Chapter 106-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

Chapter 106 The Forsaken Village (X)

Xu Meng's body stiffened. A shadow fell across the wall. She slowly turned her head—an old man stood silently behind her.

The loose flesh on his face had completely sagged down. His eyes squirmed with blood-red worms that had entirely covered his normal eyeballs, leaving nothing but worms.

When he saw Xu Meng, he opened his mouth. Countless worms surged out, writhing in the air like tentacles.

This must be Afen's husband, Old Du.

Xu Meng had come face to face with Old Du without any warning. Even though she'd spent so long in A-Level Contamination Zones, she was still affected. Her right hand reacted faster than her mind, already reaching for the gun at her lower back.

Xu Meng really hated bugs.

It was hard to resist the urge to just blow these things away with one shot.

"Captain?" Zhu Ning's voice suddenly came through her earpiece, mixed with static. Their channel was still connected, so Xu Meng heard Zhu Ning's voice clearly.

"Captain?" Zhu Ning called again.

Old Du's body was squirming. He wore an old man's undershirt, now bulging underneath as if what lay beneath the clothes wasn't flesh, but a mass of writhing worms.

Old Du opened his mouth wide and lunged at her the instant Xu Meng hesitated.

Xu Meng frowned but chose not to fire. The timing wasn't right—gunfire might alert other contaminants.

Old Du's body really was composed of worms, just as Xu Meng had suspected. When he lunged, several worms even fell out from his pant legs.

He was extremely close to Xu Meng. By all logic, she shouldn't have been able to dodge. But the instant his hand touched her, Xu Meng suddenly transformed into a shadow, like a flowing liquid, and vanished into the wall.

Old Du crashed headfirst into the courtyard's earthen wall. The impact was so hard that when his forehead split open, a clump of tiny red worms fell out. He touched his forehead—Xu Meng had completely disappeared.

Zhu Ning had just called out twice and was wondering whether she should go back to help.

"Captain?" Li Nianchuan looked behind Zhu Ning.

Xu Meng suddenly appeared on the rooftop, leaping down with clean, decisive movements like a nimble cat, making no sound from start to finish.

Li Nianchuan had worked with Xu Meng before at the Mechanical Aquarium, but she'd seemed unremarkable then. Now she appeared truly extraordinary.

What an elegant landing.

Xu Meng knew that using her ability meant she'd have to explain things to the Sanitation Center when she got back, but she couldn't worry about that now. Between going back for an investigation and dying here, she chose the former.

Xu Meng skipped the pleasantries and didn't explain how she'd gotten out. She handed the paper ball to Zhu Ning and said directly, "The old lady next door is named Shengxin. Afen had been passing her messages. She must have known about the parasites for a while—she either hid or ran away."

Zhu Ning unfolded the paper ball. This was the truly useful thing Xu Meng had found at Afen's house. Just as Xu Meng said, Afen had been passing messages to Shengxin.

She had discovered long ago that something was wrong with her husband, Old Du.

Zhu Ning found it hard to imagine—a lifelong partner, someone you'd planned to grow old with, and one day you discover a worm living in their ear.

The person you see every day isn't really them. Same face, but a completely different person.

You wonder: is Old Du sick? If he's sick, then get him treated. If he can't be cured, well, you've spent a lifetime together, you're both about to be buried anyway—might as well keep going.

Perhaps one night, when Old Du was fast asleep, Afen quietly got up. She had tried to pull the worm out of her husband's ear. The worm didn't hide or bite—it just let her pull.

Then, like pulling yarn, the more she pulled, the longer it got, endless. Eventually she was covered in worms. They wrapped around her.

Those worms crawled from Old Du's body into hers, flooding in through her nostrils, mouth, and ears.

They became what many romance novels describe: two people merging into one, inseparable.

Later, they truly shared the same goal, became conjoined, because their parasites were the same kind.

At the moment of death, they confirmed it: no need to be buried together. They had reached the ultimate state.

Zhu Ning looked up. Afen was still pressed against the window, wearing a satisfied smile. For a moment, Zhu Ning felt conflicted.

The Afen who had passed notes to Shengxin was definitely not the same as the Afen before them now. Shengxin must have found it impossible to accept.

Xu Meng paused. "Shengxin is very likely the contamination source."

Li Nianchuan asked, "Why?"

Xu Meng said, "She's been monitoring the village, but everyone she monitored gradually became puppets of the parasites. They're all connected as one."

Xu Meng paused again and looked around. The village road had changed since they arrived. Shadows of people appeared in the houses on both sides.

It was like a scene from the previous world—the villagers were watching them.

Xu Meng continued, "In the process of monitoring, she discovered that she herself had become the one being watched."

Shengxin had been entrusted by Old Zhang to monitor the villagers, but strange things kept happening one after another. First it was Old Wu, then the old lady next door, Afen.

Afen had passed messages to Shengxin before completely losing control, then transformed into someone Shengxin didn't recognize at all.

Shengxin realized the villagers were being controlled by parasites. The controlled people seemed to share a collective memory—they shared one pair of eyes, one brain.

Shengxin went from being the watcher to being watched. All the villagers had become puppets of the parasites. Any normal person learning this truth would go insane.

"So Shengxin is the contamination source?" Li Nianchuan asked.

Xu Meng said, "I'm guessing yes, but I'm not certain."

Li Nianchuan said, "Are we that lucky? We walked right into the contamination source's house on our first try?"

With so many houses around, Zhu Ning had randomly picked one to enter, and they'd hit the contamination source immediately. That was some incredible luck.

Li Nianchuan asked, "So where did she go?"

People had appeared in all these houses now. Villagers stood at the windows, noses pressed against the glass, watching with smiles.

Only Shengxin's house was empty. But in the first layer of the world, the grumpy old lady's house had someone—Zhu Ning and the others had seen her.

Li Nianchuan noticed Zhu Ning had been silent throughout and asked, "What do you think?"

Zhu Ning didn't contradict Xu Meng. Her logic was sound. If Shengxin was the contamination source, then her house being empty made sense—contamination sources were good at hiding themselves.

But something felt off. Why?

Contamination sources usually had strong obsessions. Would that hunting, somewhat grumpy old lady go insane and become a contamination source for this reason?

The impression she gave Zhu Ning was of someone who'd rather kill the entire village than bow her head—a fierce old lady.

The system had prompted Zhu Ning to find the secret of why the village was abandoned. What was the truth? The entire village showed signs of smoke damage—not just Shengxin's house. If it were only one or two houses, it could be explained as fire accidents, but the whole village looked like it had been burned. How to explain that? Who burned the village?

Zhu Ning said, "We'll know when we find her."

Whether Shengxin was the contamination source or not, finding her would at least reveal part of the truth.

Zhu Ning said, "Let me contact Cui Kai's team."

Old Wu's house was quite far. Walking there was possible, but there were people there now. Zhu Ning planned to check the situation before deciding.

Cui Kai hadn't sent any messages. Logically, the Garrison Troops had strong wilderness survival skills and should find clues more easily. Old Wu was a key figure—his house should have some information.

But Cui Kai hadn't contacted her after all this time.

And the electronic keyboard music had been gone for a very long time.

Ever since Zhu Ning and the others entered Shengxin's house, the clumsy piano sounds had disappeared. Had something happened to them?

...

Someone was playing piano in the forsaken village, sounding very out of place in the desolate settlement.

The three-person Garrison Troops team consisted of Jiang Ping, Cui Kai, and Xiao Yilei.

They followed the piano sounds to a house. Through the window, they could see an old man playing piano with his back to them.

His fingers were clearly clumsy, as if newly grown. His whole body was especially stiff while playing—he showed no sign of enjoying the music.

It was as if an invisible knife was held to his neck, forcing him to practice.

The door was ajar. They knocked symbolically, announced themselves as repairmen, and hearing no refusal, Cui Kai pushed the door open and went in.

The moment he entered, the piano sounds abruptly stopped. There was no old man playing piano inside.

"Wh-where is he?" Xiao Yilei asked.

Human instincts were similar—their first reaction was also to look back. The road outside was empty, a deserted path with no Cleaners.

After several attempts going in and out, they finally confirmed: they had entered another world.

Cui Kai said, "Search this house."

Jiang Ping and Xiao Yilei went to look for clues. Cui Kai received a communication from Zhu Ning asking about their progress. It seemed Zhu Ning had encountered the same thing.

They had both entered another world. According to Zhu Ning, this house belonged to someone called Old Wu.

Zhu Ning also shared the journal records she'd found. Strange things had been happening in this village, and Old Wu was the first to disappear and return.

Very useful intelligence. Cui Kai was starting to think more highly of Zhu Ning's team. This Cleaner squad was highly capable, completely shattering their preconceptions.

Cui Kai agreed to contact Zhu Ning later, then cut the communication.

Xiao Yilei found a calendar. "Captain, look at this."

Old folks had poor memory and liked using old-fashioned paper calendars. This one was clearly designed for the elderly—large font, lots of blank space, with a dedicated notes section for reminders.

Basically used as a memo.

New Calendar Year 10, November 9th.

Go see the doctor. Don't let anyone find out I'm sick.

November 8th was the day Old Wu returned after disappearing. He'd probably just gotten home and was required to get daily checkups at the village clinic.

Old Wu recording his doctor visits was normal, but what did that last line mean—"Don't let anyone find out I'm sick"?

New Calendar Year 10, November 10th.

Go see the doctor. Practice piano.

Don't let anyone find out I'm sick.

New Calendar Year 10, November 11th.

Don't let anyone find out I'm sick! Don't let anyone find out I'm sick! Don't let anyone find out I'm sick!

After that, it was just this sentence repeated over and over. The handwriting was terrible, like someone who had just learned to write.

And Old Wu seemed obsessed. He could only write this one sentence, over and over, filling the entire calendar, every corner covered in dense small characters.

This didn't look like a calendar. It looked like a handwriting practice book.

Xiao Yilei said, "Did he... did he go crazy?"

Crazy people in contamination zones were normal. Xiao Yilei asked again, "Is he the contamination source?"

Cui Kai shook his head. "Don't know. Too few clues."

Xiao Yilei said, "He seems like someone who was just parasitized and isn't used to it yet, practicing."

Xiao Yilei voiced his thoughts. Old Wu seemed like he'd been parasitized by something, or rather, his body had been taken over. He wasn't familiar with this body and was terrified of making mistakes, so he kept recording in the calendar, kept practicing piano, trying to impersonate Old Wu.

What Xiao Yilei was thinking was exactly what Cui Kai was thinking. But parasitized by what? Parasites?

People who'd survived outside the walls for long easily thought in this direction.

"Jiang Ping," Cui Kai asked, "what did you find over there?"

Jiang Ping had his back to Cui Kai and hadn't participated in their discussion at all. Not only did Jin Tao and the others find Jiang Ping strange—Cui Kai also thought this team member was odd.

Xiao Yilei had privately told him he was a bit afraid of Jiang Ping.

Now Jiang Ping stood with his back to them, right in front of the electronic keyboard. From his silhouette, you couldn't tell what he was doing at all. He seemed indifferent, unconcerned about whether they could escape the contamination zone.

Jiang Ping gave Cui Kai an illusion—he seemed to have merged with this place.

"Jiang Ping?" Cui Kai asked.

"Hm?" Jiang Ping turned his head. "I didn't find anything."

Finding nothing was normal. Some contamination sources hid their clues well. Finding any clues would be the surprise. Cui Kai asked, "What's that in your hand?"

Jiang Ping made a sound of acknowledgment. "Sheet music."

Cui Kai asked, "What's inside?"

Jiang Ping said, "Just music. I can't read it."

Cui Kai stared at him. "Let me see."

Jiang Ping pressed the sheet music under his palm. "I think you'll get mentally contaminated if you look at it."

His behavior was too strange. Cui Kai said word by word, "Let. Me. See."

Jiang Ping had no choice but to hand over the sheet music. Many people wrote notes or jotted things down on sheet music, or recorded something in the margins. In this contamination zone, written records were all important.

That's why Cui Kai insisted on seeing the sheet music. He opened it, and inside was a long, thin red worm.

The instant he opened the sheet music, the worm fell to the ground with a splat. The worm was so long that half its body was on the ground while the other half still hung from Cui Kai's hand.

Cui Kai had lived in the wilderness for years and wasn't afraid of bugs. He knew not to struggle when encountering worms—they couldn't breach the protective suit's defenses.

But Jiang Ping's behavior was like a child playing a prank.

Why hadn't he wanted Cui Kai to see the sheet music? A worm this long, if it lived inside a human body...

Cui Kai didn't dare imagine. Had the entire village been parasitized?

Cui Kai didn't even dare move. The worm fell off him and hit the floor.

Jiang Ping chuckled softly. "Told you not to look."

Cui Kai took a deep breath. Jiang Ping was becoming increasingly strange. When he first joined the Garrison Troops outside the walls, Jiang Ping had still been a normal person. Now he was like an unruly child.

He really was too abnormal.

Cui Kai asked, "Why did you provoke those people earlier?"

He could only ask Jiang Ping these questions away from the Cleaners. He'd save face for his team members in front of outsiders, but now they were in an enclosed space—perfect for handling internal matters.

Jiang Ping had been verbally provoking Jin Tao and telling Zhu Ning that Cleaners might go crazy. This kind of behavior could easily cause group panic.

Jiang Ping said with a smile, "I noticed you don't like them much either."

When the Giant Yellow Flower appeared, Cui Kai had shouted harshly not to move. Later, he'd also sternly said they had to contain all the contaminated spores before he'd lead the team back.

"Aren't we the same? Don't tell me you like those Cleaners?" Jiang Ping's voice was indifferent. The Garrison Troops didn't much like Demon Hunters or Cleaners.

People who normally lived inside the walls could never understand them.

"Jiang Ping," Cui Kai's voice was heavy, "how long has it been since you had your sanity checked?"

Jiang Ping said, "My mental health report is perfectly normal. You've seen it."

Cui Kai had indeed seen the report. Very stable mentally. But now Cui Kai suspected Jiang Ping had gone crazy—he was crazy in a very stable way.

Cui Kai said, "Take a month off when you get back. Don't come in next month."

"Captain," Jiang Ping looked up at him, "are you dismissing me?"

Xiao Yilei couldn't listen anymore. "The captain is giving you leave. Come back after a month."

Jiang Ping's fingers rested on the electronic keyboard keys. The keyboard had no power, so it could only produce silent music. This meaningless action, combined with Jiang Ping's words, seemed extremely eerie. "But I don't like it inside the walls. I find it comfortable outside."

If he could, he wanted to stay outside the walls forever.

Jiang Ping was very wrong. Cui Kai frowned. What he was about to do was risky, but he felt it would be more dangerous not to address it.

The real danger might not be this village, but his own teammate!

Cui Kai suddenly raised his gun, pointing it at Jiang Ping. This was so sudden that Xiao Yilei beside him hadn't expected it at all. Xiao Yilei shouted, "Captain! What are you doing!"

Jiang Ping remained calm, fingers pressing on the keys. "Yeah, Captain, what are you doing?"

Cui Kai said, "Take off your protective helmet!"

Xiao Yilei gasped. What had he heard? Cui Kai wanted Jiang Ping to remove his protective helmet? Wasn't that asking for death? This was an A-Level Contamination Zone—taking off the helmet was no different from suicide.

Xiao Yilei didn't know what had happened between Cui Kai and Jiang Ping, but still tried to mediate. "Captain, let's talk this out."

Jiang Ping looked quietly at Cui Kai. "Captain, you've lost your mind."

"I haven't!" Cui Kai said. "Take off the helmet."

Jiang Ping turned to look at Xiao Yilei instead, as if Cui Kai had gone crazy and he wouldn't waste more time talking to a madman. He needed to find someone sane to talk to.

Jiang Ping said to Xiao Yilei, "The captain's gone crazy. Should we work together to restrain him?"

Xiao Yilei hadn't expected things to go this way and didn't know what to say. Jiang Ping said the captain had a problem, but Jiang Ping himself wasn't exactly normal either.

Xiao Yilei didn't move. Right now he felt like he was walking on a cliff edge—dead ends in both directions. Better to stay still.

Cui Kai said, "The last mission, at the underground river—all the Cleaners were wiped out. You were there."

Jiang Ping said, "You were there too."

Casualties on missions outside the walls were completely normal. Total wipeouts happened often. They were all used to it. Unless you looked specifically, no one would notice anything unusual.

Now, stringing things together, it seemed very strange.

Cui Kai said, "The mission two years ago, at the boulder by the wall—half the people died. You were there too."

Before Jiang Ping could speak, Cui Kai said directly, "I wasn't there for that one."

Jiang Ping asked, "What are you trying to say?"

Cui Kai said, "Don't you think you show up too often?"

"This..." Xiao Yilei's mind couldn't keep up. "Captain, what do you mean?"

Cui Kai completely ignored Xiao Yilei, only looking at Jiang Ping. "Aren't you going to explain?"

Jiang Ping said, "I don't think there's anything to explain."

Cui Kai said, "Fine then. Take off your protective helmet."

Jiang Ping didn't move. Xiao Yilei beside him didn't dare breathe.

"This is an order," Cui Kai said. "Take it off!"

An order. You couldn't disobey the captain's orders on a mission. Jiang Ping sighed. "Does it really have to be like this?"

Cui Kai said, "Take it off!"

Cui Kai suspected Jiang Ping had already been contaminated. No—his behavior was more like he'd been parasitized by something, just like the villagers.

If Jiang Ping was normal, he'd rather shoot and disobey orders than remove his helmet. After all, no one wanted to die.

"Hey," Xiao Yilei tried to intervene, "this isn't right..."

Jiang Ping seemed indifferent. He unfastened the clasps of his protective helmet.

Click—

After this sound, Xiao Yilei didn't try to stop him anymore. The fully sealed environment had been breached. Jiang Ping had actually opened his helmet. He could now be infected.

The instant Jiang Ping opened his helmet, he became the enemy.

Xiao Yilei also raised his gun, pointing it at Jiang Ping. Now he had two guns aimed at him.

Jiang Ping seemed not to see the gun barrels. He calmly removed his helmet, like a diver who'd been on a mission too long, finally returning to the surface to breathe air.

"Does it really have to be like this?" Jiang Ping asked.

Cui Kai drew a sharp breath. With the helmet off, Jiang Ping's true appearance was revealed. One of his eyeballs hung loose, with countless writhing worms crawling out from inside.

Jiang Ping was still asking, "Do you really have to do this?"

...

"Hello? Cui Kai?"

Zhu Ning's voice came through Cui Kai's helmet. "Cui Kai?"

Jiang Ping looked at the two corpses on the ground. Their helmets had fallen aside. Writhing red worms were crawling into their eye sockets and noses.

A worm wrapped around Cui Kai's spine. His body began to convulse violently, like a freshly infected zombie.

Old Wu stood nearby watching. His body was composed of countless tiny red worms. The worms had crawled out from cracks in the house and reassembled into the shell of Old Wu.

Cui Kai was indeed the captain—he'd quickly discovered Jiang Ping's problem. His actions were decisive. By all rights, he and Xiao Yilei should have been able to subdue Jiang Ping.

But Cui Kai hadn't known Old Wu was at the scene. He'd thought with two against one, victory was assured.

These worms could crawl into corners of walls—that was where worms were supposed to live.

Jiang Ping glanced at the window. His reflection showed his eye had fallen out. He pushed the eyeball back in, then struggled to stuff the worms back in too.

"Cui Kai?" Zhu Ning's voice came again.

"Cui Kai" stood up. Following Jiang Ping's instructions, he answered the question, his voice exactly the same as before. "Zhu Ning, we're fine."

"Yes, we found some clues here," Cui Kai said, worms still crawling in his mouth as he spoke. "Alright, should we meet up?"

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