Chapter 44: The Bizarre Aquarium (Part I)

Xu Meng had previously mentioned to Zhu Ning that she had been saving money. Because the effects of her prior genetic drug injections had been poor, she was preparing to take the path of consciousness uploading.

This path required a huge amount of server support fees every year. Zhu Ning had checked, and it cost at least ten million New Dollars annually.

Once the payments stopped and the servers ceased operation, the consciousness entity would be locked down or eradicated.

Therefore, how many years you could live after uploading to the cloud depended entirely on whether someone kept paying to renew your subscription.

The only certain thing was that Xu Meng needed money. Did Xu Meng come to attend the foundation's lecture to gain the foundation's support?

Zhu Ning had never thought in that direction; Xu Meng was entirely the target user of Immortal Pharmaceuticals.

Xu Meng and Li Nianchuan were the first team Zhu Ning met when she came to this world. They had trained and been evaluated together for several days, and just the day before yesterday, they had gone out for grilled meat as a team-building activity.

They both seemed completely fine. With her eyes closed, Zhu Ning could still picture Xu Meng guiding her through training, patient as an elder sister.

Generally speaking, Zhu Ning was reluctant to think of people in such a malicious light. She still remembered the first time Xu Meng took her out on a mission; she had been extremely dedicated in teaching Zhu Ning how to contain contaminated spores.

Wait.

Back in the underground drainage system, Li Nianchuan had mentioned needing to get some fresh air, which should have been a natural reaction affected by mental contamination.

At that time, however, Xu Meng had given her a look, signaling Zhu Ning to keep an eye on Li Nianchuan.

It was precisely because of that look that Zhu Ning followed Li Nianchuan deep into the underground drains and consequently strayed into the D-grade contamination zone.

Had it not been for Xu Meng, Zhu Ning would never have encountered the merman.

Afterwards, Xu Meng claimed she had desperately wanted to follow them over, but got trapped outside the contamination zone.

Yet from beginning to end, Zhu Ning had never truly witnessed where Xu Meng was on that day.

Thinking about it carefully, Zhu Ning could recall all sorts of unnatural details about Xu Meng.

She had proactively revealed her intention to upload her consciousness to the cloud, and she had also very kindly shared genetic drug information with Zhu Ning.

Even though Xu Meng was a cleaner, she had passed the training evaluation much faster than Zhu Ning. Although Zhu Ning had been held back by a bug in the combat class, Xu Meng's clearance speed had been lightning-fast. Zhu Ning had later looked at her various scores.

Marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat were all graded as excellent. Her personal qualities actually far surpassed those of ordinary cleaners; she was very much like a demon hunter, though it was unclear why she ended up in a cleaner squad.

There was one more thing: Xu Meng lacked a distinct personality.

When Zhu Ning looked back, Xu Meng was simply a dutiful team leader—emotionally stable and patient with everything. But beyond that, Zhu Ning barely knew her at all and remained completely clueless about her traits.

The surrounding crowd began to shift. Xu Meng followed the throng toward the side exit, and without a second thought, Zhu Ning immediately matched her pace.

Plenty of spectators were already seated along the corridor, and once the crowd started moving, Zhu Ning struggled to push forward like a fish swimming upstream. Deciding against it, she simply vaulted over a row of seat backs.

"What are you doing?" someone cursed loudly. "Can't you watch where you're walking?"

Zhu Ning quickly wove through the crowd. "Excuse me, pardon me."

Wearing a wide-brimmed sun hat pulled low over her face, Xu Meng only revealed her profile to Zhu Ning.

She seemed to turn her head slightly to glance in this direction.

Ten meters.

There were only ten meters between the two of them.

Suddenly, a woman carrying a toddler appeared right in front of Zhu Ning. By the time Zhu Ning lifted her gaze again, Xu Meng had vanished.

Zhu Ning emerged from the crowd and finally reached the side exit where Xu Meng had departed. The area outside was bustling with people, and Xu Meng had melted into the sea of humanity. The woman who had bumped into her a moment ago was also gone.

She was certain she hadn't misseen—that was definitely Xu Meng. She should still be nearby and hadn't gone far.

Zhu Ning activated her employee wristband; the emergency contact function allowed it to trigger a piercing alarm.

She had just opened Xu Meng's message window and remained on that page, ready to press down and sound the alarm.

The next second, boom!

A massive explosion echoed from the distance.

The sound was deafening, resembling an earthquake, as if some colossal behemoth had come crashing down, immediately followed by shrieks from nearby.

Zhu Ning froze.

"What's happening? What's going on?" someone asked. "Did something happen?"

"Was that an earthquake or an explosion?"

"Why is there no network?"

"Can you make a call on your end?"

Someone shouted, "Call the Security Bureau!"

Accompanied by those words, darkness rippled outward in waves. The lights along the entire street extinguished one by one, and the thoroughfare was suddenly plunged into pitch blackness.

People nearby ran about in a panic. In an unfamiliar environment, human beings instinctively panicked.

Some searched for friends and family, some dialed phone numbers, while others browsed the internet via their auxiliary brains to figure out the situation.

With Immortal Pharmaceuticals holding their foundation event right here, followed immediately by an anomaly, it was hard not to let one's imagination run wild.

Zhu Ning glanced at her chat window, where Xu Meng's profile picture was still blinking. Gritting her teeth, she shut off the wristband—something had gone wrong nearby.

Having injected the genetic drug, Zhu Ning possessed heightened senses and could instantly pinpoint where the trouble lay.

She sprinted rapidly toward the southeast. Sure enough, the closer she got to that location, the more chaotic it became, just two streets away.

The accident site was a large venue, and for a moment she couldn't even recognize where she was.

A stadium-sized venue had a section collapsed, and people were screaming as they fled outward. Several individuals in the crowd were injured, their faces covered in blood.

Zhu Ning stopped one of them and asked, "What's going on ahead?"

Too busy running for his life, the person yelled, "Get out of here! There's a monster up ahead!"

A monster? Before Zhu Ning could process it, the person had already sprinted past her.

More panicked crowds rushed by her; not a single person could explain what was happening.

Beep, beep, beep—

Zhu Ning's employee wristband suddenly lit up. She received a message from Fang Ying.

[Emergency B-grade mission. All members of Cleaning Squad A70265, please assemble at the Mechanical Oceanarium in 20 minutes.]

An emergency B-grade mission? This was Zhu Ning's first time receiving a B-grade mission.

It was also her first official mission assigned by the Cleaning Center since the merman incident.

However... the Mechanical Oceanarium?

With a resounding crash, a massive signboard suddenly collapsed, tumbling down like a boulder rolling off a mountain.

The sign read: Mechanical Oceanarium.

Such a coincidence?

The venue for the Immortal Pharmaceuticals Foundation event was just two streets away, and there was a B-grade contamination zone right beside it? And Xu Meng had also appeared here?

An accident happened at the oceanarium at the exact same moment she attended the foundation event?

A wailing siren began to wail.

Public Security Bureau officers were the first to arrive at the scene to help evacuate the crowd. Five minutes later, black flying vehicles continually descended, and Zhu Ning could clearly see the words "Cleaning Center" printed on their hulls.

Warning tape was strung up, and the gates of the oceanarium were sealed off by Cleaning Center personnel, who were assisting in evacuating the crowd and comforting victims.

This was a profoundly unfamiliar experience for Zhu Ning. Her first official mission had taken place in the remote underground drains, whereas this one was right in the bustling downtown area.

Did ordinary people actually know about the existence of pollutants? Zhu Ning had specifically asked Fang Ying before.

Fang Ying's answer had been: both yes and no.

It was an ambiguous reply. Ever since the radiation, large-scale mutations had occurred in plants, animals, and even humans.

Some people referred to those undergoing mutations as mutants, whom the authorities officially called ability users.

The authorities never advertised the existence of the Cleaning Center to civilians. But living in the wasteland era, mutations could happen anytime and anywhere—and that was no exaggeration, it could happen literally at any moment.

It could be a human, an animal, or even a brick.

For instance, if you woke up one day and found that your household faucet had suddenly mutated, such a thing was entirely possible, and civilians had grown quite accustomed to accepting any anomalous phenomenon.

A Cleaning Center vehicle pulled to a halt, and seeing demon hunters stepping out, Zhu Ning made to move forward.

"What are you doing?" an officer blocked her path. "This area is sealed off; unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter."

Zhu Ning displayed her employee wristband and pulled up her pass. "I am a cleaner from the Cleaning Center."

The person glanced at her work badge and lifted the warning tape to let her pass.

"Thank you for your hard work."

Zhu Ning was momentarily stunned. If the person hadn't said those words, she wouldn't have felt much, but hearing them changed things.

For the first time, Zhu Ning felt that her profession held special significance. Whether demon hunters or cleaners, stepping into a contamination zone carried inherent danger, and Cleaning Center personnel commanded the respect of the Security Bureau.

She spotted an acquaintance: Fang Ying was directing operations on-site. Still dressed like an office clerk, she looked completely out of place amidst the chaos.

Fang Ying paused when she saw Zhu Ning. They hadn't seen each other since Zhu Ning was assigned to employee training, and seeing Fang Ying now evoked quite complex feelings in Zhu Ning.

Zhu Ning took an extra look at Fang Ying's earlobes; she was wearing marine-blue stud earrings today.

"You got here fast," Fang Ying remarked.

Only five minutes had passed since the message was sent, yet Zhu Ning was already on the scene.

Maintaining a deadpan expression, Zhu Ning replied, "I happened to be eating nearby."

Fang Ying instructed, "Get in the vehicle and change into your uniform. It's a B-grade mission; I'll brief you on the details shortly."

A black vehicle was parked right beside Fang Ying. Zhu Ning hopped inside and found that, true to form, emergency missions came equipped with ample resources.

Inside the cabin were cleaner uniforms, cleaning backpacks, and a rack of standard-issue weapons.

Zhu Ning was already accustomed to the routine. She skillfully changed into a complete set of cleaner work attire; her speed had improved drastically, and she could finish in ten minutes flat.

Once dressed, Zhu Ning stepped out and ran right into Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng.

Xu Meng was dressed differently than when Zhu Ning had last seen her. Gone were the sun hat and sunglasses; she wore a simple white shirt and black trousers—her usual attire.

The two of them seemed to have arrived together.

Xu Meng moved that fast? Was she hanging around nearby earlier just to deliberately stall so as not to arouse suspicion?

Seeing Zhu Ning, Li Nianchuan greeted her, "You're super fast."

"I happened to be nearby," Zhu Ning asked. "Did you two come together?"

Li Nianchuan replied, "We ran into each other when getting off the maglev train."

Assuming Zhu Ning was just making casual conversation, Li Nianchuan didn't elaborate further. They had received an emergency mission and had no time for idle chatter. Once they finished talking, Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng climbed into the vehicle to change. From start to finish, Xu Meng's demeanor remained utterly natural.

Had Zhu Ning not been certain she had spotted her at the foundation event, she would have thought she was dreaming.

Xu Meng and Li Nianchuan had been colleagues for a long time, so she likely could guess Li Nianchuan's routine travel habits. Since flying cars were slower than maglev trains, the quickest way from Li Nianchuan's home to the Mechanical Museum was by taking the maglev.

Xu Meng must have found a place to change clothes, then walked over to the maglev exit to orchestrate a "chance encounter" with Li Nianchuan, effectively making him her alibi.