Chapter 5: Class B Yellow, Shopping Mall (5)

Xu Yiliu knew she had reached the broadcast room.

It was not just because the security guard had stopped, but also because the maddening hallucinations that had plagued her since earlier had finally dissipated, leaving only a single chair in the boundless darkness.

The chair slowly turned, revealing the face she was most familiar with—her grandmother, Yang Juming.

The arm Xu Yiliu had been clutching suddenly vanished, the weight of the sunglasses on her nose disappeared, and the clothes she wore became perfectly intact. It seemed she was now completely isolated from the outside world.

She said with disdain, "A truly vulgar tactic."

Yang Juming smiled and said, "Niuniu, it is not my tactic that is vulgar, but that there is something wrong with you."

Xu Yiliu replied coldly, "Do not use her face."

Yang Juming said gently, "How can you be so sure I am fake? This world is so wondrous, this place so bizarre, and this grandmother so real, is she not?"

The habit of using parallel sentence structures was exactly the same. Xu Yiliu remained unmoved.

Yang Juming sighed, a mix of heartbreak and anger showing on her face: "You have grown so much, and yet they have raised you to be like this... Niuniu, do you know? Those hallucinations are exactly what everyone wants and desires most. Never before has anyone been as indifferent as you while trapped in them."

She waved her aged hand gently, and a smoke-like scene appeared before them: "Some crave health, some yearn for familial love, some are trapped in a painful past, some only want to lie flat, and others desire peace above all else... In this life, it is impossible to be without desires, and you are no exception."

Yang Juming hit the nail on the head: "It is because your heart died long ago."

She looked at Xu Yiliu with sorrow: "Niuniu, are you truly that disappointed in them?"

Xu Yiliu said calmly, " 'Those trapped in hallucinations'? The pollutants in each mission area should not be shared. It seems that before us, other hosts have accepted this task. You showed me 12 people; does that mean at least six identical missions have already been carried out before ours?"

Yang Juming sighed again: "To think you are still dwelling on such things."

Xu Yiliu’s gaze swept across her neck: "Killing you should be what they call 'cleaning,' right?"

Yang Juming looked at her helplessly: "Since you are so vigilant, are you not afraid that you cannot hurt me at all, or that your current words and actions are not isolated from the outside world, and will draw the attention of those things?"

Xu Yiliu glanced at her data panel and said, "It is simple. A cleaner’s duty is to tidy up and sweep away dirty things. If the purpose of the mission is not to kill the cleaner, then no matter how difficult it is, as a cleaner, there must be a glimmer of survival."

She continued, "For instance, if the monster outside belongs to the category of pollutants, even if it is as powerful as a cheat, the cleaner must be able to inflict physical damage on it. And you, you belong to mental pollution; it is impossible that you are the only one outputting power."

"Cleaners may not have mental offensive means, but there must be a counter-attack mechanism belonging to them. If mental pollution cannot be caught or touched, then a source of pollution must exist. I believe that as long as the cleaner finds the location of the pollution source, the mission area will surely provide her with a corresponding opportunity for a counter-attack."

If it were a broadcast, it would involve a loudspeaker and a broadcast room. The former was completely out of place in the overall context of the mission, while the latter was clearly a place a cleaner could step into.

Yang Juming nodded in appreciation: "A perfectly correct line of reasoning. Niuniu, you are a qualified cleaner."

Xu Yiliu had said so much to her only to verify her own hypothesis. She wasted no more words and sprinted toward the chair, her murderous intent self-evident.

Yang Juming said kindly, "If you will not listen to me, let your system tell you."

System: [This mission can be ended early. Once the host selects "Exit," the system will enter the settlement page and cancel the cleaner status.]

She tilted her chin and said to Xu Yiliu, who was gripping her neck, "You should not be here, Niuniu. I want my Niuniu to live safely, grow up healthy, and spend her life in ease, not revolving around these dangerous missions and living in constant terror."

Xu Yiliu felt as if she had returned to that year when she was eight, when her grandmother, before passing away, had clutched her hand and said she hoped she would live safely, grow up healthy, and spend her life in ease.

The [Exit] button on the system page was right before her eyes, glaringly conspicuous. Beneath her palm was the old woman’s neck, and the old woman was still gazing at her tenderly, just as she had for the first eight years of her life.

Xu Yiliu took a deep, deep, deep breath.

The old woman looked at her with pity.

Xu Yiliu loosened her grip.

The old woman looked at her with relief.

Xu Yiliu’s hand stroked the old woman’s white hair: "Grandma..."

A tear fell from the old woman’s eye: "Grandma wants—"

Xu Yiliu snapped her neck.

The old woman’s body slumped to the ground. The system’s mechanical prompt grew suddenly louder, the void of darkness shattered with a roar, and layers of it withered away like shedding skin.

Before her eyes, everything was still gray.

Xu Yiliu touched her sunglasses, and her arm was suddenly tugged violently.

"What did you do!"

The exceptionally handsome man with extraordinary agility stood beside her, grabbing her arm in extreme shock: "You... how did you do that?"

Xu Yiliu instinctively wanted to scratch her head, but before reaching out, she remembered the person she had just killed. She paused, checked her palm first, and let out a sigh of relief only after confirming there was no blood.

This action, however, caused the man to misunderstand.

He was even more shocked, let go of her, and took a step back: "Even if you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to slap me, right? I won't ask."

Xu Yiliu: "..."

What on earth was this guy imagining?

However, compared to this teammate, she was more worried about the security guard behind her.

The original five-foot-three security guard auntie had grown to over ten feet tall, with half of that length contributed by her neck. Her hair hung down onto Xu Yiliu’s face, and her breath blew over her again and again. As long as Xu Yiliu looked up, she could meet the guard's gaze: "So, you aren't... a blind person after all~"

Xu Yiliu noticed out of the corner of her eye that the man was staring blankly at the security guard.

The elongated head transformed into a lethal weapon, the distended mouth becoming a blood-red abyss, rushing straight toward Xu Yiliu in an attempt to swallow her head in one gulp.

Xu Yiliu nimbly dived to the left, tackling the distracted man along with her. Her right hand accurately grabbed a chair, and without looking, she swung it backward, blocking the gaping maw as it curved through the air and knocking out two of the security guard’s teeth.

Her palm went numb, and she immediately let go; her entire arm ached.

"Hey, you! If you're useless, get lost!"

The man who had been called out regained his senses just as she tackled him away: "Who are you scolding?"

He had already run to the firefighting equipment by the door, split the cabinet open with his palm, retrieved a fire axe, and rushed in front of Xu Yiliu with a look of fury.

Xu Yiliu pointed at the giant head howling in pain: "Chop off her head, and I won't be scolding you."

The man charged forward with the axe: "You said it!"

He possessed delicate features but was not weak in build; he leaped onto the table with great agility.

Xu Yiliu quickly began to draw aggro: "Auntie, your front teeth are gone. Is it drafty?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the security guard, her face covered in fluids from the pain, glared ferociously toward the source of the sound. Ignoring the pain, she stretched her long neck with all her might, opening her blood-mangled mouth to attack Xu Yiliu.

Eat her, eat her, eat her...

Taking this opportunity, the man leaped high and swung the fire axe heavily down upon that neck.