Chapter 75-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 75 Black Dental Clinic-6
Tooth Fairy?
The kind where after a child loses a tooth, they hide it under their pillow, and then the Tooth Fairy gives you a gold coin or grants your wish?
Why was the little girl praying to the Tooth Fairy in the toilet? What wish did she want the Tooth Fairy to grant?
Zhu Ning didn't turn around at all. She looked through the mirror at the bottom of the toilet door. The little girl's pink shoes swung back and forth. Looking at them for too long made one a bit dizzy, like hypnosis.
Zhu Ning's sanity had dropped too much. Guarding against all possibilities of Psychic Contamination, she blinked. When she opened her eyes again, the little feet swinging on the toilet were gone.
The little girl's wishing voice had stopped at some point. Zhu Ning glanced. Both toilet doors showed green indicators, meaning no one was inside. There was only her in this restroom. Had she hallucinated due to excessive sanity loss?
The one with the little girl just now was the left stall. Zhu Ning was quite polite at this moment. She first knocked on the door. She had just knocked once when this door opened with a creak. Empty.
Inside was only an empty toilet, but there was still a small whirlpool in the toilet. Either this toilet was broken, or someone really had flushed here just now.
Where did she go? Zhu Ning checked the stall. The stall was enclosed above, not sealed below. She had been outside the whole time, so no one could have run out. She should still be in the restroom.
Zhu Ning closed the stall door. From this angle, she could only see the bottom of the toilet. No little girl's feet. She paused for a while, then squatted down and looked into the stall interior from below again.
This posture was a bit like some perverted voyeur, but the older generation said some things you couldn't normally see could be seen from a different angle. Zhu Ning looked from bottom to top. This time she didn't see pink shoes.
She saw a pair of eyes.
A child's eyes. Children's eyes had large black pupils and clear whites. Only an inch away from Zhu Ning, almost pressed against Zhu Ning's helmet.
Have you ever tried looking at someone's eyes upside down? Or looking at an inverted face for a long time? After looking long enough, you'll feel the other party isn't human, but another creature similar yet opposite to you.
Long eyelashes below, eyebrows below, the entire pair of eyes inverted, gazing at you. They were separated by a helmet visor, but she felt warmth, human breath, as if those eyes had temperature.
Two hands had reached out from under the stall partition at some point. Two juvenile hands gripped the bottom of the stall door upside down, then looked at her innocently. Had this little girl been hanging upside down behind the door all along?
Zhu Ning didn't move, imagining the other party's posture. Behind the toilet door was a little girl hanging upside down. They were making eye contact through a door.
"Hehe—" The little girl laughed.
[Sanity decreased by 5%]
Here it came again. Sanity was decreasing. Zhu Ning tried to convince herself this was normal, but she couldn't seem to convince herself. This was very abnormal. She couldn't even figure out how the little girl was leveraging herself.
Sanity had already decreased by 31%. If it broke through the 50% critical point, she might go insane.
The dental clinic kept trying every means to contaminate her. What did this Contamination Zone want to do? Contaminate her and make her stay here as a doctor forever?
Knock knock knock—
Zhu Ning jerked her head around. Xu Mei's voice came from outside. "Doctor?"
Xu Mei had come looking for her. Zhu Ning took a deep breath and looked toward the little girl again.
Disappeared. Zhu Ning opened the toilet stall. No one inside. She looked from below again but didn't see anything.
"Doctor?" Xu Mei was urging her.
Zhu Ning had been inside for a long time. Xu Mei tried to push open the restroom door, but the interior was locked. She turned the doorknob, pushing hard but couldn't push it open.
So Xu Mei could only press her face against the restroom door, as if wanting to forcibly squeeze in with her cheek. At this moment, she still maintained her smile. "Doctor?"
As soon as Zhu Ning opened the door, she saw Xu Mei like this. She maintained an eavesdropping posture. When the door opened, she didn't fall forward with inertia, as if that door was still there.
Her eyeballs rolled. Her gaze fixed on Zhu Ning's face. "Doctor?"
This nurse was really very abnormal.
Zhu Ning asked as steadily as possible: "What is it?"
Xu Mei's eyeballs rolled. Her expression was very mechanical, like a robot wearing human skin. Even pure mechanical people like Fang Ying were more human than her.
Xu Mei stared at the tooth on Zhu Ning's neck. Whether it was an illusion or not, Zhu Ning always felt Xu Mei's gaze was very greedy. She seemed... very hungry?
Zhu Ning frowned at this thought, but she hadn't felt wrong. Xu Mei looked at her like looking at food.
When she first entered, Xu Mei didn't have this reaction. Since the tooth grew on Zhu Ning, Xu Mei showed this expression. She wanted to eat the tooth on her neck?
"You've been inside for a long time," Xu Mei licked her dry lips. Because she had to maintain an eight-tooth smile the whole time, the motion seemed stiff and eerie. "I was very worried about you."
Definitely not really worried. Zhu Ning ignored her, acting more composed than Xu Mei, and walked straight out of the restroom door.
She walked two steps and found Xu Mei hadn't followed. She asked: "Aren't you coming?"
Xu Mei made an "oh" sound, then stood at attention and followed Zhu Ning. The restroom wasn't far from the treatment room. Just a few steps. When Zhu Ning passed other treatment rooms, she glanced inside.
The doctor inside wore a mask and white coat, holding a drill drilling in a patient's mouth. For a moment, blood flew. The entire treatment room was filled with screams.
"Doctor, it hurts so much!"
"Doctor, save me!"
Clearly there was only one doctor, one patient, one assistant physician, and one nurse inside, yet it seemed like hundreds of voices. Zhu Ning's motion of pushing the door alarmed them. All four turned their heads in unison to look over.
Except for the patient, all wore masks, so three people only showed three pairs of cold eyes. Blood had already splattered around their eyes.
Especially the two doctors. Their hands were covered in blood. At this moment, they seemed paused, coldly looking at Zhu Ning. Blood sprayed onto the ceiling. Half the treatment room was bloody. Where was this a treatment room? It was simply like a slaughterhouse. The lying patient was livestock about to be slaughtered. However, ordinary slaughterhouses cut off meat, while they wanted the patient's teeth.
"Sorry," Zhu Ning backed out. "Wrong door."
After she backed out, the treatment room seemed like nothing had happened. The doctor lowered his head again, gaze aimed at the patient's teeth.
Zhu Ning checked the remaining two treatment rooms. They were all similar, all conducting bloody treatments. It seemed if Zhu Ning had chosen to proceed with treatment just now, she would have entered this stage.
During this process, Xu Mei kept following behind her. Zhu Ning could feel Xu Mei's gaze. Her eyes were like something tangible, falling on her body with weight.
Zhu Ning now was like being watched by a wolf. The other party was waiting for the moment she was exhausted, about to pounce and hunt. Xu Mei walked without sound. Zhu Ning would often space out for a moment, turn around, and see Xu Mei pressed tightly behind her.
Zhu Ning closed the doors of other treatment rooms and asked seemingly casually: "Does our clinic have little girls?"
Xu Mei: "Yes, many. Many many."
Having children at a dental clinic was very normal. Having little girls was also very normal. But Xu Mei's answer was strange. She emphasized several times. What did "many many" mean?
Zhu Ning asked: "Has anyone had an accident in the restroom?"
Xu Mei said dryly: "No."
Xu Mei said no. Did she not know, or was there really nothing? If Xu Mei was a normal person who mistakenly entered the Contamination Zone and was slowly assimilated by the dental clinic, then it was normal for her to not actually understand the entire dental clinic's history.
Zhu Ning asked: "How long have you been here?"
Xu Mei: "One month."
One month wasn't long for a job, but for a human staying in a Contamination Zone, it was long. The limit time for normal people in a Contamination Zone was six hours. Having worked for a month, she should already be a Contaminant.
Zhu Ning: "Where do you live? Is it far?"
Xu Mei looked at Zhu Ning's neck. From beginning to end, her gaze never left the tooth on Zhu Ning's neck. She could barely hold back. She swallowed. "34, 12."
Xu Mei reported her home address like reporting coordinates. This should be their complex's unique communication method.
Right at Building 34, Floor 12. It was really very possible to mistakenly enter this place. Zhu Ning seemed to have passed Xu Mei's home when she came up just now.
Zhu Ning made an "ah" sound, really like chatting with someone. "So close. Very convenient for work."
This sentence from Zhu Ning was testing her. Xu Mei didn't reply to this small talk. Maybe her intelligence wasn't high enough. She seemed to only be able to answer questions or do things with clear instructions. Small talk had no clear directionality, so Xu Mei couldn't make prescribed actions.
Zhu Ning changed the question: "Are you still on probation?"
Xu Mei's expression suddenly became very serious. "I still have two months of probation. I must work hard to pass the assessment."
Xu Mei was very afraid of being fired. She really liked this job. According to Zhu Ning's understanding, medical care now was very different from her era. Nurses in many large hospitals had already been replaced by machines.
Replacing them didn't even require mechanical people. Just machines would do. Machines were more durable, easier to control, and easier to standardize.
Nurses should have trouble finding work now. And Xu Mei looked about forty years old. Being older should make it even harder to find work.
Similarly, those doctors were also working very hard. She heard traditional dentists were now also replaced by medical pods. Dentists' situations weren't great either. This dental clinic seemed to accommodate many people eliminated by society.
If the world was a large operating machine, those aging parts that retired were absorbed by the dental clinic.
Zhu Ning slowly figured out some of the background of this Contamination Zone. She asked: "What's the fifth floor for?"
That door had no handle and no keyhole. Zhu Ning was wondering if she could open it with her universal key.
They were about to reach the treatment room. After Zhu Ning asked, she didn't hear an answer for a long time. She turned around and found Xu Mei hadn't followed. She stood in the shadows, staring deadly at Zhu Ning. "Can't go in."
She raised her eyes, showing large whites like rolling her eyes. She repeated, "Can't go in."
Logically, Zhu Ning should continue asking why, but after seeing Xu Mei's performance, she didn't inquire further. She always felt if she stimulated her more, Xu Mei would lose control.
Zhu Ning walked back to her treatment room. Inside was about the same as when she left. No new patients had come in.
Xu Mei stood at the door. Zhu Ning sat behind the office desk, arms crossed, looking at her. This time she was very experienced. Her gaze wouldn't leave Xu Mei for half a step. This nurse still really wanted to eat her.
While staring at Xu Mei, Zhu Ning thought. She had gone to the restroom just now and learned a lot of information.
First, the fifth floor couldn't be entered. Looking at Xu Mei's performance, this should be forbidden ground for employees.
What would happen if you went in? Xu Mei didn't say. Maybe the dental clinic's secret was hidden inside. That door's style was too different from ordinary doors. It was simply like some kind of pointer.
Xu Mei followed Zhu Ning the whole time. She had no way to check the fifth floor door under Xu Mei's watchful eyes.
Second, there was a little girl in the restroom. She made a wish to the Tooth Fairy but didn't say what her wish was.
Why was that little girl in the restroom hanging upside down? Was she the Source of Contamination?
Third, this Contamination Zone could be freely entered and exited, providing re-employment opportunities for the unemployed.
This employment opportunity didn't mean paying you a salary. Xu Mei had obviously become a Contaminant. She probably no longer needed money. What Xu Mei needed was psychological comfort.
Subconsciously, she felt she must go to work. This instinct drove her to enter the Contamination Zone, then she was absorbed by the dental clinic.
There was another question Zhu Ning didn't understand. What about their customer base? Why were there so many endless patients?
After Zhu Ning entered, she found that except for her treatment room which had no one, the other three rooms were very busy. Patients kept coming in and out. Where did so many patients come from?
Zhu Ning randomly pulled out a medical record. The writing on it was still like garbled code. Unless you were familiar with the handwriting, it was hard to recognize.
Zhu Ning gave up immediately the first time she looked. She had no clue at all. She didn't know several professional terms either. She didn't even know in what direction to guess.
Last time she looked, she only focused on dates. This time she focused more on content. While guarding against Xu Mei approaching, she looked at the second medical record. She took out ten in total. Looking at ten comparatively, the doctor's flying handwriting was like graphics to Zhu Ning.
She gave up reading directly from a text perspective and treated these medical record contents as pictures. Among the ten medical records, there were several identical "graphics."
Written equally distorted, but based on context, one could roughly guess. When humans read text, once the brain has some associations, they can inexplicably understand some content.
Five characters appeared repeatedly on different medical records: "After... effects... syndrome?"
Zhu Ning carefully compared the three characters. Aftereffects. These three characters should be correct. Aftereffects appearing in medical records was very normal, but what were the first two characters? Written really too sloppily. She could only tell both characters had top-bottom structure.
Should be a professional term. The second character looked very much like the character for dream.
"Dream?" Zhu Ning murmured: "What dream?"
While speed-reading, she glanced at Xu Mei. Xu Mei kept her head lowered, maintaining her smile without moving. Actually, Xu Mei's current state was quite eerie. Zhu Ning meant, on the premise that this nurse was always abnormal, she now seemed very eerie.
But Zhu Ning couldn't care about that much. She didn't have much time left. She pulled out more medical records. After having a guess direction, it was easier to find the target. She wanted to search for this keyword.
As long as she read enough medical records and had a definite target, it was easy to find one written less sloppily.
"Black?" Zhu Ning read this character aloud. "Black, Dream?"
What was Black Dream? Black Dream aftereffects?
Was the aftereffect reaction bad teeth? Was it the kind she just saw where a person grew in the teeth?
Crack—
This sound was really too crisp. Zhu Ning raised her head, just in time to see Xu Mei's neck tilting left. She had actually broken her own neck bone. Her neck split open like a mouth.
She couldn't hold back anymore!
Author's Note:
Fixed the sanity part of yesterday's chapter a bit. No need to go back and look. Just know that Ning Bao's sanity has already been deducted by 31. Happy! Holidays! Sending sincere blessings. Wishing everyone sudden wealth! All become rich ladies!
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