Chapter 40-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 40 Wristband
Sanitation Center.
The main building of the Sanitation Center had over three hundred floors, and most employees did not have clearance for anything above the two-hundredth floor.
The 130th floor belonged exclusively to Xuan Qing, the Minister of the Combat Department.
Xuan Qing sat behind a large solid wood desk. She was over fifty, her hair turning gray, an age where one should be retiring, yet she radiated a vitality that even young people would find hard to match.
Fang Ying stood opposite her, holding a stack of documents, waiting for Xuan Qing’s next instruction.
Xuan Qing was watching the playback videos from the training room. She was willing to endure pressure from all sides to slow down the entire Sanitation Center’s work progress just to carry out this collective staff training.
Some in the center speculated that the significance of Xuan Qing’s centralized training was to re-evaluate the Sanitation Center employees and record each employee’s characteristics again.
Under dozens of high-speed cameras, everyone’s performance was fully exposed.
Some people held back, refusing to show their strength for fear that their hidden skills would be discovered, leading to them being targeted or given an increased workload.
There were also those who had no fear at all, determined to attract everyone’s attention.
Zhu Ning was simply too conspicuous. A cleaner with a Sanity value of 1200, she effortlessly tied the training center’s record in shooting class and defeated Huang Xiong in combat class when no one thought she stood a chance.
There is an old saying that tall trees attract the wind, and another that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Zhu Ning didn't seem to care about these two sayings at all, or perhaps she deliberately wanted everyone to notice her.
Zhu Ning actually belonged to the Cleanup Department, and her real direct superior was Xie Jiazu. However, Xie Jiazu had no time to pay attention to this minor employee; instead, Xuan Qing, who managed the Demon Hunters, was paying more attention to Zhu Ning.
The reason Xuan Qing gave was that talent should be used to be a Demon Hunter, not to sweep trash.
Fang Ying felt that made sense.
Xuan Qing finished watching the combat match between Zhu Ning and Huang Xiong, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Arrange a B-Level Mission for her. I want to see her comprehensive strength."
Training and actual combat were two different concepts; true strength could only be demonstrated in actual combat.
"B-Level?" Fang Ying wasn't sure. "Her last mission was a D-Level one."
As a pure rookie, Zhu Ning had only gone on one mission. At the time, it was judged as E-Level, and even if the Technology Department made a grading error, it was ultimately just D-Level difficulty.
Now, jumping straight to B-Level—Xuan Qing wasn't afraid that a little rookie like Zhu Ning would die in there.
"What's wrong?" Xuan Qing asked. "You feel sorry for her?"
Fang Ying suddenly didn't know how to answer. The Sanitation Center was unwilling to give up on any talent.
This was the consensus of everyone in the Sanitation Center. No matter which faction or what stance they held, they would instinctively protect talent, because in this era, true talent was too scarce.
"If you treat her like a vase and put her on a pedestal, even a talent will be raised into mediocrity by you people." Xuan Qing's thinking leaned towards practical combat; they didn't have the leisure to raise flowers in a greenhouse.
Xuan Qing said expressionlessly, "With such high fame but no track record to match, she will have a hard time getting by in the future."
Fame needs to be matched by strength.
As expected of the Minister of the Combat Department, she thought a layer deeper than Fang Ying. Zhu Ning had already embarked on this path; there was no getting off.
Whether it was shooting class or combat class, no matter how well she did, it was all just for show. The real track record for Sanitation Center employees was entering contaminated zones to perform missions.
What she needed now was to enter a contaminated zone that matched her strength to prove herself, so she could truly gain a firm foothold in the Sanitation Center.
Xuan Qing was actually planning for Zhu Ning's future.
There was nothing else to discuss. Fang Ying obeyed the instructions and exited the office.
After Fang Ying left, Xuan Qing paused the surveillance video. She didn't watch the staff training process anymore; she was very busy and couldn't spare much time for such trivial matters.
She had just received a piece of news: Experimental Subject 777 had been purified.
The characteristics of Experimental Subject 777 were very bizarre. Whether a Demon Hunter could purify it had little to do with their own strength; this subject tested one's thinking more. Coming out of it alive proved that the person had a flexible mind.
Experimental Subject 777 had existed for many years and had never been purified. Now it seemed Prometheus had found the right candidate for the task.
Due to protection mechanisms, the mission personnel for dead posts were kept confidential throughout the process. As higher-ups, they couldn't truly lock down who had entered Experimental Subject 777.
The underlying logic established by Prometheus was to protect the privacy of the mission personnel; they didn't have the authority to view it.
Sometimes Prometheus would even release distracting information to stop those who wanted to guess who had executed a certain mission.
But she already had a vague guess.
In the surveillance, Li Nianchuan was pushing Zhu Ning out. The cleaning squad was discussing what to eat for this team-building event.
Zhu Ning seemed to sense someone watching her and suddenly turned her head, glancing at the camera here.
The surveillance video stopped right there.
With a snap—
Xuan Qing turned off the video.
...
When she got home that day, Zhu Ning was like a robot that had drained all its battery.
Fighting a combat match gave her a very satisfying sense of release; even her head didn't hurt as much.
Combat matches were really stress-relieving. She was starting to like this sport.
After the body was exhausted to a certain extent, the aftereffects of overusing Sanity were slowly healing. Zhu Ning drank a bottle of Sanity Healer and another bottle of NutriStim.
Then she fell fast asleep.
She put aside any thoughts of being hunted; the first priority was sleep. As long as she wasn't dead yet, she had to ensure sufficient sleep.
The workload these past few days was truly a bit excessive. In just one short week, Zhu Ning felt like she had lived a lifetime.
Zhu Ning slept straight until six in the evening on the third day. After getting up, she drank three tubes of NutriStim and two tubes of Sanity Healer.
Then she continued to sleep.
This time she slept until eleven in the morning the next day.
Adding it all up, she had slept for over forty hours. Zhu Ning finally recovered.
Sleep was absolutely the lowest-cost way to rest in this world. If she didn't have things to do, she could have slept for another day.
After resting, her head didn't hurt as much; it was much alleviated, but her brain still seemed a bit off.
The Sanity value displayed on the system interface was full. If the Sanity value wasn't the problem, maybe there was something wrong with her head physically.
It would be hard to tell without going to a hospital or the Sanitation Center's Medical Department. Zhu Ning should find an opportunity to go to the Medical Department for a brain scan. She could consider the method Song Zhizhang mentioned—sneaking in during the next mission.
She had passed all her training and was now in a state of standby, waiting for Fang Ying to assign her a new mission.
She stayed awake for a while and realized she was under quite a lot of pressure; there were many things to do next.
On the bedside table lay a black wristband, emitting a cold luster. She had brought something out from the Cozy Little House: a Demon Hunter's Employee Wristband.
After the contaminated zone was purified, the Snail-Human turned into rotten flesh. While sweeping the trash, she had picked up this wristband from a pile of bloody, blurry carrion.
The operation method for a Demon Hunter's Employee Wristband was similar to a Cleaner's. The inside of the wristband bore the Demon Hunter's name—Cheetah Squad · Cheng Mofei.
Cheetah Squad?
She had never heard of this team.
Because of the collective staff training, Demon Hunters and Cleaners were mixed together. She had seen all the Demon Hunters she should have seen, but she hadn't even heard anyone mention this team.
So his name was Cheng Mofei. Zhu Ning recalled for a moment and could still remember that Snail-Human lying prone under the TV set, carrying a snail shell on his back.
At that time, he had completely lost his reason, unable to speak or think. In a certain sense, he was a pure dead man.
Cheng Mofei counted as her senior, after all.
Zhu Ning wasn't more powerful than Cheng Mofei; she might even be weaker than her senior. If it weren't for her Metal Manipulation talent, she probably would have died in there too.
Zhu Ning's Metal Manipulation had absolute power within one meter. She had crushed that thing in one go, giving the house no chance to struggle.
But she still hadn't figured out Cheng Mofei dying in the house. She could enter because she had a key; did Cheng Mofei directly become the owner of the house and get bound to it?
The situation was too urgent at the time, and Zhu Ning didn't have time to ask Huang Yaruo about Cheng Mofei. To this day, she didn't know how Cheng Mofei died.
Zhu Ning's motive for paying attention to this wristband was a bit hard to explain. It was like playing the same game as another player; after clearing the level, she wanted to see what the other player's strategy was, to find some experience to borrow for next time.
She opened the Sanitation Center forum. The forum's functions were very complex, containing the organizational chart of the entire center and employee relationship tables.
She opened the Combat Department where Demon Hunters were located and searched: Cheetah Squad.
[No search results] A line of cold text.
The Cheetah Squad didn't exist anymore? Was it disbanded, or was the entire team erased?
There was a section in the center forum that was black, dedicated to memorializing deceased employees, somewhat like a cyber graveyard.
Zhu Ning searched in this section: Cheng Mofei.
This time there was a result. A very formal profile popped up. In the profile, Cheng Mofei was very young, only in his early twenties.
He was wearing a blue suit, revealing a bright and sunny smile at the camera, completely different from the Snail-Human Zhu Ning had seen.
The profile showed that he died during a certain mission. Although no body was found, the Sanitation Center determined he was dead through the life monitoring function of the Employee Wristband.
The company had even held a funeral without a body for him.
Cheng Mofei's profile was also a bit strange. The specific mission information was hidden. This wasn't very unusual; due to the confidentiality of some missions, the missions were not published after many people passed away.
The strange thing was that Cheng Mofei was posthumously awarded a Third-Class Merit. This was even rarer.
Only three people in the entire forum had been posthumously awarded military merits. If he had simply died in a C-Level contaminated zone, he couldn't have been recorded for merit. What exactly happened before Cheng Mofei died?
The function of the Sanitation Center Employee Wristband was similar to a "black box." It could provide the last location before an incident and also had audio and video recording functions.
There should be some data in the wristband, possibly recording what Cheng Mofei experienced before he died.
Zhu Ning fiddled with it for a bit, not really expecting to open it. Sanitation Center Employee Wristbands came with iris and fingerprint recognition devices.
Generally speaking, besides the owner, even their superiors didn't have the authority to open an Employee Wristband unless it was sent to the Technology Department for professional cracking.
Zhu Ning was still wondering if she could use the Universal Key. Did this count as a "door"?
But as soon as she touched the dial of the wristband, the Employee Wristband suddenly lit up with a pale blue light.
It opened? That simple?
Immediately following, a mechanical female voice sounded: [Demon Hunter Cheng Mofei's Employee Wristband has been activated. No valid iris identified. Select Visitor Mode?]
Employee Wristbands had a Visitor Mode? This must have been specially authorized and set by the owner, to make it convenient for people who came later to see?
Zhu Ning selected 'Yes'. After selecting 'Yes', a video folder popped up on the wristband screen, displaying a date from nine years ago.
Nine years. Cheng Mofei had been dead for nine years?
She clicked on the video. The footage was very shaky, presumably in the dark. The camera had night mode on, covering the entire lens in a layer of green light.
She watched for a long time without even recognizing where this was. After about a minute, the lens was placed in a certain position, and someone adjusted the video shooting angle.
This time she saw the environment clearly. This room was definitely used for storing sundries; many things were covered with cloth.
Facing the camera was a dilapidated box, and Cheng Mofei was sitting on the box.
Before becoming a Snail-Human, he was quite good-looking, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and big eyes. Coupled with his height, he was fairly handsome.
But he seemed injured. His lips were pale, and his abdomen was wrapped in a thick layer of bandages.
Zhu Ning felt something was wrong. She thought she would see a video of the interior of the house that hunted people, but now it seemed like Cheng Mofei had filmed this while fleeing.
She had entered the Cozy Little House; Snail-Humans couldn't inflict that kind of wound.
MegaHeal had been developed for many years. With such heavy blood stains on Cheng Mofei's abdomen, either the healing agent had failed, or he was at a dead end and didn't even have a single tube of healing agent.
There was another possibility: the wound he suffered couldn't be healed.
After a rustling sound, Cheng Mofei sat down. Even though he was injured, he sat very straight facing the camera, like a soldier.
"Hello." He spoke his first sentence, his voice somewhat hoarse. "I don't know who you are. I hope you are from the Sanitation Center. I have deactivated the security protocols on my Employee Wristband and protective suit. The person who finds the wristband can log in using Visitor Mode to view partial information."
Zhu Ning frowned. This was different from what she had imagined.
She thought she would see the process of Cheng Mofei trying every means to escape the "man-hunting house," but now it felt like she was having a conversation with a dead man across time and space.
Zhu Ning's eyelid twitched; she had a feeling this data would be very eerie.
"I am being hunted. It is certain that I will not survive past tonight. I will enter Experimental Subject 777 before I die to preserve the data."
Data? What data? So that experimental subject was named No. 777.
The Demon Hunter didn't go in to purify the house? He used the characteristics of the house to evade pursuit? Who was hunting him?
Zhu Ning felt a turmoil in her heart. The volume of information was so huge she couldn't digest it for a moment. She didn't press the pause button, so the video was still playing.
In the video, Cheng Mofei gave a light cough. His expression became very serious. "I am Cheng Mofei, a member of the Cheetah Squad, Employee ID L7563. I am conducting an investigation mission on Eternal Pharma."
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