kill the owner," Liu Niannian said.
She put down her gun weakly. "I don't think I can do this. I might start hallucinating soon. I'll give you my gun first."
Zhu Ning took her gun. She thought that although Liu Niannian was a rich miss, she was smart when it counted. At least she knew how not to cause trouble for others.
Zhu Ning scanned the basement. Like Liu Niannian, her feet were also stuck in the floor, and her boots were covered in oil stains.
Liu Niannian's breathing grew heavier. "It's so strange here. The life monitor... the numbers are flat."
"Hmm?" Zhu Ning listened distractedly.
Liu Niannian: "The life monitor has no data. The owner seems to have been dead for a long time."
Her tone was very uncertain, because she could still hear the owner's flesh moving and constantly growing. The owner's greasy flesh grew too fast, soon overflowing from the bed, and plop it dropped onto the floor.
The greasy flesh was like a vine, quickly capable of filling the entire room. If he was dead, how could he still grow?
Zhu Ning frowned. What did "dead" mean?
The owner was gradually losing his human form. Zhu Ning pulled Liu Niannian back two steps so they wouldn't be touched by the greasy flesh. After falling off the bed, the greasy flesh continued to grow, flowing onto the floor, the monitors, and the bedside table.
There was a remote control on the nightstand, covered in a yellowed plastic bag. There was a red button on the backrest of the sickbed.
What was the button for? Emergency call?
The cabinet was filled with medicine bottles and scattered syringes. The medicine bottles were engraved with the words Eternal Pharma.
Zhu Ning flipped through the bedside area and found a blue folder. Inside was a stack of files. The first few sheets were employee attendance records, followed by employee payrolls. Zhu Ning quickly scanned the files.
Ding—
Zhu Ning was still thinking when her heart suddenly jumped. It was here again, the death premonition.
[Initiate Talent: Danger Sense triggered. Danger premonition sent 30 seconds in advance. Please pay attention to safety.]
A trap.
Liu Niannian felt Zhu Ning's body stiffen unnaturally. She just paused for about a second for no apparent reason.
Liu Niannian was about to check on Zhu Ning, wondering if she was under Psychic Contamination. Zhu Ning suddenly moved, yanking Liu Niannian and lunging towards the other side.
Liu Niannian almost tripped. Zhu Ning truly showed no regard for the fact that she was a rich miss, pressing down on her back and slamming her downwards.
Liu Niannian: "?"
Bang. Liu Niannian's face hit the inside of her helmet. Her skull rang with a buzzing sound.
Before she could even struggle, she felt a flash of cold light, bringing a fierce, chilling wind.
Was that... a guillotine?
A three-meter-long guillotine suddenly appeared inside the room. The blade passed close to her back, nearly chopping Liu Niannian into dumpling stuffing.
Liu Niannian couldn't react at all. This was far beyond her comprehension.
Zhu Ning was pressing on Liu Niannian's back, putting herself in a higher position. The blade cut across her right shoulder, instantly becoming bloody. The blood dripped down her arm and onto the floor.
Zhu Ning looked at the dots of blood on the floor and started to feel dizzy. She knew without thinking that getting injured here was not a good thing.
Breach in the protective suit, open wound, Contamination Spores parasitic. In just a few seconds, this filled Liu Niannian's mind.
Zhu Ning might turn into a Contaminant. Her only companion was about to be infected.
Zhu Ning quickly reacted. She took out a sticker-like object from her backpack and stuck it onto the damaged area of her protective suit.
Cleaner Work Manual, Rule 9: If the protective suit is damaged, please stop the mission immediately. If unable to stop, immediately patch it up to ensure the protective suit remains sealed.
Zhu Ning had done her homework before coming. She didn't know if any Contamination Spores had snuck in, but she couldn't worry about that now. Even if she became a Contaminant, she had to drag someone down with her.
The sharp guillotine, dangling from an iron chain, was still swinging inside the room. It was a killing blade, quickly harvesting heads inside the room.
The blades fell densely, one after another. If Zhu Ning and Liu Niannian had been standing, they would have been minced into dumpling stuffing by now.
Zhu Ning shoved Liu Niannian aside and rolled on the ground, dodging the second attack.
Zhu Ning seized the chance to look. The guillotine was inverted, hanging from the ceiling.
Unreasonable things shouldn't appear in a Contamination Zone. This meant that a guillotine existed here before it became a Contamination Zone, but it was now exaggerated.
Why was this here? Who was the hotpot restaurant owner originally going to kill? Or was it for suicide?
In the Danger Sense premonition, she had half her face chopped off by the guillotine. This talent could only predict the death scene 30 seconds in advance. She realized that Danger Sense didn't always work. Premonition was one thing; escaping was another.
"The Source of Contamination is not the owner," Zhu Ning said, clutching her injured right shoulder. She injected a MegaHeal.
"What?" Liu Niannian was sprawled on the floor, trying to keep her body as low as possible.
Zhu Ning continued, "It's Wang Ming."
Liu Niannian froze. Swish. The sharp guillotine, wrapped in murderous intent, struck for the third time.
Author's Note:Cleaner Work Manual, Rule 9: If the protective suit is damaged, please stop the mission immediately. If unable to stop, immediately patch it up to ensure the protective suit remains sealed.
I've decided, regardless of the stats or readership, I'm going to start updating daily!
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