Chapter 38
Chapter 38
The paper had yellowed from soaking in sewage.
Its edges bore tooth marks and dark red bloodstains.
Beside the original official printing in bold black type were densely packed, disorderly handwritten annotations in red.
Good grief, that wild scrawl was ridiculously hard to read.
Deep Blue Aquarium Waste Dispatch and Special Cargo Loading Regulations (Incomplete Page)
Lin Yinxi read through the rules, barely deciphering the water-damaged lettering.
These regulations were for night-shift handlers and logistics team supervisors. They applied only to those two positions and were not visible to employees in other jobs.
The beginning read:
This aquarium’s profits depend not only on admission fees, but even more on exporting valuable exhibits and inexpensive waste disposal.
Strictly follow the dispatch and loading rules below to ensure the correct delivery of cargo and waste to Zone C’s dispatch dock.
The rules followed.
[1. Zone C is closed to all visitors. If sensors detect a visitor’s aura at Zone C’s gate, the passage will automatically close and fill with highly concentrated blue dissolving solution.]
Handwritten annotation in red: Don’t look for the gate as a visitor. You’ll turn into a fish! You must wear a blue employee uniform, or soak in blue water to become a fish.
[2. The Landfill is the only route to Zone C. You may enter it through Jellyfish Café’s backup sewage pipe in Zone A or the infirmary’s medical-waste disposal shaft in Zone B.]
Handwritten annotation in red: So foul… Rotting meat everywhere. Not just visitors. There are half-dead employees here too. The aquarium is just as cruel to its own people… And this is actually the only route to Zone C.
[3. Remain quiet while crossing the Landfill’s waters. Scavengers are kept underwater to clear away scraps.
They live in the middle of the water and have no eyes, but are extremely sensitive to vibration and fresh flesh.]
Handwritten annotation in red: Don’t make a sound! Don’t fish out the colleagues begging you for help in the water! Their lower bodies have already been eaten hollow. They’re tricking you into entering the water! Old Li merely coughed and was dragged under by a monster…
[4. When traveling by boat through the sewage, flashing red guide lights above the water mean you are nearing Zone C’s loading platform.
Follow the black conveyors marked “Approved Exhibits” or “Waste” to reach the shore.]
Handwritten annotation in red: Follow the conveyors! That’s the exit!
[5. Zone C has no guards. Only a driver who can drive with closed eyes.
The logistics vehicle stops at the platform only before dawn on the seventh day of a specified cycle. It remains for just one hour.]
Handwritten annotation in red: I’ve been counting the days. It’s today! The driver doesn’t care about anything. Only money!
[6. Employees are strictly prohibited from leaving the aquarium on logistics vehicles without authorization. Anyone boarding must pay the full toll in Rabbit Coins.
If you attempt to evade the fare or have insufficient Rabbit Coins…]
The rest had been torn away.
Its annotation was in the margin and remained visible.
But these final words were crooked and shaky, seemingly written in extreme agony.
Money! Money to save my life!
I worked my ass off for half a month, off the books, and the Fishhead Supervisor docked every last coin of my wages!
Without Rabbit Coins, the driver used me as fuel for the logistics vehicle… My legs are already stuffed into the fuel tank. It hurts, aaaaaah!
I can still work. Don’t throw my upper body into the Landfill…
After reading the rules, Lin Yinxi spoke.
“A previous survivor must have written these annotations, right?” She photographed the page.
Yang Shu gave a cold snort, mockery in his normal right eye. “I found the person who wrote them in that sewage area and got these rules.”
“They’re still alive?”
“Alive, but already contaminated. No longer human.”
He took the damaged rules back and looked toward the rusted iron door beside them.
“Cross this underground water, and Zone C’s loading platform is at the end. We’ll rest in this abandoned transfer room for the next few days.”
Yang Shu did not intend to return aboveground.
Lin Yinxi frowned at their surroundings. “I’m going back.”
Shadows hid his bloodshot left eye. “The Landfill’s a one-way route. The infirmary’s waste shaft and the café’s sewage pipe both lead downward. How will you go back?”
“Wherever there’s work, there has to be a staff passage.”
Switching on her phone’s flashlight, Lin Yinxi turned without hesitation, left the room, and followed the slippery concrete steps upward along the sewage pool’s edge.
The smell here was overpowering. Fumes from the rotten meat made her dizzy again and again.
Staying here was far too risky for her.
First, the conditions were terrible, and Yang Shu was not particularly trustworthy. Spending several days alone with him would make it hard to sleep.
Second, Xu Haitang and Chu Yanran had consistently shared information and worked with her earlier. At the very least, she had to pass this escape information back to them.
Third, Lin Yinxi did not know the fare. She needed to return aboveground for part-time work. The more Rabbit Coins she saved, the safer she would be.
She carefully felt along the moss-covered wall.
Since the rules specifically mentioned night-shift handlers and logistics team supervisors, and this was the only route to Zone C, employees must normally travel back and forth here.
They couldn’t possibly go whooshing down a rubbish pipe like her every time.
Sure enough, in a recessed blind corner not far from the sewage outlet, she found a heavy, rust-covered iron door.
There was no handle beside it. Only an electronic sensor glowing red.
A line had been painted alongside it.
[This passage is strictly reserved for permanent Logistics Department employees.]
Yang Shu had followed her. Looking at the sensor, he asked, “Can your wristband open a place like this?”
“Let’s try.” Lin Yinxi raised her wrist.
She pressed the deep blue wristband with its golden rabbit head against it.
Beep.
The sensor instantly switched from red to green.
The heavy iron door sprang inward a crack.
“Permissions confirmed. Employee seconded from Rabbit House. Welcome back to Zone B,” a mechanical female voice announced without emotion.
Yang Shu looked at the open door, then at Lin Yinxi, his gaze shifting unreadably.
He stared so hard she almost felt the back of her head heating up.
What was he looking at? Never seen a beauty with cheat codes?
She, meanwhile, raised her head toward the long staircase stretching upward. Stairs all the way. No alternative to walking. She felt a little hopeless.
Her lungs: This match is out of our league.