Chapter 137-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 137 The Company You Can't Leave (End)
The Red Tentacle stopped squirming. It was still stained with Zhu Ning's blood. Only after it loosened slightly did Zhu Ning realize there was a wound on her abdomen—a mechanical tentacle had pierced clean through her lower belly.
The tentacle had gone in from behind and protruded out the front, still twitching. Zhu Ning was in so much pain that at the peak of agony, she'd forgotten about many of her injuries.
One of her shin bones was shattered. Both arms were broken. Her Protective Suit was completely ruined.
Zhu Ning's Metal Manipulation absolute force was showing results. Blood streamed inside her helmet. The Red Tentacle betrayed a flicker of fear.
The Xenomorph fed on fear. It had caught the scent.
Rustle rustle—
The Xenomorph made feeding sounds. It surged out through the gaps in the Protective Suit at blinding speed. The Black Slime had already made contact with the Red Tentacle's surface.
[Health remaining: 36] The System issued its cold alert. Skin Hardening burned through health fast. She was almost at her limit.
Black Slime and Red Tentacle churned against each other. Zhu Ning gritted her teeth. One end of the Black Slime was connected to her spine. The last time she'd consumed a tiny worm, she'd barely felt anything.
This time, Zhu Ning was acutely aware that she was feeding. It was like watching a cheetah on the savanna spend thirty minutes chasing down a water buffalo. Compared to a gazelle, a buffalo was far larger—horned and dangerous. Only in extreme hunger would a cheetah go after one.
The cheetah catches the buffalo. Even with its jaws clamped onto the body, it doesn't dare relax for a second—because the prey could thrash free at any moment.
You have to bite down with everything you have. Pierce through the tough hide. Find a way to lock onto the throat.
Don't let go. Even in death, don't let go.
That was exactly what Zhu Ning was doing now. She was doing everything she could to control the Xenomorph. The Black Slime couldn't be allowed to retreat.
Because there was no retreat. Zhu Ning wouldn't let it. If they died, they'd die together.
This was a parasite living on her body. Zhu Ning was Zhu Ning. It was her servant.
Zhu Ning would make it obey.
She would kill the Red Tentacle. At any cost. She ignored her own pain. She would strangle it. The Xenomorph was her blade.
Crack crack—
The mechanical metal buried deep within the Red Tentacle began to twist, seized by an irresistible force. The tentacle that had pierced Zhu Ning's abdomen was wrenched out by brute force.
It ceased all squirming and writhing. Probably since the day it was born, it had never experienced such absolute domination.
Squelch—
When the Red Tentacle withdrew, it brought a torrent of blood. Blood poured from Zhu Ning's abdomen. But she didn't relax for even a second—just clenched her jaw tighter.
She could sense the other's fear. At first it was like a tiny flame, detected by the Black Slime.
Then that spark landed on a pile of kindling. Fear spread like wildfire.
The more the Red Tentacle feared, the more excited the Black Slime became. They were intertwined beyond separation now, and the Black Slime engulfed the tentacle's surface.
Squelch— The Black Slime steamrolled the Red Tentacle, tearing it open. Bright red fluid oozed out.
The Black Slime was like a predator catching the scent of blood. It plunged into the breach—a soft liquid that had never tasted prey this exquisite.
Under Zhu Ning's ironclad control, the mechanical components inside the tentacle were twisted into pretzels.
Zhu Ning was a worthy keeper. She'd subdued the prey and was simply waiting for the Black Slime to feed.
It burrowed into the tentacle. Wherever it passed, the Red Tentacle collapsed like a drained jelly, its surface caving in rapidly.
CRACK—
They bit through the tentacle's core components. Sparks flew. The force opposing Zhu Ning was vanishing—like an arm-wrestling match where you'd been pressed nearly to the table for ages, holding on by sheer willpower.
And then, suddenly, the opposing force disappeared.
Zhu Ning's body, freed from its shackles, collapsed to the ground like she had no bones. Behind her lay the blasted rubble. Blood was everywhere. Nearly half the bones in her body were broken.
Her helmet was dented and deformed, revealing her face. It was covered in blood—she looked like a vengeful ghost.
She lay silently at the bottom of the wreckage. The Black Slime had eaten its fill, then spat out a pile of indigestible mechanical parts—gears, wires, and components Zhu Ning couldn't identify.
The Black Slime curled around Zhu Ning's body like a spoiled puppy begging for praise. Seeing that Zhu Ning had no energy to acknowledge it, it slowly retracted.
Zhu Ning didn't stop it. So it went back the way it came—slipping in through the back of her neck, slowly sinking along the gaps in her spine.
It spread along her vertebrae, evenly coating her fractured bones, fusing and regenerating at the break points.
Zhu Ning's face was drenched in blood. She quietly felt the process happening inside her. It felt like a dream. What was she now?
A mechanical Contaminant?
She was like a large-scale garbage purifier.
The 3D Defense Space had only fifteen minutes left. Once it expired, the underground would cave in, and Zhu Ning would be buried under the rubble above.
But right now, she couldn't even be bothered to struggle.
Before her was a scene of devastation. Charred rubble stained with blood. Mechanical parts scattered on the ground.
The Xenomorph could only consume biological matter. Many mechanical components were indigestible. Gears littered the floor like tiny bones spat out by a monster.
A small gear rolled toward her.
Zhu Ning couldn't lift a single hand. She glanced at it once. Engraved on it was a string of characters.
α: 0057
Alpha? This was another experimental series? If Zhu Ning's brain ever collapsed, would it also drop a component stamped with her serial number?
Zhu Ning's hand, dangling at her side, found the gear. She pressed it flat into her palm with a clack.
Her Protective Suit was torn apart. Her hand had no glove. Blood was everywhere. Her knuckles were badly injured—white bone even peeked through.
Something was pulsing beneath her hand.
Zhu Ning opened her fingers. Through the gaps floated a single object.
A blood-red Contamination Spore. Like a firefly freed from Zhu Ning's palm, drifting in the air.
Contamination Spores—the core energy of the Wasteland.
Hengsheng Mechanical Company had found that Black Crystal hoping to replace Contamination Spores. But its internal energy existed because it itself was a Contamination Spore.
In the end, this company had been chasing the exact same thing all along. There was no New Energy to replace Contamination Spores. They'd simply been clutching a Contaminant, believing they'd struck a mother lode.
They'd sent clueless employees to handle it. Wang Qinqian had died because of this wretched thing.
Both Zhu Ning and this brain were carelessly discarded lab waste. Whoever discarded them never considered the consequences—because those consequences would never reach the Divine Kingdom.
It was like a xianxia novel where an immortal casually tosses a divine artifact into the mortal world, and it throws all of humanity into chaos.
Then they have the audacity to call it a test of character.
First-Class Citizens were practically indistinguishable from gods at this point.
Everything below the Divine Kingdom was hell. Zhu Ning lived in hell—only this hell was dressed up in technology, tricking you into thinking you were in the mortal world.
This company's rules were wrong. They'd been trapped in a flawed system with no way out. Zhu Ning could blow up the company and call it solved.
But what about the world's system?
What happens when the world's rules are broken?
Wang Qinqian had chosen peace. She didn't want to go on living—because this insane world didn't deserve her existence.
Even walking out of the company wouldn't have changed anything.
As long as the rules stayed the same, there would be countless Wang Qinqians. Countless forty-centimeter limits of warmth.
The blood-red Contamination Spores kept multiplying, as if a fire had been lit. They filled the 3D Defense Space.
Zhu Ning understood now why the Contamination Spores had danced around her in Desolate Village. Because they were the same kind.
If Zhu Ning died, she too would become a cloud of Contamination Spores. Would a Cleaner come to contain her then?
Ding—
The System seemed to be glitching today, emitting constant bursts of static.
[Con-congratulations. Congratulations on upgrading the Purification System. Select beginner-level talents will be upgraded to intermediate.]
[Metal Manipulation upgraded to intermediate talent. Effective range expanded to 20 meters.]
[Danger Sense upgraded to intermediate talent. Prediction range expanded to 2 minutes.]
[Congratulations on completing the random mission: The Company You Can't Leave. Congratulations on obtaining Outstanding Employee, successfully leaving the company. Purification level: 100%.]
[Calculating rewards......]
[Congratulations on receiving the base reward. Sanity restored to 100.]
[Congratulations on receiving Purity Points reward: 15,000. Current cumulative Purity Points: 15,001.]
[Congratulations on receiving the Sheep-Head Employee reward: Rotten Sheep Head.]
[Rotten Sheep Head: S-Level Contaminant. Can inflict Psychic Contamination on a target, causing them to lose their sense of time and suffer mental collapse. Can implant psychic suggestions, making the target unconsciously follow your instructions—such as inducing suicide. Duration correlates with health. Please note: this item consumes 150 health. Use with caution. This item is ineffective against psychic-type Ability Users and those with S-Level sanity. Please confirm the target meets requirements before use.]
[Congratulations on obtaining the beginner talent: God's Eye View.]
[Reward description: Activate this perspective to survey surrounding terrain from above. No building can obstruct your line of sight. Visible range: 30 meters.]
[Congratulations on receiving the random mission reward: Corrosive Potion.]
[Reward description: Can corrode objects and human bodies. Please note: this item consumes health. Corrosion intensity is calculated based on remaining health. Upon use, health cost will be displayed based on the specific object.]
[This mission advances the side quest: Seek the Truth of Death. Key clue found. Search progress: 60%.]
So devouring Contaminants could upgrade the System. Both her beginner talents had been upgraded. This haul was rich—the near-death experience had been worth it.
But what was the "key clue" in the search for the truth of death? The serial number on that mechanical part?
What was the Alpha Series? Did Zhu Ning herself belong to some experimental project?
Zhu Ning had been thinking about how to get out of here. Her health was down to 6. Exchanging Purity Points should buy her a bit more time.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded from above. Someone was coming.
......
Three minutes earlier.
Xu Meng and Lynx got out of the car. The commotion was no different from an earthquake. Walking on the surface required caution—one wrong step could trigger a secondary collapse.
Xu Meng: "Careful."
They didn't know where Zhu Ning was. If the ground gave way here, they on the surface could still escape—but Zhu Ning below could be crushed to paste.
This Contamination Zone was bizarre. The entrance had opened, but they still hadn't seen a single Contamination Spore.
Lynx carried a contamination-density detector. The instrument showed a location continuously emitting contamination.
Lynx: "This way."
Xu Meng and Lynx both moved lightly. Building No. 3's main structure had already collapsed. The piled rubble wasn't too deep.
The detector's contamination readings spiked. Lynx: "She's below."
No sooner had he spoken than a single Contamination Spore drifted up through a crack in the rubble, as if there were a source of spores underground.
This had to be the spot.
Xu Meng's body slowly melted. Before Lynx's eyes, she dissolved into a shadow—like black oil seeping through the crevices between stones.
Zhu Ning was sitting beneath the wreckage. A 3D Defense Space held open a two-meter radius. Its thirty-minute timer was almost up.
She was still trying to identify the sounds above. If it was another enemy, she probably didn't have the energy for another fight.
Zhu Ning had just heard faint noises when she saw a black shadow flowing down from above.
It looked similar to the Xenomorph, but not as dark. It was a shadow.
"Captain?" Zhu Ning spoke up.
In this form, Xu Meng apparently couldn't make sound. The black shadow extended a single finger—like a cat stretching out one paw—and pointed downward. She was blocked by an unknown barrier.
Zhu Ning granted Xu Meng entry into her 3D Defense Space.
Once inside, Xu Meng reconstituted into human form—like a stone dropping into still water, scattering the dense Contamination Spores in an instant.
Xu Meng frowned. She didn't ask about the strange space. Her first thought was: What kind of ancestor is this woman? Zhu Ning was leaning against a rock, drenched in blood, her helmet crushed and deformed.
Anyone who didn't know better would think she'd been swallowed by some beast and then spat back out. The ground was covered in mechanical parts, each piece coated in blood and flesh.
Zhu Ning had already stored the important parts into cards, so Xu Meng could only see the remains. It was hard to imagine what Zhu Ning had been through down here.
Seeing Zhu Ning's damaged helmet made Xu Meng's frown deepen. But she'd seen it once before, and this time she'd almost gotten used to it. Zhu Ning was an experimental subject—exposure to Contamination Spores shouldn't be a problem.
Many Ability Users could also withstand exposure to Contamination Spore environments.
Xu Meng had truly watched her walk straight into death's door. She asked: "How were you planning to get out?"
Zhu Ning could feel Xu Meng suppressing her anger. For a moment, she felt like a kid caught red-handed doing something naughty.
Truthfully, Zhu Ning hadn't come up with a foolproof escape plan. Her ideas had been: either use another bomb to blast an opening, or simply turn herself into a card and lie quietly underground, waiting for someone in the distant future to dig her out.
Now that would be truly lying flat.
So seeing Xu Meng was practically like seeing a savior. Xu Meng seemed to glow. Zhu Ning had been inside the Contamination Zone for so long—so long it felt like she'd truly spent a lifetime there, clocking in and out every day.
She'd genuinely felt like she was the same species as the Contaminants.
Xu Meng appearing in the rubble with her helmet on was like shattering an invisible wall, letting Zhu Ning feel human again for the first time in what seemed like ages.
So someone really would come find her when she was lost.
Zhu Ning cracked a smile: "I knew you'd come save me."
Xu Meng: "......"
It absolutely did not look like this had been within Zhu Ning's calculations. Though if Xu Meng hadn't acted, Prometheus probably would have had something arranged.
Xu Meng asked: "Can you walk?"
Zhu Ning was like a troublemaking brat who'd spotted a parent coming to clean up her mess. She didn't want to lift a single finger. Full slacker mode: "Nope."
"Don't be a baby." Xu Meng scooped up her arm. "You can walk."
Zhu Ning: "?"
Before she could react, the instant Xu Meng's hand touched her arm, Zhu Ning felt herself go strange—truly strange. Her entire body melted into a viscous puddle of liquid, the kind that went glug glug with every bubble.
It was as if... a three-dimensional person had been flattened into a sheet of paper.
Zhu Ning dissolved into shadow alongside Xu Meng, yanked away by a powerful suction force. The shadow slipped through cracks between stones. Forget knowing where her hands and feet were—she couldn't even sense them.
An experience this extraordinary really ought to charge admission.
About a minute later, she caught her breath. By the time she came to, she was already on the surface.
Xu Meng could not only turn herself into a shadow—she could transform others too. She could probably turn objects into shadows as well. As expected of the Cheetah Squad captain. Her ability was even stronger than Zhu Ning had imagined.
Xu Meng supported Zhu Ning, one hand bracing her waist. Zhu Ning's legs hadn't fully healed—she couldn't even stand steady.
A black flying car was parked in front of them. This commotion had been too big—it might attract the Sanitation Center. They had to evacuate quickly.
Xu Meng and Lynx had worked together many times. The moment Xu Meng went down, Lynx had already prepared for extraction.
Xu Meng opened the back door and shoved Zhu Ning inside. The motion was rough—like tossing in a suitcase. The moment they were in, the car launched.
The ruined company was already far beneath them. Below, Contamination Spores glowed like scattered embers in the dark.
Zhu Ning still hadn't fully emerged from Wang Qinqian's story. Her mind was still in a daze.
She leaned against the car window and gazed out for a while, then asked: "What happens next?"
Xu Meng said coldly: "Next is none of your concern."
Zhu Ning gave an "oh" and genuinely stopped caring.
The driver was a man. Zhu Ning glanced over—he wore a metal mask. Her instincts told her this was Lynx.
Lynx had come as backup for Zhu Ning, but ended up being completely unnecessary. He switched to autopilot. Xu Meng had been rummaging through the car. Lynx tossed a medical kit from the front seat.
Xu Meng cracked open a MegaHeal and jabbed the needle into Zhu Ning's leg.
Through the rearview mirror, Lynx could see Zhu Ning covered head to toe in blood. Her Protective Suit was torn in multiple places. The abdominal wound was the worst. Yet she sat there in total silence—not a single cry of pain.
The blood on Zhu Ning's face had half-dried, making her look like she'd crawled out of a blood pool. You couldn't tell what she originally looked like—all you could see was a pair of bright, vivid eyes.
Lynx and Zhu Ning had only ever "chatted online." This was their first meeting in person. She'd really done it—gone into an S-Level Contamination Zone alone.
Lynx: "Congratulations."
The news about Zhu Ning would be circulated within the Dead Post community that same day. Everyone would know her name. Lynx had been in this line of work for over a decade, and Zhu Ning had surpassed him overnight.
That was how it went for Demon Hunters. There would always be new prodigies.
Zhu Ning was being patched up by Xu Meng. She asked: "So you're Lynx?"
Lynx: "Yes."
Zhu Ning: "Then what's the captain's codename?"
Xu Meng had just finished bandaging one of Zhu Ning's arms and was about to say whatever you do, don't tell her—but Lynx had already spoken: "Black Cat."
Hearing this, Zhu Ning let out an "oh." She extended a blood-smeared hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Caracal."
Xu Meng: "......"
She knew Zhu Ning was up to no good.
Lynx was a man of few words who didn't particularly enjoy socializing. Wooden as a post. Xu Meng had assumed he wouldn't take the bait. But to her surprise, he hesitated for just a moment—then took Zhu Ning's blood-soaked hand.
Careful not to press on any wounds, Lynx held her hand gently, loosely. "Nice to meet you, Caracal."
Author's Note
"Caracal" came from the comments section—thought it was perfect, so I'm claiming it, haha!
Congratulations to Ningbao for joining the Cat Cult!
Nice, Cat Cult
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