Chapter 133-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

Chapter 133 The Company You Can't Leave (XI)

Zhu Ning's finger was on the trigger. Logically, she should have fired immediately.

If Wang Qinqian truly was the Contamination Source, one shot and Zhu Ning could leave this cursed company.

All she had to do was pull the trigger.

But she hesitated. This was the first time she'd encountered a Contamination Source that actively wanted to die.

Wang Qinqian was no longer human. Zhu Ning had arrived too late. While Wang Qinqian was still alive, there might have been a chance to save her—or she could have been handled like Lin Xiaofeng when she'd first fallen into contamination.

Was she alive? Where was the line drawn?

Could a Contamination Source be converted back into a human?

Wang Qinqian's thinking was remarkably lucid. She knew full well that she was a Contaminant. Honestly, if not for her current state, Zhu Ning would have assumed she was a Non-Natural Human—like the insects she'd encountered in Desolate Village.

Wang Qinqian had no real offensive power. She merely released her psychic suggestions in silence. And once exposed, her first reaction was to ask Zhu Ning to kill her.

The System had named this Contamination Zone "The Company You Can't Leave." For Zhu Ning, it meant she couldn't leave. For Wang Qinqian, it was exactly the same.

Wang Qinqian was the one who had truly been trapped here all along. Other Demon Hunters must have come before. Given Wang Qinqian's desperate desire for death and complete lack of resistance—why was she still alive?

If you compared densely populated areas, schools and hospitals couldn't hold a candle to a company. Every student who went to school had their own thoughts. Every doctor and patient at a hospital had their own problems.

They lacked a unified psychic force. But a company had one. In life, these employees had been trained into the same mode of thinking, following the same set of rules.

Quiz them at any time and they could recite company regulations and the chairman's quotes from memory. They'd strived toward a single goal—to become part of a great company.

After Wang Qinqian's mind completely collapsed and she fell into contamination, how would the company react? To the other employees and upper management, she was "the future." She represented their fortune for the rest of their lives.

Her fall was like watching a cooked duck fly away. They'd been so close—just one final step. That kind of psychic energy was terrifying. It created the illusion that you'd almost had something, but it slipped away.

Just one more step.

Wang Qinqian's death meant the project's failure. They'd come this far, given everything. They'd bet their entire fortunes on Wang Qinqian. They couldn't afford to lose and didn't want to.

Lured by profit, they'd already lost all reason.

Like a single point of rot spreading rapidly to others. Despair swept through. A massive infection erupted within the company, contaminations stacking upon one another, forming an airtight web.

Wang Qinqian was the origin of it all, but she too was caught in the web—like a dragonfly trapped on a spider's thread, struggling in vain.

So even in death, Wang Qinqian couldn't fully escape the company. She would always be reset.

The company's desire for her to become their cash cow hadn't wavered in the slightest—in fact, the contamination's influence had only deepened it. This was what it truly meant to be unable to die while alive, and unable to stay dead after dying.

They had fused into a single entity. Even if Wang Qinqian wanted to die, it was as if a stone were tied to her feet, dragging her down.

Was she really the Contamination Source? Did she truly have core control over this Contamination Zone? She seemed like nothing more than one cog in its machinery.

And the company had pushed her out front—just like before. They shoved her alone into the spotlight while everyone else hid in the shadows.

This was a company. Besides Wang Qinqian, there were countless Sheep-Heads. They had made themselves invisible.

Click—

Zhu Ning engaged the safety. Truthfully, she was in terrible shape right now, and even making this decision left her deeply uncertain. This was an opportunity with the Contamination Source offering herself up—miss it, and purification could become far more difficult.

But she couldn't pull the trigger on Wang Qinqian.

Not out of pity. Because it would be pointless.

Wang Qinqian had been waiting for Zhu Ning to shoot. That instant should have been quick—just a brief moment of pain to endure.

But the expected bullet never pierced her skull. She maintained her half-kneeling posture and looked up at Zhu Ning. On the black helmet was a bloody smile.

The smile Zhu Ning had drawn was wildly exaggerated—like a clown's face. A clown who would burn herself, destroying the world through self-destruction.

Because Zhu Ning wore a helmet, Wang Qinqian couldn't see her face—only the helmet. Zhu Ning's voice sounded cold. "Didn't you say you envied me?"

Wang Qinqian had said it herself—she deeply envied Zhu Ning.

Zhu Ning held the gun and continued: "Didn't you say you liked me?"

Wang Qinqian had been drawn to Zhu Ning's destructive nature. She admired the reckless "black sheep" who challenged every rule.

Zhu Ning raised her hand, finger still on the trigger. The pose looked dangerous—liable to go off at any moment.

She tapped her helmet with the gun barrel, producing a soft thunk. "Sweetheart, that's not how you play the villain."

Sheep symbolized docility. A black goat symbolized evil and destruction.

No self-respecting villain would kill someone who wanted to die. That was far too "uncool." A villain was someone who, even when dying, would take the whole world down with them.

The Xenomorph within Zhu Ning fed on fear. There was no fear here—only the stagnant calm of dead water.

Zhu Ning had said she'd be the most terrifying person in the Contamination Zone. She really wasn't joking.

She'd once told Lin Xiaofeng to stay rational. This time, what she wanted to say to Wang Qinqian was: "Stay angry."

Stay angry. Make others tremble at the sight of you. Make them feel terror because of you.

Everything in your sight can be destroyed. Burn the meaningless rules. Rebel against the broken system. Blow up the crooked company.

If death was inevitable, then burn it all down first.

Wang Qinqian froze. Zhu Ning hadn't killed her. Instead, she was... inviting her?

Zhu Ning extended her hand.

......

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

The wheelchair spun rapidly. Wang Qinqian's heart was pounding. She'd never done anything this outrageous. She was actually helping a human escape the Contamination Zone.

Pushing Zhu Ning's wheelchair felt like participating in a crime. For someone who'd always followed the rules, this was beyond extreme.

Wang Qinqian had just pulled open the main door when its metal handle instantly softened. A cold hand gripped hers without warning.

Every desk and every door in this company was forged from employees' flesh and blood. They were beginning to react.

Wang Qinqian felt like she'd become Lin Fen in this moment. If this were a role-playing game, Zhu Ning was playing Wang Qinqian, and Wang Qinqian was playing Lin Fen.

The roles had swapped in an instant, but the story kept pushing forward.

Wang Qinqian remembered that day—company leadership had discovered she'd gone to the rooftop almost immediately. They'd sent the security team up at once. Lin Fen was forcibly arrested by security. Wang Qinqian's bone fragments were collected by company personnel. She'd been powerless to resist—could only watch it all happen.

Now it was her turn? Would she walk Lin Fen's path this time?

Bang!

Zhu Ning fired. The bullet tore through the door. Blood gushed out in torrents, as if she'd punctured someone's main artery.

Wang Qinqian turned her head. The gun in Zhu Ning's hand was still smoking. "Keep going."

Thump—

Wang Qinqian felt her own heartbeat. As a Contaminant, she rarely perceived herself as alive—let alone felt a heartbeat.

Now the heartbeat was fierce, as if a pair of fists pounded inside her chest. Emotions suppressed for so long were desperate to break free.

She snapped into action, pushing Zhu Ning's wheelchair, bursting through the door, slamming the elevator button.

Sounds came from the emergency stairwell—as if countless people were rushing over. Zhu Ning had reactivated this Contamination Zone.

Clearly there was still much unresolved. Wang Qinqian was definitely not a simple Contamination Source.

Zhu Ning could feel sensation slowly returning to her numb body, but she was still weak.

The elevator doors slid open. Inside stood Faceless—the security team had arrived.

The doors had barely opened, the Faceless hadn't yet moved—all they saw was a woman in a wheelchair, apparently disabled, a blanket draped over her knees.

This was a key figure in the company's project. She carried the antibodies. The security team didn't want to completely break her.

"Relax," Zhu Ning pulled the pin on a grenade, tilted her head, and flashed a bloody smile. "This won't hurt."

A grenade rolled into the elevator car, landing right in the middle of the Faceless guards.

BOOM!

Explosive and flesh met, detonating in an instant. The elevator interior became a blur of blood and gore. Gunfire erupted as Zhu Ning followed up—what the blast didn't kill, bullets would.

Other elevators were moving, meaning reinforcements were on the way. Simultaneously, something was coming through the emergency stairwell.

"Get in." Zhu Ning said.

The elevator interior was a tangle of mangled corpses. Shattered bone and flesh littered the floor, smeared across every surface. The wheelchair rolled through a pool of carnage as it entered.

Zhu Ning's explosion had wrecked the elevator. Something inside was trying to crawl out. She'd been right before—the elevator was alive.

A human face protruded from the elevator wall—just like the ones she'd seen in the stairwell. Wang Qinqian frowned. She knew there were monsters inside the elevator.

Entering the elevator now was like stepping into an enclosed space. If the elevator couldn't operate, they'd essentially be swallowed whole by the monster.

But the expected suffocation never came. Those trying to burst free from the elevator were held in place by an invisible hand.

Zhu Ning used her Metal Manipulation ability. Any elevator contained metal. They didn't even press a floor button—Zhu Ning seized control of the entire elevator car directly.

It wasn't a gentle descent. The speed was more like plummeting from the 200th floor.

They were heading back underground.

Wang Qinqian felt numb all over. She stood in the blood-drenched elevator, her feet resting on the soft chunks of her former colleagues, inhaling the overwhelming stench of blood, unsure what exactly she was doing.

Bloody Monday. Every employee who'd ever been fed up with work had fantasized about blowing up the office. This time, Wang Qinqian was actually participating.

Her hands on the wheelchair were shaking. Stay angry. She felt her heart beating with rage.

Ding—

The elevator doors opened to both sides. Wang Qinqian gripped the wheelchair with tremendous force, as if she'd finally made up her mind about something.

Zhu Ning was still taking stock of the weapons in her Sanitation Backpack. She remembered there were many employees below—they'd crawled out of the freezer. The entire basement was packed with frozen Sheep-Head corpses.

The doors had barely opened—before Zhu Ning could even get a clear look outside—she felt Wang Qinqian suddenly surge forward from behind.

The wheelchair was shoved with explosive force. Zhu Ning didn't feel like she was sitting in a wheelchair anymore—more like she'd been launched in a car. She was hurtling forward.

Zhu Ning was like a bad kid who'd dragged the good kid into trouble—she'd been pulling Wang Qinqian along this whole time, only to suddenly realize the other woman was even more unhinged than she was.

Wang Qinqian pushed her at a dead sprint. She ran so fast that she lost a shoe along the way. Eventually she just kicked off the other one too, running barefoot as she propelled Zhu Ning forward.

Basement level one was freezing. The freezer door was already open. Inside, the densely packed Sheep-Head corpses stood like rows of cold tombstones.

Wang Qinqian felt neither the cold nor the fear. She pushed Zhu Ning straight ahead.

In that moment, only one thought filled her mind: Get Zhu Ning to the destination.

Run! Wang Qinqian, run!

The frozen corpses were stiff. Zhu Ning had blasted a path, but countless arms reached for them. Behind them were hundreds of grasping limbs.

They all wore identical sheep heads. Some of them Wang Qinqian even recognized—former colleagues and bosses. Just like before, they tried to drag her into the abyss.

But this time, it didn't happen. Everyone who tried to grab her was taken out by Zhu Ning with a single shot. No one got close.

By the end, Wang Qinqian's hair had come loose. Her black-framed glasses had fallen off somewhere. She was drenched in blood—some from the Sheep-Heads' scratches, but most of it wasn't hers.

They burst through the Sheep-Heads, tore through the charity corridor. This was the place Wang Qinqian hated most—she despised being displayed like an exhibit.

The leaders in the photos were smiling, their faces already twisted.

But this time she didn't even spare them a glance, because she knew clearly: the person in those photos wasn't her.

The Contamination Zone was pressing down inch by inch. The Sheep-Heads behind them were nearly caught up.

The company was convulsing. Countless human faces pushed through the ceiling, straining against the surface like plastic film about to burst. They were on the verge of dropping. The Contamination Zone was entering hunt mode.

Time was running out.

Wang Qinqian was gasping for breath. She brought the wheelchair to a stop at the end of the corridor. The door read: Outstanding Employees Only.

They'd reached their destination.

Logically, several senior leaders were inside, along with the raw material processing room.

Wang Qinqian opened the door—and froze. She remembered what the company had originally looked like inside. It had simply been a massive assembly-line factory floor.

After the mutation—what Zhu Ning had seen last time—it should have been a colossal gear, grinding flesh and blood within.

This time, it had changed again. Behind the door, the enormous gear had rusted. In the dead center sat a blood-red pool. Human skulls floated on its surface, along with several Demon Hunters' Protective Suits.

This was a pool of corpses.

The pool bubbled with blood, like corrosive sulfuric acid.

[Sanity decreased by 5%]

The instant the door opened, Zhu Ning heard the alert for her sanity dropping. Her teeth even began to chatter. She remembered her reaction the last time she'd touched the so-called New Energy—the numbness had only just faded.

Now before her was the upgraded version. One wrong move and she'd dissolve into a pool of blood.

Zhu Ning had no way to retreat. If Wang Qinqian truly was bound by some unknown force—an anchor chained to her ankle—

Then Zhu Ning had to break her free.

Zhu Ning was the madwoman of this Contamination Zone. She would end it all.

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