Chapter 155-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 155 Kill the VIP (X)
Liu Niannian changed clothes on the way to headquarters. She had to look presentable every time she appeared. She changed while contacting Xu Meng and Big Orange—their side had run into trouble.
Xu Meng didn't have time for details. She sent one message and then went dark—probably under attack.
Xu Meng's message was simple: Zhu Ning is still inside.
Zhu Ning hadn't come out. Why? What kind of judgment had her guardian made?
Under these circumstances, they were leaving Zhu Ning alone in the Consciousness Cloud.
The order Liu Niannian had given was to sever all automated programs on Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Body—completely isolating his brain from Creation Technology's services.
His Consciousness Cloud had been cut off from the network.
Liu Niannian's action could prevent the automated systems from attacking Zhu Ning, but it came with an obvious downside—she'd locked Zhu Ning and Bao Ruiming in the same cage.
She hadn't rescued Zhu Ning. She'd only postponed her death.
Liu Niannian stepped out of the car. Someone was waiting at the entrance to greet her. She didn't spare them a glance, heading straight for the underground server room.
She saw Bao Ruiming's brain.
A single brain suspended in fluid, all its supply tubes disconnected. Only the most basic power feed remained—keeping this VIP Guest alive.
The Contamination Level beside it had been climbing steadily. It now stood at seventy percent. Because the automated programs had been shut down, his brain was still intact.
Liu Niannian had exited too early to know what had happened inside. The contamination in Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Cloud was getting worse.
The head of the security division was named Sun Jie—a portly, middle-aged man. He'd followed Liu Niannian's order and shut everything down.
It was, without question, the most bizarre thing he'd ever done in his career. It might well cost him his job.
Sun Jie wiped the sweat from his brow and handed Liu Niannian a tablet. "Miss Lu, I'll need your iris scan and signature."
Liu Niannian needed to complete some formalities. She lowered her gaze, entered her access key, scanned her iris, and signed her name.
Lu Yuan.
She wrote each stroke carefully. When the pen finally lifted, she stared at the name for a moment. This was her real name—yet every time she saw it, it felt like someone else's.
With this signature, she would become the primary person responsible.
Sun Jie had found his scapegoat. With the young miss out front taking the heat, everything else was negotiable.
Sun Jie: "We've found traces of the intrusion. A report's been submitted to Director Lu. We're still verifying the identities of those inside..."
"No need." Liu Niannian cut him off. "I'll provide a full report."
Liu Niannian's certainty didn't entirely reassure Sun Jie. The report he'd just submitted showed that Lu Yuan's key had been detected—the young miss had been inside Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Cloud.
"What exactly happened to him?" Sun Jie lowered his voice.
Liu Niannian: "He's a Contaminant."
Sun Jie was struck dumb. He couldn't speak for a long time. "That's... that's impossible..."
Liu Niannian understood his shock. When she'd first entered Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Cloud, her entire knowledge framework—built from childhood—had been obliterated. A Contaminant living inside the Consciousness Cloud. If Liu Niannian hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed it either.
Liu Niannian only needed to report to Lu Yao. There was no point explaining further to Sun Jie. She asked: "How many people know?"
Sun Jie: "Six, including myself. Access has been restricted per your instructions."
If this got out, it would be an absolute scandal. They'd never encountered anything like this. The Contamination Level had reached seventy-five percent—and it was still climbing.
If other clients found out, Creation Technology would face a catastrophic loss of trust.
Ding—
Liu Niannian's Sub-Brain buzzed. The caller was Lu Yao. He should still have been in a meeting—he must have adjourned early.
Liu Niannian remembered that on the day of the hotpot restaurant incident, his own sister going missing hadn't been enough to interrupt Lu Yao's schedule. He'd simply sent Pei Shu to find Liu Niannian.
That day, Lu Yao had probably been meeting with someone from Eternal Pharma.
Liu Niannian had rarely seen her brother halt his own work. This proved just how serious this was.
She took a deep breath, composed her expression, then answered the call.
Lu Yao's face appeared on screen. He wore a suit, an office visible behind him. The air around him radiated displeasure, brows pressed low. "Lu Yuan. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Liu Niannian's heart was racing, but her voice was steady. "I did this for your sake, brother."
On screen, Liu Niannian looked rough—she'd barely recovered from the bathtub—but despite her haste, she was impeccably dressed.
Good. She'd created an enormous mess and hadn't fallen apart. Knocked down, she'd gotten back up and was cleaning up after herself. Owning her mistakes.
That was the Lu family way.
Lu Yao raised an eyebrow. "I don't know the specifics of your involvement. Right now, we need to discuss a solution."
Liu Niannian responded quickly: "Exposure is contained. I've severed Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Body and isolated it completely. He won't contaminate other clients."
Lu Yao had already received the report and knew in advance. This was currently the best course of action. He asked: "Good. What are you going to do next?"
Next?
Liu Niannian had rushed here with one goal—to immediately halt the automated programs. She'd accomplished that. The apocalypse on Floating Sand Island was on pause. But Zhu Ning and Bao Ruiming were now trapped together.
Why wouldn't Zhu Ning withdraw?
"I'll assign people to assist you," Lu Yao said. "Can I trust you?"
Liu Niannian nodded stiffly. She sensed that after this incident, she'd be drawn closer to the Lu family's inner circle. Lu Yao probably had something in mind for her.
Lu Yao: "Kill Bao Ruiming's brain."
Destroying Bao Ruiming's brain from the outside would resolve the situation—but it would also kill Zhu Ning outright.
Liu Niannian froze. The Lu family had never directly terminated a client's brain before. Only Lu Yao could make that call.
She'd expected at least a period of deliberation—some study of what had actually happened.
Lu Yao's order was blunt and direct.
Lu Yao was looking at his subordinate's report. He knew there was someone else inside Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Cloud—presumably Liu Niannian's accomplice.
Lu Yao: "You'll do it yourself."
Liu Niannian didn't move. Lu Yao was telling her to kill Zhu Ning?
Liu Niannian's gaze drifted to Bao Ruiming's Mainframe. A brain floated in Nutrient Solution.
The brain's surface was ridged and furrowed. On it sat a small dark speck. Liu Niannian frowned—a Barnacle had actually grown on the brain.
The contamination from the Consciousness Cloud was about to spill into the real world.
From every angle, she should carry out Lu Yao's order.
Liu Niannian breathed in deep and asked: "Can I have five minutes?"
Five minutes wasn't long. Bao Ruiming's Consciousness Cloud was already fully isolated. He wouldn't contaminate anyone else.
Lu Yao asked: "What are you going to do? Save her?"
Liu Niannian didn't know how to answer. If Zhu Ning could purify Bao Ruiming's brain and eliminate the contamination, Liu Niannian would find a way to extract her. But the premise was that Zhu Ning could actually do it—and there was no way to even send her a message.
Liu Niannian met Lu Yao's eyes with unwavering resolve. "When the time is up, I'll kill him with my own hands."
Five minutes. That was the last chance she could buy for her boss.
......
Inside the Consciousness Cloud.
The sky was a deep, ominous red. A Meteor had nearly reached the ocean. The massive shockwave had already kicked up towering waves—a tsunami was imminent.
The expected apocalypse never came. A Meteor should have carried tremendous momentum upon impact. In reality, no technology or Ability User could stop it.
But this wasn't reality. This was the Consciousness Cloud.
The Meteor halted in an instant. Its surface fractured into countless tiny squares. Data streams twitched and pulsed.
It wasn't just the Meteor. The entire Consciousness Cloud had done the same—like a game console that had frozen. The church, the beach, the apocalypse—all had been paused.
The entire church dissolved into twitching data streams and cascading code.
Before, the illusion had been dressed up—the Consciousness Cloud could be made more realistic than reality itself. Now the facade had fallen. It was crystal clear: they existed in a world of data.
[Consciousness Body automated defense programs have been temporarily suspended.]
[Related services have been stopped. Maintenance in progress.]
The internal system delivered its cold announcement. The words MAINTENANCE IN PROGRESS appeared across the sky in blood-red, flashing text.
Bao Ruiming understood at once. Someone had cut the supply from the server side. Creation Technology had found him.
His claws retracted. Thud— Zhu Ning's body hit the ground.
This was a game—like two players drawing cards face-to-face, neither knowing the other's hand, each constantly forcing the other to reveal their cards.
Round one: Zhu Ning's team of three entered the Consciousness Cloud to assassinate him.
Round two: Bao Ruiming counterattacked, locating their physical bodies to kill them in the real world.
Round three: Zhu Ning's side cut off the Consciousness Cloud's supply.
Bao Ruiming laughed. "You really are interesting."
No wonder they could breach his Consciousness Cloud. Zhu Ning had an ace up her sleeve. Bao Ruiming conceded that much.
Zhu Ning's abdomen was torn open. Her back was soaked in blood. She looked out the window—the Meteor had actually stopped. Big Orange couldn't have done this. It had to be Liu Niannian.
Liu Niannian had bought her time.
Bao Ruiming gazed at the flashing red text. "They've locked us in."
Bao Ruiming was a First-Class Citizen himself. He understood exactly how these people thought. Knowing Lu Yao's temperament, once the anomaly was detected, he'd order the brain destroyed from the outside.
Better to wrongly kill than to let someone go. A clean, permanent solution. Handle the aftermath quietly and not even a trace would remain.
His brain was in someone else's hands. Bao Ruiming would truly die—and so would Zhu Ning, trapped inside his brain.
Bao Ruiming wasn't stupid. Having read the situation, he accepted his fate. He wasn't afraid to die. Ninety years of life, and he'd given everything to this cause. His mission was complete.
It was just a little disappointing.
He'd thought he'd witness the divine descent with his own eyes. Only nine days to go.
Bao Ruiming adopted the air of an old professor. "It seems your friend wants us to die together."
Zhu Ning and Bao Ruiming's fates were now bound. If Bao Ruiming died, Zhu Ning died too.
Zhu Ning was drenched in blood. The Meteor hadn't fallen, but she still had no way to fight back.
Her System items were still blacked out. Her abilities were unusable. Her knife was gone. She didn't have a single weapon.
Bao Ruiming was truly ruthless. Knowing his death was certain, he didn't fly into a rage—he simply accepted the facts in an instant.
Zhu Ning's abdomen had a hole in it. Blood was spreading beneath her. She lay in a pool of it.
Liu Niannian wasn't here. No one could explain the situation. Zhu Ning struggled to parse Bao Ruiming's words—it seemed to mean the exit had been sealed. Even if Huo Wenxi wanted to pull her out now, she couldn't.
Zhu Ning had missed the optimal window for retreat.
Why on earth had Huo Wenxi kept her here? To die alongside Bao Ruiming? The little oracle had made a bad call this time.
Bao Ruiming looked down at Zhu Ning. "I didn't expect you to be the one dying with me."
Zhu Ning's face was half-buried in blood. She lifted her eyes to look at him—defiant even now. "Could you back up a bit? Let's each die on our own terms."
Bao Ruiming let out a short laugh. Zhu Ning actually found him repulsive.
Bao Ruiming asked: "Shall I send you on your way?"
Even hearing that stung. As a villain, Bao Ruiming was thoroughly professional—always fixated on making sure his opponent died first. He wouldn't close his eyes until Zhu Ning was gone.
Zhu Ning wouldn't die. Bao Ruiming wouldn't rest.
Bao Ruiming seized a fistful of Zhu Ning's hair. The bloodstained claw extended from behind him, aimed at her heart. One strike to the heart, and she was dead.
Zhu Ning didn't struggle. She genuinely had no strength left—her whole body was in agony. Huo Wenxi wanted her to keep going.
Zhu Ning was too exhausted to continue. What could she possibly do?
For the first time, Zhu Ning felt death this close. She asked: "I'm about to die. Can you at least give me a straight answer?"
Bao Ruiming seemed to be considering the most convenient way to finish her off. Her question didn't even make him blink.
Zhu Ning: "Why did you choose Lin Xiaofeng?"
Bao Ruiming had expected Zhu Ning to ask about the Mechanical Oceanarium's secrets. Even if she had, he wouldn't have said a word.
Some things he'd take to the grave.
But this question was harmless enough. "Pretty."
"Pretty?" Blood rimmed Zhu Ning's lips.
Zhu Ning was dying, so Bao Ruiming could afford a bit of generosity: "It was like a play. I was casting a leading lady."
To Bao Ruiming, the Mechanical Oceanarium incident had been a grand stage performance. He'd needed a perfect leading lady, and Lin Xiaofeng was the one he'd found after an exhaustive search.
He'd chatted with Lin Xiaofeng online for months, nailing down every detail. He knew her better than her own parents did.
The girl's father was overbearing. At home, Lin Xiaofeng lived under suffocating control, feeling not a shred of love—so she poured her heart out online instead.
Children couldn't outmaneuver adults. She was easily lured. All Bao Ruiming had to do was send her three tickets.
And on that day, Lin Xiaofeng had performed her role flawlessly, creating a masterpiece.
Mechanical jellyfish, a little girl, and tourists—their lives intertwined, the curtain of fate rising. Bao Ruiming was the god standing backstage.
That kind of thrill was rare. Most people derived pleasure from money and power. But for Bao Ruiming, the ultimate indulgence was theater.
Build a stage. Drive it to a crescendo in the final moment. Then the actors take their bow. The story lodges itself deep in everyone's memory.
That was the most extravagant luxury—because the actors were disposable. Once dead, there was no encore.
Lin Xiaofeng had lost her mother. She still had nightmares—dreaming of bloated corpses floating in the Mechanical Oceanarium, of mechanical jellyfish trailing their tentacles through the water, of jellyfish-people shambling toward her.
Zhu Ning didn't see Lin Xiaofeng often—they lived together but kept different schedules. Still, she'd witnessed Lin Xiaofeng jolting awake in the middle of the night.
That was why the girl remained invisible to this day. Pei Shu had said: when she's ready to be seen, she'll be seen.
But Lin Xiaofeng didn't want to be seen. She preferred being invisible.
She was so young. She didn't even understand why fate had struck her. The trauma would probably haunt her for life. And today, Zhu Ning had the chance to confront the architect of it all.
Why?
Bao Ruiming's answer: Pretty.
Because she was pretty, she'd been chosen—cast in a play that the madman thought was beautiful.
Zhu Ning couldn't fathom his idea of pleasure. She felt only rage.
Bao Ruiming noticed Zhu Ning's chest rising and falling. People had difficulty hiding their emotions. She was clearly not happy.
Based on his understanding of Zhu Ning's type, she might attempt a final desperate strike—a last-ditch attack while Bao Ruiming's guard was down, aiming for a killing blow.
Bao Ruiming was on high alert. Any counterattack from Zhu Ning would fail, and he'd finish her off without hesitation.
But Zhu Ning didn't fight back. Maybe she was too weak. Maybe she'd resigned herself to her fate.
Zhu Ning asked: "Is this island a play too?"
An island of people with gills. Barnacles growing on buildings and cars. Human-Headed Fish falling from the sky after dark.
The people here lived easy, carefree lives. No one had any worries. They accepted their fate without question.
There was a food chain here. Had Bao Ruiming constructed this as well?
Bao Ruiming had once been the director of the Mechanical Oceanarium. His job was giving tours. If the Consciousness Cloud were an exhibition hall, Zhu Ning's team were its first visitors.
Squelch— Bao Ruiming's claw had already broken through the skin of Zhu Ning's chest. Her beating heart lay just beneath.
Bao Ruiming deliberately lowered his voice, as though administering last rites: "No. Floating Sand Island really exists."
Beyond the High Wall, there was an island with just such an ecosystem. Human and fish genetics, perfectly fused. Only a god could create a food chain. Bao Ruiming wouldn't dare claim the credit.
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