ICUGW Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Man-Eating Hot Pot Restaurant (6)

Zhu Ning was squatting. The other person stood behind her, pointing a gun at the back of her head.

"Are you from the cleaning center?" It was the voice of a young girl. She recognized the uniform on Zhu Ning.

A living person...could it be the target of her rescue mission? This little girl seemed quite clever, taking advantage of the natural conditions in the room, casting a shadow behind the chamber, then hiding herself in the shadows.

As long as the person who comes inside the room has the slightest mental pollution, he or she will go crazy because of the chamber.

Zhu Ning: "Yes."

Little girl: "Are you here to save me?"

Zhu Ning: "Maybe."

She wasn't sure who this person was, nor was she sure if she was the survivor she needed to save.

The girl with the gun went silent for a while. The ringing of the bell continued to echo in the corridor. She knew she didn't have much time left; she couldn't take any more risks.

"How would I know you're not a contaminant?" the girl asked a very crucial question.

"You'll know--"

The girl held her breath and listened attentively when she heard Zhu Ning say two words. Then her wrist was tugged. Zhu Ning grabbed her hand, unloaded the gun quickly, and kicked her simultaneously.

"Ah!"

The girl screamed. Her abdomen felt like it was hit by a huge rock, her whole body slammed against the shelf behind her. The medicine bottles on it shook and fell, hitting her all over.

Zhu Ning frowned when she heard her cry and immediately judged that she was a rookie.

Before the girl could react, Zhu Ning's gun was already pointed at her forehead.

Click.

Zhu Ning loaded the gun. The movement of using a gun was almost engraved in her bones. She could shoot without any hesitation.

"Wait! I'm a person!" she immediately shouted.

The other party was a young girl, fully protected. She was wearing a pure white protective suit with a cute cat print customized on it.

If Zhu Ning's outfit made her look like a robber in a motorcycle suit, then the girl in front of her looked like a little white cat or a cute doll.

Zhu Ning knew that some wealthy people, fearing contamination, would buy a set of protective suits to keep at home. Their suits were designed by renowned designers, offering both protection and aesthetics. These suits should at at least cost $10 million.

All in all, this girl is rich.

"Who are you?" Zhu Ning pointed the gun at her.

"Liu Niannian." The girl raised her hand and spoke quickly, fearing that Zhu Ning would shoot her. "I have no bad intentions. I'm a good person."

Liu Niannian? Never heard of her.

Zhu Ning didn't put down the gun. Anything that appeared in the contaminated area are likely contaminants or mentally polluted. Liu Niannian had just suspected Zhu Ning, and now Zhu Ning was also suspicious of her.

Zhu Ning asked, "How long have you stayed here?"

Liu Niannian: "I don't know. It felt like several days have passed."

Zhu Ning changed the question: "When did you come in?"

Liu Niannian: "11:45 p.m on October 3rd, 80th year of the new calendar."

'It's all connected,' Zhu Ning thought.

The mission was effective for 6 hours. According to latest research, the maximum time an ordinary person can stay in a contaminated area is 6 hours. Any longer and they will suffer brain death.

After Liu Niannian entered the contaminated area, some mechanism was triggered, and a "grave post" appeared on the Cleaning Center's forum. It seemed the system had tasked her with rescuing this very Liu Niannian; at least she had found the right person.

Liu Niannian's mental level should be quite high. She has been here for quite a few hours yet her mind still seems quite clear, at least better than Li Nianchuan's.

But why did the system ask Zhu Ning to save her?

Zhu Ning lowered the gun. It was an air gun; ordinary people would have a hard time getting their hands on it. Liu Niannian must have come from a wealthy and powerful family.

Zhu Ning made a judgment in her heart: daughter of a conglomerate.

Zhu Ning threw the gun back to Liu Niannian: "I came in an hour later than you."

"An hour?" Liu Niannian's face changed drastically. "It's only been an hour since I came in? It's over, it's over, my brain is failing."

"Don't believe anything I say later. I might hurt you."

This person knows a lot about contaminants, Zhu Ning thought. She knows that she must cover all her skin before entering the contaminated area, and she also knows that staying inside for a long time will lead to mental pollution.

"Calm down." Zhu Ning reminded.

The more unstable your emotions are, the easier it is to be contaminated.

Liu Niannian took a deep breath. Time was running out for her. She checked her protective suit and found no holes. If she was infected by contaminated spores, she would just run into a wall and die.

"Are you a cleaner?" Liu Niannian asked, "Why did the cleaning center send garbage collectors to rescue people?"

Zhu Ning: “…”

Wow, there's even occupational discrimination when saving people these days?

After Liu Niannian spoke, she also felt that it was quite rude and asked, "You got separated from your teammates? Where's your witcher? When will they come to rescue us?"

Zhu Ning: “…”

This person can say anything she wants. After all, there's still freedom of speech. But how come every time she asks a question, it would all touch her sore spots?

Zhu Ning asked, "What are you doing inside here?"

"Uh..." Liu Niannian hesitated for a moment, wondering if Zhu Ning could be trusted.

"Looking for my aunt."

"Aunt?" Zhu Ning asked, "How old are you?"

Liu Niannian: "Nineteen. Graduate student. How about you?"

“…” Zhu Ning: “Same as you.”

They were the same age.

Everything in the wasteland world was forced to mature. A chicken can be served on the table in just six hours after its birth. Human learning time was constantly compressed. People graduate from college at the age of 18. If Zhu Ning's original body had money, she would be studying a master's degree now.

Liu Niannian: "What's your name?"

"Zhu Ning," Zhu Ning didn't have time to chat with her. "Your aunt is missing, so you came here to look for her?"

There was a warning sign hanging at the intersection. How blind could someone be to still come in and look for missing people? Besides, Liu Niannian looks like the daughter of a conglomerate, so her aunt should also be a noble lady. How could her aunt possibly come here and eat at a hot pot restaurant?

Zhu Ning would believe it more if her family bought out the entire hot pot restaurant.

Liu Niannian hesitated, as if trying to sort out her words: "Well, not really my aunt... but she was the gardener of one of our houses."

A certain house, Zhu Ning caught the key word.

'How many homes do you have, rich woman?'

"When I was little, no one played with me, so I kept looking for her. Before she disappeared, she was very strange and spoke in mysterious ways every day. The adults in my family wouldn't let me have any contact with her. Only after I grew up did I realize she might have been mentally polluted at that time."

"I looked through her diary and found out that she used to love coming to this hot pot restaurant. My aunt has a burn scar that covered her entire arm, neck, and extends all the way to the lower half of her face."

Liu Niannian gestured on her body to show how large the burn area was.

"My aunt said she got burned while eating hot pot. She refused to have it surgically removed. She even considered the scar a blessing. She didn't hate the hot pot restaurant at all, but instead missed it. She said the restaurant's food was so delicious; that it was a pity it was closed. I wanted to come and see how delicious it was."

So that was it. The last piece of the puzzle was finally filled in.

Zhu Ning read the diary and recording of the employees, but she was still confused. Before the restaurant closed, it served rotten meat to the diners. They must have been contaminated. But, where did the diners go after eating the contaminated food?

Now she knows.

After being contaminated, they still appearead normal, but in reality, they were subconsciously doing abnormal things. They blend into the lives of ordinary people, making others feel strange, but unable to explain what was strange.

Liu Niannian was quite a curious cat.

Just because their gardener had mentioned the hot pot restaurant was delicious, she wanted to check it out. Maybe Liu Niannian didn't want to expose her family's wealth, so she hid some information, only speaking half truths.

Zhu Ning guessed that finding her aunt was secondary, seeking thrill was the main goal; like a rich second-generation who had nothing better to do and liked adventure.

Zhu Ning: "So, did you find her?"

Liu Niannian: "No, I looked around and my aunt wasn't among the diners."

Zhu Ning: "Then how did you get in?"

"I applied as an employee." Liu Niannian said: "Yang Tao asked me what I was doing, I said I came to wash dishes. Then, I saw a sign outside the room saying 'Do Not Trespass' and thought it was hiding some secret, so I came in."

Zhu Ning: "Is this the first door you opened?"

Liu Niannian: "Yes, I only opened it once. I was just about to leave, but I saw Yang Tao killing someone, so went back in and didn't dare to go out."

Zhu Ning: “…”

'I don’t know whether to say Liu Niannian is lucky not...'

This room was used by the boss to store medicine. After the restaurant became contaminated, naturally no one needs medicine anymore. So, this room was rarely visited.

Liu Niannian: "I couldn't sense the time after I came in, but they would ring a bell every once in a while for a meeting. Each time the bell rang, it lasted for quite a while."

"Everyone in the store would go into the basement. Then, I found a hole in the room that lets me peak at the basement. I don't know who dug it."

"They would kneel down and pray to the boss, then cut off his flesh and take it to the kitchen to process for serving hot pot."

"I was quite disgusted at first, but then I got used to it. Now, I just wanted to run away. The best time to escape was the moment they all go into the basement."

"I've observed this several times and it would always be the same. I was thinking of taking the opportunity to run away, but then I heard your voice."

Zhu Ning made too much noise. When she shot the pig man, Liu Niannian heard it.

Liu Niannian thought that Zhu Ning was part of a rescue team sent by the cleaning center, but she couldn't help but be cautious. She was suspicious that Zhu Ning was a contaminant, so she did not dare to show up rashly.

Liu Niannian confessed everything she knows. Zhu Ning also briefly told her the information she gathered. Liu Niannian didn't need to read the diary or listen to the recording in person, but what Zhu Ning told her was still very scary, like a collection of horror stories.

"So the person lying on the hospital bed below is the source of pollution?" Liu Niannian asked.

Zhu Ning opened her mouth to answer.

Buzz—

The ringing of the bell stopped, the meat cutting in the basement ended, the WiFi formation dispersed, and the contaminants returned to the hot pot restaurant in an orderly manner. There were rustling sounds in the corridor, customers and employees littered the hall.

Zhu Ning heard the pig man dragging his axe again. Yang Tao was still trying to find a way into the girls' dormitory. He was even more furious than before, smashing the door to pieces with his axe. It wouldn't take long for him to get inside the dorm.

The other diners in the restaurant also did not go back to the lobby to eat hot pot, they patrolled the corridor.

Find the outsiders. They want to find the outsiders.

Liu Niannian's face turned pale. She asked in a low voice, "What should we do next?"

Zhu Ning sighed. If she wanted to escape alone, she could use the rotten fish head to run away, but it would be difficult for her to escape with Liu Niannian.

Zhu Ning: "I'm going to kill the source of pollution."

"You want to kill him?" Liu Niannian was in a dilemma.

There was a pig man blocking the way outside, and everyone in the hot pot restaurant was also looking for them. The diners and employees were equally dangerous. It was impossible for them to cross the corridor and enter the basement unharmed.

Moreover, she didn't trust Zhu Ning's ability very much. If she was a witcher, then fine. But Zhu Ning was a cleaner. How strong could she possibly be?

"It's too troublesome to walk through the corridor." Zhu Ning said.

Liu Niannian agreed.

"Let's find a shortcut," Zhu Ning said. "It should be empty down there. Back off a bit."

Liu Niannian: “Ah?”

Shortcut? What shortcut?

Zhu Ning took out a device from her backpack, pressed it to the ground, then–

BANG!

Liu Niannian was stunned.

'You dare call this a shortcut?!'

***

1:30 in the morning.

The interior of the Liu family manor was brightly lit. Patrol teams could be seen searching around the area twice.

"We couldn't find the lady." The butler broke out in a cold sweat.

The man in front of him was wearing a black suit, giving off a chilling aura. He had a very important person to meet tonight, who knew that something would happen at a critical moment?

He didn't have time to deal with these things. He was going to meet the director of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical tonight.

"The young lady is very curious about contaminants. She wouldn't happen to..." the butler voiced out uncertainly, "...enter contaminated areas..."

The protective suit at home disappeared, and a gun was lost in the armory. She must have gone to look for contaminants. They don’t know which district she went to or which contaminated area she entered. Searching blindly like this felt like looking for a needle in haystack.

Every second inside a contaminated area is dangerous. The young lady has been missing for more than two hours now.

The man said, "Tell Pei Shu to find someone to notify the Security Bureau and the Cleaning Center. Ask them to help."

"Post a bounty, but don't reveal her identity. Offer one million as reward to whoever finds her."

"Just one million?" Isn't that a bit too little?

It was rumored that the head doesn't care much about the eldest lady. It turns out to be true.

"You idiot." The man uttered two words, unclear whether it was for the young lady or the butler.

A few seconds later, a speeding car stopped and the man got on.

After the head left, the butler finally realized that the reward couldn't be set too high. Once their enemies found out that the lady was missing, they might sabotage the rescue mission.

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The translator has something to say:

Hello everyone! I've finally decided on a release schedule yay!! Updates will be thrice a week: Monday to Wednesday. And maybe bonus chapters on holidays? Who knows? Maybe kofis too~ ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

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