Chapter 20-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 20 The Man-Eating Hotpot Restaurant-9
Zhu Ning had always been curious about what would happen if Psychic Contamination was used on a Source of Contamination.
To rephrase the question: Did a Source of Contamination need to maintain its mental "health"? Zhu Ning had rarely encountered Contaminants. The Fishman was because he missed the last trip of Line 1.
She later checked the news from that day. The last trip of Line 1 was temporarily stopped due to radiation, halting at the previous station.
The Fishman kept waiting at the station. He grew increasingly anxious, always thinking he had missed the last trip and didn't have money for a taxi.
Contaminants also needed a safe zone to maintain their mental stability, but their criteria for judgment were different from those of ordinary people.
Most people don't realize they're doing bad things when they commit them. They rationalize their actions, or they could easily suffer a mental breakdown.
What about Wang Ming?
After killing the owner, he was lucid for a period, but was quickly driven insane again.
He could only convince himself that the owner wanted to kill him first, and he was merely acting in self-defense. He contaminated the others in the hotpot restaurant, cutting the owner's flesh to keep the hotpot restaurant operating.
He put fingers in the cash register drawer. To rationalize the hotpot restaurant, he molded the entire place to resemble Xiao Hui's diary.
By making the hallucinations seen after Psychic Contamination come true, everything became rational.
The rotten flesh in the hotpot restaurant, the monsters in the trash cans, the strange fragrance, the constantly disappearing employees, the weird basement, and an owner regarded as the source of all evil.
At the same time, he left a recorder under the toilet lid. He became the safest victim.
This Contamination Zone maintained an ecological balance internally. Wang Ming made the hotpot restaurant self-consistent. Simultaneously, he was trapped in his own Contamination Zone like someone obsessed with a problem.
Liu Niannian felt the current situation was bizarre, because, in her eyes, Zhu Ning hadn't done anything but deliver an impassioned monologue.
For a moment, no one spoke. The entire Contamination Zone was extremely quiet. It was so quiet that she could hear the breathing.
Inhale—Exhale—Inhale—Exhale—
Rhythmic breathing filled the Contamination Zone. That was not Liu Niannian's or Zhu Ning's voice. It was the Source of Contamination.
It worked.
If it worked, then add more. Zhu Ning opened her Interface again.
System: [Putrid Fish Head has been opened. 5 health will be consumed. Do you want to use Psychic Contamination on Wang Ming?]
Zhu Ning: "Use it."
After Zhu Ning clicked to use it, it was like a logical chain was severed. The hotpot restaurant instantly descended into chaos, a stark contrast to the previous silence. It was extreme frenzy.
The employees who had been peeking their heads out of the ceiling hole were clapping frantically. Half their bodies were hanging out of the hole, appearing to be suspended upside down from the ceiling.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!—
They laughed loudly, their mouths stretched to their ears. They clapped incredibly fast, as if they were trying to smash their hands.
The hotpot owner's body seemed to have an uncontrollable disease. His flesh began to scatter wildly, as if terrified and trying to escape.
Insane. This time, it was truly insane.
The Contaminants were devouring each other. The diners were eating the employees. The employees were eating the owner. The flesh swelled, and everyone merged into one, all wearing incredibly warm smiles.
In the midst of the chaos, a figure emerged from behind the screen next to the owner's sickbed. The screen had long been wrapped in greasy flesh. It started as just a shadow, then became more and more three-dimensional. A pig's head vaguely appeared, seeming to be uncontrollably drilling out of the greasy flesh.
Zhu Ning didn't move at all. She reached out towards the mass of greasy flesh and fiercely grabbed downwards.
Her hand plunged into the pile of flesh. The feeling was awful. It was so slippery that she couldn't get a firm grip. But there was only one chance, and she had to seize it.
A man's head fully surfaced. He had a crying face, looking completely lost, like a piglet suddenly caught.
The real Wang Ming appeared. His face was covered in grease. A pig's head was attached to his blue work uniform. His expression was constantly shifting, sometimes fierce, sometimes pitiful. He was being psychically contaminated in reverse by Zhu Ning.
When Zhu Ning grabbed him, he even felt a moment of relief. It was as if he had finally found a reliable haven after all these years. He didn't have to deceive himself and hide in the hotpot restaurant, afraid to appear.
The next moment, a gun was pressed into his mouth.
Through the black helmet, Wang Ming seemed to see Zhu Ning's face. He was terrified. Contaminants were no different from animals. They could identify the truly harmful one.
Even in his mentally unstable state due to Psychic Contamination, Wang Ming still retained some instinct. Like an animal seeing a predator, he wanted to escape immediately.
It was too late. Zhu Ning's finger squeezed the trigger. Bang. This time, the spinning bullet successfully passed through Wang Ming's skull.
The sound was muffled.
The squeezed greasy flesh acted like a silencer. The gunshot was so muffled and faint that Liu Niannian thought it was an illusion.
Liu Niannian was completely submerged by the greasy flesh. She was only breathing thanks to the oxygen inside her protective suit, which prevented her from suffocating.
The force of the entire Contamination Zone pressed down. Liu Niannian thought she would die here. The helmet was furiously alarming. Even as her consciousness faded, she still thought, Sure enough, Cleaners are unreliable.
But soon, she felt a lightness around her neck. The greasy flesh slid off the surface of the helmet. Liu Niannian instinctively wiped the helmet, and then she was startled by the sight before her.
The abandoned hotpot restaurant was covered in rotten flesh. A woman in a black protective suit stood there. She seemed to be holding a person. Wang Ming's face was filled with terror. His life was frozen forever. There was a bullet hole in the center of his forehead.
The true Source of Contamination. Zhu Ning had found him.
Liu Niannian happened to see the moment Wang Ming vanished. His neck twisted. Blood droplet-like Contamination Spores poured out of the tear in his forehead.
Thousands of Contamination Spores.
The Contamination Spores were so numerous that they looked like a swarm of passing locusts. They fluttered in the collapsing hotpot restaurant. A red glow quickly enveloped Zhu Ning and Liu Niannian.
Success.
Zhu Ning consumed ten health, gambling on whether the Source of Contamination would be contaminated again by using Psychic Contamination twice.
Contaminants were all abnormal, but their state of Psychic Contamination had to match their strength.
Insufficient contamination concentration would not be enough to form a Contamination Zone. It would only result in an individual Contaminant. But excessive contamination concentration would break the internal balance of the Contamination Zone, eventually leading to chaos and collapse.
Wang Ming couldn't withstand the doubled Psychic Contamination and actively showed himself.
Ding—
Zhu Ning's mind was filled with the System's mechanical voice:
[Congratulations on completing the Random Mission: The Man-Eating Hotpot Restaurant. Purification Degree 100%. Rescue Survivor Mission Completion 100%.]
[Conducting reward settlement...]
[Congratulations on receiving the Basic Reward: Sanity restored to 100.]
[Congratulations on receiving Purity Points Reward 2000. Current Purity Points Cumulative: 2154.]
[Congratulations on receiving the Pigman Reward: Pigman's Guillotine]
[Reward Description: C-level Contaminant Item. Can unilaterally execute one mission target within 24 hours. Always hits.]
[Congratulations on receiving Initiate Talent: Metal Manipulation. This is an Initiate Talent, capable of manipulating metallic substances within a one-meter distance.]
[Congratulations on receiving Random Mission Reward: Universal Key.]
[Reward Description: Can open any door.]
[This Mission Line has advanced the Side Quest: Finding the Truth of Death. Key clues have been found. Finding Progress 20%.]
The hotpot restaurant supported the Side Quest. The progress bar increased from 5% to 20%. Was there anything special about this Contamination Zone? Was it because of Liu Niannian or Eternal Pharma?
Zhu Ning hadn't heard of Eternal Pharma. She could only investigate slowly after leaving.
...
After the Contamination Zone collapsed, the hotpot restaurant returned to its original appearance.
The interior was covered in a thick layer of dust. The hotpot restaurant, which hadn't been operated for thirty years, was incredibly dirty and messy inside. There were broken tabletops, scattered beer bottles on the floor, and blackened walls.
If one ignored the rotten flesh and Contamination Spores on the ground, it looked like an ordinary abandoned building. Thousands of Contamination Spores lit the interior of the hotpot restaurant blood-red.
This was Zhu Ning's second mission. She was more experienced than the first. She knew she had to immediately start containing the Contamination Spores. Otherwise, if the Contamination Spores parasitized someone, a second Wang Ming would appear before long.
Liu Niannian next to her looked dazed. This was the first time she had seen so many Contamination Spores at once. Previously, she had only seen them in a lab.
In Liu Niannian's mind, Zhu Ning was an absolute talent. She still didn't understand what Zhu Ning had done.
Zhu Ning was injured protecting her. If it weren't for Zhu Ning, Liu Niannian would have definitely been split in half by the guillotine by now.
Liu Niannian: "Um... thank you for saving me."
Liu Niannian was formulating her words, considering how much money would be appropriate to thank Zhu Ning with. Zhu Ning was canceling the automatically sent messages. She had been in the Contamination Zone for less than an hour.
Zhu Ning asked, "How is your mental state right now?"
Liu Niannian thought Zhu Ning was concerned about her and said strongly, "I'm okay. I don't think I've lost my mind."
Liu Niannian's sanity was quite high, Zhu Ning thought. At least much higher than Li Nianchuan's.
Liu Niannian now regretted looking down on Zhu Ning. "You saved me. I will thank you properly."
She found it a bit hard to say. She said, "My family will bring money."
"That won't be necessary," Zhu Ning said. She had received a rich reward from the System this time.
How can I not? Liu Niannian thought. Is Zhu Ning some kind of walking saint?
Zhu Ning: "Just help me sweep the garbage."
"Huh?" Liu Niannian couldn't process that. "Huh?"
What did Zhu Ning want her to do? Sweep the garbage? Liu Niannian had never even seen a broom in her life, let alone picked one up.
"I was a Cleaner in the first place," Zhu Ning said, already opening her Clean Squad backpack.
Liu Niannian's face flushed. She recalled how she had previously looked down on Zhu Ning's profession and asked where her Demon Hunter was. Now, Liu Niannian wanted to stuff her past self back.
Zhu Ning had already taken out the cleanup tools from her backpack and tossed one to Liu Niannian. There were thousands of Contamination Spores in the Contamination Zone. Zhu Ning would be working until dawn by herself.
If Liu Niannian hadn't suffered severe Psychic Contamination, she could help.
Liu Niannian was only curious about Contaminants. Before, she had only paid attention to things related to Demon Hunters. Now, holding a bizarre-looking cleanup tool, she looked blank. What is this?
Zhu Ning demonstrated by collecting one Contamination Spore. "Did you learn it?"
Liu Niannian nodded dazedly. The motion wasn't difficult. If the port of the tube was moved close to a Contamination Spore, it would be automatically collected.
Liu Niannian tried it and found... it was quite stress-relieving? The process was somewhat therapeutic?
Liu Niannian: "We only need to collect the Contamination Spores?"
If that was all they had to do, it wasn't so unbearable.
Zhu Ning: "After collection is complete, we clean up the scene. Clear all the rotten flesh, flush away the bloodstains, and make sure no Contamination Spores are left behind. If the two of us work fast, we should be done in about two hours."
Liu Niannian: "..."
Zhu Ning realized that if she wanted to continue this work, collecting Contamination Spores was not something she could do alone. She had to find a way to develop companions.
Zhu Ning was already planning in her mind how to expand the great cause of sweeping garbage. Liu Niannian was her first employee.
Zhu Ning: "Call your family to let them know you're safe. Then let's get to work."
Liu Niannian felt faint. What kind of slave driver is Zhu Ning?! Zhu Ning had always been exploited by capitalists. This was the first time she was exploiting the daughter of a financial magnate.
So satisfying.
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