Chapter 30-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

 Chapter 30 The House That Hunts People-3

To be completed before dawn again. Are contaminants more active at midnight?

Zhu Ning hadn't finished the Demon Hunter theory class yet. She planned to grope her way through after entering the pollution zone while combining it with the lessons she had taken. The dead post showed an address at the end. She found the motorcycle boss with big wavy hair downstairs—Big Wave—to give her a ride.

The boss was already very familiar with her. She did things resolutely and swiftly. She rode the motorcycle to send Zhu Ning to the destination, then sped away without saying a word.

Before her was a residential compound. Written at the entrance: Rome City.

Many residential compounds gave themselves strange names in pursuit of sounding high-class. Zhu Ning had seen a compound called The Grand Palace before.

This developer had really bad taste. The building density of the compound was particularly high. The buildings were very close to each other, giving off an onrushing sense of oppression.

There were security guards at the gate, and people were still living in this compound. Corporate slaves who had just got off work were dragging their exhausted bodies through the gate.

After Zhu Ning took the GeneBoost, her five senses had all been opened up. She listened for a while; Rome City was very noisy, housing thousands of families.

So Zhu Ning still couldn't use bombs unless she wanted to send the whole compound to the afterlife.

Zhu Ning didn't plan to disturb the security guards. Taking advantage of no one paying attention, she flipped over the wall and jumped in.

The post said it was on the 13th floor of Building 22.

Zhu Ning took the emergency stairwell. After being continuously beaten by the Demon Hunter for the past two days, her stamina was excellent. She climbed 13 floors extremely fast without even panting.

GeneBoost, the light of humanity.

Zhu Ning entered the thirteenth floor. This compound had two households per elevator. Compared to the slum that was The Hive, this was already considered a "luxury mansion."

Just as described in the dead post, there were two households on this floor. One had a normal main door, the vermilion security door everyone usually chose, with withered mugwort hanging on it.

But the household opposite him looked very eerie. Although it was the thirteenth floor, the house number wrote 101. The forest green door was originally quite fresh and artistic, but it looked like no one had taken care of it for years. It was covered with a layer of dust, looking lifeless.

Zhu Ning flipped over the wooden sign on the door. Sure enough, written on it was: Cozy Little Home.

It was unknown who had flipped the wooden sign over. There were some mottled traces on the forest green door. Zhu Ning rubbed it; it could be rubbed off.

What was this? Blood?

There was no sound after Huang Yaruo entered the door. Was she still alive?

This dead post didn't show what time it was published, so Zhu Ning couldn't deduce exactly what era the event happened in. Was it decades ago like the hotpot restaurant owner?

Or was it recently? Why wasn't the specific time displayed?

The dead post wrote "The House That Hunts People." This house generally lived opposite the hunted target. So what was the situation with the person opposite it now?

Zhu Ning thought for a moment. She didn't enter the Cozy Little Home. She planned to ask the neighbor opposite.

Zhu Ning stopped in front of the door. There seemed to be someone inside. Through the thin door panel, she could hear the person inside breathing.

Someone was lying on the door panel listening to the movement outside, sizing up the outside world through the peephole that could cause deformation. Separated from Zhu Ning by only a wall, his breathing was very nervous.

Scritch scratch—

Zhu Ning knocked on the door: "Is anyone there?"

She could feel the person inside tense up in an instant, wishing he couldn't breathe.

Zhu Ning: "I know someone is home. Is it convenient to ask about the situation? I won't take up your time."

Silence. The person inside didn't speak for a long time.

Zhu Ning was thinking she might as well just break the door down.

The resident might be observing Zhu Ning's attire. She was wearing a full set of black protective gear and carrying a huge backpack. Normal people would think Zhu Ning looked like a criminal.

About a minute later, the person inside said slowly: "Official?"

Official? Zhu Ning thought about it; the Sanitation Center counted as an official organization. "Yes."

"Are you here to arrest me?"

What 'here to arrest you'?

Zhu Ning felt this direction was getting weirder. Before she could ask about the specific situation, the door was suddenly thrown open.

A bearded man was revealed behind the door. His eyes were full of red veins. He immediately launched a barrage of words: "Hurry up and arrest me. I can't take it anymore. Take me to prison. I'd rather go to jail!"

Zhu Ning: "?"

Why would anyone want to go to jail? However, this person was a living human, not a contaminant.

Zhu Ning was particularly patient, like a social worker here to deliver warmth: "Speak slowly."

"Okay, I'll speak slowly." The man seemed to have met someone who genuinely wanted to help him for the first time. His whole body was trembling uncontrollably.

"How about we go inside first?" Zhu Ning reminded him.

The man was a bit dazed now; he agreed to whatever Zhu Ning said. "Right, right, right, come in first. Come in and talk."

They went in but didn't close the door. Zhu Ning could clearly hear movement in the corridor.

The interior of this house was very messy. The table was piled with beer bottles and many cigarette butts. Socks and dirty clothes were piled on the sofa. The kitchen sink was full of unwashed dishes and chopsticks. Zhu Ning could smell a sour stench without even entering the kitchen.

This wasn't the last house Huang Yaruo lived in before disappearing. Zhu Ning looked around and didn't sit on the sofa. She just stood aside, appearing very professional.

"Introduce yourself first?"

"My name is Ding Chaojie, I..." The bearded big man was too nervous, constantly shaking his leg. He seemed to find it difficult to speak. "I'm a thief."

A thief? So straightforward?

Security in the wasteland world was quite poor. There was a lot of petty theft and robbery. The Federation Public Security Bureau couldn't handle it all every year. The Public Security Bureau was responsible for civilian safety. If they confirmed a pollution event, they would report it and let investigators investigate. After going through the process, it would be included in the Sanitation Center's jurisdiction. They basically turned a blind eye to less serious matters.

Ding Chaojie said, "I entered this house that day. I originally wanted to steal something and leave, but I went around and found that no one seemed to be in this house."

"I'm very experienced. I saw at a glance that the owner hadn't been home for a long time. This home was abandoned. I thought, since I happened to have nowhere to live, I'd just live here."

Ding Chaojie shook his leg as he spoke. "I didn't feel anything strange at first. The owner of this house probably paid a lot of water and electricity bills in advance. Power and water weren't cut off even after I lived here for a month. I really treated this place as my own home and even moved my own luggage and furniture in."

"I called friends over the day I moved. They were all from the streets. They even congratulated me, saying my luck was too good to pick up a new home for free, congratulating me on my housewarming."

When speaking of the housewarming joy, Ding Chaojie revealed a bitter smile. This wasn't a congratulation; thinking back carefully, it was simply a curse.

Zhu Ning raised an eyebrow. She seemed to have guessed what would happen.

"I have a neighbor opposite my house. His door is green. You saw it when you came in just now."

Zhu Ning chimed in: "I saw it."

"I didn't take it to heart at first. But since that day, after I officially moved in, I felt something was wrong. There was always sound behind that green door."

"At first, it was a woman crying. I thought it was a normal couple having a conflict and didn't take it to heart. Later I thought, I've lived here for two months and haven't ever seen what my neighbor looks like."

"But I didn't think much of it either. Neighbors are colder than before nowadays. Later, one night, I was woken up. That household was particularly noisy. It seemed like someone was hitting a sandbag inside. He punched once, and my house shook once. I really couldn't take it anymore, so I thought of going to talk to them. Don't disturb the residents."

"I went to knock on the door, but no one inside answered me. I was in a bad mood from being disturbed that day, so I knocked particularly loudly."

"But the harder I knocked, the heavier the person inside punched, as if throwing a tantrum with me. My temper flared up then. I looked through the peephole, and then, and then..."

Ding Chaojie suddenly lifted his eyes. "I saw an eye inside."

There was an eye inside staring at him. The eye was blood-red; not even a bit of white sclera could be seen.

Ding Chaojie said, "People outside the peephole can't see exactly what it's like inside. Not only could I see it, but that eye... seemed, seemed to be alive."

Ding Chaojie could feel a wave of heat rushing at his face, as if that wasn't a peephole, but a scorching eyeball pressed tightly against Ding Chaojie's eyeball.

"I was scared. I ran away on the spot." Ding Chaojie repeated, "I ran away on the spot."

"For the next few days, there were sounds behind the green door. Someone was doing who-knows-what inside. The commotion got louder and louder. Anyway, I didn't dare knock on the door, but I couldn't complain either. After all, I'm not the owner here at all. If I were discovered, I'd go to jail."

"Then I thought, since it's not my house anyway, can't I run? There's no cost for me to run. At worst, I don't want this house anymore."

Ding Chaojie clenched his fist here. He seemed to have fallen into some terrible memory. "Only then did I know that running away resulted in something even more terrifying."

Zhu Ning: "It targeted you?"

"Yes!" Ding Chaojie cursed loudly. "It targeted me. After I moved, it followed. I was startled after my first move. I thought I was hallucinating."

Ding Chaojie moved house. Waking up the next day, he found the original neighbor had disappeared, and the door opposite his home had turned green. It had followed him.

"I didn't believe in evil, so I kept moving. It followed wherever I moved. Later I even moved into the kind of building with no neighbors."

"It's just one household per elevator. I thought at the time, I don't even have a neighbor opposite me, let's see where you can open up. Then I woke up the next day and found it embedded in the wall opposite my home."

On the originally empty wall, a bizarre green door had been added.

"It drilled into the wall. And it's especially noisy every day. Someone is boxing inside every day. My floor vibrates every day. I'm going crazy. I-I-I..."

Ding Chaojie rubbed his hair and yanked it hard. "I'm going crazy. It keeps following me, keeps following me, keeps following me..."

"I know I did wrong. Save me, save me. I'll go to jail. Lock me up!"

Zhu Ning fell silent.

The target she saw in the dead post was named Huang Yaruo. The current victim was Ding Chaojie. This house had found itself a new target and started hunting.

There were two known victims so far. It was unknown how many others there were.

And Ding Chaojie hadn't entered the green door at all. He had also entered the house opposite. Was this house bound to the opposite door?

Zhu Ning asked: "Which move is this house for you?"

Ding Chaojie: "The fourth one."

The fourth move, and the opposite was still the green door. That proved the green door was the main body. The house Ding Chaojie was in now wasn't the one Huang Yaruo disappeared from either. Who knows how many times it had changed in between? The dead post gave the latest address.

Zhu Ning asked: "You haven't tried opening the green door?"

Ding Chaojie: "I thought about it, but I didn't dare go in. I always felt I wouldn't be able to come out if I went in."

"But..." Ding Chaojie licked his dry lips. "I want to go in more and more. Clearly, I don't want to go in at all, but I want to go in more and more. I don't know if you can understand."

Zhu Ning: "I roughly understand."

Reason told Ding Chaojie not to go in, but reason would be affected after a person was mentally contaminated. Ding Chaojie was continuously attracted by the green door.

"I just called the police today. I thought if the Public Security Bureau didn't care about me, I'd walk in and take a look myself. I had a feeling inside; I knew it was today. That green door would definitely kill me. Then you came."

No wonder. Ding Chaojie thought Zhu Ning was sent by the officials.

The system said the mission time was until dawn. Could it be that if Zhu Ning didn't appear, Ding Chaojie would die today, so the mission would automatically close?

But this mission description was also very strange. The system didn't ask Zhu Ning to protect Ding Chaojie, but to find Huang Yaruo. This showed that in the system's eyes, Ding Chaojie wasn't important at all.

Ding Chaojie: "How will you solve it? Are you taking me away?"

Zhu Ning: "I'll go in and take a look first."

Ding Chaojie's face was deathly pale: "You're going in?"

Zhu Ning: "Yes, I'm going to help you solve the problem."

"No..." Ding Chaojie said, "I checked online before. I searched for other people's posts. Some people had similar encounters to me, but I didn't find the follow-up to that post. Anyway, they all said not to let people go in."

Ding Chaojie spoke very urgently. Zhu Ning understood and asked: "Let me see the post."

Ding Chaojie showed it to Zhu Ning. The protagonist wasn't Huang Yaruo, but another girl. It described almost the same encounter as Ding Chaojie and Huang Yaruo. Someone commented below never to go in; you couldn't come out if you went in.

Her posting time was three years ago.

"There are other people's posts too." Ding Chaojie must have investigated for a long time himself. He showed the collected information to Zhu Ning.

A total of twenty posts.

It was unknown how many of these were stories made up to follow the trend and gain traffic, and how many were real victims. But even if half were true, it was scary enough.

This matter was quite complicated.

Zhu Ning felt Ding Chaojie definitely had something he hadn't told her. He might not be a simple thief.

Zhu Ning: "I guess if you don't go in, the connection between you won't be broken."

Zhu Ning glanced at the time. She had listened to Ding Chaojie tell his story for twenty minutes. It was already 1:30 AM.

Zhu Ning hurried up. According to the mission description, she had to sleep inside for a night.

Zhu Ning: "I'm in a hurry. I still have to sleep inside."

Ding Chaojie's eyes widened. He originally thought he was waiting for an official investigator, but he never expected to wait for a ruthless person. Zhu Ning was actually going to go in, and sleep for a night?

What on earth did she do?

Zhu Ning had already walked to the green door. Ding Chaojie asked: "What about me?"

Zhu Ning: "Hmm?"

Ding Chaojie: "What do I do if you go in?"

Once Zhu Ning went in, Ding Chaojie would be alone. He might encounter some trouble alone. After all, the house was bound to Ding Chaojie, not Zhu Ning.

If Zhu Ning had an accomplice, Zhu Ning could enter the green door while the accomplice protected Ding Chaojie. Unfortunately, Zhu Ning only had herself.

Zhu Ning had already grabbed the door handle with one hand. "I have two suggestions. Don't know which one you like."

Ding Chaojie: "You... tell me."

"First choice," Zhu Ning: "You can go in with me."

If Zhu Ning died, Ding Chaojie himself wouldn't be able to live either. Rather than letting Ding Chaojie run around, maybe following Zhu Ning was the safest choice.

"I can't." Ding Chaojie refused immediately. He didn't want to enter the green door at all unless absolutely necessary. He would rather die than die in the green door.

"Then the second one," Zhu Ning said, "Go turn yourself in."

"Huh?" Ding Chaojie thought he heard wrong.

Zhu Ning: "As you originally thought, go stay in the detention center for a night. If you're lucky, they might be able to protect you."

She hadn't had contact with the Public Security Bureau, but there might be a few ability users there too. Maybe they had formal procedures to solve it.

"Then, then what if I'm unlucky?" Ding Chaojie stared at Zhu Ning, hoping she would give him an answer again. What if no one cared about him?

But this time Zhu Ning didn't speak. She was very silent. That meant: life and death are fated, wealth and honor are in heaven.

She was waiting for Ding Chaojie's choice.

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