ICUGW Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Choice

The observation room might have made other people feel nervous and afraid that they may be spied on, but for Zhu Ning, the room feels more like a sanatorium.

She slept all day and only woke up the next day at four in the afternoon. She didn't expect that even though she got up so late, the buffet area was still open. The cafeteria was empty and there was no one there, so no one would compete with Zhu Ning for food.

Zhu Ning walked around twice tasting everything, as if it was her first time tasting food again after eight hundred years. She came out with the tray and was still looking for a seat when she saw Fang Ying.

The other person was holding a dozen documents. When she noticed Zhu Ning, she smiled and greeted, "Hello, Zhu Ning."

Zhu Ning fell silent. For some reason, she felt like she had been caught by the head teacher.

"You eat first. We can talk after you're done." Fang Ying asked Zhu Ning to sit down first.

Zhu Ning sat down with her plate in hand. Fang Ying sat opposite her and looked at her with a smile on her face. Zhu Ning took a bite and felt very uncomfortable being looked at by Fang Ying. "Well, if you have something to say, why don't you just say it?"

Could you please stop looking at her like she's a terminally ill patient? It was a bit scary...

Fang Ying opened the folder and took out several documents. "Your data collection report is out."

Zhu Ning was eating and hummed vaguely.

Fang Ying: "Do you want to see it yourself?"

Zhu Ning's strange feeling grew stronger. Was she near death in Fang Ying's eyes? Why does it sound like those doctors saying, "I have bad news for you..."She seemed to have an incurable disease, and Fang Ying had come to announce her death date.

Zhu Ning: "Go ahead."

Fang Ying coughed lightly and said, "Your mental value is very impressive, above 1200, which is S-level."

Zhu Ning hummed again, not quite understanding, and asked, "What's Li Nianchuan's?"

She needs a reference point.

Fang Ying: "Originally it was 306, but after entering the contaminated area yesterday, his mental level increased and is now around 400."

'So the mental value can be increased?'

Fang Ying explained: "The more pollution sources you are exposed to, the higher your mental state will be."

Zhu Ning understood it, and thought it was something like increasing one's courage. If one frightened the person more, the person would become desensitized by it.

Fang Ying explained: "Your stats are very rare. You are the only S-level in Area103."

Zhu Ning frowned, it was not a good thing. According to her philosophy of survival, people who stand out too much usually die quickly.

Fang Ying pulled out Zhu Ning's data report and showed an apologetic expression: "But your physical data is not very good."

Just as Zhu Ning guessed, Fang Ying really came to pronounce her time of death.

Fang Ying placed the data report in front of Zhu Ning and said: "If you don't do anything, you may not live for more than a year."

Zhu Ning lowered her head to eat: "Oh."

So that was it....she thought it was a big deal.

Fang Ying: "...?"

Why does Zhu Ning never follow the script?

Just like last time, every time she chatted with Zhu Ning, Fang Ying couldn't use half of the words she prepared. The words of comfort that were about to come out of her mouth were immediately choked. To be honest, she felt a little suffocated.

Fang Ying: "It's a pity that all fifth-class citizens are like this."

Zhu Ning only had a rough idea of the citizen class divisions and asked, "How is it divided?"

Fang Ying: "..."

She discovered that Zhu Ning's common sense was seriously flawed.

"After the apocalypse, radiation caused massive biological contamination and mutation. We lost 80% of our land, and the Federation built a high wall to protect against the contaminants outside. But resources within the wall were scarce, so we conducted a large-scale screening of citizens, dividing them into five levels based on whether they were beneficial to the Federation."

"First-class citizens are humans, whose natural genes must be preserved by the Federation. Second-class citizens are artificial humans, specially bred through genetic programming. Third-class citizens are clones replicating high-quality genes, but their lifespans are generally very short, averaging only forty years. Fourth-class citizens are cyborgs and robots with self-awareness."

Fang Ying: "Fifth-class citizens are defectives from the four classes above. After genetic screening, they all have serious genetic defects. The cost of treatment is too high, so most of them live in the garbage dump in Area 103."

'Oh, so that's why.'

Area 103 was originally the garbage disposal center of the entire federation, and the "natives" here were almost all defective products.

If defective products want to survive, they can use medical resources to undergo genetic modification, but the price is relatively high, so most defective products choose to wait for death.

Fang Ying was worried that reporting Zhu Ning's mental state would cause trouble. After she reported Zhu Ning's physical data and fifth-class citizen status, there was no news from the First Military Region.

Zhu Ning is a very good seedling, but she is a defective product. The military district’s minimum standard for citizen rank is third grade or above.

Having said that, the fact that Zhu Ning, a defective product, actually possesses such a high mental value is incredible in itself.

Fang Ying: "...Aren't you sad?"

Zhu Ning: "It's okay."

She knew that her health was low; it was clearly written on the system panel.

Moreover, when she was reborn, she read some information about the original owner, who was a defective product, but her understanding of defective products was limited at the time.

She was busy being a salted fish after her rebirth and didn't pay much attention to this matter.

After Zhu Ning killed the fish man last time, she activated her system panel data, which showed her health value.

She already knew that she would not live long.

However, there is a difference between dying and being almost dead. Zhu Ning lived in an apocalyptic world in her previous life and had no idea whether she would be able to see the sun the next day after waking up.

She now knows that she still has one year, which means there is still room for maneuver. So, there is no need to worry as long as there's a chance.

Ah, and she just added 5 points to her health value yesterday too.

In comparison, Zhu Ning cared more about another thing.

The original owner's death was so strange. Why did she go to the garbage room alone during the acid rain? Why did she wake up with a broken iron through her abdomen?

Who was the original owner going to see? Who wanted to kill her?

The current reasonable speculation is that the original owner knew that she would not live long and actively wanted to save herself. The people she met were who she thought could "save" her.

Unexpectedly, the other party did not save her, but killed her instead. But now, Fang Ying mentioned that her mental value is S-level. Was this the reason the original owner died?

Zhu Ning was a little distracted from her thoughts.

Fang Ying didn't know what Zhu Ning was thinking. She pulled out another contract and said, "I reported your situation truthfully. I thought the military district would come to pick you up, but they didn't. So you're still a member of our Area 103 Cleaning Center."

Zhu Ning chewed her steak as Fang Ying continued, "But after I reported your identity, many people wanted to snatch you away."

"Snatch me away?" Zhu Ning paused.

"Yes," Fang Ying said, "Your helmet has a recording function. The scene of you eliminating the pollution source was recorded and is being circulated internally in the company."

Zhu Ning: “…”

This is a bit shameful.

"Now, both the Operations Department that manages the witchers, and the Clean Up Department that manages the cleaners, want to win you over." Fang Ying smiled. This was good news for Zhu Ning.

She pushed the two contracts in front of Zhu Ning and said, "You can choose which department to join."

Oh, so she received offers from two companies at the same time...Should she become a witcher or a garbage collector?

As the secretary, Fang Ying understood the ins and outs of the situation better. "From my point of view, witchers have higher salaries and better treatment. You can also choose more genetic potions; the genetic potions in our Clean Center's Medical Department are cheaper than outside. You can choose to get the injections here."

In Zhu Ning's case, she must try multiple paths to survive, and injecting genetic drugs is one of them.

If Zhu Ning truly wanted to survive, he could even upload his consciousness to the internal system and choose a prosthetic body to use. However, this option was too expensive, requiring a large annual payment for internal system server fees.

Fang Ying, not knowing whether she was comforting Zhu Ning, suddenly said: "Actually, there is a sixth class of citizens."

"Sixth class?" Zhu Ning thought she was at the bottom of the food chain. How could there be someone worse off?

Fang Ying: "The deeper the exposure to the pollution source, the more likely it is to awaken or mutate."

Awakening? Mutation? Why did their conversation suddenly swerve in the direction of metaphysics?

However, this seems to correspond with the direction and degree of mutation on Zhu Ning's system panel.

Fang Ying: "Sixth-class citizens are a type of citizen who has merged with contaminants. They can use the abilities of contaminants, or in other words, they themselves are contaminants that have maintained their sanity."

They have strong abilities, but their citizen level is very low since they might lose their minds and become enemies of humanity any time.

Zhu Ning asked, "Is the probability high?"

Fang Ying: "It depends on the individual. It can happen in one out of ten thousand chances."

Zhu Ning: “…”

So it's no different than winning the lottery.

Fang Ying said seriously: "You have a high chance of mutating."

People with higher mental values are more likely to mutate, because the higher the mental value, the higher the probability of remaining sane after being contaminated. Zhu Ning is just in poor health, and given her mental value, it is hard to say what her future will be like.

Although the military district gave up on Zhu Ning, Area 103 all felt that Zhu Ning might take a very different path in the future.

Fang Ying: "Many people in our center are sixth-class citizens. You can get in touch with them if you have the chance."

Zhu Ning nodded thoughtfully.

Fang Ying: "That's all I've got to say. Your data collection is complete and you can leave at any time. You should go home and think carefully about which department you want to join."

Fang Ying handed Zhu Ning a file bag and a box. "Inside is your employee wristband and the onboarding guide. Just follow the steps yourself. After you've completed the process, someone will come to pick up the contract."

Fang Ying stood up and said casually, "Your extra pay for hunting contaminants have been approved. Remember to check them."

Zhu Ning opened her secondary brain, and soon the latest payroll list popped up:

Federal Clearing Centre Salary Schedule: Basic salary of $5,000 has been credited to your account.

[A total of 145 contaminated spores have been collected. The mission rating is Class D. Each spore is worth 500 dollars. A total of 72,500 dollars has been deposited into your account.]

[Cumulatively killed 26 contaminants and eliminated a Class D contaminated area. After evaluation, each contaminant is valued to be 20,000 dollars, while the Class D contaminated area is valued to be 500,000 dollars.

Two people participated in the operation:

Cleaner Zhu Ning and Cleaner Li Nianchuan each received a salary of 510,000 dollars.]

[The cleaning team completed a task above the assigned level and the center rewarded 50,000 dollars. ]

The primary responsibility for this task stems from an incorrect assessment by the data center, which is considered a high-risk operation. The center will pay 50,000 dollars in compensation.

[Data collection and entry to calculate attendance wages, a total of 15,000 dollars.]

Total wages paid: $702,500

Current account balance: $703,200 ]

Overnight, she became a wealthy woman.

Zhu Ning counted the last few zeros and confirmed that there was suddenly an extra 700,000 dollars in her account.

A day ago, she was a poor woman with only 700 dollars in her account, unable to even pay the rent. But after a good night's sleep, her account balance increased a thousand fold.

The only question was whether to choose the Cleanup Division or the Operations Division.

A high-paying job or an even higher-paying one? It was all just a bit too much to say.

Zhu Ning was almost blinded by the money, but she still kept a bit of rationality. Before officially signing the contract to become a regular employee, she had something to know first.

Fang Ying had already packed up her documents and was ready to leave when Zhu Ning asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

She had been curious for a long time.

Since Fang Ying started talking to Zhu Ning, Zhu Ning had been a passive listener, rarely asking her questions. Fang Ying kept a polite smile, and Zhu Ning continued, "How did I get this job?"

She still remembers that when she was looking for a job, the website screened and pushed the jobs to her.

When she met Fang Ying for the first time, Fang Ying hardly did any investigation on her. She only asked her two questions and then let her go for "probation".

After Zhu Ning came into contact with the company, she found their process very strange.

Firstly, the job paid well. She had experienced that firsthand.

Secondly, the work that involves obvious exposure to contaminants has a certain confidentiality.

If anyone could sign up and take a "day trip" to contaminants without any inspection, this department would have been in chaos long ago.

But before Zhu Ning came, she researched on the Internet and only found very little information about the cleaning center. Outsiders thought it was a garbage disposal company.

Zhu Ning always felt that someone had "chosen" this offer for her.

Furthermore, Zhu Ning encountered an error in the contaminated area on her first day at work. Although Fang Ying offered no explanation, Zhu Ning could sense that such an error in the contaminated area rating was extremely rare.

'I don't think everything could be passed off as just a coincidence...'

Fang Ying stopped. She was almost out of the cafeteria and was standing at the junction of shadows, half in shadow and half in sunlight. She went silent after hearing the question.

Zhu Ning thought she had asked a serious question.

What was wrong? Was she going to be killed to silence her?

Fang Ying tucked a strand of hair beside her ear, her sea-blue earrings flashed in the sunlight.

After a pause, Fang Ying said, "It was the AI that chose you."

Zhu Ning: "The AI?"

Her previous world also has AIs. Before it was taken over by zombies, the extent of the development of AIs was nothing more than pushing some products to encourage you to shop. The the more serious thing it had done was scamming old customers.

How far has AI developed in the wasteland world? With Zhu Ning's limited imagination , it was hard for her to imagine anything.

Fang Ying smiled and said, "It's called Prometheus. It processes central data and is responsible for everyone's recruitment."

Zhu Ning didn't say anything.

"All employees of the 103 District Cleaning Center have passed its screening process." Fang Ying looked at Zhu Ning steadily: "Including you and me."

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The translator has something to say:

Prometheus (The AI boss CEO): Finally! My introduction!

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