Chapter 60: Shadows

Chapter 60: Shadows

Zhu Ning was taken back to the Cleaning Center.

They were brought back in batches to prevent them from talking to each other, and the eight employees would later have to submit individual mission reports.

The Cleaning Center would review the eight reports, cross-referencing them to immediately spot any discrepancies.

Zhu Ning wasn't worried about anything going wrong, but she was a bit concerned about Li Nianchuan. This little unlucky guy only got such a big mission after being connected to the chip, and now that the mission was over, he might suffer severe aftereffects.

Moreover, Zhu Ning had another concern: Where was Bao Ruiming? Did the rescue team find him?

If they did, what did they plan to do with him?

It seemed they had no intention of telling her.

She had quite a few things to do next. The procedure was to first undergo data collection in the observation room, and then, if the data was fine, she would be interrogated.

On the 66th floor of the Cleaning Center.

Zhu Ning had been here once before, and as expected, she was greeted by a doctor in a white coat when the elevator doors opened.

"Miss Zhu, we meet again."

Indeed, familiarity breeds contempt; Zhu Ning was much more accustomed to it this time. "Still the A-side observation room?"

Doctor: "This time it's the B-side."

Last time, Zhu Ning was like a fearless calf, but now she seemed to understand this department a bit better.

The observation room is divided into A and B sides. What does the B side mean? Is it for suspected contaminated individuals?

Just like last time, she was fitted with data collection devices, but there were more this time.

Devices were attached to her hands, feet, temples, chest, and abdomen.

The doctor explained, "Because we suspect you've been infected, the data collection process is more complex."

Alright, Zhu Ning had no grounds for questioning.

However, her long-held dream of accessing the medical resources of the Cleaning Center seemed about to come true.

Zhu Ning: "By the way, my head really hurts."

She said it very directly, and sure enough, the doctor frowned. As an important asset to the Cleaning Center, everyone generally paid close attention to her.

"How does it hurt?" the doctor asked.

Zhu Ning: "It feels like a needle is pricking me."

Ever since she overused her metal manipulation skill last time, she had felt something was off with her brain, and the mental healing agent didn't help much.

She often suddenly felt intense pain, which would quickly ease up. Especially since Prometheus entered her mind, she experienced intermittent stabs of pain.

The technology in the wasteland world developed rapidly, and the medical resources of the Cleaning Center were certainly more advanced. Since she was here, she had to take advantage of these resources.

Perhaps they could discover something unusual.

The doctor, completely unaware of being targeted, dutifully said, "Our observation room can't perform curative work; it's generally used for observation and recuperation."

Zhu Ning nodded, knowing from the style of the observation room that the buffet area was open all day, and soothing music played continuously.

It looked like a psychiatric hospital.

The doctor: "Are you in pain right now?"

He seemed a bit at a loss. He should send Zhu Ning to the observation room for observation, but if her condition was urgent, he might need to send her to the medical department first.

Zhu Ning: "Not right now, I'm fine. I'm tough, let's start the data collection."

Doctor: "..."

They say this girl is a bit difficult to deal with, but upon contact, she seemed particularly understanding?

Doctor: "Alright, after everything is done, we'll send you to Dr. Fu for a consultation."

Zhu Ning had no questions and walked into the observation room.

It was a huge bedroom, but unlike the warm and healing style of her previous visit, this one had iron pillars around the perimeter, emitting a faint red light, enveloping the entire room.

Like a cage.

It was probably to prevent people from mutating into contaminants.

If Zhu Ning really mutated, this thing would lock onto her and cut her into pieces with lasers in an instant.

Zhu Ning no longer had the right to eat at the buffet. All meals would be delivered through a small window, and she would have to stay here for observation until they released her.

Zhu Ning didn't feel anything; this was a normal procedure. The doctor told her to rest inside.

While resting, the devices would automatically collect data.

The doctor instructed her to rest, and Zhu Ning followed his advice, falling asleep immediately.

After leaving the aquarium, there was no safer place than the observation room of the Cleaning Center. Even if the people from Yongsheng Pharmaceutical wanted to kill her, they couldn't do it under so many watchful eyes.

She really needed sleep. Three minutes after closing her eyes, she was already fast asleep.

Research Lab.

"Did she take sleeping pills or something?" Researcher Fu Ming muttered under his breath. "She fell asleep so quickly."

Coming out of the contaminated area and falling asleep in three minutes—her heart was really too carefree.

Compared to the other seven people who came out of the contaminated area, except for Chu Ling, who had no energy left and was forced into sleep, the others wouldn’t dare to sleep even in a safe environment.

That was the normal reaction after coming out of the contaminated area.

Every time Zhu Ning came to the observation room, she really did come to sleep, which made Fu Ming a bit puzzled, "We seem like animal caretakers; she’s a koala."

The caretakers responsible for koalas probably watch them sleep every day, while Zhu Ning does nothing but sleep and eat.

Moreover, in this era when most people have sleep disorders, her sleep quality is astonishingly good, as if she’s not being observed in the observation room but has returned home.

In her past life, she must have been a koala.

Qi Yunxiang: "Maybe this is her ability?"

Fu Ming chuckled dryly: "Hahaha, not funny at all."

Fu Ming operated the equipment, now very accustomed to it, with Fang Ying standing behind them to monitor the data.

Among so many employees, Fang Ying only monitored Zhu Ning's data.

Fang Ying rushed over directly after completing her mission at the Mechanical Oceanarium. She tidied her hair, wearing a professional suit, looking impeccable, showing no signs of having just participated in a B-level area mission.

It was said that this time she came on Xuan Qing’s orders.

"How is it?" Fang Ying asked.

Qi Yunxiang remained calm as usual, "No fluctuations in mental energy, very stable."

The Inspection Department had also reported the same previously.

No fluctuations, still no fluctuations after coming out of the B-level contaminated area—truly worthy of her 1200 mental energy value.

Fang Ying: "Minister Xuan requires us to test Zhu Ning’s mental energy again."

Fu Ming: "Why?"

Mental energy values were rarely tested repeatedly; their last test was less than a month ago.

Fang Ying: "Minister Xuan suspects that Zhu Ning’s mental energy might have increased after coming out of the B-level contaminated area."

Fu Ming muttered under his breath, "This thing doesn’t just increase at will."

Many people entering the contaminated area would see an increase in mental energy, such as Li Nianchuan, but that usually happened to those with lower mental energy values.

It’s like a poor student suddenly working hard to get into college; they find it easier to go from thirty points to sixty, but much harder to go from sixty to eighty.

And going from ninety to a hundred requires unimaginable effort.

Qi Yunxiang didn’t question it: "Alright."

After operating for about five minutes, Qi Yunxiang reported the number, "I’m reading 1270 here."

Fu Ming checked the helmet data, "I’m reading 1300 here. Did it really increase again?"

Zhu Ning went on two missions, and her mental energy value is still rising?

Is she some kind of monster?

Although the increase seems small, it’s already quite remarkable. If she breaks 1400, it opens up another possibility.

Once she reaches 1400, the First Military Region won’t care about her defective status and will make an exception to recruit her.

Fang Ying wasn’t surprised, asking, "Any signs of contamination?"

Qi Yunxiang shook his head, "None, it’s too stable."

Stable to an unbelievable degree, but that’s the characteristic of S-level mental energy. They don’t have many S-level samples, so it’s hard to tell if Zhu Ning is within the norm for S-level.

Fang Ying glanced at the large screen where Zhu Ning was sound asleep and asked another question, "Does she have any abilities?"

This was a question Xuan Qing was very concerned about.

This time, Qi Yunxiang frowned. The mental energy of ability users is also very stable.

Ability users themselves are rational pollutants; their mental energy remains stable during testing.

Qi Yunxiang: "You know, our tests for ability users aren’t very precise."

Setting up a security checkpoint and making pollutants line up to pass through can easily detect who is a pollutant. This is the basis for maintaining the current relatively peaceful life after radiation.

However, ability users are different. Their mental energy is stable, and they can hide all traces if they want to.

Only extremely precise tests can reveal the slightest differences.

Because ability users can’t always maintain the same state as ordinary people, their test data will sometimes show a “twitch,” appearing as a tiny fluctuation on the data panel.

The Research and Development Department’s instruments are responsible for detecting whether these tiny fluctuations are errors or something else.

But since Fang Ying was already asking, Qi Yunxiang, as a subordinate, could only try his best to help verify this guess.

After about half an hour, Qi Yunxiang and Fu Ming’s eyes were strained. Conducting tests actually consumes a lot of mental energy.

"No," Qi Yunxiang sighed, "There’s really no abnormality. From the data alone, we can’t tell if she’s an ability user."

Fang Ying fell silent.

Throughout the mission, Zhu Ning never used any supernatural abilities, but Xuan Qing seemed certain that Zhu Ning must have them.

Although Fang Ying didn't know why Xuan Qing was so sure, this probably wasn't the answer Xuan Qing wanted to hear.

Fang Ying asked, "What's wrong with her head?"

She remembered that Zhu Ning had said her head hurt earlier.

If all the previous questions were commands from Xuan Qing, then this one was something Fang Ying genuinely wanted to know.

"Let me check." Qi Yunxiang switched the page, and now the large screen displayed a brain scan of Zhu Ning.

When magnified to a certain extent, the human brain can look somewhat terrifying, with its intricate maze-like structure full of grooves and folds.

Even with the rapid advancement of technology, they still couldn't claim to fully understand the human brain, the most complex organ in the body.

The principle of data collection for the brain involves scanning the brain and then transmitting the images to the screen.

As the data transmission became faster, each new scan would overlay the previous one.

The screen flickered continuously, and staring at it for too long could cause eye strain, not to mention that the work was tedious and boring.

Both Fu Ming and Qi Yunxiang were feeling tired; even researchers were overwhelmed by the high-intensity workload, as staring at the rapidly flashing brain scans for a long time felt like a form of mental pollution.

Fu Ming instinctively rubbed his eyes.

Qi Yunxiang propped her chin up and yawned.

Fang Ying's eyes felt dry, and she blinked a few times.

Just as they were feeling exhausted,

a small, grain-sized cubic shadow appeared at the center of Zhu Ning's brain scan on the screen.