Chapter 51-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 51: The Bizarre Aquarium-8
For a Demon Hunter team, they naturally didn't need Cleaners' help. Even without Chu Ling, the remaining four were enough to deal with a B-level contaminated zone.
They had already completed one-third of this mission. Zhu Ning purified one of the Sources of Contamination, and the Cleaner team was containing the contamination spores. Once they handled the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion here, the mission would be over.
Tang Ke was very efficient. Without wasting time regrouping the teams, he led the squad into the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion after confirming the others were okay.
They had better finish early. The longer Cleaners stayed in a contaminated zone, the more dangerous it was.
Chu Ling sent a message just now saying that she was willing to lead a team to the Director's Office to look for clues later. Having help was a good thing; it would help them clarify what exactly happened in the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion.
Tang Ke told her to pay attention to safety. The contaminated zone outside had already been purified, and their team included Chu Ling and Zhu Ning, so he wasn't too worried about danger appearing outside the Jellyfish Pavilion.
There were more corpses in the Jellyfish Pavilion, floating face down in the water, bloodstained. They were all tourists who hadn't had time to escape.
Prometheus automatically reported: [Detected 278 tourist corpses.]
Tang Ke frowned. Too many. Even for experienced Demon Hunters, it was hard not to react upon hearing such a high number of victims.
Adding the ones in the Mermaid Pavilion and those they had seen along the way, the death toll in this contaminated zone was more than five or six hundred.
The Jellyfish Pavilion looked similar to what was shown at the end of the video. The glass walls had shattered, and a few mechanical jellyfish were stranded inside.
Once mechanical jellyfish left the seawater, they lost their vitality. Their mechanical tentacles were a bit shriveled. Observing carefully, the mechanical tentacles had a soft mechanical shell with biological tissue inside. After dehydration, they looked like empty shells.
The tentacles were lying at the bottom of the pool, twitching slightly. There were at most a few dozen mechanical jellyfish in the pool. The video showed at least a thousand. Since they weren't inside the glass walls, the most likely place was in the accumulated water, which had now risen past a person's thighs.
"This place really gives me the creeps," Cao Wei couldn't help but speak up.
Team member Liu Zhiwei: "Me too. I keep feeling like someone is staring at me from behind."
Team member Yang Shu was walking right behind them. He guaranteed there was no one behind. "Yeah, I'm staring at you. Are you guys mentally contaminated?"
"Get lost," Cao Wei said. "I'm not that weak."
Not like Li Nianchuan.
Tang Ke: "Finish early, get out early. Everyone be careful."
They had stumbled in the Mermaid Pavilion and wouldn't suffer a loss a second time. The remaining three Demon Hunters spread out in a well-trained manner, keeping a constant watch underwater while starting to search the Jellyfish Pavilion.
"Captain," someone reported after about two minutes. "Come look."
Yang Shu turned over a corpse. It was a male corpse with a fist-sized hole in the chest. It seemed something had once resided in the position of the heart. Now his chest was empty; both the parasite and his heart were gone.
While waiting to enter, the Demon Hunters had seen tourists who escaped. Some people collapsed suddenly just after running to the main gate, a mechanical tentacle wriggling frantically in their chest, before finally being shot dead by staff outside. The two cases looked very similar.
It must be the mechanical jellyfish. They couldn't survive long after leaving seawater. To them, human blood was very similar to seawater; perhaps they needed the salt.
There were dry areas in the pavilion where jellyfish couldn't jump into the water, so they prioritized the fresh blood of living humans.
After the glass walls collapsed, some dried-up jellyfish desperately drilled into people's bodies, sucking blood to supply their own operation.
"I found the narrator," Cao Wei reported from the other side.
He turned the corpse over. Sure enough, it was the narrator. He was wearing the Oceanarium uniform, a blue suit and red tie, with a small headset still pinned to his ear.
Soaked in water, the corpse looked very bloated, as if expanded three times over. The narrator still held the expression from before death—a look of disbelief. Similarly, there was a hole in his chest.
"Is this the cause of their death?" Cao Wei asked.
Before coming, they watched the surveillance video. Seeing the high-intensity water pressure and the suddenly collapsing glass walls, they thought most tourists were drowned or crushed to death. But looking at it now, the true cause of death was hard to judge.
Tang Ke's voice sank. "Look for that little girl and her family."
The end of the video didn't capture the whereabouts of the little girl's family. That little girl was very strange; the clue to unraveling the mystery of the Source of Contamination should be with that family of three.
The three Demon Hunters were highly efficient and immediately went to look for people.
Tang Ke approached the glass wall of the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion. The few remaining jellyfish inside looked docile and harmless, just like the introduction in the brochure: friendly towards humans, non-aggressive.
If not for watching the video, it would be hard to imagine jellyfish eventually pushing over the glass wall. This contaminated zone was a bit weird.
Tang Ke had been on many missions and entered A-level contaminated zones dozens of times. This was only a B-level mission; logically, he shouldn't feel it was weird.
But after years of experience, his sixth sense kept urging him to leave immediately. A Demon Hunter's instinct made him not want to stay here long. The other team members seemed to feel the same; all of them were rarely this tense and irritable.
Suddenly, Tang Ke narrowed his eyes. There was a black object floating in the accumulated water. It was a professional camera.
Ordinary people's photography needs could be met by a Sub-Brain. Only a few with high requirements would buy professional cameras.
In this era, cameras had to compete with Sub-Brains. The products were very competitive—waterproof, shockproof, and fireproof.
Many camera companies' advertising slogan was that even if the world ended and the last human went extinct, their cameras could record humanity's final moment and preserve it for decades, fully capable of leaving clues for alien civilizations.
This advertisement was a bit exaggerated. He had laughed it off when he saw it.
Tang Ke fished the camera out of the water. Surprisingly, it was intact just as the advertiser claimed. It still worked. The camera's appearance was "retro," looking much like they did decades ago. Retro style had become popular recently.
Sure enough, this was the little girl's father's camera. Just turning on the screensaver revealed the little girl's innocent smiling face. She was wearing a fluffy red coat with a snowy background. This must be a satisfying photo to be used as a screensaver.
The little girl was named Lin Xiaofeng.
Lin Xiaofeng's appearance was actually very good looking. In this era where artificial beauty was rampant, she could be called outstanding. If it was truly a "natural-born face," it was entirely possible for her to be a little star in the future. The entertainment industry was too competitive now; resources were still dominated by First-Class Citizens with natural beauty. Other classes of humans, even if they entered the industry, would be scolded for having an "artificial face."
Tang Ke asked, "What class citizens are they?"
Prometheus: [Second-Class Citizens. Lin Xiaofeng is a descendant of Synthetics.]
After the disaster, the population plummeted. Many Synthetics retained reproductive capabilities, but the descendants of Synthetics could only be Second-Class Citizens; they could not enjoy the treatment of Natural persons.
Tang Ke began to look at the photos left in the camera. The camera hadn't recorded the final moment. The last photo taken was of the little girl retreating in terror. After that, she was carried away by her mother. Her father, Lin Tianqi, didn't have great photography skills; he purely aimed for quantity.
Taking a few hundred photos might capture one good one, which would be processed later.
So after looking at a dozen photos, from Tang Ke's perspective, he couldn't see any difference between them. After looking for a while, he suspected his eyes were blurring.
They were all the same monotonous content: the little girl standing behind the glass wall, with jellyfish behind her, touching through the glass. Even a few photos were blurry.
Time was short. Tang Ke browsed very fast.
Suddenly, he stopped. The screen paused on a certain photo. It was still the same monotonous content—the little girl and the jellyfish touching through the glass wall.
At this time, the little girl had attracted over a thousand mechanical jellyfish. It looked very spectacular; making the cover of Wondrous Nature and Humanity magazine would be no problem.
Tang Ke paused the image, then zoomed in, and zoomed in again. With technological development, cameras wouldn't lose fidelity even when zooming in. Professional cameras would restore every insignificant detail.
As the photo was enlarged, the little girl took up more and more space in the frame. From the initial full-body shot to half-body, to just a head.
The lighting in the aquarium was complex, and the glass wall reflected light. Under the little girl's hand, right inside the glass wall, there was a blurry human face.
Tang Ke zoomed in further. He wasn't mistaken; it was a human face, very blurry, like a ghost usually invisible manifesting a human shadow under special lighting.
Whose reflection was it?
The aquarium's glass wall would reflect people's shadows. It could be a tourist's, or an anomaly created by distorted light, just looking like a human figure.
Tang Ke dared not jump to conclusions and re-examined the photos.
He flipped through these photos continuously. When photos are flipped too fast, they create an "animation" effect. Early animation production was like this; many people would draw little figures in the bottom corners of textbooks during boring classes, forming an ancient flipbook.
Tang Ke flipped through the photos rapidly while in zoom mode. This time, the shadow in the photos was moving. It wasn't Tang Ke's illusion, nor was it some tourist's figure. It was a person.
He was hiding inside the transparent glass wall, with countless jellyfish floating behind him. The jellyfish weren't attracted by Lin Xiaofeng; they were attracted by this person?
At first, he was five meters away from Lin Xiaofeng. He seemed to be observing Lin Xiaofeng, thinking this little girl was interesting.
He watched, then benevolently wanted to display some "miracles," letting this little girl enjoy some glory she would never have in her life.
Then he got closer and closer to the glass wall, closer and closer, closer and closer...
Finally, his hand pressed against the glass wall. His hand and Lin Xiaofeng's hand overlapped!
The mechanical jellyfish were attracted by him. One, two, three, then dozens, countless mechanical jellyfish surged in swarms.
Tourists exclaimed: "How spectacular, so beautiful."
"This was worth it."
"So cute, so healing."
Cute? Healing? The transparent person inside the glass wall revealed a smile. It was a smile from a higher-order life form, appearing like a mockery of lower-order life.
More mechanical jellyfish surged over. The soft-bodied animals pressed against the glass wall, and this person also leaned close to the glass, sizing up the little girl through it. The distance between them was only ten centimeters; it looked like face to face.
Finally, Lin Xiaofeng saw his shadow in the flowing water ripples.
A face suddenly appeared in front of her!
That was why Lin Xiaofeng retreated step by step as if she had seen a monster. She wasn't scared by the mechanical jellyfish; she was scared by the person inside.
There was a person in this aquarium, a transparent person! He was looking at herself!
He reached out his hand inside the glass wall. It was he who pushed over the glass wall.
Such a heavy wall withstood tons of pressure. Without using weapons, simply wanting to push it over required tons of force.
What was this thing? Was it human? If it was human, it should be a high-level Ability User. An Ability User who could push over a glass wall was in the aquarium. Where was he now? Was he still on the scene?
Tang Ke's back suddenly went cold. This person was transparent, meaning even if he was right behind him, Tang Ke would know nothing.
Was he... right behind him? He seemed to understand where the discomfort of entering the Jellyfish Pavilion came from.
Bang!
A muffled sound came from behind.
...
Bang!
Zhu Ning shot and destroyed the lock hole of the Director's Office. Li Nianchuan was dumbfounded: "Aren't you too violent?"
If no one was around, Zhu Ning could use the Universal Key to open the door. With so many people watching, Zhu Ning didn't have much choice. "Could you find the key?"
Li Nianchuan: "..."
He was speechless.
Xu Meng had a bit of a headache. She felt like a kindergarten teacher taking a group of children out on an adventure; things were getting a bit out of control.
With Chu Ling's help, plus the fact that they all wanted to go to the Director's Office, everyone moved incredibly fast when containing the contamination spores. The efficiency was bizarrely high; finishing all containment took only fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, they went to the Director's Office. After the contaminated zone was purified, it turned into the appearance of an ordinary aquarium. Although it was a ruined aquarium, they found the way.
The Director's Office was above the exhibition hall. Walking over, they passed several intact exhibition halls.
Displayed inside were many creatures Zhu Ning had never seen before. They had followed Fang Ying's order to preserve the scientific value of these creatures as much as possible.
Zhu Ning: "Come in."
She pulled open the door to the Director's Office. Chu Ling went in first. She and Zhu Ning had formed a certain tacit understanding: one led the charge, one covered the rear, protecting Xu Meng and Li Nianchuan in the middle.
After Chu Ling entered, Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng followed. Zhu Ning intended to follow, but she stopped suddenly.
It came again. That pair of eyes. Someone behind was watching her.
When she encountered the mermaid earlier, she had this kind of gaze. It felt very much like an illusion, but Zhu Ning knew it wasn't.
Zhu Ning looked back. The corridor was empty. This was the staff area; there wasn't even a single corpse on the floor.
What was watching her? There were other creatures here? Invisible to her?
"What are you doing?" Li Nianchuan asked. "Why aren't you coming in?"
Zhu Ning: "I feel like there's someone behind me."
"Someone?" Li Nianchuan stuck his head out and scanned the corridor. "Where's the person?"
He trusted Zhu Ning very much. In the sewers, Zhu Ning reacted very quickly to the Fishmen. He firmly believed Zhu Ning could sense things he couldn't see.
Zhu Ning looked at the corridor again. That watching gaze suddenly disappeared. Nothing there. Hiding? Or was it really an illusion?
Ever since Prometheus entered her brain, the system seemed broken, its presence very weak.
Previously, when Zhu Ning entered a contaminated zone and suffered contamination, the system would show Sanity dropping.
This time it was very wrong. She was beaten like that in the Mermaid Pavilion, yet the system didn't make a sound, not even showing issues with her Health.
System broken? Could Danger Sense still be used?
Zhu Ning had long thought this day would come. Eventually, she would lose the system's protection; she just didn't expect it to come so soon.
Zhu Ning tilted her head. "Go in first."
Getting out of the contaminated zone early was the most urgent thing. She didn't want to stay in this place for a minute longer. After Li Nianchuan entered, Zhu Ning followed in.
Zhu Ning's first act was to find where the oxygen tanks were. Trapped underwater earlier, what she needed most was an oxygen tank. This time she prepared first. There was a whole row of oxygen tanks at the entrance; it seemed this Director was quite afraid of death too.
The Director's Office was decorated in a luxury style. At a glance, it was a rich man's office. The floor was actually transparent; marine life swam right beneath his office.
Looking over, the large desk seemed to "float" in the seabed. What desk? This was the throne of an ocean overlord. Simply extravagant.
One wall was hung with various certificates of honor and photos of event collaborations. Director Bao Ruiming already had gray hair; in the photos, he looked like a kind and amiable old man.
Just as Li Nianchuan said, judging purely from the news, the Director was simply a huge philanthropist.
"Found it!" Li Nianchuan shouted. "Mermaid files."
Li Nianchuan was excited, as if out on an adventure. He held up a folder. There was a whole row of documents on the bookshelf behind the desk; Li Nianchuan pulled it from there.
Zhu Ning responded, "Is that so? What's inside?"
Li Nianchuan opened the file, read for a minute, then said disappointedly, "It's all nonsense."
The data showed that mermaids were simple, harmless animals that liked humans very much, and so on.
Zhu Ning didn't feel much. After all, if she were a villain, she wouldn't write down a criminal plan and put it on the bookshelf.
Xu Meng: "There are procurement lists here."
Files could be faked; procurement lists couldn't. Once these were faked, the finance department would be in trouble.
Chu Ling leaned over to take a look but didn't see anything special. "Can't understand it."
It was all fish and shrimp species, probably specially purchased to feed the fish. As a layman, Chu Ling didn't recognize the names of many fish varieties.
Xu Meng: "Wait."
She found the monthly Oceanarium procurement lists for the last year and conducted a horizontal comparison, analyzing for about three minutes.
"In the last half-year, they bought a lot of raw meat. Every month, there's an extra thirty tons."
An extra thirty tons every month? Zhu Ning frowned. She stopped to look at the data with Xu Meng. Every day, Oceanarium staff would count the creatures in the venue. For the last half-year, no new exhibition animals were purchased, but feed procurement increased.
What were they feeding? Did they introduce a new species?
Did the things they originally fed get bigger appetites? Or... was something breeding? Where was this group of creatures kept?
Zhu Ning had seen the introduction to mechanical jellyfish. They couldn't eat this much stuff. Their body size was just that big, and their reproductive ability wasn't strong. This food was too much for mechanical jellyfish.
Assuming it wasn't mechanical jellyfish but another creature Zhu Ning didn't know about.
Such a group of things needing to eat an extra thirty tons of food every month. Thirty tons the first month, sixty tons the second, ninety tons the third. It would be hard not to be discovered.
It seemed the Director kept them in a certain place, not afraid of being discovered. Was there a secret pavilion in the Oceanarium?
It shouldn't be that exaggerated. The reasons for the Mermaid Pavilion generating a Source of Contamination and the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion should be similar. Mermaids had some kind of "resentment" because they were locked in glass walls as performance creatures for a long time.
Then why this creature? Were they trapped too?
Why break out in contamination now? Zhu Ning's question was: why that little girl? What was different about that little girl?
"What did you discover?" Li Nianchuan asked.
Zhu Ning: "Don't talk to me for a moment."
She needed to verify her idea. Zhu Ning opened social media again. This time she looked very carefully at the "Baby Xiaofeng" account.
From the displayed information, the Lin family was harmonious, parents loving, and Lin Xiaofeng was the little princess everyone envied.
Lin Xiaofeng was really very beautiful. Although it didn't seem that exaggerated in the Wasteland world, in Zhu Ning's eyes, she was beautiful to the extreme.
Zhu Ning paused, suddenly asking Prometheus: "Did she have plastic surgery?"
It wasn't that Zhu Ning was prejudiced. The data showed Lin Xiaofeng's parents looked very ordinary, and they were both Synthetics. Genetic mutation didn't exist for Synthetics; their genetic codes were fixed. To be blunt, Lin Xiaofeng's parents couldn't give birth to such a good-looking kid.
Prometheus: [Searching Lin Xiaofeng's medical records.]
In the Wasteland world, humans were transparent before artificial intelligence, which had legal permission to access medical networks.
[No plastic surgery records found for Lin Xiaofeng.]
The Federation prohibited minors from having plastic surgery.
Clue cut off? Zhu Ning asked again, "Can you find suspicious transfer records for her parents?"
After about thirty seconds, Prometheus said: [There are five suspicious transfer records, transferred to a certain encrypted account. Decrypting account password... Decryption successful.]
[The account name is Guang Linmin, mainly selling GeneBoost. Has been listed as a Level 1 wanted criminal by the Public Security Bureau.]
Zhu Ning closed her eyes. The technology of the Wasteland world was a hundred times that of Zhu Ning's world. It turned out that even if technology advanced, the world wouldn't get better.
Zhu Ning asked, "What is the main ingredient source for cosmetic-type GeneBoost?"
[Mermaid.] Prometheus answered.
Mermaid genes were actually the raw material for manufacturing cosmetic agents. Humans created mermaids, squeezed this creature to the extreme—first ordinary exhibitions, then after ordinary exhibitions lost profit, it became grotesque mermaid courtship shows. They could even extract from eliminated mermaids to make GeneBoost. The mermaid's genetic code itself contained beauty, equivalent to purifying the final value.
Zhu Ning's voice sank. "When was their first purchase?"
[Five years ago.] Prometheus said.
Lin Xiaofeng herself was only ten years old, meaning she started receiving GeneBoost injections at age five.
Her father, Lin Tianqi, was an adventure blogger, but the account's profit was average, barely enough to scrape by. After having a daughter, household expenses increased.
He even felt at one point that his wife and daughter dragged down his career development. If not for this gold-swallowing beast, his career could have reached a higher level, definitely not like it was now.
One day, Lin Tianqi suddenly realized a problem. He couldn't make it, but his daughter could. He began to devote himself to running his daughter's social media account.
Because Federal law prohibited it, he bought GeneBoost from the black market.
"There are many types of GeneBoost. In plain language: fix whatever doesn't look right. Make it beautiful, make it white..." Dr. Fu's words echoed in Zhu Ning's ears.
They didn't like the look of their daughter.
Didn't like the nose, so changed the nose.
Didn't like the eyes, so changed the eyes.
Didn't like the chin, so changed the chin.
But the aesthetic trend changed every year. This year, wide double eyelids were popular; next year, small narrow tapered double eyelids; the year after, single eyelids. Lin Xiaofeng was like an immovable statue. Her parents wielded carving knives, changing her facial features at will.
Zhu Ning felt a bit numb. Lin Xiaofeng received her first GeneBoost injection at five. She could remember things at five. She remembered what she originally looked like, but she couldn't decide what she would look like in the future.
She looked in the mirror every day, seeing herself becoming more and more beautiful, but also more and more unfamiliar. Her appearance wasn't even fixed.
Because Lin Tianqi was constantly following trends. Trends changed. She was trying very hard to chase the trend, like chasing a wave she could never catch up to.
But her parents were still unsatisfied. Lin Xiaofeng's account still didn't blow up. No matter how hard Lin Tianqi tried, Lin Xiaofeng's account wouldn't take off.
"What's wrong with you?" Lin Tianqi shouted. "Smile! Be innocent! Don't look like a resentful woman!"
"Do you know how much money I spent on you? I gave you my entire fortune!"
"You have such good conditions, why don't you smile?"
Her mother watched with concern from the side. She always hesitated to speak, wanting to say something but unable to get it out. Lin Xiaofeng was locked in her room, practicing smiling in front of the mirror over and over.
She had to have a perfect smile so her father would be satisfied. She had to be innocent, harmless, just like a mechanical jellyfish.
The jellyfish in the Mechanical Oceanarium were her kind. They were both artificial objects, created only to be trapped forever behind transparent glass walls for people to watch.
Flashbulbs flashed. Countless people showed expressions of amazement and happiness in front of them.
Lin Xiaofeng considered herself another mechanical jellyfish. It was just that other jellyfish lived in the Oceanarium, while she was a mechanical jellyfish living on land, separated from her group.
She seemed to have found her positioning, obeying her parents' arrangements even more, practicing that smile even harder.
Be innocent, harmless, healing. Be innocent.
Lin Xiaofeng's smile even formed muscle memory. As long as her father's shutter clicked, she could adjust her expression in a second.
Her father would show a more satisfied expression. Her mother would heave a sigh of relief, as if unloading a stone. People nearby would admire, "What a cute little girl."
"Truly warm and healing."
She looked at the mirror, but she only saw a beautiful face. She couldn't find herself.
The praise of people around her wasn't praising her. When they looked over, they weren't looking at her either, but at her face. Her soul was gradually becoming transparent, trapped behind this beautiful face, like a mermaid trapped behind a glass wall.
Zhu Ning seemed to empathize with Lin Xiaofeng, forced to experience her joys, sorrows, and anger. This might be the reason for the formation of the B-level contaminated zone.
Just as Zhu Ning wanted to share the clue with the others, suddenly her wristband vibrated. A sizzling noise came from the channel. Across the channel was the other team. A loud bang came from over there, as if fighting some creature.
"Enemy!" The channel communication was unstable, shouts mixed with static. Cao Wei yelled, "The enemy is transparent!"
Worthy of a Demon Hunter, the message delivered was very concise and accurate. Li Nianchuan hadn't reacted yet. What transparent?
Zhu Ning understood immediately. The gaze she felt earlier wasn't an illusion. Someone was really watching her here, only she couldn't see them.
The sudden increase of thirty tons of feed should have been fed to these transparent creatures. They were grandly kept in the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion, undiscovered by anyone usually because their appearance was transparent.
With such a massive amount of feed, the energy required by a general creature and the energy it could exert were balanced. Eating so much meant the transparent person was very powerful.
Chu Ling and Xu Meng both understood. Chu Ling was a combatant and immediately entered battle mode.
"Tang Ke and the others are in danger," Zhu Ning said loudly. If the transparent person was still in the Jellyfish Pavilion, it meant the thing they had to deal with was very hard to control.
Not just Tang Ke's group, Zhu Ning's side was also in danger. The enemy was transparent; they didn't know the opponent's exact location at all!
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