Chapter 61-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 61 Interrogation
"No problem." Fu Ming said: "Brain scan is all normal."
Qi Yunxiang pondered for two seconds: "Same."
Fu Ming yawned, "We can't see anything from here. It might be a side effect brought by high sanity. It might be effective for her to go to the Medical Department for a checkup."
They were researchers, not doctors. At most, they could see if there were foreign objects. But now it seemed the entire brain scan map was completely normal, there was nothing. Specifics might only be found by going to Doctor Fu's side.
Fang Ying was just asking casually and didn't expect to get any answer, "Okay, I know. Director Xuan wants results today. Thank you for working overtime."
Fu Ming yawned, "Not hard, not hard."
Qi Yunxiang and Fu Ming needed to continue monitoring. As researchers, they had to stare at it constantly. The detection equipment were all contaminated items and had slight contamination. Technical jobs in the Sanitation Center also required consuming sanity. They were all approaching the critical point of exhaustion.
Zhu Ning slept for thirty hours this time, getting up twice in between to use the restroom and eating three times.
Qi Yunxiang had dark circles under her eyes from staying up. She felt her own brain starting to hurt. Fu Ming was about the same. He took out a bottle of Sanity Healer from the drawer and handed it to Qi Yunxiang, "Take some supplements. Are they trying to wear us down here?"
Qi Yunxiang held the Sanity Healer but didn't drink it. She seemed to see a very small shadow in Zhu Ning's brain just now, but it disappeared very quickly. She blinked again, and the screen had returned to normal.
Qi Yunxiang went back to check but didn't find it. The brain scan map was transmitted back. If there was anything unusual, she would definitely be able to find evidence by looking back, but she found nothing.
Neither Fang Ying nor Fu Ming who were present saw it. Did she see it wrong? Out of caution, she didn't mention the abnormality just now.
Qi Yunxiang was thoughtful: "I'm thinking, why does Director Xuan think she has a Talent?"
Zhu Ning had never used it in front of people. She had only been in contact with pollutants for a month, and officially went on only two missions. Among these two, the only one that could be counted as difficult was the recent one. Why did she think it was Zhu Ning?
Fu Ming yawned: "High sanity means high probability of becoming a Talented individual after infection. Maybe out of rigor. Who knows what they are thinking? We are just lousy workers."
Qi Yunxiang drank the Sanity Healer, "True. She's almost up on time. We should let her out."
Fu Ming: "Take her away quickly. I can't stand it. Either she dies or I die."
Qi Yunxiang: "..."
If Zhu Ning didn't end her observation soon, she would definitely be the most hated person by all employees on the 66th floor.
Zhu Ning completely didn't know she was accumulating hatred points. She had just woken up. It had to be said that the bedding in the Observation Room was really comfortable—high-quality sleep. She wanted to ask if the bedding was for sale. She woke up feeling refreshed.
Under the effect of the healer, her arm no longer felt pain. To know the healing status, she estimated she had to visit Doctor Fu.
After getting up, Zhu Ning went to wash up. She did her jail time very consciously, brushing her teeth while studying her panel data.
This mission reward was 5000 Purify Points. Containing the Mermaid Hall pollution spores added 1000 Purify Points.
Originally, Purify Points were 4554. Upon completing the mission, the Purify Points balance was 10554. Using the Copy Machine consumed 3000 Purify Points, remaining 7554.
No matter from what angle, she had struck it rich. Zhu Ning added all the Purify Points to her Health Points (HP). Now her HP was a total of 108.
Actually, she didn't know what HP really meant. Could it be converted into human lifespan? Then if she had this lifespan index, she was quite long-lived?
The remaining Mutation Direction and Alienation Degree still had no reaction. She thought since she was almost infected by the mermaid, there would at least be a hint of mutation. How exactly does one mutate?
The newly added Talents and items were very easy to understand. The Copy Machine had already been used. It was very honest; besides being able to copy things in reality, it could even copy other system items, it was just that the usage cost was too high.
Liquid Manipulation could control liquids; the downside was also that it consumed a lot of HP.
There was also an Invisibility item that was easier to understand, consuming HP constantly according to duration, but she didn't know if the invisibility applied only to her person or included the items on her body.
For example, if she held a gun and used this skill, would the gun disappear with her? If she wore clothes, would she expose herself? If she couldn't make the touched objects transparent too, wouldn't Zhu Ning be streaking every time she used this Talent?
Reasonably speaking, she should find a place to verify the new Talent, but now she was under surveillance.
And she discovered that as her HP increased, the cost of using system items and Talents was also increasing. It said 108 HP, but actually, using items twice would deplete it.
This dog system kept whipping her to improve. Really, good job.
Zhu Ning spat out toothpaste foam and looked up at herself. She was in a monitored state, not a combat state, so she was a bit lazy.
In the mirror, she looked exactly the same as in the Zombie World. Really exactly the same—a similarity that only cloning could achieve.
She had a small mole on her left temple, and a faint scar behind her ear left from getting injured climbing trees when she was naughty as a child. Outsiders couldn't see these places at all and wouldn't notice. Zhu Ning didn't mention them to people either; after all, she didn't have the hobby of sharing every small mark on her body with others. So the original owner's body really restored every detail of her body.
Entering the Mechanical Aquarium this time, she discovered a very weird thing. If Prometheus was in her brain, the system's presence would weaken. The system would no longer prompt her if she lost sanity, but Zhu Ning could use the system panel.
If Prometheus short-circuited briefly, the system would come back online. It looked like the system was... hiding.
The system was afraid of being discovered by Prometheus? The two were incompatible?
Prometheus had fungal tentacles. When just accessing, the mycelium couldn't extend downwards at all. What force was obstructing it?
Zhu Ning suddenly had a guess. The system was in her brain—the system was inherently in her brain. She only needed thought communication to talk to the system.
She meant, in a physical sense, the system was right in the depths of her brain. It might also be a kind of experimental device, possessing a physical form.
If it was a device, what was its operating principle? If Zhu Ning didn't complete that main mission of Purifying the Homeland in the end, would the system blow up her head?
Could the system be removed through surgery? Would removing it cause Zhu Ning's immediate death? What if she functioned relying on the system's existence?
This must have something to do with the truth of Zhu Ning's death. The progress bar for the side mission "Search for the Truth of Death" hadn't moved for a long time.
According to this mission's description, if Zhu Ning didn't complete it, she would be cleared of all HP. What awaited her should be death.
Ding—
A sudden sound made Zhu Ning freeze.
"Lunch for today has been delivered. Miss Zhu, wish you a pleasant meal." The nurse's voice sounded outside the door.
Not the system. There was a meal delivery slot on the door. Someone pressed the button and passed lunch in through the window.
Zhu Ning breathed a sigh of relief. She was a bit jumpy now. She washed her face by the way, and only went to get the meal after completely washing up. Today's lunch was Sweet and Sour Ribs and Stewed Chicken with Mushrooms.
In this era, ordinary people lived on nutrient solutions. Very few could afford dishes. Most ate some grains. So Zhu Ning ate fiercely in the buffet area last time. But that time it was steaks and the like; she hadn't eaten such home-style dishes for a long time.
It wasn't that she was carefree. Coming from the Zombie World, as long as one didn't die, everything was a small matter. Someone took care of food and drink, and the quality of life was three levels higher than the Hive. She wanted to live in the Observation Room.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as wished. Just after finishing the meal, Zhu Ning was notified that the observation period ended and she had to leave immediately.
When she left, she was reluctant to part. The doctor taking her away looked haggard, and other staff members were the same.
After seeing Zhu Ning, they showed polite smiles. Clearly full of fatigue, they still had to hold up professional smiles. To be honest, it looked quite scary, having a weird sense of sending her off from the hospital.
Zhu Ning asked in a small voice: "Is overtime in your department so severe?"
The assistant doctor said on the surface: "It's okay, serving the Center."
Inside, he thought: Leave quickly, my ancestor. You are the source of our overtime nightmare. They just watched Zhu Ning eat and sleep, sleep and eat there. She seemed to be here for tourism. If they put a game console in there for her, she could stay permanently.
The Observation Room Chief saw this trend more and more, and immediately kicked her out after seeing her data was fine, "Make her leave quickly, free up the room for others."
Zhu Ning made an "oh" sound, thinking they really loved their work. Models for us all.
Zhu Ning walked to the elevator entrance and was handed over to another staff member. She even said to the assistant doctor: "See you next time."
She waved enthusiastically. The assistant doctor had to maintain a fake smile, responding stiffly, hovering between cursing and resigning in his heart. Who loves doing this dog job can do it!
...
Zhu Ning was to be interrogated.
The person responsible for receiving her belonged to the Security Department, tall and big, standing behind her holding a gun. The interrogation room was on the 120th floor. Zhu Ning hadn't been up to such a high place yet.
It was said the Sanitation Center had 360 floors, but the buttons on the elevator only went to 100 floors. Other floors required swiping a card to go up.
Currently, among those who could go above the 100th floor, Zhu Ning only knew Xuan Qing and Fang Ying. Maybe Lu Qiqin could also go up.
A certain interrogation room on the 120th floor. The style was pure white technological sense, a flavor of future high-tech, reminding her of the interior decoration style of Song Zhizhang's office. It was also pure white, only Song Zhizhang's office exterior was Barbie style.
The one responsible for interrogating Zhu Ning was a man in a suit. He wore a smile, that kind of just-right smile, making you feel he wasn't an interrogator but a psychologist, "Hello, my name is Yue Kaiyuan."
Zhu Ning nodded, "Zhu Ning."
Yue Kaiyuan was a person who easily generated goodwill. He was very gentle, "First, congratulations on completing the Grade B Aquarium mission. You are our outstanding employee."
Zhu Ning raised an eyebrow.
Yue Kaiyuan: "It's just that this mission involved a difficult-to-understand creature, so we have to be extra cautious. Can you understand?"
Zhu Ning: "Understood."
Invisible people appeared in this world. Were all of them in the aquarium? Or were there some in other regions too? If she were a high-level executive, she would also be extremely cautious.
Yue Kaiyuan nodded: "Okay, thank you for your cooperation."
Yue Kaiyuan: "Miss Zhu, you truly displayed superiority beyond ordinary people. Your videos are circulating on the forum."
Many people didn't sleep all night to repeatedly observe—a very bizarre battle.
The professional accomplishments Zhu Ning displayed were all hard power: shooting talent, good at using people, knowing how to quickly unite a team, leadership ability. The key point was she was just a Cleaner, and only nineteen years old.
Yue Kaiyuan took out a document: "So we conducted an investigation into your identity."
Zhu Ning had long known this day would come, only she couldn't intervene in this matter. When she arrived, the original owner hadn't left her any identity information at all. She had always relied on her boldness to barge around.
In this process, she must have left some flaws. Once Zhu Ning's performance didn't match what the data showed, her identity might really be exposed.
Yue Kaiyuan: "Data shows that after you were born and underwent genetic screening, you were judged as a Defective. According to federal laws at the time, you were sent to the District 103 Bright Orphanage and raised by a Mechanical Mother in a mechanical incubator."
Zhu Ning found it interesting listening to it herself. So the original owner's background was like this.
After being judged as a Defective, the Federation actually didn't give up on these people. They guaranteed the basic right to life for Defectives. Defectives could apply for various subsidies. Actually, living to adulthood wasn't a difficult thing.
Although Defective had always been a synonym for criminals, there really was that one in ten million Defective who lived quite well.
Yue Kaiyuan took out another document, "After you successfully survived, you went to school step by step. Your undergraduate major was Mechanics. After graduation, because you couldn't afford the tuition, you didn't continue to study for a master's degree."
Studying Mechanics wasn't anything special. In this era, because robots ran everywhere, Mechanics was the easiest major for finding a job. Children from poor families would all study Mechanics.
But if one wanted to make achievements in this area, they would basically choose to attend graduate school for further studies, so it would be easier to enter large companies.
Placed in front of Zhu Ning was her degree certificate. There were documents to prove all three time periods: elementary school, middle school, and university. Her academic grades were average, not an honor student nor a poor student, just mid-level.
Zhu Ning tried her best not to reveal any surprised expression, but the person in these photos looked exactly like her.
In elementary school, Zhu Ning wore a slightly yellowed white dress. This was the graduation ceremony. When the photo was taken, Zhu Ning was laughing at the camera, very sunny.
In middle school, Zhu Ning changed a bit. She wore a white tracksuit, raising an eyebrow at the camera, revealing a provocative expression. She looked a bit punchable.
In university, Zhu Ning wore a black cocktail dress. Their school graduation ceremony uniformly required wearing black. Zhu Ning's long hair was loose, and her whole person became much more steady. Her gaze looking at the camera was very calm.
She seemed to be looking at her past life.
University-era Zhu Ning was closest to the current Zhu Ning. The two faces almost overlapped, and even the expressions had no sense of violation.
Yue Kaiyuan: "These are your study timeline. At the same time, you have another line."
Yue Kaiyuan pulled out the last sheet from all the documents, "When you were eight, a Underground Shooting Club happened to be doing a charity event at the orphanage. The club's name was Fire Seed. Coach Shen Li discovered you possessed extraordinary shooting talent. Afterwards, you entered the Fire Seed Club for training. Shen Li was your coach and also your agent. When you were ten, you started your first competition. You won the gold medal that year, with a prize of 100,000 New Currency. You became famous in one stroke in the underground shooting field."
"From then on, you became a celebrity of the shooting club, entered the Fire Seed Professional Team, and became a professional shooting athlete, always relying on participating in underground competitions to make a living."
Yue Kaiyuan pushed a document in front of Zhu Ning. In the photo, Zhu Ning was shooting. It should be a photo captured by a reporter or coach. It was Zhu Ning's adolescent stage; she looked only fifteen years old, very calm when shooting.
This was her.
Every subtle expression and movement indicated this was absolutely her. The posture of holding the gun, the curve of the index finger curling on the trigger, were exactly the same as hers.
Zhu Ning's brain buzzed. She felt she was already very rational.
"I used to be a professional shooting athlete."
"Yes, the club's." That was just nonsense she casually said to Li Nianchuan at the time, and now it came true.
The original owner possessed a life similar to hers.
Author's Note: Current Ning Bao's System Panel
Name: Zhu Ning
Age: 19
Education: Bachelor of Mechanics
Status: Fifth-class Citizen
Talents: Danger Prevision, Metal Manipulation, Liquid Manipulation
Mutation Path: Unknown
Degree of Mutation: Unknown
Physical Strength: Enhanced 40
Sanity: 100 (Average person: 20)
Health: 108 (Average person: 70)
Luck: 40 (Average person: 50)
Purify Points: 54 (Can be exchanged to increase other points, every 500 Purify Points can increase HP by 5)
Contaminated Items: Putrid Fish Head, Pig Man's Guillotine, Universal Key, 3D Defense Space, Blank Card, Replicator, Cloaking Device
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