ICUGW Chapter 20

Chapter 20: The Man-Eating Hot Pot Restaurant (9)

Zhu Ning has always been curious about what would happen if she used mental pollution on contaminants. To put it another way, do contaminants need to ensure their own mental "health"?

Zhu Ning had only encountered the fish men contaminants. They became polluted because the source of pollution–the fish man, couldn't catch the last train of Line 1.

She later checked the news that day and found that underground radiation was spreading throughout the district, and Line 1's last train had to stop temporarily at the previous station because of it.

The fish man had been waiting at the station, and the longer he waited, the more anxious he became. He kept thinking that he had missed the last train. He mentioned that he couldn't find the last train, but he didn't have the money to take a taxi.

Contaminants should also have a safe zone that maintains their mental value, but their judgment criteria might be different from those of ordinary people.

Most people don’t realize they are doing evil, but subconsciously they would feel a tug on their conscience. So, they try to rationalize their behavior–try to explain and justify that what they are doing isn't evil.

What about Wang Ming?

After killing his boss, he regained his rationality for a while, but was soon driven mad again.

He could only convince himself that it was the boss who wanted to kill him first, so what he did was all just an act of self-defense.

He contaminated the people in the hot pot restaurant, and cut off the boss's flesh so that he could continue to support the operation of the hot pot restaurant. In order to make the contamination reasonable, he fabricated what happened to the hot pot restaurant on Xiao Hui's diary.

If the hallucinations seen after mental pollution came true, then everything will make sense:

rotten meat served to the customers, monsters in the trash can, strange aromas, constantly disappearing employees, a strange basement, and a boss who is portrayed as the source of all evil.

At the same time, he left a recording in the toilet painting him as a victim.

The contaminated area has always maintained an ecological balance within it. Wang Ming made the hot pot restaurant logically self-consistent. He had been operating it for thirty years, and it had always been perfect, until today when Zhu Ning exposed everything.

Zhu Ning broke his foundation in half.

Did Wang Ming do anything unforgivable? No. In fact, he, too, was just a victim of mental pollution.

But because he was mentally polluted, his obsession of justifying all his excuses made the restaurant fully contaminated. Thus, the cycle of him acting as the victim trapped him and the others in this contaminated area.

Liu Niannian felt the situation was strange because, in her eyes, Zhu Ning wasn't doing anything. She was just frozen in front of the giant pig face with its mouth wide open. It was about to swallow Zhu Ning, but then also froze in place.

He looked very painful, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. He wanted to roar in anger, but then found that he had no reason to roar.

He wanted to laugh, but couldn't find a reason to laugh. He wanted to cry, but he also had no reason to cry.

Chaos reigned inside the hot pot restaurant for a while.

The few employees, including the pig man, were sticking out of the hole in the ceiling and clapping wildly. Half of their bodies were protruding, looking like they were hanging upside down from the ceiling.

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A

The corners of their mouths reached their ears, and their rapidly clapping hands looked like it was about to break from the repeated actions.

Wang Ming in the mirror was crying and laughing at the same time. With every movement he made, the broken mirror fluctuated.

Rustle

Rustle

Rustle

The hot pot restaurant owner's body seemed to have some uncontrollable disease, his flesh began to wriggle in attempt to run away.

Crazy. It was really crazy this time.

Zhu Ning disrupted the order in the hotpot restaurant. All the contaminants in the area went crazy.

Zhu Ning took a step forward, and the mirror in front of her moved back. Wang Ming looked at Zhu Ning warily, his stare seemed to be screaming as if he was looking at the real monster.

Zhu Ning kept moving forward, while Wang Ming kept retreating. Eventually, the mirror was forced into a corner, but he had no way of hiding again.

Once the source of pollution was discovered, it won't be able to hide itself again.

Liu Niannian watched the source of pollution trembling visibly, its lens still reflecting light as it shivered.

The source's mind was in a state of confusion. He shuddered along the wall, his eyes giving Zhu Ning a pleading look.

It worked.

Zhu Ning stood in front of Wang Ming. She turned a blind eye to his crying face and opened the system panel again.

'If it works, then add some more.'

System:

[The Rotten Fish Head has been chosen.

This will consume 5 health points.

Do you want to use Mental Pollution on Wang Ming?]

Zhu Ning: "Use."

After Zhu Ning confirmed it, Wang Ming showed a confused expression.

At that moment, no one spoke, no one applauded, and the entire contaminated area was extremely quiet–so quiet that you could hear the rhythmic sound of breathing filling the contaminated area.

It wasn't from Liu Niannian ,nor was it from Zhu Ning, but from Wang Ming.

The large pig faced man hiding in the mirror stretched out his hand warily. Both of his arms were covered with scars.

Zhu Ning was standing opposite him. The source of pollution could have easily reached and grabbed Zhu Ning, but he didn't.

His outstretched hands paused, his gaze turned to his own arms and started thinking–like it was a difficult math problem.

Then, he retracted his arms toward his face and gently pulled his skin as easy as tearing a paper bag.

Crack.

A deep crack appeared inside the contaminated area.

The cracks began to spread from the pig face in the mirror, extending to the ground, the boss's life detector, and other employees peeping through the ceiling.

The contaminated area was so fragile, slowly collapsing from the inside like a like a paper toy touched by water.

'The pollution source...committed suicide?'

Liu Niannian watched in disbelief. She had never heard of contaminants committing suicide in a contaminated area in her life. Not to mention the source of pollution doing it!

What happened next easily confirmed her speculation. From the torn hole in the contaminated area, contaminated spores in blood-like shapes gushed out.

Thousands of contaminated spores.

The contaminated spores were so numerous that they resembled a swarm of locusts, fluttering inside the collapsed hot pot restaurant, quickly enveloping Zhu Ning and Liu Niannian.

Only upon seeing the contaminated spores did Zhu Ning breathe a sigh of relief, her tense body relaxing.

'It worked.'

She spent ten health points in exchange for two rounds of mental pollution, just to gamble whether the pollution source could be mentally polluted again.

Contaminated areas have pollution concentration rates that would change frequently, but its rate are directly connected to the source of pollution. The stronger the source of pollution is, the higher the concentration would go.

A low pollution concentration might not be enough to form a contaminated area, but if the pollution concentration is too high, higher than the strength of the source of pollution, it will break the internal balance of the contaminated area and eventually lead to collapse.

Ding!

Zhu Ning heard the system's mechanical voice in her head:

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

Purification level: 100%,

Rescue mission completion: 100%]

[Reward settlement in progress...]

[Congratulations on receiving the basic reward: Mental Purification.

Your mental value has been restored to 100.]

[Congratulations on receiving a purification value reward of 2000. Current purification value accumulation: 2154]

[Congratulations on receiving the Pig man Reward: Pig man's Guillotine]

[ Pig man's Guillotine ]

Class C contaminant.

It can kill a specified target once every 24 hours with a 100% accuracy]

[Congratulations on obtaining the primary talent: Metal Manipulation.]

[Metal Manipulation:

Allows manipulation of metal objects within a distance of one meter.]

[Congratulations on receiving the random mission reward: Master Key]

[Master Key:

Can open any door.]

[This quest line promotes the side quest: "Find the Truth Behind Your Death."

[A key clue has been found.

Completion progress: 20%]

The hot pot restaurant was connected to her side quest, pushing the progress bar from 5% to 20%? Was it because of Eternal Life Pharmaceutical?

Zhu Ning had never heard of this pharmaceutical company. She could only investigate it slowly after she got out.

…

After the contaminated area collapsed, the hot pot restaurant returned to its original appearance.

Having been abandoned for 30 years, it was extremely dirty and messy: blackened walls, dusty old tabletops, and beer bottles scattered on the floor. If you ignore the rotten meat and the thousands of contaminated spores illuminating the building's interior blood red, it looks just like an ordinary abandoned restaurant.

Zhu Ning looked at the spores and decided to start containing the contaminated spores immediately. This was Zhu Ning's second mission and she was more experienced than the first time.

Liu Niannian next to her was shocked. It was the first time she saw so many contaminated spores in one place. She had only seen them in the lab before, and only three of them at that.

In Liu Niannian's heart, Zhu Ning was an extremely talented genius. She still didn't understand how Zhu Ning killed the source of pollution without using any weapons.

Moreover, Zhu Ning was injured while protecting her. If it weren't for Zhu Ning, Liu Niannian would have been chopped in half by the guillotine.

Liu Niannian: "Um...Thanks for saving me."

Liu Niannian was trying to decide what to say. Her family was wealthy, and she was thinking about what would be a suitable thank you gift to give to Zhu Ning.

On the other hand, Zhu Ning was canceling all the automatic messages she scheduled to be sent. She had been in the contaminated area for less than an hour.

'Pretty fast.'

Zhu Ning asked: "How's your mental state?"

Liu Niannian thought Zhu Ning was concerned about her, and said firmly, "I'm okay. I don't seem to have lost my mind."

'This girl should have a high mental value', Zhu Ning thought.

Liu Niannian felt a little regretful for looking down on Zhu Ning earlier. "I'm really grateful for your help!"

She paused, embarassed: "My family will bring money as thanks."

"That's not necessary." Zhu Ning already received rewards from the system. The rewards this time was very generous.

How could it not be necessary? Zhu Ning went to such great lengths to rescue her! Was Zhu Ning some kind of walking Bodhisattva?

Zhu Ning: "Just help me sweep the trash."

"Ah?" Liu Niannian was confused.

Sweep the trash? Liu Niannian had never even seen a broom in her life.

"I'm a garbage collector." Zhu Ning had already opened her cleaning backpack, but changed her words in case the girl misunderstands. "Cleaner–in better words."

Liu Niannian blushed, recalling how she had mocked other people's job, calling it low-level and preferring witchers instead. Now, Liu Niannian just wants to slap her outspoken self of the past.

Zhu Ning took out the cleaning tools from her backpack and threw another one to Liu Niannian. There were thousands of spores inside the contaminated area, if Zhu Ning worked alone, she would working till dawn.

Since Liu Niannian said she was okay, then it should be fine to get her to help in containing spores.

Liu Niannian held the strange-looking cleaning tool in her hand, looking confused.

'What was this?'

Zhu Ning demonstrated and collected a contaminated spore. "Have you learned it?"

Liu Niannian nodded; it wasn't that difficult. She just has to bring the end of the straw close to the contaminated spores and it would automatically collect the spores.

Liu Niannian tried and found it… quite relaxing? The process actually somewhat therapeutic.

Liu Niannian: "We just need to collect the contaminated spores?"

If that's all she has to do, then it wasn't actually that bad.

Zhu Ning: "After containment, we have to clean up the scene, remove all rotting flesh, rinse away bloodstains, and ensure no contaminated spores remain. If the two of us are quick, we could finish in two hours."

Liu Niannian: “…”

Zhu Ning realized that if she wanted to keep doing this in the future, she would definitely not be able to do it alone. She would have to find other people to help her.

Zhu Ning had already imagined how to expand her "great business" of collecting garbage, deciding to have Liu Niannian as her first employee.

Zhu Ning: "First, call your family to let them know you're safe. Then we'll get to work."

Liu Niannian's eyes went dark. Forget about being a walking Bodhisattva, Zhu Ning was clearly a capitalist!

Zhu Ning had always been the one being exploited. Now, she was the one exploiting others.

'Hmm, the feeling is not bad.'

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The translator has something to say:

The second arc is finished! Zhu "Capitalist in the Making" Ning saved the day once again!

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