Chapter 85-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

Chapter 85 Interests

Lu Yuan, or rather Liu Niannian, really liked Zhu Ning.

This was easy to understand. For her, it was like how domestic animals always envied wild ones.

Zhu Ning was a leopard in the snowy mountains, a lone wolf in the desert, a raptor in the sky.

But Liu Niannian was a domesticated cat. She lived in a beautiful glass house, every strand of fur sleek and silky. She was purebred and expensive, yet had absolutely no control over her own life.

What kind of life did a first-class citizen plutocrat's daughter lead?

She couldn't inherit the family business. The company didn't belong to her. Compared to her brother, she only had shares and real estate under her name. She could never become the one at the helm.

Her future would likely involve an arranged marriage with an equally well-matched plutocrat family, or finding a Natural male with excellent genes to continue the Lu family's natural bloodline.

Just like how a cat of exceptional breed served primarily to mate and continue the bloodline, Liu Niannian's reproductive value far outweighed everything else.

She had known these things since childhood, so the education she received was all geared toward making her more beautiful, more obedient, more qualified.

The family doted on her greatly, especially her brother, who would grant her every request. But their way of doting was like looking at a pet.

They gave her enormous amounts of money, luxurious jewelry. She could sit atop mountains of gold and silver forever. They could tacitly permit some "rebellion" within prescribed boundaries. They could hire the best teachers for her. They looked forward to her hitting walls outside and then returning home, disheveled and defeated.

If Liu Niannian had accepted this arrangement deep down, she could have lived very well. She could have truly lived without any worries, effortlessly obtaining everything she wanted.

But she didn't accept it. Her greatest pain lay in her inability to accept it.

She had seen her family's gardener, had seen ordinary people affected by Psychic Contamination. She knew about the existence of Contaminants, and from then on, her curiosity about this became unstoppable.

So Liu Niannian liked to do adventurous things within her boundaries. It was like knowing you could never escape the cage, but that didn't stop you from exploring its edges.

Bigger. Farther. She wanted to see the world outside the cage.

In the hotpot restaurant, she had almost regretted it. She would have to pay the price for her adventurousness. She thought she would die in the hotpot restaurant. But that was when she met Zhu Ning.

It wasn't as simple as Zhu Ning saving her. No matter how willful or reckless Liu Niannian was, someone would always foot the bill for her willfulness. This was her birthright capital. She knew what reactions her actions could provoke.

But after Zhu Ning appeared, she gave her a job. Zhu Ning said she had a talent for scavenging. That was the first time Liu Niannian had been seen for a different kind of value.

Or rather, apart from Zhu Ning, no one had ever seen her other value.

Liu Niannian looked down at her right hand. She still remembered the feeling of Zhu Ning gripping her hand. In the pitch-dark stairwell of The Ant Nest, with High-Level Xenomorphs overhead, even Pei Shu behind her was trembling. She had been freezing all over, enormous panic engulfing her.

Then a hand grabbed hers—so clear and strong, as if she could feel Zhu Ning's heartbeat through that hand. Zhu Ning had transmitted some kind of strength to her.

So she could muster the courage to walk through that stretch, passing many monsters without fear.

This made Liu Niannian feel that her future might not be predetermined. She didn't necessarily have to walk down that path. She might be able to reach somewhere more open.

Zhu Ning didn't know what she had brought her, but Liu Niannian did.

Liu Niannian looked into Zhu Ning's eyes and said, "I really like you."

Huh?

Zhu Ning had been thinking about Prometheus. She suddenly looked up. What had she just heard?

Liu Niannian's gaze fell on her, appearing deeply affectionate and earnest, like a future queen bestowing an honor upon you.

Liu Niannian's family background, status, and this mansion all made whatever she said seem very significant. That damned sense of atmosphere.

Liu Niannian: "I also really like scavenging."

Zhu Ning: "Oh."

This young lady really had a way of burying the lede.

Liu Niannian: "If you ever run into trouble, you can come to me. If you want to work for the Lu family, I can arrange a position for you too."

Was this... a plutocrat recruitment event?

Through her, Zhu Ning could easily enter the Lu family and might even access the family's core, because Liu Niannian herself was at the core.

Moreover, judging from Eternal Pharma's reaction, in the Federation, the only entity that could possibly stand against the massive pharmaceutical corporation was Creation Technology. These two companies definitely had some deep collaboration between them.

If Zhu Ning accepted Liu Niannian's offer, she could free herself from the Sanitation Center's troubles and escape Eternal Pharma's pursuit. She would become one of them.

She could find Bao Ruiming's consciousness. She could fulfill the promise she had made to Lin Xiaofeng.

Although Zhu Ning didn't understand why Liu Niannian liked her so much, she could sense one thing—she didn't quite like it.

She didn't like this. It felt like Prometheus looking down on them from above, saying they should become friends at this stage, and so they would build a friendship. Human emotions didn't work that way.

She loved making friends. She hadn't deliberately tried to please Liu Niannian or given her any special care.

Liu Niannian in the hotpot restaurant had just been her mission objective. And in The Ant Nest, Zhu Ning wouldn't have abandoned anyone regardless of who they were.

When Liu Niannian said she wanted to get to know each other properly, Zhu Ning had genuinely wanted to make a friend. That moment's feeling had been ruined by Prometheus.

She felt like a scumbag approaching a rich beauty—getting close with ulterior motives, doing anything for personal gain, planning to destroy the beauty's entire family in the future, then saying "I love you" with deep affection.

This made Zhu Ning feel extremely disgusted with herself. She had once been unable to determine whether the Wasteland was real or whether the Zombie World was real. Her greatest sense of security came from knowing her own feelings were real.

Now she couldn't even be certain of the authenticity of her feelings.

...

Zhu Ning left the mansion.

She ran into Pei Shu downstairs. He was leaning against a wrecked car, smoking.

That car should have been a Luxury Car, but now the door was dented, the windows shattered, and the body covered in claw marks from unidentified creatures. You didn't even need to ask to know what had happened.

Pei Shu himself wasn't in much better shape. His armor had a crack in it, with a piece gouged out.

Pei Shu wasn't wearing a helmet. Who knew where the helmet had gone. Had he fought a battle with the High-Level Xenomorphs?

He had actually made it out of The Ant Nest single-handedly. He really was an expert.

Pei Shu himself exuded a thick aura of world-weariness—a veteran who had fought abroad for years, retired from the field, and then reluctantly ended up working for a plutocrat's daughter.

His entire being radiated extremely low energy, his face practically reading: Whatever. Let it all burn.

What was particularly striking was the wound on his forehead. He must have been injured. A line of blood had run from his temple to his chin and had now dried. But where the wound should have been, scattered sparks now showed through the broken skin.

His wound was burning.

It was hard to describe that sight. It was as if Pei Shu's body was filled with magma, and the wound was like a cut that let you see his insides. It gave her a very eerie feeling—a strong urge to tear that wound open wider, deeper, to see more of the blood-stained flames.

Zhu Ning frowned. So this was an Ability User?

Pei Shu spoke around his cigarette: "Well hello there, miss."

Zhu Ning could hear his gritted teeth and immediately praised him. "You're really amazing!"

She was genuinely sincere. Having dealt with High-Level Xenomorphs herself now, Zhu Ning knew Pei Shu was truly impressive.

You don't slap a smiling face. Pei Shu clicked his tongue, not taking Zhu Ning's compliment to heart.

Thinking about having ditched him, Zhu Ning felt a bit embarrassed. She cleared her throat. "I'm Zhu Ning. Cleaner. Fifth-class citizen."

She was formally introducing herself to Pei Shu. Pei Shu showed no reaction to what she said, nor was he shocked by her citizen class.

He exhaled a puff of smoke. "Pei Shu. Demon Hunter. Fire-type Ability User. Used to be an Outside-the-Wall Investigator. Now I'm a plutocrat's lapdog."

Zhu Ning: "..."

Sir, your self-introduction is a bit hardcore.

Zhu Ning: "Um, Teacher Pei..."

Pei Shu: "I don't deserve the title."

Zhu Ning, completely shameless: "Can I ask you a question?"

Pei Shu: "Go ahead."

Zhu Ning suspected Pei Shu had some kind of passive teacher skill—as long as someone asked a question, he would answer.

Zhu Ning: "I've encountered a situation. I don't know what category she falls into."

Zhu Ning had asked Song Zhizhang before, but Song Zhizhang didn't know what Lin Xiaofeng's current condition counted as. Pei Shu had been outside the walls and was well-traveled—he might know.

Zhu Ning had been thinking about Lin Xiaofeng. She had originally thought Lin Xiaofeng was an Ability User, but after seeing the High-Level Xenomorphs, she was no longer sure.

Zhu Ning gave a concise account of what had happened inside the Mechanical Oceanarium. She didn't feel this was something Pei Shu couldn't hear. Given Pei Shu's background, he might have known about it long ago.

Although her narration was simple, she only omitted her own part. Everything else was described in great detail. She was like a patient consulting an experienced doctor, afraid of leaving out some key detail that might affect Pei Shu's judgment.

Pei Shu truly had a teacher's patience. He didn't interrupt, listening carefully throughout.

After Zhu Ning finished, Pei Shu finally spoke. "I think you've all gotten one thing wrong."

Zhu Ning: "What?"

Pei Shu: "Why are you so fixated on categorizing people?"

Zhu Ning was stunned. She suddenly realized her approach was no different from those first-class citizens of the Federation. They divided people into different categories and then set separate rules for each category, as if anything that didn't fit a certain definition was heresy.

But after the Great Radiation, biological diversity was so rich. There were so many creatures outside the walls that Zhu Ning had never seen.

Lin Xiaofeng simply didn't fit existing definitions. Why did she have to be one of—Ability User, High-Level Xenomorph, or Source of Contamination? Couldn't she be something entirely new?

Or rather, if Lin Xiaofeng lived outside the walls, she might just be one of the ordinary masses.

As long as she was stable and controllable, what she was didn't seem that important. Because this world was built on the foundation of psychic power, Zhu Ning only needed to ensure Lin Xiaofeng stayed rational.

Zhu Ning: "I understand now."

A professional teacher indeed—one sentence was all it took to break through.

Pei Shu glanced at Zhu Ning. She truly had exceptional comprehension. Pei Shu said, "If she wants to be seen, she'll be seen."

So that was it. If Lin Xiaofeng one day wanted to appear on her own, she would naturally appear.

"But from what you're describing, this Oceanarium director does seem to have been conducting some kind of experiment." Pei Shu stubbed out his cigarette. "The kind of person I despise the most."

Pei Shu didn't elaborate, and Zhu Ning could more or less guess. Inside and outside the walls operated on two different logics. Investigators explored for the sake of humanity's future and past, but the experiments conducted inside the walls using that information ran completely counter to the investigators' purpose.

This made all exploration missions related to the old world seem utterly pointless. No wonder Pei Shu was so dispirited.

Zhu Ning also leaned against the car. She felt she could more easily become friends with Pei Shu, this plutocrat's lapdog. When Zhu Ning first transmigrated, she had been just as dispirited. Back in the Zombie World, she had already been so hopeless she had lost the will to survive. When she first arrived in the Wasteland, she just wanted to be a salted fish.

The world ending didn't matter either. Pei Shu had the same quality about him.

Although she didn't know what exactly had happened to Pei Shu, Zhu Ning sensed a stranger's aura about him. Pei Shu seemed unable to fit into this place.

They were the same kind—both strangers in this bustling city.

Zhu Ning looked toward the mansion. Many parts of the building were dark. Liu Niannian's lights were very bright, looking like an island floating in the sky in the deep of night—utterly unreachable.

Zhu Ning squinted. "Thank you."

Pei Shu: "Don't mention it. We might end up as colleagues someday."

He could tell Liu Niannian really liked Zhu Ning. Plutocrat families were always absorbing talent. Zhu Ning was very suitable—she might even take over his job of protecting Liu Niannian.

Zhu Ning didn't respond for a moment.

Pei Shu: "She didn't invite you?"

"She did," Zhu Ning said. "I haven't responded."

Pei Shu: "Playing hard to get?"

Zhu Ning countered, "Is one of your jobs screening the people around Liu Niannian?"

Pei Shu: "Yes."

Pei Shu's job was to block people with ill intentions, ensuring to the greatest extent that Liu Niannian wouldn't be taken advantage of. Liu Niannian was the Lu family's only daughter. She had to be safe.

Zhu Ning: "What if I'm harboring some kind of agenda?"

Pei Shu didn't answer immediately upon hearing this. Instead, he laughed.

"Why do you assume I don't have an agenda?" Pei Shu asked.

Zhu Ning was taken aback.

Pei Shu: "Everyone who appears around the young lady has an agenda."

Because Liu Niannian wasn't simply an individual. From the moment she was born, she was bound to her family. The unattainable wealth, the elevated status, including her appearance—all of it determined she would inevitably walk a path different from everyone else's.

The temptation was too great. What she casually let fall could feed an ordinary person for a year.

Pei Shu: "The young lady herself might not even care. In fact, she might very much hope you want something from her."

Because that would make things simple. An exchange of interests. Liu Niannian would give Zhu Ning what she wanted, and in return, she would take something from Zhu Ning.

Pei Shu: "Don't think of her as too naive. Trust me—this person is far more complex than you imagine."

This was determined by her upbringing. Their family simply didn't raise true naive innocents.

"Rather than worrying she'll get hurt, you'd be better off worrying that you might get hurt."

Zhu Ning realized her thinking had been presumptuous. Why had she assumed Liu Niannian naturally needed protection?

Zhu Ning walked through contaminated zones. Her battlefield was Contaminants. But Liu Niannian also walked her own battlefield—navigating through a far more complex web of interests. She would find ways to get what she wanted.

Pei Shu: "I suggest you just tell her directly what you want. She'll help you."

Liu Niannian's appearance easily misled people. So did the personality she displayed outwardly. But those were Liu Niannian's weapons.

So being honest about what you wanted was better for both sides. Zhu Ning accepted this advice.

Zhu Ning was a bit curious. "How exactly do you screen people?"

"I generally don't bother with the usual gold-diggers and womanizers. That's entertainment for the young lady, and she's very hard to fool." Pei Shu pulled out a new cigarette. "And you don't look like you're here to swindle money or seduce anyone."

Zhu Ning: "..."

Pei Shu: "The young lady is very smart. She does her own screening. I've never seen her throw herself headfirst at some man. That would never happen with her. I've only ever seen men weeping bitterly over her. There was a period where I had to console these people every day."

Was this the joy of being a sugar mommy?

Pei Shu: "My task is supposedly to screen out those who intend to harm the young lady. But really, I'm screening out those who intend to harm the Lu family's interests."

There were many people who tried to access the Lu family through Liu Niannian, because her image made her seem like an easy entry point.

When Pei Shu said Liu Niannian was naive, he meant some of her ideas were naive.

He was a bodyguard. He not only had to protect Liu Niannian's personal safety but also protect the Lu family's interests from being violated.

Zhu Ning asked, "What if you think I'm going to harm the Lu family's interests?"

Pei Shu didn't answer. Instead, he lit a cigarette first. This time he didn't use a lighter. Zhu Ning only saw a small flame ignite at the cigarette tip, instantly lighting it.

A fire-type Ability User didn't even need a lighter to light a cigarette—he just used his ability directly.

Pei Shu glanced at her. The scarlet tip of his cigarette flickered. He had been lounging about with that world-weary look, but now his gaze suddenly turned cold—the kind of cold reserved for looking at a dead person.

"Zhu Ning," dark red light ignited in Pei Shu's eyes. He said very calmly, "Then I will kill you."

Zhu Ning knew he wasn't joking. The fact that Pei Shu could make it out of The Ant Nest unscathed proved it—he truly had the ability to kill her.

She privately hoped that they would never become enemies.

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