Chapter 54: The Strange Aquarium (11)

The Cleaning Center.

Aside from the three technicians and Xuan Qing, hardly anyone was watching anymore.

As someone walked past, they glanced in that direction. "Are they still not giving up?"

Even the Cleaning Center had given up, and the Demon Hunter had already surrendered its body to Prometheus's takeover, yet a mere cleaning team refused to quit.

A technician sighed, "They really do have incredible luck."

Luck was definitely the biggest factor in their survival so far. If they had encountered a surprise attack by the Invisible Men the way the Demon Hunter had, they would have met the exact same fate.

Yet it was precisely because Zhu Ning's team hadn't limited themselves to merely picking up trash, and had instead proposed inspecting the Curator's Office first, that they had reached their current situation.

They had discovered the existence of the Invisible Men before the entities could strike.

Following that, they devised some counter-strategies, even though these plans seemed utterly ridiculous to some.

"It's too childish," someone remarked. "I don't believe it."

As long as the four of them were moving, flaws were inevitable; once their formation was broken, it would be the end for all of them.

Xuan Qing remained silent, offering neither confirmation nor denial.

On the screen, Zhu Ning's team had already traversed five hundred meters of the corridor, killing two Invisible Men along the way.

They had passed four fire extinguishers and replenished their supplies; fire extinguishers had now become strategic weaponry.

This five-hundred-meter trek was excruciatingly slow. The corridor offered topographical advantages—it was narrow on both sides, leaving very few places for anyone to hide, meaning attention only needed to be paid to the corners.

Ever since they had suffered a setback once, the Invisible Men had grown exceedingly cautious when manifesting.

Invisible Men were not so easily caught.

The entire team's ammunition was concentrated on Zhu Ning and Chu Ling. They plowed forward all the way, with the sole objective of approaching the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall, and they were willing to pay any price to achieve it.

When they had arrived, they used the stairs, strictly following the paths designed into the architecture.

Upon leaving, however, they did not retrace their steps, instead choosing an unconventional route.

The four-person squad intended to approach the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall from above; this was the shortest and fastest path.

The staff offices of the aquarium were generally located on the upper levels. In fact, the structural layout of all aquariums was essentially the same.

To use a model as an analogy, it was like having several large fish tanks placed on the ground, filled to the brim with marine life.

Tourists usually walked between the tanks to observe the exhibits, while the aquarium staff worked above the tanks, performing tedious behind-the-scenes tasks such as feeding the marine life, maintaining the life-support systems, and cleaning the aquarium glass.

Consequently, the top of each exhibition hall remained unsealed, leaving openings for staff entry and exit. It seemed that no matter how advanced technology became in the wasteland world, the fundamental logic of an aquarium stayed the same.

The corridor grew increasingly desolate as they walked, and they were about to reach the staff workrooms.

Five hundred meters ahead stood a door with a sign reading: Mechanical Jellyfish Hall Backstage.

This was where they prepared the feed.

Zhu Ning warned, "Be careful."

The closer they got to the jellyfish hall's backstage area, the more Zhu Ning could feel the weight of gazes upon them. The Invisible Men were growing denser, and she had the sensation of being watched.

She must be approaching their restricted territory.

Three hundred meters.

With three hundred meters remaining until the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall backstage, the unexpected happened.

Li Nianchuan's fire extinguisher ran out of agent. He needed to swap for a new piece of equipment. In the wasteland world, fire extinguishers possessed extraordinary endurance; having walked five hundred meters while continuously spraying, the fact that it was only now depleting was already immensely impressive.

Li Nianchuan moved swiftly, immediately dropping the exhausted extinguisher and reaching behind his back for a fresh one.

Throughout this process, Zhu Ning kept her weapon raised and aimed forward.

At the exact moment Li Nianchuan's fingers hooked onto the spare extinguisher, Zhu Ning suddenly heard a ding.

Ding—

[Primary Danger Anticipation talent triggered. A 30-second advance danger warning has been sent. Please ensure your safety.]

Danger Anticipation?

The system was finally working?

Following the system's prompt, Zhu Ning felt a tremendous force strike her right hand.

Something had grabbed her arm!

A terrifying, immense force surged through her arm. Had Zhu Ning not been injected with genetic serum, her arm would have been crushed into powder right then and there.

She heard a distinct sound of bone cracking. The Invisible Men had figured out the team's operational method and decided to eliminate their strongest gunner first.

Zhu Ning had become their new target.

She could sense Li Nianchuan's eyes widening in horror beside her as he let out a shout, "Watch out!"

She could also sense the Invisible Man, who was inches away.

He was right beside her, emitting the faintest sound of breathing.

It was so soft that it was practically imperceptible.

In the death preview, Zhu Ning saw the Invisible Man grab her arm, and then drive his other hand directly into her chest, piercing her heart.

She would die on the spot in a mere twenty seconds.

Zhu Ning's shooting stance was left hand supporting the weapon, right hand on the trigger.

The Invisible Man was gripping her right forearm.

As the searing pain sharply registered in her brain, she had already reacted. She instantly released her left hand and snatched a pistol from her thigh holster.

Then, without even looking, she fired blindly toward her right side.

The movement was too abrupt; Zhu Ning didn't even raise her head to look, let alone aim.

The moment the bullet spun out of the barrel, *bang*, blood exploded everywhere.

Jellylike tissue mixed with blood burst forth, scattering in a fine spray over the other members of the team.

Li Nianchuan stared in dumbfounded shock. Zhu Ning's right forearm was fractured, hanging limply at her side.

She had already been injected with genetic serum, yet under the protection of her work uniform, she had still been injured to this degree.

Li Nianchuan's heart raced. He immediately activated his fire extinguisher, covering the gap with a billowing cloud of dry powder.

There was more than one assailant.

Another one stood right in front of Zhu Ning. The Invisible Man's blood had formed a pool on the ground, meaning that if anyone tried to step across it, they would leave a trace.

A bloody footprint suddenly appeared on the floor.

Enduring the pain in her right arm, Zhu Ning fired with her left hand. The bullet struck just beneath the bloody footprint, though it likely missed.

Sensing danger, the bloody footprint immediately sprinted in the opposite direction.

Zhu Ning's danger anticipation had bought her thirty seconds of reaction time; otherwise, her heart would have undoubtedly been ripped straight out of her chest.

Now her right arm was useless. Since she was right-handed, her accuracy when firing with her left hand was drastically lower.

Zhu Ning screamed, "Chu Ling! Watch out!"

This was a coordinated gang attack on the enemy's part. They seemed to have figured out a plan to deal with this squad; since Zhu Ning was in danger, Chu Ling was next.

Just as she predicted, trouble arose on Chu Ling's front.

Their current location wasn't as narrow as a corridor, but rather an open space, which meant enemies could emerge from anywhere at any time.

Chu Ling felt someone violently rush toward her from the right. Xu Meng had been continuously spraying her fire extinguisher, and the assailant had charged through the smoke to launch a surprise attack. By the time the Invisible Man became visible, it was already within two meters of her.

Forewarned by Zhu Ning, Chu Ling reacted even faster. Furthermore, she possessed mechanical arms, which were infinitely sturdier than human flesh and bone.

Not even immense strength could snap them in an instant.

Instead, Chu Ling raised her right leg and fiercely kicked out in a specific direction.

This was combat martial arts.

The opponent wasn't very skilled—Chu Ling realized this in an instant. These creatures had been raised like captive marine life in the aquarium; they might possess freakish strength, but they lacked combat techniques.

The benefit of being eighty percent mechanized meant she was virtually no different from a combat-type android; she could adjust her own internal parameters to adapt to opponents of varying tiers.

Zhu Ning and Chu Ling had taken combat classes together, and she vividly remembered the moment Chu Ling had body-slammed her and sent her flying.

It was terrifying.

Chu Ling immediately dialed her parameters up to maximum, establishing a full-body defense system. The opponent only managed to scrape away the outermost layer of skin on her mechanized body.

*Bang!*

Chu Ling counter-grabbed the assailant's arm and opened fire without hesitation.

Blood burst outward; no matter how formidable these Invisible Man creatures looked, once shattered, they were nothing more than jelly people.

Chu Ling was covered in blood from the waist up.

Standing nearby, Xu Meng was responsible for spraying the fire extinguisher. Both she and Li Nianchuan were mere cleaners, and this was their first time seeing Chu Ling fight at close quarters.

A Demon Hunter's caliber was truly different; it was worlds apart from training classes.

From start to finish, their formation had never broken.

Chu Ling reported, "My side is clear."

Enduring the pain in her right hand, Zhu Ning forced herself to adapt to holding the gun with her left, her voice preternaturally calm. "Clear."

Chu Ling asked, "Are we still moving?"

Zhu Ning gritted her teeth. "Keep moving. The fact that they're this nervous proves we're on the right track."

The behavioral patterns of the Invisible Men were growing increasingly complex. The more dangerous it got, the more it proved their journey hadn't been in vain.

They were less than a hundred meters away from the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall backstage.

So far, Zhu Ning's hypotheses regarding the Invisible Men had all proven correct; their numbers would not exceed a hundred.

Five of them had come out to attack, and one had fled, its right foot stepping in blood and leaving a long trail of bloody footprints. Zhu Ning couldn't be bothered to chase it down.

"Continue," Zhu Ning said.

...

In the main hall of the Cleaning Center, many people had gathered around.

They hadn't come to watch on purpose; rather, halfway through their work or while walking past the screens to get a glass of water, they had suddenly stopped in their tracks.

Only, too many people had stopped, gradually forming a dense crowd.

Ever since the Class-A system was activated, they had all believed there was no hope left inside.

Yet this squad—composed entirely of cleaners except for Chu Ling, who was a Demon Hunter—was actually closing in on the target step by step.

Watching a few rookies battle Invisible Men endowed with freakish strength somehow induced a misplaced sense of adrenaline-pumping excitement.

The cliché trope of the abandoned refusing to give up never truly grew old.

"Damn, I've got goosebumps all over," muttered a technician who had been glued to the screen the entire time. There had been two major plot twists in the middle, and just when they were certain the team was about to wipe out, they somehow managed to pull through.

"How did she pull off that shot earlier?"

Someone was replaying the footage of Zhu Ning's action over and over. No matter how many times they watched it, it seemed utterly bizarre.

How to describe Zhu Ning's reaction? It was as if she had anticipated in advance that the Invisible Man would grab her arm. Did she possess the ability of danger anticipation?

"Sixth sense, probably. A lot of seasoned Demon Hunters have it."

Sixth sense—a special capability acquired by those who had weathered countless battles in the field, though veterans struggled to explain it to juniors.

It could neither be taught nor explained; in a sense, it was pure metaphysics.

Yet metaphysics could save lives at critical moments.

"What are they planning to do?" someone quickly interrupted their musings. "I don't get this strategy at all. Weren't they supposed to go provide reinforcement?"

If they were providing reinforcements, they should have headed straight into the Mechanical Jellyfish Hall, where the Gray Eagle team was practically being beaten to a pulp.

Caught in a pincer attack between the mechanical jellyfish and the Invisible Men, and now manipulated by Prometheus, the four of them operated almost as if they shared a single brain, exhibiting a degree of coordination that surpassed ordinary human capability.