Chapter 124-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 124 The Company You Can't Leave (II)
Did he jump?
The audio clip was thirty seconds total. Zhu Ning rewound and listened several times. She was sure—it was the sound of a person falling from a great height and slamming into the ground.
Why?
Had the pressure been so unbearable that they'd jumped, or had someone thrown them off?
The dead post didn't have a specific timestamp. Zhu Ning couldn't tell when it had happened.
Ding—
[Congratulations, random mission triggered: The Company You Can't Leave. Mission objectives: become an Outstanding Employee, successfully leave the company, assist in uncovering the truth behind the death, purify the company. This is a random mission, not mandatory. Please choose whether to accept.]
[This mission will automatically close before dawn. Please make your decision carefully.]
As expected, this mission also held clues about Zhu Ning's death.
The dead post missions from Prometheus were never straightforward. Would Zhu Ning discover something here?
[Mission accepted. Please complete before dawn.]
Zhu Ning accepted the mission. Below the dead post was an address: Hengsheng Mechanical Company.
Before setting out, Zhu Ning searched on her Sub-Brain. She hadn't expected much, since many dead post missions involved ancient Contamination Zones with scarce online information.
But this time, she actually found results.
The place seemed to be a popular urban-exploration horror destination. Lots of people knew about it.
Hengsheng Mechanical Company used to be a key project in District 103. Most industries in the district dealt with waste processing, but this was the only company that had made a real name for itself in mechanical engineering.
They were renowned for ultra-high work efficiency. Getting into this company was a dream for many.
Join this company, and your resume would look incredible. Not only would you work with cutting-edge technology, but transferring to a smaller firm afterward would be effortless.
Sure, the company had notorious overtime culture, but many felt that working overtime while young was the time to do it—you wouldn't get the chance later.
Then, for unknown reasons, the company went under ten years ago. Rumors about the inside story were rampant—some guessed it was absorbed by a major conglomerate, others thought internal management had collapsed.
There were even claims of a violent mass murder inside, with an entire floor of employees killed.
In any case, the main building of Hengsheng Mechanical Company was abandoned and classified by the Federation as a severely contaminated zone. Sometimes people passing by would see lights blazing inside, as if employees were still working late into the night.
"I passed by once—could hear them typing from way off. These guys are insane. Even as ghosts they're still grinding overtime."
"Have any of you seen someone jumping off the building over there?"
"No. OP, give us details..."
"I was drunk that day, passing through the area. Everything was hazy. Then I heard a BANG—something hit the ground. I looked closer and there was a body lying face-down on the ground, staring at me with those huge eyeballs popped right out! Sobered me up instantly. I scrambled out of there on all fours..."
Zhu Ning's data search turned up plenty of related material, though the information was a mix of truth and fiction. An internet-famous exploration team had once tried livestreaming from inside—they went in and never came out.
Others had gone in and come out with some contagious illness, bedridden ever since.
After word spread about the unknown contamination inside Hengsheng Mechanical Company, the number of thrill-seekers dropped significantly.
The Federation didn't have the resources to seal off every Contamination Zone. A-Level Programs were too costly. There was no stopping determined daredevils.
Zhu Ning checked—this Contamination Zone was in the queue, currently number 37. The Sanitation Center's assessment read: far from populated areas, stable core, currently harmless.
Non-urgent Contamination Zones got pushed back. Priority wasn't based solely on contamination level. At this rate, even if Zhu Ning did nothing, Demon Hunters would be dispatched within a month.
Zhu Ning summarized the information she'd found. Something felt off—despite all her searching, there wasn't a single official media report or employee interview. Everything was rumor and hearsay.
Why? Had the conglomerates suppressed the facts?
The lack of information was exactly what had led to rampant speculation.
Zhu Ning stored all the data she could find in her head. Being an experimental subject had its perks—she didn't need the Sub-Brain; her main brain could store information too.
Inside a Contamination Zone, signals would disappear. Better to gather intelligence beforehand and adapt on the fly once inside.
After several excursions into Contamination Zones, she'd developed her own methodology.
Pre-entry preparations included arranging how to contain the Contamination Spores.
Zhu Ning used to ask Liu Niannian, but this Contamination Zone seemed too large for her to handle alone.
She'd considered asking Li Nianchuan, but then thought he'd just had hotpot. Let him rest.
Zhu Ning thought it over, then opened Xu Meng's chat and sent her a message, saying she was going into Hengsheng Mechanical Company.
Xu Meng replied: [You really have a talent for courting death.]
Zhu Ning: [......]
Xu Meng had just gotten in her car. She'd been studying Cheng Mofei's Employee Wristband and puzzling over the password when Zhu Ning's message arrived.
She frowned at the message. She knew that Contamination Zone—extremely high contamination levels, registered as A-Level and above. Zhu Ning truly was a death-seeking prodigy. Then again, Prometheus was probably guiding her there.
As a senior veteran, Xu Meng still felt compelled to offer some guidance.
Xu Meng: [That's a whole squad's worth of work. You're going alone?]
Zhu Ning didn't know what "gift" Prometheus intended to send her, so she preferred to handle things solo.
Zhu Ning: [Because I'm awesome.]
Xu Meng: [......]
Zhu Ning's shamelessness had reached new heights in Xu Meng's eyes. Most people valued modesty and subtlety. Zhu Ning walked around every day radiating "I'm the best"—how had she never been punched?
Xu Meng had seen the Xenomorph on Zhu Ning's body. Zhu Ning probably wouldn't get into real trouble. Going solo likely meant she didn't want anyone interfering with the process.
Xu Meng had planned to head straight home, but then thought Zhu Ning definitely couldn't handle the aftermath. For a mission this large, containing the Contamination Spores alone required at least two Cleaner squads.
Xu Meng: [It's dangerous in there. High contamination. Be careful.]
Reading that reply, Zhu Ning felt a warmth inside. Xu Meng hadn't asked for details. She'd only told her to be careful.
Xu Meng: [Notify me when the mission's done. I'll be waiting near Hengsheng Mechanical Company and will contact the dead post Clean Squad to help you contain the Contamination Spores.]
Zhu Ning would never again have to worry about nobody cleaning up after her.
Zhu Ning sent an emoji: [Captain! I love you!]
Xu Meng: [Stop being clingy.]
Zhu Ning closed her Sub-Brain. Xu Meng was truly the definition of tsundere.
Zhu Ning's Protective Suit was in the car. It was different from the standard Sanitation Center suit—higher defensive capability.
Zhu Ning found a bathroom without surveillance cameras and changed into the Protective Suit. She'd just mounted the motorcycle when something struck her as odd—Chu Qing hadn't been watching her for a while.
After the Ant Nest, she could still feel the surveillance. After that, it had vanished.
She didn't know whether Chu Qing had given up or what. What had happened to him?
It wasn't Stockholm syndrome—it was just that the constant watchful gaze had disappeared. The psycho doctor suddenly going quiet actually felt unsettling. Was Chu Qing planning something big?
For now, Zhu Ning couldn't be bothered to worry about him.
All preparations complete, Zhu Ning snapped on her helmet, told the Luxury Car the address, and the motorcycle kicked into overdrive. Passersby only saw a blur before she vanished.
......
Hengsheng Mechanical Company.
The Luxury Car came to a silent stop at the company entrance. A Federation no-entry sign stood at the gate, orange warning tape stretched across.
That was the extent of the Federation's warning capability.
The company had been remote to begin with. Now that it was abandoned, surrounding buildings had followed suit. The whole area was like a ghost town—not a living soul.
How had that drunk internet commenter ended up in a place like this in the middle of the night? How wasted do you have to be?
Zhu Ning had never worked a desk job in an office building in her previous life. After joining the Sanitation Center, it was only a single-building operation. She had no concept of a large corporate campus. Now she realized how naive she'd been.
This wasn't a company campus—it was practically a university campus.
Past the front gate, a bulletin board displayed an internal navigation map. The campus contained six main buildings, plus a theater, a large conference hall, two cafeterias, and a shopping complex.
Zhu Ning had once survived in the Zombie World. A complex like this—if a doomsday crisis hit, you could seal the gates and build an independent nation inside.
Crash.
Zhu Ning smashed the bulletin board glass with her elbow and ripped out the paper map.
Electronics were unreliable inside Contamination Zones. Paper documents reigned supreme.
Zhu Ning held the map, momentarily lost. She didn't even know where to start. This place was too big.
Demon Hunters typically began by sweeping the scene. Zhu Ning surveyed the six main buildings. Searching all six would probably kill her from exhaustion.
Sure enough, Xu Meng was right. This was at least a full squad's worth of work.
Each building was numbered. The tallest was Building 3 in the center—over two hundred stories. With District 103's technological development, even the Sanitation Center's main building wasn't the tallest. A mechanical company having tall buildings was normal.
Zhu Ning stopped in front of Building 3. Her first thought upon seeing it: What a perfect building for jumping off.
If a person fell in free fall from the roof, from the instant they jumped to impact—
They could quietly savor the process of plummeting. Body descending, soul floating upward. A thunderous bang, and every bone shatters.
Then watching helplessly as their own brains and blood burst forth—white and red mingling together. Wanting to struggle but powerless, unable to lift even a finger.
Zhu Ning frowned at this thought. Was the Contamination Zone influencing her?
It was as if she'd seen, with her own eyes, a body lying on this open ground.
Drip—
In the empty company campus, a sound suddenly broke the silence—something liquid dripping. She caught a faint whiff of blood, barely there, drifting in and out.
It was coming from the building's entrance.
She strode toward the steps. Something black was swaying in the air.
A black rooster hung from the building's doorway. Its feet were tied to a crossbar with thin rope, swinging with the breeze.
The rooster's throat had been slit. Dark reddish blood dripped steadily onto the ground.
There were burn marks in front of the building. Three apples on the ground, a bowl of white rice with three sticks of incense—burned only halfway.
What was this for?
A memorial offering? A summoning ritual? Or warding off evil?
The high-tech building and the burn marks clashed violently. These two things shouldn't exist in the same space.
And judging by the state of things, it hadn't been long—as if someone had been here just five minutes ago. Where were they?
Had they left?
White glutinous rice was scattered across the entrance. Boots crunching through it made an unpleasant sound.
The glass doors were locked, sealed for ages, so grimy you couldn't see inside.
Zhu Ning carefully stepped around the offerings and pressed her face against the doors. The layer of grime meant you had to get close to see anything inside.
The glass door was like a hazy mirror, reflecting a woman in a black helmet. And the black helmet in the night was itself like a mirror, reflecting the glass door. Two mirrors facing each other, creating an infinite regression of reflections.
Zhu Ning wiped the glass surface with her hand and peered inside. She'd braced herself to see an eyeball or something, but all she saw was a reception counter and turnstile gates for swiping into the building.
A thick layer of dust covered everything inside. Not a single person. Just a perfectly ordinary abandoned company.
Zhu Ning moved to step back, planning to observe the building's exterior before using the Universal Key to open the door and have a look inside.
But before she could move, her entire body went rigid, every muscle taut.
Someone was inside.
A woman was pressed against the glass door from the other side.
She was also wearing a black Protective Suit. Her movements were identical to Zhu Ning's.
They were like two copies produced from the same space, observing each other through a filthy pane of glass.
Was that... another version of herself?
The person inside the glass mirrored her movements, leaning in close. Zhu Ning was looking in from outside; the other was looking out from inside.
What was this?
[Sanity decreased by 1%]
The first reaction to suddenly seeing another version of yourself is fear. She is you, but she isn't. Zhu Ning had a strange thought.
She wants to escape. The other self wants to escape.
The words flooded Zhu Ning's mind like a hint. She was desperately trying to flee.
Why? What had she encountered in there?
Zhu Ning held her rigid posture and took a deep breath.
[Use Universal Key?] The System's mechanical prompt sounded.
Zhu Ning kept her eyes on the person inside while moving with extreme caution. She was afraid any tiny movement would startle the one within.
She didn't know whether the one inside was mimicking her or whether they'd both used the Universal Key simultaneously—click—the glass doors slid open from both sides.
Blinding light suddenly flooded in. Zhu Ning instinctively squinted. When she looked back at the spot, the other self had vanished.
Where? Had she fled?
The lobby was empty. White light, almost painful to look at. The floor was so clean it reflected silhouettes.
Clatter, clatter—
A pen rolled across the floor.
The pen looked out of place on the polished surface. It had rolled from some unknown direction, the squeak-squeak sound pulling her attention irresistibly, making her want to keep staring at it.
A pen on the floor.
Zhu Ning's first instinct was to pick it up. She touched the side of the steel pen. Whose Steel Pen was this?
The instant she looked up, people appeared in the previously empty building.
Countless pairs of feet materialized all around, striding hurriedly past her.
Men in full suits, women in professional attire or relaxed blazers. Looking up from below, they all wore ID Badges on their chests. Every one of them was impeccably groomed, carrying either coffee or tablets.
Only their heads weren't quite the same as ordinary office workers. Atop their necks sat... sheep heads.
Sheep-Heads?
Zhu Ning had seen Fishmen, Pigmen, jellyfish-people. This was her first time encountering Sheep-Heads.
Sheep are gentle animals. A single sheep wouldn't seem scary. But these sheep had expressions on their faces—most wore weary smiles.
Packed tightly together, it was hard to tell whether they were human or animal.
Was she... inside a flock now?
Some Sheep-Heads were chatting amiably with colleagues. They swiped through the turnstiles in orderly fashion. A suit-wearing Sheep-Head man was rushing for the elevator, shouting: "Wait—wait for me!"
The elevator doors closed mercilessly. The man could only lower his head and mutter a curse.
If you ignored the sheep heads on their necks—and the countless squirming grayish-black tendrils in the background—this looked like a perfectly ordinary Monday-morning commute.
From abandoned ruin to bustling workplace in less than a second.
The helmet's internal system announced: [Confirmed: Cleaner Zhu Ning has entered a Contamination Zone. Contamination level estimated at S-Level. Please choose whether to report to the Sanitation Center Technology Department. Current maximum contamination concentration: 250%. Contamination Zone exceeds detection range. Living Contaminants detected inside.]
[This Contamination Zone is continuously growing. Contamination concentration is fluctuating. Please exercise caution, Cleaner.]
Confirmed—she was inside a Contamination Zone.
S-Level. As expected of a corporation—all that wage-slave resentment? This was the highest-rated Contamination Zone Zhu Ning had ever entered.
If she could make it out alive, her record would match Lynx's.
But was this Contamination Zone really this massive? It exceeded the helmet's detection range entirely. To get an accurate reading, she'd need to contact the Sanitation Center's Technology Department.
Where had the other self—the one who'd wanted to escape from inside the door—gone? Zhu Ning scanned her surroundings but found no trace of her.
Zhu Ning had arrived in time for the morning rush. The Sheep-Heads all had their own destinations. Only Zhu Ning stood out, utterly out of place.
The receptionist smiled at her. The smile's curvature was perfectly normal, but because it was on a sheep's face, Zhu Ning couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness.
"How may I help you?" the receptionist asked.
Zhu Ning immediately adapted. "I'm here to complete my onboarding."
Entering a Contamination Zone required finding a suitable identity. This time, she'd be a newly hired employee. It fit her current situation perfectly.
The receptionist: "May I see your documents?"
Zhu Ning had no documents. She'd been about to make something up on the spot when she noticed she was suddenly carrying a commuter tote bag. The pen she'd just picked up was gone.
When had she put this on?
Inside the bag were a stack of resumes and documents. The pen she'd picked up lay at the bottom. So the pen had been hers?
She'd just picked up her own Steel Pen?
How bizarre.
Zhu Ning handed the documents to the receptionist. The woman glanced at them, swiped a card, and led Zhu Ning through the turnstiles. "Please follow me."
Zhu Ning shouldered the bag. For some reason, despite having already worked at the Sanitation Center, she now felt exactly like a fresh college graduate.
The receptionist led Zhu Ning into the elevator. It was packed—all Sheep-Heads, shoulders touching, neatly arranged like loaves of bread on a supermarket shelf.
Nobody was on their Sub-Brain. Nobody looked down. The Sheep-Heads stared blankly ahead.
Zhu Ning scanned the panel. This building only had buttons up to the fiftieth floor. Everything above was hidden.
Similar to the Sanitation Center's setup—upper floors were restricted.
The elevator stopped at the 19th floor. The receptionist led the way. "This way, Miss Zhu."
She easily reminded Zhu Ning of Fang Ying, but without Fang Ying's crisp, no-nonsense manner. This one seemed gentle by nature.
At the designated department, a sign hung by the door: Mechanical Design Department.
Zhu Ning suddenly recalled that she'd apparently studied mechanical engineering in college—the easiest major for working-class people to find jobs with.
The moment the door opened, a symphony of typing filled the air. This world already had silent keyboards, yet for some reason they still used the oldest mechanical ones here.
Was it a fondness for the sound of keys? Or a way to monitor which employees weren't working?
Inside, over a hundred Workstations were divided up, each occupied by a Sheep-Head typing away. When Zhu Ning entered, she seemed to startle them.
Every single one stopped typing at the exact same moment, heads swiveling to stare at her in perfect unison. The clatter of keyboards ceased in an instant.
The office plunged into eerie silence.
Over a hundred gazes landed on Zhu Ning. She was forced to endure the scrutiny of all—like a new sheep about to join the flock.
For the first time in a long while, she actually felt pressure.
She'd always been indifferent to being watched. Back in shooting competitions, countless spectators would fill the arena, and Zhu Ning never felt the weight of their stares.
But now she did. The collective gaze felt heavy enough to crush a person.
"You must be Zhu Ning?"
Zhu Ning jumped at the voice. A man in a blue suit had appeared beside her—slim build, delicate features, looking like a recent graduate.
"The new mechanical designer?"
Zhu Ning wasn't even sure she could understand mechanical engineering. She said shamelessly: "That's right."
Get the job first. She could learn on the fly.
The receptionist handed Zhu Ning off to the man.
"I'm the department assistant. Just call me Hope. Put your bag at your Workstation first, then come with me to complete your onboarding."
Hope—probably an alias. He led her to an empty desk. It looked identical to every other one: a computer, a keyboard, a notebook, nothing else.
Zhu Ning set her bag on the desk and was about to stand up.
Hope stood motionless beside her Workstation, wearing a professional smile. "Remember your Workstation. Don't get lost."
Zhu Ning paused. Looking back, she saw that with over a hundred identical Workstations and all her colleagues being Sheep-Heads, it would indeed be easy to lose your way.
Zhu Ning noted her position. She was by the window, next to a potted spider plant.
Hope handed her a roster: "The company requires aliases. Since there are so many employees, a lot of names are taken. These are what's left. Pick one you like."
Zhu Ning glanced at it. Nothing good remained. Even a meaningful name like "Hope" was long gone. What was left were things like Typewriter, Toilet, Water Dispenser—all object names.
Zhu Ning picked one at random. "Toilet Paper."
Picking the least rotten from a pile of rotten peaches. At least it was better than Toilet.
Hope: "Hello, Toilet Paper. Let's get your face registered."
Zhu Ning went to the scanner to register her information. She'd expected facial recognition to fail, but it went through successfully.
The scanner displayed a photo of a woman in a black helmet.
A printer whirred nearby. Hope handed her an ID Badge and Door Card—also bearing the image of the woman in the black helmet, with her new name printed below: Toilet Paper.
Zhu Ning: "......"
It was quite the sight—a woman in a black helmet sitting among a bunch of Sheep-Heads. Her photo looked like a mugshot.
Hope led her to a small office and pushed two contracts across the desk. "Toilet Paper, please sign the employment agreement."
Zhu Ning flashed back to her first day at the Sanitation Center. Also signing contracts on day one.
By comparison, the Sanitation Center was practically a model employer—caring, protective of employee rights.
This contract's clauses were bizarre:
1. Female employees may not wear skirts or shorts above the knee.
2. Due to the company's special beliefs, employees are prohibited from celebrating any traditional holidays at work.
3. Employees must work a full year before submitting a resignation.
4. Probation lasts three months. If you fail to become a regular employee, you remain on probation until the one-year term expires.
5. The probation review requires reciting the chairman's quotes.
6. All social media privacy settings must be unlocked for management review.
7. All social media accounts must be changed to your real name, with a white-background ID photo as the profile picture.
8. A Performance Review Meeting is held every Monday. Tardiness or absence will be severely punished.
9. Employees are not permitted to enter the company rooftop.
10. Eating colleagues is prohibited.
......
The full set of company regulations ran ten pages. Some were utterly absurd, but Zhu Ning read every word carefully. She had a feeling that violating company policy could have dire consequences.
What did "eating colleagues is prohibited" even mean?
Hope: "If there are no issues, please sign at the bottom."
Zhu Ning needed to blend into this Contamination Zone, which meant going to work. The System said she needed to become an Outstanding Employee, so she had no choice but to sign. She read everything meticulously and was about to write her name.
"Run!" A voice suddenly rang in her ear.
Zhu Ning frowned. The voice sounded extremely familiar. Across from her, Hope was waiting for her signature. He hadn't spoken.
There was no one in the office besides Hope and herself. Who had spoken?
Zhu Ning lowered her head. The black glass desktop reflected her silhouette—a woman in a black helmet.
She seemed trapped beneath the glass surface, pounding upward from below, struggling to break free.
"Run!" someone shouted in her ear. "Zhu Ning, run!"
Author's Note
While revising, I noticed readers discussing the company rules. They're adapted from the actual policies of a company I once worked at. I really did have to follow those absurd rules—including memorizing the chairman's quotes for the probation review, and banning skirts for female employees but not regulating male employees. So I quit. I'm just drawing from experience for realism—not endorsing any of it.
This is the 60k nutrient solution bonus chapter—a two-in-one!
I took time off to write the company dungeon arc at home. Feels... good?
To any readers who are job hunting or about to graduate and start looking—please keep your eyes open! Don't get scammed! Read every clause before signing~
Hengsheng Mechanical Company is a name I made up. No connection to any real company~
I saw someone asking about the definition of dead posts. Originally, dead posts appeared on the Sanitation Center's internal forum, refreshing after midnight and hidden among normal discussion threads.
After completing your first mission, you enter the Dead Post Enthusiasts Community where you can view everyone's completed missions and browse part of the mission library—but you can only look, not initiate. You must wait for a push notification to choose whether to accept.
To do another mission, wait until midnight again for the next push. The pushed items look like grayish-black posts. The inside varies—some are black, some colorful. Each dead post opens to a random format: Q&A forums, help groups, video sites.
Essentially, you're pushed a dark-colored link that can redirect to any kind of website.
Dead posts are generally assumed to be help signals sent by Contaminants. Whether that's actually the case is unknown. They must have sought help online previously, leaving a trace, before they can continue appearing on the internet.
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