Chapter 88-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 88 Chaos
Zhu Ning closed the notebook.
She hugged her knees and buried herself, like a cocoon. Her understanding of the world, built over many years, was gradually crumbling.
When she first arrived in the Wasteland, her perception of this world hadn't even been accurate. At first, she hadn't thought this place was real.
She entered contaminated zones, completed dead post missions, trained and tested at the Sanitation Center. To her, it had all felt like a game.
A somewhat challenging game, but overall, the experience was lighthearted.
Experimental Subject 777 was the first time she had faced a real crisis. Eternal Pharma's assassins made her realize she could die, and that she had to become stronger. But the concept had been very vague at the time. How to get stronger? In what direction?
What was she up against?
She had no concept of any of this. She was merely being pushed along by Prometheus.
She entered one contaminated zone after another, encountering one mystery after another. She was a pre-programmed routine, a puppet arranged in advance.
Later, she got to know more and more people here—Liu Niannian, Lin Xiaofeng, Li Nianchuan, including Song Zhizhang who had been so good to her.
She became increasingly integrated into the Wasteland, as if she had lived here for a long time, no different from the locals.
She had companions and kindred spirits. She began to feel more at ease, began to understand Eternal Pharma, began to make contact with Creation Technology. She learned about the world beyond the walls.
Her worldview was gradually taking shape. She herself was growing stronger too.
This process, for a real human being, was a form of growth. But for her, it felt more like... maturing into a fully developed experimental subject.
Her bottom line kept dropping. At first, she thought the world might not be real. Then she thought her feelings might not be real. Now—how could she even guarantee her own reality?
A normal person would have difficulty processing the realization that they were an experimental subject. She was no exception. It was too far beyond comprehension.
Was she just something manufactured by someone?
Her existence was entirely because a creator needed her to exist. Her mother wasn't Zhu Yao—it might have been a research scientist.
All her emotions, personality, choices might have been lines of code inputted one by one.
What she had believed to be uniquely hers were actually traits bestowed by a creator. How tragic.
"By the way, do you Defectives know what you used to be?" Zhu Ning recalled Li Nianchuan's question.
Now she knew. She was an experimental subject—most likely a Synthetic.
"Some Synthetics are manufactured just to be expendables." Li Nianchuan had said those words so casually at the time.
Li Nianchuan had very naturally accepted the truth from birth—that he was merely an expendable. He was like a product developed with a built-in expiration date, a tool destined to wear out.
A pair of scissors, an axe, a Li Nianchuan, a Zhu Ning. Lined up together, they looked perfectly natural.
In this world where the boundary between people and objects was so blurred, people became more and more like objects, and objects became more and more like people.
Dehumanizing people, humanizing objects—she had long known this world's true colors.
Was she actually... an object?
How does a human prove they are human?
How does a human come to recognize their own existence?
Zhu Ning couldn't grasp this. For the moment, all her perceptions descended into chaos.
Before, the world had been laid out before her in clear, orderly fashion. The world had rules. Humans needed to follow rules to survive. As long as you followed the rules, you could roughly predict what would happen next.
Follow the law. Don't commit crimes.
Follow traffic rules. Don't get into accidents.
Follow employee guidelines. Don't get your pay docked.
Follow the logic of contaminated zones. Don't die.
Rules were like roads. Walking among them, people could find their coordinates. They could live within the rules.
The past could all be explained with existing knowledge. But now she had entered a void, because she didn't even have a reliable reference point for comparison.
She was lost in the world. Every path could be taken. Every path could lead anywhere. She didn't know who she was, nor where her destination lay.
Zhu Ning closed her eyes.
When all truths are shattered, human reason ceases to exist.
...
Song Zhizhang was upstairs managing the establishment.
It was business hours for the Dignified Queen, but business hadn't been great lately. Only a few regular customers.
He leaned against the bar, yawning. An employee beside him teased, "Boss Song, this isn't going to work. You're working during the day and working at night too. She's really exploiting you."
Song Zhizhang was the boss now, yet he was more exhausted than most of his employees.
Before Zhu Ning moved into their establishment, Song Zhizhang's biological clock had been the reverse of a normal person's—he worked at night and slept during the day.
Now Song Zhizhang also had to help Zhu Ning look after Lin Xiaofeng. His biological clock had been thrown off lately too.
The employee beside him was very nosy, always wanting to ask why he liked Zhu Ning so much. What exactly about Zhu Ning attracted him?
Song Zhizhang looked like a man of the night who had met his benefactress and had since devoted himself to serving her.
Song Zhizhang leaned against the bar. Despite the employee's teasing, he wasn't angry. He was actually thinking about it—what exactly about Zhu Ning attracted him.
Song Zhizhang's work schedule meant he worked nights. Over time, Song Zhizhang felt as if he had entered a dark world, completely disconnected from normal society.
Song Zhizhang only interacted with two types of people—wealthy women who came to his establishment to spend money, and those who came to exchange Contamination Spores and rotting flesh.
Zhu Ning was the latter, yet she had moved into his establishment.
She was brimming with vitality. That vitality was excessively vigorous—a rarity in this world.
Song Zhizhang's workplace was all about indulgence and desire. Passion and lust were the foundation of their trade. But strip all of that away, and Zhu Ning was still incredibly compelling.
Song Zhizhang believed he wasn't the only one drawn to her. Regardless of gender, beyond romance, people would be attracted by the qualities she possessed. She was simply too much of an anomaly in this world.
Thinking of Zhu Ning, Song Zhizhang's eyes dimmed slightly. He could sense that Zhu Ning hadn't been in a good state lately. She had been persistently somewhat down, very different from when they first met.
Song Zhizhang hadn't experienced what Zhu Ning had experienced, but he could roughly understand. The more you engaged with this world, the more you understood its absurdity. If humans stopped thinking, they wouldn't perceive pain.
But Zhu Ning was too smart. She was smart and deeply empathetic. She would absolutely suffer from the truths of this world.
Suddenly, Song Zhizhang's body went rigid. His expression turned ice-cold.
The employee beside him was still joking around, only to see Song Zhizhang's face suddenly turn very grim. Song Zhizhang always maintained a smile. No matter how tired he was or how difficult the situation, he was always that gentle.
This was the first time the employee had seen him wear this expression. Extremely serious.
The blue stud earring Song Zhizhang usually wore flickered, its sea-blue surface rippling with a faint glow.
Song Zhizhang left immediately. He walked into his office.
This office had received many Demon Hunters and Cleaners. It was the same office Zhu Ning had first entered. But Song Zhizhang pushed open the inner door.
Then he pushed through three more doors in succession. The innermost room contained a large screen covered in data that laypeople couldn't understand.
The room Song Zhizhang had prepared for Zhu Ning was custom-built. Even if someone inside turned into a Source of Contamination, the situation could be contained instantly.
When Zhu Ning had first come to him, they had been more worried about Lin Xiaofeng being uncontrollable. Now the one in trouble wasn't Lin Xiaofeng—it was Zhu Ning.
True to his promise, there were no surveillance cameras in the room. So Song Zhizhang couldn't see exactly what was happening.
The data showed that contamination levels in Zhu Ning's bedroom were climbing. This was a precursor to becoming a Source of Contamination.
Had she been infected? But when? Why was it suddenly manifesting now?
Zhu Ning's S-rank sanity was no joke—the contamination concentration started at 200%, already at A-rank Contamination Zone levels.
Song Zhizhang dialed Zhu Ning's Sub-Brain. No answer.
"Zhu Ning?" Song Zhizhang pressed a button. He had a channel to communicate with the room's interior. There was a speaker inside. As long as the contaminated zone hadn't fully formed, he could maintain communication with the inside. "What's wrong?"
No response.
"Zhu Ning, answer me!"
"Zhu Ning!" None of Song Zhizhang's calls received a response.
"Fuck!" Song Zhizhang had always maintained his composure. Now he couldn't keep it up and swore.
Zhu Ning's sanity was collapsing. Her mental values were fluctuating violently.
Lin Xiaofeng was still inside. Lin Xiaofeng was too young, and she hadn't mastered control of her own abilities.
Zhu Ning was now like a Source of Contamination continuously radiating pollution. If she truly broke down, she would persistently affect the surrounding environment. Song Zhizhang could lock the room down to contain her and minimize the risk.
But Lin Xiaofeng was right next door to Zhu Ning. The first person affected by Zhu Ning's breakdown would be Lin Xiaofeng.
If Lin Xiaofeng collapsed simultaneously, it meant they would form a dual contamination source. Lin Xiaofeng was at least B-rank. Zhu Ning's minimum baseline was S-rank—and given her sanity values, even that was conservative.
If an S-rank or higher Contamination Zone formed inside the Dignified Queen, all the room's safety measures would be meaningless.
Song Zhizhang dialed Lin Xiaofeng's Sub-Brain. Zhu Ning had given her a communication device.
Fortunately, Lin Xiaofeng's line connected. She sounded groggy, probably woken up mid-sleep.
Song Zhizhang: "Xiaofeng, get out! Leave there!"
Lin Xiaofeng rubbed her eyes, still a bit dazed. She could sense the situation seemed urgent. Were they in danger?
"What's wrong? What about Zhu-jiejie?"
Lin Xiaofeng was actually still concerned about Zhu Ning. Song Zhizhang: "Don't worry about her. Right now, immediately, get out!"
Song Zhizhang spoke as he moved, sprinting toward the basement. The only thing he could still do now was—before the room's automatic response system triggered the lockdown—get Lin Xiaofeng out first.
Lin Xiaofeng trusted Song Zhizhang deeply. She had always been very obedient. She immediately scrambled out of bed, moving very quickly. Wearing her fuzzy slippers, she had just opened her bedroom door.
She had meant to run straight for the front door. But she instinctively glanced toward Zhu Ning's bedroom. Zhu Ning was the person she was closest to in this world right now. Lin Xiaofeng's reaction was entirely instinctive.
Then she froze.
Zhu Ning's door was tightly shut, but black slime was oozing from the door cracks. It was as if the room's interior had already been filled with black slime, unable to hold any more. It would eventually flood the entire room.
Was this why Song Zhizhang told her to leave? What had happened to Zhu Ning?
Lin Xiaofeng wanted to listen to Song Zhizhang. His judgment had to be sound—the most logical course of action right now.
Lin Xiaofeng didn't want to cause trouble. She should obediently leave. She believed Song Zhizhang could handle the aftermath.
But she couldn't move. She meant she literally could not move, because panic had overtaken her. She was rooted to the spot.
Every cell in her body was screaming at her to run. Her mind was shouting for her to get away. Her body had detected the danger—a powerful and mysterious force. Facing it, Lin Xiaofeng felt like she was facing a tsunami.
When you see a tsunami erupt, when you see a wall of water towering right before your eyes, you know that once that wave crashes down, all life will cease to exist.
Lin Xiaofeng had the fortune—or misfortune—of glimpsing this corner of it.
She felt as if she were already dying, yet she couldn't move at all.
...
Zhu Ning breathed deeply.
Gao Yingcheng's notebook sat at Zhu Ning's feet. The worn notebook seemed to mock her.
The warm orange bedside lamp cast her shadow onto the ceiling. The enormous black shadow hovered overhead—Zhu Ning's shadow, and yet not Zhu Ning's shadow.
The shadow grew denser and darker, until finally it seemed like flowing liquid, as if it had congealed into another kind of creature.
They multiplied, spreading from the ceiling, gradually flowing down the other four walls, sealing the bedroom door, sealing the bathroom vent.
They blocked every exit, as if building a nest—or constructing a cage.
A drop of black slime dripped from the ceiling. Twitching lines appeared in the background, as if an eye was looking down at her from above.
Another force—or rather, a force flowing out from Zhu Ning herself—was observing her.
In that moment, she felt as if she had split into two people. Everything was chaos for Zhu Ning. When reason collapsed, thoughts became disordered. Now the chaos was becoming tangible. This place was like Zhu Ning's inner world.
She felt her body burning hot while her back was freezing cold. The terrifying sensations left by the High-Level Xenomorphs had resurrected.
It was as if something cold and slimy was clinging to the back of her neck. They were growing larger, breeding and squirming in a frenzy.
A mass of pitch-black something enveloped her, as if embracing her.
"Zhu Ning?"
"Zhu Ning!"
Someone was calling her from far away. It sounded like Song Zhizhang's voice. Zhu Ning had never heard Song Zhizhang this anxious before.
But it was too far away, as if separated by a transparent wall. She could only hear a faint, muffled sound. Eventually, she couldn't hear anything at all.
A new world had formed here. All sound was sealed outside. The only thing she could hear was the soft rustling of the black slime as it flowed.
Rustle rustle—rustle rustle—
She couldn't even hear the System's voice. The mechanical voice had vanished. She couldn't open the System Interface.
The System Interface glitched wildly, dissolving into streams of data fragments.
She felt as if she had been completely abandoned here. She couldn't find her connection to the world, nor could she find the meaning of her existence.
Thump—
Suddenly, she heard her own heartbeat.
Zhu Ning's forehead was pressed against her knees. Before her eyes was nothing but a patch of shadow. She couldn't see anything. But she could hear her own heartbeat.
Her heart was beating. Under immense pressure, her heart was beating.
It was a panicked heartbeat. When humans encountered danger and terror, adrenaline surged and the heart rate accelerated.
The heartbeat was like a lamp in a world of chaos. The light was faint, but it existed.
The powerful heart that Zhu Yao had given her.
Zhu Ning couldn't be certain whether Zhu Yao existed. But this heart existed.
Thump—
Comments
Post a Comment