Chapter 203-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Chapter 203 Eternal Pharma Foundation (IX)
Take the known cockroach nest? Or the unknown beyond the window?
Both options were rotten choices. Zhu Ning realized she lacked a talent for making correct multiple-choice decisions.
She still felt something off in her abdomen. Those ghost hands had done something to her—she still hadn't recovered.
Zhu Ning rubbed her lower belly. "You two decide."
Xu Meng: "I choose the window."
Xu Meng had feline instincts. She generally made whatever choice benefited her most.
Dr. Fu hesitated briefly. His helmet reeked of vomit. Remembering the Cockroach-Human that had pinned him down—he'd rather die than go back that way.
Dr. Fu: "Same."
Fine. Zhu Ning didn't need to vote. Two pale fingers were already squeezing through Room 910's door gap—like antennae, probing inward.
They didn't have long to deliberate. Zhu Ning pulled the window open. The protective suit had a climbing function—pressing the third button on the left hand coated the palms with a special material that adhered to walls. Time to play "spider-person."
For safety, they also tied ropes to prevent any high-altitude falls.
Worried about Dr. Fu, Zhu Ning tied his rope herself.
Xu Meng's ability made her ideal for scouting. She went first, moving quickly—but the moment she descended, Zhu Ning could barely see her. Just a vague helmet silhouette.
At the door, Cockroach-Humans were forcing their way in. Half a face had already squeezed through—their bodies impossibly flat, faces compressed paper-thin.
Zhu Ning used Metal Manipulation to shove the TV and other metal objects against the door. Bought a little time.
Zhu Ning waited for Dr. Fu to go before following. His legs trembled with fear. Facing the abyss-like exterior, even Zhu Ning felt uneasy.
She gripped the window ledge, carefully lowering one foot.
She tested her weight. The suit's quality held—suction was firm, like being pinned to the wall.
But the wall felt strange. Not the hardness of normal construction—somewhat soft. Through the surface, it felt like touching something's flesh through a thin panel.
Both feet planted below. Shoe-mounted climbing gear also adhered. Her entire body was now outside the building.
The sensation was nothing like she'd expected. She'd imagined hanging in midair with a sense of weightlessness.
Instead, bizarrely, once her body was fully outside, she felt resistance.
Hard to describe—a first-time experience. Like entering a swamp. Or pushing into something's flesh.
Limited space behind her back. Clear resistance. It gave Zhu Ning the illusion that she was a flat cockroach navigating a wall crevice.
All three of them faced the same direction—toward the wall, backs to the gray fog.
With cameras off, human perspective was severely limited. She could only see what was directly ahead—nothing behind. Even God's Eye View couldn't penetrate the rear. Complete vulnerability.
If a hand reached from behind to touch her back right now, it would probably scare her half to death.
On the exterior wall of an unfamiliar hotel. The path ahead was unknown. No idea what would happen.
And this didn't feel like entering air or water—a heavy pressure bore down on her back.
Zhu Ning glanced down. Dr. Fu was probably scared—he was waiting for her. She could still make out his form. Xu Meng was completely invisible.
All three had disabled video functions. Voice communication—uncertain whether sound could transmit contamination—they'd agreed to minimize its use.
Zhu Ning signaled Dr. Fu: keep going.
His head shifted slightly. He began crawling slowly downward.
The building's exterior now had three people clinging to it. Even in broad daylight in the normal world, this kind of climbing would look eerie.
Zhu Ning descended while monitoring above with God's Eye View. Inside the wall, their former room was being overrun by Cockroach-Humans.
They flooded the room rapidly. Spindly bodies slithered across the floor. Eventually dozens of faces pressed against the window, peering down.
Zhu Ning dreaded pursuit. If they followed, this route would be pointless.
But whether due to rules or something else, the Cockroach-Humans didn't move. They simply pressed against the window and watched.
They were still breathing. Hot breath sprayed against the glass, condensing into a patch of white fog. One of them extended its tongue and licked the glass surface.
A simple, non-aggressive action—yet it made her skin crawl with revulsion.
The licking motion was greedy. Like a dog licking at a piece of meat through glass.
Dr. Fu asked: "What's wrong?"
He was watching Zhu Ning's movements closely. Zhu Ning said: "Nothing."
She had zero desire to describe the scene of massed Cockroach-Humans above.
The three of them moved like mountain climbers descending. Going up was easy; coming down was hard. The deeper they went, the heavier the viscous feeling—as if tearing through flesh to advance.
Finally, they reached the first visible window. This should be the eighth floor.
Zhu Ning suddenly realized this route had one advantage: they'd gone directly from the second floor to the ninth, skipping everything in between. The middle floors were completely unexplored.
Also rooms for test subjects? Or regular guest rooms?
Zhu Ning moved faster than Dr. Fu. Her feet rested on the eighth-floor window ledge, palms suctioned to the glass.
Her vision went black—then in the darkness, she saw a dark silhouette.
Cold sweat nearly broke out. She instinctively thought: contaminant. Then realized she was wrong.
This room's lights were off. Pitch black inside. Likely unoccupied.
The dark figure was her own reflection. She'd nearly attacked her own shadow.
Mental contamination was deepening without her noticing. Zhu Ning exhaled stale air, assessing the situation. The deeper they went, the more she felt like she was sinking into something. So sticky.
Zhu Ning checked the gaps between her fingers. Petroleum-like slime filled every crevice.
Were they really outside the building? What was this place?
Breathing grew difficult. Her body itched more and more. She could only grit her teeth and keep climbing down.
Sixth and fifth floors were equally dark. The entire descent yielded no additional clues.
Now she'd reached the third floor. Theoretically close to ground level. But they couldn't continue.
Xu Meng had been first down—yet she'd stopped. Dr. Fu stopped behind her. The three of them were like cars stuck in rush-hour traffic on an overpass.
Zhu Ning's position was slightly higher. Xu Meng was deepest. After climbing this long, this was Zhu Ning's first glimpse of her—she'd genuinely wondered if Xu Meng had silently vanished.
Seeing her now felt surreal.
Xu Meng said: "It's very difficult ahead."
Hearing Xu Meng's familiar voice brought slight relief—though Zhu Ning thought that if a contaminant impersonated Xu Meng right now, she probably couldn't tell the difference.
Under normal conditions, Xu Meng's shadow could enter anywhere—just give her a crack.
But here, everything was so viscous she couldn't use her ability at all. Perhaps she'd chosen the wrong path—this one might be the most dangerous.
Zhu Ning also felt her chest being compressed. Her abdomen ached faintly. She injected herself with MegaHeal.
Zhu Ning descended to Xu Meng's level. Her legs felt like they were sinking into something. The crushing pressure intensified.
Zhu Ning asked: "Is everyone breathing okay?"
Dr. Fu had been waiting for exactly that question. "I'm suffocating."
He'd been holding back out of embarrassment, but the moment Zhu Ning asked, it burst out: "My suit's auto-oxygen is already on."
Zhu Ning's was the same—oxygen supply had activated automatically. But it wasn't just oxygen deprivation. With this much compression, they might get crushed to death.
Zhu Ning: "Keep going down."
They were almost at ground level. This was the only path now—otherwise everything was wasted.
Xu Meng: "A bit further down. If we can't pass, we break through the third-floor window and take the stairs."
They still had a fallback.
Zhu Ning gave Xu Meng a hand signal: agreed. She was too short of breath to speak.
Xu Meng and Zhu Ning pushed deeper. They reached the second floor. The window was curtained—Zhu Ning remembered the second floor was the conference room level, with some additional rooms.
Zhu Ning signaled Dr. Fu to keep up.
Theoretically only one floor from the ground now. Zhu Ning felt increasingly awful—her legs seemed crushed to the point of deformation. Even her thoughts were slowing.
No. If this continued, all three would be pressed into paste.
Ahead, Xu Meng said: "Should I use my weapon?"
Zhu Ning nodded. She'd been planning to suggest it. She could feel her ankles being gripped by viscous liquid—even retreating now would require cutting through whatever was below.
Xu Meng drew a blade. Zhu Ning had seen it before—a weapon forged from some contaminant material, extraordinarily sharp.
Xu Meng swung hard downward. It looked like she was slashing at empty air—but after a crisp tearing sound, Zhu Ning's breathing suddenly eased. The compression lessened.
What had Xu Meng just cut? And what was this place?
After she cut, Zhu Ning felt the wall surface ripple—like a living thing suddenly breathing.
Zhu Ning immediately went rigid. Dr. Fu clung to the wall, not daring to let go—terrified of being thrown off.
The hotel building shook like an earthquake. The compression became undulation. Every hair on Zhu Ning's back stood up as intense revulsion washed over her.
Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated—instinct screaming the truth at her.
Moments later, the undulation ceased. The building settled back to stillness.
"Zhu Ning," she suddenly heard Xu Meng call her name. Xu Meng's voice trembled slightly—rare for her. Sounding deeply uncertain: "There's... something near you."
Something?
Zhu Ning slowly turned her neck, looking to her right. First she saw a brownish mass. Before today she might not have recognized it—but after Dr. Fu's lesson, she identified it instantly. Far too memorable.
An Ootheca!
To Zhu Ning's right, a pod-shaped Ootheca—unclear whether it had drifted to her during the undulation, or had been there all along but unseen by all three of them.
The pod was embedded in the wall. A narrow slit ran along one side.
Through the slit peeked something white. A white head. Set with two translucent-white eyes. Its body was only the size of a human infant, lying still within the pod.
More than one inside. At least five or six faces crammed together, wrapped in the Ootheca—like things half-hatched.
Ootheca never appeared alone. Seeing one meant there were many.
Zhu Ning realized where they'd ended up. Were they inside a cockroach's belly?
Imagination alone painted the picture: hidden among the indiscernible gray-black lines, the building's exterior was draped with countless Ootheca—silently incubating.
[Spiritual value decreased by 2%.]
A mechanical voice sounded in Zhu Ning's mind. She hadn't heard the system alert in a long time.
Comments
Post a Comment