Chapter 17 The Survivor

Janet crouched down. A man was standing behind her, pointing a gun at the back of her head. "Are you from the Cleaning Center?" The young girl's voice recognized Janet's uniform. She was human, and this could be the target of her own Mission. The young girl looked to take advantage of the house's natural conditions, projecting herself behind the incubation bins and then hiding in the shadows. As long as the person coming in had a slight mental contamination, she could go crazy inside the house by herself. Janet: "Yes." Little girl: "Are you here to save me?" Janet: " Maybe." She needed to find out who this person was and if it was the survivor she was trying to save. The gun-toting girl was silent for a while. The bell kept echoing in the hallway, leaving her little time. She couldn't take any more chances. "How do you prove you're not a contaminant?" she asked the crucial question. At that moment, Janet backhanded her hand, disarming the gun cleanly and kicking it out simultaneously. "Ah!" The young girl screamed. Her abdomen felt like a boulder was hitting it, and her whole body slammed into the shelves behind her. The pill bottles on it crackled all over her. Janet frowned when she heard her scream and instantly ruled, rookie. Before the young girl could react, Janet's gun was already pointed at her brow. Click. Janet cocked the gun; the way she held it was practically etched into the marrow of her bones, and firing could be done without hesitation. "I'm human!" She immediately blurted out. The girl was wearing a plain white protective suit customized with a cute cat print. If Janet's outfit looked like a robber in a biker suit, the girl in front of her looked like a doll. Janet learned that this kind of protective clothing, designed by well-known designers, could not only protect against pollution but also take into account aesthetics. This suit would cost at least 10 million EAC to start with. All in all, this girl was rich. "Who are you?" Janet pointed a gun at her. "Nora," the young girl raised her hand and spoke fast, "I'm the good guy." Janet didn't dare believe that so easily. Anyone who showed up in a contaminated area was most likely a contaminant. Nora had suspected Janet earlier, and now Janet suspects her. Janet asked, "How long have you been here?" Nora: "I don't know. I feel like days have passed." Janet changed her question to "When did you come in?" Nora: "October 3rd, 80th year of the new calendar, at 11:45." Janet understood. The adequate time of the mission was 6 hours. According to the latest data, the limit for an ordinary person to stay in a contaminated area is 6 hours, and after 6 hours, they would be brain dead. Nora had triggered some strange mechanism after entering the contaminated area. A gray "grave post" appeared in the Clean Center forum. Nora was the one the system asked her to save. Nora's spirit level should be high. Although it's been an hour since she came in, she seems lucid. At least she's better than Carter. Why did the system ask Janet to save her, though? Janet put away her gun. This little girl must be rich. Janet made a mental judgment. Janet threw the gun back to Nora. "I came in an hour after you." "An hour," Nora blushed, "I can't believe I came in an hour already. Shit! I'm starting to get a headache." "Don't believe anything I say later. I could get you killed." The girl knew a lot about contaminant knowledge. Nora knew that she had to wrap up all her skin to get into the contaminated area, and she also knew that if she stayed long enough, she would encounter mental contamination. "Calm down." Janet cautioned. The more emotionally unstable she was, the easier it was to get contaminated. Nora took a deep breath. There wasn't much time left for her. She checked her protective suit. Luckily, there were no holes. She would have been utterly hopeless if the contaminating spores had parasitized her. "Are you a cleaner?" Nora asked, "Why did the cleanup center send the trash sweeper out to save the day?" Janet "......." Nora felt quite offended even after that and asked, "What about the hunter? When is he coming to rescue us?" Janet "......" This Nora could have been more likable. Janet asked, "What are you doing in a contaminated area?" "Well," Nora hesitated for a moment, "I came to see my sister-in-law." "Auntie?" Janet asked, "How old are you?" Nora: "I'm nineteen and in graduate school right now. How old are you?" "......" Janet: "I'm your age." They were both the same age. The speed of everything in the wasteland world was accelerated. Human learning time was constantly compressed. People could graduate from college at 18. If Janet's family had money, she'd be in grad school by now. Nora: "What's your name?" "Janet," Janet asked, not having time for small talk, "Why did you come here to see your sister-in-law?" Nora looked like a rich person. So, her sister-in-law should be an aristocrat, too. Nora hesitated, "My sister-in-law is actually my family's gardener. I didn't have any friends when I was young, so I used to go to her to play. When I was young, the adults in my family wouldn't let me have contact with my sister-in-law. It was only after I grew up that I realized she might have been mentally contaminated decades ago." "I looked through her diary and found that she used to especially like coming to this hot pot restaurant. My sister-in-law has a burn scar on her arm." Nora gestured at herself to show how large the burn was. "My sister-in-law said she burned it while eating a hot pot before. But she doesn't go to the hospital for treatment either. She thinks scars are a gift. And she doesn't hate it at all when she talks about hot pot restaurants. Instead, she's especially excited and eager. So I wanted to come and see how good the hot pot here really is." Janet finally understood. Back then, the customers who ate the meat must have all been contaminated. Although these people might look normal most of the time after being mentally contaminated, and they could do their gardening jobs normally, they would occasionally act out of character. Nora sensed the gardeners' abnormality and wanted to try it out at this fondue restaurant. Nora may be hiding part of the message. Janet guessed that Nora's visit to her sister-in-law was secondary to the adventure. Rich kids tended to like exciting adventures. Janet: "So, did you find your sister-in-law?" Nora: "No, there was no sister-in-law among those people." Janet: "How did you get in?" "Employee application," Nora explained. "Tony asked me what I was doing here. I said I was applying for a job as a dishwasher." Janet: "So this room was the first door you opened?" Nora: "Yeah, I came into this room and didn't go out. Then I saw Tony killing people, and I was afraid to go out." Janet "......" Maybe it was Nora's luck. The owner used this room to keep drugs in, so Tony didn't dare to come into this room quickly. Nora continued, "I couldn't feel time after I came in. But the people here ring a bell for a meeting every once in a while, and each bell lasts for a long time. After this, everyone in the store goes into the basement. I found a hole in this room. I saw that they would kneel and pray to the owner, and then they would cut off the owner's flesh, bring it to the back kitchen to be processed, and then take it to shabu-shabu." "I looked quite disgusted at first. But later on, I couldn't feel disgusted anymore; I just wanted to escape. The best time to escape is when they go into the basement." "I observed this several times. I was going to take the opportunity to run out this time when I heard your voice." Janet made too much noise. The sound of her shooting shocked Nora, who was thinking that a living person had come in from the contaminated area. Nora thought that Janet was a rescuer sent from the cleaning center. But on the one hand, she suspected Janet of being a contaminant, so she didn't dare show herself. Nora explained all her information, and Janet briefed her on the clues she knew. Nora's eyes widened in fear. "So, is that the contaminant you're looking for lying in the hospital bed down there?" Nora asked. Janet opened her mouth and was just about to answer. That's when the bell suddenly stopped, and the cutting session was over. The people in the basement lined up to return to the fondue restaurant. Footsteps were heard in the hallway as guests and employees came up. Janet heard the sound of Pigman dragging his axe and walking again, and Tony was still trying to figure out how to get into the girls' dormitory. He was even grumpier than before, and the axe was smashing the door to the room to pieces. Indeed, it would take Tony only a short time to find the room. Not only that, but the other diners in the store began patrolling the hallways. They all had the same goal. That was to find the alien. Nora blushed miserably and whispered, "What do we do next?" Janet sighed. She could use the Rotten Fish Head's acceleration function to escape alone, but if she did that, Nora would be in danger. Janet: "I'll kill the contaminant." "How are you going to kill him?" Nora was very nervous. They could not make it through the corridors and into the basement without a problem; there were too many contaminants. And Nora needed to trust Janet's abilities. "We don't have to go through the hallway," Janet said. "We can find a shortcut," Janet said, lowering her head. It should be empty down here. You back up now." Nora "What?" She didn't understand what Janet was saying. Janet pulled a device out of her backpack and placed it on the ground. Boom !!!! Nora was dumbfounded as Janet blew the floor up. 1:30 AM. The manor was lit up, and the patrol searched it twice. "I'm sorry, sir. We still haven't found the lady." The patrol leader's cold sweat ran down his back. The man in front of him wore a black suit, pursed his lips, and was very serious. He had a crucial meeting today. And he didn't expect Nora to have an accident at this time. But he didn't have time to deal with that. He had to meet with the directors of Forever Pharmaceuticals today. "Nora has always been curious about contaminants. Could she have gotten into a contaminated area?" The man realized that the protective suits in the house had disappeared and that a gun was missing from the armory. So Nora must have gone to find the contaminant. Every second longer in the contaminated area was a greater danger. It has now been over four hours since the lady disappeared. The man said, "Go find Bart. Tell him to notify security and the cleanup center so they can assist us in finding Nora." "You go post another reward. Don't reveal her identity. If anyone can find her, they can offer a reward of one million EAC." "Just one million EAC?" This amount was too small. No wonder people said that this man didn't care much about the lady, and it was true. "Stupid." He roared. Immediately after that, the man got into the flying car. After the man left, the butler just reacted. If the bounty were too high, Nora's identity would be exposed. Once Nora's identity was known, Nora would be in danger.