Chapter 25: The Human Species

Li Nianchuan felt a sudden surge of curiosity. "Then why didn't you continue on that path?"

Zhu Ning sighed. "I took a wrong turn, accidentally."

Back then, she had already been a national team athlete when the zombie crisis broke out, turning her athletic skills into life-saving ones. If not for an athlete’s physique and her marksmanship, she would have perished the moment the outbreak began.

Li Nianchuan: "..."

Although he didn't quite grasp what she meant by taking a "wrong turn," it certainly seemed like quite a detour. How does an athlete end up as a cleaner?

Still, this was the first time Li Nianchuan had heard Zhu Ning speak of her past.

"Were you with a club?" he asked.

He wasn't sure if the professional athlete Zhu Ning referred to belonged to a private club or a Federation team. Club athletes could come from diverse backgrounds, whereas Federation professionals generally only accepted first-class citizens.

In this wasteland era, androids and robots roamed everywhere. If machines were allowed to participate in Federation sports, it would violate the spirit of competition. Therefore, the very concept of competitive sports was exclusive to first-class citizens with natural genes, and it had transformed into a spectacle for the nobility. Matches between clubs were more like underground bouts—void of fair play or transparency, focused solely on the entertainment value.

Zhu Ning had her story ready. "Yes, a club."

She had already fired her weapon when she encountered the fish-man, and the video had garnered over a hundred thousand views on the forum. There was no point in hiding her skills during the shooting assessment; it was better to show her strength openly.

With so many people at the Cleaning Center now paying attention to her, she had to explain the score she had just posted.

In truth, she didn't know if the original owner had ever touched a firearm. The original was a "defective," a person marked for disposal. Official records regarding her were likely sparse—even Zhu Ning couldn't find a single trace of her own identity. She appeared to have materialized out of thin air, with only basic identification and a single acquaintance, Mother Wei.

Zhu Ning suspected the original identity was a fabrication, which gave her plenty of room to improvise.

If someone within the Cleaning Center wanted her dead...

Zhu Ning scanned the training room. It was crowded with both Demon Hunters and Cleaners engaged in combat drills. If anyone here knew the "real" Zhu Ning, they would eventually notice the inconsistencies and surface to probe her.

That would be her chance to find a lead.

She didn't know if others believed her, but Li Nianchuan seemed convinced. "Club professional teams are impressive, too."

Xu Meng nodded. "Clubs are actually harder to get into."

Federation teams only took first-class citizens, so the competition wasn't as fierce, but club members came from all five citizenship tiers—geniuses could appear anywhere.

Li Nianchuan and Xu Meng looked at Zhu Ning with a subtle change in expression. Zhu Ning had graduated from university at eighteen; perhaps she had been competing in underground club matches the year before joining the Cleaning Center. Maybe even earlier, balancing school and work to make ends meet. As Zhu Ning remained quiet, the two of them filled in the blanks, painting a mental picture of a hardworking, struggling girl.

And since Zhu Ning was a "defective," she likely had to keep grinding just to survive.

Xu Meng: "You’ve worked hard."

Li Nianchuan: "You’ve worked hard."

Zhu Ning: "?"

What was with the sympathy?

Li Nianchuan: "By the way, you’re the first defective I’ve ever met."

Zhu Ning looked at Xu Meng, who added, "Me too."

Zhu Ning: "..."

It seemed she was quite the rarity. Mainly, defectives usually couldn't pass the Cleaning Center's screening process, and even if they made it in, they rarely passed the training.

Li Nianchuan asked, "So, do you defectives know who you were before?"

***

Right, what was she before? Before being classified as a defective, what kind of human was she? She couldn't be a robot, so she must have been a natural-born human, an artificial human, or a clone.

Unfortunately, defectives had no "product traceability." Zhu Ning couldn't find her "place of origin"—there wasn't a shred of data.

"I don't know either," Zhu Ning replied. "What about you? What tier citizen are you?"

Li Nianchuan: "I'm a second-class citizen, an artificial human..."

Before he could finish, Zhu Ning looked shocked. "You're an artificial human?"

This was the first one she had encountered. Clones were theoretically possible in her world due to cloning technology, but artificial humans were definitely black-tech unique to the wasteland. The most her world had was synthetic meat. Was Li Nianchuan a consciously aware being created artificially?

"Yeah," Li Nianchuan said, noting her excitement. Never seen one before?

Zhu Ning really hadn't. "But aren't artificial humans supposed to be incredibly powerful?"

Artificial humans utilized gene-editing technology, usually enhanced with various "functions." Li Nianchuan seemed rather ordinary.

Li Nianchuan looked offended. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

Zhu Ning: "Nothing, nothing."

Li Nianchuan: "It depends on the batch. Some artificial humans are manufactured just to be consumables."

He spoke without a trace of emotion, as if he had completely accepted the fact that he was a disposable object. Certain jobs required humans, and with robots barred from entry, flesh-and-blood people—clones, artificial humans, and robots alike—were all viewed as consumables. They were originally tools created by first-class citizens, but when these tools developed self-awareness, they were categorized into tiers based on their utility to the Federation.

To alienate humans to this extent and humanize objects to that degree was a rarity.

"May I ask what genes were synthesized in you?" Zhu Ning asked.

Artificial humans used gene-editing to fuse various advantageous traits. She wasn't sure if this counted as private.

Li Nianchuan: "Nothing I can't talk about. They fused some sheepdog genes. They wanted our batch to be loyal and highly domesticable."

Never to betray the Federation or humanity.

Zhu Ning: "..."

She suddenly understood.

After processing this, she asked, "What about the Captain?"

Xu Meng: "Third-class citizen, a clone."

Zhu Ning paused. She remembered Fang Ying saying that clones didn't live long.

Seeing the sudden gravity in Zhu Ning's expression, Xu Meng seemed relaxed. "I know what you're thinking. It can be managed—genetic serums, or replacing parts with mechanical prosthetics. It's similar to your situation."

Xu Meng found it ironic. She still had over a decade left, whereas Zhu Ning had only one year remaining, yet Zhu Ning was the one worrying about her.

Xu Meng: "I’m in this line of work to save money, you get it?"

She winked at Zhu Ning. In a way, they were the same.

The distance between them closed instantly. Zhu Ning asked, "What's your plan for survival?"

"Survival plan"—the phrase made Xu Meng laugh. "I want to upload my consciousness to the cloud and use a mechanical prosthetic body."

To discard the human body entirely and upload her consciousness, allowing her to switch between different vessels. In a sense, as long as the "server" didn't crash, Xu Meng could achieve immortality.

Cool.

***

But Zhu Ning was a bit of a traditionalist; she still preferred her own human body.

Xu Meng asked, "Are you looking to inject genetic serums?"

Zhu Ning nodded. That was exactly why she joined the Cleaning Center—to lean on a powerful institution and gain access to information far beyond what an ordinary person could reach.

Xu Meng: "I’ll send you some files later. I did some homework on it. I went through one cycle of genetic serum injections, but I decided against that path. By the way, our center has very advanced genetic serums. When you have time, you should talk to the people in the Medical Department. Employee consultations are free."

Zhu Ning’s eyes lit up at the word "free."

Looking at Zhu Ning like a younger sister, Xu Meng transferred the files to her employee wristband.

The three of them exchanged their backgrounds: a clone, an artificial human, and a defective. None of them were nobility, all struggling every day to extend their lives—a trio of misfits.

A thought crossed Zhu Ning's mind. "By the way, what’s the current 100-meter dash record?"

Xu Meng: "I haven't kept track. You're interested in that?"

Commoners generally had little interest in sports. The logic was simple: humans couldn't outrun robots or artificial humans. In the eyes of a robot, human speed was painfully slow. Many found human athletics boring.

In her previous life, Zhu Ning had followed sports closely, but after the zombies appeared, human competitive sports had been terminated. This world’s search engines were powerful. The moment she opened the search bar in her auxiliary brain, before she could even type, the page automatically displayed: *Search for the world 100-meter dash record?*

Zhu Ning clicked "Yes."

The page redirected: 9.58 seconds.

It was identical to her old world. This was strange, given that the technology in the wasteland was at least a hundred times more advanced. Yet, the athletic record remained unchanged.

Zhu Ning had easily matched the training records earlier, though those records meant little—many top-tier experts probably never even stepped foot in the training room. The shooting records here were likely similar to her world's as well.

It was known that the wasteland world contained pollutants, powerful tech trees, and even mutated humans, but humans themselves hadn't evolved. In the apocalypse, lack of progress meant regression. A simple deduction: was the pure human genome stagnating?

Zhu Ning hadn't seen a first-class citizen, so she didn't know what the nobility were like. From her limited perspective, perhaps the "sixth-class citizens" of the future were the true path of human "evolution."

She recalled that the "degree of alienation" and "alienation direction" options on her system panel were still empty. She wondered if she would have the chance to "degenerate" into a sixth-class citizen.

***

Zhu Ning had made a name for herself by morning, and the forums were flooded with posts about her.

Someone had pinned the video of her shooting assessment to the top, with a jarring title: *Come and Observe How a Pro Pulls the Trigger!*

Never had a newcomer received so much attention. The heat was relentless, and the buzz about the fish-man incident had barely settled. Now, people were debating her shooting video; many suspected a data error and were demanding that the Observation and R&D departments conduct a re-evaluation.

If a "defective" could perform like that, then the "healthy" ones might as well just give up.

Zhu Ning: "..."

*I appreciate you all acknowledging my skills as a national team member. I trained early and late for years, didn't win the highest international medal, but I’ve achieved the highest honor on the Cleaning Center forum. I’d really like to give an acceptance speech.*

The afternoon brought the combat assessment.