Chapter 54-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

Chapter 54: The Bizarre Aquarium-11

Sanitation Center.

Aside from the three technicians and Xuan Qing, there was hardly anyone watching anymore. When someone passed by, they glanced over, "They haven't given up yet?"

The Sanitation Center had already given up. The Demon Hunters had handed over their bodies to Prometheus for takeover, leaving little room for personal performance. A Clean Squad actually hadn't given up yet.

A technician sighed, "Their luck is really good."

Luck was definitely the biggest factor in them staying alive until now. If they had encountered the Transparent People's surprise attack first, they would likely have ended up like the Demon Hunters.

But it was also because Zhu Ning's team didn't limit themselves to just cleaning up trash and proposed checking the Curator's office first that the current situation existed.

Then they came up with some counter-plans, although these plans seemed ridiculous to some people.

"Too childish," someone said. "I don't buy it."

As long as the four moved, it was impossible not to have flaws. Once their formation was scattered, they were done for. Xuan Qing didn't speak; she neither affirmed nor denied that statement.

On the screen, Zhu Ning had led the team five hundred meters down the corridor, killing two Transparent People along the way.

They passed four Fire Extinguishers and replenished resources. Now, Fire Extinguishers had become strategic weapons.

These five hundred meters were traversed very slowly. The corridor had a terrain advantage; the sides were narrow, leaving few places to hide. They only needed to pay attention to corners.

After suffering a loss once, the Transparent People were cautious about showing themselves. Transparent People weren't that easy to catch.

The entire team's ammunition was concentrated on Zhu Ning and Chu Ling. They steamrolled their way through, aiming to approach the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion, regardless of the cost.

When they came, they took the stairs, walking on the path officially designed for the building.

When leaving, they didn't return the way they came. Instead, they took an unusual path. The four-person squad wanted to approach the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion from above; this was the fastest route.

Aquarium staff offices were generally on the upper levels. The structure of all aquariums was actually similar.

Using a model for analogy, it was like placing several large fish tanks on the ground, filled with marine life.

Tourists usually walked between the fish tanks to view them, while aquarium staff worked above the fish tanks, feeding marine life, maintaining systems, cleaning glass, and doing other tedious behind-the-scenes work.

Therefore, the top of every exhibition hall wasn't sealed off; openings were left for staff access. It seemed that despite technological developments in the Wasteland world, the basic logic of aquariums remained unchanged.

The corridor became emptier as they walked. They were about to reach the staff workroom.

Five hundred meters ahead was a door labeled "Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion Backstage." This was where they fed them.

Zhu Ning warned: "Careful."

The closer they got to the jellyfish pavilion backstage, the more Zhu Ning could feel eyes on her. There were more and more Transparent People; she felt someone staring at her. She must be approaching the forbidden ground.

Three hundred meters.

With three hundred meters left to the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion backstage, a change occurred.

Li Nianchuan's Fire Extinguisher ran out. He needed to swap equipment. The Wasteland world's Fire Extinguishers had super strong endurance; lasting until now with continuous spraying was already very formidable.

Li Nianchuan moved fast. He immediately put down the empty Fire Extinguisher and took a new one from his back.

During this time, Zhu Ning kept her gun pointed forward. At the exact same time Li Nianchuan's finger hooked onto the spare Fire Extinguisher, Zhu Ning suddenly heard a ding.

Ding—

[Primary Talent Danger Sense triggered. 30-second danger warning sent. Please be safe.]

Danger Sense? The System finally came alive?

After the system prompt, Zhu Ning's right hand felt a massive force. Someone grabbed her arm!

Terrifying brute force transmitted from her arm. If Zhu Ning hadn't injected the GeneBoost, her arm would have been crushed into powder by now.

She heard a clear sound of bone cracking. The Transparent Man had figured out the team's operation method and decided to take out their strongest shooter first.

She could sense Li Nianchuan beside her widening his eyes and shouting, "Careful!"

She could also sense the Transparent Man right next to her, at her side. There was the sound of very faint breathing.

Very light, almost inaudible.

In the death premonition, Zhu Ning saw the Transparent Man grab her arm, and then the other hand stabbed directly into her chest, piercing her heart. She would die on the spot in just twenty seconds.

Zhu Ning's posture was holding the gun with her left hand supporting and her right hand on the trigger. The Transparent Man was pinching her right forearm.

When the severe pain was clearly transmitted to her brain, she had already reacted. she immediately let go with her left hand, pulled out a handgun from her thigh, and fired towards her right side without even looking.

This move was too sudden. Zhu Ning didn't even look up, so naturally, it couldn't be called aiming at a target.

The instant the bullet spun out—Bang! Blood exploded. Jelly-like tissue mixed with blood burst, sprinkling dripping wet onto the other team members.

Li Nianchuan was dumbfounded. Zhu Ning's right forearm was fractured, hanging loosely. Even with the protection of the work uniform and the GeneBoost injection, she could still be hurt like this.

Li Nianchuan's heart raced. He immediately opened the Fire Extinguisher, filling the gap. Dry powder sprayed out.

More than one person had come.

Another one came in front of Zhu Ning. The Transparent Man's blood formed a puddle on the ground, so when someone tried to step over, there was a trace. A bloody footprint suddenly appeared on the ground.

Zhu Ning endured the pain in her right arm and fired with her left hand. The bullet hit below the bloody footprint. She probably missed; the bloody footprint sensed danger and immediately ran in the opposite direction.

Zhu Ning's Danger Sense bought her thirty seconds of reaction time; otherwise, her heart would definitely have been torn out alive just now.

Now her right arm was useless. She was right-handed; her accuracy with her left hand was a bit worse.

Zhu Ning shouted: "Chu Ling! Careful!"

The opponent was a group operation. The Transparent People seemed to have devised a plan to deal with their small squad. Zhu Ning was in danger; the next one would be Chu Ling.

Sure enough, as she expected, a change occurred in Chu Ling's direction.

The location they were in now wasn't as narrow as the corridor; it was an open space, meaning enemies could come out from anywhere at any time.

Chu Ling felt someone rushing fiercely towards her from the right. Xu Meng had been spraying the Fire Extinguisher. The opponent crashed through the mist, wanting to catch them off guard. By the time the Transparent Man was seen, he was within two meters.

Chu Ling reacted even faster with Zhu Ning's warning. She had mechanical arms, which were far sturdier than human bodies. Even with super strength, it was impossible to snap them in an instant.

Instead, Chu Ling raised her right leg and kicked viciously in one direction.

This was combat technique. The opponent wasn't that skilled. Chu Ling realized in an instant that the Transparent People were marine creatures raised in the aquarium. They might have super strength, but they wouldn't possess combat skills.

The benefit of being eighty percent mechanized was that Chu Ling was actually no different from a combat mechanoid. She could adjust her own stats to adapt to different levels of opponents.

Zhu Ning had taken combat classes with Chu Ling and remembered the moment she was thrown flying by a body slam; it was terrifying.

Chu Ling immediately adjusted her stats to the maximum. The full-body defense system was established. The opponent only clawed off the surface skin of her mechanized body.

Bang!

Chu Ling grabbed the opponent's arm in return and immediately fired. Blood exploded. While these Transparent People looked strong, once broken apart, they were like jelly men.

Chu Ling was half-covered in blood. Beside her, Xu Meng was responsible for spraying the Fire Extinguisher. She and Li Nianchuan were both Cleaners seeing Chu Ling hit someone at close range for the first time. The quality of a Demon Hunter was truly different; it was a different matter from training classes.

From start to finish, their formation hadn't scattered.

Chu Ling: "No abnormality on my side."

Zhu Ning endured the pain in her right hand and readapted to holding the gun with her left. Her words were extremely calm: "No abnormality."

Chu Ling: "Still going?"

Zhu Ning gritted her teeth: "Keep moving forward. Them being this nervous proves we're on the right path."

The Transparent People's behavioral patterns were becoming more complex. The more dangerous it was, the more it proved their walk wasn't in vain. Less than a hundred meters left to the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion backstage.

So far, Zhu Ning's guesses about the Transparent People were correct; the number wouldn't reach a hundred.

Five people came out to attack. One of them ran away; his right foot stepped in blood, leaving a long trail of bloody footprints. Zhu Ning couldn't be bothered to chase.

"Continue," Zhu Ning said.

...

In the Sanitation Center hall, many people crowded over.

They didn't come to watch on purpose; they just passed the screen while working or getting water, and then suddenly stopped. It was just that there were quite a few people stopping, gradually gathering into a crowd.

After the A-Level Program started, they felt there was no hope inside. In this small squad, apart from Chu Ling being a Demon Hunter, everyone else was a Cleaner, yet they were gradually approaching the target.

Several rookies fighting Transparent People with super strength—it inexplicably gave the illusion of being blood-boiling.

A script where the abandoned never give up never goes out of style, no matter how cliché.

"Damn, got goosebumps all over." A technician had watched the whole time. There were two reversals in the middle. Just when they thought the team would flip over next time, the four-person squad actually hadn't flipped yet.

"How did she make that shot just now?" Someone was repeatedly watching Zhu Ning's video from just now. No matter how they looked at it, it was a bit bizarre.

How to describe Zhu Ning's reaction... it was as if she predicted the Transparent Man would attack her arm. Did she possess a Danger Sense ability?

"Sixth sense, probably. Many experienced Demon Hunters have it."

People who have struggled on the battlefield for a long time will possess a very special ability. And it's hard for old seniors to explain to juniors what a sixth sense is.

Untachable, unexplainable. In a sense, it's metaphysics, but metaphysics can save lives at critical moments.

"What are they planning to do?" someone asked quickly, interrupting his doubts. "I don't understand this strategy. Didn't they say they were going to support?"

If supporting, they should enter the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion directly. The Grey Eagle Squad over there was almost beaten to a pulp.

Caught between Mechanical Jellyfish and Transparent People, now under Prometheus's control, the four people seemed to possess a shared brain, with coordination exceeding humans themselves.

At the cost of Yang Shu's arm, the four had converged.

They reformed a formation, similar to the strategy on Zhu Ning's side. They found the only spot not submerged by water: a transparent floating ladder specifically for taking photos. Internet celebrities liked to have a sense of suspension when taking photos.

The aquarium provided such a device, and now it became an escape prop. The glass stairs were covered in blood and jelly-textured severed limbs.

Cao Wei was next to the heavily injured Liu Zhiwei. Liu Zhiwei leaned against the glass wall, a terrifying wound on his abdomen.

At their feet lay some used Fire Extinguishers. The glass walls were covered in marks from Marking Rounds.

The Grey Eagle Squad had just encountered a fierce battle. The Mechanical Jellyfish in the water were relentless, and they had to guard against the ubiquitous Transparent People at all times.

They made a very crude trap, spraying red ink at the entrance of the stairs. There were several red footprints on the glass stairs; once someone approached, they would fire immediately.

This was a stronghold they found. The Grey Eagle Squad obviously didn't look too good; even under Prometheus's control, they probably couldn't hold on for long.

If support was needed, they should go there to support. Why were Zhu Ning and the others going to the top of the jellyfish pavilion?

"What do you think the Clean Squad is doing?" someone asked.

They analyzed the scene but didn't understand the plan of Zhu Ning's four-person squad.

Another person pondered for a while and answered, "Maybe they want to enter directly above the jellyfish pavilion, bypass the Demon Hunters, and kill the Contamination Source?"

"Damn!" That person shouted first, then whispered, "Crazy?"

Below was a trap composed of Transparent People and Mechanical Jellyfish, and these people were jumping right in.

"I guess that's it." The person didn't quite believe it himself.

"Which great genius came up with such a stu..." He stopped halfway and changed his words, "Genius idea?"

"That rookie inside."

First mission entering a D-Class contaminated area, second time B-Class, and now wanting to lead a Clean Squad to rescue Demon Hunters—that rookie.

"..."

Fine, he had nothing to say. Given Zhu Ning's level of absurdity, nothing happening to her counted as absurd.

...

They killed two more Transparent People, then opened the door to the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion backstage.

The backstage was huge, with a giant pool. As soon as they entered, they smelled a heavy scent of blood.

It was as if they hadn't walked into the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion backstage, but a slaughterhouse.

It was their first time entering an aquarium backstage. Above the pool hung many precise instruments used to create artificial waves and lighting effects.

There was an entrance specifically for feeding. If Transparent People lived together with Mechanical Jellyfish, they were definitely fed here.

According to the video, the glass wall had cracked, and the seawater and Mechanical Jellyfish inside were flushed out, but now it seemed the jellyfish pool was still full.

The pool was somewhat strange; the seawater was black, constantly swirling. Countless tiny tentacles twitched in the water. Some Mechanical Jellyfish tentacles rested on the edge of the pool, clearly telling others this wasn't a good place.

They could faintly hear gunshots from below; it should be the Demon Hunters resisting.

That girl in red, Lin Xiaofeng, if she was still alive in some form, and the true Contamination Source of the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion, might both be down there. After all, this was where the accident occurred.

"Set traps," Zhu Ning said.

There must be other Transparent People nearby waiting to strike, but now the situation favored them. Facing Transparent People, if you didn't want to provoke them actively, a static state was the safest.

As soon as Zhu Ning finished speaking, Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng immediately got to work. They splashed ink and collected blood stains on the ground—that bit of blood was contributed by the few Transparent People just now.

They barely managed to draw a two-meter defensive circle, becoming a safe zone. As soon as a Transparent Man stepped in, they would discover it immediately.

Actually, Zhu Ning had something better to use: a 2x2x2 3D Defense Space. But she couldn't use it in front of so many people; once used, she couldn't explain it.

Danger Sense could barely be explained as a sixth sense, but she had no explanation for using a defense space.

After setting up, the four of them sat on the floor, back to back, looking in four directions.

They needed to rest the team temporarily. It wasn't far from the Curator's office, but adding the detours to circle around the Transparent People, they had walked at most two thousand meters. Yet they had never walked such a difficult two thousand meters; everyone was exhausted.

Chu Ling asked, "How are you?"

Zhu Ning: "Okay."

Zhu Ning gave herself a shot of MegaHeal. She took out bandages to immobilize it, making it easier for the MegaHeal to take effect. Bones healed slowly; it would take at least an hour to heal. During this time, Zhu Ning could only use her left hand.

Li Nianchuan looked at Zhu Ning with some concern. The gap between left and right hands was huge, especially for a shooter; the difference between left and right hands could be the difference between an ordinary person and a champion.

However, Zhu Ning could aim at the target with her left hand just now. A genius and an ordinary person should be different.

Zhu Ning glanced at Chu Ling. She had only broken two steel bars in her right arm. Zhu Ning asked, "Are you a monster?"

Chu Ling: "I spent nearly eighty million to buy this eighty percent full-body mechanization."

If Zhu Ning worked at the Sanitation Center to save money for GeneBoosts, then Chu Ling's goal in saving money was to buy the best mechanical parts. The effects of different mechanical arms varied greatly; Chu Ling always chose the best within her means.

Zhu Ning: "..."

Are pay-to-win players amazing?

She could win against Chu Ling in combat class last time really just by playing smart tricks. Meeting Chu Ling on a real battlefield, Zhu Ning would be crushed by her.

Chu Ling: "But I can't hold on for long."

Chu Ling's ability consumed energy. Increasing it to the maximum for an instant was fine, but maintaining full-body hardening defense—she would be paralyzed in no more than fifteen minutes.

Still very strong; it could save lives at critical moments. No wonder so many people chose mechanization.

Chu Ling said very peacefully, "You can consider my characteristics more when planning combat. It's okay to sacrifice me if necessary. As long as you preserve my brain, I can be revived."

After choosing mechanization, her skull was also mechanized. When encountering danger, the skull would automatically seal to protect Chu Ling's brain.

As long as the brain survived, theoretically, Chu Ling could regenerate after getting out and receiving other mechanical prosthetics.

Zhu Ning: "..."

She found it a bit hard to imagine the scene of herself walking out of the contaminated area holding Chu Ling's head.

However, if she could utilize Chu Ling, her odds of winning could double.

"Are we really going down?" Li Nianchuan asked.

He was a bit spooked looking at that black vortex. It reminded him of the true terrifying deep sea. In fact, if he looked at the black vortex for a couple more seconds, his Sanity Points would drop.

Zhu Ning's plan was to bypass the Demon Hunters and purify the contaminated area directly. But inside there were both Mechanical Jellyfish and Transparent People. Was entering not just going to die?

The four of them had gone through untold hardships to reach the Mechanical Jellyfish backstage. Only Li Nianchuan dared to ask this question at such an untimely moment.

Zhu Ning: "You're right, it's not that necessary."

Li Nianchuan: "...?"

Chu Ling: "You..."

Chu Ling was the one who most wanted to go in and help her teammates. She stopped halfway through her sentence, realizing she had no standpoint. Honestly, for Clean Squad A70265, aside from Zhu Ning, the remaining two were pure Cleaners.

It was already decent enough that they could make it this far. Chu Ling didn't need to force people to follow her to their deaths. Chu Ling was anxious, but Zhu Ning didn't seem that anxious.

Chu Ling asked, "What are you doing?"

Zhu Ning looked at the vortex: "Being a staff member."

Chu Ling: "..."

Generally, when entering a contaminated area without alarming the Contamination Source, they would choose an identity suitable for this contaminated area.

Zhu Ning had been an exhibited creature before. Now, the identity she set for the entire team was staff members feeding the Mechanical Jellyfish.

But this plan wasn't very effective. It was already a chaotic battle inside; putting on a vest and acting here wouldn't get a reaction from the other side.

The Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion backstage was cold. Zhu Ning looked around and said, "Jellyfish have a symbiotic partner called the Little Shepherd Fish."

"Little Shepherd Fish?" Chu Ling knew absolutely nothing about marine life. "How do you know?"

Zhu Ning: "Had nothing to do, read a lot of random stuff."

In her past life, she was besieged by zombies for three months. She was so bored she read every word within sight; she even read instruction manuals for a while out of boredom.

She had read domineering CEO novels and also quite a few children's science books, just like she knew snails had radulae, and she knew jellyfish had Little Shepherd Fish.

Zhu Ning explained, "Little Shepherd Fish are responsible for leading natural enemies into the jellyfish swarm, then the jellyfish hunt them. Guess if Mechanical Jellyfish have them?"

Chu Ling: "You mean, the Transparent People are the Mechanical Jellyfish's symbiotic partners?"

Zhu Ning: "The Contamination Source might be inside. Logically speaking, as long as I eliminate the Contamination Source, the contaminated area will automatically collapse, right?"

Chu Ling didn't know why Zhu Ning asked such a shallow question. Li Nianchuan could answer this question. She nodded.

Humans had fought contaminants for over eighty years. The laws groped out by countless predecessors became iron laws for the younger generation.

Just like when Zhu Ning eliminated the Contamination Source in the Mermaid Pavilion, the Mermaid Pavilion collapsed automatically and produced Contamination Spores.

According to common sense, eliminating the Contamination Source of the Jellyfish Pavilion would cause the Mechanical Jellyfish to die instantly and then turn into Contamination Spores.

Zhu Ning asked, "Do contaminants have symbiotic partners?"

Symbiotic partners?

Putting "symbiotic partners" and "contaminants" together seemed very strange, like two completely unrelated phrases combined, just like combining "bicycle" and "cat" into a phrase.

Contamination Source's... symbiotic partner?

Chu Ling had been a Demon Hunter for five years. She had never heard of it.

Zhu Ning: "Suppose the Transparent People are the symbiotic partners of the Mechanical Jellyfish. After we eliminate the Contamination Source, we actually aren't sure if the Transparent People will die, right?"

Chu Ling: "...Correct."

This logic held up.

Chu Ling was also pondering what exactly the Transparent People were. Did they belong to this contaminated area? Or did they just survive near the Mechanical Jellyfish? After all, they looked more like an "experimental product" raised by the Curator.

Zhu Ning thought of a person, Huang Yaruo.

Huang Yaruo could survive in Experimental Subject 777 for fifteen years without aging. Was her relationship with Experimental Subject 777 also a symbiotic partner relationship?

After Zhu Ning purified No. 777, Huang Yaruo didn't die, and she was currently missing.

Zhu Ning: "For now, let's treat the Transparent People as a third species, neither human nor contaminant. Be prepared. It's possible that even if the contaminated area is purified, the Transparent People won't die."

Chu Ling fell silent. The matter was troublesome.

They walked all the way from the Curator's office, still holding a sliver of hope that as long as the four of them supported the Demon Hunters, eight people plus Prometheus could definitely purify the aquarium.

The problem now was they had to purify the Contamination Source AND kill all the Transparent People.

The Sanitation Center's highest interest was definitely protecting the ordinary civilians of District 103. If all Transparent People couldn't be killed, based on Chu Ling's understanding of the Sanitation Center, they would choose to bury both teams here.

In fact, they had already done so. The red letter 'A' on the helmet kept flashing continuously.

She had seen the A-Level Program activate just now. All Demon Hunters would be prepared to sacrifice, but thinking about it this way, struggling was useless.

They walked from the corridor to the Mechanical Jellyfish Pavilion, enduring untold hardships, but actually, there wasn't a suitable plan that could truly solve the problem.

Despite emphasizing three times before entering not to use explosive weapons casually, it seemed now that explosion was inevitable.

The question was, how to blow it up, and when to blow it up.

Chu Ling was thinking about things when she suddenly heard Zhu Ning ask, "Is the highest person in charge of the operation Minister Xuan?"

[Yes.]

Zhu Ning fell silent for an instant upon hearing Prometheus's voice. If she remembered correctly, Prometheus was currently controlling the Grey Eagle Squad's bodies.

Upon entry, Prometheus said the mortality rate for this mission was 5% to 8%. If it really came to Prometheus taking over everyone later, the artificial intelligence's decision would outweigh their right to life. They would become tools in the true sense, with Prometheus deciding who lived and who died, or if they all died together.

Zhu Ning had to solve this problem before the artificial intelligence took over.

Zhu Ning looked ahead, seeming to be able to make eye contact with Xuan Qing directly through the helmet. "Ask for me. If we complete this mission, how much money is she going to give us?"

Chu Ling thought she heard wrong. What was Zhu Ning doing? She was making a deal with Xuan Qing?

Zhu Ning: "The difficulty is so high. We originally just came to clean up trash. If we really make it out alive, getting the previous wages would be too much of a loss."

Chu Ling: "..."

She didn't know which to exclaim over first. At a critical juncture like this, Zhu Ning was actually asking Xuan Qing for money!

---

Author's Note: 

"This mission is hard, you..."

"Can't do it."

"Then..."

"That's extra!"

"...?"

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone! hope everyone is happy, safe, and wins five million. I burn with raging fighting spirit every time thanks to your encouragement!

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