Chapter 10 The Choice

If the observation room for some people required trepidation, fearing that they were being spied on at any moment. Then, for Janet, this place was more like a nursing home. The next day, she slept in until four in the afternoon, not realizing that the buffet area was still open when she got up so late. The cafeteria was empty, just enough so that no one was there to grab a meal from Janet. Janet walked around twice with a small tray, tasting everything like she hadn't seen food in 800 years. She walked out with the tray and was still looking for a seat when she saw Lynn. On high heels and clutching a dozen papers, the other woman flashed a standard smile when she saw Janet. "Hello, Janet." Janet was silent, for some reason, with the embarrassment of being caught by the police. "You can eat your dinner while I talk to you." Lynn motioned for Janet to sit first. Janet sat down with her plate, and Lynn sat across from her, smiling. Janet took a nibble of bread, looking particularly uncomfortable by Lynn, "So, what did you want to ask me?" "SO," Lynn opened the folder and put out a couple of documents, "Your data collection report came out." Janet nodded. Lynn said, "Are you going to read the report yourself?" Janet's sense of alienation intensified. Janet felt as if she had an incurable disease, and Lynn had come to announce her death. Janet sighed, "Go ahead." Lynn coughed softly, "Your mental value is very bright, 1200+, which is s-rank." Janet had, not quite understanding, and asked, "What value is Carter?" She needed to find a reference value. Lynn: "It was 306, but yesterday, when he entered the contaminated area, his spirit value increased; now it's around 400." Spirit levels could go up. Lynn explained, "The more you come into contact with the source of contamination, the greater the spirit value can be." Janet understood that it should be similar to raising guts. Lynn explained, "Your value is rare; currently, it is the only s-rank in sector 103." Janet frowned, feeling this wasn't good. In her survival philosophy, people who stood out excessively usually died quickly. Lynn pulled out Janet's data report and said apologetically, "But your physical stats aren't excellent." As Janet had guessed, Lynn had really come to pronounce a death sentence. Lynn placed the data report in front of Janet. "You may not live more than a year without more intervention." Janet looked down at her meal. "Oh." She thought it was something big. Lynn "???" Why was Janet out of line? Just like last time, every time she talked to Janet, half of what Lynn had prepared to say didn't work. Lynn immediately choked on the reassurance on the tip of her tongue. Lynn said, "Unfortunately, fifth-class citizens are like that." Having only a general idea of the civic hierarchy, Janet asked, "How is the hierarchy divided?" Lynn "?" She realized that Janet's general knowledge of everything could have improved. "After the apocalypse, radiation caused mass contamination and mutation of living things, and we lost 80% of our land. The Federation built a high wall to defend against the monsters outside the wall. However, resources are in short supply inside the High Wall. So we did a big screening of our citizens and categorized people into five classes based on whether they benefited the Federation." "First-class citizens are naturals, and the Federation needs to preserve their natural genes. Second-class citizens are artificial people, genetically programmed and specially bred; third-class citizens are replicants, copying high-quality genes but generally with a very low life expectancy, averaging only forty years. Fourth-class citizens are cyborgs." Lynn: "Fifth-class citizens are also known as disabled people. They all have severe genetic defects that are too expensive to treat, so most of the remnants live in the Sector 103 junkyard." Ah, that's right. Sector 103 was originally the waste disposal center for the entire Federation, and almost all of the "natives" here are defective. If they wished to live, they could use medical resources to undergo genetic modification, but the price was relatively high, so most of them chose to wait for death. Lynn was worried that reporting Janet's mental value would lead to trouble. After she reported Janet's physical data and fifth-class citizenship together. There was a delay in hearing from the First Military Region. Janet was a very good seedling, but a disabled person would have made it impossible for her to enter the military District. The military District's minimum standard for citizenship rank was third class or higher. That said, the fact that Janet had such a high spirit value as a handicapped product was incredible. Lynn: "Aren't you sad?" Janet: "I'm okay." She knew she had a low life value. It was written on the system panel. She had read some information about the original owner when she was reborn, who was handicapped, but she had limited knowledge about handicaps at that time. Janet killed the Fishman last time and activated the system panel data, showing her life value data. This further confirmed Janet's suspicion that she wouldn't live long. However, Janet had lived in the zombie world in her last life and had no idea if she would see the sun when she woke up the next day. She now knew that she still had a year to live, which meant that there was still room for maneuver. So she's not worried at all. Janet had just added 5 points to her life value yesterday. In contrast, Janet was more concerned about another thing. Why did the original owner go to the garbage room alone on an acid rain-day? Why did she wake up with a severe abdominal injury and a broken piece of iron on her stomach? What the hell was trying to kill her? And who was the original owner supposed to meet? A reasonable guess would be that the original owner knew she wouldn't live much longer and was actively trying to save herself and that the person she met with was someone she thought could "save" her. Instead of saving her, they killed her. But now that Lynn says she's got an "S" rating, is that why she has to die? Janet was lost in thought. Lynn didn't know what Janet was thinking, drew out another contract, and said, "I reported your situation as it is. I was expecting the military District to come over and pick you up, but they didn't make a move, so you're still with us at the 103rd District Cleaning Center." Janet chewed on her steak and listened to Lynn continue, "But after I reported you, many people came to snatch you up." "Robbers," Janet asked. "Yes," Lynn said. "Your helmet has video capabilities, and the scene of you killing the pollutant was recorded. The video is now being circulated internally." Janet "......" That's a little shameful. "The Operations and Cleanup Departments are trying to win you over. Combat is the hunters, and Cleanup is the cleaners." Lynn smiled, which was good news for Janet. She pushed the two contracts in front of Janet, "You can choose for yourself which department you want to enter." Janet, this was an offer from two companies at the same time. To be a hunter who fought monsters or a cleaner who swept up garbage As an assistant, Lynn understood the doorway better: "From my perspective, hunters are paid more, and you can choose more genetic potions. Our cleaning center medical department gene potion is cheaper than outside, so you can inject it at the center." In Janet's case, if she wanted to survive, she had to inject genetic potions or choose to become a reformed human. Janet could even upload her consciousness to the cloud and choose a prosthetic body to use for mobility if she really wanted to survive. But this option was too costly, with a sizeable annual cloud server fee. Lynn relieved Janet and suddenly said, "There are actually sixth-class citizens." "Sixth class," says Janet, thinking she's already in the lowest class. Lynn explained, "The deeper people are exposed to the source of contamination, the more likely they are to have an awakening or a mutation." Awakening mutation was also known as superpowers. This matched the direction of mutation and the degree of alienation on Janet's system panel. Lynn said, "Sixth-class citizens are sort of a fusion with a contaminant, where they can use the contaminant's abilities, or, in other words, they are contaminants who maintain their sanity." They had solid personal abilities but a low civic rank because they could lose their sanity at any time. Janet asked, "Are the chances of that being high?" Lynn: "It depends on the physicality of the individual." Janet "...." So, this was the same as winning the lottery. Lynn said seriously, "There's a chance you could develop a mutation." The higher the spiritual value, the more likely people were to have the mutation phenomenon because the higher people's spiritual value, the higher the probability that they would remain sane after being contaminated. Although the military District gave up on Janet, all the core people in District 103 felt that Janet would have great potential. Lynn said, "Quite a few of us at the center are sixth-class citizens; you can get to know them sometime." Janet nodded thoughtfully. Lynn: "My word is brought to you; your data collection is complete, and you can leave whenever and wherever you like. Next, you go home and think about which department you want to join." Lynn pushed Janet a paper bag and a box. "Inside this is your employee bracelet and the onboarding guide. Just follow the steps and do it yourself. Someone will come and pick up your contract after you've gone through the process." Lynn stood up and casually said, "Your bonus and commission for contaminant hunting have been approved. Remember to check it." Janet opened her sub-brain, and soon, the latest payroll popped up. Federal Cleanup Center payroll base salary of 5000EAC was credited to your account. Accumulated sheltering of contaminated spores, 145 pieces, mission rating d, 500EAC per spore, total 72500EAC, was credited to your account. Having accumulated 26 contaminant kills, we bulldozed a level D contaminated area. After evaluating the contaminants at 20,000 EAC each and the level D contaminated area at 500,000 EAC, two people were involved in the battle, and Janet, the cleaner, and Carter, the cleaner, each received a paycheck of 510,000 EAC. This cleanup squad completed the mission across all levels and was rewarded 50,000 EAC by the center. The primary responsibility for this task was a data center assessment error, which is a high-hazard operation. The center awarded 50,000 EAC. Data collection and entry counts as attendance pay, totaling 15,000 EAC. The total payroll paid is 702,500 EAC. Current account balance 703,200EAC. Overnight, she turned over a rich woman. Janet recounted her account balance again to make sure she suddenly had 700,000 EAC in her account. A day ago, she was a poor woman with only 700 EAC in her account who couldn't even pay her rent. She had slept on it, and her account balance had multiplied hundreds of times. The only question was whether to choose the cleanup or combat departments. Did she choose a well-paying job or a better-paying job? Janet had managed to keep a shred of sanity, and there was one question she had to ask before she officially signed her contract and moved on. Lynn had already packed up her documents and was ready to leave. Janet asked, "Can I ask you a question?" She had been curious for a long time. Since Lynn had talked to Janet, Janet had always been a passive listener and rarely asked her questions. Lynn smiled politely as Janet asked, "How in the world did I get this job?" She remembered that she was screened and pushed through the website when looking for a job. The first time she met with Lynn, she did little more than ask her two questions and then let her go on her "internship." Janet found this process very strange. First, it's a very high-paying job. She had already experienced it firsthand. Secondly, there was evident a certain amount of secrecy surrounding the contaminant's work. If anyone could sign up and go on a "day trip" to a contaminant without inspection, the department would have been in chaos. The department would have been a mess. But Janet searched the Internet before she arrived, and more information about the cleaning center needed to be provided. Outsiders thought it was a garbage disposal company. Janet always felt that someone had "chosen" the offer for her. On her first day at work, Janet encountered an error in rating contaminated areas, although Lynn didn't have the slightest explanation for it. Although Lynn didn't have any explanation for this, Janet could feel that this kind of pollution area rating error should be scarce. Such a small probability of being encountered by herself was not a coincidence in any way. Lynn's posture of holding the file stopped for a moment; she had almost walked out of the cafeteria, and the person was standing at the junction of the shadows, half shrouded in shadows and half in sunlight. She was silent over the question. Janet thought she'd asked something unimaginable. Lynn ruffled the shreds of hair around her ears, and her navy blue studs twinkled in the sunlight. After a while, Lynn said, " Big data picked you." Janet "Big Data?" Her world also had big data, and before zombies overran it, the extent of its development was nothing more than pushing some goods to stimulate you to shop. Anything more serious would be killing people. Janet could hardly imagine the extent of extensive data development in the wasteland era. Lynn smiled, "This big data tool is called Prometheus. It is mainly responsible for processing the center data as well as handling everyone's recruitment." Janet didn't say anything. "All the Area 103 Cleaning Center employees come in through its screening." Lynn looked at Janet fixedly, "Including me and you."