Chapter 129: The Company You Can’t Escape (Part 7)

Chapter 129: The Inescapable Company (Part Seven)

Zhu Ning seemed to have punctured the ceiling's main artery, as blood rained down, staining the pure white lambs crimson.

Zhu Ning stood in the center, wearing a black protective suit, with a smile painted on her face by the blood.

After watching so many videos of demon hunters in action, the advanced technique she learned was brute force. This time, with Xu Meng covering for her outside, she didn't even bring cleaning tools; her entire backpack was filled with standard weapons.

The reaction of these sheep-headed men was also quite peculiar. They stood frozen in place, like glitched NPCs. Bright took out his communication device, "Hello, Security, another employee has gone crazy, send someone over quickly!"

Huh? Again?

It seemed that Zhu Ning wasn't the only one who had chosen to take down the company; there were predecessors who had done this before, and they even had their own response system.

What Zhu Ning did, though outrageous, actually made sense within the logic of this contaminated area. Indeed, it was quite twisted.

Zhu Ning: "Those who don't want to participate in this performance evaluation can leave."

Though they were all contaminants, Zhu Ning didn't want to increase her workload.

Bang!

Bright fired at Zhu Ning, but the bullet didn't penetrate her helmet; it stopped a meter in front of her.

This shouldn't even count as a mini-boss, really quite clumsy. Zhu Ning: "Don't be afraid, I won't kill you. I still need you to give me an award."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bright fired several shots in succession until he ran out of bullets, not even touching a single hair on Zhu Ning. Hearing this, he shouted, "Whoever kills Paper Box gets first place in the annual performance evaluation."

Zhu Ning: "..."

She didn't care for such rewards; the annual performance evaluation was too distant for her. When faced with such incentives, she usually chose to slack off.

But just because Zhu Ning didn't care for the reward didn't mean others wouldn't. Bright still had a microphone, and his words, mixed with static, instantly spread throughout the meeting room.

The other blood-stained sheep-headed men seemed to be activated all at once, their inner wolf-like nature triggered. They lunged at Zhu Ning upon hearing this, using whatever they could find—some moved chairs, some pulled out craft knives, and some opened their mouths wide, ready to bite.

Bright had already fled through the back door.

Zhu Ning clicked her tongue, was it worth it for the year-end bonus?

In the dentist's office, Zhu Ning had encountered human wave tactics before, but those people at least had some fighting ability. In contrast, the sheep-headed men who spent most of their time sitting in offices were like weaklings.

But numbers mattered; over a hundred people appearing simultaneously was quite troublesome.

She didn't even bother using her gun, to save her ammunition, and also because she didn't want to kill the sheep-headed men—they were colleagues after all. Zhu Ning smiled.

...

When Zhu Ning emerged from the meeting room, the office area was eerily quiet. She hadn't heard the sound of the main door opening, which was far from the meeting room, indicating that Bright might still be around.

The only hiding spots in this area were under the desks. Zhu Ning searched each one, and from the perspective of the sheep-headed men, she must have looked like a psychopath.

Those hiding under the desks tried to ambush her, but each attempt was easily kicked away by Zhu Ning.

Zhu Ning slowly approached a desk, bent down, and saw a cardboard box underneath.

The box was hugging its knees, curled up under the desk, muttering to itself.

This scene was familiar to Zhu Ning. The box looked up, indeed wearing black glasses, and showed a look of terror upon seeing her.

At first, the box didn't dare to look, only noticing someone walking in the office area. As Zhu Ning got closer, she held a pair of scissors and charged at her.

Bang—

Zhu Ning sidestepped, and the box was kicked hard in the back, collapsing against the opposite wall.

So the box Zhu Ning saw earlier referred to this? Could she really see the "future"?

For the first time, what happened in the future intersected with what was happening now.

Indeed, this contaminated area was very strange. An S-class contaminated area was definitely not simple, proving that the resentment of the person who collapsed here was very deep, with mental power reaching S-class. What exactly happened at the source of contamination?

Moreover, Zhu Ning had a feeling that this contaminated area wasn't trying to stop her from finding the truth but rather attempting to make her relive it.

Bang!

Someone tried to sneak attack her from behind with an axe, but was kicked away by Zhu Ning.

She picked up the axe from the ground; it was quite useful, having used it before during the fishman incident.

Zhu Ning wielded the fire axe and continued her search, finally finding Bright in the storage room. He hadn't managed to escape, his fat belly stuck between the cabinets. Upon seeing Zhu Ning, he was terrified.

"Bright," Zhu Ning smiled, "Why aren't you being good?"

Bright trembled all over, and Zhu Ning grabbed him by the collar, dragging him out like a small chick.

When she pulled him out, Bright didn't dare to look around, seeing the sheep-headed men sprawled on the ground in various positions.

Zhu Ning hadn't fired many shots, mostly kicking them away.

Were the contaminants alive? Zhu Ning had never dared to define them as such. They existed following a grudge, with their own logic.

Zhu Ning dragged Bright by the neck into the meeting room.

Compared to the outside, the meeting room was much more terrifying. Due to the shot Zhu Ning fired at the ceiling, the entire room was drenched in blood.

Monday, a terrifying workday.

Zhu Ning threw the light onto the podium and said impatiently, "Award presentation."

"Award... award presentation?" Light stuttered.

Zhu Ning: "I told you to present the awards."

In the meeting room, the only ones still able to move were Zhu Ning and Light; there were no other competitors.

Light stumbled to his feet and shakily stood before the microphone, "Today, today is the weekly performance evaluation meeting of the Mechanical Design Department..."

Light was too nervous; he had never experienced such a terrifying evaluation meeting, "The first place will receive a prize of two hundred thousand yuan. Congratulations to Toilet Paper for winning this week's performance evaluation."

After Light finished speaking, no one clapped. The only sound in the meeting room was the dripping blood from the ceiling.

Light found the trophy and certificate on the podium and shoved them into Zhu Ning's hands all at once.

So smooth.

Smoother than Zhu Ning had imagined. This contaminated area behaved strangely, suggesting that even with her outrageous actions, she hadn't crossed the contamination source's line.

She was still doing normal things.

An employee going crazy at work was quite normal.

Zhu Ning: "Thank you, Light."

Light felt like vomiting when he heard these words. He couldn't help but gag, feeling that Zhu Ning was threatening him.

The first thing Zhu Ning did with the certificate was to compare it with the note she found on a corpse. It really matched the bottom right corner of the certificate.

Why did "Zhu Ning" write this on the certificate? Was it to tell herself that even an outstanding employee could die?

Or to ensure that Zhu Ning would get this certificate?

Regardless, Zhu Ning had completed the system task. She hoped that by becoming an outstanding employee, she could break the employee code and go to the top floor.

Unconvinced, Zhu Ning took Light's access card and ID badge before leaving.

The contaminated area was too large; the contamination source might not even be in this department.

Zhu Ning originally wanted to go straight to the top floor but paused before leaving. She walked to Hope's office.

Hope was already gone, more cautious now. He probably ran away as soon as he heard the gunshots. Hope's office was empty.

As a department assistant, his office must have contained more information.

Zhu Ning began to browse through the employee files. All the resumes were from highly educated individuals, starting from master's degrees, with Ph.D.s everywhere.

Zhu Ning casually flipped through the resumes but didn't find any useful information. However, she memorized each one for future reference.

She placed the axe on the desk, intending to sit on it but thought better of it, considering it might have been someone's body. She then thought about leaning against the wall, but realized the walls were also employees.

In the end, Zhu Ning stood stiffly on the ground, feeling uncomfortable all over.

On the bookshelf, Zhu Ning found a special file titled "Special Incident Handling."

Special incidents?

Combined with Light's shout about another person going crazy, it proved that this wasn't the first time such an incident had occurred, which explained why Hope ran faster than anyone else.

Zhu Ning opened the file. If the office area was already bloody enough after her earlier chaos, this file was even more hellish.

Employee No. 1, codename Mirror, New Era Year 52, accident during work.

Employee No. 2, codename Pen, New Era Year 56, accident during work.

Employee No. 3, codename Ruler, New Era Year 57, accident during work.

...

Zhu Ning flipped through the file and found eighteen victims, but the causes of death were very vague, all described as accidents without specific details.

There were attached inspection reports below, no panoramic photos, just close-ups of scattered pieces of flesh.

One person's jaw had been torn off, leaving only a bloody bone stump.

Zhu Ning, who had seen many corpses, couldn't figure out what had happened to them.

What kind of things were these?

So many people died in this company, and no one noticed?

Below were compensation plans. For deceased employees, the compensation was around three million yuan. Zhu Ning thought this amount was small, but most families signed agreements and settled.

There was one survivor named Wang Qinxi, receiving free medical care at a Hengsheng Machinery Company-affiliated medical institution. There were many photos of her during treatment, with flowers arranged beside her, likely intended for publicity.

Promoting the company's humanitarian care, assuring that they would support employees for life even if they were injured.

It was unknown whether these promotional images were used later.

Wang Qinxi was the only survivor. Was she still in the contaminated area?

Zhu Ning didn't understand this document.

Mainly, a mechanical design department focused on drawing, so how could they come into contact with dangerous operations? Did they need to conduct on-site inspections? Or observe in the workshop?

Zhu Ning thought of the storage freezer downstairs. What was that place used for?

Indeed, the map of this company was vast, and she needed to continue exploring.

Just as Zhu Ning closed the file, she heard a bang at the door, causing her body to stiffen.

Did Light call the security team just now?