Chapter 26-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 26 GeneBoost
Zhu Ning was able to brawl with the Fishman before because the Fishman's body wasn't covered by hard fish scales; his body was about the same as a human's. Zhu Ning could find flaws by continuously attacking his abdomen.
Moreover, Zhu Ning was wearing a work uniform at the time, which helped her resist many attacks in its inflated state.
But this white-haired mechanical warrior in front of her was already 80% mechanized and could even snap an iron bar with one hand. Zhu Ning's body hadn't undergone the baptism of any GeneBoost yet.
If it were really a competition, Zhu Ning wanted to shout, "Referee! The other side is cheating!"
The audience was stunned. Someone immediately saw the clue. "She, she hasn't injected GeneBoost?"
This was too incredible. All employees of the Sanitation Center had injected GeneBoost, including Li Nianchuan. The first sum of money they earned was used to get GeneBoost injections because working in their line of business required a "steel-like" physique.
If one used an original human body, the body might be ruined after two missions. In their eyes, Zhu Ning was equivalent to streaking—going onto the battlefield directly without any equipment.
For a moment, they didn't know whether to say Zhu Ning had courage; after all, such honest people were rare to see.
The discussion point of the audience wasn't that Zhu Ning was knocked down by one punch; their discussion focused entirely on this admirable courage.
The opponent was 80% mechanized! This was the human competitive sports spirit, right! They discussed and marveled, and even the fighting class teacher didn't react.
Zhu Ning lying on the ground: "..."
"Is anyone going to help me?" Zhu Ning asked. If no one helped her, she would call the police for help.
Li Nianchuan finally reacted. "I contacted the Medical Department. Don't move yet."
Zhu Ning gritted her teeth: "Thank you so much."
Li Nianchuan: "..."
Why did he hear resentment in that sentence?
...
Zhu Ning entered the Medical Pod in the Medical Department.
The situation was worse than she thought. She almost broke her spine. If the spine really broke, she would either be paralyzed for the rest of her life or have major surgery.
She got a shot of MegaHeal and then was irradiated in the Medical Pod for half an hour.
The doctor in the Medical Department was surnamed Fu (Dr. Fu). He looked at Zhu Ning's various data with a beaming face. Zhu Ning felt this doctor was a pervert; he was giggling while looking at her X-rays.
Dr. Fu had worked in the Medical Department for many years. He hadn't seen such an original shoulder blade for a long time. And this was the shoulder blade of the forum celebrity of the past two days.
After seeing Zhu Ning, Dr. Fu put down the X-ray, pinched the bridge of his nose, and put on a steady expression again.
Stop pretending, I saw you smile, Zhu Ning thought.
Dr. Fu said, "You don't need to worry. Medical expenses are free for official employees."
Oh, at least there was good news.
Zhu Ning moved her arm. Under the effect of MegaHeal, her body didn't feel strange anymore. It was good that technology was advanced; broken bones could recover in half an hour, just like original ones.
Dr. Fu asked, "You haven't injected GeneBoost?"
Zhu Ning hummed. Fang Ying had told her before that she could inject it, but she was busy investigating the truth of her death.
Later, she was called over for training. She could only search for knowledge related to GeneBoost in the gaps. She heard that GeneBoost injections were very painful and had some unknown side effects. The descriptions online were terrifying. Zhu Ning searched for a bunch of posts about failed cases. Some people became disabled after injection, saying they were injected with fakes, and the disability rate was high.
Research on GeneBoost was considered mature, but there was also a lot of room for progress. As for the materials Xu Meng gave her, she hadn't had time to read them yet.
Dr. Fu: "Do you want to inject? The Medical Department has it. I see your various data meet the requirements."
Zhu Ning said humbly, "My understanding isn't too deep."
Dr. Fu thought Sure enough, a rookie, and explained, "There are many types of GeneBoost. In plain words: change wherever doesn't look pleasing to the eye. Become beautiful, become white, become tall, become strong. Of course, there are also those that transform oneself in the direction of a weapon."
Sounded very convenient. Plastic surgery didn't even need knives anymore. Injecting edited GeneBoost could accurately modify one's facial features.
Mom no longer had to worry about me not growing tall. As long as there was money, one could grow as tall as one wanted.
Zhu Ning suddenly understood why Naturals were First-Class Citizens. As long as there was money, genes could be improved. Humans were mass-produced. Beauty and strength were actually depreciating. At this time, a "mom-born face" was more valuable instead.
Dr. Fu: "If you want to inject, actually the Sanitation Center's Medical Department is your best choice. We share resources with the Federal First Medical School. Generally, if there is any advanced technology, we are the first to know. In other words, we are definitely more advanced than outside hospitals."
Dr. Fu dispelled Zhu Ning's thought of injecting outside with one sentence.
"We have very mature experience here. You also know, we have more lab rats, so the plan given to you is more suitable for you. After all, your profession is special."
Zhu Ning: "..."
Doctor, you really sound like you're selling something, you know? Medical treatment in the Medical Department was free, but GeneBoost injections were a charged item.
Dr. Fu: "One course is six shots. It will slowly enhance your various functions, including cardiopulmonary function, your bone density, and your skin hardness. To put it simply, you will be more like a steel warrior."
In the Wasteland world, because of the need to fight against Contaminants, human armament had been internalized from armor to bones, directly increasing the hardness of bones so that human bones could rival steel.
At the same time, cardiopulmonary function was enhanced, and organs were synchronized. Humans would achieve "evolution" in another sense.
Dr. Fu: "It takes effect immediately after injection."
One could go to the battlefield right off the operating table. Truly high efficiency.
"Inject?" Dr. Fu asked.
Zhu Ning: "Inject."
She discovered that if everyone evolved and you stayed put, it was regression.
She must possess a stronger body to talk about later matters. In the future, she might face B-level missions, A-level missions, or even S-level missions.
Moreover, people in the Sanitation Center were extremely involuted (competitive). Many people chose to directly use Cybernetic Implants. With everyone being so competitive, Zhu Ning would easily be crushed into dregs if she didn't move.
As soon as Zhu Ning finished speaking, Dr. Fu's eyes lit up. He stood up directly and shouted, "Assistant Wang! Prepare GeneBoost, we have work."
Zhu Ning: "..."
She looked up. What hung outside was the Medical Department, right? She hadn't entered a shady shop, had she?
Zhu Ning pushed back her subsequent training. Xu Meng personally approved her leave note. She injected GeneBoost that same day. No surgery was needed, just targeted injections.
Zhu Ning lay into the Medical Pod.
...
After the injection was finished, Dr. Fu said she could come down. Zhu Ning sat on the edge of the Medical Pod, still in a trance there.
She didn't feel anything. Didn't the internet say it hurt a lot? She felt no pain at all.
Was she sure what was injected into her was GeneBoost and not saline? She hadn't been scammed, had she?
Zhu Ning looked up and suddenly felt the surroundings had changed.
Directly opposite her was a window. In the time it took to look up, she suddenly saw the scene one kilometer away. A man dropped the ice cream cone he just bought on the ground. The other party looked pained, wanting to pick it up but unable to get past his own standards.
Swish—
Zhu Ning blinked. What was that just now? How could she see so far?
At the same time, her hearing became stronger. The world was noisier than before. She could hear through the noisy crowd, hearing two doctors chatting three corridors away, saying that this year's annual leave was about to expire before they had time to take it.
Boom—
The doctors' chatter poured from her left ear into her right ear. Massive amounts of sound poured into her mind like seawater.
Zhu Ning covered her ears. After shielding the outside world, she heard her own heartbeat unpreparedly, like when she was naughty as a child and pressed a stethoscope to her chest to listen.
Thump—
Her heart was contracting suddenly. She could even perceive the blood flowing the moment her heart rose and fell, continuously transporting to the strongly beating heart.
In short, Zhu Ning had never perceived where her heart, liver, spleen, and lungs were so carefully.
"Having side effects is a normal phenomenon," Dr. Fu's voice came. "The essence of GeneBoost is to regenerate your organism."
"Take a moment to recover on the side. I'm watching you."
Zhu Ning walked down from the Medical Pod and took fully twenty minutes to recover. Twenty minutes later, she finally adapted to her new body and learned to control her senses.
After blocking out a part of the sound, the world wasn't so noisy. After she consciously controlled her vision, she wouldn't rashly look that far either.
"Recovered?" Dr. Fu asked. "How do you feel now?"
Feel?
Zhu Ning clenched her fist. She felt nothing had changed, yet she felt everything had changed.
"Something's a bit wrong," Zhu Ning said.
Dr. Fu took notes while asking, "What's wrong?"
Zhu Ning: "I seem... a bit irritable."
She felt she wasn't as calm as before. Taking in too much information caused her mood to be a bit off, making her feel very annoyed. Zhu Ning took a deep breath, wanting to suppress the irritability.
Dr. Fu glanced at the computer. "Your Sanity hasn't fluctuated. It should be purely an emotional issue."
The Medical Department didn't have machines as precise as the R&D Department; they could only see if Sanity fluctuated but couldn't read the precise value.
Dr. Fu: "It's considered a normal phenomenon. After injecting GeneBoost, hormone levels are prone to imbalance."
Zhu Ning: "How long until recovery?" She didn't like the feeling of losing emotional control; it made her feel dangerous.
Dr. Fu: "Depends on the individual. Fast ones recover today; slow ones take a month."
Human hormones needed to slowly adapt to the new body.
Dr. Fu: "Come back for a checkup in a month. I need to detect your various data."
Zhu Ning nodded.
Dr. Fu: "Everyone's effect from injecting GeneBoost is different. Some people have particularly good effects; some people have very poor effects."
The principle of GeneBoost wasn't that it could definitely make the weak strong. It depended on individual constitution. Otherwise, Xu Meng wouldn't have given up on GeneBoost and chosen to get Cybernetic Implants instead.
Dr. Fu: "I've seen your medical record. You are a Defective. The lifespan of your body's various organs isn't long. After injecting GeneBoost, with good luck, it can help you extend your life."
"But to know what it will be like in the end, you still have to go to the R&D Department for more precise data collection," Dr. Fu said. "I hope you can recover."
Dr. Fu spoke sincerely. Of course, he knew Zhu Ning had 1200 Sanity. It was too wasteful for such a good seedling to be dragged down by her body.
All employees of the District 103 Sanitation Center had a common goal: they didn't want to give up on any talent.
Zhu Ning fell silent. Was it her illusion? She felt the people in the Sanitation Center were all quite warm-hearted?
Dr. Fu: "I'll add your contact. Tell me if there's anything unusual."
Zhu Ning asked, "No precautions?"
Dr. Fu: "Just eat and drink normally. You can even go on missions normally."
Zhu Ning: "..."
No need to emphasize that specifically.
Zhu Ning: "You won't let me do some tests?"
Dr. Fu: "Like what?"
Zhu Ning: "Check my strength value, defense value, and the like?"
Dr. Fu shook his head. "No meaning. Your body is changing every moment. The data I measure now might be inaccurate in a week. Why don't you go back now? You can try fighting that mechanized opponent again. I'll watch your video online."
If not for the constraints of his duty, Dr. Fu would have wanted to go to the scene specifically to watch.
Zhu Ning: "..."
Why are you so gossipy?
Zhu Ning: "Okay, can I go?"
Dr. Fu smiled with a face full of kindness: "Take care. I deducted your fee from your card."
Zhu Ning was still adapting to her new body and hadn't reacted when she heard her Sub-Brain flash, followed by the sound of banknotes shattering.
【1.5 million NewCreds consumed. Account balance: 201,200 NewCreds.】
Zhu Ning: "!"
Zhu Ning suddenly sobered up. What kind of prodigal was she? Spending 1.5 million in one go. Now only 200,000-plus remained, not even enough for one shot of GeneBoost.
One course was six shots. Finishing it all would cost 9 million. If abnormalities appeared, she might even need supplementary shots.
Currently, the average monthly salary of Federal people was 4800. The average salary of Defectives was even lower, and many jobs discriminated against Defectives. For a Defective to save up 9 million was simply a fantasy.
Sure enough, ordinary people couldn't afford it at all.
Zhu Ning took a deep breath. The money was already spent. She could only try to ask calmly, "When is the second injection?"
Dr. Fu: "In a month."
Zhu Ning: "..."
Gold guzzler, money shredder. Zhu Ning didn't know how to describe herself more appropriately. Raising herself cost quite a bit of money.
Zhu Ning walked out with a look of decadence. Xu Meng and Li Nianchuan were waiting for her at the door. In just one short day, the wheel of fortune had turned. Zhu Ning was picking up Li Nianchuan from the hospital in the morning, and now she had become the patient being visited.
Li Nianchuan gave the red roses to Zhu Ning backhand. "Zhu Ning, happy discharge."
Zhu Ning: "..."
One flower, two uses. Good job, Li Nianchuan.
Xu Meng asked, "How was it?"
Many people had side effects after injecting GeneBoost. Zhu Ning went in full of vitality and came out full of resentment.
Zhu Ning asked, "Where is that opponent from just now?"
Xu Meng: "Huh?"
She thought she heard wrong.
Zhu Ning looked at Xu Meng firmly: "I want to challenge her."
She couldn't wait to try out the body she exchanged 1.5 million for.
Author's Note:
When I started the article, I knew it would be very cold, but I didn't expect it to be this cold o(╥﹏╥)o
Revising the text and seeing the words from two years ago makes me a bit emotional. I originally wanted to delete them silently, but thinking about it, I kept the traces of the past. I still remember the feeling back then; almost no one read it, and it was inverse V (paid chapters starting from earlier free chapters due to low readership). I kept failing to save enough collections to reach the VIP line. Each chapter had at most about ten comments. I looked forward to someone reading it every day. I would have been very happy with a thousand readers. I didn't expect so many people to like it later. Thank you very much, everyone, for your tolerance.
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