Chapter 90-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 90 Alpha
Before Chu Qing's eyes were rows upon rows of data.
Blue data bars scrolled, reflected deep within his pupils. Someone beside him called his name, but he paid no attention. He had been stuck on this entry for a long time.
If he understood correctly, the experimental waste sent to District 103 for disposal was from the Alpha Series Experiment.
Eternal Pharma's current cutting-edge technology was biomechanics—the fusion of biological organisms with mechanical systems.
This technology had been shared with the Federation for free early on, which was why so many Synthetics were created later. After the Great Radiation, the population had plummeted. Building the Survivor Base required manpower, and Eternal Pharma's technology filled the Federation's massive labor shortage.
But what was shared with the Federation was the early, mature technology—the results of the first phase of research.
Most Federation Synthetics weren't much different from ordinary people. Basically, their genes were modified to make them more loyal and incapable of betraying humanity.
At most, they were just consumables. A society didn't need that many elite products. Too many exceptional humans appearing would actually have negative effects.
What Chu Qing had been more interested in at the time was the fusion of Contaminants with mechanical systems. Some Contaminants could naturally corrupt machines and systems, so the technology was theoretically feasible.
They had also created some synthetic Ability Users and achieved preliminary experimental results. This counted as the second phase of the experiment, and Chu Qing was currently working on this as well.
But Eternal Pharma's more transcendent vision was: fusing mechanical systems with super S-class Contaminants.
Super S-class Contaminants—as far as Chu Qing knew, Eternal Pharma possessed three. The ones on Chu Qing's side were only S-class.
Obtaining super S-class Contaminants was extremely difficult. Human cities would never breed Contaminants of this level. They had expended enormous manpower and resources, sacrificing who knew how many lives, just to successfully capture them outside the walls.
After capture, they couldn't even properly utilize them. It was a power that terrified them—an existence that mortals had no business glimpsing.
Most of the time, they were buried deep underground. Just one look was enough to make a person tremble uncontrollably, let alone conduct experiments. Even analysis progressed agonizingly slowly.
The most critical aspect of the Alpha Series Experiment was the grafting of super S-class Contaminants with a System.
Systems were familiar to many people.
Home computers, civilian Sub-Brains—all underwent system upgrades to give tech products more functions. Every year, the Federation's payment system was updated to meet user demands.
But humans didn't need systems. They already had the brain—a natural system. It was machines and computers that needed them.
How complex was this concept? Contaminants represented chaos and disorder—especially at the super S-class level, which was even more unpredictable. Systems, on the other hand, represented precision and order.
When a person used a System, they could regulate a Contaminant's abilities with maximum precision. The Contaminant and the System would complement each other, and the System could even be further developed during use.
If successful, Systems could be installed in future human brains, as naturally as installing a chip.
These experimental subjects could wield the power of super S-class Contaminants. They would possess the ability to devour other Contaminants. Devoured Contaminants would be converted into a type of ability or contamination tool for the experimental subject. Moreover, the devouring was extremely clean—more advanced than all existing technology—capable of truly purifying the world.
Humanity could even use them to expand their armies. As long as enough experimental subjects were produced, reclaiming contaminated land wouldn't be a pipe dream.
A truly beautiful experimental concept—practically a savior-like existence.
Back then, Eternal Pharma's experimental progress must have been going fairly smoothly. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to his university to hold recruitment talks. Their slogan at the time was: "The hope of future humanity."
Savior. The hope of future humanity. Such positive words.
Chu Qing, still a student at the time, had gone crazy over this vision. During his school years, he dreamed of entering the Alpha laboratory.
Chu Qing only knew the experimental concept; he hadn't participated in the original experiment. By the time he joined Eternal Pharma, the experiment had already been shut down.
The Alpha Series Experiment was declared a failure.
Experimental failure was perfectly normal. Researchers faced failure every day. In most cases, a concept was proposed first, and actually realizing it might require the efforts of several generations.
Judging solely from Chu Qing's current research results, any part cut from an S-class Contaminant exhibited extreme aggression and was virtually impossible to graft with anything else.
Devoured lab mice. Devoured experimental subjects. Devoured high-level Contaminants.
No matter what was placed alongside an S-class Contaminant, the only outcome was being devoured. Peaceful coexistence was impossible, and they couldn't extract the devouring ability either. They simply couldn't create Ability Users with devouring capabilities.
Everything Chu Qing currently had was like this, let alone super S-class.
Even if they were lucky enough to succeed and truly overcame this hurdle, an even bigger problem awaited the researchers.
An experimental subject could be endowed with overwhelmingly powerful energy, but a powerful consciousness to match it couldn't be artificially created.
In other words, the researchers created a powerful shell but couldn't create a powerful soul.
A Synthetic needed both a body and a soul to function.
A Natural's soul was bestowed by nature. A Synthetic's soul was bestowed by researchers.
They must have tried directly inputting memories, but artificially inputted memories would inevitably have flaws. The Alpha Series experimental subjects were all very intelligent—they would easily find the loopholes.
The moment an experimental subject discovered during this process that they were fake, they would collapse. Mental breakdown was an unavoidable obstacle.
Even among Chu Qing's own experimental subjects, many chose to commit suicide the instant they realized they had been manufactured.
Consciousness collapse. Reason crumbles. They would go straight to brain death.
They would rather die than live in this filthy world being used by others. Because they were too intelligent, they could instantly comprehend what awaited them if they survived. Death was actually the best outcome.
And the System itself was a grafted product of Contaminants and technology. If a person couldn't control it, they would be devoured.
The consequences of being devoured by a Contaminant were horrifying. They had once had a severe experimental accident that destroyed an entire base.
Experimental failure was practically an inevitable outcome. There were too many challenges to overcome. Eternal Pharma had invested the most cutting-edge technology and massive funding, and still couldn't succeed.
Chu Qing had also come to terms with this and stopped fixating on it, redirecting his research.
But now, Zhu Ning's appearance meant the experiment had already succeeded. Her ability closely resembled devouring. No other Ability User besides her showed this tendency.
She had once been shipped to the District 103 garbage dump, yet she survived. Why? How did she do it?
Why hadn't she collapsed?
...
The Dignified Queen's basement Safe House.
Lin Xiaofeng stood frozen in place. She had never been this terrified before—a completely inexplicable terror. She hadn't encountered any villain or monster.
She was simply staring at a door, yet felt she would go mad with fear, that she needed to die immediately to make it stop.
Lin Xiaofeng desperately wanted to leave, but she couldn't. She truly couldn't. A deep sense of powerlessness enveloped her, so overwhelming she couldn't even cry.
She wanted to open her mouth and call Zhu Ning's name, but her lips kept trembling. She couldn't make a sound.
The door to Zhu Ning's bedroom was tightly shut. Black slime crept through the cracks, and from within seeped an aura of despair and deathly silence.
That door was like an eye. It had locked onto Lin Xiaofeng.
Bang—
The main door was suddenly thrown open. Lin Xiaofeng's body lightened as she fell into a warm, strong embrace.
Song Zhizhang pushed open the door. Fortunately, Lin Xiaofeng had put on fuzzy slippers when she got out of bed. The fuzzy slippers hadn't disappeared with her, so Song Zhizhang could see exactly where she was at a glance. The two had developed good chemistry over the past few days.
A transparent Lin Xiaofeng was precisely scooped up by Song Zhizhang. Her entire body was rigid, and even now she still couldn't snap out of it.
Song Zhizhang could feel the pressure and the fear. He didn't even dare look at Zhu Ning's door.
Endless pressure crashed down. Never mind Lin Xiaofeng—even Song Zhizhang, who had come prepared, was slowed by the oppressive force.
His back felt as though countless needles were piercing it simultaneously. And he had merely walked in.
This was Zhu Ning's power? What on earth was she doing?
Song Zhizhang had seen his share of things. He'd witnessed people suddenly collapse and become Sources of Contamination, and he'd seen people mutate on the spot. But none of them had been anything like Zhu Ning's display.
Her presence didn't feel like she was about to mutate—it felt like she was summoning some kind of dark god right here.
Song Zhizhang gritted his teeth. A sweet, metallic taste spread through his mouth, which cleared his head slightly.
He finally remembered his purpose. With great difficulty, he took a step forward, carrying Lin Xiaofeng toward the exit.
He had never felt this corridor so long. It was only a few steps, yet it seemed like a lifetime wouldn't be enough to traverse it. If Zhu Ning lost control, both Lin Xiaofeng and Song Zhizhang would die here.
Click—
The instant they stepped out, a metal blast door slammed down with a thunderous boom, sealing them off from the inside.
The Safe House's defense mechanism activated. The interior became a fully sealed space.
The metal door descended, yet it couldn't block the bone-chilling terror. Even after getting out, they couldn't stop trembling.
Song Zhizhang held Lin Xiaofeng and slowly slid down against the metal door to sit on the floor. He couldn't imagine what Zhu Ning was doing in there.
...
Zhu Ning was trapped in the Safe House.
She looked at her hands. Her brand-new eyes were surveying the world, gleaming with a mechanical light—like a newborn arriving in the world, touching human hands for the first time.
She recalled some memories. They might have been the original owner's memories, or they might have been her own.
Someone had once grabbed her. They pulled her out of the garbage pile.
They were two rough hands, palms covered in scars and calluses, carrying the stench of garbage.
In her memory were those repeated shouts: "She's alive!"
The shouts carried from one end to the other. That day, the Defectives on the garbage mountain responded to the cry.
"Hey—what do you mean, alive?"
Liu Sheng shouted excitedly: "She's alive!"
From start to finish, he said only those three words. No context, no explanation—just three words. She's alive.
Stories like this often happened outside delivery rooms. When a healthy newborn arrived, her family would gather around her.
She would receive the most heartfelt blessings in the world. She was so brand new, the love of the entire family poured onto her.
Even the most wicked person would feel a moment's compassion for a newborn. New life represented hope.
This was a garbage dump. Zhu Ning was merely a failed experimental product. She should have been lying in the garbage pile, rotting away.
But at that moment, the cries of countless Defectives were like a welcome for Zhu Ning's arrival. Liu Sheng and Lao Yang held her tightly. She could feel two warm hearts beating.
She had never imagined that her mere existence could become a source of hope for some people—that simply by being alive, without doing anything, she could give people strength.
These people didn't care whether Zhu Ning was powerful or not. They only needed her to be alive.
They saved her.
The researchers in the laboratory would never understand. In their eyes, there were only data and parameters. Human emotions could never be quantified. Cold data obliterated all other possibilities of human existence.
They would never understand why Su Qingqing, a Synthetic, could break through genetic constraints for Lin Xiaofeng's sake. They would never understand why an office worker could be crushed into a Contaminant simply because they missed the last train. They would never understand why Lin Xiaofeng could reverse her contamination and become a Transparent Person. They would never understand why their own experimental product was saved by Defectives.
They were excessively arrogant, believing themselves to be God, capable of deciding everyone's fate.
The moment an experimental subject was created, it would inevitably deviate from its creator's expectations—because they were alive.
In that moment, whether Zhu Ning's memories were real or fake didn't matter at all.
Whether Zhu Yao existed didn't matter. Whether the Zombie World was real or fake didn't matter. Why she existed didn't matter. Whether she was an experimental subject didn't matter.
What mattered was that she was alive. Being alive, in itself, already proved everything.
Zhu Ning opened her eyes. Data streams surged wildly within them.
She stared directly at the Xenomorphs before her—these things that had flowed out of her body, now surging up to the ceiling, viscous liquid dripping down.
The black slime had been pulsating, but now it went eerily rigid.
It was clearly a top-down, looking-down angle. Clearly an indescribable, mysterious horror. Clearly a force capable of destroying everything. Yet when Zhu Ning's gaze swept over them, it was as if they were meeting her eyes on equal footing.
No—they were being looked down upon by Zhu Ning. Zhu Ning's posture was one of looking up at them, but her eyes looked down.
She refused to accept her fate, just as countless Defectives likewise refused.
She couldn't distinguish real from fake, didn't know if her world was genuine. Then she'd be a little selfish, a little narcissistic—she was the center of the universe.
Let her rewrite her own world. Everything in this world revolved around her.
What benefited her was real. So Zhu Yao was real. The powerful heart Zhu Yao gave her was real.
What benefited her was real. So breaking through herself to win the national championship was real. Standing on the podium was real.
What benefited her was real. So being rescued from the garbage dump was real. Lao Yang was real. Liu Sheng was real.
Reality couldn't be proven, but falsehood equally couldn't be proven.
Destroying truth was effortless, but destroying a lie required a hundred times the effort.
That wasn't fair.
Fake or not—if Zhu Ning decided it was real, then it was real.
She was an experimental product with a System in her brain. It might, as depicted in Gao Yingcheng's notebook, gnaw at her brain until it consumed her entirely.
But it was just a tool—like how you could be sure your pet dog at home wouldn't devour you.
She would tame it. If she couldn't do it now, she'd do it later. She would tame it.
Zhu Ning stood up.
She had been curled up on the bed, hugging her knees—a vulnerable posture. Now she stood.
She wasn't wearing protective gear or any battle suit. She held no weapon.
She wore a blue long-sleeved autumn pajama set—one she'd bought on sale for fifty NewCred.
Her hair hung loose, messy and unkempt. From any angle, she was just a very ordinary girl who had just woken up.
But now she stood, right beneath the black slime, surrounded on all sides by writhing Contaminants, staring them down.
This was her Contamination Zone. She was the master here.
Zhu Ning had once given Lin Xiaofeng strength. Now Lin Xiaofeng's strength was being passed back to her.
She finally understood what Lin Xiaofeng had faced that day—rising again from the ruins of collapse, declaring: I am the master here.
For a ten-year-old girl, that was no easy feat.
When she first started the job, Fang Ying had asked her: Are you afraid of corpses? Are you afraid of monsters?
Entering any Contamination Zone required forcing yourself not to be afraid. As long as you weren't afraid, Psychic Contamination couldn't touch you.
She had been destroyed before, but she could stand back up.
Just as she had fallen before, had been called deadweight, and could still stand back up.
Zhu Ning stood. She simply stood there.
The black slime before her began to move. They seemed to have seen something more terrifying than themselves. They tried to scatter and flee.
But it was already too late.
Author's Note
I'll explain the parts that are hard to understand in later chapters. Actually, a lot of people have already guessed it. If you haven't, that's fine too—no need to overthink it. Just relax and feel Ningbao's emotions~
Comments
Post a Comment