Chapter 175-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

Chapter 175 Another Self (VI)

Mechanical Mother grabbed Zhu Ning by the arm. To a child, an adult's frame loomed like a mountain. Zhu Ning could clearly feel the anger radiating off her. She walked at breakneck speed, practically dragging Zhu Ning along.

"Why won't you behave?"

Mechanical Mother snapped, "I work so hard—why won't you behave!"

"Why do you always make me angry!"

Zhu Ning was a grown adult who'd lived two lifetimes. Being scolded like a little kid was particularly grating, but she didn't talk back. Instead, a strange feeling welled up inside her.

She actually felt a twinge of guilt, as if she'd truly done something wrong.

The poorer and more unfortunate a place was, the more obvious it became. The Red House was clearly broke, and the pressure on Mechanical Mother must have been enormous.

Mechanical Mother glared down at her. The half-peeling skin on her face drooped, paired with her sullen eyes, making her look utterly sinister.

What was she going to do next? She wasn't going to hit her, was she?

Mechanical Mother's mouth opened, clearly about to say something. Was she going to hurl insults?

Zhu Ning tilted her face up to meet her gaze. The expected slap never came, nor did the insults. Mechanical Mother pushed open a door. "Get in and reflect on what you've done."

Bang. Zhu Ning was shut inside the isolation room.

Zhu Ning stood silently by the door for a moment, feeling that something about herself had shifted. Just now, she'd actually formed a small emotional connection with Mechanical Mother.

This place was too strange.

Since she couldn't brute-force her way through, Zhu Ning had to search for the truth. In the process, she was being steadily assimilated by the Red House.

From God's Eye View, Mechanical Mother hadn't gone far. She'd stopped about five meters from the isolation room, where there was a table. Her body was incredibly stiff, like a puppet.

Mechanical Mother stood frozen for a long while. Zhu Ning could clearly sense her emotions—she seemed... a little sad?

Mechanical Mother sat down, pulled a needle and thread from her tattered apron, and began stitching by the dim light, mending her own arm.

Her movements were meticulous. The needle and thread pierced through synthetic skin, and she showed no sign of pain at all—like a loving mother with needle in hand, except she was sewing not a garment but her own flesh.

Zhu Ning didn't know whether it hurt. Judging by the scene alone, it was surprisingly... peaceful.

Mechanical Mother was blocking the doorway. Even with the Universal Key and Cloaking Device, it would be nearly impossible to sneak past her. Zhu Ning couldn't walk through walls—if Xu Meng were here, her abilities would be far better suited for this.

Wondering whether Xu Meng had woken up yet, Zhu Ning decided to search the isolation room instead.

The orphanage really was decrepit. Everything in the Red House was old and worn. Nothing about the place looked remotely high-tech. The clothes the children wore were threadbare, yet many of them owned handheld game consoles.

In this world, electronics were cheaper. Zhu Ning guessed some corporation had probably donated them.

They sent piles of cheap electronics but never the clothes and food that these damaged children actually needed.

The isolation room was even smaller than a regular room—extremely cramped. Since there was no toilet, a wooden bucket sat in the corner, emitting a terrible stench.

In the center of the room was a small desk, probably meant as punishment. It was built shorter than a normal desk, and sitting at it for too long would make your limbs go numb.

Paper, pens, and textbooks were arranged on the desk. People sent here for confinement would do their homework. Zhu Ning picked up a notebook, revealing the desktop beneath. There were scratches carved into it.

As a child, many people liked to carve things into their desks—like the character for "early." Now the surface was covered in frantic carvings. Zhu Ning studied them for a while before making out the words.

She... is... broken...

Whoever had carved this seemed to have been in a frenzy, clearly in a terrible mental state.

Broken?

What was broken? Who was "she"? Mechanical Mother?

Zhu Ning recalled her few interactions with Mechanical Mother. She was visibly broken—even the synthetic skin covering her was on the verge of peeling off.

The puzzles in a B-rank Contamination Zone wouldn't be too difficult. Zhu Ning felt that with a few more clues, she could piece everything together.

Find the Contamination Source, get out early.

Zhu Ning was flipping through a notebook on the desk. It was a "Book of Confessions"—everyone sent here had to write a self-criticism.

The confession book had been here for who knew how many years. The pages were thin and brittle, as if they'd crumble at the slightest touch, covered in a layer of dust.

Children's handwriting came in all shapes and sizes. Zhu Ning skimmed through them. The self-criticisms all had a central theme: wasting food, fighting with other kids, or making too much noise.

Zhu Ning herself had just been dragged to the isolation room for being too loud.

Her flipping gradually slowed, because she found a self-criticism written in her own hand.

Her handwriting again.

The self-criticism was about not wandering around after lights-out. It was written with great emotion and conviction. In her previous life, Zhu Ning had been a troublemaker since childhood and wrote self-criticisms all the time. She could knock one out in under twenty minutes.

If before it had merely been the same handwriting as Zhu Ning's, now it was even more unsettling—this self-criticism matched her way of thinking.

Handwriting could be imitated. Thought patterns were far harder to fake.

And Zhu Ning's self-criticisms had the distinctive hallmarks of her era, always opening with: "It is with a heart full of guilt and remorse that I write this self-criticism..."

There it was again—more traces of Zhu Ning having lived here.

The longer she stayed, the more uncomfortable she became. The déjà vu was overwhelming. She decided to finish searching the isolation room and leave immediately.

The room was too small to hide a person. She finished searching quickly. Only one spot remained.

A window.

The small window faced the door. It was extremely high off the ground—a full three meters up—probably meant for ventilation.

What was outside this window?

Zhu Ning's God's Eye View had limitations. It worked intermittently—she hadn't used it much before. This was her first time entering a Contamination Zone since acquiring the skill.

Only now did she realize: inside a Contamination Zone, you could only see what was within your line of sight if you already knew what it was.

In other words, you could only see things you already knew about. You couldn't see the unknown.

To Zhu Ning, whatever lay beyond the window was pure chaos.

Anyone locked in an isolation room would've thought about "breaking out." Could she escape through here?

At her current height, she couldn't even reach the window ledge. She was reluctant to use the Gravity Ignore skill.

Since Mechanical Mother was right outside the door, she didn't dare make any big commotion. She carefully pushed the short desk over.

One desk wasn't tall enough.

Zhu Ning stacked the chair on top, then climbed to the very top. This way, she could barely reach the window's edge.

Being in a child's body severely limited her mobility. She had to stand on tiptoe. The desk and chair creaked and groaned, and she teetered like an acrobat.

Zhu Ning stood on tiptoe and peered out, barely catching a glimpse of one corner of the window. A faint flash of light dazzled her, but she still couldn't see clearly.

What was out there?

Curiosity was human nature. She'd only meant to take a casual look, but the less she could see, the more curious she became.

Her athletic instincts were excellent. She did something extremely dangerous for an eight-year-old: she gripped the window frame with both hands, found her footholds, and—like a rock climber—braced herself, then pushed off with her feet in a small jump.

Her field of vision suddenly opened up. In that instant of leaping, she could see everything outside the window clearly. Time itself seemed to slow.

Crash!

The chair beneath her tipped and fell straight off the desk.

Zhu Ning grabbed the window ledge with her hands. Her feet dangled in empty air, her whole body hanging from the window.

Zhu Ning's heart pounded. She'd nearly fallen. Just now, she had seen herself—another version of herself, face pressed right against the other side of the window.

When had it gotten there?

Outside the window was a ventilation duct. Probably to prevent children from crawling out, a glass pane had been installed.

The duct was cramped even for a child. The fake Zhu Ning had every bone in her body twisted and contorted, crammed inside the duct, her neck bent at an unnatural angle resting on her knees.

What was she doing? Watching her? Ready to replace her at any moment?

"Zhu Ning?" Mechanical Mother's voice came from outside the door.

Zhu Ning's earlier commotion had drawn Mechanical Mother's attention. She'd known Zhu Ning would cause trouble—one hand was already on the doorknob. "What are you doing now?"

Like a child genuinely caught in the act, Zhu Ning felt the grown-up would be furious if she saw this scene. She blurted out, "I accidentally knocked over the chair."

Zhu Ning's heart hammered. Through the door, she locked eyes with Mechanical Mother. The woman pressed her ear against the door and listened for a while. Once she confirmed there was no further commotion, she walked away.

The window ledge was narrow—barely two fingers wide. The entire time, Zhu Ning had been supporting her full weight with just her fingertips.

After Mechanical Mother left, she finally exhaled, but she couldn't relax at all—only the chair had fallen.

Zhu Ning steadied herself, then let go and dropped lightly onto the desk. Her movements were graceful and silent. Then she hopped down to the floor.

Her heart was racing. She looked up at the window. Even though she couldn't make out the details, she could see a dark shadow. The fake Zhu Ning was up there. The two of them stared at each other in silence.

She desperately wanted to speak up and ask.

"What the hell do you want?"

At the very least, she wanted to ask that one question. Even if she died, she wanted to die knowing the answer. But the moment she opened her mouth, she clamped it shut again. A powerful instinct forbade her from making a sound.

She tried killing it again.

The ventilation duct was made of metal. Zhu Ning immediately activated Metal Manipulation. A child that small crammed inside the duct was like a hamster trapped in a tin can—she could crush it from the outside.

Zhu Ning exerted her power in secret, but an equal and opposite force pushed back. Under the pull of two competing forces, the metal duct began to tremble.

No good. Zhu Ning stopped using her ability. Even if she pushed herself to the limit here, she couldn't kill the other one.

Their power was exactly equal.

Zhu Ning had never felt this frustrated before. All of her abilities were useless. She'd clearly launched an attack, yet it felt like punching cotton.

What did the fake Zhu Ning want?

She wouldn't even speak. Say something, anything!

Suppressing her questions and being unable to ask was maddening. Why was it following her everywhere?

How long would it exist? Was it going to follow her for the rest of her life?

Even if Zhu Ning escaped the Red House, the fake Zhu Ning would trail her like a ghost. No third party could tell which was the real Zhu Ning.

It was suffocating.

Zhu Ning completely understood now why Xiao Yuan had eventually broken down. No normal person could stay sane with something like this in their life.

In Xiao Yuan's story, the other self existed silently, infiltrating every corner of your life.

Its mere existence was contamination—eroding you day after day, severing you completely from your social circle until your mind shattered.

Zhu Ning's mind wasn't that fragile.

She took a deep breath and carefully reviewed the entire sequence. Xiao Yuan first realized the other self existed because of the fake swimming competition registration form. After that, Xiao Yuan's behavior had successfully made all her siblings dislike her even more.

They unanimously agreed the other Xiao Yuan was more likable.

Over time, the real Xiao Yuan lived in the shadow of her other self, because the other version was always more perfect.

That was why Xiao Yuan was so insecure. Even when she saw the fake self, she didn't dare confront it. It was a process of gradual psychological erosion.

Was the fake Zhu Ning following the same logic?

Getting Mechanical Mother to lock her in the isolation room, startling Zhu Ning in hopes that Mechanical Mother would come in and punish her—all to prove the fake Zhu Ning was the better one?

That was probably the other's modus operandi.

Zhu Ning stopped trying to kill it. She decided to ignore it. It was just a contaminant. Once she found the Contamination Source, it would naturally disappear.

Don't waste time on it.

Easier said than done. Zhu Ning had to find something to distract herself.

Earlier, she'd found a strand of "silk" in Xiao Yuan's room. She'd stored it in a clear plastic bag, but still couldn't identify what organism it came from.

Zhu Ning recalled how she'd been lying under the bed when Mechanical Mother had suddenly bent down and looked straight at her.

She'd already activated the Cloaking Device the moment she saw Mechanical Mother look over. There was absolutely no way Mechanical Mother could have seen her.

Had she really been trying to touch Zhu Ning? Or had she been looking through Zhu Ning at something else?

What had she been looking at?

She had to go back to the spot where Xiao Yuan had disappeared.

Zhu Ning sat cross-legged on the floor. Mechanical Mother was outside the door. The only other exit—the window—had another version of herself crammed inside it. Both routes were blocked.

Time ticked by. She could hear the tick-tock of an old clock.

Click—

After an unknown amount of time, the door was opened from outside. Mechanical Mother appeared in the doorway. "Go back to bed."

Zhu Ning instinctively glanced at the window. The other self was still there, but due to the rule about third parties being present, Mechanical Mother couldn't see it at all.

Night had fallen. The other children had already washed up. Zhu Ning had missed dinner, though she didn't need to eat anyway.

Everyone washed up quietly. They could all tell Mechanical Mother was in a bad mood today, and no one wanted to set her off.

Zhu Ning joined the washing-up line. Next to her, Li Xin was wiping her face, rubbing away the carcasses of ants.

While washing her hands, Zhu Ning could see the other self through the mirror's reflection. She was standing right behind Zhu Ning and Li Xin. Unfortunately, Li Xin couldn't see her.

If you lived here, it would be truly hard to ignore that thing. It could easily drive you insane.

Zhu Ning ignored it. After washing up, she went back to her room like a well-behaved child and lay down on the narrow little bed again.

This was her second day in the Red House. The longer she stayed, the more it felt like she'd truly lived here.

The bedtime broadcast came on. Zhu Ning lay in bed and waited for Mechanical Mother to finish patrolling all the rooms, then return to her own bedroom. The entire Red House fell silent.

That was when Zhu Ning opened her eyes. She slipped out of bed without a sound and opened her bedroom door in the darkness.

As she passed Li Xin's room, she hesitated for a moment. Li Xin had been so quiet today.

Zhu Ning's goal was to find the Contamination Source. In the end, she chose not to wake Li Xin. She crept through the corridor. A few dim red lights lined the hallway, and small bells were tied up every few meters.

You had to be extra careful not to make any noise, or the entire Red House would be awakened.

This was no challenge for Zhu Ning. She moved swiftly, weaving through the obstacles like a course runner.

Click—

A sudden sound echoed through the dead of night. Zhu Ning reacted instantly, darting into a compartment at the end of the corridor. It was a narrow utility closet used for storing cleaning supplies.

Zhu Ning shared the space with brooms and buckets. Being small right now actually helped—an adult could never have fit in here.

Her heart was pounding. She didn't know what had made that sound.

Through a thin crack, Zhu Ning peered outside. Mechanical Mother had gotten up in the middle of the night for some reason.

Her skin was coming loose, her hair was thinning badly, and she wore a nightgown. Her entire frame was gaunt and skeletal.

She walked into the bathroom. After a while, the sound of flushing came from inside. She'd apparently just gotten up to use the toilet.

Zhu Ning hid inside the utility closet, holding her breath, ready to activate the Cloaking Device at any moment. By now, she was well experienced.

Mechanical Mother came out of the bathroom and seemed to sense something. She glanced in this direction.

No way—she could detect even this?

Did Mechanical Mother have some kind of radar installed?

Her eye sockets were sunken. The mechanical eyes within them glowed red in the darkness. Her footsteps grew slower and slower, and she lingered near the closet longer and longer.

Zhu Ning had already opened the system menu, but Mechanical Mother merely paused for a moment. She didn't open the utility closet door. She turned and walked away.

She returned to her room. Zhu Ning breathed a sigh of relief—then suddenly noticed a dark spot at the edge of her vision, as if something was crawling.

She reached out and touched it. An ant. Already crushed between her fingers.

Ants? That immediately brought Li Xin to mind. Zhu Ning slowly raised her head. The inside of the narrow utility closet was completely covered in ants—a dense, crawling carpet of them, so thick you couldn't even tell the original color of the closet walls.

A single eye suddenly appeared outside the closet. Li Xin's face pressed against the gap, and she asked with innocent curiosity, "When are we going to look for Xiao Yuan?"

She'd even lowered her voice, as if terrified of waking Mechanical Mother.

When had she shown up?

So earlier—had Mechanical Mother been looking at Li Xin?

Zhu Ning was surrounded by ants. She'd encountered bugs before and was relatively unfazed, but there was no enduring this many ants crawling all over her.

"Aren't we supposed to go find Xiao Yuan?" Li Xin asked.

"I was going to come get you," Zhu Ning said, trying to placate her.

"Liar!" Li Xin's face suddenly contorted. Ants poured from her mouth. She was furious, screaming, "Liar!"

Li Xin's voice was piercingly shrill. The entire Contamination Zone was roused. There was no hiding anymore—the zone was about to enter attack mode.

Zhu Ning shoved the closet door open, sending Li Xin stumbling. The ants surged toward Zhu Ning like a living tide.

"Liar!" Li Xin screamed. "You tricked me!"

A single ant was negligibly weak, but countless ants together formed a brutal force. Zhu Ning tried to run, but her right foot sank—something had grabbed her ankle.

She had no choice but to fire behind her. Her foot came free, but the rest of the ants kept coming, trying to breach the gaps in Zhu Ning's protective suit.

Zhu Ning seized the brief opening and sprinted through the Red House.

Mechanical Mother had already opened her door. Other children were waking up too, asking what was going on.

"What happened?"

"Zhu Ning! Why won't you behave!"

"You tricked me!"

Several voices intertwined behind Zhu Ning, bearing down on her like a net. She even spotted the other self while taking the stairs.

Its dark silhouette lurked in the shadows, watching Zhu Ning as if enjoying the show.

Zhu Ning didn't even look at it. She used the Putrid Fish Head, accelerating to maximum speed and leaving everyone behind.

She grabbed Xiao Yuan's door handle. Moving too fast, she crushed the wishing bottle at the doorstep as she entered.

Zhu Ning's first move was to dive straight under the bed. It was a semi-enclosed space, easy to be cornered in. No one escaping would normally choose this spot.

Zhu Ning listened to the footsteps outside. They were closing in—only a hundred meters away.

She didn't have much time. Zhu Ning frantically felt around under the bed.

It was dark under the bed. Zhu Ning switched on her flashlight, illuminating the section where the bed met the wall.

Each room was like a tiny nest—people above, below, left, and right. The room next door was just another bedroom on the other side of the wall.

Zhu Ning knocked on the wall. The sound it produced was hollow—completely different from a normal wall.

Something was inside?

The footsteps drew closer. Mechanical Mother was already within ten meters.

Zhu Ning drove her elbow into the wooden panel with a thunderous bang, caving in a section.

After three strikes— bang—she felt a gust of wind.

Wind rushed through the gap in the wall—cold and damp, carrying a massive wave of mildew. It hit her full in the face.

Right there under the bed, hidden within the wall, was another concealed space—like a vertical shaft. The walls between rooms all contained hidden cavities.

Inside was pitch black, an abyss that seemed to swallow everything.

Creeeeak—

She heard a strange sound, like something suspended gently swaying.

Zhu Ning gritted her teeth. At first, all she saw was darkness—like peering through a keyhole, with no frame of reference.

Something stirred behind the wall. Zhu Ning held her breath, sensing something swinging before her eyes.

It was a thin strand of silk. Zhu Ning recognized it immediately—it was the same kind of silk thread she'd found in the wardrobe.

Zhu Ning adjusted her angle and looked down into the abyss.

Hanging from the silk thread was something—a human cocoon, exactly the size of a child.

White silk threads wrapped into a human shape, suspended by a single strand. And there wasn't just one. The entire hidden cavity between the walls was packed with human cocoons, hanging in rows.

She seemed to have found where the missing Xiao Yuan had gone. She'd been right behind her all along, separated by nothing more than a thin wall.

---

Author's Note

First, happy fifth day of the New Year—wishing everyone prosperity!

I'm really sorry I've been stuck with writer's block lately and was very delayed. My apologies again! Updates will return to normal from now on.

Ugh, you all are truly wonderful, so kind. I don't deserve readers this good.

To use an imperfect analogy, I feel like I've been in prolonged labor, drenched in sweat, trying to deliver for a whole week with no success. And at my bedside, dozens of faces appear, each one wearing a halo, gazing at me with encouragement, whispering softly: "It's okay, take your time."

Angels—they're angels!

PS: It's just a metaphor, no offense intended to anyone. If it does offend, my preemptive apologies~

← Previous Chapter Next Chapter →