Chapter 80-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 80 Black Dental Clinic-11
Zhu Ning didn't move. Just like when being targeted by a large predator—don't move randomly. The more you move, the sooner you die.
She maintained her position with her back to the door, looking behind her through the glass reflection. Glass wasn't a mirror—the reflected figure was very blurry.
When did it appear? Why was there no sound?
Was this a person or a ghost? It definitely wasn't a Contaminant from the dental clinic. If it belonged to the dental clinic, it should have turned into rotting flesh when Gao Zijian died.
A monster? Another kind of creature? An assassin sent by Eternal Pharma?
Whatever it was, its ability to appear here silently was extremely eerie.
Zhu Ning's right hand had been hanging naturally. While watching the black figure in the mirror, she carefully moved her fingers.
She guessed the notebook was in the chair—this was the most suitable place to hide things. Gao Zijian probably sat at the desk every day in contemplation. That notebook had been looked at by him countless times. This position should have been where Gao Zijian's father used to sit, so he eventually hid the notebook under the chair.
Zhu Ning's right hand had already found the hidden compartment at the chair's edge.
Click—
The chair seat really could open. The notebook was hidden in the chair's compartment. Zhu Ning's fingertips had just touched the notebook's edge.
But this faint sound alerted the black shadow behind her. It suddenly charged toward her.
[Notebook successfully stored.] The System notification sounded.
Zhu Ning had used the Blank Card. The notebook suddenly vanished, transformed into a card placed in Zhu Ning's inner coat pocket.
At the same time, Zhu Ning drew her gun. After trying firearms in the dental clinic and finding them useless, she hadn't used guns much. Her ammunition was very abundant.
She had already calculated the position of the figure behind her through the mirror, so the first shot didn't require turning around, yet still hit the target. For a professional shooter, hitting a target through a mirror's reflection was basic operation.
But that bullet passed through the black figure with a whoosh. The sound of it passing through was very strange—it didn't sound like hitting a human head at all. The spinning bullet punched a large hole in his face.
The bullet's lethality was great, forming a circular hole in the black figure's face with very regular edges. For a moment, the black head only had a thin rim left.
Zhu Ning had hit the target with one shot, but it seemed she had only scattered him.
Zhu Ning kicked the desk, using the reaction force to propel herself in another direction, dodging the black shadow pouncing from behind.
When Zhu Ning turned around, she saw the black shadow's face was growing back, like sprouting flesh, rapidly accelerating its wriggling.
This thing could... regenerate?
This time Zhu Ning got a clear look at the full appearance of the black shadow. About two meters tall, completely indistinguishable as male or female. Black shadows like struggling lines writhed wildly on its body. At first glance, it looked like a puffed-up hedgehog.
Bang bang bang!
Zhu Ning pulled out another gun, firing both simultaneously. She could tell this thing was different from Xu Mei. Xu Mei's outer shell was hard—bullets couldn't even penetrate her.
But bullets could penetrate the black shadow. Even if the damage wasn't great, it could still restrict his movement.
After a barrage of gunfire, bullets clattered to the ground. The black shadow before her looked like it had been turned into a honeycomb. Zhu Ning could see through the bullet holes in his body to the other side. Even so, he hadn't completely dispersed, but continued to grow.
Zhu Ning frowned. What exactly was this thing?
...
Pei Shu pushed open the dental clinic's door.
A putrid smell hit them from the dental clinic. Blood-colored Contamination Spores danced in the air. An experienced person could tell at a glance what had happened here.
Pei Shu had originally thought Zhu Ning was certainly dead. That would be perfect—if Liu Niannian saw Zhu Ning's corpse, she might have second thoughts about going out on adventures. The Lu family's education of her seemed permissive, but had a sense of letting her hit a wall.
Once she hit a wall, Liu Niannian would see the real world. She would instantly understand the cruelty of the outside world. Afterward, Liu Niannian would obediently go home and be a proper young lady, not doing things beyond her capabilities.
Pei Shu had brought Liu Niannian up to find Zhu Ning's corpse. Unfortunately, he didn't find Zhu Ning's corpse—instead, he found the contamination source's corpse.
Pei Shu clicked his tongue. "She actually purified it solo?"
Beside him, Liu Niannian was wearing the cat protective suit. She had been nervous inside, thinking she was coming in to collect Zhu Ning's body as Pei Shu had said.
Now Liu Niannian felt inexplicably proud. "I told you my boss is amazing!"
Pei Shu: "..."
Young lady, could you not call her "boss" so naturally? Your father is the real big boss!
Pei Shu asked, "How much does she pay you for each trip?"
Liu Niannian: "One million."
She got this much for every mission. Zhu Ning seemed to have an agreement with her—no one had ever mentioned raising the price. Liu Niannian wasn't short on money and didn't know if this amount was a lot.
Pei Shu made a sound of acknowledgment. "She's quite generous to you. Didn't rip you off."
Slightly higher than market price.
One of Pei Shu's jobs was to evaluate people who appeared around Liu Niannian. Looking at it this way, Zhu Ning seemed decent.
Liu Niannian was enthusiastic about work and had already taken out the Contamination Spore containment device to start collecting. Pei Shu wasn't in a hurry. He leisurely walked around the dental clinic's first floor. When he was a Demon Hunter, he quite liked visiting freshly purified Contamination Zones. You could deduce a person's personality from the clues at the scene.
This scene was really very clean. All the metal objects in the dental clinic had been used, including chairs, staircase railings, and parts. You could tell she had been using metal the whole time. Was this mysterious boss a metal-type ability user?
Zhu Ning hadn't taken the violent approach. She had found the real contamination source, then killed it to purify the Contamination Zone.
Pei Shu hadn't seen such an old-school purification method in a long time. There weren't many living people left in The Ant Nest. If pushed to the limit, she could have used explosive weapons to violently level the place, achieving purification that way.
It had to be said, this mysterious person really had something.
Pei Shu looked around and said, "Although I don't know what you're doing following her, if you want to get close to her, I suggest you hold onto her tight."
She was definitely not simple. Twice she had stepped on Eternal Pharma's face. Did she have a grudge against Eternal Pharma?
Moreover, she had a deep relationship with that prestigious Queen's store. Being able to provoke Eternal Pharma multiple times and get away unscathed was already terrifying.
In this contaminated world, who knew when the high walls might collapse. No amount of money was as important as talent.
When you're out and about, don't make enemies. Being able to read the timing and direction of the wind was important. Making one more friend might be a good thing for Liu Niannian.
Liu Niannian nodded emphatically. She had long seen that Zhu Ning wasn't simple. Pei Shu had basically stamped Zhu Ning with a seal of approval, affirming Liu Niannian's judgment.
Pei Shu asked, "Where's your boss?"
Liu Niannian: "I don't know."
She looked around but didn't see Zhu Ning's shadow. She remembered last time at the Roman City neighborhood, Zhu Ning might have had her sanity damaged—she hadn't been in good condition that day.
Liu Niannian had been about to start working, but after hearing Pei Shu's words, she became curious. Right, where was Zhu Ning?
If the mission was over, Zhu Ning would definitely contact her to come in and collect the Contamination Spores. Up until now, Zhu Ning hadn't appeared. Liu Niannian had sent a message but got no reply. Had something happened to her?
Liu Niannian put away the containment tools and followed Pei Shu to the dental clinic's fifth floor. They had checked—there was no one on the lower four floors. The emergency stairwells on both sides of the fifth floor were also open, with a dark corridor behind them. Had Zhu Ning gone this way?
Liu Niannian had just moved, wanting to walk into the corridor to look, when Pei Shu grabbed her shoulder. "Don't move."
Pei Shu's voice was very serious. Along with these words, his right hand dropped and had already drawn a gun. Pei Shu wasn't joking with her.
Liu Niannian didn't need to ask more, because she saw a black shadow flash before her eyes. The shadow moved very fast, making rustling sounds as it crawled past.
Rustle rustle—
The thing itself made no sound, but The Ant Nest had fallen into disrepair. Crawling over the rafters naturally made noise.
That was... what?
Liu Niannian thought she had seen wrong. Hadn't this Contamination Zone been purified? What was that thing? A Contaminant or an ability user?
Bang! Suddenly, gunfire came from the end of the corridor, sounding very abrupt in an abandoned neighborhood.
Bang bang bang—
The gunfire continued, as if someone was continuously shooting. Liu Niannian listened carefully—sixty-four shots total.
There were two intervals in between—either reloading or being obstructed by something, unable to fire immediately. What couldn't be killed after sixty-four shots? Was the shooter Zhu Ning? Was she in danger?
Suddenly, the gunfire stopped. After the dense gunfire, it was like someone had pressed pause. The entire dental clinic fell into an eerie silence. There was still quite a bit of rotting flesh at Liu Niannian's feet.
Pei Shu blocked Liu Niannian. "Let's go first."
Liu Niannian wasn't that foolish. The current situation had far exceeded the safety parameters she and Pei Shu had agreed upon. She should follow orders and evacuate.
No matter what happened, protecting Liu Niannian's life was the top priority. If something happened to her here today, Pei Shu would be the one in trouble.
But before they could move, they heard the sound of someone running. That person was heading in their direction.
The person was running very fast, with light footsteps. They must be very agile.
Pei Shu had already raised his gun, aimed at the dark corridor. In the pitch-black dental clinic, they were all using their helmets' night vision to see. This wasn't as sensitive as human eyes and made it easy to not see clearly in the dark.
Bang! When that person ran to the other side of the corridor, Pei Shu pulled the trigger without thinking.
By this time, Liu Niannian had already seen clearly who was on the other side. Having worked together several times, it was easy to identify them by their figure.
"Wait!" Liu Niannian shouted. She wanted to stop Pei Shu but it was too late. A bullet had already spun out.
The first time Pei Shu saw the boss Liu Niannian kept talking about was this scene. He had just fired a shot when Liu Niannian grabbed his wrist—too late to stop it.
A woman ran out of the dark corridor, moving extremely fast. She wore a black protective suit, but her helmet visor was gone somewhere. Half her face was covered in blood. A pair of eyes appeared extremely sharp in the darkness, like a leopard emerging from the shadows.
That bullet didn't pierce Zhu Ning's forehead. Instead, it suddenly stopped about a meter away. An invisible defensive wall rose up. The bullet hung in the air for a second, then fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Metal-type ability? Pei Shu was stunned for a moment, identifying her ability.
"Liu Niannian?" That person spoke.
Zhu Ning had barely escaped from Gao Zijian's home. Before she even reached the dental clinic, she was shot at the entrance.
She immediately recognized Liu Niannian—she was still wearing the white cat protective suit. But she wasn't alone. There was someone beside her wearing a dark protective suit that looked more like a Demon Hunter's. His protective suit was more professional, covered in metal, giving off a cold gleam.
He looked like a professional bodyguard. Did the young lady need protection when going out?
"Who's he?" Zhu Ning frowned. Pei Shu's gun was still pointed at her. Was he trying to shoot her dead?
Liu Niannian couldn't process this much information at once. She reacted for a moment, wanting to push down Pei Shu's hand but couldn't move it. "Pei Shu. My teacher."
Pei Shu asked coldly, "Where's your helmet?"
Only then did Zhu Ning remember this issue. She had no helmet. To others, she probably looked like a Contaminant who could mutate at any moment.
So Pei Shu had his gun aimed at her. She had no relationship with Pei Shu. An experienced Demon Hunter would choose to shoot her dead.
Zhu Ning looked at him provocatively. "Either kill me now, or start thinking about how to escape."
As if to match Zhu Ning's words, after she finished speaking, the rustling sounds from behind grew louder. A black figure emerged from deep in the corridor, its body full of bullet holes, some of which had already healed.
Zhu Ning had used the Putrid Fish Head's acceleration function to create some distance from the thing behind her. After chatting with Pei Shu for a bit, the distance had already been shortened.
Pei Shu immediately assessed the current situation and moved his gun away. Compared to Zhu Ning who might mutate, the monster behind her had higher priority. This time the gun was aimed at the black shadow behind Zhu Ning.
When the bullet spun out, it suddenly ignited with flames, like someone striking a match in the darkness.
The bullet embedded itself in the black shadow's body. Flames instantly licked upward. Zhu Ning heard the monster behind her let out a scream. It seemed to want to crawl toward them but failed.
The absolute power of the flames held it firmly in place. After about fifteen seconds, the black shadow turned to ashes on the spot.
Fire-type ability? The Liu family really was a plutocracy. The bodyguard they brought wasn't just a Demon Hunter but also an ability user.
This was Zhu Ning's first time seeing an ability user use their power up close. She watched with envy.
Pei Shu had only killed one. There was obviously more than one here. Something was still crawling along the ceiling. Most of The Ant Nest was metal construction, with hollow spaces between buildings. Zhu Ning couldn't imagine how many of these things were hidden inside.
The black shadows were practically cockroaches that had become spirits. The moment she found one, it was like finding countless more. She could imagine hundreds of black figures crawling right above her head. These things were obviously not Contaminants from the dental clinic.
Zhu Ning immediately joined Pei Shu's team. She, Liu Niannian, and Pei Shu stood back to back, forming a new squad. With this thing around, more people meant more safety.
Pei Shu had just accepted that this was Liu Niannian's boss, then accepted that she had no helmet. He hadn't expected her to be so familiar—instantly grouping the three of them as a team.
However, if Zhu Ning didn't mutate, it would increase their survival probability. Pei Shu drew a circle of flames around them, enclosing all three inside.
Zhu Ning asked, "What is that thing?"
Pei Shu also hadn't expected to encounter them here. "Xenomorphs."
Xenomorphs? What were Xenomorphs? Had Zhu Ning missed that in her Demon Hunter courses? She'd never heard of them. Didn't the Cleaning Center teach such important things?
Pei Shu: "It's normal that you don't know. Those delicate flowers at the Cleaning Center probably haven't seen many. This is my first time seeing them inside the walls too."
Zhu Ning: "..."
This was the first time she'd heard someone call the Cleaning Center's Demon Hunters "delicate flowers."
"In heavily contaminated areas outside the walls, besides contamination sources, there are also Xenomorphs near Contamination Zones. They usually appear after the contamination source disappears. They're also produced by the mutation of humans or animals and plants, and they feed on human flesh and blood."
Zhu Ning understood. Contaminants' goal was to contaminate you, assimilate you, make you one of them. The techniques they used tended toward psychic contamination.
But Xenomorphs were more like monsters. Their purpose was simpler and clearer—I want to eat your body.
Divided by the high walls, there were actually two worlds. The Cleaning Center only handled contamination inside the cities. So the world outside the walls was this dangerous. No wonder humans could only huddle in survivor bases.
Under The Ant Nest's years of contamination, this place no longer just had contamination sources—it had developed contamination conditions similar to outside the walls.
Although the Xenomorphs here seemed quite immature compared to those outside, the situation had suddenly become very complicated. The question was: how were they supposed to collect Contamination Spores under these circumstances?
Without a high-tech protective barrier, if left alone, the Contamination Spores in The Ant Nest could easily drift out.
Zhu Ning now had a stomach ache. It was like she had worked hard on an exam. The two-hour exam time was almost up. She had written all over the test paper, thinking she was about to be free. Then she flipped it over—surprise!
There was still another side she hadn't written!
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