Chapter 45-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

 Chapter 45 The Bizarre Aquarium-2

The three-person squad changed into their uniforms. Following Fang Ying's instructions, they didn't put on their helmets yet but gathered with the other team members first.

There were many people on this mission: one Demon Hunter squad and three Cleaner squads.

The Demon Hunter side was the Grey Eagle Squad. They had last met in the sewers, where someone from the Grey Eagle Squad had mocked Li Nianchuan. Zhu Ning couldn't tell which one it was.

Were they arranging two rival teams together?

Zhu Ning saw Chu Ling among them. As the only female in the Grey Eagle Squad and standing 1.8 meters tall, Chu Ling was very conspicuous.

Chu Ling raised an eyebrow at her, which counted as a greeting.

Zhu Ning waved to Chu Ling. Some of the others looked familiar, though she couldn't name them; she must have seen them during training.

The others showed no expression upon seeing the Cleaner team, but Li Nianchuan scoffed beside her. He held grudges and never had a pleasant look for the Grey Eagle Squad.

The Demon Hunters wore steel armor and stood in a row with the Cleaners.

After special training, everyone behaved very disciplined. Zhu Ning appeared much more professional than her rookie state last time.

Fang Ying scanned the group, her gaze heavy upon everyone, and began to explain the situation. "A contaminant infection suddenly broke out inside the Mechanical Aquarium, instantly infecting the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion and spreading outward."

They each had a floor plan of the aquarium on their Employee Wristbands. On the map, the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion was already marked in red.

And this redness was expanding; four pavilions had suffered varying degrees of contamination.

This was Zhu Ning's first time encountering an area that had just been contaminated. How did contamination erupt in this situation?

Fang Ying continued, "Information is scarce. The source of contamination is unknown. A tourist was visiting when the glass suddenly exploded. Before the surveillance cameras were parasitized by Contamination Spores, we retrieved internal video from the aquarium."

Fang Ying synced the video to everyone's Employee Wristband. The video had been specially processed, stitching together scenes from various cameras, so the sequence of events looked seamless.

An hour ago, the Mechanical Aquarium was still operating normally.

If there was any benefit to radiation, it was that species were more abundant.

The Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion was the most popular pavilion in the entire aquarium. Mechanical Jellyfish were a brand-new species, exhibited only in the District 103 Mechanical Aquarium across the entire Federation.

Eighty percent of tourists came to the Mechanical Aquarium just to see the jellyfish. Mechanical Jellyfish swam in the water, possessing the agility of jellyfish combined with the metallic luster of machinery.

The cold metal, set against the seawater, had a strange silvery cool glow. They looked very beautiful from different angles, harmless and lovely. Many people came famously to check in.

Today was the weekend, and foot traffic in the aquarium was heavy. The wait time was at least an hour per person, with visits limited to fifteen minutes.

A little girl with pigtails had been waiting for an hour and a half. She wore a red dress, holding hands with two adults on either side—presumably her parents. The family of three walked into the viewing area.

The narrator beside them explained patiently, "Mechanical Jellyfish are a specially bred species of the District 103 Mechanical Aquarium. Their exterior is a metal shell, but Mechanical Jellyfish are not simple machines; they are mechanical organisms capable of independent reproduction."

The narrator was draped with many Mechanical Jellyfish toys. To attract children, the toys were fitted with neon lights of different colors.

With the narrator's movements, the Mechanical Jellyfish toys swayed back and forth. Staring at them for too long made one's eyes sore.

The little girl's parents took many photos.

"Quick, tilt your head." The man held a professional camera, lens aimed at the little girl. They only had fifteen minutes total, so they had to make the most of the time.

The little girl herself wasn't very interested and kept showing a bored expression.

The father shouted loudly, "Smile! Give us a smile!"

The little girl forced out a smile. It was her signature smile, looking very innocent, and the father pressed the shutter with satisfaction.

After the little girl cooperated with her parents for a few poses, she then lay against the huge transparent glass wall, staring unblinkingly at the swimming jellyfish.

The Mechanical Jellyfish were umbrella-shaped, their tentacle-like whiskers moving with the water currents as they swam.

The little girl pressed her hand against the glass. A jellyfish swam over, affectionately rubbing against the little girl's palm through the glass.

The little girl revealed an expression of "wow," different from her feigned innocence earlier. That was a genuine expression naturally revealed.

The narrator took the opportunity to explain, "Mechanical Jellyfish are not aggressive towards humans and have a docile nature. In their eyes, humans are very friendly. It seems they really like you, little friend."

The narrator's words amused the little girl's parents. Every parent hoped their child would be praised.

The visiting tourists also nodded and smiled; many took photos of this scene. The background was a sea-blue glass wall with swimming Mechanical Jellyfish, and the little girl in the red dress stood in front of it. The two species were separated by a transparent glass wall, making the whole scene very heartwarming and healing.

Camera flashes went off click click click, mixed with the tourists' admiration.

"So cute."

"So healing."

Amidst the laughter and joy, it seemed the Mechanical Jellyfish understood human speech. More jellyfish gathered, surging over from behind the glass.

At first, there were two, and the scene was warm and cute.

Later, there were ten or twenty Mechanical Jellyfish, which looked a bit bizarre.

Only three minutes later, thousands of Mechanical Jellyfish surged over together.

They swung their whisker-like tentacles and used their umbrella-shaped "heads" to butt against the glass wall. In that instant, it was as if a hive mind had formed; they were no longer individuals but a single entity.

The little girl's hand was pressed against the glass, and thousands of jellyfish seemed summoned by her, moving with her hand. The whole scene was magnificent.

Click click click click—

Tourists were still taking pictures, flashes firing non-stop.

"Spectacular," someone exclaimed. "Really beautiful."

"It was worth it this time."

"Honey, isn't it... a bit wrong?" Only the little girl's mother asked uncertainly.

Thousands of jellyfish in the entire pavilion had all come over. They were densely packed against the glass wall. No matter how cute something was, once the quantity became thousands upon thousands appearing suddenly before one's eyes, it would make people's skin crawl.

Before this "wall" made of Mechanical Jellyfish, humans appeared very insignificant.

"Not at all, they're so cute." The little girl's father was excited, pressing the shutter rapidly. "Our Xiaofeng is going to be an internet celebrity."

He completely ignored the strangeness of the Mechanical Jellyfish, seeing only the flashing lights. His daughter had never been this popular. This video might make the Federation's trending list tomorrow.

Then the whole Federation would see his daughter, and they would be famous.

In this era where grasping traffic meant grasping money, he saw an opportunity to get rich. In that moment, he didn't see jellyfish, but countless amounts of money smashing towards him.

Suddenly, a soft thud.

A Mechanical Jellyfish bumped against the glass wall. Through the thick glass, this sound was very faint.

If only one Mechanical Jellyfish acted strangely, it wasn't actually that abnormal. Animals often did things humans found hard to understand, especially animals that had been confined for a long time; they might exhibit some stereotypical behaviors.

But, thud thud thud!

One after another, the Mechanical Jellyfish began to ram the wall.

The little girl's mother had been worried all along, and her voice couldn't help but rise. "What's wrong with them?"

The narrator's smile froze too. He was just a worker earning a fixed wage by rote-memorizing information every day. His understanding of marine life was superficial. He had never seen such a scene and didn't even know how to explain it.

Dozens of tourists, hundreds of eyes, stared in unison. They didn't know if this phenomenon counted as normal or abnormal, subconsciously looking toward the narrator who represented professionalism.

"It seems," the narrator said under pressure, his voice raspy, "these jellyfish are quite enthusiastic."

"Is that so?" Someone rubbed their arms and said, "Why do I feel it's a bit scary?"

"I think so too," another person said. "They seem... like they really want to get out?"

From initially sticking to the glass wall, the Mechanical Jellyfish were now "squeezing" against it, ramming with their umbrella-shaped heads.

They looked like they really wanted to get out.

Do Mechanical Jellyfish have such thoughts? Such a challenge had never occurred in the narrator's career. He soothed everyone's emotions: "Mechanical Jellyfish do not have such high intelligence, please rest assured everyone."

"Is it unsafe?" Someone looked at the Mechanical Jellyfish with a worried expression.

The narrator had been doing this job for too long and was always asked weird questions. Even if he was swearing internally, on the surface, he was very gentle: "That won't happen. Our glass wall is custom-made and can withstand tens of millions of tons of pressure. The glass wall is bulletproof; let alone jellyfish, even explosives couldn't blow..."

Crack—

Before the narrator could finish his sentence, a clear cracking sound suddenly appeared in the pavilion. Everyone heard it, and they looked in unison at the glass wall.

The little girl seemed to see something terrifying and suddenly started backing away.

Right where the little girl had pressed her palm earlier, spiderweb cracks split open from the center!

The little girl's mother reacted first. She grabbed her child by the waist, ignoring the people behind her, and ran out carrying her.

Then came the screams. The tourists all realized: this glass wall was going to collapse, and the Mechanical Jellyfish inside were coming out.

Never mind whether there were creatures inside or not, just such a massive wall of water—once it collapsed, the pressure would sweep everyone into it!

"Run!" Someone shouted while running. "It's going to collapse! Run!"

Outside the pavilion were queues of tourists. They were already anxious from waiting, when suddenly they heard the commotion inside.

"What happened?" people outside the pavilion asked.

Someone ran out with a panicked face. "Go! It's collapsing!"

Some followed the crowd out, while other tourists stopped in their tracks to watch the commotion, wanting to see what exactly had happened.

The narrator stood dumbfounded, still wearing his microphone, a string of Mechanical Jellyfish toys hanging from his waist.

The narrator swallowed. He didn't know why he couldn't move his feet. How was it possible? The materials he memorized stated that this wall would never collapse. Didn't they say it could withstand bombs?

It was just a crack; surely they were overreacting.

Crack crack crack—

Desperate sounds came from behind. The narrator stood stiffly, turning his head slowly.

The shattering of the glass wall seemed contagious, like ice cracking on a lake in winter. Behind the fracturing glass wall, the densely packed jellyfish seemed poised to strike.

The glass wall, already at its limit, couldn't withstand any tiny amount of pressure, let alone so many Mechanical Jellyfish surging at once.

The narrator finally realized how wrong the situation was, but before he could move his legs to run—

Boom!

The glass finally couldn't withstand the pressure of tens of millions of tons. Seawater mixed with Mechanical Jellyfish instantly engulfed him.

...

Zhu Ning frowned after watching the video. The surveillance video recorded the whole process. Initially, a little girl touched the glass wall, and then it shattered.

This little girl was a bit strange.

Zhu Ning's question was also everyone's question. Fang Ying answered directly, "We are investigating this little girl concurrently. Her name is Lin Xiaofeng, her mother is Su Qingqing, and her father is Lin Tianqi. He used to be an adventure blogger. Due to poor management, lack of traffic, and inability to monetize, the account was closed later. Their daughter Lin Xiaofeng also has a social media account. Lin Tianqi should be responsible for operating Lin Xiaofeng's account."

Fang Ying synced a message over. It was a social media account named "Baby Xiaofeng."

Clicking into the homepage and scrolling down, it was all photos of the little girl, as well as some short videos.

Lin Xiaofeng was very pretty, with big eyes and fair skin. Her parents were willing to spend money on her; scrolling down the photos, she never wore the same outfit twice.

But the views weren't high. Amidst the multitude of pretty pictures on the internet, she just blended in with the crowd. This era didn't lack beauties, and certainly didn't lack cute little girls.

The account didn't look like natural sharing; there were obvious signs of personal management. Perhaps the family came to the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion this time to leech off the popularity, but unexpectedly encountered the outbreak of contamination at the jellyfish pavilion.

Fang Ying: "Regarding their current status, there is no news at the moment."

The people in the video were too close to the contamination zone. They hadn't escaped, nor had their bodies been found.

It was a chaotic mess right now. The Sanitation Center knew nothing about the current status of this family of three.

Fang Ying stood opposite them, syncing information: "There are still survivors inside. The exact number is unclear at the moment, roughly estimated at thirty people trapped. The White Pigeon Squad has already gone in; they are responsible for rescuing the hostages. The Grey Eagle Squad will eliminate the source of contamination after entering."

It was normal for there to be survivors inside a suddenly infected contamination zone. Zhu Ning recalled the basic courses during training; public areas like this were generally equipped with temporary safety zones.

A safety zone equipped for a large venue could accommodate five hundred people and allow ordinary humans to survive for six hours. When people encountered contaminants, their first reaction was to find a nearby safe house.

The explosion sound Zhu Ning heard outside the Eternal Pharma Foundation event earlier must have been the sound of the White Pigeon Squad rescuing hostages. The White Pigeon Squad might have activated some heavy weaponry.

Fang Ying continued: "According to the technical department's assessment, this contamination zone is a B-Class Contamination Zone with a Dual Source of Contamination. The Grey Eagle Squad will take Clean Squad A70265 directly into the contamination zone. The remaining two Cleaner teams will stand by outside."

Dual Source of Contamination?

Zhu Ning had entered a contamination zone three times, all with a single source of contamination. So dual sources actually existed?

Fang Ying saw Zhu Ning's doubt and explained, "Cleaners usually enter after the Demon Hunters are done, but this time you enter with the Demon Hunters. Because there are two sources of contamination, after one is resolved, Clean Squad A70265 must immediately begin cleaning the scene to prevent secondary contamination, especially to protect civilians."

After a contamination source was resolved, Contamination Spores would begin to scatter. The spores might perform secondary parasitic contamination on the zone, especially with survivors inside.

If the Contamination Spores were not handled properly, those thirty survivors could easily turn into contaminants.

Li Nianchuan was right; Cleaners were very important, especially in situations with multiple contamination sources.

Fang Ying: "For this mission, the pressure on the Cleaner team will be immense. If necessary, Demon Hunters will conduct containment simultaneously."

This was the significance of the Sanitation Center conducting collective training. When the situation was urgent, there was no difference between Demon Hunters and Cleaners.

Fang Ying looked like an assistant, but she had a commanding presence at this moment. She asked, "Is that understood?"

The crowd answered: "Understood!"

Li Nianchuan muttered a bit privately. Previously, experienced veterans were called for contamination zones with dual sources. Calling him and Xu Meng was understandable; after all, they had at least a year of containment experience.

But there was a rookie in their team. Zhu Ning had been a full employee for less than a month and had only been on one mission. The last mission was D-Level, and this time she was coming directly to a B-Level? And coordinating with Demon Hunters? Was it because of Zhu Ning's super-high sanity?

Li Nianchuan was a bit worried about Zhu Ning, but both Cleaners and Demon Hunters were soldiers in a sense; they had to obey commands from superiors. Li Nianchuan had no room to question anything.

Li Nianchuan poked Zhu Ning and whispered, "Be careful."

Zhu Ning didn't feel much. "You too."

Li Nianchuan: "..."

Was she mocking him?

Zhu Ning wasn't mocking him. It was just that knowing Xu Meng was suspicious, yet having to participate in such a dangerous large-scale mission with her, she felt she might die in there.

Fang Ying continued: "Detailed data has been sent to your Employee Wristbands. Read it yourselves. Note that the contamination zone is an aquarium with a complex ecology inside. If purification is not achieved in thirty minutes, the Center will send backup."

The aquarium had a large area and many species, with a complex internal ecology containing tourists and large marine life. If the Contamination Spores spread, it would be a disaster.

The priority of the Sanitation Center's mission was to deal with the overflowing contamination zone first. This time, it might cause widespread contamination.

The area within five thousand meters of the aquarium had been evacuated. The worst result was that they would seal off the aquarium area; otherwise, it would infect the entire District 103.

"I hope everyone avoids using explosive weapons unless absolutely necessary," Fang Ying added. "Some creatures inside the aquarium are on the verge of extinction."

Zhu Ning: "..."

The difficulty factor of this mission was too high. They even had to consider protecting marine life in a life-or-death situation?

I'm about to die; I am the most endangered animal here.

But the others didn't seem to have any questions, especially the Demon Hunter team; they accepted it easily.

"This time, Cleaners are on the mission with Demon Hunters and will uniformly wear the Demon Hunters' communication tools." Fang Ying had someone distribute the communication tools, which were in black velvet boxes.

Zhu Ning had heard Li Nianchuan say that Demon Hunters' communication channels were not easily contaminated. This time she could finally touch one.

She opened the black velvet box. Inside lay a blue ring the size of an earring, emitting a faint sea-blue light.

Very familiar. It was very similar to the earrings of Fang Ying and Song Zhizhang.

Zhu Ning observed the details of this thing for the first time. The back of the blue ring was a circle of tiny "mycelium," probably used to invade nerves.

Fang Ying: "Wear it on the temple. It can directly establish a connection between the artificial intelligence and your nerves."

Fang Ying spoke very fast. "If necessary, the AI can even take over your body and lead you out of the venue directly. Please relax, everyone."

Zhu Ning frowned. What did 'take over the body' mean? She instinctively rejected anything that needed to plug into her brain, let alone imagining this thing could control her.

The Demon Hunters and Cleaners next to her were putting them on. Zhu Ning hesitated.

Li Nianchuan saw she didn't really want to wear it and said, "Generally, there's no reaction. A few people experience rejection phenomena."

Either Zhu Ning quit the mission, or she had to accept it. The mission was urgent, and there was no time for Zhu Ning to ponder slowly here.

She placed the blue ring against her temple. The mycelium on the back of the ring dove fiercely upon contacting the skin.

In that instant, she felt only countless small needles stabbing into her brain. Her entire brain felt like it was in an earthquake; nerves connected in a flash, and signals linked to every nerve ending.

Boom—

A roar echoed in her mind, followed by symptoms of tinnitus. Her brain, which had already been stinging a bit, now felt like countless needles were stabbing it simultaneously.

"Zhu Ning?" Li Nianchuan noticed Zhu Ning's abnormality and asked, "Are you okay?"

Zhu Ning's reaction was too intense. The Demon Hunters nearby looked over sideways.

"What's wrong with her?" Zhu Ning could hear Fang Ying's voice.

"First-time connection can cause some rejection reactions. Zhu Ning?" Fang Ying was calling her.

After all, it connected to personal nerves. The higher the sanity, the easier it was to experience rejection reactions. But Zhu Ning's reaction was particularly strong.

Her face was pale, and she couldn't help retching. Her back was sweating cold sweat constantly. The physical symptoms were bearable; Zhu Ning had suffered all kinds of injuries in her previous life and wouldn't cry out over something this small.

What was unbearable was her brain. Her brain rejected it extremely, and every cell in her body was shouting: Expel the foreign object.

Expel the foreign object, expel the foreign object, expel the foreign object...

Her brain refused any intrusion. If it intruded forcibly, Zhu Ning would die on the spot. The filamentous substance attached to the nerve endings began to slip; its attachment failed.

The "mycelium" was retreating slowly. For the first time, it couldn't land in a person's brain.

Finally, it had to settle for the next best thing. It withdrew all the "mycelium" attempting to control the nerves, retreating all the way back, and finally stationed itself near Zhu Ning's temple.

Its function became extremely simple. Apart from monitoring basic life data without occupying any of Zhu Ning's nerves, it only allowed Zhu Ning to hear its voice.

A deep and calm male voice.

[Voice pack implanted successfully.]

[Cleaner Zhu Ning identity confirmation complete.]

[I am the combat commander for this operation, Prometheus. Dedicated to your service.]

Zhu Ning had just caught her breath, and hearing this sentence, she froze.

Prometheus. It had really come.

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