Chapter 149-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 149 Kill the VIP (IV)
Compared to Liu Niannian's shattered worldview, Zhu Ning and Xu Meng only frowned after hearing her analysis. Having been baptized by Desolate Village—where worms could pose as garrisoned soldiers, having evolved to that level of intelligence—
Was it really impossible for a Contaminant to live in the Consciousness Cloud?
Were Bao Ruiming and Jiang Ping the same kind of being? Entities that could fool existing scanning equipment and exist in a normal state within a human consciousness space.
How many such Contaminant consciousnesses were actually residing on Creation Technology's mainframe?
It was almost laughable when you thought about it. Was the Consciousness Cloud truly humanity's last ideal homeland?
That ideal homeland might not be so ideal after all.
They had walked right into a Contaminant's brain.
Boom—!
Thunder cracked across the horizon. The dark clouds that had been building finally broke. Wind howled past them.
Zhu Ning's first reaction was to grab the stunned Liu Niannian and run. Xu Meng needed no looking after—the two of them were perfectly in sync. Whatever Wang Shengli meant by "rain," it was definitely not ordinary rain.
They weren't wearing Protective Suits and had no umbrellas. Standing on the open road, they'd be soaked in seconds.
They sprinted to the nearest shop awning. The entire row of shops was closed—not a soul in sight.
The wind was so fierce they could barely keep their eyes open, instinctively shielding their faces. Then the downpour finally came crashing down.
Raindrops pelted the ground—pitter-patter, pitter-patter—but it wasn't just water. Something else fell from the sky in droves, brushing against skin with a slimy sensation, flopping around on the ground after landing.
Zhu Ning had been through the Dentist's Office. She'd already experienced a rain of teeth.
At first she thought it was a "fish rain." She'd seen the news before—tornadoes could cause fish, frogs, or even crabs to fall from the sky. It was a documented natural phenomenon in the human world.
But these things were far more revolting than she'd imagined. They were Human-Headed Fish. Each one was no bigger than a palm—a fish's body with a human head.
The Human-Headed Fish were coated in slime. The human heads had hair matted into a sticky clump. The ones closest to Zhu Ning turned to look at her, their eyes glazed over as if covered by a film.
They were still breathing.
No gills—so their human mouths gaped wide to breathe.
One would have been tolerable. But now countless numbers of them were flopping about. The sight was enough to raise every hair on your body.
Liu Niannian had never seen anything this grotesque. Fish fused with human heads—the seam at the neck was horrifyingly seamless. The slimy things writhed and wriggled, and all those eyes seemed to turn and stare at her in unison.
She didn't have trypophobia, but right now she felt it flaring. In an instant, cold sweat poured down her body. She felt rooted to the spot, unable to move a single muscle.
The eyes of the Human-Headed Fish. The barnacles on the church. Now the two images overlapped in her mind, like two layers merging in photo-editing software.
They fused together, searing themselves deep into her brain.
Human imagination was a terrifying thing. At first they were just mental images, but then the barnacles took on substance, latching firmly onto her brain.
One. Two. Then countless more.
If you cracked her skull open right now—split it in half like a watermelon—what you'd find inside wouldn't be warm, steaming brain matter, but an endless mass of barnacles.
Or countless Human-Headed Fish, their faces pressed against one another, fish bodies squeezed together in a slippery mess, squirming inside her skull.
The two images in Liu Niannian's mind began alternating—flickering rapidly, like a broken computer wallpaper cycling between barnacles and Human-Headed Fish.
The switching accelerated until the screen glitched entirely. She wanted to close it but couldn't. She pulled the plug, but the computer stayed on.
Her brain felt swollen, as if it was about to burst through her skull at any moment.
She had never been this close to the edge of madness. She was standing on the cliff's edge—one moment away from losing her mind completely.
She thought she heard singing. Countless Human-Headed Fish opening their mouths, a low-frequency drone pulsing in waves, worming into her ears like a demon's whisper.
It made her want to... hollow out her own brain.
Bizarre, but in that moment, she inexplicably wanted to do exactly that.
In a flash, she was sitting at an ornate dining table. This seemed to be a church—the windows were stained glass in brilliant colors, and fish swam outside.
The table was laden with fine food, and a set of exquisite silverware lay before her.
She wanted to use a pick to punch a hole in her own skull—deep enough—then use a long-handled silver spoon to scoop out her brain matter, placing it on the silver plate before her.
Try it.
Someone was saying, try it. It won't hurt.
The remaining shred of reason tried to protest—opening your skull couldn't possibly not hurt—but she couldn't form the rebuttal. The thought slipped away almost instantly.
It won't hurt. Why would opening your brain hurt?
Once it's open, they can get inside.
Singing filled the air. Someone was singing, urging her to try.
Go to the church... open your brain... place them on the plate.
Liu Niannian even took a step forward. She could sense where the church was. She had already stepped out into the rain.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm with tremendous force—like iron. Her vision went dark. A hand covered her eyes, firmly blocking out the world.
Liu Niannian was plunged into blackness. She could no longer see the Human-Headed Fish flopping on the ground—only the warmth of Zhu Ning's palm.
Zhu Ning had covered her eyes.
Liu Niannian gasped for air. Zhu Ning's hand felt like some kind of barrier. The voices in her head vanished.
Liu Niannian blinked. She breathed deeply—desperately, as if she'd die if she didn't breathe hard enough.
From Zhu Ning's perspective, Liu Niannian had suddenly gone still, then begun walking in a specific direction as if drawn by something.
Zhu Ning and Xu Meng were more resistant. Liu Niannian probably couldn't withstand it.
"Cover your own eyes," Zhu Ning said. "Don't look at them."
Just like the Xenomorphs in The Ant Nest—don't make direct eye contact with things from the contaminated world, and you cut the contamination effect in half.
If you didn't look, you wouldn't fall into their logic.
Zhu Ning withdrew her hand. Liu Niannian still didn't dare look. She covered her own eyes with both hands.
"I—" Liu Niannian tried to produce a single syllable. It didn't come easily. She steadied herself and continued: "I think I was just contaminated."
Getting contaminated inside a Contamination Zone happened because Contaminants were trying to assimilate you.
In theory, that shouldn't happen in the Consciousness Cloud. But their current situation was worse—they were effectively inside a Contaminant's brain, soaking in contamination.
Contamination was everywhere here. It wasn't even targeting them specifically. This was simply a Contaminant's "daily life." Contamination came from every direction, and humans were powerless against it.
No firewall was needed. Anyone who entered Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Cloud would go insane.
Liu Niannian caught her breath and quickly analyzed: "We don't have Protective Suits."
In reality, humans could wear Protective Suits to resist contamination. But inside a Consciousness Body, how were you supposed to resist contamination when you were literally in a Contaminant's brain?
Zhu Ning thought Liu Niannian was genuinely impressive—she could still think clearly. Liu Niannian answered her own question: "We can only endure with our sanity."
Without a physical body, sanity was everything.
Zhu Ning followed her train of thought: "And then?"
Liu Niannian felt her reasoning validated. Zhu Ning had only said those three words, yet somehow it dissolved her fear and gave her confidence instead.
Liu Niannian: "If we really are inside a Contaminant's brain, how is it avoiding the system's detection?"
Zhu Ning thought privately that the system wasn't exactly reliable—she herself had contamination in her brain and had still been able to enter the Cloud. That proved the system had plenty of vulnerabilities.
Zhu Ning: "We encountered a type of Contaminant out there—a worm that parasitizes human bodies. It can evade current human detection methods."
Even Huo Wenxi would need a moment to process that bombshell, let alone Liu Niannian. Her first instinct was that Zhu Ning was lying—when confronted with something incomprehensible, people instinctively protect themselves through denial.
But Liu Niannian didn't deny it. She believed Zhu Ning wouldn't lie.
Zhu Ning didn't go into the specifics of Desolate Village. She gave a rough overview of Non-Natural Humans' characteristics—how they could open Contamination Zones at will.
Xu Meng thought Zhu Ning was incredibly bold. This was simply her style—information that needed to be shared got shared, no holding back.
She'd done the same with Xu Meng, the same with Huo Wenxi. The same trick every time: sincerity was the best weapon. Now it was Liu Niannian's turn.
Liu Niannian was indeed silent for a long time. Zhu Ning and Xu Meng gave her space to digest it all.
After a while, Liu Niannian spoke: "If that's really the case, then it can't open a Contamination Zone inside the Consciousness Cloud. Because the moment the system detects a Contamination Level above twenty percent, an alarm triggers immediately. Once it exceeds forty percent, the Eradication Protocol activates automatically—no approval needed."
Creation Technology had to protect its VIP clients. Their contamination monitoring was even stricter—they wouldn't even allow an E-class Contaminant to survive.
Liu Niannian: "Unless it wants to take you down with it."
If it opened a Contamination Zone inside the Cloud, they'd all die here together. That was the worst-case scenario.
Liu Niannian: "Assuming it doesn't want to die that badly, then the reality we're observing is based on the programs it previously input. VIP clients can modify their Consciousness Body worlds, but not arbitrarily—there's a process."
This meant the place resembled a Contamination Zone and had contamination, but the good news was it wasn't as unpredictable as a real Contamination Zone.
Because pre-written programs couldn't be easily altered. Modifying them required going through a long process.
Zhu Ning: "That's very useful intel."
As the young lady of Creation Technology, Liu Niannian knew the inner workings of this place.
If Zhu Ning ever became a teacher, she'd be an excellent one. Liu Niannian seemed to understand Zhu Ning's intent—Psychic Contamination robbed you of the ability to think. The very act of resuming thought was a form of resistance.
The opposite of chaotic disorder was rational analysis.
Liu Niannian continued: "What I just saw..."
She choked up slightly. Even in hindsight, the memory was terrifying. "I was hallucinating about scooping out my own brain."
Zhu Ning asked: "Brain?"
Wang Shengli had also mentioned brains when talking about the church.
Liu Niannian was still trembling. "Yes. My subconscious wanted to hollow out my brain—to make room for something."
Liu Niannian: "It was calling me into the church. There was a long dining table inside."
She could perfectly recall the scene. Was it some kind of ritual?
Everything they'd done so far had been normal enough. But what if ordinary outsiders wandered onto Floating Sand Island—would they see Human-Headed Fish and also want to enter the church and hollow out their own brains?
Why was Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Cloud like this?
She did seem to understand now why everyone rushed home the moment night fell. Nobody lingered outside.
Liu Niannian recovered on her own. She lowered her hands. She didn't deliberately look at the Human-Headed Fish, but their effect on her had diminished significantly.
Fear of the unknown drives terror. Explain the causes and consequences, and the fear recedes.
The rain was heavy. Water had climbed the steps. The Human-Headed Fish that had initially lain gasping on the road could now float in the rising water.
Liu Niannian tried not to think too hard, but the conclusion was easy to reach: "The water keeps rising. Soon it'll reach us..."
Did that mean they'd be sharing the water with these Human-Headed Fish? Swimming while Human-Headed Fish drifted nearby... no, she had to stop thinking. Any more and she'd lose her mind again.
Suddenly, Liu Niannian's pupils contracted sharply. A shadow fell from the sky, landing with a heavy, meaty thud—duller than before, like slabs of flesh hitting the ground.
The earlier Human-Headed Fish had been palm-sized. Now they were as long as a human forearm—the size of a small dog.
Enormous fish bodies topped with human heads. The mouths gaped open, teeth strung with glistening slime.
These Human-Headed Fish crashed into the rising water, sending up sprays of foam. They thrashed through the water, tails whipping frantically. Sensing the humans on the steps above, they lunged.
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