Chapter 206-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World
Click—
The stethoscope clattered to the floor. Dr. Fu froze in place, torn between going mad and fleeing immediately.
Zhu Ning could guess the gist from his reaction. Dr. Fu was fascinated by Contaminants and had even wanted to open her skull to study her before.
He was just a slightly overzealous doctor whose fear of cockroaches was probably due to his mysophobia, but he wasn't too afraid of the Xenomorph inside Zhu Ning.
But now, his reaction was pure terror. His sanity had dropped to a critical threshold, and he might go insane at any moment.
Zhu Ning said nothing. She picked up the stethoscope—it was easy enough to use, even for a non-doctor.
It was different from the stethoscopes of her era. One end connected to an interface on her Protective Suit, while the other was placed against her abdomen.
Thus, any movements inside her belly could be transmitted.
Back in Zhu Ning's time, many children had played the paper cup telephone game, linking two paper cups with a cotton string to make a simple sound transmitter.
Two kids could hide and hear each other's voices from another corner.
It was an innocent game—provided the voice on the other end was human, not a ghost.
Now, Zhu Ning was playing that game with a ghost. Inexperienced, she moved the stethoscope around her abdomen for a long time before finding the source of the sound.
Thump—
It was crystal clear.
The stethoscope transmitted a heartbeat. Beneath a thin layer of skin and the Protective Suit, something was inside her.
“Could it be a heartbeat?” Zhu Ning asked.
She remained calm, needing Dr. Fu's confirmation that this wasn't a hallucination.
Dr. Fu froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously.
Zhu Ning set down the stethoscope. In all the Contaminated areas she'd visited, this was the first time the contamination had started from inside her body.
But when? How had it bypassed the Protective Suit?
Was the suit useless against it? What were the transmission rules? Why was she the only one affected?
The only thing Zhu Ning had done differently was being the first to enter the conference room, sitting in the wrong seat, where a pair of Demon Hands had wrapped around her waist.
No one could answer the questions forming in her mind.
She looked down at her flat, un-swollen belly. Yet something living was inside.
Was it those Demon Hands? The Cockroach-Human? Or something even more terrifying?
Zhu Ning closed her eyes and directed the Black Slime downward. The substance had long clung to the gaps in her bones. She tried to sense through it.
But the Black Slime merely coated her abdomen, showing no reaction and revealing nothing of the interior through its perspective.
Dr. Fu was trembling, staring at Zhu Ning on the bed as if she were a potential demon, terrified she might suddenly undergo Mutation.
Behind him, Xu Meng felt the same. She'd overheard their conversation and now stood frozen behind Dr. Fu.
The dynamic had shifted. What had been a tightly united group now harbored a subtle, eerie tension.
Zhu Ning sensed it and brought it up directly. “You're worried that I'll turn into a Contaminant?”
Zhu Ning was always blunt, never shying away from issues. Xu Meng gave a silent nod, while Dr. Fu nodded frantically.
Zhu Ning recalled the Mechanical Oceanarium, when she'd been at risk of infection and Xu Meng had stood up for her.
But this was far beyond a simple tear in the Protective Suit.
Again, it was Xu Meng who spoke: “We won't abandon you.”
With that decisive statement, Xu Meng made her position clear. Dr. Fu nodded. “Right. I... I need more precise instruments to examine you. It might just be a form of Psychic Contamination.”
Xu Meng sighed. “Don't be afraid.”
“Exactly, don't be afraid,” echoed Dr. Fu, realizing that Zhu Ning might be more frightened than he was.
“Once we finish the mission and get back, I'll have a way to cure you,” he said, his back soaked in cold sweat yet still trying to comfort her.
Zhu Ning was not comforted. “If I'm contaminated, I suggest you kill me sooner rather than later,” she said.
This was directed at Xu Meng. Xu Meng's hands clenched at her sides. Zhu Ning continued, “It has to be before I'm fully contaminated. Otherwise, I might become an S-Level Contaminant, and then it won't be easy to kill me.”
Through their helmets, none could see the others' expressions, but Xu Meng felt Zhu Ning's gaze pressing on her like a physical weight.
Dr. Fu finally realized what Zhu Ning was doing: she was arranging her own death.
Zhu Ning had the highest sanity in District 103. If she were contaminated, the consequences would be catastrophic. So she was choosing her executioner: Xu Meng.
An experienced Demon Hunter who could analyze the situation and make the optimal choice.
In other words, Zhu Ning had prepared herself to die. All five of them had entered the hotel seeking the secret of Divine Descent, and they'd all known the risks.
“Can you do it?” Zhu Ning asked. “Captain?”
Xu Meng froze. She'd called her “Captain.”
Every word Zhu Ning spoke was crisp and eerily calm. Xu Meng clenched her fists, then finally forced a word through gritted teeth: “Alright.”
She'd agreed. If anything happened to Zhu Ning, Xu Meng would become her executioner.
Zhu Ning asked, “Did you find any clues?”
Xu Meng took a deep breath, taking a moment to digest what had just happened. “This is an observation booth. The only thing inside was a visitor log, but none of the names mean anything to me.”
It was like scouting a security kiosk; the visitor info was useless.
“The only thing of value is this,” Xu Meng said.
She picked up a piece of paper from the desk. It had probably been a boredom doodle, a grid for playing Gomoku.
Now it bore a tangle of lines Zhu Ning couldn't decipher.
Xu Meng said, “It's an internal Demon Hunter code. It means 'danger ahead, leave now.'”
Demon Hunters were nothing like Cleaners; they were trained more professionally, with universal symbols and hand signals.
As a Cleaner, Zhu Ning couldn't read it, but Xu Meng could.
Xu Meng continued, “The second line is a second warning: 'return immediately.'”
The symbols were hidden within the Gomoku grid, looking like mere doodles to an outsider.
“Anything else?” Zhu Ning asked.
Xu Meng shook her head. “Just those two—both warnings.”
“Were they left by Chu Ling and the others?”
“I don't know. Could have been any Demon Hunter. There's no way to tell when they were made.”
Xu Meng's reply was interesting—any Demon Hunter could have left them. She must have already reviewed the data on Cheng Mofei's wristband. It was possible these signals were left by Cheng Mofei back then.
Everyone who wanted to go underground had to pass through here first. Someone was warning those who came after.
Zhu Ning's abdominal pain intensified. Whatever was inside her, time was running out.
Zhu Ning said, “Let's keep moving.”
With no further clues in the observation booth, they chose to press on.
Once again, Xu Meng took the lead, while Zhu Ning silently brought up the rear. Her mobility was severely compromised, as if something inside her was eating away at her vitality.
After about a kilometer, they came upon another observation booth.
Another kilometer, a third booth appeared. If the interiors hadn't differed, they might have thought they were going in circles.
No more information surfaced. The whole path was quiet—a Dead Silence-like stillness.
After passing twelve booths, they suddenly spotted a massive building. It was so abrupt they could scarcely believe their eyes.
It was like drifting at sea and spotting a ghost ship in the fog. Their first reaction wasn't joy but fear, for surely no human awaited ahead.
Before them loomed a structure emitting a faint green glow.
They peered, unsure if it was real or a mirage. Iron fences surrounded the building.
The tension in Zhu Ning's gut stretched taut. It was a hospital, or perhaps a sanatorium of some kind.
Below the hotel, a deep pit had opened, and inside that pit was a hospital. Nothing could be more bizarre.
The Defectives had been selected as test subjects. Where had they gone? Suddenly, there was an answer.
The hospital lights were on, but no one was inside. The eerie green glow seemed to lure the unwary forward.
Remembering Zhu Ning's condition, Xu Meng offered to scout ahead. Zhu Ning watched Xu Meng dissolve into a black shadow and vanish in an instant.
Zhu Ning closed her eyes and used God's Eye View. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out an outline.
Beside her, Dr. Fu injected himself with another dose of Sanity Healing Agent. As a doctor, a hospital should have been the most familiar place in his life, but now it filled him with dread.
After a while, Xu Meng returned. “I did a quick sweep. No immediate danger, and no one's there.”
Zhu Ning opened her eyes. She hadn't seen anyone either.
Empty?
This huge building, and nothing? Were the only Contaminants in this area the cockroaches?
They cautiously pushed open the doors to the underground hospital. It looked less like a hospital and more like the eighteenth level of Hell.
Compared to a modern Federation general hospital, this one wasn't big, but its subterranean location made it seem vast.
They entered the building. The floor was damp, and by now they were wary of moisture—this place obviously suited cockroach breeding.
There was a bloodstain on the wall, from who knew when.
Each room door had a small window, showing inside just ordinary wards.
The doors, however, bore some information. On one door it read:
Subject: #087
Stage: One
Status: Docile
Docile? Why that word? It was how you described a pet.
Xu Meng searched for clues while Dr. Fu hunted for equipment; he'd grown bolder after Xu Meng confirmed the place was empty.
He found an examination room with some old equipment. Wiping off the grime, he tried to turn it on.
If he could get it working, he could run a proper test on Zhu Ning and find out what was inside her.
Dr. Fu pressed a button, heard a crackling sound, and—the machine actually powered on!
Dr. Fu was ecstatic. This could be the greatest discovery of his career.
Meanwhile, Xu Meng entered the nurse's station, rifling through staff records. A place like this would have work logs documenting what had happened.
She worked frantically because Zhu Ning's infection meant they were running out of time; they had to wrap this up quickly and get out.
The nurse's station was a mess as Xu Meng rummaged; many of the papers had been waterlogged.
A hint of mania glinted in Xu Meng's eyes. Tormented for so long, she desperately wanted the answer.
Meanwhile, Zhu Ning walked the corridor, which had handrails for patients with limited mobility.
Her stomach pain was nearing her limit of endurance; she shuffled along, clutching the handrail.
She peered into one ward after another. Suddenly, she halted—this door was open.
Amid a sea of closed doors, only this one stood open, like a trap gaping wide.
And Zhu Ning walked toward it. The information posted on the door was completely different from the others.
Awaiting Occupancy: Liu Liu.
Liu Liu?
Zhu Ning blinked uncomprehendingly. The name sounded familiar. Her thoughts were sluggish, but then she remembered—it was from the data she'd retrieved in the conference room.
The only empty seat in that room had held a Defective's dossier in the corner. Her name was Liu Liu, only fifteen. It was in her room that Zhu Ning had encountered the Cockroach-Human.
Could she be the Source of Contamination?
Zhu Ning stepped inside. She was in too much pain to think; she just wanted a place to sit.
She sat on the yellowed bed, her face pale, and looked down at her belly and the palm of her hand.
Zhu Ning thought, Oh, so my role was a test subject.
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