Chapter 7-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 7 Quest Completed
Its entire fish head was plastered to the window, the train still hurtling at high speed, the contaminant's face somewhat distorted from the pressure.
Zhu Ning had spotted the contaminant, and the contaminant had spotted Zhu Ning.
She acted on instinct, yanking open the door. Before Li Nianchuan could react, she fired out the window.
Bang bang bang!
The bullets shattered the glass, wind howling in. Li Nianchuan hadn't caught up yet when Zhu Ning suddenly raised her gun and fired at the ceiling.
"Shoot in my direction." Zhu Ning issued the order crisply.
Li Nianchuan reacted on reflex, stopping his recitation and mirroring her: wherever Zhu Ning shot, he followed.
Good thing they were using Air Rounds; in a sealed metal space, ricochets could easily wound them.
Bullet holes pocked the ceiling, some piercing the car’s metal skin. More wind leaked in, and something was clearly crawling up top.
The thing was larger and heavier than a human, leaving deep pits as it ran and dodged bullets.
The sturdy Sub-rail car was like paper under the barrage—Air Rounds weren't that powerful. The contaminant must have weakened.
The contamination source hid within the zone; once discovered, the zone couldn't hold as solidly as before.
In other words, cracks were forming in the contamination zone.
Zhu Ning wanted to curse. Why equip Cleaners with only Air Rounds? A submachine gun, and they'd be done by now.
Air Rounds had limited range, required time to chamber, with clear gaps between shots—giving the contaminant openings to kill.
Suddenly, the car lights flickered wildly.
Zhu Ning frowned; her helmet's night vision struggled to adjust. She advanced slowly, gun in one hand. The passengers stared sinisterly, emitting low growls like beasts before a feast.
The contamination zone was collapsing.
Still searching, Zhu Ning's pupils suddenly contracted.
Bang! A hand with razor-sharp fish fins punched through the window, seizing Zhu Ning's neck and yanking hard. In Li Nianchuan's horrified gaze, the fish hand dragged her straight out of the car.
Li Nianchuan fired at the sudden fish hand emerging from the dark, but it was too late.
The train sped on; Li Nianchuan was still aboard, carried away in three seconds. He and Zhu Ning were separated.
In the instant she was pulled out, Zhu Ning reacted swiftly, hitting the inflation button on her Hazard Suit. It filled with air, transforming from sleek gear to an "astronaut suit."
The inflated suit cushioned her, protecting her fragile human frame when the Fishman clutched her and they tumbled from the tracks, preventing severe injury.
Zhu Ning rolled a dozen times in the Fishman's grip. When she came to, it was straddling her, throttling her neck.
Her gun was lost in the fall. Here on the tracks' gravel, she lay pinned under a berserk Fishman.
The Fishman's eyes were fist-sized, now bloodshot, with swirling vortices in the centers spinning at an unnaturally hypnotic speed—one glance made her dizzy, urging madness and screams.
"Did you see my last train?" The Fishman clawed at her neck, trying to rip off her obstructive helmet.
Zhu Ning kicked desperately at its abdomen. Once the helmet was off, she'd be 100% parasitized.
"I missed my ride." The Fishman tore at her helmet while speaking.
"My daughter's waiting at home. I haven't spoken to her in days."
"I can't find the last train." It repeated the phrase.
Zhu Ning's throat was crushed, her brain oxygen-starved and contaminated, vision blurring. So that's it.
The Fishman had missed the last train, so it wasn't inside—it clung desperately to the exterior, dying without ever boarding.
[Sanity decreased by 5%]
[Health decreased by 10%]
[Evacuate immediately]
The system's mechanical alerts droned in her ear, but her Interface was barren—no escape items.
[Side Quest: The Missing Line 1 Last Train. Current purification progress: 50%.]
Good news: finding the source advanced the bar. Bad news: she was about to be strangled. What a useless system.
Zhu Ning kept pounding the Fishman's abdomen.
Rumble—
A roar suddenly hit her ears—the Sub-rail, coming again.
The twin headlights lit the tracks. This train looped endlessly; Zhu Ning lay on the rails now, and if it hit, she'd be pulverized.
Damn! This Fishman was vicious.
Li Nianchuan was on the train, hunting for a way off, but it had stopped at stations.
He burst into the cab, blasting the driver's head with a shot, then barricaded himself inside. Outside the transparent door, rabid Fishmen scratched furiously to get in and stop him.
From the front, Li Nianchuan spotted Zhu Ning on the tracks.
Pinned under a Fishman. He hunted for the emergency brake, but nothing worked no matter how he pressed. The driver was a dummy; the Sub-rail ran on its own rules.
"Zhu Ning!" Li Nianchuan shouted. "Get out of there!"
Of course she couldn't hear. He slammed the horn repeatedly—thankfully, that worked.
"Zhu Ning!" Amid the blaring honks, Li Nianchuan yelled, "Run!"
A lowly trash-sweeper like him couldn't bear watching a colleague get mulched under the Sub-rail.
The headlights were blinding, warping Zhu Ning's already addled mind further. The shrieking horn pierced like it would rupture her eardrums.
Weaponless, itemless, she could only relentlessly hammer the same spot on the Fishman's abdomen.
She felt its abdominal scales shatter, blood oozing. Zhu Ning gritted her teeth—she needed one second of slack.
Just one second. Give her...
"Hiss..." The Fishman sucked in a sharp breath; she'd cracked a rib.
Now! Zhu Ning surged with her legs, elbowing its face and flipping it over, pinning it beneath her.
Rumble rumble—
The Sub-rail drew nearer, the front car looming. No time for games—Zhu Ning braced against the platform edge and leaped up.
Suddenly, her right leg yanked down—the Fishman had grabbed her ankle. She'd just reached the platform when it nearly dragged her back.
In a life-or-death moment, instinct ruled. Zhu Ning stomped down hard on the Fishman's face.
Boom—
The high-speed train thundered past. Zhu Ning's foot slipped free; the Fishman plummeted back to the tracks. She heard the muffled crunch as the Sub-rail crushed something.
Wheeze—
Zhu Ning's throat was raw, prolonged asphyxiation blacking her vision. She slumped for two seconds; the train didn't stop, vanishing into the distance.
Zhu Ning checked the tracks. Below lay a mangled Fishman, blood pooling, scales exploded, lower body pulverized by the rails. If she'd been slower, it'd be her.
Still not dead—no Contamination Spores emerging.
From her zombie-world days, Zhu Ning's survival creed was: always finish the job!
She spun to the platform, smashing a glass case and hefting a red fire axe. While it was weak, she'd happily add a few chops.
Axe on shoulder, she approached—and paused at the sight.
"I..." The Fishman slumped against the rail like a true salted fish, mouth gaping weakly. "I can't find the last train."
The same line—repetition was Psychic Contamination's crux; it fixated on this.
"I can't go home. Cabs would wipe out my week's pay." It spoke to Zhu Ning.
Choked by throat blood, it continued. "They call me..."
"Call me... spineless, poor, useless. Can't even afford a cab."
"They think I'm... dramatic, can't handle hardship."
Zhu Ning listened a bit. The Fishman's obsession was light—not some lost life's love, just missing the last train. A tiny thing that crushed a man.
Life's final straw was the last train.
"Am I dramatic?" The Fishman looked up, its head a mess of debris and gore.
It seemed to wait for her words. Zhu Ning had no interest; this black-hearted fish had just tried to kill her. She wasn't that kind.
Axe on shoulder at the platform edge, she eyed its face and said coolly, "No."
"Can't handle hardship"—Zhu Ning always thought that bullshit. Who chose hardship for fun?
The Fishman blinked, then chuckled low. "Hahaha, you're like me."
Zhu Ning frowned. Like me?
"The apocalypse is coming, hahaha—" It coughed, laughter mingling with hacks in eerie fashion. "The apocalypse is coming."
Apocalypse? What apocalypse?
The Fishman propped up its upper body, vitality tenacious. It crawled toward Zhu Ning—not in that prior eerie sprint, but step by laborious step, like one friend approaching another.
Slap. Its hand reached the platform.
Zhu Ning backed three meters, axe ready. Another lunge, and it'd be chopped crucian carp.
"You're like me." One hand on the platform, but it couldn't muster the strength to haul its torso up.
At the edge, it exposed one massive fish eye. "You—you'll become like me... like... like..."
Bang! The Fishman's corpse slammed backward with a thud.
Zhu Ning's axe grip didn't loosen. Cautiously, she edged to the platform, wary of a feint.
Creak creak—
From the dark depths came a rusty groan, the train approaching—not in prior whoosh, but like a broken windmill, creaking, parts corroding.
Before reaching the station, it disintegrated, collapsing like a melting wax figure.
The train halted.
A salted fish lay on the tracks. In death, its body rotted swiftly into sludge, crimson Contamination Spores dripping out.
One, two, three...
Over a hundred blood-red spores danced in the air, alive like aquatic life. Leaving the host, they struggled upward.
But Zhu Ning's Hazard Suit covered her fully—no exposed skin for hosts.
They drifted lazily around her. One spore landed on her axe head, nuzzling the tip in cruel, eerie intimacy.
Ding—
The system's mechanical chime: [Congratulations on completing Side Quest: The Missing Line 1 Last Train. Purification: 100%.]
[Main Quest: Purify the Homeland. Completion: 1%.]
[Processing rewards...]
[Basic reward: Partial Interface activation. Sanity restored to 100%.]
[Congratulations: 500 Purity Points reward. Total Purity Points: 545.]
[Congratulations: Fishman reward: Putrid Fish Head.]
[Putrid Fish Head: D-level Contaminant. Can inflict Psychic Contamination via repetition on humans or contaminants. Increases movement speed during escape (1x to 4x, single-user only). Note: Using this item consumes health. Use with caution.]
[Congratulations: Beginner Talent: Danger Sense.]
[Talent Description: Forewarns of danger.]
[Congratulations: Side Quest Reward: K003 Explosive.]
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