Chapter 62-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 62 Two Chapters in One
Was this a fake identity Prometheus created for her? To round out that lie Zhu Ning had told?
No, impossible. The Sanitation Center would be extremely careful and cautious in conducting investigations, collecting evidence from multiple parties and cross-referencing. If any link in this didn't match up, Yue Kaiyuan would definitely be able to tell. Prometheus couldn't do it to this extent.
This was her real experience, accurately speaking, the original owner's real experience.
She seemed to be looking at herself in another parallel universe. If the theory of parallel universes existed, the Zhu Ning of this universe was judged as a Defective since childhood and grew up with difficulty in an orphanage.
Zhu Ning herself grew up in a single-parent family. Her mother was a cardiac surgeon who worked around the clock when busy and simply had no time to manage her. Later, when she discovered she had a talent for shooting, she threw her directly into the training camp without a word.
Similarly, they both possessed excellent shooting talents and were discovered very early, and then they would emerge prominently in the shooting field, winning their own honors.
The original owner's personality, way of doing things, and talents were exactly the same as her own. Zhu Ning sat in the chair; the person across the table didn't seem to be Yue Kaiyuan, but another version of herself.
The two Zhu Nings were exactly the same. They looked at each other across a gap in time and space. They were so alike, simply the same person.
The first time Zhu Ning used the original owner's body to fire a gun, she felt that this body was highly compatible with herself, simply like the original equipment.
Zhu Ning was a professional athlete. Training was all to cultivate a person's muscle memory. Zhu Ning had no obstruction in firing a gun; every muscle was operating perfectly. At that time, she was thinking that the original owner must have been a gun user before too.
And she must have reached the level of professional competition. Ordinary players wouldn't have such good physical quality, so she wasn't afraid to say she was a shooting athlete in front of Li Nianchuan.
But Zhu Ning was puzzled. How exactly did the original owner die? Did she participate in something?
Having relived for a month, surprisingly no old acquaintances from the Fire Seed Club had looked for her, and there were no traces of the club at home.
Just as she felt before, her home was very clean, as if deliberately cleaned by someone, wiping away all traces.
Fire Seed, Prometheus. What relationship did the club have with Prometheus?
There were cameras watching her, and Yue Kaiyuan was also watching her from across. Zhu Ning's heart was in turmoil, but on the surface, she didn't reveal a single flaw.
Generally speaking, when talking to someone, listing the other party's life first was either probing Zhu Ning or had only one clear purpose—demonstrating their sense of power.
I can pull up your data, investigate your life clearly, even knowing exactly where you went to elementary school, who your desk mate was, and when you joined the club.
So you'd better be honest and don't lie; this is good for both of us. That was roughly Yue Kaiyuan's meaning. Many people would feel pressure.
Zhu Ning looked up at Yue Kaiyuan: "Is there any problem with this?"
She was very calm and composed, as if what Yue Kaiyuan asked were just some ordinary questions. When someone comes to recount your life, normal people wouldn't have too big a reaction, because this is the life you lived normally.
Yue Kaiyuan's gaze never left Zhu Ning: "This explains part of my doubts."
"Your shooting talent, your calmness beyond ordinary people, all have answers. I guess perhaps there are some people," Yue Kaiyuan looked straight at Zhu Ning and said slowly, "who are born to be the most excellent hunters."
In nature, all animals can actually be roughly divided into two categories: predators and prey. Zhu Ning's performance proved she was a natural predator.
This had nothing to do with the environment she was in. No matter what world, she could survive to the end.
Zhu Ning: "Thank you."
There was no self-modesty on her face. Facing praise, she would always only say thank you.
To her, life was composed of shooting. Training and playing matches were part of her life. Standing on the podium and accepting everyone's praise freely was also part of life. She wouldn't feel ashamed or humble about it.
Yue Kaiyuan probably didn't expect Zhu Ning to be so frank, but looking at her provocative look since childhood, he could understand. Yue Kaiyuan: "I have a question. May I ask what is your reason for joining the Sanitation Center?"
Why give up being a professional shooting athlete to enter the Sanitation Center?
Zhu Ning hesitated not at all: "Because I love money."
Although she didn't know the income of professional matches, she felt the Sanitation Center's money would definitely be more than playing professional matches, because all jobs had danger directly proportional to income.
Zhu Ning's behavioral logic was self-consistent from start to finish. Even at the most urgent moment of the mission, she remembered to ask Xuan Qing for double the bonus.
In an unseen place, there was a screen. Xuan Qing and Lu Qiqin were watching from behind, and Fang Ying followed behind holding documents.
Zhu Ning's eyes were magnified to the extreme, occupying the entire screen.
People's pupils change when lying. Zhu Ning didn't at all; she spoke the facts.
Yue Kaiyuan obviously came prepared. He clicked open a screen, playing the whole process of Zhu Ning purifying the aquarium.
"Because your performance was too brilliant, I watched this video back and forth nineteen times." Yue Kaiyuan turned on slow playback when watching, not missing any frame, any detail.
Yue Kaiyuan clicked the play button in front of Zhu Ning. He used fast-forward mode, 4x speed.
Zhu Ning felt like she was watching a game replay. She felt she did it very carefully, but she couldn't completely guarantee not leaving flaws. After all, everything she did had to undergo inspection.
Yue Kaiyuan pressed the pause button. The screen had become very blurry since Zhu Ning entered the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall. A mechanical tentacle climbed onto her helmet.
Under immense pressure, her helmet cracked. Spider web patterns cracked on the lens.
The water source in the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall was black. Even high-precision images weren't very clear, looking like a first-person horror movie.
The entire purification process was very strange. After seeing the huge mechanical jellyfish, Zhu Ning stopped in place, looking like she felt fear because of the giant object, while Lin Xiaofeng was transparent and didn't appear in the lens at all.
"I have some questions." Yue Kaiyuan paused the video and asked, "May I ask what was your method of purifying the contamination source?"
This was also a point everyone disputed. Zhu Ning didn't use weapons or Talents. The pollution zone later didn't look like it was purified, but more like the contamination source suddenly lost vitality.
Zhu Ning actually wasn't quite clear herself, "I delivered salvation to her?"
Yue Kaiyuan's face stiffened. Outside the glass wall, Xuan Qing laughed out loud. Lu Qiqin's face was very ugly. Beside him, Fang Ying coughed lightly along.
Lu Qiqin: "Does she think she is a Bodhisattva? Why didn't the Bodhisattva get up and do it for her?"
Yue Kaiyuan: "Can you express it a bit more clearly?"
Zhu Ning: "The training course taught about the formation of contamination sources. New contamination sources generated within six hours have unstable internal development, and we can make human interventions. But it was only mentioned briefly then, without much description. I just heard the general idea."
Zhu Ning: "Later I suspected I was contaminated. Teammates said being contaminated might turn one into a pollutant, of course, there's also a possibility of becoming a Talented individual. I was thinking about what the difference between the two is, and whether the pollution zone is reversible."
"The contamination source possesses control rights over the pollution zone. I tried to let Lin Xiaofeng regain control."
Xuan Qing listened very seriously and expressed approval of Zhu Ning's method: "This method is theoretically feasible, but Demon Hunters rarely adopt it in real action. If there were no invisible people in the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall that day, our general practice would be direct armed crushing."
In the eyes of most Demon Hunters, pollutants were no longer human, but more like a kind of "demon". No one wanted to understand the reason for the "demon's" formation.
Exploding it if possible was also the most efficient way.
In the situation at that time, Zhu Ning needed to purify the pollution zone to win breathing space for the Grey Eagle Team. Her doing this was actually very logical.
Xuan Qing's words were transmitted to Yue Kaiyuan through the earpiece. Yue Kaiyuan: "You believed so much that you would definitely succeed?"
Zhu Ning: "In that situation, did I have a choice?"
Time was urgent; Zhu Ning had to gamble.
Yue Kaiyuan: "Did you consider the consequences if you lost the gamble?"
Zhu Ning: "Everyone dies there together."
This wasn't an unacceptable consequence to Zhu Ning. In the wasteland world, pollution zones still gave you time to slowly solve the problem. The Zombie World was crueler; from discovering danger to when you had to deal with it, most times there were only a few minutes.
You had to make a decision immediately, otherwise everyone would die.
Later, Zhu Ning could live so long, half was due to gambling. In fact, she felt humans being in an apocalyptic environment, survival rate was related to your own quality, but the relationship wasn't as big as humans thought. A larger probability was luck.
Just like other animals in the animal world, half of whether they could survive depended on fate.
Losing the gamble meant death; winning meant living. It was already a very cost-effective gamble.
Zhu Ning answered very fast, without any hesitation, as if dying together wasn't a big deal.
Yue Kaiyuan: "You decided the lives of other teammates so arrogantly?"
This was a trap question.
Zhu Ning: "I don't think so. They agreed to my plan. I think I am better than artificial intelligence. I would rather entrust my life to teammates in a crisis than entrust it to artificial intelligence."
Rejecting intelligent technology, having an adventurous spirit, unwilling to stand still. Yue Kaiyuan tagged Zhu Ning in his heart.
He heard Zhu Ning carried two lucky cards on her. Maybe she really liked gambling in private.
Yue Kaiyuan: "Would you feel guilty if you failed?"
Zhu Ning: "Why should I feel guilty?"
Yue Kaiyuan: "You wouldn't feel guilty?"
Zhu Ning: "Honestly, would it be better to let artificial intelligence decide who lives and who dies? Just because humans can't make their own choices, so they would rather hand over power than bear the consequences of failure—is this progress?"
The situation at the time was that Program A had started. The worst result was already preset. Zhu Ning couldn't beat such a massive mechanical jellyfish. Her action being effective meant there was no problem.
Playing professional matches, she often had to face success and failure. Success was naturally good, but failure must also be experienced. If she failed, she had to admit it.
Yue Kaiyuan: "When you were doing it, you already presupposed internally that Lin Xiaofeng could definitely do it?"
Zhu Ning admitted: "Yes."
Saying it was an adventure, but Zhu Ning felt at the time the probability of success was high.
Yue Kaiyuan: "Why? Lin Xiaofeng was only ten, right?"
Ordinary people, even if they wanted to gamble, wouldn't place all chips on a little girl.
Zhu Ning didn't answer this question immediately, as if returning to the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall, able to feel Lin Xiaofeng hugging her neck tightly, embracing her forcefully.
Zhu Ning looked up: "Because I have expectations for humanity."
This was the only time in this conversation that Zhu Ning revealed a soft expression.
Maybe she just came to the wasteland world. She felt humans were not incurable; human evolution wouldn't stop.
I have expectations for humanity. This was the truth.
Outside, Xuan Qing gazed quietly at Zhu Ning. Lu Qiqin beside her didn't say any sarcastic words either. Dealing with pollutants for a long time, it was hard for them to generate optimistic emotions again.
Zhu Ning probably hadn't contacted S-rank pollutants yet, nor had she been outside the wall, so she could say some very naive words and have some unrealistic fantasies.
But no matter what stance, they didn't want to deny now that the future of humanity was optimistic.
Countless idealists succeeded one another. They lit the flame, firmly believing they could illuminate the night sky.
Don't deny ideals and innocence; that's too cruel.
Yue Kaiyuan: "What happened after? Where did Lin Xiaofeng go?"
There was no footage of this part in the video. In fact, Lin Xiaofeng didn't appear from start to finish. Zhu Ning was just talking to the air.
Zhu Ning: "Later I was washed away."
The subsequent footage was even blurrier. Countless black shadows flashed before eyes. Zhu Ning's expression twisted due to pain. She seemed to be in a washing machine drum, being thrown up quickly.
She must have hit her head on the wall. Her whole person couldn't stand up at that time, very dazed.
Later when she stood up, she paused. Yue Kaiyuan had calculated; there was only thirty seconds of time.
In thirty seconds, Zhu Ning didn't say any words, very blank and sluggish, as if just hit by a sap, easing her brain.
What could be done in thirty seconds? Where could she hide Lin Xiaofeng?
When she came out, she underwent Inspection Department checks. No abnormality was found, and no invisible person was attached to her body. Very clean.
Yue Kaiyuan: "Where do you think Lin Xiaofeng is? Blown up?"
Zhu Ning: "Yeah."
Yue Kaiyuan stared at Zhu Ning's eyes. Her expression was very calm, pupils unchanged, heart rate as always.
But Yue Kaiyuan couldn't judge the truth or falsity of this sentence. Zhu Ning's answer was too short; maybe the collection wasn't accurate.
Zhu Ning looked straight into Yue Kaiyuan's eyes: "I don't think a little girl who just lost her parents and killed others in the aquarium would voluntarily go with me."
Zhu Ning spoke the truth.
Because this was the fact. Lin Xiaofeng didn't go with her voluntarily; accurately speaking, she was forcibly taken away by her.
Yue Kaiyuan wore an earpiece on his ear. Outside, the technical lie detection personnel said: "Truth."
Yue Kaiyuan judged internally that Lin Xiaofeng shouldn't have gone with Zhu Ning voluntarily.
They had repeatedly studied that thirty-second video. Zhu Ning's performance had no flaw. Thirty seconds couldn't take away a contamination source on a technical level. It seemed Lin Xiaofeng should have nothing to do with her.
Yue Kaiyuan: "You did very well, making the correct choice at the correct time."
Zhu Ning: "Thank you?"
Yue Kaiyuan: "I still have a few questions."
The interrogation wasn't over. One trick of interrogation was to constantly extend the time, then make you psychologically collapse. They had only proceeded for forty minutes.
Yue Kaiyuan continued to play the video. This time the perspective was richer because the perspectives of eight other cameras were supplemented.
The video played to Zhu Ning leading the four-person team through the corridor. They were going to the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall to support the Grey Eagle Team. In the video, Zhu Ning suddenly turned back and shot the invisible person who broke her arm.
Looking with some bias, this looked very much like Zhu Ning possessed some danger prevision talent.
"How did you do this here?" Yue Kaiyuan asked.
Zhu Ning: "Breathing."
Yue Kaiyuan: "What?"
Zhu Ning: "Invisible people have breathing sounds. I can hear it when they approach me."
The invisible person was going to break her arm at the time, only twenty centimeters away from her. She had injected genetic agents, so hearing breathing sounds was very normal. And at that time, Zhu Ning really heard it.
Truth.
Yue Kaiyuan continued playing the video, "What about here?"
The video played at the Mechanical Jellyfish Pool. Behind the green screen were thousands of jellyfish people twitching tentacles. Zhu Ning fired a shot at one of them, and that jellyfish person was blasted away instantly.
In this place, Zhu Ning used the Metal Manipulation Talent. She had to guarantee that when the bullet landed on the jellyfish person's face, the Metal Manipulation operated simultaneously. Otherwise, once there was a time error, it was easy to be seen by people.
From the current video, she shouldn't have left a flaw. Her acting was very real.
Sure enough, this Yue Kaiyuan had something. He was like a fly smelling blood, able to precisely find all doubtful points. The two doubtful points he found were both places where Zhu Ning used Talents.
Zhu Ning's expression didn't change: "I don't understand your meaning."
From the video, she just fired a shot, and then the jellyfish person's entire face caved in, like a crumpled metal soda can.
Could a bullet create this kind of effect on a mechanical jellyfish's head? Now that the jellyfish people were all dead, no one could verify it. As long as Zhu Ning insisted this was damage caused by the bullet, it would be fine.
Yue Kaiyuan: "I suspect you used the Metal Manipulation Talent here."
Zhu Ning was silent for a second. Yue Kaiyuan's line of sight was locked firmly on her, not deviating by half an inch.
He had always worn a gentle and polite smile. At this moment, he suddenly gave her endless pressure.
Zhu Ning didn't move. She raised her eyes: "May I ask if you are targeting me?"
Yue Kaiyuan frowned: "Why ask this?"
Zhu Ning: "Although I don't understand your work, I know a principle. Bringing bias and presuppositions, one cannot find the truth."
Yue Kaiyuan had been luring her. If someone guessed she used some Talent, they wouldn't have guessed Metal-type Talent so quickly.
And Yue Kaiyuan was very certain. He presupposed Zhu Ning could control metal. They just knew the answer first, then pushed back the solution process.
Zhu Ning asked back: "Are you looking for people who can use Metal-type Talents?"
This time Yue Kaiyuan's expression was very subtle. He actually controlled his expression very properly, but from the subtle changes, he was already wavering. Zhu Ning found his weak spot.
Zhu Ning continued: "What's wrong? What did this person do?"
Positions swapped. All cameras were aimed at Zhu Ning, analyzing her pupil changes, detecting her heart rate, observing her subtle expressions. They would record it and repeat playback countless times.
Clearly Zhu Ning was the object being interrogated, but now positions swapped, Yue Kaiyuan was subtly being questioned.
Yue Kaiyuan rarely felt pressure. Zhu Ning was a talent with 1200 Sanity—no, heard it rose again now.
Meaning her sanity far exceeded others. Mental power was a kind of crushing to others. She could maintain absolute rationality and calmness. All instruments were decorations.
Outside the mirror, Xuan Qing had been watching Zhu Ning.
Beside her, Lu Qiqin said: "She looks like she has no problem."
Lu Qiqin emphasized the words "looks like". As he spoke, he observed Xuan Qing's reaction, "She shouldn't be the person they are looking for."
These past few days, someone was looking for people in the Sanitation Center. They were looking for a Metal-type Talented individual.
Wanting to find someone meant it was impossible not to leave traces. Xuan Qing always knew the Sanitation Center had a few dishonest "rats", but this time their mission was very strange.
Because the Sanitation Center's officially registered Metal-type Talented individual was only one, so they were looking for a potential Metal-type Talented manipulator.
This person hid their strength, lying in ambush in the Sanitation Center, and threatened Eternal Biotech's interests; otherwise, they wouldn't have come out to find someone with such fanfare.
At that time, the first person Xuan Qing suspected was Zhu Ning. There were many suspicious points about her.
Lu Qiqin: "If I were that person, I would definitely be very low-key."
A normal person, after provoking a massive pharmaceutical company, might want to hide their ability. She would definitely act very carefully and cautiously, preferably having no personality.
No temper, no personality, no place for people to remember, like Xu Meng.
But Zhu Ning was different. She was very high-profile from the beginning, taking Li Nianchuan, two Cleaners, to purify the source of contamination in the sewers.
Cleaners doing the work of Demon Hunters, becoming famous in one stroke and remembered by everyone. Afterward, she displayed very top-tier shooting talent in training, dominating the forums.
After entering the aquarium, she alone purified two sources of contamination in the Mermaid Hall and the Jellyfish Hall.
She even directly bypassed Prometheus to lead the team. A team of eight people, half of whom were Demon Hunters who didn't accept Cleaners and even held discriminatory views, yet they all obeyed Zhu Ning's command.
After that, with three lines running in parallel, they achieved an impossible ending. The mortality rate predicted by Prometheus did not come true.
Now Zhu Ning continued to flood the screen. Her deeds were summarized and posted on the forums. She was absolutely a well-deserved forum celebrity. Some people even started to be her fans, organizing photos and videos of Zhu Ning.
She was unprecedentedly high-profile, not looking at all like she came to be an undercover agent or perform some secret mission. Those who didn't know would think she came to the Sanitation Center to be a star.
Xuan Qing always felt that Zhu Ning was very off, but currently, nothing obviously off could be detected.
The Inspection Department's preliminary check showed no abnormalities, data collection was fine, and they even harvested a piece of good news: her sanity had increased.
Now Yue Kaiyuan came to interrogate. Yue Kaiyuan continued to mention several doubtful points of the mission, and Zhu Ning answered them one by one.
This mission, a total of eight people came out. Three were injured too severely and temporarily couldn't accept interrogation and search.
The remaining five all accepted this set of procedures. They also submitted mission reports. After cross-referencing, there were no flaws at all.
These documents were perfect, without a single speck of doubt to dig up. Moreover, the others would be asked an additional question: what was their view and impression of Zhu Ning.
The few from Grey Eagle Team all revealed ashamed expressions, simultaneously admitting Zhu Ning was strong.
"She is very powerful."
"I think she is very extraordinary. If not for her, I would have died inside."
"She might go very far in the future. I think she is very suitable for the First Military District."
Chu Ling's answer was: "Zhu Ning is very cute!"
The remaining one, Xu Meng, fell silent for a long time. Yue Kaiyuan thought at the time Xu Meng's impression of Zhu Ning might not be very good. He thought he would hear something different here.
But after silence, Xu Meng said: "A decent teammate."
Xu Meng's words disappointed Yue Kaiyuan. But was Zhu Ning really that clean?
Inside the interrogation room, Yue Kaiyuan bombarded Zhu Ning for an hour. She answered every question. What was infuriating was that her state was very relaxed.
Yue Kaiyuan was finally at his wit's end. He glanced at the camera opposite, giving Xuan Qing a signal. He couldn't determine this person.
Unless Zhu Ning revealed more slip-ups. Currently, it seemed Yue Kaiyuan had no plan. There was another method: let someone from the Abnormal Incident Investigation Team come over. Their minister could deduce the truth through Talent; nothing could hide from her eyes. But now it was only a suspicion stage, and no abnormal incident had occurred. That team was very busy and simply had no time to manage such a small matter. The ruling power was handed to Xuan Qing.
Xuan Qing was silent for thirty seconds, then said in a deep voice: "She is safe."
Wasting time was useless. Xuan Qing's style had always been decisive.
Yue Kaiyuan stood up and shook hands with Zhu Ning to express great gratitude for her cooperation. Zhu Ning also shook back to express you've worked hard. The hypocritical social etiquette of adults was displayed vividly on them.
Xuan Qing couldn't be bothered to watch anymore. She had a lot of things to deal with. There were rats in the house; she always had to think of a way to catch them all in one net. She also had to stare at the interrogation and research of the invisible people.
Xuan Qing had already walked out two steps, then suddenly said to Fang Ying: "By the way, transfer the twenty times bonus to her quickly. I'm afraid she will dismantle the Center."
Fang Ying hugged the documents and froze, realizing Xuan Qing was joking, "Rarely hear the Minister joke."
Lu Qiqin's reaction was bigger, rubbing his arms vigorously: "Sounds kinda scary."
Xuan Qing didn't say more to Fang Ying. Regardless of whose person Zhu Ning actually was, it was obvious she brought new vitality to the Sanitation Center.
Maybe she could stir the Sanitation Center into muddy waters.
Author's Note: The nutrient solution add-on update owed to you guys (3000) is made up! Thank you very much for watering me. Thank you for liking! ??（??ω??）??
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