ICUGW Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Man-Eating Hot Pot Restaurant (I)

La Bao was reluctant at first, but Zhu Ning finally used her "cash power" to buy its service for 10,000 dollars.

She added La Bao as her friend and told him to send her any videos it finds, as long as they were from the past month. La Bao succumbed to Zhu Ning's charm, no, it was the might of money that made La Bao weak.

After leaving the garbage room, Zhu Ning chose to walk home. She tried it herself and found that it took her an hour and 40 minutes to walk home, while taking a taxi would only take 8 minutes.

On the day Zhu Ning was reborn, she took a powerful healing potion and then took a taxi back.

She checked the map and saw that this abandoned garbage room was the closest place to Zhu Ning's residence and had no surveillance. There must be a reason for choosing the garbage room.

Zhu Ning groped her way home again and ran into Mother Wei as soon as she reached the door. Mother Wei had just finished collecting rent from other tenants and was walking down the stairs with a cane.

For some reason, Zhu Ning instinctively felt a little uncomfortable when she saw her. She remembered that Mother Wei said that the original owner often went crazy.

Why did the original owner go crazy?

Mother Wei must know something about the original owner. Zhu Ning was trying to figure out what to say so she could get the information out smoothly. But she closed her mouth the moment she opened it. She couldn't trust anyone right now.

If Mother Wei was involved in her death, Zhu Ning would expose herself as soon as she says anything.

Mother Wei glanced at her and said sarcastically, "I was wondering where you got the money from. I thought you were hooking up with a wealthy guy."

Zhu Ning: “???”

'Can you please stop talking like she married into a rich family?'

Mother Wei: "Turns out you landed a job at a cleaning center. Well, aren't you pretty lucky? It's a stable job."

Zhu Ning: “…”

'Why do you look so envious?'

To outsiders, the cleaning center is the highest-paid and most comfortable job in Area 103. Even if the job is just collecting garbage, it's still a stable job.

The employee benefits were also excellent. Full-time employees receive free medical checkups and subsidies upon retirement. Joining the Federal Cleaning Center promises a stable and comfortable life for the rest of their life.

Mother Wei: "The cleaning center is looking for you. They are right at your door."

So that’s how it is. Zhu Ning was still wondering how Mother Wei knew about it.

But, looking for her? Zhu Ning didn't know many people, only Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng. Li Nianchuan was still in the medical department for treatment of mental pollution.

Zhu Ning: "I'll go up right away."

She left right after she finished speaking. Just as she passed Mother Wei and was about to take the stairs.

Mother Wei suddenly said from behind: "Be careful."

Zhu Ning paused and looked back. Mother Wei was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a cane. Zhu Ning was standing on the steps. Mother Wei was a dwarf, so Zhu Ning was much taller than her.

Mother Wei should have been looking up, but she didn't raise her head. She just raised her eyes, revealing a large area of yellow whites in her eyes, and stared straight at Zhu Ning.

'Be careful.'

'What should I be wary of? The cleaning center? Or the other people in the apartment area? Is there really something wrong with the building manager, Mother Wei?'

Zhu Ning wanted to ask more, but Mother Wei had already walked away with her cane. Zhu Ning walked upstairs in silence.

Sure enough, just as Mother Wei said, there was a man waiting at her door.

The man was wearing a full set of work clothes with the cleaning center's logo printed on it. He was carrying a huge black suitcase and looked like a courier.

"Miss Zhu," the man smiled, "I'm here to get the contract."

Fang Ying had mentioned to her that someone would come to pick up the contract once she officially joined the company. Zhu Ning looked at the man's employee ID and verified again with his wristband.

A regular employee.

Zhu Ning came into the room and handed him the contract. After the man took the contract, he handed the suitcase to Zhu Ning, which was tied with a huge bow.

"Miss Zhu, congratulations on joining the company. This is a new job gift."

A job gift? The oversized suitcase was big enough for an adult to hide inside. Zhu Ning thought of the horror movies she had seen.

'Could there be a corpse in there?'

The man moved quickly, finishing his work and leaving without even stopping to exchange pleasantries. Zhu Ning only opened the suitcase after the man had left.

She was silent.

It was a complete set of standard weapons, completely different from the air bombs brought on previous missions. There were four guns inside, a complete set of military daggers, and explosive devices.

Under the box was a set of protective clothing specifically for cleaners: a black leather jacket and a helmet. There were also tools for containing contaminated spores, and even some powerful healing agents, and other medicines.

In fact, with this box, Zhu Ning can completely break away from the cleaning center and work on her own.

Zhu Ning tried to load the gun, there was no obstruction. These standard weapons were not locked, which meant that Zhu Ning did not need to ask the cleaning center for permission for open fire.

This was completely inconsistent with the cleaning center's style. Even if the center were to restructure, the change would be too drastic. Zhu Ning opened the center's forum and searched for employee gifts. Many posts popped up.

They were basically all about things like thermos cups, chrysanthemum and wolfberry kidney-protecting tablets, and even direct cash handouts. Zhu Ning flipped through two pages of the forum, but couldn't find anyone else who had received a box of standard-issue weapons like she had.

'Who sent this? Prometheus?'

Why did it send her a box of "gifts"? To help it destroy the cleaning center headquarters?

Zhu Ning felt the box of weapons were like hot potatoes, she can't handle it. Her first reaction was to contact Fang Ying.

Fang Ying was the center's assistant, and she knew best whether receiving a box of weapons complied with procedures. But Zhu Ning fell silent after opening Fang Ying's dialog box.

Can't tell her.

Zhu Ning couldn't tell Fang Ying. The more people knew about this, the more dangerous it was. It was dangerous not only for Zhu Ning, but also for Fang Ying.

Zhu Ning opened Fang Ying's chat box and hadn't said anything yet when Fang Ying sent her a message, [Congratulations on joining us! Welcome to the Area 103 Cleaning Center.]

Zhu Ning paused and sent an emoji, "Please take care of me."

She acted like a normal employee.

Fang Ying: "I'm surprised by your choice."

Zhu Ning exchanged a few pleasantries with her and asked, "Did you receive the contract?"

Fang Ying: “It was just delivered.”

That guy really came just to pick up the contract and send it to the company.

Zhu Ning asked again: "Are there any missions recently?"

She couldn't find the truth about her death for a while, and it would probably take some time for La Bao to find the surveillance video. She couldn't just sit at home and slack off.

Fang Ying: "No rush, I've applied for seven days of leave for you."

Zhu Ning, who wanted to work 24/7 for the company: "?"

What kind of company is this? Work one day, rest seven days? Why are they forcing people to take vacations?

Fang Ying explained: "It's not my rule. The cleaning center stipulates that there must be at least 7 days between two tasks as a buffer period. It's mainly because they are worried that the employees can't bear it mentally."

Although this concern does not apply to Zhu Ning, rules are rules.

Fang Ying: "You can't go out on missions within these seven days. The cleaning center is currently undergoing restructuring. I'll notify you to come to the company for employee training after seven days."

It sounds like something big happened inside the cleaning center and they were undergoing a reorganization. As for how the reorganization is taking place, that's not Zhu Ning, a rookie, 's business.

Zhu Ning sent an emoticon and then closed the dialog box.

Accustomed to working and being busy nine to five, Zhu Ning felt a little uncomfortable when she suddenly encountered a company that was willing to give her a holiday. She was forced to stay at home and rest.

She did what every otaku would do at home - browsing forums out of boredom.

The staff forum of the cleaning center is very active. Zhu Ning had always thought that even if the style of this forum was not serious, the topics discussed should still be scientific.

Unexpectedly, the discussion atmosphere within the forum was very "metaphysical". She saw a post with a message: [Those who sees grave post in the middle of the night, please read! Newbies, please don't bother!]

'Grave post?'

If she was remembering it correctly, grave posts were posts that were posted many years ago and was then dug up by someone. She's just not sure if this meaning of 'grave posts' is the same as the one in this wasteland world.

After reading two pages, she roughly understood what a grave post was. When the center employees are scrolling through posts, they would see "grave posts" on gray pages on the company's website after midnight.

When a post grays out, it means that the owner of the post has died. The post would then be put on the gray pages on the side of the website.

It stands to reason that people who have passed away will no longer post. Even if they post something before they die, it will eventually be drowned in the tide of information and will no longer be pushed to the front.

Those who see grave posts can receive messages from the deceased. The person who wrote the post said that they had received a message from someone who died seven years ago.

'How could this be so... paranormal? Isn't this a world full of scientific discoveries and high technological advancements? Yet the center's employees still believe this?'

The tradition of grave posts has been around in the cleaning center for a long time. Everyone has a consensus that the places described by grave posts were contaminated areas.

There is even an on-going dispute within employees on how to react after receiving information from the "dead".

Some people think that it was the lingering resentment of the deceased, and they should eliminate it since they've already come across it. The dead were asking for help, and those who are able to help should try to help; killing contaminants and eliminating the contaminated areas will also get them some rewards.

On the other hand, for some people, the existence of "grave posts" was like a private job.

But others think that these grave posts were traps. Contaminants would send out distress signals to attract people into the contaminated areas, and then swallow them up. The operating logic of the contaminants was to turn others into their kinds.

It was said that many employees never returned after going to the areas mentioned in the grave posts. It was speculated that they might have already become a part of the contaminants.

In the middle of the night, Zhu Ning was quite excited as she scrolled through posts. She felt like she was in a freshman orientation party, both scary and exciting.

The clock now shows 11:59 p.m. It is only one minute away from midnight–the time to see grave posts.

Tick.

The clock jumped from 11:59 to 12:00. Zhu Ning clicked the refresh button.

The posts on the forum homepage were refreshed, but all the posts had colorful titles; no so-called gray posts were seen.

Zhu Ning frantically clicked on the refresh button, as if she was trying to grab a free gift card during a shopping festival. A minute passed, and nothing appeared.

Did it really depend on luck?

Zhu Ning was about to close the page when she abruptly stopped. A gray post appeared on the colorful forum homepage.

[Hidden in the alleys of Area 103, a good restaurant that you can't miss. Spicy food lovers come quickly!]

It looks like a food recommendation, nothing special. When she clicked on the link, the screen suddenly became blurry. Glitches formed and the page seemed like it was stuck.

Two seconds later, the glitches ended, revealing the entire food post page. Under the long title, the posting time was displayed, which was the 50th year of the new calendar.

Since the world experienced a radiation eighty years ago, a new society inside high walls has been built. This new society uses a new calendar, and the fiftieth year of the new calendar was the fiftieth year after the radiation.

This post was made thirty years ago.

Zhu Ning didn't know whether she was lucky or unlucky.

When she looked closely, the entire page was indeed gray, including the several food pictures attached.

Against the backdrop of the gray and white photos, no matter how delicious the hot pot is, it lost its fragrance. The tripe and duck blood now looked like props from a horror movie.

The poster vividly described how delicious the hot pot restaurant was, and that the must-try dishes were their spicy beef and spicy squid. However, the accompanying pictures did not look appetizing at all, and instead looked spooky. It was completely unconvincing.

The post ended by introducing the name of the hot pot restaurant– Come Again, Okay? Hot Pot Restaurant.

Zhu Ning was still thinking when she suddenly heard a ding in her head.

[Congratulations on triggering the random mission: Man-eating Hot Pot Restaurant.

Mission objectives:

• Eliminate the contaminated area

• Contain the contaminated spores

• Rescue survivors

• Assist in finding the truth behind the deaths.

This mission is a random mission and is not mandatory. Please choose whether to accept it.]

[This mission will automatically close before dawn. Please make your decision carefully.]

Zhu Ning: “…”

She received two missions on the same day? She hadn't finished previous side mission yet: her death, and now the system is giving her another one?

She looked at the mission description and felt that it was very complicated.

Saving survivors meant there are still people alive in the contaminated area. She also needs to assist in finding the truth behind the occurred deaths. Maybe there would be clues to Zhu Ning's death in the hot pot restaurant?

Are these two missions related?

She glanced at the suitcase on the ground.

'Could these standard weapons be prepared for the mission? Maybe it's not from Prometheus, but were given to her by the system?

Impossible.

Whatever the system wants to give her can be placed in the blank space on the panel without taking up any space.

Moreover, the system is very generous with its rewards. A bomb can be given that can destroy a thirty-story building. In comparison, the suitcase feels a bit out of place.

However, the quests available this time were different from before. Zhu Ning had a better understanding of the system: there were main quests, long-term side quests, mandatory short-term side quests, and now there were random quests.

She's in urgent need of accumulating health points, then suddenly the system gives out missions. The system isn't that cold hearted as she thought!

Zhu Ning clicked yes.

[The mission has been successfully accepted. Please complete it before dawn.]

…

Come Again, Okay? Hot Pot Restaurant

The hot pot restaurant was buzzing with activity. It was so popular that the aroma could be smelled from across the street. The lobby was completely full, and at the center, a table of four was occupied.

A girl with bangs asked while eating: "Where's my tripe?"

She plunged her chopsticks into the pot of boiling red oil and fished skillfully, but found nothing.

"Who ate my tripe?"

"No one ate it. Try using a slotted spoon."

Qi Liuhai was just about to change to a colander, but before she took out her chopsticks, she suddenly stopped.

Was it an illusion?

It seemed like... something in the boiling pot was pulling her chopsticks.

Qi Liuhai looked down in confusion. Half of the chopsticks were in her hand, and the other half was in the red oil pan, with a small black tentacle wrapped around it.

The black tentacle suction cup firmly grasped the chopsticks. Common sense said that everything in such a hot pot should already be cooked, but she could clearly feel the grip of the tentacles.

"Who ordered the squid?"

"Squid? I didn't order it, you did—Aahhh!"

"What is this? Help!"

The girl in the red t-shirt suddenly screamed before she could finish her words. A tentacle as thick as a wrist emerged from the red oil hot pot.

The tentacle rolled up and grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her into the hot pot.

Screams and blood filled the hot pot restaurant.

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The translator has something to say:

The second arc coming through!

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