Chapter 194-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 194 Public Report
People walking through the plaza stopped. Passengers on the light rail all turned to their Sub-Brains or the public screens.
"Who is this woman?" someone asked. "My Sub-Brain's lagging."
"What does this mean? What contamination?"
"Can't you see it says URGENT?" another person yelled. "Shut up! Listen!"
Inside the Sanitation Center.
Employees still at their posts stopped what they were doing and looked up at the face on screen.
The Sanitation Center had received the news earlier than the public. Quite a bit had leaked in advance. Those who'd chosen to stay had already made their peace with it.
But this was the first time they'd heard the full public report. The reality was even more shocking than they'd imagined.
Xuan Qing, Xie Jiazu, and other higher-ups paused their meeting.
Xuan Qing: "Huo Wenxi really isn't afraid to die."
Xie Jiazu: "She's probably the only one who'd dare give this report."
Being a Huo gave Huo Wenxi enormous leverage. Her surname meant that even at the most critical juncture, she could still marshal resources.
Footsteps pounded outside the office. Security teams were sprinting through the Center, searching offices one by one.
They were definitely coming for Huo Wenxi.
No one knew where Huo Wenxi was broadcasting from. The Divine Kingdom's people would naturally try to cut the network and silence her—but they'd found they couldn't shut it down quickly enough, so they were hunting for her exact location.
Xie Jiazu dropped his usual flippant expression. An idea was forming in his mind.
Huo Wenxi's investigation report might well be the same one Cheng Mofei had been working on.
His hand on the table tightened. Cheng Mofei had died for this.
On screen, Huo Wenxi methodically laid out every piece of evidence and every deduction.
From the Mechanical Oceanarium to the Ant Nest. From the Ant Nest to Desolate Village. From Desolate Village to the Non-Natural Humans outbreak at the Sanitation Center.
Huo Wenxi ensured everyone's right to know.
"...District 103 has already developed a high-contamination environment. The gap with conditions outside the wall is shrinking rapidly." Huo Wenxi: "Non-Natural Humans have breached the High Wall."
"They can deploy their contamination zones anytime, anywhere. They can live in worlds with extreme contamination density. In their eyes, ordinary humans are a lesser species. They consider themselves the highest form of evolution."
Huo Wenxi sat in a sealed office. There was no audience before her—only a white wall.
Her report was addressed to that white wall.
"The Federation has never publicized contamination. But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
"Today I can state clearly—" Huo Wenxi: "Yes. It exists."
"Not only does it exist, it's directly beneath our feet. All this time, we've been living on top of the contaminant."
"You may think I'm being alarmist. You may feel you have no frame of reference. I can tell you from personal experience—it is absolutely more terrifying than anything you can imagine."
Huo Wenxi paused. She was in a cramped room, facing a white wall—yet also facing millions. "This discovery proves that the High Wall Plan was useless. The Genetic Screening Program was useless."
Her tone was steady, but the words were devastatingly brutal. In a few short sentences, she negated everything humanity had strived for.
No one in front of their screens spoke. Everyone fell into an eerie silence.
Huo Wenxi didn't want to admit it either. But this was reality. She continued: "First-Class Citizens enjoy privilege. Fifth-Class Citizens wait to die in landfills. Resources are funneled upward en masse. We've always believed this was a necessary sacrifice. We expected First-Class Citizens to lead us through the dark age and find a way to purify the world. Today I can tell you definitively—the sacrifice of the other four classes has been meaningless."
"Eighty years of sacrifice. Eighty years of suffering. Eighty years of endurance. All meaningless." Huo Wenxi repeated.
"The First District has abandoned us. First-Class Citizens have left. The port is about to close. The Garrison Troops have fully withdrawn. Only we remain."
"I know you want to ask—after saying all this, with things as they are, what do I suggest? My profession is investigator. Theoretically I should only present reports. But today I want to say: if you have money, if you have a Travel Permit—please go. Please leave immediately. It is not safe here."
Ordinary people were not soldiers. Their priority should be protecting themselves and their families.
Huo Wenxi had delivered the public report before the port closed specifically to buy them time to flee.
"If you cannot leave, an emergency survival handbook will be sent to all district residents shortly. Please follow its instructions for emergency shelter."
Huo Wenxi paused here. She paused for a very long time.
"I believe you all now clearly understand—this is not an ordinary contamination event. This is a war."
"If we treat District 103 as a single contamination zone, historically we've only ever had two approaches. First: kill the Contamination Source. Second: brute-force demolition."
"Given the current arsenal of the District 103 Sanitation Center—including the wall's self-defense systems—the probability of successful brute-force demolition is extremely low. Using heavy weapons carries too much risk. It could provoke the contaminant, causing contamination density to spike and accelerating the spread."
"That leaves us one option: find the Contamination Source, then destroy it. This is our only hope."
Huo Wenxi: "Since humanity entered the new era, our recorded history of fighting contaminants spans eighty years. In this war between humans and contaminants, we have continuously lost territory, lost compatriots, lost loved ones. We have never won."
"This time, we will reclaim land from the contaminant's grasp. This time, we will turn a garbage city into purified ground. This time, we will reshape unjust rules."
"This is a war. Not an internal human conflict—a war between us and the contaminant. Regardless of who you are—First-Class Citizen or Fifth-Class Citizen, Natural Human or Non-Natural Human—as long as you want to end the contamination, we are natural allies."
"I will stay." Huo Wenxi raised her eyes, gaze resolute. "I don't know who else will stay. But I know it won't be just me."
"I am Huo Wenxi. The apocalypse approaches, and I will stand with you."
Click—
Countless screens went dark. While everyone was still in shock, Huo Wenxi's face had already vanished.
The public report ended. That was the complete truth.
Immediately after, every Sub-Brain received the same message. Public screens scrolled with: "Public Contamination Emergency Shelter Protocol."
The Federation had never publicized contamination. District 103 residents had only ever vaguely sensed contaminants existed.
Most people never encountered them. The few who did were simply dead.
Urban legends circulated online. Very few had ever seen a contaminant on a large scale.
In the past, as long as you buried your head in the sand, an ordinary person could still live out their life.
But now, that invisible veil had been torn away. They'd received a shelter protocol.
Some opened it with trembling hands. They had to learn to face the contaminated world.
One: If you have a Travel Permit, leave before the port closes at 6 PM today.
Two: If you do not have a Travel Permit, proceed to the nearest Anti-Contamination Shelter.
Three: If you cannot leave your home, observe the following rules:
1. Prepare supplies: Protective Suit, Sanity Healer, Strong Healing Agent, clean water, and nutrient packs.
2. Keep your door firmly shut. Do not open it no matter who knocks.
3. If you hear cries for help, ignore them. Do not call any authorities. Disregard them.
4. Confirm the number of family members in advance. If there is one extra person, or one fewer, do not react dramatically. Act as though everything is normal.
5. When you are home alone and hear someone speaking, do not respond.
6. If you notice any form of mutation in your body, inject a Sanity Healer immediately if available. If unavailable, do not panic. Maintain emotional stability to slow the contamination.
7. If you live with others and find yourself or your companion on the verge of mental collapse, self-isolate immediately to prevent infection.
...
District 103 plunged into chaos. Most people rushed desperately toward the port. Highways jammed. Traffic completely paralyzed.
Every essential supply in stores was cleaned out instantly. Everything else was price-gouged to obscene levels.
People frantically refreshed their Sub-Brains, trying to secure a spot at the nearest shelter.
The network crashed. Many couldn't even send messages.
District 103 descended into unprecedented chaos and disorder. Everything Huo Wenxi had predicted came true. The true dark age was about to begin.
...
Bang—!
The moment Huo Wenxi ended the broadcast, someone kicked in the door.
"Team Leader Huo," said the man in front. "Come with us."
Huo Wenxi was utterly drained after the report. She felt weak—but she refused to let even a flicker of panic show.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her right ear, calmly extended her hands. A pair of shackles snapped around her wrists.
Huo Wenxi was arrested for endangering public safety. She'd been broadcasting from floor 340—very close to the top.
It was also the highest she could reach. From up there, the sunlight was glorious.
Huo Wenxi was led downstairs. Everyone she passed watched her in silence—eyes on her, but no one spoke.
Huo Wenxi had only one eye left, but reading people's intentions from their gazes had always been her strength.
Countless eyes landed on her. The emotions were complex—sympathy, confusion, admiration, bewilderment, surprise...
The elevator descended. She was taken to basement level 29.
This was the holding area for high-risk individuals. Huo Wenxi had personally sent several people here before.
The surviving outside-the-wall investigator was on basement level 30.
Huo Wenxi was locked in a windowless, doorless room. It was barely one meter in each dimension—like a coffin standing upright. There was no room to lie down.
Standing long enough would make your legs go numb. But the physical pain paled compared to the psychological oppression. Long-term confinement here would drive a person insane.
Huo Wenxi's hands were shackled. Her back pressed against the wall. From the surveillance camera's perspective, one would see a woman in a teal suit, her hair pinned up with stray strands falling loose.
The black eyepatch over her right eye made her look even more enigmatic.
Huo Wenxi lost track of how long she'd been standing. She'd always been the one conducting interrogations. This was her first time on the other side—so she savored it carefully.
"Team Leader Huo." A man's voice came through. Huo Wenxi couldn't see his face, but the voice sounded familiar. Probably another Huo.
"You've endangered public safety."
Huo Wenxi said nothing. Someone who'd spent years interrogating others wouldn't be fazed by something this trivial.
Public safety? What an amusing charge.
"Why did you do this?" the man said. "Someone helped you. You couldn't have controlled the network alone. Who helped you?"
Huo Wenxi would have needed at least one technical specialist. Someone from the tech department was aiding her.
"What are you planning? What's your next move?"
Huo Wenxi remained silent.
"Wenxi," the interrogator's tone softened noticeably. "You were once the family's pride."
Huo Wenxi was the youngest high-ranking official. She represented limitless potential. She should have voluntarily upheld the family's interests—and by extension, the deformed order.
She was an absolute beneficiary of the existing system. Why would she act against her own interests?
No matter what the interrogator asked after that, Huo Wenxi refused to speak.
Eventually the other party gave up. Huo Wenxi wasn't ordinary. She knew every interrogation technique. And her ability was rare—the Huo Family wouldn't execute her easily.
"Is there anything you'd like to say to the Huo Family? I can relay it."
Huo Wenxi's lowered lashes flickered. She raised her eyes, gazing into the blank void before her, and said slowly: "The Sanitation Center had eight core founders. One of them was named Huo Lianyu. The Center's founding principle: eliminate all contamination and purify the world."
She hadn't answered the interrogator's question. She'd recited the Sanitation Center's creed.
We prioritize the elimination of contamination. Our supreme goal is the purification of the world.
Huo Wenxi had grown up under this education. She could never understand why, at some point during the process of growing up, people would suddenly "wake up" and decide their former beliefs were naive.
And then they'd switch sides, doing the very things they once found unconscionable.
Huo Wenxi couldn't understand it. So she couldn't do it. Given infinite chances to choose, she would still walk this path.
Call her an idealist. Call her reckless. She wanted to try.
She had promised to form an alliance with Zhu Ning. Once allied, she would never betray.
Huo Wenxi looked over with her single eye and gave the faintest of smiles. "How much longer do you think you can hold on?"
How much longer could the other survivor bases hold? How much longer could the Divine Kingdom last?
Never mind the distant future—how much longer could the District 103 Sanitation Center maintain its current rule? How much longer could this prison cell hold?
Huo Wenxi had said it before. Lights-out was coming. The dark age was arriving. In the chaos, everyone was the same.
We are all ants.
...
The Dignified Queen Club.
The moment Huo Wenxi's face disappeared from the screen, Zhu Ning's first thought was that Huo Wenxi was in danger. A statement like that was practically jabbing a knife into the First-Class Citizens' lungs.
Zhu Ning had considered many possibilities, but hadn't expected Huo Wenxi to use the most ruthless move—leaving herself zero room for retreat.
From this moment on, she'd effectively severed all ties with the Divine Kingdom.
A car pulled up outside the Dignified Queen Club. When Zhuang Lin pushed open the door, everyone inside immediately went on alert. Shen Xingqiao raised her gun.
Zhuang Lin must have run here—he didn't even have time for a detailed explanation. He said simply and directly: "Zhu Ning, grab your weapons and come with me. I'll explain on the way."
Zhuang Lin being here meant no one was guarding Huo Wenxi.
She must need them to split up. The decision had been made in haste, but the deployment was methodical—even if something happened to Huo Wenxi, the plan could continue.
Huo Wenxi wanted Zhu Ning to enter the Eternal Pharma Foundation now.
Zhu Ning didn't question it. She didn't ask a single thing. She'd been ready long ago—already in her Protective Suit, weapons and equipment confirmed.
The situation was urgent. Goodbyes felt rushed.
Zhu Ning: "I was going to wait until three to see you off. No time now. All of you—get far away from here, understood?"
Shen Xingqiao lowered her gun. She wanted to argue but couldn't.
Zhu Ning warned: "I will check where you are. Don't try anything clever."
Zhu Ning hugged each of them in turn. Shen Xingqiao. Ye Fei. Lin Xiaofeng. The last one was Song Zhizhang.
When it was Song Zhizhang's turn, Zhu Ning hesitated briefly—as if there were words she wanted to say.
Song Zhizhang had expected at most a handshake. But she hugged him without reservation.
The Protective Suit she wore carried a cold metallic scent. It was a little stiff against his body.
The embrace was very brief—the most intimate gesture they'd ever shared. Zhu Ning whispered in his ear: "Take care of Xiaofeng."
Then she was gone. She didn't look back at anyone's expression. She grabbed her gear and got into Zhuang Lin's car.
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