Chapter 107-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

Chapter 107 The Forsaken Village (XI)

After Zhu Ning left, fifteen Cleaners remained in the forsaken village.

Zhu Ning had already entered the village house. Since they'd lost all sense of time, they didn't even know how long she'd been inside.

Jin Tao tried to open the door but couldn't at all. He'd also tried to find Jiang Ping and the others. After the Garrison Troops entered the house, they'd similarly vanished. From outside, Jin Tao could only see an old man.

White-haired and wrinkled, his face pressed against the window, breath fogging the glass.

Behind him sat an electronic keyboard. No one was playing, and there was no music.

And strangest of all, these doors were all sealed shut—not a single one would open.

Jiang Ping and Zhu Ning's groups had both entered another world.

It was as if this world had been sealed off. Zhu Ning and the others couldn't return to this layer, and Jin Tao's group couldn't enter theirs.

Jin Tao had tried to contact Zhu Ning. Unsurprisingly, without Prometheus involved, their channel couldn't communicate.

The setting sun still hung on the horizon. The village road was bathed in warm red light. People stood in the houses on both sides of the road, standing silently, their breath forming patches of white mist.

Looking in from outside, every house had no extra people besides the villagers. Every window was eerily quiet.

The other Cleaners uncertainly asked Jin Tao, "Wh-what do we do?"

They were a pure Cleaner team. Their only hope was Zhu Ning—her abilities were closest to a Demon Hunter's. But she had completely vanished now. They didn't even know if she was alive or dead.

What if Zhu Ning died in there? Were they just going to wait outside to die?

"How about we look for a way out?" They couldn't rely on Zhu Ning for everything. In extreme situations, humans trusted themselves more.

"Yeah," someone said, "should we try again?"

"I already tried. It's useless. We can't get out."

When Zhu Ning went in, some of them hadn't been idle. They'd tried before—three times, four times, five times, all with the same result.

Besides exhausting their stamina and sanity, they'd gained nothing.

They really were trapped to death.

Jin Tao pondered for a moment. "Hold position. Conserve energy. Those with low sanity stay in the inner circle, those with high sanity on the outer."

This was very much like huddling for warmth in the snow. The Cleaner handbook said to stay put when encountering trouble. If they kept trying, they'd easily lose their minds.

The Cleaners formed a circle. It looked quite strange—fifteen Cleaners stationed on the village road in the setting sun. Since it was still light, they didn't even need to make a fire.

Villagers surrounded them on all sides, staring without blinking, their gazes pressing down on everyone like physical weight.

The Cleaners sat close together. Most had their heads down, either with eyes closed or staring at the palm-sized brick in front of them.

But it was useless. An old lady was still pressed against the window across from them, her bloody eyes staring over. Even with eyes closed, you could imagine those twisted eyeballs.

Jin Tao had promised Zhu Ning he'd look after everyone. He was gritting his teeth to hold on. His own mental state wasn't good, and these people might very well go insane.

For now, everyone was barely maintaining stability, but no one knew how long that would last.

Fifteen people, thirty eyes, every gaze filled with terror. Even with eyes closed, their eyeballs rolled anxiously back and forth.

The madness was contagious. Sitting together, they were like a fermenting barrel, suffocating pressure swirling overhead, ready to explode at any moment.

No one spoke. No one wanted to be the spark.

"Hey," someone suddenly muttered, "don't touch me."

They were sitting in a circle, the outermost people facing the villagers, everyone's back covered by someone else. This was a relatively secure seating arrangement—your back was always watched by a colleague, no need to worry about what was behind you.

So when he felt something strange, his first reaction was that the colleague behind him was playing a prank.

"I didn't touch you." The Cleaner behind him sat back-to-back with him, somewhat annoyed. Both hands were on his knees. "Where would I get the hands to touch you?"

The man stiffened. He clearly felt something strange on his right shoulder, as if something was resting on it. If it wasn't his colleague, then who?

He didn't dare turn to look. Instinctively, he reached back to feel. He didn't touch another hand, but he touched something soft and slimy. It was very long, its surface wet and slippery, leaving a trail of moisture where it crawled.

A worm. It was a worm.

A blood-red worm, like a blood vessel.

"There's a worm!" he screamed in terror.

...

Li Nianchuan heard a scream.

Because it came from another world, the scream sounded muffled, like someone shouting with a hand over their mouth.

Then came sounds of commotion, people shouting.

Li Nianchuan said, "I heard someone screaming."

Zhu Ning knew Li Nianchuan was hearing sounds from the previous world. Jin Tao's side had probably run into some trouble. They needed to find the contamination source as quickly as possible.

Zhu Ning said, "They probably can't hold on much longer."

Actually, having something to do helped stabilize one's mental state. People easily overthought when they had nothing to do.

Xu Meng said, "We need to hurry."

Zhu Ning acknowledged. Even Xu Meng was getting anxious. She hoped Jin Tao and the others could hold on a bit longer.

She'd just finished contacting Cui Kai. He said they'd found key clues, asked for Zhu Ning's location, and said they'd come meet up.

Zhu Ning ended the channel. Xu Meng asked, "Are we really waiting for Cui Kai? They're a bit strange."

Xu Meng didn't quite trust those three. Something felt off, especially that Jiang Ping.

Zhu Ning said, "I also feel something's not right with him. He disappeared for a while in between."

The first time she contacted Cui Kai, he'd answered immediately. The second time, Cui Kai had taken about a minute to respond.

What had they been doing?

Of course, delayed responses were completely normal when encountering danger in a contamination zone. You couldn't expect instant replies. But if they'd encountered danger, why was Cui Kai's tone so calm?

Zhu Ning also thought of what Jin Tao had said—that some Garrison Troops would lead people into contamination zones to kill them.

Could that be true?

Li Nianchuan said, "They probably don't trust us."

Li Nianchuan could feel that the Garrison Troops didn't like people from inside the walls. Maybe they'd found clues but didn't want to share. And compared to that Jiang Ping, Cui Kai was already relatively normal.

Zhu Ning said, "Forget about him. Let's find some clues."

The Garrison Troops didn't trust them, and they didn't quite trust the Garrison Troops either. Old Wu's house was at the end of the village—it would take fifteen to twenty minutes to walk there. Zhu Ning didn't plan to just wait around.

If Cui Kai wanted to come find them, he'd come on his own.

The question was, which house should they enter now?

Villagers had all gathered at the windows, same as in the first world, but for some reason they only watched from the windows without lunging or coming out.

What were the villagers doing? Could they only watch?

These village houses were like trap cages. The villagers followed some kind of rule, not stepping onto the village road. Only when Zhu Ning entered their homes would they react.

This gave Zhu Ning a strange feeling—the villagers seemed afraid of something on the road.

Was there something terrifying on this road? Was that why they couldn't step out of their houses?

Zhu Ning looked up at the setting sun, still motionless, like a projected photograph.

What could be so terrifying?

Weren't they all contaminants from the same contamination zone? Would they be afraid of each other? Was there something else here? The thought was rather chilling.

If this were a professional Demon Hunter team, they'd definitely split up to gather clues—most efficient. But Zhu Ning had no desire to split up her team.

"Let's check the village entrance," Zhu Ning said.

Logically, the village entrance should be close by. They planned to walk toward the big locust tree.

Zhu Ning was in the second world. Even if she found the locust tree, she couldn't get out. She wasn't expecting to find an exit—she just wanted to explore the village in the second world.

From where they were, it only took four minutes to reach the village entrance. And they actually found it—from a distance, they could see a massive locust tree.

This locust tree was so enormous it blocked out the sky. Standing beneath it and looking up, the leaves were so dense you couldn't even see the setting sun. Walking under the tree, their helmets' night vision automatically activated.

They had walked into a patch of shadow.

The tree cast a vast shadow on the ground. Using the shadow as a dividing line, it was as if light and darkness had been separated. The interior of the shadow was its own world.

This was even bigger than the locust tree they'd seen in the first world. Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng had lived inside the walls for years, rarely getting close to nature, let alone such a spectacular tree.

It was so huge. Standing before the giant tree, humans were as tiny as ants, as if all your struggles were futile.

The tree they'd first seen when entering the village had left a gap for people to pass through. Now this tree had completely blocked all exits.

There was no path forward.

"The road's blocked," Xu Meng said.

Vines kept growing, intertwining to form a wall of vegetation. They didn't even dare blast an opening with weapons—who knew if mutant plants like the Giant Yellow Flower might appear.

Outside the walls, they held immense respect for plants, even a small roadside flower, let alone a tree this massive. If this tree could mutate, it would be like a giant, capable of destroying this forsaken village in an instant.

The gaps in the bark were black, covered by newly grown bark, like a burn victim whose burned skin had scabbed over. When Zhu Ning ran her hand along it, it was like touching the tree's wounds. The surface had been burned into fragile charcoal—a little pressure and black ash came off on her fingers. The intermittent black spread across the thick trunk, as if this tree had once been burned and regrown, just like the entire village.

Li Nianchuan sniffed. "Something inside seems to have rotted."

He smelled something decaying, very fresh, as if emanating from within the tree.

Zhu Ning and Xu Meng couldn't smell it at all. She was starting to think Synthetics really were useful—Li Nianchuan's canine genes had actually been activated in this extreme environment.

Zhu Ning looked up. The locust tree's surface was covered with many vines, intertwined with each other. The spaces between the vines were large enough to hide someone.

Li Nianchuan said, "I'll go up and take a look."

With his canine genes, his hearing and smell were sharp—perfect for reconnaissance work. Zhu Ning said, "Be careful."

Li Nianchuan checked his equipment. For safety, he was still carrying his cleaning backpack. If he encountered danger up there, the backpack had survival supplies.

After checking, he began climbing. This tree was like a cliff made of vines. Li Nianchuan was quite agile, using the vine protrusions to climb.

The closer to the roots, the denser the vines intertwined, as if the interior was completely sealed. But closer to the crown, the vines became sparser.

Li Nianchuan wasn't climbing aimlessly—he was following the scent. A faint smell of decay lingered at his nose. He felt he was getting closer.

Halfway up, Li Nianchuan looked down. Without realizing it, he was already six meters from the ground. Zhu Ning and Xu Meng were watching him from below, probably wanting him to make it home safely to open his fish restaurant, so they kept looking out for him.

With Zhu Ning and Xu Meng watching, he felt very secure. Li Nianchuan didn't even find climbing this high scary, even though he had no ropes or professional climbing equipment.

The smell of decay was getting very close. He adjusted his breathing and continued forward.

Earlier, Li Nianchuan had felt like he was just climbing the massive trunk. At ten meters from the ground, branches extended before his eyes. Because the tree was so enormous, the branches were like diverging paths.

Li Nianchuan paused. The smell seemed to be coming from the right.

He had no rope. At this point, he was already over fifteen meters from the ground. He looked down—Zhu Ning and Xu Meng's figures had become very small. Only then did he realize how high he'd climbed.

He could easily fall to his death here.

He was getting a bit afraid of heights.

Li Nianchuan carefully reached toward the branch on the right, heart pounding. Zhu Ning and Xu Meng didn't even dare speak, so the channel was silent except for Li Nianchuan's own breathing.

Snap—

Li Nianchuan grabbed the branch. His feet dangled in the air, both arms hugging the branch tightly, like a monkey.

He'd never done anything this risky in his life. His legs were shaking uncontrollably. The feeling of having nothing solid under his feet was terrifying.

His arms were even slipping. Extreme situations tested mental fortitude. His body was numb. He didn't dare look down. It took him a while to catch his breath and flip himself up.

Zhu Ning and Xu Meng watched from below, terrified Li Nianchuan might accidentally fall to his death.

Seeing Li Nianchuan flip up and settle safely on the branch, Zhu Ning and Xu Meng both exhaled in relief. They both genuinely hoped Li Nianchuan could make it home.

Li Nianchuan's face was pale. He clung to the branch, not daring to let go. It took him a while to catch his breath. Xu Meng asked through the channel, "You okay?"

"I'm okay." Li Nianchuan was still trembling as he answered, but strangely, after experiencing extreme fear, one actually relaxed, as if the brain had completely emptied, entering a peculiar state.

Li Nianchuan sniffed. "The smell of decay is getting stronger."

He could feel it was very close. "I'm almost at the target."

Zhu Ning was also curious what was up there. She had Li Nianchuan turn on his camera share so both she and Xu Meng could see.

Li Nianchuan had climbed high enough that his body was hidden among the leaves. Zhu Ning could no longer see his complete figure with the naked eye.

This tree was huge, its leaves thick and broad. The smallest leaf was palm-sized; the largest was bigger than a human head. Walking through felt quite strange, very much like walking through tall grass, as if leaves were brushing against you.

After encountering the man-eating Yellow Flower, Li Nianchuan didn't even dare make small movements like brushing leaves aside. He pretended to be a snake climbing the tree.

As he climbed, he'd been thinking about what might be hidden in the tree. The most terrifying possibility was that the tree's core was a worm nest, and he'd accidentally dug into the mother nest.

Li Nianchuan had completely prepared himself mentally. No matter how terrifying, it couldn't be worse than this. With psychological preparation, he wouldn't be too frightened.

The smell of decay was now very strong. There was a large gap in the vines ahead. He squinted and peered inside.

Zhu Ning and Xu Meng's helmet screens showed what Li Nianchuan was seeing. Through Li Nianchuan, Zhu Ning saw the interior of the vines, like peering into something's lair. The tree's core seemed to have been burned hollow, emitting scattered ash and still-glowing embers. Inside was densely packed with worms.

Worms of all sizes wrapped around the vines, but they gave off a blood-red color, making them look extremely eerie.

This tree... had been parasitized by worms?

Worms could parasitize trees?

Zhu Ning had seen so many worms she was somewhat immune. Perhaps because she wasn't seeing it with her own eyes, she didn't hear the sound of sanity dropping.

But Li Nianchuan must have frozen—the camera had stopped. Zhu Ning could hear Li Nianchuan's rapid breathing.

"The—the smell isn't coming from inside." Li Nianchuan's stuttering voice came through.

Zhu Ning frowned. Li Nianchuan continued, "It's—it's—it's above me."

He could barely speak properly. He finally managed to straighten out his tongue.

Above?

What did he mean, above him?

Li Nianchuan had been peering at the worms in the tree hollow when he suddenly felt something foreign at the back of his neck. He immediately froze, quietly sensing. Something was hanging above, swaying with the wind, repeatedly touching the back of his neck.

It was like... a hanging person kept touching him.

Logically, when encountering something terrifying, he should look down. That was everyone's first reaction—like an ostrich wanting to hide, thinking if you couldn't see the danger, the danger couldn't see you.

But he had to overcome his fear. Only then could he transmit the image to Zhu Ning and Xu Meng.

Zhu Ning felt Li Nianchuan's camera start to shake. He must be looking up. At first, she only saw masses of leaves. Under the green night-vision filter, even ordinary leaves looked terrifying.

This tree had grown too lush. The dense leaves filled the camera.

Then, among the leaves, Zhu Ning saw a pair of feet. An old lady's feet, wearing dark brown cloth shoes, stained with dark red blood.

Creak—

A gust of wind rose, rustling the leaves. Those feet swayed slightly, making a creaking sound.

Was—was someone hanging from the tree?

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