Chapter 96-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 96 Beyond the Wall
Huo Wenxi had offered a handshake. Zhu Ning had no reason to refuse—in this situation, the more evasive you were, the guiltier you looked.
Zhu Ning's demeanor was perfectly natural. This was their first interaction, and the first time Huo Wenxi had touched Zhu Ning's hand.
One of Huo Wenxi's abilities was Consciousness Probe. Generally, the higher a person's sanity, the thicker their mental barrier. But no matter how strong the barrier, some emotions would still leak through—just as humans could never fully control the consciousness they inadvertently revealed.
Skin contact could enhance Huo Wenxi's Consciousness Probe.
Huo Wenxi touched Zhu Ning's hand.
Zhu Ning's fingers were slender. Probably from years of holding guns, there was a thin layer of calluses on her palms.
Huo Wenxi detected nothing. Absolutely nothing—not only couldn't she read any consciousness, she couldn't even pick up emotions.
It was as if... Zhu Ning's mind was completely blank.
Huo Wenxi frowned. This was too bizarre. Zhu Ning's hand was a human hand, with natural human warmth, but her consciousness was blank.
Even with an Android, Huo Wenxi could detect something.
Could S-class sanity really be this absurd?
A handshake between normal people lasted only a few seconds, so their hands separated quickly.
Zhu Ning was taller than Huo Wenxi. Huo Wenxi looked up at her—Zhu Ning's expression remained perfectly composed.
Zhu Ning didn't know what Huo Wenxi's ability actually was, but she wasn't afraid at all, because if Huo Wenxi's power was truly formidable, Zhu Ning couldn't have avoided it anyway.
And her greatest trump card was that she was an experimental product.
From a product standpoint, if she was a supercomputer, then theoretically she would possess a super firewall.
She had already been digitized. If Huo Wenxi's ability was something like reading consciousness, she was looking in the wrong direction. She'd be better off finding a hacker to invade Zhu Ning's brain.
Judging by Huo Wenxi's expression, she hadn't breached her firewall.
Ding—
The Sanitation Center's elevator was fast. Floor 49.
Floor 49 was always chaotic. As the mission processing hub, all assignments converged on this floor. The place was a daily madhouse, like a stock exchange.
The cacophony of noise flooded into the elevator, breaking the sealed space.
Waiting at the elevator doors was Fang Ying, still in her professional suit, clutching a stack of files. She froze when the doors opened.
She seemed surprised to see Zhu Ning and Huo Wenxi together.
Zhu Ning broke the silence first. She stepped out of the elevator and even waved goodbye to Huo Wenxi. "See you next time."
Huo Wenxi paused, then smiled. "See you next time."
Ding—
The elevator closed again, carrying Huo Wenxi to where she truly belonged—the upper floors.
"Team Leader Huo?" Only after the elevator doors shut did Fang Ying lower her voice to ask: "What was she doing here?"
Zhu Ning showed no particular reaction. "No idea. First time meeting her today. Probably here to investigate me?"
Fang Ying frowned and gave Zhu Ning a once-over. "You've gotten yourself into trouble again?"
What had she done? First Xuan Qing, now Huo Wenxi. Quite the popular target.
Zhu Ning: "Have I? I've been nothing but a good Samaritan, haven't I?"
Fang Ying chuckled at that. What Zhu Ning did was somewhat peculiar, but overall positive.
Since the Mechanical Oceanarium mission, the Sanitation Center's internal employee forum had held a vote. Many employees expressed willingness to go on missions with Zhu Ning because it felt safe.
But Huo Wenxi seemed very interested in Zhu Ning—not that kind of interest, but another kind entirely.
Fang Ying walked alongside Zhu Ning. She was even taller than Zhu Ning, and she kept her voice very low: "A word of advice—don't mess with the little shaman."
Zhu Ning: "Little shaman?"
So Huo Wenxi's nickname was "the little shaman."
Fang Ying: "Most people don't even know this department exists. The vast majority work here until they quit without ever learning the company has such a person. But everyone who's encountered her never wants to see her a second time."
Fang Ying paused. "Because she has a terrifying intuition. She'll keep digging for the truth until she dies."
Zhu Ning looked thoughtful. "You sound like a senior trying to scare me."
Like those school legends—there's a terrifying teacher on campus, whatever you do don't provoke her. That was exactly Fang Ying's tone.
"Just a heads-up," Fang Ying was amused. "A personal one."
She didn't give this kind of warning to just anyone. She simply found Zhu Ning interesting and didn't want her to suffer.
Zhu Ning felt Fang Ying was quite considerate toward her. She wasn't sure if it was because of Prometheus or if Fang Ying genuinely liked her.
She glanced at Fang Ying's earlobe. The blue earring stud wasn't flashing.
"Thanks for looking out for me," Zhu Ning asked: "What's today's mission?"
Last time at the Ant Nest, Zhu Ning had expended life points but hadn't collected any Contamination Spores, causing her Purity Points to drop by half.
She was especially eager to make up for it this time. On the Sanitation Center's official missions, Demon Hunters handled clearing the Contamination Zones while Zhu Ning only needed to pick up the scraps—a move she called "fleecing the Sanitation Center."
Fang Ying was completely unaware of her scheming. "Due to your outstanding performance, your squad's mission rating has been upgraded. The minimum is now B-Level, meaning you'll only receive B-Level missions or above. This one is A-Level."
Cleaners were also ranked by quality. They had an internal leaderboard, and the technical department conducted status assessments.
The more high-level missions completed, the higher the squad's overall score, and the better the missions they'd receive—which also meant more money.
In other words, it was a one-stop promotion and raise. Although there was no change in title, as long as the virtuous cycle continued.
Zhu Ning would only get richer.
Fang Ying: "Congratulations, you've earned the qualification to go beyond the first protective wall."
Zhu Ning stopped in her tracks. Beyond the wall?
That perilous world beyond the wall? Pei Shu had come back from beyond the wall and immediately became a plutocrat's lapdog. She was going to a place like that?
The Sanitation Center hadn't even given her any training.
Fang Ying: "It's not truly beyond the wall. Just beyond the first protective wall."
Fang Ying opened her Employee Wristband as she spoke. The wristband had holographic projection capabilities, and a simplified 3D map of District 103 appeared before them.
Zhu Ning had been in this wasteland world for quite a while, but she'd only had a vague concept of the area she lived in. This was her first time seeing the general structure of District 103 and a corner of this world. The Federation was like a massive beehive, with each human Survivor Base being one of its honeycombs—also called cells. The various districts were adjacent to each other, connected by highways, or "bee routes," forming the Human Survivor Alliance. Some districts were already shown in gray, indicating they'd been contaminated and abandoned. Those still lit up were still operational. District 103 itself was a hexagonal honeycomb structure, located at the Federation's northernmost edge—the outermost rim of the hive. To the north was simply the world beyond the wall.
To put it in simpler terms, the human Survivor Bases were like a massive bunch of grapes. Each district was an individual grape, District 103 being one of them, and the outermost wall was the grape's packaging wrapper.
"Each district has five walls, layered protection. The core is our central city. The outermost layer resists the Contaminants from beyond the wall. The middle is a hollow buffer zone. Even if the outer wall falls one day, there are still four walls inside to hold the line. And if they truly face an unstoppable Contaminant and have to abandon District 103, there's enough buffer time for civilians to evacuate."
Like a thermos—the outermost part is the shell, the inside is the inner liner, and between them is a hollow insulating layer.
Zhu Ning hadn't earned the qualification to step beyond the high walls and explore. What she'd earned was the qualification to enter the hollow insulating layer.
Fang Ying: "The hollow layer sometimes has contamination incidents, which also fall under our jurisdiction. Cleaner squads participate in Contamination Spore collection."
Zhu Ning: "Is it frequent?"
Fang Ying: "More frequent than you'd think."
At least once a month, each time consuming massive manpower and resources.
The Sanitation Center didn't just handle things inside the walls—they also had to tend to what was beyond. That was why some Contamination Zones sat registered for three to five years before being resolved.
They certainly wanted to purify everything, but they couldn't—resources and personnel were both limited.
Given Zhu Ning's growth rate, earning the qualification to go beyond the first protective wall at this point was already impressive.
Fang Ying: "Follow instructions carefully. Even though it's just Contamination Spore collection, it's still dangerous. Don't casually touch anything you haven't touched before."
Fang Ying was straightforward: "There's a certain level of danger, and a mortality rate."
Zhu Ning: "Is it okay that I'm a newbie?"
She truly had no prior experience with this.
Fang Ying: "Of the nine Cleaner squads going this time, four have no prior experience. There's no choice—as we mentioned before, we're severely understaffed."
It was because of the staffing shortage that Zhu Ning had been hired on the spot, and it was because of the shortage that their policy was whoever could go, went.
Based on their squad's last performance, Zhu Ning was well-suited for this mission.
Fang Ying: "Go change. Assembly time is coming."
...
Zhu Ning changed into her protective suit and boarded the hovercraft.
Today felt a lot like her first day at the center—same fully enclosed vehicle, passengers unable to see outside.
The journey was long. Silence filled the cabin.
The hovercraft was large. This vehicle carried three Cleaner squads, but the privacy setup was decent—each squad sat separately, unable to hear each other's conversations.
In this compartment, there were only Zhu Ning, Li Nianchuan, and Xu Meng.
Last time they'd barely known each other. Now they were supposedly close, yet a barrier hung between the three of them.
Especially between Zhu Ning and Xu Meng. Their seats happened to face each other. Neither spoke—they just sat in silence, eyes locked.
The feeling was peculiar. You knew she had a problem. She knew you had a problem.
Like sitting at the same card table, each holding one of the other's cards, neither willing to show their hand.
Not only that—there were probably guns pointed at each other under the table too. The first one to lose composure would be the loser.
Zhu Ning was always calm and patient. Xu Meng, surprisingly, wasn't backing down either.
Helmets weren't required inside the vehicle. Li Nianchuan observed the atmosphere between them and sensed an inexplicable tension.
What was going on?
Wasn't Clean Squad A70265 always known for being relaxed and fun, the envy of others? They'd even gone out for hotpot as a team-building activity.
"Did you two have a fight?" Li Nianchuan asked cautiously.
Xu Meng and Zhu Ning: "No."
They answered in perfect unison.
Li Nianchuan: "..."
The atmosphere was too weird. Zhu Ning broke the awkwardness by finding a casual topic: "Is your Psychic Contamination better?"
This time, neither she nor Xu Meng had gone to pick Li Nianchuan up from the hospital. After he was discharged, he hadn't contacted either of them.
The question was absurdly abrupt—clearly a forced attempt to break the tension. And when she asked, she didn't even glance at Li Nianchuan.
There was absolutely no sense that Zhu Ning was showing concern for him.
Li Nianchuan said glumly: "Been fine for a while. Got discharged after five days."
Xu Meng: "Much faster than last time."
Similarly, Xu Meng didn't look at Li Nianchuan when she spoke. Her eyes stayed fixed on Zhu Ning.
Li Nianchuan tried to keep the conversation going: "My sanity went up to six hundred."
Xu Meng and Zhu Ning: "That's impressive."
Li Nianchuan: "..."
Should he just leave?
Li Nianchuan cleared his throat: "So... I'm planning to resign next month."
The moment the words left his mouth, Zhu Ning turned to look at him. Xu Meng looked over too.
Well then. Li Nianchuan now felt like a kid who'd been making a fuss for ages and finally created enough of a scene to get the family's attention.
Li Nianchuan: "I'm planning to finish out this month, then go home and open a restaurant."
Zhu Ning remembered—Li Nianchuan had said he was in this line of work to save up money for a restaurant. On their very first Fishman mission, he'd had an electronic menu stored inside his helmet.
Honestly, Li Nianchuan was the one who'd guided Zhu Ning into this profession.
Zhu Ning was quite fond of him. He was sweet and well-behaved, without a mean bone in his body.
Zhu Ning didn't know the exact amount of Li Nianchuan's bonus this time, but it had to be at least tens of millions of NewCred. For an ordinary person, that was a windfall from heaven—enough to pursue one's dreams.
Li Nianchuan breathed a sigh of relief. The team atmosphere had finally improved a bit. He'd successfully captured both teammates' attention.
Xu Meng: "Didn't your sanity just go up?"
Li Nianchuan's sanity had jumped from four hundred to six hundred—a significant increase. His aptitude wasn't bad; otherwise he wouldn't have lasted this many years as a Cleaner.
He was just at a normal person's level. It only seemed weak because he stood next to Zhu Ning.
With dedicated training, he might not be without potential.
Hadn't he always wanted to become a Demon Hunter? Why give up now?
Li Nianchuan smiled. "I used to really want to be a Demon Hunter. Then after the last mission, I thought, well, it's nothing special—not even as impressive as Zhu Ning, a mere Cleaner."
Zhu Ning, a single Cleaner, had taken the lead and kept the Demon Hunters alive. She'd really done their profession proud.
Li Nianchuan: "Got the money, struck it rich, don't feel like risking my life anymore."
Both Zhu Ning and Xu Meng looked at him with some skepticism. If he wanted to improve himself, that money could be used for mechanization or better GeneBoost injections.
Li Nianchuan knew they didn't buy it. After thinking for a moment, he added: "Because I've seen a true genius, and now I know how powerless I really am."
If he hadn't met Zhu Ning, he might still be living in a daydream. He'd always wanted to be a Demon Hunter but had never qualified.
Now his sanity was rising. Being a Demon Hunter no longer seemed like an unreachable dream—he just had to jump and stretch to touch it.
But this was the moment Li Nianchuan chose to give up. He looked up at that red line—the passing mark.
If he hadn't met Zhu Ning, he would have thought he could make it.
He would have given everything, pushed himself one more time, even burned himself out trying.
But having seen a true genius, you'd understand in an instant: oh, I'm just not cut out for this.
Even if he reached the Demon Hunter passing mark, so what?
He'd merely go from being an ordinary Cleaner to an ordinary Demon Hunter. He was just too ordinary.
Zhu Ning fell silent. She actually understood Li Nianchuan very well. When she'd joined the national team and undergone professional shooting training, she'd pondered this same question.
Countless times denied by others. Countless times denied by herself.
During training, she'd watched far too many teammates drop out.
They weren't cowards. They weren't unable to persevere. They'd simply realized it wasn't right for them. They chose to walk a different path—to stop competing with geniuses on a narrow road.
That was equally a courageous choice. Admitting your own ordinariness took bravery.
In the wasteland world, everything was uncertain. Finding your own path to happiness sooner was best, because life was short.
Zhu Ning asked: "Have you decided what kind of restaurant to open?"
Li Nianchuan breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been terrified of hearing lectures, persuasion, or encouragement.
But Zhu Ning simply asked about his plans in the most ordinary way, making him feel at ease. Li Nianchuan looked at Zhu Ning. Her gaze was gentle, without any reproach—she was genuinely concerned about him.
Li Nianchuan felt a bit self-conscious under her gaze and looked away instead.
Around Zhu Ning, he always felt small, felt... inferior. Yet he often couldn't help wanting to look at her.
Li Nianchuan had only just decided to resign today and hadn't thought about this yet. After a moment's consideration: "Boiling Fish House?"
Zhu Ning: "..."
Kid, did you have a personal vendetta against fish?
You were serious that day in the sewer when you were reciting the recipe for braised crucian carp?
Zhu Ning pictured Li Nianchuan in a leather apron, gutting fish in the kitchen. It was actually kind of amusing. "I'm coming to eat."
Xu Meng: "Me too."
The tense atmosphere was instantly dissolved by Li Nianchuan. Both Zhu Ning and Xu Meng laughed. They wished Li Nianchuan all the best for his future.
Xu Meng: "You're leaving next month?"
Li Nianchuan: "I was going to leave this month, but since there's a mission, might as well see it through. Besides, you can't go on missions without me—you'd be short one member."
Clean Squads and Demon Hunter teams both required full attendance for missions. Missing even one member meant they couldn't accept assignments. If a team member died in the line of duty, they'd have to wait for a new member before accessing the mission pool again.
Before Zhu Ning joined their squad, the team had missed several missions.
Li Nianchuan: "Honestly, I'm a bit nervous about my first time beyond the wall. But don't worry—collecting Contamination Spores is something I can handle. I definitely won't be a burden."
Xu Meng: "What burden? Don't talk like that."
Li Nianchuan had never been a burden. He was the best teammate.
Zhu Ning: "Ptui ptui ptui, you sound like you're raising a flag right now. Like those guys who say 'after this last job I'm quitting and going home to marry my girl,' and then die right there. Classic cannon fodder."
"Hey," Li Nianchuan warned: "Don't jinx me. I'm planning to go look at shop spaces after this mission."
"My bad, I apologize. A new shop needs good luck," Zhu Ning said: "After this job, I'm going to eat fish."
She'd set a flag too, so it would cancel out Li Nianchuan's.
Xu Meng: "Relax. It's just beyond the wall. Usually nothing dangerous happens. Just be careful not to touch things randomly."
Beyond the wall was inherently more dangerous. As squad captain, Xu Meng felt it necessary to brief them on some precautions.
Xu Meng was the captain with more experience. Li Nianchuan and Zhu Ning acknowledged her.
Thanks to Li Nianchuan, the journey felt light and time flew by.
About an hour later, the hovercraft stopped.
The windows and doors remained shut. The mission was classified—just like the sewer trip, they didn't know the route in.
Then the cabin's system announced: "You have entered the area beyond the first protective wall. All Cleaners, please put on your helmets before exiting the vehicle."
Zhu Ning and the others stopped chatting and put on their black protective helmets in unison.
Whooom—
The vehicle doors burst open to both sides. Looking out through her helmet, Zhu Ning's first reaction wasn't to take in the scenery.
She felt a gust of wind. Even through the helmet, the sensors transmitted the sensation.
There was wind outside—fierce, natural wind, sweeping in from the wilderness.
Author's Note:
It seems readers can't quite picture the human Survivor Bases. Think of it like a jackfruit—each district is like one of the small fruit segments, each district has five walls equivalent to the rind of each jackfruit segment, and the outermost northern wall is like the jackfruit's big outer shell. Or imagine a whole bunch of grapes—each district is one grape, the district walls are like grape skin, and the outermost wall is like the plastic wrapping around the grapes.
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