Chapter 14 Dangerous Foreknowledge

The man appeared suddenly, and Janet didn't have time to dodge. The two were so close that Janet could even see the pores on his piggy nose. Last time, it was a fish man. This time, it was a pigman. The owner who ran the hotpot restaurant was a pig-headed butcher! Janet's helmet automatically communicated internally: It has been confirmed that Janet, the cleaner, has entered the contaminated area. The rough estimate of the contamination level is c. Please select whether to escalate to the Cleanup Center technical department. Currently, the contamination level is up to 99. The contaminated area is 5,000 cubic meters, and a contaminant survived inside. This contaminated area is growing, and the contaminant concentration continues to change, so please keep cleaners safe! Janet found this new helmet to be more brilliant compared to the previous one. The helmet could automatically detect environmental data for broadcasting. This way, she didn't have to measure the pollution concentration herself. Compared to last time, Janet could read the data this time. The contaminated area, which was two swimming pools in size, was more significant than the sewer last time. The pollution concentration was 99. However, based on Janet's experience last time, the pollution concentration would skyrocket once in the contaminated area as outsiders kept dealing with the contaminant. The helmet couldn't accurately measure the contaminated area rating if Janet didn't report it to tech support. A rough estimate was a C rating, meaning this time should be more dangerous than the last. At that moment, black lines appeared again, as if some black particles were floating in the air. Janet had seen something similar on the last train on line one. Janet looked back and realized that the stairs she had come down were gone. Behind her was pitch black, and something was writhing in the darkness. There was no turning back for her. The contaminated area opened up, and Janet was trapped again. At this point, she may have lost contact with the outside world. The pig-headed man asks, "Are you okay?" His voice was low, and he pronounced it strangely as if it wasn't coming from his throat. Janet calmly replied, "I'm here to apply for a job." She had learned from the hunters that a contaminant would maintain the same behavior as before it was contaminated. For example, the Fishman consistently tried to find the last train after becoming a contaminant. The easiest way to gain reasonable access to a contaminated area was not to force your way in but to wait for an "invitation" from the contaminant. The job posting on the roll-up door gave Janet the perfect reason for an invitation. "You want to apply for a job?" The pig-headed man scowled at her. Janet had figured out a few patterns. To do ordinary things in abnormal places. Janet: "Yes, I'd like to apply for a job as a cashier." The pig-headed man was silent. He stood in place for three minutes. He didn't speak or even blink for those three minutes. Janet guessed that he didn't want to let outsiders into the fondue restaurant, but he couldn't find a reason. After three minutes, the pig-headed man compromised, "You can come in." Sure enough, Janet summarized a contaminant's law-as long as you fit the other guy's logic, he couldn't refuse you. There was a click. The roll-up door fell behind Janet. This time, she was truly trapped. Contaminated areas were different, but they would all have some common underlying logic. If an ordinary person entered a contaminated area, the contaminant inside would try to contaminate you. If Janet wasn't wearing overalls, then the problem was simple: all it took was one contaminant spore to parasitize her, and the assimilation would be complete. The logic of the contaminant's behavior would be predictable: either the contaminant would find a way to take off and break your defenses, or it would not. Either that or it would find a way to contaminate you mentally. Janet stepped into the fondue restaurant, which was very creepy on the inside. First of all, for a fondue restaurant, it was quiet. No one was talking. There were twenty-eight tables in the lobby, and they were all full. The red oil hot pot was still boiling in the center of each table. The guests were all eating with smiles on their faces. They also ate in strange ways. Some people put their arms into the red oil hot pot without realizing it. And the food on their tables was nothing to write home about. The meat was rotting, and maggots were traveling through it. One guest, very calmly, threw the tripe into the hot pot. Then he stuffed the nearly rotting tripe into his mouth. Others had meat on the table that Janet couldn't even recognize, a dark, rotting mess that was unrecognizable as anything else. Visually, it should feel disgusting, but it was surprisingly delicious from the sense of smell. The dishes all emitted a weird aroma, more fragrant than all the hot pots Janet had ever eaten. It made people watching from the side even wonder if that stuff was delicious. She also wanted to try a bite. Janet was suddenly startled. Without realizing it, she was already standing before the hot pot and even wanted to reach out for chopsticks to taste the dish. This was mental pollution! The more everyday things were, the more people let their guard down, like eating hot pot. The system in Janet's head didn't alert her that her mental value had dropped, but even so, her behavior was affected. It was hard to imagine what would happen if Carter was here. "Boss," Janet asked. "Where do I go to work?" PigMan: "I'm not the boss; I'm Tony, the acting store manager." The boss should be sick. Tony: "Come with me." Janet followed Tony to the cash register, and he pointed to it, "You work here." Janet asked, "Starting now? Don't they have orientation here?" Tony glared at Janet, "Don't you know how to use the cash register?" Janet nodded, "I do." Tony: "Then get to work." Tony said and went into the back kitchen. The sound of chopping meat came from the back kitchen. The hot pot restaurant had few employees, and the acting manager had several jobs. From the sound of chopping meat, Janet could tell that Tony should be chopping large beef. She wanted to avoid going to the back kitchen to see what was happening. She wanted to avoid going to the back kitchen to see what kind of meat Tony was chopping. Janet was silent for a minute in front of the cash register. Luckily, the cash register was smart and not too difficult to use. She tried two buttons, and it opened. When it was open, Janet paused to try and tuck it back in. The inner compartment of the cash register drawer was full of fingers of all sizes. Fingers were carefully categorized by size and thickness, some with rings on them. The broken surface of the fingers was still bleeding, and some of the fingers were even slightly twitching. This was the money of this hot pot restaurant, which was worthy of the name of a hot pot restaurant that eats people. This was also a mental nuisance; after looking at the fingers for a long time, they would wiggle like they were alive in the drawer. Janet shoved the cashier drawer back, feeling that this hot pot restaurant was more advanced than a sewer, with a more complicated scene. No wonder it was a C-level mission. The inside of the helmet showed the latest pollution data pollution concentration 108 The cashier's position could have been more useful, as these diners ate as if they didn't need to check out. They nailed their seats and pounded away as if they couldn't finish their food. Janet watched for a while and realized something wasn't right. The diners weren't happy. They just kept smiling, which didn't mean they were glad. They were overeating, not talking, and not stopping to eat meat; their stomachs were getting bigger and bigger, like they were pregnant. Psst. Suddenly, Janet heard a faint thud, and one of the men's stomachs split open. The meat in their stomach flowed out; even then, this diner was still eating with a smile on their face. It seemed like they were trapped here by something. Janet frowned. It turned out that it wasn't the diner who was eating the hot pot. Instead, the hot pot was eating dinner. When the diner's stomach split open, a mass of crumbled and rotten meat flowed out, and instead of being dead, they were moving slowly, eating away the diner's internal organs and skin little by little. The diner stared blankly, surprisingly unresponsive. It was disgusting. She heard her system note that her spirit level had dropped by 1 If there were no survivors inside, Janet would definitely blow up the hot pot restaurant. But there were survivors inside, so Janet had to find the source of the contamination the old-fashioned way. According to the description of the muscular man at the Exalted Queen's store, the source of contamination could be the boss. But how would she get in touch with the owner? Janet decided to ask Tony in the back kitchen. Janet went AWOL and drilled into the back kitchen. It was dark back there, and Janet's helmet automatically turned on the night vision function. The whole back kitchen smelled like oil because of the hot pot restaurant that was always open. The floor was very slippery. The walls were black and yellow from the oil. The structure of the hot pot restaurant was very complicated. It consisted of a long corridor with eight rooms on both sides and a staircase leading to the basement. Janet's left should be the vegetable preparation room, which sounded like chopping meat. On the right was the freezer room, which stores some meat. The other rooms Janet needed to learn what they were for. Janet was just about to continue walking. Suddenly, a hand reached out from the darkness and precisely grabbed Janet's wrist. Janet was so frightened that she went for her gun. But alerting the pollutant would cause it to hide deeper. The hand was icy. Someone was standing silently across a cloth curtain from her, holding an axe. His other hand was already grasping Janet's wrist. "What are you doing?" It was Tony's voice. Janet took a deep breath. Her danger precognition hadn't triggered, proving it wasn't dangerous right now. "I wanted to see what I could do to help?" The excuse was perfect. There was only one waitress in the store, and with Tony in the back kitchen chopping meat alone, it seemed normal for her to offer to help. Sure enough, Tony let go. He was silent for a moment, then turned around and left. Janet didn't rush into the back kitchen. She was afraid of seeing something disgusting that would affect her play. After a while, Tony came out. He handed Janet a black trash bag, "You go take out the trash." Janet took the garbage bag, and something was moving in it. The meat inside was twitching slightly, rubbing against the plastic bag and slightly rattling. "What is this?" Janet tried to remain calm. Tony: "These are rotten meat; they're inedible." "The garbage cans are at the back door. Go out here." Tony pointed Janet to a door. It was the third door on the left. The door was not a room but a way to the back door. Eight rooms now figured out three. Janet carried the garbage bag; she pushed open the third door as instructed, walked through a three-meter-long corridor, and came to the back door without any problems. Because the entire hot pot restaurant was half embedded in the underground structure, even when she walked out of the restaurant, she didn't walk to the real ground; it was as if she were in a deep pit. The back door was the garbage can; surprisingly, there was even garbage sorting. She threw the black trash bag into the bin that said "Meat Recycling." Janet heard a short scream as she turned off the trash can. Then, the trash could fall silent. Janet stared at the dark trash can. Suddenly, she heard a faint thud. Her heart contracted suddenly, and panic suddenly spread throughout her body. The black trash could reflect a sudden burst of cold light. Someone was standing right behind her, holding an axe high in the air, standing right next to her. She didn't have time to run. In that instant, Janet saw blood spilling as the axe struck the back of her neck with such precision that it severed half of her neck. Janet's eyes widened, and her body fell forward uncontrollably. The black trash can began to shake violently as something climbed out. Janet was bracing herself to fight back when the lid of the black trash can opened, and a large number of tentacles climbed out. The tentacles rolled up Janet's body and dragged Janet into the abyss. Thud. There was another faint thud. She didn't figure out what was happening to her. Suddenly, she heard the system prompt in her head: primary talent Danger Foreknowledge triggered, 30 seconds advance danger preview has been sent. She looked back again, the trash can to reflect the pig-headed man who had not raised his axe yet. So what she had just seen was a preview of her own murder. So, this was the skill of danger precognition. She could see how she was going to be killed 30 seconds later. Janet shot the pig-headed man in the head before he raised his axe. Damn, she hated backstabbers. TIPS. Polluted Area Classification Table Level e : 300