Chapter 59-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

Chapter 59: Inspection

Outside the Mechanical Aquarium.

Fang Ying was originally responsible for the Class A procedures, but now someone else had taken over. The District 103 City Defense Army appeared at the Mechanical Aquarium; the military district had secured the highest command authority.

They were here to contain the situation. If the Cleaning Center made any minor error causing a district-wide infection, the civilians of the entire District 103 would have to pay for their mistake.

All buildings within a five-kilometer radius of the aquarium were cleared. A massive mechanical protective shield slowly rose, and a temporary Observation Corridor was set up outside the shield.

The Observation Corridor served as a buffer zone. It was originally intended to prevent pollutants from blending into the crowd. If a city faced large-scale pollution, this was the best device to detect pollutants within a population.

Now, with slight modifications, it had become a detector for transparent people. They had to ensure not a single transparent person escaped.

The White Pigeon Squad had successfully rescued the civilians. Now, people wearing green protective suits were waiting in the Observation Corridor for inspection.

When the main gate opened, black spray was discharged, immediately revealing the human shapes of those trying to sneak out in the chaos.

Bang bang bang!

The City Defense Army opened fire as soon as the transparent people revealed themselves. In an instant, jelly-like remains exploded, spraying blood all over the ground.

The civilians nearby screamed in terror before being led away by logistics personnel. Gunfire continued incessantly. The transparent people seized their last chance for survival, rushing outward as if unafraid of death.

The transparent people likely knew the Mechanical Aquarium was about to explode and planned to come out with the rescue personnel, so they didn't attack the rescue team, nor did they have time to attack Zhu Ning's group.

But the outside world already knew of the transparent people's existence beforehand. Once they held the initiative, the transparent people lost their advantage.

Black liquid sprayed, leaving no place for anyone to hide. Under true firepower suppression, the transparent people were vulnerable; they couldn't breach the defense line.

Sounds of banging and transparent bodies hitting the ground came from the entrance. The Black Whale Squad was preparing to receive them.

Chu Ling's energy was about to run out. Carrying a 3.5-meter-tall transparent person was extremely taxing. The Black Whale Squad took over quickly.

"Good work. Come out first," said the Black Whale Squad.

Zhu Ning and the others walked out of the aquarium's main gate. With a click, the sound of a lock engaging came from behind.

The last gap in the protective shield was filled. The whole thing presented a mechanical feel, but it didn't look like ordinary metal. It was somewhat transparent, like a mechanical membrane.

"Successfully received Grey Eagle Squad and Cleaning Team A70265," a Black Whale Squad member reported. "Countdown: two minutes. Detonation imminent."

Zhu Ning squinted. She had been inside for too long, constantly using night vision. She felt subconsciously uncomfortable under such bright lights.

"Wait a moment," the Black Whale Squad member said. "Undergo the first inspection procedure first."

Sure enough, they also had to undergo inspection to prevent anyone from mixing in among them. If a transparent person attached to them, escaping would be easy. This was a precaution against internal employees collaborating with transparent people.

Xu Meng glanced at Zhu Ning. No pollution spores meant the pollution source wasn't dead. If the pollution source wasn't dead, it might be within their team.

Xu Meng looked around calmly. Beside her, Li Nianchuan sighed in relief. The Grey Eagle Squad were all injured and listless.

Among this group, the last person to contact the pollution source was Zhu Ning.

Only Zhu Ning could have pulled off any manipulation. Even though Xu Meng was Zhu Ning's captain, she felt this rookie was very strange. She had only been employed for a month, yet the skills she displayed were nothing like an ordinary person's.

Did Zhu Ning want to take a transparent person out? Right under the Cleaning Center's nose? Did she have a death wish?

But Zhu Ning appeared unresponsive. She lined up very calmly, right behind Chu Ling.

Whoosh—

Black liquid sprayed down, landing evenly on Zhu Ning. Everyone underwent inspection individually, and Zhu Ning was no exception.

Three seconds later, the spraying finished. Zhu Ning's work suit was dyed even blacker, but there was no anomaly. There was no transparent person beside her.

Inspector: "Next."

Zhu Ning walked out calmly. Next was Xu Meng. Xu Meng raised an eyebrow. Had she overthought it? Did Zhu Ning have no such intention at all?

True, taking a transparent person out at this time would be tantamount to declaring oneself a traitor.

But Xu Meng had seen Zhu Ning with her own eyes at the Everlasting Pharmaceuticals Foundation event. What was she doing there? Looking for a way out because she was a "Defective"?

Zhu Ning was a Defective; her appearance at the Everlasting Pharmaceuticals Foundation was too normal.

No matter how she thought about it, something was off. Zhu Ning had only been here for a month. Being connected to both Everlasting Pharmaceuticals and the Cleaning Center didn't seem like a coincidence.

Zhu Ning seemed to sense someone looking at her and glanced back at Xu Meng.

At this moment, Prometheus's notification came from inside the helmet: [Detonation sequence in ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight, seven...]

Bang!

A shocking boom came from inside the protective shield. The entire earth trembled as if a sudden earthquake had struck.

The civilians undergoing testing were frightened by the explosion. Some screamed in panic while staff maintained order.

About a minute later, the sound of the explosion gradually subsided. Curses came from the crowd, and alarms rang continuously.

Their mission was only truly considered complete when this explosion sounded. All transparent people inside the aquarium were buried under the protective shield.

The protective shield could last for ten years, after which it would need continuous reinforcement.

If there was still pollution inside, at a suitable time, Prometheus would post this mission in the Graveyard Thread, selecting suitable employees to execute it and perform the final true purification.

Zhu Ning and Xu Meng made eye contact for only three seconds. A nearby inspector in a yellow protective suit said, "Cleaner Zhu Ning, proceed to the security vehicle for inspection."

After the explosion, the Observation Corridor remained completely undamaged. The technology of this world was more advanced than Zhu Ning had thought.

It was also her first time seeing the Cleaning Center's true strength. Such large-scale combat, sparing no cost to strangle the transparent people inside the aquarium.

Before getting into the vehicle, Zhu Ning took a look. The transparent person they had kidnapped was locked into a container-like cage by the Black Whale Squad and quickly taken away.

Zhu Ning's mission was over. No one needed to explain to her where that transparent person was going. Zhu Ning followed the staff onto the vehicle.

Click. Someone locked it from behind.

Inside sat an inspector wearing a yellow protective suit, face invisible. "Very sorry, this is routine procedure. I hope you understand."

A girl's voice, speaking very gently.

The Cleaning Center respected talent. Zhu Ning had just risked her death to complete the mission; no one would be happy to be searched upon exit.

Zhu Ning responded, "It's fine."

Inspector: "We belong to the Inspection Department. Generally, for large-scale missions where employees might be contaminated, we conduct a preliminary check."

Inspection Department? To Zhu Ning, this was a new department she hadn't encountered before.

The existence of the Inspection Department was to prevent anyone from bringing pollutants into the Cleaning Center, protecting the entire building from infection.

Inspector: "I will first conduct a full body search on you. If there are no anomalies, you will be sent to the Cleaning Center for data collection. You should be familiar with the subsequent process."

Zhu Ning nodded. She had experienced it last time.

"Can you remove your protective suit first?"

To be honest, after wearing a protective suit for a long time in a pollution zone, she felt like the suit was a layer of her skin.

Zhu Ning didn't hesitate. She was very cooperative, though her movements were somewhat slow due to her injured right arm. First, she took off the battered helmet.

The helmet was a critical resource. The inspector quickly stored it away; the data inside was very precious.

Then Zhu Ning took off the protective suit. Her suit was also damaged, with many patches on her body.

The inspector kept scrutinizing her body. Under the protective suit, Zhu Ning wore a short-sleeved shirt and long pants. These ordinary clothes had no defensive power and had been torn in several places.

The tattered clothes revealed scars on her body. The potent healing agent had closed the wounds, leaving scars. Zhu Ning stood before her, accepting the scrutiny.

Inspector: "Including your communication device."

She was referring to Prometheus on her temple. If she hadn't mentioned it, Zhu Ning would have forgotten about Prometheus.

This thing was truly scary. The mission had only lasted an hour, and Zhu Ning had gotten used to the mycelium in her brain.

The communication device was a blue ring. The moment it was removed, dozens of white mycelium threads were pulled out. There was no blood on them; the white mycelium retracted after being pulled out.

The blue light extinguished. Prometheus was forcibly logged off.

The inspector had a special box to hold this device, a black velvet box, the same as the one Zhu Ning saw last time.

She had only thought the box was flashy back then. looking at it now, the box seemed to be Prometheus's "prison."

Their attitude towards artificial intelligence was cautious, always careful about retrieval. Prometheus wasn't free. Was this a constant precaution against him privately connecting with ordinary employees? Was this thing that terrifying?

Inspector: "Please enter the capsule pod next to you first. We need to do a full-body scan."

There was a human-sized capsule in the vehicle, specifically used to detect if employees were contaminated or parasitized by any organism.

Zhu Ning lay inside. The entire capsule pod was warm. Lying inside felt very relaxing, like soaking in a warm bath.

Five minutes later, the capsule pod opened automatically. Zhu Ning had almost fallen asleep inside.

"No signs of contamination for now," the inspector said. "You are very lucky."

Zhu Ning: "Thank you?"

Inspector: "Of course, more data might only be visible in the observation room. We only do preliminary screening here."

The inspector glanced at the data. "But your data is very stable."

The instrument could show a person's Sanity value fluctuations. Zhu Ning's basically didn't fluctuate; it was very flat. The inspector thought of her high Sanity value—this might be her advantage.

The higher-ups told her to focus on Zhu Ning, but Zhu Ning really didn't seem to have any anomalies. She heard there were no transparent people attached to her when she came out either.

"There are clean clothes next to you. You can change."

Zhu Ning took the clothes into the temporarily partitioned changing room nearby to change out of her dirty clothes. Honestly, she wanted a shower more, but there were no facilities.

The inspector was inspecting Zhu Ning's personal items one by one, looking very carefully.

Zhu Ning carried a box of fruit hard candies, a hair tie, a bottle of Mental Healing Agent, and a bottle of nutrient solution. None of them seemed strange, except for this item.

Inspector: "Why do you have two cards?"

Generally, the things employees brought on missions besides weapons were easy to understand—either food, accessories, or some lucky charms.

But this was the first time she had searched two playing cards from someone. A Big Joker and a Little Joker, the two clowns grinning at her as if mocking the world.

Zhu Ning zipped up her jacket and replied calmly, "Those are my lucky cards."

Inspector: "Lucky cards?"

Zhu Ning kept a straight face, saying word by word, "Yes, lucky cards."

Twenty minutes ago.

Zhu Ning had just purified the pollution zone. Lin Xiaofeng and Zhu Ning were in the same space. She couldn't see where the transparent person was. Under the gaze of the camera, Zhu Ning couldn't even speak to her.

Zhu Ning had already heard Chu Ling's voice. Cao Wei was also walking this way. The others would arrive in thirty seconds at most. Fifteen-second countdown.

She had to take both Lin Xiaofeng and Cheng Mofei's employee bracelet out within these few seconds, without showing any flaws in her expression.

The only one capable of doing this was the System—the System that would never betray her, the System that required her to purify the homeland.

Zhu Ning quickly opened the system panel and first added to her Health Points.

System: [Use Item: Replicator? Will consume 30 Health Points.]

"Yes."

System: [Successfully replicated item Blank Card. Deducted 30 Health Points.]

The Replicator was a new ability she obtained. She had only wanted to try it, but it actually could replicate another system item. It was just that the usage cost was painfully high.

System: [Use Blank Card on Cleaning Center Cheng Mofei's Employee Bracelet?]

"Yes."

This was Zhu Ning's plan from the start. She dared to keep Cheng Mofei's employee bracelet on her because she had thought ahead about where to hide it if discovered.

The Blank Card could perform storage. Once stored, it would possess a physical form. The physical appearance was a playing card, and it could no longer be put into the system panel. Zhu Ning also learned for the first time that if there were two cards, they would show different suits.

The usage rules for the Blank Card only stated a storage quantity of 1, but she hadn't tried it on a living person.

To be honest, did Lin Xiaofeng count as a person? Or an "item"? In other words, were pollutants items?

In this wasteland era where people were gradually objectified and objects were humanized, was there really such a clear boundary between person and object?

System: [Successfully stored Employee Bracelet. Use Blank Card on Lin Xiaofeng?]

"Yes."

She could try. She couldn't see Lin Xiaofeng, but the System could identify her.

Having hidden Cheng Mofei's bracelet, she had nothing to lose if she failed. The worst outcome was handing Lin Xiaofeng over to the Cleaning Center, or taking a risk and bringing Lin Xiaofeng out in the chaos.

System: [Successfully stored Lin Xiaofeng.]

Success. Two playing cards appeared in Zhu Ning's inner pocket.

Twenty minutes later, Zhu Ning was waiting alone in the inspection area.

The inspector turned the two cards over and over, examining them thoroughly, even trying to bend them and putting them into a specialized scanner. The instrument showed they were not pollution items and had no other functions; they were merely two very ordinary playing cards.

Zhu Ning: "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Some people indeed brought lucky items. It was just that Zhu Ning's lucky charm was a bit special. The Cleaning Center didn't have a rule against bringing playing cards into pollution zones.

As for whether she liked gambling, that was Zhu Ning's private hobby.

The inspector returned the two cards to Zhu Ning: "No."

She reported upwards: "Cleaner Zhu Ning, safe."

Author's Note: Congratulations to all readers who guessed the Blank Card for winning the Golden Pollution Award! (Though I don't know what use that has) Lin Xiaofeng: Being stored with a confused face.

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