Chapter 70-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 70: The Black Dental Clinic-1
So cool.
Zhu Ning had only ridden this vehicle before. Back then she sat in the back seat and could only be envious. She'd never driven it. The speed was more than three times that of Zhu Ning's world.
After technological development, human transportation became more technologically advanced. When starting the engine, the entire body outlined a faint red light. After activating ultra-quiet mode, she sped along almost soundlessly.
Zhu Ning wore a full-coverage helmet. Passersby only saw an afterimage, then a motorcycle suddenly sped past them like a fiery red lightning bolt, immediately rushing onto the Sky Highway.
They didn't even know if the driver was male or female, only thinking they were sick. Where did this two-fifty come from racing early in the morning?
It was seven AM. District 103 had just awakened not long ago. Because the steel protective shield wasn't activated and it was a rare good weather day, the entire sky was clean and clear. The Sky Highway was built above the entire city, fundamentally solving the problem of morning traffic jams.
Zhu Ning chose the uppermost lane. There were no cars here temporarily—only her going crazy on a motorcycle early in the morning.
Morning commuters had just gotten up. The suspended early shift trains had only run two rounds. A white crescent moon still hung at the horizon—the moon hadn't even fully clocked out yet.
The Sky Highway was semi-transparent. Tires passing over it felt like crushing the entire city. Everything would be left behind you. When speeding, it felt like rushing straight up to the clouds.
This gave her an illusion—as long as she wanted, she could even fly to space.
Faster. She just wanted to go faster. This was the first time since coming to this world that she felt such pure relaxation.
It was the kind of relaxation after running ten kilometers, the heartfelt joy when pursuing peak experiences. She forgot the cruelty of the zombie world, forgot Eternal Pharma, and forgot the Sanitation Center.
In that moment she only felt herself, her heart pounding wildly. Stimulating exercise secreted dopamine.
Like soaring through the air while skiing, like the leap when skydiving, like about to reach the summit when rock climbing—for her, the endpoint of exercise must be enjoyment and happiness.
This world's extreme sports must be very fun. She even wanted to participate in racing competitions.
The Sky Highway had an end. Zhu Ning only drove for eighteen minutes before having to exit the lane. Completely unsatisfying.
She slowed down to exit the lane, preparing to park the vehicle in an open area. This should be an observation deck where you could see District 103's full view.
A woman's voice suddenly came to her ear: "Hello, I am your vehicle-mounted intelligent system. I'm pleased to serve you. Full vehicle authority was transferred one minute ago. Original data has been completely cleared. Please complete new owner identity authentication."
Zhu Ning even had her own intelligent system!
Not that damn system urging her to purify the world, nor Prometheus who sounded cold and emotionless like a big boss. This thing was more like the AI from Zhu Ning's era—not excessively advanced intelligence, like a butler truly serving her.
Zhu Ning used her Sub-Brain to connect to the new vehicle. Information transmission took only one second. The vehicle-mounted intelligent system entered Zhu Ning's Sub-Brain.
The Sub-Brain could remotely control it. This vehicle had an autopilot system and various modes to choose from.
She'd bought it on impulse, but looking at the vehicle now, it wasn't bad. The speed reached racing level.
And it could be modified. It actually had built-in weapon interfaces—three ballistic channels. So theoretically, as long as Zhu Ning had enough money, she could outfit this thing like a Gundam?
Zhu Ning checked online—no identical model. Vehicles with weapon interfaces mostly cost around eight million. Three ballistic channels had a market price in the tens of millions.
Even if someone wanted to sell immediately, on the second-hand trading market it would still be around six million. From the start, the boss's price was below market value. She bought it for two million five hundred thousand and actually profited?
Who was that boss? Whatever. Low-price clearance sale—don't take it for nothing.
"Hello Miss Zhu, you can give me a new name, or use my initial name Sophia."
"Luxury Car," Zhu Ning said. "You're called Luxury Car."
I spent two million five hundred thousand—you must be called this name.
The vehicle-mounted system had no objections. "Okay."
Zhu Ning laughed at her own chosen name. Today was really interesting.
Zhu Ning sat on a bench. Beside her, Luxury Car crouched quietly like a cheetah. The vehicle's red light hadn't extinguished, in a state of ready to go at any moment.
Zhu Ning looked toward the city district. The earlier emotional fluctuation had disappeared. She was very calm now. Early morning was very suitable for thinking.
For example, she was thinking about one thing—could she just abandon all this and not care?
Her health had renewed to 100. If health really meant lifespan, then stopping here and doing nothing should also allow longevity, right?
As long as she continued using the system, she had to consume life. She had to constantly enter contamination zones to get new Purity Points to supply health consumption.
Endless—enslaved by this thing for a lifetime. Could she stop now?
No. She quickly reached the answer. Eternal Pharma was watching her from behind. Prometheus was waiting ahead. Many things about her hadn't been explained clearly.
Like that quest line to uncover the truth about death—if she didn't complete it, she'd still die. And that Spark Club—Zhu Ning had never learned about it. She probably couldn't escape the original owner's social circle.
She was like being on an endless highway—she could only choose to accelerate or decelerate, but she couldn't choose to stop.
The good news was, she already knew the general game rules and now had some initiative.
Although this initiative seemed insignificant now, Zhu Ning had already planted a seed. She would grow her own tree.
...
When Zhu Ning returned to the Dignified Queen, it was already evening.
Song Zhizhang hadn't left yet. A red hat floated in the room—a small top hat with a tiny bow on the brim. Zhu Ning clearly couldn't see Lin Xiaofeng, but looking at the hat made her heart soften. So cute.
For some reason, Zhu Ning had a feeling of coming home. Except her home was a bit messy—chairs toppled everywhere, furnishings in disarray, as if ransacked by thieves.
Zhu Ning asked: "What are you doing?"
Song Zhizhang showed an expression Zhu Ning had never seen before. He always maintained an elegant smile, like a worldly-wise wanderer who'd washed his hands of the underworld, looking at you as if calculating.
Now he had a smile on his face, with a kindergarten teacher's encouraging gaze. "She's so strong."
Zhu Ning came over to look. "What happened?"
Song Zhizhang: "I'm exploring the boundaries of her abilities."
"She can not only make herself transparent, but can also make things invisible too." Song Zhizhang said. "For example, when she holds a spoon, she can control whether the spoon displays."
Song Zhizhang sounded very pleased, as if he'd found a lifelong cause to strive for.
Zhu Ning glanced over. The red hat floating in the air nodded. Lin Xiaofeng indicated approval.
No wonder the house was so messy. They'd been exploring all day?
Zhu Ning: "Is there a distance limit?"
Song Zhizhang: "Visually it needs to touch the skin. Accuracy is still unknown."
So whatever Lin Xiaofeng touched, she could completely use her ability to make it invisible along with herself. No wonder the clothes on her body also disappeared.
Zhu Ning's system reward this time also included invisibility. The effect should be similar to Lin Xiaofeng's, saving Zhu Ning from exploring herself.
Zhu Ning: "What about size limits?"
Song Zhizhang: "Weight is still unknown. Currently the largest item is a hat."
As soon as Song Zhizhang finished speaking, the floating hat in the house suddenly disappeared. Lin Xiaofeng demonstrated for Zhu Ning with tacit understanding.
Song Zhizhang: "With continuous development, she might be able to make a wall disappear."
"Wow, Xiaofeng is amazing," After Zhu Ning praised, she said quietly to Song Zhizhang: "You're like those awful parents during New Year making their kids perform."
As if constantly saying, come Xiaofeng, show this big sister your skills! Come! Let her see how amazing we are!
Song Zhizhang: "Is it that obvious?"
Zhu Ning nodded: "Very obvious."
Zhu Ning knew Lin Xiaofeng's upbringing environment. She'd originally thought she'd be unhappy about this, but unexpectedly she seemed quite happy.
Lin Xiaofeng seemed eager to prove herself, successively showing her making items disappear—disappearing water cup, disappearing apple, disappearing comb.
Zhu Ning kept smiling and praising, giving the little friend maximum encouragement. Her face smiled until it was a bit stiff.
Finally Song Zhizhang led Lin Xiaofeng back to her room, telling her such a small child must sleep by twelve o'clock.
Song Zhizhang really was good at taking care of children. He genuinely felt Lin Xiaofeng was amazing. The two of them got along unexpectedly harmoniously.
With Song Zhizhang helping her care for the team, she could save a lot of trouble.
Song Zhizhang even had the function of coaxing people to sleep. He even read Lin Xiaofeng a bedtime story.
Zhu Ning listened with one ear. He told a story about an alien fox whose whole family was killed, then met his little friend Black Rabbit. Black Rabbit and he had a common enemy, so they took revenge on the big demon.
Bloody and dark, completely unsuitable for children. But Lin Xiaofeng seemed very interested, constantly asking what happened next, whether the fox and rabbit found the mastermind.
Zhu Ning: "..."
What kind of stuff was this?
While Zhu Ning listened to Song Zhizhang reading bedtime stories, she opened the Dead Post Enthusiasts forum.
Last time Prometheus pushed her a mission she didn't accept. Assuming every Prometheus mission had special significance, this mission should also have something waiting for Zhu Ning to discover.
Zhu Ning was now very proactive about accepting missions. She was very curious what would happen next.
Prometheus seemed to always drop breadcrumbs in front of her, ultimately leading her somewhere. Prometheus couldn't talk to her directly. These dead posts seemed to be the information he wanted to tell her.
Let me see what surprise you've prepared for me this time.
Right after midnight, a gray new post appeared on the forum page.
"There seems to be a person living in my tooth. Is it normal that it talks to me every day?"
A person living in a tooth who could talk? Dead post content was getting more explosive.
If Zhu Ning had a few more missions, she could summarize a collection of Contaminant psychiatric discussions. This sounded like split personality disorder.
This mission seemed different from the one she'd seen before. This was an anonymous mutual aid forum post. The poster would publish their recent problems, and netizens would brainstorm to answer them.
What were normal people's problems? Things like my cat ran away, is there still a chance to find it within 24 hours.
Or how to improve test scores by 100 points in three months—that kind of teenage fantasy post.
There were also some bizarre relationship posts, asking netizens whether to break up. Most netizens' comments were: Break up! Break up immediately!
So this somewhat eerie post sandwiched in the middle seemed very discordant. The main post had no detailed information, only a scanned image of teeth. Those who'd been to the dentist might have this familiar feeling—this thing actually looked quite scary.
The gums covering the teeth weren't photographed, but half a face was captured, along with two hollow nostrils, white bones showing.
Humans looking once was fine, but looking at your own teeth from this perspective for a long time felt very eerie. The more you looked, the stranger it felt—as if those weren't your own teeth, but another person's.
First floor comment: "This image is a bit scary."
"What's scary about it? Haven't been to the dentist? You have one at home, just take it out and look."
"Pervert, posting your dental X-ray online."
"Post some porn, who wants to see dental images? Sick."
"So this is a clickbait title with nothing following? Just making up stories?"
"Tell us your made-up story. I want to see how you'll fabricate it."
"Poster where are you? Hurry up, you've got me hooked and I can't sleep. You have to take responsibility for me."
This title indeed attracted some people. They were all meaningless water posts. Zhu Ning kept scrolling down.
Very strangely, this poster only posted a title and a tooth image at first, then three months later, after netizens had mostly forgotten, started replying.
"Sorry I've been really busy with work lately and haven't had time to go online. I'm really confused—don't your teeth all have people in them? He talks to me every day. Sometimes it's very inappropriate. I'm eating and he suddenly talks. Sometimes when using the toilet he suddenly talks too. I'm a bit troubled. Please advise how to coordinate. Can I make him quiet during work hours? This is very annoying and very impolite."
Zhu Ning frowned. Huang Yaruo also posted a help request, but when Huang Yaruo asked for help, she was very panicked. She deeply realized she'd encountered something abnormal and wanted netizens to give her relief.
But this person's tone—how to put it—he seemed to think having a person living in his tooth was very normal, and other people were abnormal?
Moreover, his troubled problem was that the person living in his tooth spoke at inappropriate times, somewhat disrupting his life.
Split personality?
Comments below: "Yo, you say there's a person in your tooth. What did he tell you? Tomorrow's lottery numbers?"
"Tell me too, I also want to know."
"This is a lunatic. Admin won't delete the post?"
"What advice do you want us to give—help you repair your relationship with the person in your tooth?"
"Break up. Next question."
Most comments were mocking. Some people thought this story was good and suggested he submit it to bathroom reading material.
But the poster was very serious. He replied to every netizen's question one by one: "He told me his tooth hurts."
Comments: "..."
"Damn, got goosebumps all over. There's a person in your tooth, then he says his tooth hurts? Is this person really sick?"
"Suggest calling Public Security Bureau."
"What do you do? You're not really crazy, are you? Are you a novelist looking for material?"
"If it really doesn't work, get a job."
Poster replied: "No, I'm not a novelist. My profession is dentist."
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