Chapter 61: Interrogation

"No problem," Fuming said. "Brain scan is completely normal."

Qi Yunxiang thought for two seconds. "Same here."

Fuming yawned. "We can't see anything out of the ordinary on our end. It might be a side effect of extremely high mental values. Having her checked at the medical department might yield results."

They were researchers, not doctors. At most, they could detect foreign objects, but the entire brain scan currently looked completely normal with nothing out of place.

The specifics would probably only become clear once Doctor Fu examined her.

Fang Ying was just asking casually, not really expecting an answer. "Alright, I understand. Department Head Xuan needs the results today. Thank you both for working overtime."

Fuming yawned again. "It's nothing, no trouble at all."

Qi Yunxiang and Fuming needed to continue monitoring; as researchers, they had to keep their eyes locked on the screens.

Technical roles in the Cleaning Center also consumed mental energy, and both of them were nearing their exhaustion thresholds.

Zhu Ning had slept for thirty hours straight, waking up twice to use the restroom and eating three meals in between.

Qi Yunxiang had dark circles under her eyes and felt a headache coming on, because their detection equipment was contaminated, and prolonged use slightly damaged one's mental value.

Fuming was in a similar state. He took a bottle of mental healing potion from his drawer and handed it to Qi Yunxiang. "Take some to replenish. Are they trying to torture us to death with this stakeout?"

Qi Yunxiang took the mental healing potion without drinking it.

Just now, she thought she saw a very small shadow in Zhu Ning's brain, but it vanished almost immediately. When she blinked and looked again, the screen had returned completely to normal.

Qi Yunxiang scrolled back to check, but found nothing.

The brain scans were transmitted in real-time; if there were any abnormalities, she definitely would have found evidence upon reviewing the footage, yet she came up empty-handed.

Neither Fang Ying nor Fuming in the room had seen it. Did she just hallucinate?

Out of caution, she kept quiet about the abnormality she thought she saw.

Qi Yunxiang looked thoughtful. "I've been wondering why Department Head Xuan thinks she has supernatural abilities."

Zhu Ning had never used any in front of people before. She had only been in contact with pollutants for a month, and had only been on two official missions, the most difficult of which was simply the most recent one.

Why would they suspect Zhu Ning?

Fuming yawned. "High mental value means a higher probability of becoming an Esper after infection. Maybe they're just being thorough. Who knows what they're thinking? You and I are just miserable grunts."

Qi Yunxiang drank the mental healing potion. "True. Her time is up soon; it's time to let her out."

Fuming urged, "Get her out of here immediately. I can't take it anymore. It's either her or me."

Qi Yunxiang: "..."

If Zhu Ning didn't finish her observation soon, she would undoubtedly become the most hated person among all employees on the 66th floor.

Zhu Ning was completely unaware that she was accumulating hatred points.

Having just woken up, she had to admit that the bedding in the observation room was exceptionally comfortable, ensuring high-quality sleep.

She was even tempted to ask if they sold their bedding, feeling utterly refreshed upon waking.

Her arm was completely pain-free thanks to the healing potion. As for the extent of the recovery, she would probably need to pay Doctor Fu a visit.

Zhu Ning got up, washed up, and served her metaphorical prison sentence with utmost compliance.

While brushing her teeth, she checked her status panel data.

This mission rewarded 5,000 purification points, and containing the pollution spores in the Mermaid Pavilion added another 1,000 purification points.

Her original purification points stood at 4,554, bringing her balance to 10,554 upon mission completion.

Using the replicator consumed 3,000 purification points, leaving her with 7,554.

From any perspective, she had made a fortune.

Zhu Ning poured all the points into her health points, bringing her total health points to 108.

She didn't actually know what health points truly represented. Could they be converted into human lifespan? If so, given this longevity index, would she live a long time?

Strangely, the remaining mutation direction and degree of mutation still showed no reaction.

She had thought that since she was nearly infected by the mermaid, she would at least show some signs of mutation.

How on earth did mutation work?

The newly acquired talents and items were very easy to understand. She had already used the replicator herself; it was remarkably literal, capable of replicating not only real-world objects but even other system items.

The only drawback was the exorbitant cost of use.

Liquid manipulation allowed her to control liquids, though its downside was also a massive consumption of health points.

The invisibility item was even easier to understand, continuously draining health points based on duration. However, Zhu Ning didn't know whether the invisibility applied only to her physical body or if it included the items she wore.

For example, if she held a gun and used this skill, would the gun vanish along with her?

Would wearing clothes expose her?

Logically speaking, she ought to find a place to test her new talents, but she was currently under surveillance.

Moreover, she discovered that as her health points increased, the cost of using system items and talents was also rising.

Though she supposedly had 108 health points, using her tools twice would wipe them all out.

This damn system was constantly spurring her on to progress; truly a piece of work.

Zhu Ning spat out the toothpaste foam and glanced at herself in the mirror. Being under surveillance rather than in a combat state made her look a bit lazy.

Her reflection in the mirror was an exact duplicate of her original self—a level of similarity achievable only through cloning.

There was a small mole near her left temple, and a faint scar behind her ear from a childhood injury.

The original owner's body had replicated every single detail of her physical form.

Upon entering the mechanical aquarium this time, she had discovered something rather bizarre.

If Prometheus was inside her mind, the system's presence would weaken. The system would no longer prompt her about dropping mental values, though Zhu Ning could still access the system panel.

If Prometheus experienced a brief short circuit, the system would come back online.

It almost seemed as if the system was... hiding.

Was the system terrified of being discovered by Prometheus? Were the two of them fundamentally incompatible?

Zhu Ning suddenly had a hypothesis: the system was inside her head.

The system had always been in her head, and she only needed mental communication to converse with it.

What she meant was, in a purely physical sense, the system resided deep within her brain; it might very well be a piece of hardware itself.

If it was a device, what was its operational principle? If Zhu Ning ultimately failed to complete the main quest of purifying the homeland, would the system blow up her brain?

Could the system be extracted?

This surely had something to do with the truth behind her death; the progress bar for her side quest to uncover that truth hadn't budged in a long time.

According to the quest description, failure to complete it would result in the system purging all her health points.

Death would be the only thing waiting for her.

Ding—

The sudden sound made Zhu Ning freeze.

"Today's lunch has been delivered. Miss Zhu, enjoy your meal," a nurse's voice chimed from outside the door.

It wasn't the system.

There was a meal slot on the door. Someone pressed a button, sliding today's lunch in from the opening.

Zhu Ning let out a sigh of relief. She had been a bit high-strung lately. She washed her face and finished cleaning up entirely before going to collect the meal.

Today's lunch consisted of sweet and sour spare ribs and stewed chicken with mushrooms.

In this era, ordinary people lived on nutrient supplements, and very few could afford actual cooked meals; most subsisted on basic grains.

Hence why Zhu Ning had gorged herself so fiercely at the buffet last time, even though those meals mainly consisted of things like steaks.

Eating home-style dishes like this was an even rarer luxury.

It wasn't that she was thick-skinned; coming from a zombie world, simply staying alive was a blessing.

Having someone else provide food and drink meant her quality of living was three tiers higher than the Hive, and she was almost tempted to move into the observation room permanently.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

Right after finishing her meal, Zhu Ning was informed that her observation period had ended and she had to leave immediately.

She left with visible reluctance, while the doctor escorting her looked utterly dejected, as did the rest of the staff.

They forced polite smiles upon seeing Zhu Ning. Despite being utterly exhausted, they maintained their professional grins—which, to be honest, looked rather terrifying.

It had the eerie vibe of celebrating her discharge from a psychiatric ward.

Zhu Ning asked softly, "Does your department experience such severe overtime?"

The assistant doctor replied on the surface, "It's alright, all for the center."

Inside, however, she was screaming: *Just leave already, my little ancestor! You are the very source of our overtime nightmares!*

Watching Zhu Ning eat and sleep as if she were on vacation was agonizing; if they had put a gaming console in there for her, she might have chosen to live there forever.

The head of the observation room felt the exact same sentiment growing, and the moment her data checked out, he couldn't wait to kick her out.

"Hurry up and let her go, clear the room for someone else."

Zhu Ning let out an "hmph," thinking to herself how deeply they loved their jobs—truly models for their generation.

Walking to the elevator lobby, Zhu Ning was handed over to another staff member. She even told the assistant doctor, "See you next time."

She waved enthusiastically, forcing the assistant doctor to maintain a fake smile and awkwardly wave back.

Inwardly, the doctor hovered back and forth between cursing and resigning. *Whoever wants this damn job can keep it!*

...

Zhu Ning was scheduled for interrogation.

The person assigned to receive her belonged to the security department, a burly, giant of a man who stood behind her holding a firearm.

The interrogation room was located on the 120th floor, a height Zhu Ning had never reached before.

Rumor had it that the Cleaning Center had 360 floors, but the elevator buttons only went up to the 100th floor; other floors required a swipe card for access.

As far as Zhu Ning knew, the only people cleared to go above the 100th floor were Xuan Qing and Fang Ying, though Lu Qiqin probably had access too.

Located on the 120th floor, this particular interrogation room featured a stark, futuristic white aesthetic, exuding a high-tech vibe that reminded her of Song Zhizhang's office decor.

The man interrogating her wore a tailored suit and sported a carefully calibrated, perfectly polite smile.

It made him look less like an interrogator and more like a therapist.

"Hello, I am Yue Kaiyuan."

Zhu Ning nodded slightly. "Zhu Ning."

Yue Kaiyuan was the kind of person who easily won people over, highly approachable and gentle. "First of all, congratulations on completing the B-class aquarium mission. You are one of our outstanding employees."

Zhu Ning raised an eyebrow.

Yue Kaiyuan continued, "It's just that this mission involved a rather incomprehensible entity, and we are forced to be extra cautious. Can you understand that?"

Zhu Ning nodded. "I understand."

Invisible people had appeared in this world. Were they all confined to the aquarium, or existed in other regions as well?

If she were in a high-ranking position, she would be exceptionally cautious too.

Yue Kaiyuan nodded. "Very well, thank you for your cooperation."

Yue Kaiyuan added, "Miss Zhu, your performance was truly extraordinarily superior. Your combat footage has been circulating in the internal forums."

Unable to sleep tonight, countless people were repeatedly studying that bizarre battle.

The professional competence Zhu Ning displayed was pure substance: marksmanship, delegation skills, the ability to rapidly unite a team, and strong leadership qualities.

Crucially, she wasn't just a regular cleaner—she was only nineteen years old.